Author: roadtripqueen

Road trip expert here to help you plan epic adventures across the US!

Cancun Family Vacation Travel Guide

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Occasionally the Road Trip Queens take to the sky, especially when the Caribbean is calling! My family decided to end the summer in Cancun, Mexico and man, it felt like THE trip of a lifetime. From releasing baby sea turtles, to swimming with dolphins, traveling to Chichen-Itza, and exploring a cenote, we had the adventure of all adventures this summer! Keep reading for our complete Cancun family vacation travel guide!

We’ve been to several different destinations in Mexico and have traveled to/from the Cancun airport, but we had never stayed in Cancun for vacation. Let me tell you, if you haven’t been GO! I can’t really even accurately describe the water, it’s other-worldly. The people were kind, the scenery was beautiful, and we always felt safe at our resort and on our excursions.

We stayed at Reflect Cancun Resort & Spa and it did not disappoint. The food was good, the drinks were better! We loved the different ceviche options at the pool.

On our first night, we stumbled upon a group that was releasing hundreds of baby sea turtles. We were invited to help in the release and to date, it’s one of the most memorable experiences I have ever been so fortunate to be a part of. Of course, I left my camera in the room so sadly I don’t have any photos of this awesome animal encounter. This was my favorite part of our trip!

On our second day in Cancun, we decided to just hang out at the resort. We played on the beach, swam in the ocean, explored the property, and relaxed by the pool. We never ran out of food options and had the breakfast buffet, lunch and snacks by the pool, and enjoyed the dinner buffet. We also booked our excursions on this day right at our hotel. We knew we wanted to visit ancient ruins, and Chichen-Itza was highly recommended by the hotel staff. They offered a package that included a bus ride, a light breakfast, lunch, a guided tour of Chichen-Itza, and a fun stop to swim in a cenote. We also booked an hour of swimming with dolphins at the hotel next door. It was so nice and easy to be able to talk to hotel staff and pick the best excursions for our time and budget.

Day Trip Chichen-Itza

Chichen-Itza is one of the new seven wonders of the world and a must-see if you’re in Mexico. My boys are very interested in ancient ruins, so we knew Mexico would be a great place to check out Mayan Ruins. Chichen-Itza is about a 2 hour drive from Cancun. We booked this excursion at our hotel and it included roundtrip transportation on a huge air-conditioned bus (with a bathroom) and fun entertainment with our tour guides. We also had a light breakfast, a delicious Mexican lunch buffet, and swimming in a cenote included in this excursion package. The tour starts very early in the morning, we were picked up directly at our hotel and didn’t return until 7-8 pm. The tour guides had a short presentation on the Mayan culture, Mayan artifacts were passed around, and we learned a little about the ruins – one of the guides was also Mayan! The guides escorted us around Chichen-Itza and explained all of the different sights and ruins and what they were thought to be so long ago. Then we had a chance to explore on our own. The only downside of this adventure was the heat! It was extremely sunny and hot at the end of July! Be sure to take sunscreen & water and wear a hat & sunglasses.

We ended the trip with a quick stop to explore a cenote! The water was freezing, so it was very refreshing after being out in the heat at the ruins. There were bathrooms and a changing room with lockers, so we were able to quickly get changed, grab life jackets, and then head down to the cenote, which is basically an underground sinkhole with water. The cenote we explore is called Cenote Ik Kil. Jake and I swam, but Jereme and Jett were able to jump off a ledge inside the cenote. This is one of Jett’s favorite highlights of the trip!

Swimming with Dolphins

As you might know, my family is full of animal lovers! So any time we can experience an animal encounter, we do it! We were able to book a Swimming with Dolphins adventure and it was held at the hotel next door to ours. I really liked this tour because we got a behind the scenes look at how these dolphins are cared for, and I swear they’re living their best life! We were paired with a sweet mom and son on this adventure, so it felt very personalized being in a small group. The dolphin trainers explained what our encounter would be like and went over some rules to protect the dolphins and ourselves while we were in the water with them. Then the dolphins swam out and we had the best time! They did some tricks, posed for a few pics with us, and then it was time for the dolphin ride along as the dolphins pulled us through the water with their dorsal fins. I was a little nervous at first and wondered what would happen if I missed the fins when they swam by. But then, my 5-year-old did it beautifully and the nerves melted away. By far this was the boys best memory in Mexico!

