Category Archives: Sightseeing

Spring Break Staycation in a New Home

Posted on May 2, 2024 by Carrie

In 2024, we spent Spring Break in Colorado at our brand new house! For the past two years, we flew to tropical destinations (Maui and Cabo), but this year we decided to get to know our soon-to-be new home sweet home, even though the weather in Colorado was still cold. I flew out to Colorado a week before Dan and the kids did to work on getting the new house set up a little bit. When they arrived, I took a week off from work and we spent it exploring Castle Rock and the surrounding area. Continue reading →

Posted in Arts, Baby & Kids, Eating, Hiking, Holidays, Home, Sightseeing, Skiing, Travel | Tagged Border Burger Bar, Castle Rock, Colorado, Colorado Springs, Convergence Station, DEN, Denver, DIA, Douglas County Libraries, East Plum Creek, Easter, Epic Mountain Gear, Epic SchoolKids, Festival Park, Great Divide Brewery & Roadhouse, LGB, Manitou Cliff Dwellings, Meow Wolf, Paco Sánchez Park, Patsy's Candy & Gift Shop, Philip S. Miller Park, Rock Park, skiing, Spring Break, The Philip & Jerry Miller Library | Leave a comment

Cruising on Carnival Miracle

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Carrie

When we made plans to move to a land-locked state last year, I also started making plans to take our family on our first ever cruise. This cruise was not supposed to be a grand luxury vacation, just something local and relatively inexpensive to introduce us to cruising. The Long Beach port is just up the freeway from where we live, so cruising out of there would be easy and would not require coordinating flights or other hotel stays. So, in March, we went on a 5 day/4 night cruise on the Carnival Miracle to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico. Continue reading →

Posted in Baby & Kids, Eating, Sightseeing, Travel | Tagged Avalon, Avalon City Park, Bad Blood, Bandera Monumental, carnival, Catalina Island, Catalina Island Golf Cart Rentals, cruise, dancing, El Malecón, Ensenada, golf cart, Green Pleasure Pier, Historic Symbols of Ensenada, karaoke, Knabe Park, Long Beach Convention Center, Mariscos 646, Mexico, miniature golf, Miracle, Monumental Flag, Monumento al pescador, Pacific Ocean, ping pong, putt-putt golf, RedFrog Pub, Taylor Swift, Three Palms Avalon Arcade, Wrigley Memorial and Botanic Garden | Leave a comment

Farewell Mammoth Trip

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Carrie

Last weekend, we drove up to Mammoth Lakes to go on our last vacation in the area – at least, our last vacation there for a long time. After we move to Colorado, we’ll be exploring Colorado resort towns and we likely won’t fly back to Mammoth for awhile. We all love Mammoth so, so much; therefore, this trip was bittersweet. We did all of our favorite things while we were there and even squeezed in a new activity or two. Continue reading →

Posted in Baby & Kids, Drinking, Eating, Sightseeing, Skiing, Travel | Tagged Bishop, Canyon Lodge, Erick Schat's Bakery, fireplace, gondola, hot tub, junior ranger, Main Lodge, Mammoth Lakes, Mammoth Mountain, Mammoth Town Trolley, Manzanar National Historic Site, mountain coaster, pool, powder, Shady Rest Park, ski school, skiing, sledding, The Mill, The Stove, The Village at Mammoth, The Westin Monache Resort, tire chains, tubing, Tusks Bar, Woolly's Adventure Summit, Woolly's Tube Park | Leave a comment

Grateful Turkey

Posted on December 3, 2023 by Carrie

This year, Thanksgiving was a mere three weeks after Halloween and it creeped up fast! It seemed like we had just started making a dent in eating bags of candy when it was time to start eating turkey and stuffing. Continue reading →

Posted in Baby & Kids, Drinking, Eating, Holidays, Running, Sightseeing, Snoopy, Travel, Wine Tasting | Tagged 10k, Bay Area Discovery Museum, Bay Bridge, cousins, First Street Wine Company, Forma Gym Turkey Trot, gelato, Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate View Point, Livermore, Lombard Street, McGrail Vineyards and Winery, Napa Valley Burger Company, OAK, race, running, San Francisco, Sausalito, SNA, Snoopy, sunset, Thanksgiving, Walnut Creek | Leave a comment

