fun family holidays – Family Travel Blog

Family travel in West Virginia

Every Tuesday until we run out of states, I plan to post about family-friendly travel ideas, attractions and events in each one of the US states, taking input mostly from Twitter and Facebook.

We’re going in alphabetical order but starting with the end, so our first state for the series was Wyoming, then we investigated Wisconsin and now we’re moving on to….West Virginia!

The state tourism office isn’t on Twitter or Facebook yet (so you West Virginia folks might want to give ‘em a nudge!) Since their new state slogan is “Open for Business” (a branding move, basically) they should consider reaching out to possible visitors, plus their own residents, with social networking tools.

Hey, even small town and rural people are definitely on Twitter.

When I asked for input, here’s what came in (no one responded on Facebook….)

Twitter Travel Tips for West Virginia

From the Elk Horn Inn (here’s their personal blog) via @ElkHornInn on Twitter — ATVing in southern WV; trout fishing in Elkhorn Creek; Oct. Sky Fest (in honor of the October Sky book and movie – the author was from here) in Coalwood, Pipestem Tram, trainspotting, Gary Bowling’s for music…(note from Sheila – here’s a touching video about Gary’s by West Virginia-based writer/editor/singer Douglas Imbrogno – I love discoveries!)

From Chris Bailey via @Chris_Bailey on Twitter — Near and dear to my heart..Stonewall Jackson Heritage Arts and Crafts Jubilee (Labor Day weekend) 2 miles from my boyhood house..must visit New River Gorge.

From Monica Benoit Beatty via @MonicaBB on Twitter — Berkeley Springs WV fun place to swim for kids. Geo Washington’s bathtub‘s there. He was a small dude if he fit in it! (note from Sheila – when we chatted in person this past week, Monica also mentioned the Martinsburg Roundhouse Center, a B&O Railroad attraction.)

From @mechteach via Twitter — Canaan Valley/Blackwater Falls nice in summer/winter, many activities, lots of VRBO/HomeAway rental houses around too.

From Carla via @redyelllow on Twitter — Did you already get [whitewater] rafting on the Gauley or New Rivers? (got it!)

From Peggy via @PeggyCoonley on Twitter — W.Virginia annual Scottish Festival & Celtic Gathering https://www.scots-westvirginia.org

Finally, from the BootsnAll Travel Network — booking West Virginia campgrounds and a first-hand report on whitewater rafting.

Thanks so much for the contributions – the next state in the series is Washington.

Send your highlights to @SheilaS on Twitter or my Facebook page (tell me you’re a 50 state-er if you want to friend me.)

Yes, I know how to search for family travel ideas on a destination or attraction Web site, but a tweet or Facebook recommendation is a much more engaging and public way to spread the word.

My purpose for this series is not only to highlight worthy kid-friendly vacation destinations in all 50 states, but by using Twitter and Facebook to also encourage tourism organizations to learn more about connecting with their visitors using social media and online networks.

Please add your own West Virginia suggestions in the comments below, if we’ve missed anything. Thanks!

When I originally set up a weekly editorial calendar for this blog (hey, it’s a journey, not a perfectly-executed plan) I planned to look into the future on Thursdays and tell the readers about fun family-friendly events coming up in the next few weeks, around the world.

That idea’s been a total failure; I can’t seem to find time to scan calendars to pick out good events for kids. An alternative idea popped into my head recently.

I get a lot of emails from travel-related public relations folks telling me about their latest and greatest promotion or event. Many of them, quite frankly, are not properly targeted and are obviously just scattershot announcements….the old PR “spray and pray” method of sending out mass info and hoping it sticks, only now it goes out mostly via email because that is so easy to do and its free. Never mind that improperly done, it clogs my IN box with garbage and is massively annoying.

Anyway, I’m a nice gal and want to support the travel industry in tough economic times, so here’s my plan – on Thursdays, when I have time, I’ll put up a post with short excerpts from relevant PR pitches. The deal is, it has to be something that I think my readers will like, and I’m not copying/pasting a whole press release. Readers should know that this is PR info and not independently vetted.

Here goes:

(Monterey, CA) Jaw-dropping Aquarium exhibits, an organic Earthbound Farm adventure and a thrilling IMAX movie experience are all part of the family and budget friendly “Fish, Farm and Flix” package at Monterey’s Victorian Inn. Available through November 2008, the two night package starts at $379, not including taxes, a savings of up to $60 if package items were purchased separately. For reservations, please call 800-232-4141 or visit www.victorianinn.com.
(New England, USA) Says Mandy Grenier of Francestown, New Hampshire, “I am a mother of a two-year-old, so we are always on the go. I was always searching for a site that had area attractions for toddlers in New England and never found one with reviews on what to expect once we got there. Planning ahead; that’s the name of the game when you have a toddler! Anyway, I decided to start my own blog, One Mom’s Review.”
(Contest) Lands’ End would like to make planning family holiday get-togethers a whole lot easier this year by giving your readers a chance to win a great family get together for 7 nights for up to 12 people at The Resort at Paws Up in Montana! The contest kicked off September 30 and Lands’ End will accept entries at www.landsend.com/greatgettogether through noon October 30, 2008. Prizes include a get together for 7 nights for up to 12 people at The Resort at Paws Up in Montana, Cashmere Great Get Together package with Lands’ End’s high-quality cashmere sweaters and scarves for the family, and Fleece Great Get Together package with cozy fleece jackets and accessories for the family. Just have your readers fill out the online entry form and submit an up-to-300-word essay and photo.
(Philadelphia, PA) Two items:
- Headed to the White House, a first-of-its-kind exhibition running through December 14, 2008, allows visitors to travel on the campaign trail, vote for their favorite candidate and take the Presidential Oath of Office through multimedia, interactive and theatrical displays. www.constitutioncenter.org
- October 18 (next Saturday) is the opening of the children’s Please Touch Museum in a dramatic new home in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. The challenge for exhibition designers was to create a contemporary [hands-on] children’s museum in a building that embodies the spirit of the Victorian age. The museum space is divided into six learning-through-play environments. There is a Please Touch Museum hotel package available on gophila.com, also see www.pleasetouchmuseum.org
(Product) Linda of Family Travel Gear says, “I have images of my little one climbing out of her airplane seat during the flight, and causing such havoc that we all end up on the news. She is not a sitter, she is a runner. So I discovered the CARES Child aviation restraint system which is the first and only harness type Aviation Child Safety Device to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as an alternative to a car seat (which I do not want to bring along so that I can have two hands free for adventures.) CARES is an elegantly designed belt-and-buckle device that works in conjunction with the regular airplane seat belt and provides young travelers the same level of safety as a car seat.”
(Mystic, CT) Everyone knows about the marine animals at Mystic Aquarium and Institute for Exploration, but did you know you can now explore and touch sea creatures from millions of years ago? They are waiting to be uncovered by pint-size paleontologists in the new interactive exhibit Dig It! Prehistoric Creatures of the Sea, opening on Friday, October 10. This first-of-its-kind, hands-on exhibit provides a unique workshop experience where kids can dig for hundreds of authentic sea fossils. The fossils range in age from 500 to 600 million years old and come from Brazil, China, Europe, Madagascar, Morocco and the United States. Every three months, the types of fossils to be discovered change, so kids can find new specimens with each visit. The exhibit is open during the Aquarium’s normal hours of operation and will remain at the Aquarium through January 2010. Admission into the exhibit is $4.99 per child and includes one fossil that the child can keep. For each additional specimen to be brought home, the cost is $2.99.