The rest of our trip was spent at the resort! The boys especially enjoyed the pool canoes and the bartenders making them fruity drinks!

*BIG TIP* if you tip the waiters & the bartenders, even a small amount, they will take amazing care of you! We never had an empty cup or had to wait for someone to take our poolside food order. We felt really special!

If you’re interested in planning a trip to Mexico & need any ideas, please reach out! I’m happy to answer any questions you may have.

We used the fabulous travel agent, Alexa Spahr. She comes highly recommended and has helped us book a couple of trips to Mexico. She really works with your budget and travel dates & it has always been such a smooth and easy process with her help. You can contact Alexa via email at alexa@travelwithalexa.com and be sure to check out her website www.travelwithalexa.com.

How to do Chicago in 2 Days with Kids!

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Hey y’all! This is Jasha here. I am so excited to share our quick trip to Chicago. I am not going to lie, I was NERVOUS to head to the windy city with the kids… without Jereme. But it ended up being SOOOO much fun! So let me start from the beginning…

I am famous for planning our next road trip while on a road trip haha! So, as I was driving us through Missouri, we decided that we had to go visit our dear friends that were staying in Chicago for the summer. We really didn’t have any idea how long of a trip Chicago would be from Dallas, but it turns out that it’s only 13 hours away! I mean, we drive that far to Colorado for our ski trips and we’ve definitely gone farther before. Once we ran the idea by our hubbies, we booked our hotel on Expedia (book now/pay later of course). Which was brilliant, because we originally planned to go in early July but we ended up stranded up in Wyoming and Colorado with our Yukon issues. I am so happy that we were able to go, we had a great time on this road trip!

We left on a Sunday afternoon and stopped in Joplin, Missouri for the night. Then we woke up early and ventured to Springfield, IL. Click here to see our All Things Abe Lincoln Blog! We finally arrived to our hotel late Monday night. We stayed at the Congress Plaza Hotel in Chicago. It was lovely. I was nervous about driving through Chicago & unloading our things in the city, you know these are the things Moms worry about when traveling alone. Fortunately, there was a little driveway to pull into and we valeted the car for the 2 days we were there. It did cost $50 per day, but I was okay with that price, mainly because we didn’t really have a choice! We pretty much went straight to bed so that we could wake up early and get together with Roz and the girls! Their apartment in Chicago is amazing! Check out these views of the lake!!

The Wright’s Lake House

Day 1: Our hotel was only 2 blocks away from Roz’s “lake house.” We walked straight to their place and then headed to breakfast. After we ate, we started our adventures with the kiddos. We had the best tour guides, too! Emma and Hayley (my former kinder and 1st grade students) were the best at guiding us through the city! We walked from breakfast to Shedd Aquarium, which is another place I’ve added to my list of “places to work when I grow up” haha! There was so much to see and do. I don’t think we even touched the surface of all the things there, but we did see some neat exhibits and watched a dolphin show! The kids also found some great souvenirs! You can actually see the aquarium from the Wright’s apartment, so I am sure you can imagine how gorgeous the walk was back to their place. We took in the sights from the city and went back to swim in their pool and hot tub! After swimming, we went back to the hotel for a quick rest/do some work (I was still styling for Stitch Fix at the time). We met back up with Roz and the girls and had some deep dish pizza at Gino’s East. Then we called it a night. We walked a grand total of 8.1 miles this day and the kids did awesome!

Walk along the lake to Shedd Aquarium

Shedd Aquarium

The fountain from Married with Children LOL!

The most beautiful pool I’ve been to!

These kids have it so bad ha!

Had to pose with some deep dish pizza! My secret… I hate pizza LOL!