2023 Spooky Season

Posted on November 22, 2023 by Carrie

We got back into the holiday swing of things this year with a month of Halloween celebrations. I have to say, though, we kept it all pretty chill this year. I will no longer go to pumpkin patches in SoCal on the weekends, due to crowds, so we went to a few favorites during the week and mostly celebrated with friends in our neighborhood and town. Continue reading →

Posted in Baby & Kids, Holidays, Sightseeing | Tagged chili, cowgirl, dinosaur, dragon, Fall-O-Ween, Halloween, Harry Potter, Heritage Hill Historical Park, Hermione, Home Depot, Irvine Park Pumpkin Patch, Irvine Park Railroad, OC Zoo, Orange County Zoo, Outlets at San Clemente, SUP, Tanaka Farms, The Home Depot, trick-or-treat | Leave a comment

Hiking the Eastern Sierras

Posted on November 20, 2023 by Carrie

Our family loves Mammoth Lakes, but we’ve only all been up in that area in the winter months for ski vacations. We decided to add in a Fall trip this year to see sights that we can never see in the winter when every place is snowed in. We got lucky and our trip fell right at the peak of Fall leaf colors – the aspens were gorgeous! We hiked roughly 20 miles over six days, visited a historic state park, and explored a few town sites. Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Baby & Kids, Drinking, Eating, Hiking, Sightseeing, Travel | Tagged Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, aspen, Big Pine, Bodie State Historic Park, brine shrimp, Convict Lake, Discovery Trail, Distant Brewing, Dog Lake, Eastern Sierras, ghost town, Half Dome, hiking, horse riding, Hot Creek Geological Site, Inyo County Free Library, Inyo Craters, Inyo National Forest Junior Ranger Program, John Muir, Lee Vining, Lembert Dome, Mammoth Lakes, Mammoth Lakes Foundation, Mammoth Mountain, Mammoth Museum at the Hayden Cabin, Mammoth Roasting Company, Manzanar National Historic Site, Mono Basin Scenic Area Visitor Center, Mono Lake, Olmsted Point, Parker Lake, Rainbow Falls, Schulman Grove, Sierra Nevadas, Snowcreek Resort, South Tufas, The Basin Cafe, The Stove, Tioga Road, Tuolumne Meadows, White Mountains, Yosemite National Park | Leave a comment

A Trip within a Trip within a Trip

Posted on September 27, 2023 by Carrie

As we normally do, we spent a few weeks in Ohio this past summer. But not just Ohio. This time, we also went to our cabin in New York. And then while we were at our cabin, since it was so close, we also went to Niagara Falls, Canada, for one night. So, three trips in one over the span of two weeks. During this time, we did so much. More than we’ve ever done on any trip “home.” Every day was a new adventure. We all had a blast, but I think in future years, I should probably dial it back a bit and leave some more days for just playing at home. Continue reading →

Posted in Baby & Kids, Hiking, Sightseeing, Travel | Tagged Alexander's on the Lake, American Falls, Amish, BGSU, Big Ditch Brewing Company, Birchard Public Library, Bowling Green, buffalo, cabin, Canada, Canadian Falls, Cedar Point, Clymer, cousins, Creek Bend Farm, Detroit, DTW, Findley Lake, flowers, Fremont, Gibsonburg, giraffe, Glass City Metropark, Helena, Horseshoe Falls, ice skating, Journey Behind the Falls, kayaking, KIDZ BOP, Krasa's Kove, Mull Covered Bridge, New York, Niagara City Cruises, Niagara Falls, Niagara Falls Marriott Fallsview Hotel & Spa, Niagara Glen Nature Centre, Niagara River, Oak Harbor, Oakes Garden Theatre, Ohio, Ontario, Peek n' Peak, Phoenix, Pine Junction, puke, sick, Silver Rock Quarry, Slater Family Ice Arena, SNA, SonRise Farm, Spiegel Grove, summer, sunflowers, SUP, Toledo, Toledo Zoo, TSA PreCheck, vomit, White Star Quarry, Wilson Nature Center, Wood County Fair | Leave a comment

