travel
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Noccalula Falls, Alabama
A couple weekends ago, we spent a long weekend in Alabama. As per usual, I had some outings in mind and one of them was Noccalula Falls. This waterfall cascades over 90 feets into a ravine. There is a 9 foot stature of Cherokee Princess Noccalula at the top of the falls who according to legend plunged to her death instead of marrying someone whom her father wanted her to marry. Now, Alabama has been in a state of drought for the past couple of months so the sight we were expecting of a beautiful waterfall was not what we saw. To say we were disappointed is an understatement. If…
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Horse Pens 40, Alabama
We spent our mini fall break at our uncle’s lakehouse! He is always so hospitable and we enjoy visiting him and finding new places to discover nearby. My youngest is at the age of where it is easier for us if we are on the go when in a place like that so one of the places he suggested we visit was Horse Pens 40. This outdoor nature park is privately owned (it was $8 for ages 10 and up) and is well known by rock climbers as a bouldering sites. It was used at times by native americans to corral horses, by the confederate army to store…
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River rafting
One of the things I wanted to do before the weather turns cold is go down the Etowah river with my family. We usually do it a few times a year since one of the drop offs is down the road from our house and it is a fun, free afternoon activity to do as a family. The adventure is a little different every time even though we always do the same stretch of the river. We bought 2 Seahawk 4 rafts last summer on Amazon and haved used them probably 10 times now. It looks like they have gone up in price but we purchased them for $80 each.…
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Why make traveling a priority?
As you might have noticed with my blog in the past 6 months since I have been writing, our family makes vacations and traveling a priority. Why, you might ask, do we sacrifice in certain areas to make this possible. Here are some reasons why! Making memories Instead of buying big game systems, big gifts or new cars, lots of clothes, we like to save our money to make memories. That might be a trip to the beach, a visit to a new city such as New Orleans, a new country, or a weekend in the mountains. Toys will be forgotten but our children will always have the memories of…
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Falcons game date night
Thanks to Ed, a friend of my husband, we were able to go on a date night to the Falcons’ football game at the Mercedes-Benz stadium in Atlanta. It was a great budget friendly date since all we paid were our parking and a bottle of water walking back to our car. What made this date special is that we typically just go out to dinner for our dates so doing something out of the ordinary for us made our outing very special. Thanks Ed! Neither my husband nor I are big professional football fans but he does know the game and I have watched enough college football games to…
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Travel bucket list
I keep an ongoing travel bucket list that I tweak as the time passes. This bucket list allows me to make plans financially and helps me budget for trips and vacations. I usually plan the following year’s vacations and then keep in mind larger abroad trips that we want to take. Today I am sharing my long and short term bucket lists and where we plan to vacation this year and next. Short term travel plans I typically map out our vacations about a year in advance if they are within the United States. With the children’s school schedule in mind, I am able to plan some time away so…
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Lessons from summer travels
Since we traveled so much this summer I thought it would be interesting to come up with some lessons I learned from our travels. I love traveling with my family I love going abroad and while it is expensive, with a budget throughout a year or two and with connections and lodging where we travel, it is feasible for our family to travel! We love spending time together whether at the beach or the mountain or the capital town in the republic of Georgia! I am willing to make sacrifices during the year for us to go on vacations. We spend less than others on birthdays and holidays, we do…
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Dahlonega Gem Panning
We live about 1 hour and a half from Dahlonega in the North Georgia Mountains. Dahlonega is an old gold mining town which features a gold museum in the town square as well as a gold mine, the Consolidated Gold mine. The mine is the largest hard rock gold mine east of the Mississippi. The mine was founded in 1896, and focused on removing gold trapped in quartz veins throughout the property. Gold mining They offer a 40 min tour of the mine followed by a short video showing you how to pan for gold which you try your hand at. This actually is quite difficult and since we were on a time schedule…
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Summer in Review
Well, this summer was a summer to remember! We visited several countries, several places in the US and spent some quality time with friends and family. I am actually having a hard time adjusting back to the routine of daily life as I miss my special friends and also miss the places we visited. We made some wonderful memories to cherish and I hope my children remember these summers when they grow up! France and Spain It had been 6 years since we had visited France so we decided this was a good year for that trip since my youngest wasn’t 2 yet and we would save a lot on…
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Nickel and Suede, Liberty MO
So I couldn’t help myself knowing that the Nickel and Suede shop in Liberty was only 30 minutes from my friend’s house and kind of on the way to my 2nd friend we were visiting and we stopped by for some shopping. It was a little difficult to enjoy the experience with the little one not wanting to leave my side; another boy was tired and cranky and everyone wanted to be in the store. I finally convinced all of them to stay outside after they had a quick look see inside. I went in with the illusion (my son’s word) of only buying two pairs of earrings. While I…