Day 2: I think this day was my favorite! We met up with Roz and the girls at The Bean. It was so sunny and bright, but we were able to snap a few pics to mark our time here. From The Bean, we actually loaded up on a bus and took public transportation to the famous Portillo’s for lunch. My anxiety was through the roof in this place. So many people, so many choices, so many workers yelling. But let me tell you, THE FOOD IS WORTH IT! I had the best chopped salad I have ever had with a side of Italian beef LOL. It was to die for! After lunch, we walked through downtown Chicago down by the river. This city is so beautiful. Then, we went to Jojo’s Milk Bar for a fun treat! Check out these milkshakes!!! They were an instant tummy ache, but oh so yummy! From here, we took the kids to Adler Planetarium. It was super cool and kept the kids entertained for hours! It was another fabulous walk back to the hotel and we had fun spending some time out by the lake on our way back . We finished the day with dinner at Roz’s and watched a firework show over the lake from their living room! Apparently, there’s a firework show over the lake every Sunday and Wednesday in the summer. Then, we hugged the girls goodbye and went to the hotel for our last night in Chi-town. As you can tell, we packed in a lot for our two full days in the city. And, we walked a grand total of 10.3 miles this day!

The Bean

Braving the bus!

Inside Portillo’s

jojo’s Milk Bar

Adler Planetarium

Fireworks over the lake!

Day 3: We had to head back this day, but we were SOOOO close to the infamous Home Alone House. I mean, when you’re only 20 miles from the filming location of the BEST Christmas movie of all time, you have to go visit. OMG, I was so nervous the closer we got. I didn’t know what we would encounter. But I was also super excited. I honestly think I may like this movie more than my kids. When the house came into view, I was pumped! This has been a dream of mine for years! We parked the car, jumped out and took the quickest pic in history haha! Looking back, I wish I would’ve knocked on the door and asked for a tour. Click here for the address.

My childhood dream come true!

Springfield, Illinois

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Have you ever stumbled across an amazing place by accident? Well, we sure did on our way to Chicago! There are so many historical sites to see in Springfield, Illinois all dedicated to our wonderful 16th President Mr. Abraham Lincoln! I honestly had no idea this city would be so neat. Check out the amazing things we got to see and do, plus a list of more that we didn’t get to.

We started out our drive to Chicago on a Sunday night and stopped about 6 hours down the road in Springfield, MO. We were so tired from the drive and decided to sleep in before continuing on to Chicago. BIG MISTAKE! Because of this, we ended up in Springfield, IL around 5:00 pm and all of the historical sites close at 5:00 or 6:00 pm. This is one thing that I wish I had known before! We still got to visit the only home that Abraham Lincoln ever owned. It’s called the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. There’s also a welcome center that has a little museum and gift shop inside that was open. We did not get to go inside of the house, so we decided that we had to stop back by on our way home from Chicago.

Apparently this area of Illinois is known as “The Land of Lincoln” and there’s a lot of different signage for specific historical interest sites dedicated to his legacy. I really wish I would’ve researched this area more before our trip because we could’ve easily spent a few days there!

If you want to visit this area, make sure you plan to stay at least two full days. And get there early since everything closes at 5:00! Some points of interest include: Lincoln Home National Historic Site, Lincolns’ tomb/grave site, Abraham Lincoln National Presidential Library and Museum, the largest covered wagon in the US (with Abe inside), his father’s log cabin, Union Station, and more! Check out this website for a complete list of sites!

We explored the street that Lincoln and Mary lived on with their boys before they loaded up and took the train to Washington DC. The street still looks like it did in the 1800s! We also checked out the artifacts in the welcome center, which is where you need to park to explore the area, and then headed on to Chicago. On our way out of town, we noticed the Presidential Library and Museum and added it to our list to explore on our way home. Then we started googling different sites as we passed the signs on the drive out. That’s when Carrie found the biggest covered wagon in the US and we knew we had to see it! It was a fun, quick stop for a picture. And did I mention, all of this is on Historic Route 66?!

Abe’s writing desk!

Not Abe’s actual hat, all of his hats are in museums. But this is probably something he really did have at home!

THE BEST Park Ranger ever!

Here are our favorite pictures from the Presidential Museum!

This is definitely a must-see area if you love US history/All Things Presidents like my boys! We will be going back one day so that Jereme can see the sites and to visit the places we didn’t get to! If you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave them below and I’ll do my best to get back to you!