Disney Birthday Celebrations

Posted on June 10, 2023 by Carrie

As I stated in my Spring 2023 birthday blog post, we skipped hosting birthday parties for the kids this year and instead took them to Disneyland and California Adventure. None of us had been visitors at the parks since Fall 2019 (well, Irene had never been!), and as SoCal residents, we were overdue for some time at the “most magical place on Earth.” We stayed at a bucket list hotel for us – Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa – in between our days at the parks. In addition to all the theme park fun, we also squeezed in pool and hot tub time and I got a facial at the Tenaya Stone Spa. Continue reading →

Posted in Baby & Kids, Drinking, Eating, Sightseeing, Travel | Tagged "it's a small world", birthday, California Adventure, churro, Churro Carts, cocktails, Craftsman Bar, Craftsman Grill, Disney, Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, Disneyland, Flo's V8 Cafe, Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT!, hot tub, King Arthur Carrousel, Mickey Mouse, mocktails, pool, Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante, Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, rider switch, Splash Mountain, swimming, Tenaya Stone Spa, Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, water slide | 2 Comments

The Mountains Were Calling: Yosemite

Posted on May 30, 2023 by Carrie

In early May, we ventured up to Yosemite National Park and spent 5 nights/6 days hiking and exploring. Dan and I had been to Yosemite before with friends and family and with each other to hike Half Dome, but the kids had never been. We were so excited to show them another national park, especially one as famous as this one. Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Baby & Kids, Drinking, Eating, Hiking, Sightseeing, Travel | Tagged Ahwahnee Bar, Alex Honnold, Base Camp Eatery, Big Oak Flat Road, Bridalveil Fall, Carlon Falls, Columbia Rock, crafts, Dead Giant, El Capitan, Free Solo, Groveland, Half Dome, Hetch Hetchy, hiking, John Muir, junior ranger, kids menu, Kolana Rock, Merced River, O'Shaughnessy Dam, reservoir, Rush Creek Lodge and Spa at Yosemite, shuttle, snow, spa, Stanislaus National Forest, Swinging Bridge, tavern, The Ahwahnee, The Yosemite, Tueeulala Falls, Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoias, Tuolumne Meadows, Tuolumne River, Wapama Falls, Yosemite, Yosemite Fall, Yosemite National Park, Yosemite Valley Lodge, Yosemite Valley Visitor Center, Yosemite Wilderness Area | 3 Comments

Vacaciones de Primavera 2023 en Cabo San Lucas, México

Posted on April 26, 2023 by Carrie

We recently returned from our first international trip with the kids – a Spring Break trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. After extensive planning and prepaid bookings, this trip almost didn’t happen, but we’re so glad it did because it ended up being one of our best family vacations. Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Baby & Kids, Drinking, Eating, Hiking, Holidays, Sightseeing, Travel | Tagged Aeromexico, Alaska Airlines, Cabo Adventures, Cabo Dolphins, Cabo San Lucas, Church of Saint Luke, crafts, dolphins, Enfora, hiking, Hilton Los Cabos Beach & Golf Resort, horse riding, infinity pool, LAX, mango, margaritas, mariachi, massage, Mex Rent a Car, Mexico, ocean, Palm Sunday, papaya, Parroquia de San Lucas Evangelista, passports, Plaza Amelia Wilkes, pool, San Jose del Cabo, spa, Spring Break, swimming | 1 Comment

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Category Archives: Sightseeing

Spring Break Staycation in a New Home

Cruising on Carnival Miracle

Farewell Mammoth Trip

Grateful Turkey

2023 Spooky Season

Hiking the Eastern Sierras

A Trip within a Trip within a Trip

Disney Birthday Celebrations

The Mountains Were Calling: Yosemite

Vacaciones de Primavera 2023 en Cabo San Lucas, México

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