Having Fun in Yellowstone

February 27, 2008

As many of you know, I am planning a trip to Yellowstone for this summer.  It is going to be a really long road trip for my family, but we plan on breaking it up and stopping at some other sites along the way.  We are traveling from Indiana, so we decided to stop along the way at the Dakotas so we can see Mt. Rushmore and Badlands National Park.  We are also going to be stopping at Wind Cave, Jewel Cave, and Devil’s Tower.  From there, we will head to Yellowstone and we are planning a visit to the Grand Tetons and to Glacier National Park.

 Well, life is interesting sometimes, as I was just contacted today by a man named Allan Wright.  Allan told me about his company, which is named Zephyr Adventures and, interestingly enough, will be providing adventure-based family trips to Yellowstone and to Glacier this year.  I can’t personally say much about the service, but Allan tells me that they have been in business for 11 years and I think it is worth checking out what they have to offer.  If I see Allan while in the area, I will be sure to tell you all about him and his tours! 

By admin | Posted in National Parks to Visit with Kids, a, and, breaking, family, long, my, plan, planning, road, sites, stopping, summer  , the, trip, way  , yellowstone | Comments (0)

Check Out My Article and Book

August 8, 2007

I thought my faithul readers might be interested in checking out this travel article that I wrote for another site.  It is about my return trip after our family vacation to Disney – and how even the worse situations can turn out to be “hidden gems.” 

I will discuss this trip in more detail later (complete with pictures!), but here is a little teaser for now – click here!

While we are on the subject of me bragging, take a look at this book I wrote for Remedia Publications.  This is series of short stories that follow Jenna and her family through various national parks as she solves mysteries.  Obviously, I put my travel experiences to work for inspiration on this one!  If you want to see my name as author, you will have to get a copy.  Or,  you can visit this site where they have the book for sale and have listed me as the author.  I also did several of the stories and questions for this product. 

Although I do a great deal of writing for a variety of purposes, my favorite projects are educational materials and blogs such as this one since these materials help me teach someone in some way.  Hopefully, there are plenty of you out there that are learning something with this blog because of the experiences I have to share.

Do any of you write?  If so, what do you like to write about?

By admin | Posted in General Family Travel Tips, Getting to Know Me, article, checking, complete, faithul, gems, hidden, interested, my, readers, return, site  , situations, the, thought, travel, trip, turn, worse, wrote | Comments (0)

Family Travel Roadtrip Tips – Keep Them Entertained

August 7, 2007

Perhaps the single most important family travel roadtrip tip is to keep the kids entertained while on the road. By  breaking up the trip and stopping every couple of hours, you will automatically help stave off boredom.  Nonetheless, you will need to take other steps to prevent boredom as well.

The most obvious thing you can do to help keep the kids from getting bored is to install a DVD system in your vehicle.  Watching movies along the way to your family vacation destination will certainly keep the children entertained as long as the movies remain available.

Of course, not everyone has a DVD player in their vehicle.  If this is the case, music can help prevent boredom from setting in as well – particularly if everyone joins in with the merriment.

Another roadtrip game you can play is to challenge the children to look for certain items along the way.  For example, you can challenge them to look for license plates for all 50 states. If you create a list ahead of time, they can simply check off the states as they find them.  You can use this states.doc with your kids while on your trip.

Another roadtrip game is to look for every letter of the alphabet on the signs along the road.  To make the game even more challenging, go in alphabetical order and only count the first letter of the words you see on the signs.  You might have to cheat a little on X, though we usually find a semi-trailer with Xtra on it at some point or another.  Q can be a challenge as well – just hope you come across a Dairy Queen once you reac that letter!

You can also look for different colored vehicles, such as challenging the children to be the first to spot a red vehicle or any other color you select.

With a little imagination, you can make your family travel experience enjoyable while on the road.

By admin | Posted in General Family Travel Tips, and, automatically, boredom  , breaking, by , couple, entertained, family, hours, important, kids, road, roadtrip, single, stave, steps, stopping, the, tip, travel, trip | Comments (0)

Family Travel Roadtrip Tips – Make the Trip Part of the Family Vacation

August 4, 2007

I have done a great deal of talking about some of the wonderful places I have visited with my family, so I think it is about time I offer a few family travel tips for when on the road.