Garden of the Gods

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Hey y’all! It’s Jasha here again. I thought I would blog about our day trip to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, CO. We’ve had quite the adventure! So, for those of you that don’t know, we left for an 8 day vacation on June 23rd and headed to South Dakota for the week. Our trip unexpectedly turned into a 12 day trip! On our way back to TX, our Yukon lost all engine power due to a problem with the computer system. We ended up stuck in Cody, WY for 3 days without a car. Finally, it was fixed… or so we thought. When we made it 8 hours down the road, on the outskirts of Colorado Springs, the computer system had another problem and we lost all engine power again. We were literally right at an exit and were able to coast over to a fabulous hotel, called My Place Hotel. The staff was amazing and got us a great rate. The rooms were awesome, with full kitchens and an option to have breakfast delivered to your room in the morning for you to cook. It also had a grocery selection which was helpful for us since our vehicle wasn’t running. Check it out if you’re ever out in CO Springs! Anyway, my dad is amazing and came to the rescue with a truck and trailer to help haul us home. He lives in the same town as us, so it took him 11 hours to drive up to Colorado. So, we decided to take the boys to do something fun for the day while we waited for him. I had been to the Garden of the Gods when I was a kid with my family and then Jereme and I went up there with his family about 15 years ago. So, it had been a really long time since I was last there. And let me just say, my boys LOVED it! I have never heard them ask to have their picture taken so many times. So, if you have little boys, or girls, that love the outdoors and enjoy climbing over cool rock formations, then this is the place to go! Oh, and it’s FREE to visit!

We Ubered over to the Garden of the Gods visitor center to start out our day trip. It has restrooms, a few exhibits, a cafe/coffee shop, a souvenir shop, movie theater (that details the formation of this land form), a 2nd story viewing balcony, and a lower level desk that offers different tours – like by jeep or trolley. I believe they also offer free shuttles that drive you across the street where the rock formations are. We chose to walk, we had been stuck in the last hotel for 3 days and then again in the car the whole day before, so it was nice exercise for all of us! We packed a backpack full of drinks and a few snacks for the hike. I think next time we might pack a picnic lunch to take with us. (I’ll get to the food part later!)

Jereme and the boys on the walk to the Garden of the Gods Park

The views are amazing, even before you walk through the park. There are different paths and trails along the way that are very easy to walk along. There are a few stairs to climb, but nothing too hard. It was really hot when we were there so we took a lot of breaks in the shade. We enjoyed watching the rock climbers during our breaks.

One muddy part, the boys problem-solved an easier way across!
There was a log down to use to cross the water! It was hard to stay balanced!

Below are just a few of our favorite pictures in the park.

My family!
Notice how nice most of the paths are!
Climbing with my boys!
Jett climbing through a tunnel
My boys had the best time!
Jett just doing his thing!
Jake was so mad that I wouldn’t let him climb as high as his brother!
Loved all of our adventures this past week!

More stunning scenery!

We explored the park for about 3 hours and then we got hot and tired. We decided to venture back to the visitor center for some food and to peruse the exhibits. We had a wonderful late lunch at the cafe. The boys had yummy cheese pizza and I had a tuna sandwich. Jereme had a turkey avocado sandwich. It was a little pricey, I think we spent about $40 on food , but overall we enjoyed what we ordered! Then we walked around the exhibits and ended our visit at the souvenir shop where little Jake spent ALL of his birthday money! Haha! Below are a few pictures from the visitor center.

Different animals found in the area

Once again, the teacher in me loved this! We definitely want to go back and visit Colorado Springs next summer. Near the Garden of the Gods is also The Cave of the Winds and Pike’s Peak. I’m sure there’s so much more in the area to explore, so stay tuned for our next visit!

How to do San Antonio in 24 Hours!

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Hey y’all! Jasha here again! I wanted to share our first trip of 2019, without kids in tow, with you all. This was another last minute trip that Carrie and I took the weekend after Galveston. We love our kids, but they sure can drive us crazy sometimes ha! So, we decided to hit the road for a quick trip down to San Antonio, TX!

