Category: Kid-Friendly Trips
Consider Vancouver Island!
March 31, 2012 by Melissa A. Trainer · 3 Comments
One of my favorite summer destinations in the Pacific Northwest is Vancouver Island. We first visited this large island about fourteen years ago when our daughter was very little. We were new to the region, and I was spending a fair amount of time doing research and talking to tourism representatives in British Columbia. Back then, everyone told me that Vancouver was great, but many of my contacts gave me a wink and a nod and urged me to visit Vancouver Island, too. They urged me to go in the summer and bring the kids. Those tips were true insider information. I am so glad that I listened! When we first visited Vancouver Island, I picked Parksville as our destination. The guidebooks touted the large safe sandy beaches and a quiet atmosphere…Hmmm. That sounded perfect for a family with a toddler. Initially, we stayed at a fabulous beachfront resort known as Beach Acres. Located right on the water and next door to Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park, this family friendly low... [Read more...]
Steep Cliffs and Towering Spires: Dead Horse Point State Park
March 30, 2012 by Rex Vogel · Leave a Comment
Dead Horse Point State Park is perhaps Utah’s most spectacular state park. The park lies on the same broad mesa as The Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park. The meandering Colorado River 2,000 feet below Dead Horse Point. © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved Dead Horse Point is a peninsula of rock atop sheer sandstone cliffs about 6,000 feet above sea level. Two thousand feet below, the Colorado River winds its way from the continental divide in Colorado to the Gulf of California, a distance of 1,400 miles. The peninsula is connected to the mesa by a narrow strip of land called the neck. From the overlook, canyon erosion may be viewed on a grand scale. This erosion process has taken approximately 150 million years. Much of it is caused by the river slicing down into the earth’s crust as land is forced upward. These powerful forces are still sculpting the fantastic shapes of the precipitous bluffs and towering spires. Vegetation and wildlife in this desert environment... [Read more...]
The Unique Craftsmen of Silver Dollar City
March 14, 2012 by Diane Berry · 3 Comments
Following up on my previous post about Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO I would like to take time to profile the fabulous craftsmen and women who populate the park. Their workmanship is excellent, the materials, of first quality, and the products, unequaled in quality and craftsmanship. On every visit, we plan to purchase birthday, Mother and Father’s Day gifts and a number of special treats for ourselves. Upon entrance to the park, our first visit is always to the bladesmith, who is making first quality knives for purchase in the park. It was always our first stop due to our son’s fascination with knives, and to his location in the park. During our visits, Ray Johnson was the craftsman in charge of the knives and we loved to stop as we were wandering down the beautifully landscaped tree-lined pathways of the park. It was fascinating to watch him forge his knives over an open flame with sufficient heat to turn the metal into an excellent serviceable knife. We have also seen the most... [Read more...]
A Great Family Vacation–Silver Dollar City!
March 11, 2012 by Diane Berry · 1 Comment
The recent bad weather experienced in Branson, MO reminded me of some of our favorite family vacation memories. Silver Dollar City in the Branson area is one of the best values for your vacation dollar in this country. As I stated in a previous post, when our children were in school, we developed the habit of traveling over the spring or Easter break each year (hence our experience of celebrating sunrise Easter services all over the country!). On several occasions, Branson, MO and Silver Dollar City was our destination! This was true for several reasons. First of all, our home is in Wisconsin. Over Easter, we are all ready to move to warmer climes. Missouri is a mere 12 hour drive from our home and lots warmer, by spring standards, than Wisconsin, in which spring is often gray, damp and, on worst occasions, white with new-fallen snow! Missouri tends to be sunny and 20-40 degrees warmer than our home turf—in other words, a very appealing destination. In terms of amusement parks, Silver... [Read more...]
Day trip around Cape Cod Bay
March 5, 2012 by Canadianladybug · Leave a Comment
Back in 2008, we made a long trip from Ottawa, ON to PA, MA, ME, NB and PEI before going back home. It was our first trip with the RV and we still remember the highlights of that trip. A few weeks ago I presented a tour that we did while in Pennsylvania. Today, let me present you to the coast of Massachusetts – more specifically Cape Cod Bay. While we were in the Boston area, I wanted to go visit the Cape Cod Potato Chip Company that let you see how they make potato chips. The manufacture is located on 100 Breed’s Hill Road in Hyannis, Massachusetts . We were not allowed to take picture inside the facility and to be honest this is a self-guided tour where you look through windows while you watch them work and make potato chips. The tour wasn’t long and can be done in about 10-15 minutes. But the kids enjoyed seeing the process of making potato chips. Self-guided tours are the next best thing to real tours when you take the time to read and explain... [Read more...]