For me, the actal trip to the destination can be just as much fun as the destination itself.  In order to make the trip a pleasant part of your family vacation, you have to establish a certain mindset.

First of all, don’t try to push your way through as quickly as possible.  This only results in cranky children and irritated adults when the trip schedule is inevitably thrown of track.

I used to call my husband the “Pee Nazi” because stopping for a restroom break was such an ordeal.  “But, baby, I am making such good time” he would say.

Finally, he realized that going into the roadtrip with the understanding that we would have to stop along the way just made it easier on everyone.  Now, when we go on a family vacation, we even keep an eye out for fun stops along the way.  Stopping every few hours to take a restroom break, to grab a snack, or to see a interesting site has made the roadtrip aspect of our family vacations a great part of the trip rather than a hassle.

By admin | Posted in General Family Travel Tips, a, actal, deal, destination, family, fun, great, itself  , my, offer, places, talking, the, time, tips, travel, trip, visited, wonderful | Comments (0)

Wisconsin Dells Magic Show

August 3, 2007

The site that my family seemed to enjoy the most on our trip to Wisconsin Dells was the Rick Wilcox Magic show. 

Now, I will warn you, this was the single most expensive attraction that we visited while at Wisconsin Dells.  Part of the reason for the added expense, however, was that we purchased center row tickets for all six of us.  The theater is pretty small, so I would imagine that sitting in a sit seat would offer just as good of a view and it wouldn’t be necessary to sit in the center of the theater.

We weren’t sure what to expect with this show.  Seeing as we were in Wisconsin Dells, we were a little afraid of it being CHEESIE (bad pun intended).  But, the show was actually quite entertaining and all of the children absolutely loved.  It was definitely an expense that was well worth it.

Depending on the time of year that you visit the Dells, you will only have one or two chances each day to see the show.  Also, I would recommend purchasing your tickets ahead of time.  The theater was nearly full when we visited and we went in early June before the Dells are really in full swing.

In my opinion, this show is a must see!

By admin | Posted in Performances for the Family, dells, enjoy, family, my, the, trip, wisconsin | Comment (1)

Wisconsin Dells and Devil’s Lake State Park

July 30, 2007

For me and my family, no vacation is complete without including some sort of nature aspect to it.  While the trip on the ducks and on the speedboats had a certain amount of nature to it, it is not quite the same as getting out there and hiking.  So, we decided to add a trip to Devil’s Lake State Park to our trip.

 Getting around the state park was a little bit confusing, as there are a couple of different entrances to the park and they are a bit spread apart from one another.  Not only that, I hadn’t really planned this leg of the trip too thoroughly because there wasn’t too much info on the Net.

At any rate, we decided to just drive around the park and see what would strike our fancy.  There were quite a few visitors to the park and you have to pay for parking ($5), so be sure to bring some cash.  There are two lines for entering the park.  One line was supposed to be for people that already have passes, but we noticed that quite a few people were purchasing their passes from that line too (which was moving much faster than our line, I might add). 

The lake is absolutely beautiful.  The water is quite blue and the lake is surrounded by large, grassy hills.  There are also several trails at the park.  We took the trail to Devil’s Door, which is a huge rock formation.  The entire trip was up a hill with stone steps naturally placed throughout the hill.  Finding the right rocks could be a little confusing at times and the walk up the hill is pretty physical, but everyone managed it (including the 5 year old twins).

After seeing the rock formation and some other sites along the way, we had to walk back down the hill through another path.  This one was also straight down and quite similar to the trail we took on the way  up.  Some of the rocks were a bit slippery, too, so if you take this path, be sure to watch out for the rocks and use a bit of caution.

Visiting Devil’s Lake State Park was definitely worth adding to our agenda.  It only took about 15 minutes to get there from Wisconsin Dells, too, so it was pretty convenient as well.

By admin | Posted in Great Cities for Family Vacations, State Parks to Visit During Family Travel, and, aspect, complete, ducks, family, including, it  , my, nature, sort, the, trip, vacation | Comments (0)