In front of The Alamo at night!

We found a nice hotel (again last minute) and decided to book it right away. We stayed at Hotel Indigo San Antonio-Riverwalk I love booking through Expedia.com and choosing the book now/pay later option. I love the “pay later” option especially since you’re usually able to cancel the day before check in. Being a busy mom, you never know what might come up! We almost canceled because the weather was not looking great for the weekend down there, but since we REALLY wanted a break from the kiddos, we decided to go ahead and go. And man, I’m so glad we did!

The drive down went fairly smooth. Luckily we had just missed an ice storm a few days before, so by the time we left all the roads were clear. Check out this sign though!

Needless to say, it was pretty chilly. We arrived to the hotel and check in was great! The hotel was so nice. We laughed as soon as we entered our room because it was huge and of course it was just the two of this time. The hotel was located right on the Riverwalk. The only downside was that even though it was on the water, it was a really, really long walk to the restaurants and more popular/touristy parts of the Riverwalk. I’ll touch on that more later…

Hotel Indigo San Antonio-Riverwalk (image from Expedia.com)

After check in we decided to go exploring! Our destination was of course the Riverwalk. We left our hotel and walked right down to the river from easily accessible doors through the back of the lobby/dining area.

This selfie was right outside of our hotel on the Riverwalk

We were also starving at this point! So, we began walking and walking and walking. Neither of us minded but we were both glad the kids weren’t with us because it would’ve been too far for them. We ended up eating at Johnny Rockets. We had some fantastic greasy burgers that hit the spot! From lunch we headed over to The Alamo. There wasn’t a long line to get in and we were able to take a quick self-guided tour inside. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside of The Alamo. But we got a couple of great shots outside both during the day and at night!

After visiting The Alamo we decided to be crazy tourists and we hit up the Ripley’s Believe It or Not exhibit! It is directly across the street from The Alamo. We had a blast! We laughed and were silly and it was just what we needed! We got the pass to go into all of the Ripley’s exhibits, which included the haunted house and Louis Tussaud’s Wax Museum. I believe there were three or four total attractions. It was misting rain outside at this time so it was the perfect place to be indoors and dry! And yes, I screamed several times in the haunted house! Ha! Here a few shots of the things we did:

Twilight!! Yassss!

After we finished with Ripley’s, we needed dinner! We really just wanted to sit out on the Riverwalk and have Mexican food and margaritas, so that’s what we did! It just so happened to be The Chinese New Year weekend river parade so we enjoyed decorated boats and music and floating lanterns on the Riverwalk while we had dinner! I was too busy eating to get any pics, but Carrie got a few!

One of the floats for the Chinese New Year!

After dinner we headed to get souvenirs for the kids and took a few more pics along the River Walk and then we were ready to call it night.

This picture was before dinner – we ate where the umbrellas are to the right!

I could not leave San Antonio without scorpion suckers (which my two boys did eat) and Mexican jumping beams!

It was misting again at this point and our hotel was so.far.away! It was so nice, but if you stay at Hotel Indigo you probably need to taxi or Uber closer to the main attractions. I love walking along the Riverwalk, but at night and in the rain was not fun at all. Especially without our husbands with us, the crazies come out at night! Obviously we made it back just fine and had a chance to chat on the phone with our kiddos and hubbies before putting on our pj’s and just relaxing in bed. It was nice watching The Office reruns without any interruptions!!

The hotel had a nice breakfast the next morning and then we journeyed home! It was a fast and FUN 24 hours in San Antonio and just what these tired mamas needed!

Galveston Island, TX

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Hey y’all! This is Jasha here, trying to get caught up on the travel blog. This Road Trip Queen has been busy with at least one trip a month since January. Needless to say, I’m falling behind with travel updates due to ALL the travel, life, kids, hubby, work, school events, etc.

