While visiting my college friend in Missouri, we decided to take our boys to Kansas City which is only half an hour from her house. Wanted to be thrifty, we decided to visit Kaleidoscope and Crown Center Mall. Kaleidoscope Hallmark Kaleidoscope is a place where children can be creative with art. Children use materials from Hallmark manufacturing to create their art. As certain things run out, the materials are replaced them with other materials. The materials often to a season or holiday. During our visit, the center was celebrating Kaleidoscope 50th anniversary so children were able to make birthday hats among other things. The center is free and distribute tickets…

On our way to visit my friends in Missouri and Kansas City, we decided to stop for a sleepover in St. Louis. It is about an 8 hour drive from Atlanta and we wanted to explore what the city has to offer. A week or so before we left, my friend informed me that the zoo was free as well as the botanical gardens and a number of museums so we decided to visit the zoo this time. We enjoyed our time in St. Louis so much that we are planning our spring break there next year. I wasn’t sure what to expect in a free zoo but oh boy…

What a nice way to spend time with friends! Last week, one of my friends invited the boys and I to join her and her daughters at the Atlanta Zoo. I have had a yearly membership off and on over the years. As the zoo has made improvements the family membership has increased in price from around $99 to now $139 (2 adults and 4 children ages 3-17). Distance and busy schedules does not make it worth our while anymore to be members but thankfully my friend had just renewed her membership so we were able to accompany her for free on this outing. The weather turned out perfect for…

Last week, we visited a friend of mine and combined our visit with a hike at Tallulah Gorge. The gorge is about an hour from her house (and would have been 3 hours from mine) so we spent the night there before going to the gorge. We first spent a few minutes in the visitor center where there were some displays with taxidermed animals that are local to the area. We received a map from one of the rangers with directions to the different overlooks to see the fall and decided to walk the loop from the North rim across the suspension bridge to the South rim then across the…

A few weeks ago, my sister in law invited us to spend a long weekend  with her family in the Blue Ridge mountains just a little ways from Blue Ridge, GA. She rented a cabin on the river which we accessed by a bumpy dirt road a couple miles long. The location was perfect and restful. Free Fun One of the things that I enjoy about a short vacation in the mountains is that it can be fairly inexpensive as far as activities go. Yes, if you choose to go horseback riding, ziplining, paddle boarding the cost will add up. But you can still have fun without paying for different…

This will be my last travel post about our trip to Europe. I have enjoyed reliving our adventures through writing and recording our trip. Before leaving the north of France, we decided to visit Fontainebleau, a castle that began in the medieval times (nothing much is left from that era, just a small donjon stairwell) through the 19th century. It bcomes a large palace especially during the 2nd part of the reign of Francois 1er (1494-1547). Napoleon 1st will also spend time there in the 1800s. Since my husband and I had never visited the inside of the palace and the day was forecasted to be rainy, we drove to…