A Little Traveling Music, Please…
February 5, 2012 by Diane Berry · 2 Comments
Whenever we embark on one of our road trips, one of the most important considerations is the music that will accompany us on our journey. Over the years, we have come to recognize the true importance of this non-human companion, in terms of creating mood, anticipation and pleasure for our journey. Early on, we experimented with books on tape. While some swear by those, we found they were likely to lull our poor driver, most often my husband Terry, who is an awesome driver, but not such a terrific passenger, to sleep. Even the likes of a Grisham mystery, being read over the car speakers, will soon have heads nodding. So we stick with music for our on-the-road entertainment. We also developed several criteria for just the right accompaniment. It must be upbeat and lively (so as to avoid those nods), it must be something all of us enjoy (or can at least tolerate—my daughter said one thing that impressed her future husband was that she knew the words to all of the songs on the Eagles’ Greatest... [Read more...]
How it’s Made – A Guitar is Born
January 27, 2012 by Canadianladybug · 2 Comments
Did you know that in the state of Pennsylvania there is a town called Nazareth? And in this town, you can have the opportunity of visiting…..; C.F. Martin & Co. For over 150 years, The Martin Guitar Company has been producing instruments that are recognized all around the world. These instruments are in the highest quality and their construction is very precise. We had the opportunity to visit the factory back a few years ago and we really enjoyed it. In 2008, we embarked on our first ever trip with our RV and we experience many interesting things. Visiting a guitar factory was one of our highlights in our trip. We had planned the field trip with the kids before arriving in PA because I had purchased the book Watch It Made In The U.S.A. As a visitor on the factory tour, you will be shown how the guitars come to life through the hands of the people working at C.F. Martin & Co. Tours are done regularly between 11am and 2:30pm Monday to Friday. There is... [Read more...]
A News Flash on Alaska’s National Parks
December 29, 2011 by Melissa A. Trainer · Leave a Comment
Exit Glacier, Alaska When I checked my electronic inbox yesterday, I found an informative news release from John Quinley, who is the Assistant Regional Director, Communications and Partnerships, of the Alaska Regional National Park Service. In his release, Mr. Quinley reported that the Alaska region of the National Park Service saw about 2.32 million recreational visits in 2011. This was an increase of about 2% from 2010. The two parks with the largest increases for 2011 were Kenai Fjords National Park, which is headquartered in Seward, and Denali National Park. Both of these parks are on the road system in Alaska so they are fairly easy to access with a car, trailer, or RV. I have had the good fortune of visiting both of these parks with my children at my side. I first visited them during the summer of 2006. Our family camping trip to Denali was a highlight that summer and indeed my children still talk about it. Last July, we returned to Alaska and while we were staying in Anchorage,... [Read more...]
An Alaska Travel Roundup
November 5, 2011 by Melissa A. Trainer · Leave a Comment
Denali National Park/Melissa Trainer I was very fortunate last week because the State of Alaska invited me to attend the Alaska Media Road Show. Held at the luxurious Four Seasons Biltmore in Santa Barbara, this annual event brings together top travel writers and key players in Alaska’s tourism industry. As many of you know, I write quite a bit about Alaska. I lived there with my family and we traveled extensively throughout the state while we were there. We covered a lot of territory and ventured to many amazing remote locations during that time. We knew that we could be self sufficient with our travel trailer and we utilized our trailer to the max. We knew that amenities were few and far between on many of the remote roads, so we learned to pack accordingly. Our trailer was an absolutely priceless tool for navigating the region. Even though our three children were all under the age of 11 at the time, we were all willing to take the road less traveled.... [Read more...]
Touring “the City Different”
September 4, 2011 by Diane Berry · Leave a Comment
In a recent post, I talked about the wonderful shopping opportunities available at the old Governor’s Palace in Santa Fe, NM. After we had finished perusing the large variety of wares available at the Governor’s Palace during our recent impromptu visit to “the City Different” (Santa Fe, NM), we took a turn about the plaza to see what was happening. In New Mexico, and many Spanish communities, the center of the city or the town square is referred to as a plaza. (Don’t call it the square or they will know you are a tourist and not “in the know.”) Generally a central shopping area, plazas have much to offer in terms of things to see and do. In strolling through the Santa Fe Plaza, we come upon the marker commemorating the end of the famous Santa Fe Trail, the road or route followed by many of the earliest settlers to the area between the years of 1822 and 1879. Erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Territory of New Mexico in 1910, ... [Read more...]