Jasha and Carrie in Galveston
February 2019

I have been wanting to blog about Galveston for awhile now, even before I started a blog. I always hear so many negative things about this place and it really saddens my heart because I LOVE it SOOOOO much! Everyone has their own opinion, I just hope my views may encourage more people to give this amazing place a chance! You just have to keep in mind that no, the water is not clear/blue and the sand is not soft and white. But overall, a beach is a beach and if you want a quick, fun getaway packed full of memories, this is the place to go! My kids have been to beaches in TX, California, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, Cabo San Lucas, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel and will tell anyone that asks that Galveston is their favorite! I think that part of it is because they are so familiar with the area and feel so comfortable when we’re here. We also go so often that we don’t really make plans. It’s usually pretty chill and we sleep in and sometimes just hang out in the condo. It’s more relaxing because we’ve done most of the touristy things already and we just rest and relax and reconnect as a family when we’re there instead of being on the go constantly. I hope you enjoy reading about our first ever winter visit to Galveston with our favorite travel buddies!

Our second trip of the year was to Galveston, TX in February 2019. I grew up going here and my family goes a couple of times a year, but this was Carrie and her kids first trip to the island! We were so, so, so excited to take them to our favorite places! My family has actually never gone in February, so it was kind of a first for us, too. And as always, we really had a great time!

This trip was a quick one and was literally planned on our way home from a birthday party. My oldest son Jett LOVES Galveston! Right now he even wants to go to the college down here when he graduates HS! He’s grown up traveling and has visited several different beaches (in the US and Caribbean) since he’s been born. Hands down, Galveston has always been his favorite! It also holds a very special place in my heart, too! My parents do not fly anywhere, so I grew up traveling to Galveston every year. I continued the tradition with my husband and later our boys. Jett also loves eating crab legs and we always make sure to eat fresh seafood when we’re in Galveston. So, on our way home from a friend’s birthday party we noticed that Joe’s Crab Shack in Plano had closed down. So of course we joked about needing to go down to Galveston for crab legs. This was on a Sunday, I asked Carrie if they could go on a quick getaway on Tuesday, and by Friday we were heading down south to the coast!

We have stayed in the same place every trip for the past 8 years and love it! We rent a condo (unit 2301) at Seascape Condominiums which just so happens to be owned by my Dad’s buddy! This place is on the beach side of the Sea Wall and has it’s own beach area. If you’ve ever been to Galveston you know that most hotels are across the Sea Wall and you have to cross a busy 4-lane road to get to the beach. My family did it for years, but this place is the best because you don’t have to cross the street and lug your beach stuff around! It has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 balconies, a kitchen, living room, washer/dryer, and bunk beds built in the hallway. Overall, it can sleep 8 people comfortably. (I will find more pictures of the condo and post later).

View from the balcony of the condo at Seascape Condos
Levi, Jake, Sadie, and Jett being silly on the bunk beds!

So, we left right after school on Friday, February 1st. It only took us 4.5 hours to get from McKinney to Galveston! We packed in a lot of fun in the 2 full days we had there. We packed most of our food and took it with us so we didn’t have to stop when we got there. But there is a Walmart nearby and we usually get groceries there when we visit in the summer and stay longer. We arrived at the condo by 8:30 and went to the pool for a night swim. Luckily the pool is heated in the winter! Like I mentioned earlier, we have never visited Galveston in the winter and didn’t really know what to expect. The temperatures were in the 60’s the whole time and it was really cloudy/overcast. My kids loved it because I didn’t have to coat them in sunscreen this trip! One of my favorite things about the condo is that there’s a washer/dryer in the master closet. It’s really nice to be able to throw our towels and swimsuits in the dryer after each swim!

The next morning we woke up early and I made us bacon and eggs before heading down to the beach/pool for the day. It was chilly, but the kids played for hours, both in the sand and out in the ocean! It was way too cold for me to get in the water, but the kids had no trouble at all swimming and splashing. We warmed up in the heated pool to finish our day at the beach.

