Did you know that there’s a town named Santa Claus in Indiana that celebrates the magic of the Christmas season all year long? We had no clue! I came across an article that highlighted the top 10 Christmas towns in America and Santa Claus made the list. I was intrigued, so began doing more research and decided we had to check it out! And, of course December was the perfect month for a quick visit. So, we got busy finding cute matching holiday sweaters and pajamas for us and the kids. Then, we picked a weekend, booked a hotel and discovered there were so many festive activities planned for the Saturday we’d be visiting!
From Texas, the drive is about 11.5 hours. As we neared Santa Claus, IN, we made a stop at Lincoln’s Boyhood Memorial in Lincoln City, IN. It was a nice place to get out, do some hiking, and stretch our legs after being in the car for so long. Not everything was open due to Covid, but we felt safe, we were outdoors, and were able to social distance from other visitors. It almost felt like we were there by ourselves. If you love Abe Lincoln like we do, make sure to visit this amazing historical site!
From Lincoln City we drove about 5 minutes and arrived in Santa Claus! Right away you begin seeing Santa Claus statues welcoming you into town. The streets are named things like, Christmas Blvd, Holiday Ln, etc. For a small town, it was filled with so many fun attractions. There’s even an amusement park and water park (they were closed while we were there).
We found all of the available activities on the Santa Claus website, which was super helpful to plan out the day!
Here is our list of favorite activities!
1. Drive through donut, pancake and sausage breakfast served by Santa! (Free/Optional Donation)
2. Santa’s Toy Shop
3. Pictures with the MOST amazing Santa and Mrs. Claus! (Free/Optional Donation)
4. Candy Castle – Be sure to try the frozen hot chocolate!
If you follow our travels, you’ll know that I might have a small obsession with the movie Home Alone. I’ve visited the house where the movie was filmed two times now and it’s on my bucket list to go back and see it during Christmastime. So, when I heard that there was a Home Alone Airbnb in Dallas (just 45 minutes from my house), I knew I had to see it!
This movie is definitely a family favorite of ours and I cannot even tell you the total amount of times I’ve seen it. I still remember my mom taking my little sister and I to the movies when it released back in 1990, I was 8 years old. I’m not sure a year has gone by that I haven’t watched it during the holidays. And thankfully my boys love it just as much as I do!
Our first visit to the real life Home Alone house!
I’m happy to say that our stay was everything I hoped it would be! I don’t think we stopped smiling all night. The thoughts and details that went into planning this themed getaway are top notch and I cannot believe some of the memorable in this place! AND, it even came with a FREE large cheese pizza.
A delicious cheese pizza all to myself! Did everyone have these Christmas glasses or was it just me?
I think one night is all you need to experience the magic of this place, especially if you’re local. It felt like the most epic sleepover ever and my boys were thrilled that we didn’t have to leave once we arrived. Of course, if you’re traveling from a long distance, you are right outside of downtown Dallas and have tons of touristy locations and amazing restaurants right at your fingertips!
And my favorite part of all, watching both Home Alone and Home Alone Lost in New York on VHS tape! We taught the kids how to rewind a video and all about Blockbuster and how exciting it was to go rent movies on Friday nights! I’m totally an 80s kid and this just took me back to my childhood! It was nice to forget about politics, Covid and real life for a night!
The kids didn’t know what this TV was haha! They almost died of boredom when it took us 8 minutes to rewind the movie! Keep the change, ya filthy animal
I hope you enjoy our night through all of the pictures we took! The link is below if you’re interested in booking a night at “The Kevin.” I believe there’s availability through the end of January 2021!
How cute is this place? Amazed as soon as we stepped foot on the property! Buzz, you’re girlfriend… WOOF Check out the alarm clock, it was even blinking when we got here! Rockin around the Christmas tree… Buzz’s room! Y’all, there were still chips in the bag! Ahhhh!
Today I want to tell you all about Glen Rose, Texas! This place has been a favorite of ours for years. The first time I went to Glen Rose, I was a little kid on an adventure with our church. However, the memories lasted forever and Jereme and I visited this area several times before we even had kids. What can I say, I am a huge nerd and love all things DINOSAURS! I know that we haven’t done it all, but we have camped here, tubed the river, saw real dinosaur tracks, experienced Dinosaur World, fed animals at Fossil Rim, and more!
I have combined years worth of fun in this blog post to show you what an amazing destination Glen Rose is!
Dinosaur Valley State Park
This park is one of my all time favorites because you can actually see real dinosaur tracks from millions of years ago! Throw on your swimsuit and rain boots and head to the river to explore, swim, fish, and picnic! The rocks are slippery, so be sure to leave your phone behind or put it in a waterproof case. And don’t forget to check out the preserved dinosaur footprints! At this time, you need reservations to enter the park. You can find more information by clicking here!
Fossil Rim
Your family will love this drive through animal adventure! There are so many animals freely roaming in the park, many of them endangered. Roll down your windows, unbuckle those seat belts, and enjoying feeding animals right from your hand! You can find out more information by clicking here!
Dinosaur World
If you love dinosaurs, this is the place to be! There are hundreds of life-size dinosaurs located around this outdoor park. The trails are fun to explore and there are many opportunities to learn about the different types of dinosaurs and several hands-on experiences. There’s also a museum, gift shop, and playground on site. To learn more, click here!
Big Rocks Park
This is such a neat area, right in the middle of Glen Rose, and it’s FREE to enter. There are a lot of “big rocks” to explore and the Paluxy River runs right through this park. It’s not very deep and it is very slippery, but we really enjoyed the day here. Parking is tricky, there are not a lot of spots, so I would suggest getting here early. There’s also a campground across the street that we have camped at before that is really nice! Pack a picnic lunch and bring a swimsuit and good shoes to explore this area. For more information, click here!
As you can see, Glen Rose is a fun destination for adults and kids of all ages! Be sure to add this to your travel list. We’ve visited Glen Rose for the day, we’ve camped and stayed at a hotel in town! Below is a list of hotels and campgrounds in the area.
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!
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!
Road Trip Queen 