Month: September 2010

Categories
USA

Trails cross paths in St Joseph, Missouri

Pony Express statue, St. Joseph MO (courtesy cotaroba on Flickr CC)Trails are one of my favorite ways for kids to learn about history, because they give both a visual of movements and events (using a trail map) but then you can physically take them on the trail itself.

St. Joseph, Missouri (@StJoMo on Twitter) is one city that was the hub of numerous trails in American history.

The most famous is probably the Pony Express National Historic Trail; it runs for 1,966 miles from the launch point at “St. Jo” to California, and this year (2010) is the Pony Express Sesquicentennial 150 Year Anniversary.

You can visit the Pony Express Museum in St. Joseph – interestingly, the Express only lasted 19 months because once the telegraph was run and then the trains were established, there was no longer any need for it.

Explorers Lewis and Clark camped on the Missouri River near what is now downtown St. Joseph. The Underground Railroad passed through here, too; find out more about it along with other African-American history in the Black Archives of the St. Joseph Museum.

Close to St. Joseph (mostly to the south and into Kansas) are more trails to explore: the Santa Fe Trail, the Oregon Trail and the California Trail.

Here is a National Park Service list:  all the National Scenic and Historic Trails.

For maximum fun, plan a trip to St. Joseph on the second full weekend of October, when the town goes orange for the free PumpkinFest fall festival (including hundreds of carved, lighted pumpkins on the “Great Pumpkin Mountain.”)

Categories
Philosophy

18 years ago today, my daughter was born

Nancy (courtesy her own Facebook photo that I cropped)
Nancy (courtesy her own Facebook photo that I cropped)

It is finally here; her 18th birthday!

This is my daughter Nancy.

I’ve never really given her name before here (my own personal line in the sand as a parenting blogger – we’re all different about that which is fine) but she’s now “of age.”

She is wonderful, of course.

Smart, funny, a good friend, an intrepid traveler and now a college freshman.

Yes, I love the Sinatra song “Nancy With the Laughing Face.”

I’m so proud of her.

Categories
Site reviews Tips

A few more Priceline tips

I’ve written before about our experience with Priceline…here’s a quick refresher on our takeaways from that search for a Las Vegas hotel room for a business trip….

  • Hotel rooms and other purchases from travel auction sites are generally nonrefundable.
  • Be prepared for a walk or dealing with transportation if you get a hotel on the far edges of your desired region.  If you have kids, ensure that they can handle a walk on crowded city streets.
  • For the best “bang for the buck,” bid on fairly high-level properties [3.5 – 4 stars.] It doesn’t make sense to get a room at a Days Inn or Motel 6 through Priceline.
  • Be flexible. My husband requested a King room but found when he checked in that they were out of King rooms that were non-smoking. He was fine with a room with two Queens.

This time, we needed a hotel room on a Sunday night in north Dallas.

As I’ve said before in my post on how to find the best hotel deals, Sunday is a great time to score a cheap room because the weekend traffic is gone and many business travelers aren’t there yet, so rooms stand empty and hotels are ready to deal.

Sunday night in an area (north Dallas) with a TON of big chain hotels (lots of competition to fill rooms) is prime territory for a Priceline score when you aren’t particularly picky about exact hotel or precise location.

It worked: we bid $50 for a four-star hotel and got the Hyatt North Dallas, normally around $170/night and up.

My son is cavorting in the pool as I type this.  He does not really care that this is a business/conference hotel. A pool is a pool. 🙂

Thank you, Priceline.

Categories
Texas USA

I got yer beef right here in Fort Worth, cowboy

Fort Worth Stockyards Cattlemen's Steakhouse steak (photo by Sheila Scarborough)Sure, some would say that a steakhouse experience is wasted on young kids, but I think they need to learn what a really amazing steak tastes like (and it’s never too early to start.)

The Cattlemen’s Steakhouse in Fort Worth‘s historic Stockyards District is one of our favorites – the decor is Early Naugahyde, dress is pretty casual, the cooks work on grills right in the restaurant and the portions are massive.

Steaks and meats are not cheap (my favorite Heart o’ Texas 11 oz ribeye is about $30) but for fork-tender beefiness, it’s worth every cent.

Kids under 12 can get a top sirloin for $9. There are plenty of offerings besides steak – here’s the menu.

Get there early, especially on a weekend, because it’s a popular place.

Categories
USA

Best family fun vacation ideas for Colorado, Part Two

(This is a guest post by tourism expert, Mom and all-around great gal Sarah Page. Part One of  her kids in Colorado series is here.)

Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park

If you love the mountains, then Rocky Mountain National Park is the place for you.  I’ve traveled a fair amount, and this is still one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen.  The majesty of the place just makes everything right in the world.  I can’t promise it will affect you the same way, but I can promise you there is something very special about this place.

The town of Estes Park is the gateway to the park.  It’s changed quite a bit since I was there 20+ years ago, but it’s still a great little place to visit.

The main drag, Elkhorn Avenue, is full of little shops and restaurants.  Most are pretty tourist-y, but there are some gems as well.  Estes Park is also home to the Stanley Hotel, which was Stephen King’s inspiration for The Shining.  Not exactly a kid-friendly place, but definitely worth a look.  In addition to the park, there are some local attractions that are lots of fun.  We didn’t have time for all of them, but we did enjoy these very much….

Horseback Riding

Since our kids were a little too young for rafting or kayaking trips, we decided to go on a family horseback riding trip.

In the Colorado Rocky Mountains, the Page family on horseback (courtesy Sarah Page)

There are literally a gazillion stables to choose from, and you probably can’t go wrong.  We chose Cowpoke Corner Corral based on a cousin’s recommendation, and were not disappointed.

I don’t know if they always do this, but our group consisted of only our family of four and the guide.  She took us up into the mountains, so this was no ordinary trail ride.  We even stopped for a photo with the Continental Divide in the background.

It was a beautiful and fun way to spend two hours.

Tips:

  • Our two-hour ride cost us about $50 bucks per person.
  • They try their best to match the person to the horse.  Our kids’ horses were smaller and gentler than ours were.

The Tram

Estes Park Aerial Tramway

The tram in Estes Park has been a family owned and operated business since Colorado - feeding chipmunks at Estes Park Aerial Tramway (courtesy Sarah Page)1955.  The Heron family knows how to do it right.  The views of Estes Park and the surrounding mountains are spectacular from the top, and the trip up and down are pretty cool too.

But if you have kids (and even if you don’t), the views aren’t the best part.

The best thing about the tram is the chipmunks.  Okay, so the chipmunks are sort of tame, and it’s not the most authentic experience.  But when a chipmunk takes a peanut from your child’s hand, you won’t care about authenticity.  It’s the cutest thing you’ve ever seen.

Tips:

  • Adults are $10, kids are $5, and the little ones under age 5 are free.
  • Just do it.  Buy each kid a bag of peanuts in the shell.  It’s hours of fun watching them find the chipmunks, and watching the chipmunks take the peanuts from their hands.
  • Bring your camera!

Yay, hiking!

Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park

Since this was our first hike with the kids, we wanted to take it fairly easy.  Turns out my husband and I were the ones who needed the breaks to rest and Colorado - hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park (courtesy Sarah Page)catch our breath.  The kids were fine and not even winded at all!  We ended up hiking somewhere between 4 -5 miles and climbed 745 feet in elevation to around 10,000 feet.

We stuck to the trails near and around Bear Lake.  These are fairly popular trails, so you’ll see lots of people, but they aren’t overcrowded.  All said, we hiked up to four lakes that day – Bear, Nymph, Dream, and Emerald Lakes.

Each of the lakes was spectacular in their own way, though I think Dream Lake might have been the family favorite.

To quote my son, “I know why they call it Dream Lake.  Because it’s just so beautiful, Mommy.”  I had to choke back tears on that one.

Tips:

  • Leave no trace.  You pack it in, you pack it out.
  • Take lots of water and some light snacks if you plan to hike up to Emerald Lake and back.  You’ll be gone a few hours.
  • In the summer, it rains most every afternoon.  Bring a windbreaker.
  • It’s pretty cool in the park anyway – even at mid-day.  But if/when it rains, the temperature drops dramatically.  We got caught in the rain wearing shorts and t-shirts.  Let me tell you, temps in the low 50s, rain, and shorts are not a good combination.
  • It will cost you a mere $20 per car, which lasts for 7 consecutive days.  You can’t find a better value.

So despite being back in the Texas heat, we’ve gone hiking twice since our vacation.  We invested in some nice camelbacks from REI in Round Rock, and are hitting some of the trails in the area.

I’m already busy planning our next national park vacation.  Yosemite anyone?

Check out all of our vacation photos in our Colorado set on Flickr.

(Thanks very much for telling us about your family’s Colorado favorites, Sarah!)