Sadie, Levi, Jake, and Jett at the beach on a cloudy winter day in Galveston
Levi, Sadie, Jett, & Jake playing in the ocean

After spending the day at the beach/pool, we decided to to take our friends to our favorite souvenir shop in the ENTIRE WORLD! Murdoch’s has always been and will always be my happy place! Being a teacher and loving all things science, it seriously wasn’t uncommon for me to plan a quick trip with Jereme (before we had kids) to Galveston just to hit up the souvenir shop for seashells and other beach themed items before teaching an ocean unit in my classroom. I loved this shop when I was a kid and my little sister and I have a series of pictures sitting out on the front steps each summer we were there. I was a sobbing mess when I watched live footage of Hurricane Ike destroy Murdoch’s in May 2008. Luckily for all of us, Murdoch’s was rebuilt even bigger and better than before! They have an excellent selection of items from beach toys to snacks/drinks, picture frames, home decor, t-shirts, hats, shoes, Christmas ornaments, and hermit crabs (and yes, we’ve left there a time or two with new pets in tow hahaha).

Just a small shot of the amazing items at Murdoch’s!
It’s a tradition to take a photo somewhere on the steps outside of Murdoch’s!

Then we finished the night with dinner at the the Rainforest Cafe. We had a great seat, the kids got balloon animals and were entertained by a magician before the food arrived. Overall it was a fantastic dining experience!

Me and the boys at dinner at the Rainforest Cafe

Saturday was so fun because we got to have one of our girls nights and do girly stuff while the boys played video games! This is one of my favorite memories with the Morgan girls!

Girls night!

Sunday morning we had to get up and check out of the condo, ugh vacations are never long enough! But we’re lucky that we don’t live too far away! We still spent the whole day showing the Morgans some of our other favorite places! We started with lunch at a new favorite of ours, Fisherman’s Wharf. This restaurant is near The Strand and the cruise terminals. It sits right on the water and we were able to see a huge Carnival cruise ship loading up passengers before setting sail. We have really enjoyed the food here and sometimes eat there multiple times during our summer vacations in Galveston! If you take your parking ticket inside, they will validate it and then parking is free. After eating, we usually spend the day or night walking around The Strand. There’s shopping, places to eat and drink, and photographic opportunities (like the Greetings From Galveston postcard pictured above). My kiddos love going to La Kings Confectionery and watching saltwater taffy being made, eating ice cream, and buying candy there! The Strand reminds me of New Orleans, just a little tamer!

Jett and Jake out front of Fisherman’s Wharf in Galveston
View from inside the restaurant!
We toured that boat after lunch, too!
Example of the “photographic opportunities” around The Strand!

After spending some time at The Strand, we headed to Moody Gardens to explore the aquarium! We didn’t have time for all of the activities there, but were able to squeeze in a fun visit for a few short hours before the drive home. We especially love the stingray & jellyfish encounters because you get to touch real stingrays and jellyfish in their tanks!

Sadie and a Stingray!
This little guy loved us!

After spending some time at the aquarium, we had no choice but to head home. I think we left Galveston around 4:00 pm and made it home around bedtime. It was a nice, quick getaway. Vitamin Sea is always good for the soul!

Stay tuned for more Galveston posts!

Crested Butte, CO

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Hey y’all, Jasha here! Man, I had a hard time deciding what trip I should start with… So, I’m going to share our first trip of 2019 and will try to do “flashback” stories of some of our other trips during our down time between travels.

My goal with this blog is to share our amazing adventures and provide tips along the way. With that being said, I am sharing it all – the good, the great, the bad, the ugly and everything in between! And well, for my family, this trip started out REALLY ugly…

For the past ten years or so, my family has taken a snowboarding trip every holiday season. Crested Butte, Colorado has become one of our favorites over the years. It’s known as “the last great Colorado ski town,” and for good reason. We decided we would ring in the New Year in CB, so we booked our condo for December 31-January 6th. On December 29th my boys and I ended up getting a horrible stomach virus, the second one for us in December!! I was supposed to be packing our family up and getting snacks and groceries for the drive, but instead we were all sleeping on the bathroom floor. It was awful. This is real life people! Sometimes we get sick when we have plans. We prayed, my husband (who was at work the day the boys and I were sick) did all of our grocery shopping, and we went to bed hopeful we could leave the next morning. Of course, Jereme (that’s my husband) ends up catching the virus and is so sick that next morning. We were supposed to leave by 8:00 am, but that wasn’t happening.

