travel
-
Kansas City: Kaleidscope and Crown Center Mall
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…
-
St. Louis zoo and turtle playground
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…
-
Zoo Atlanta
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…
-
Tallulah Gorge
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…
-
Blue Ridge weekend
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…
-
Last adventure in France: Fontainebleau
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…
-
A day in Paris
Ah, Paris! While it was an exhausting day trying to see all the sights, it was a beautiful day. When we asked the boys what they wanted to see or do in France, they all replied “see the Eiffel tower”. So while I have been several times to the Eiffel tower and my husband once, we decided to take a day to see our top sights in Paris. First of all, I am very grateful to my friend, Veronique who mapped out our itinerary for us. She asked me what we wanted to see in Paris and suggested we get a Mobilis pass which allowed us to use the same…
-
Provins, Medieval town
Provins became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001. The town is known for its remparts, Cesar tower and fortified walls. The tower dates from the 12th century. Provins held a well known annual trade fair in medieval times and the town also boasts undergrounds tunnels with inscriptions. There are different tours you may take to learn about the city but since we had already done a couple of those in the past, this time we chose to wander the streets, the remparts and go to one of the shows, the legend of the knight. We first walked from one rempart gate to another. Since there were some renovations happening,…
-
Parc des Felins and Terre des Singes (Feline park and Monkey land)
On our first full day in the north of France, we decided to visit the Parc des Felins and the Terre des Singes in Lumigny-Nesle-Ormeaux. These two animal parks are only 10 minutes from my friend’s house and we bought the pass for both and took advantage of the discount. This was by far our most expensive outing but it still was not too bad at a little over 100 euros for the whole family. We first stopped by the village’s boulangerie (bread bakery) for fresh baguettes for our picnic lunch. I was very impressed with the size of the enclosures at the Feline Park and how natural they were…
-
Montpellier, a university town
I lived 7 years less than 2 hours from Montpellier but for some reason, it was not a town that we visited. I am sure we have been to Montpellier and driven through it but I do not recall visiting the downtown area. My older brother actually spent two years there at the university and after spending an afternoon there, I came away with how pretty of a town it is! We met my high school friend Caroline which I hadn’t seen in 21 years at her apartment and after some refreshments she and her family gave us a walking tour of the town. Through cobbled streets and other pedestrian…