After taking a weekend off from any outdoor adventure, we were ready for some fun this past Saturday. I took it easy for about 10 days, no walking, no biking and no running and it appears that my leg splints have disappeared. I will slowly add some running back in. Anyhow, we deciding to hit the Silver Comet Trail again and ride even further this time. Knowing my children, I made sure to pack some snacks, some water and some lunch. After trying going in the opposite direction on the trail last time, we decided we like the original direction of going towards Atlanta because it is flatter as well…

This past weekend was the first time that we traveled since Martin Luther King’s long weekend. I have gone on errands, we have gone to state parks and places to hike but we have slept home every night for the past 4 months. So heading to our uncle’s lake house was something we looked forward to after we planned it a couple of weeks ago. The house sits on a lake in Alabama and is a 2 hour drive from our house. We always bring food with us to help with meals and try to clean up after ourselves so we don’t have things laying around while we are there.…

On our way back from our mini vacation to Chattanooga, TN, we took some back roads home so we could hike down Cloudland Canyon. I had seen several pictures from friends who had been and despite the wet day, we decided to take the chance and take the trail down hoping it wouldn’t pour on us. Thankfully, it only drizzled a little and didn’t start really raining till we were almost at the car. The view from the top gives a little idea of the depth of the canyon. The trail was well marked and there were steps down to the gorge and waterfalls. Since my youngest had been cranky…

I pride myself on usually being thrifty and staying on budget. Vacations are a little different as in I still have a budget but we do not get anxious about each dollar spent so I planned the budget for our 2 days in Chattanooga accordingly. My budget for this mini vacation was $600 which seems high for just 2 days but our family of 6 was going to eat out and visit the aquarium. Free fun and small savings Here are a few ways we saved money: we ate our free hotel breakfast which was pretty nice since it was a Hilton Garden Inn we got our parking for free…

I do not know about you but when I am not planning to go on a full blown vacation (aka a trip abroad or a full week at the beach for example), I am a lot more careful about the amount of money we are going to spend. Case in point, the 2-3 days vacation we are going to Chattanooga, TN next week. We have been to Chattanooga before since it has some fun family activities and is less than 2 hours from Atlanta. Since it is not an exotic location and the purpose of our vacation is just to get out of the house and do something fun as…

Here were my travel goals and plans as of September. A few things have changed in the past few months to where we might be able to add a few trips and vacations this year if I am careful with saving. Winter break The boys have a short winter break in February, 4 1/2 days long. I am hoping to head to Chattanooga for a couple days with our family. As usual for a vacation that involves a hotel stay, we will use hotel points we have so our expenses will include lunch and dinner as well as any fun activity we plan to enjoy. I am thinking, the children’s…

Most of the places we go to the beach have wildlife refuges or state parks nearby. As we were looking for an outing and we love to hike, we came upon the Bon Secour Wildlife refuge. We chose one of the trails and hiked for about an hour or two at a slow pace. I love these trails because you see different types of flora and fauna, in this case mostly flora, many different cool plants! Isn’t deer moss really cool? It belongs to the lichen family and is very slow growing. It felt spongy to the touch. The brackish water gave the water a strange reddish tint. We were…

Last year, when we traveled to Fort Morgan, we did not do much more than sit and play on the beach. This year we planned a few outings. One of my favorites turned out to be visiting Fort Morgan. Construction on Fort Morgan began in 1819 and took 15 years to complete! Sadly the labor for this project was slaves as the government made a slave lease contract with owners in the region. The longest period of military occupation at the fort was during the Coat Artillery era from 1898 to 1923. The fort was also used during WWII as an ordnance depot. While this fort is not as well…

Berry College is a private Christian College that was found in 1902 by Martha Berry. The college is located in Rome, GA and has one of the most beautiful campus I have ever seen.  Visitors are allowed to visit the campus and just have to have a copy of their driver’s license ready so their information can be noted at the entrance gate. My favorite part of the campus is the buildings that look straight out of England but the woods and trails are beautiful too. The campus is comprised of 27,000 acres of land with fields and forests. I visited once with my brother and another time with my…

Taking advantage of free activities or outings in your area or state is a good way to enjoy family time when you are on a budget. You can hike, go to the park, enjoy free festivals or find special places to discover. A friend of mine often shares places she would like to visit in Georgia on her Facebook page. I often screenshot those places so I can refer to them when we do not know what to do. A couple weekends ago, we had about an hour of free time after church before my son soccer little shoot out competition. I remembered reading about a rock garden in Calhoun,…