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,…

Visiting one’s backyard can be provide an afternoon of fun for little or no money. After celebrating my father’s 80th birthday in Rome, GA, we spent a couple of hours walking around town. Rome is built where the Etowah and the Oostanaula rivers meet forming the Coosa River. It is also built on seven hills which inspired the settlers to name it Rome. While still a small city (36,000+ in 2017), Rome has a number of historical places to visit, a cute downtown area and nicely developed area to walk by the river and hosts Berry College which has a beautiful campus. I will share pictures of the campus on…

The last activity on our weekend in Alabama was an outing on the lake. My husband’s uncle owns a pontoon boat and usually takes us on the lake at least once. The littlest pretended to drive while we were still at the dock. And my oldest got to drive for quite a while, slowy than faster as well as make turns. He really enjoyed himself. Once we leave the dock the 3 youngest always wear their life vests which makes them and us feel much more comfortable about letting them walk on the boat. Here, my 8 year old is pretending to be a tour guide. All the boys always…