Luckily, it was a short-lived virus, so the boys and I really felt fine on our departure day. I packed us up, Jereme slept until around noon, and he pulled it together so we could leave. We had plans to stop in Trinidad, CO for the night, just to break up the drive. We live in North Texas, so it’s about a 13 hour drive to Crested Butte for us. Right before we left, we learned that a major winter storm was coming in with lots of snow expected and travel delays. I couldn’t believe it. We had been going to the mountain every year and never had this bad of luck before. I ended up driving us the entire 9 hour drive to Trinidad while Jereme slept in the back. We made it to our hotel for the night and luckily for us all, the virus had ran it’s course!

So, we got up early the next day, it was New Year’s Eve. And that’s when the winter storm hit! The 4.5 hour drive to our condo ended up taking about 6 hours, but we made it. My nerves were shot ha! We had never seen snow like this so far from the mountain. I think our top speed for several hours was about 25 mph.

We got to Crested Butte in time for the torch light parade and firework show to ring in 2019! Most ski resorts and mountain towns have special events like this during the holiday season. They begin between 5-5:30, it’s already super dark at that time!

We ended up having a really great trip, even though it didn’t start out that way. We spent time with our friends, we did some things on our own as a family, we rested, we relaxed, we snowboarded until everything hurt, we played in the snow, and ultimately made tons of memories!

Here are some tips from personal experience:

  1. If you plan to go skiing/snowboarding over Winter Break, try going on/after New Year’s Eve. It seems pretty crowded between Christmas and NYE, but everyone starts going home after New Year’s Day.
  2. Book your hotel or condo early. We usually book in August. We prefer to stay in a condo so that we can cook and have more room with our two crazy boys and all of the gear we have.
  3. Get waterproof everything, but especially gloves! I cannot stress this enough! Your day WILL be ruined if you have kids and their hands get wet and cold.
  4. Amazon has great deals on ski gear and apparel. You really don’t have to spend too much to be warm or cute!
  5. Prepare your kids early about building snowmen. I thought we would be able to make the best ones ever in Colorado, however, the snow is soft and dry and doesn’t really roll into balls. Ours looks more like a snow blob (picture below), but we still had fun creating it.
  6. Take at least a day off from skiing/boarding to explore the town. CB is so colorful, the locals are so nice, and the food is great!
  7. Germs are gross. Quarantine your family a few days before any trip ha!
  8. Be aware of winter weather and make sure you have food, water & blankets in your car in case of an emergency.
  9. Put your kids in ski school and enjoy a day with your husband or friends. The kids will have a blast and actually learn how to ski. You can have a nice lunch, adult drinks, or even some time at the spa!
  10. Finally, take lots of pictures and make some lasting memories!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from this trip! Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions.

Our first time meeting up with friends to go sledding!
Our “snowman.” We save bottle caps for eyes, buttons, and the mouth. We bought a carrot at the local grocery store for the nose!
My favorite ski town!

Can’t beat these views!
The guys had a great time while the little ones were at ski school and Carrie & I were at the spa!

How It All Began…

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Hey y’all, I’m Jasha (pronounced like Jay-shu) and for as long as I can remember, I’ve been obsessed with traveling! Often you can find me either planning my next adventure or on my next adventure. Everyone started calling me the Road Trip Queen and suggested that I write a travel blog, so the name kind of stuck and here I am, sharing all of my travels with you.

I am married to my high school sweetheart and we have two boys, Jett and Jake. I am also an elementary school teacher and a huge US History fanatic. I enjoy traveling with friends and my little family and really want to share it all with you – the good, bad, and ugly! Because, let’s be real here… I am traveling with kids ha!

My family!

Most of our travel adventures will be around the United States – we have a BIG goal to get our boys to all 50 states before they leave home. So far, I’m at 41 and the boys are at 39! I try not to include states that we just drive through, I want at least a hotel stay and some kind of experience to mark that state off of our list. Sometimes we take the boys out of the country, Mexico is one of our favorites! I am always happy to connect with my readers and answer any questions that you may have. I’ve also been known to help with travel planning, so please feel free to contact me!

I hope you all love taking this crazy, exciting, chaotic, unpredictable journey with me!