*** Here’s another blog from Brian about how to save money on your rental car. This little tip has saved us hundreds of dollars on rentals over the past few years, so check it out!***
I’m not sure how I stumbled upon my Auto Rental hack, but I’ll be honest I was pretty skeptical at first. For the first several years of our road trips, we drove our mini van all over this country. But after several trips, it got to a point that we would waste a few extra days, just driving past states that we had already driven through, just to get to where we were wanting to go. So we started flying, and then renting a van. You can check out how we fly for cheap/free here).
I rented vans for a couple of years, without any major problems. It would cost a couple of hundred dollars, and I would chalk it up to saving wear and tear on my personal vehicle. When we began planning our west coast trip I knew we would end up having to do a one way rental because we were flying to Los Angeles, driving to Seattle and then flying back. One way rentals are insanely expensive, so I started investigating my options. I came across a site called AutoSlash.com. AutoSlash is an internet aggregator that constantly searches for discounted rates. It works through Priceline.com and allows you to enter your booking information, and it finds the cheapest rental car for the dates/times/specifics that you listed. After you book the rental car, you can go back to the site and “track” your rental. This is where the magic happens! This tool now crawls the internet 24/7 searching for cheaper rates. As soon as they find one, they will email you with a link to book the new rate. Auto rental rates change daily, so this is a great way to track them.
The beauty of booking a car rental is you can cancel them at any time. Heck you can even just not show up and you won’t be charged (confirm that with your rental company, but I’ve done that before and wasn’t charged).
So back to our trip on the West Coast. This site, literally saved me $400 from my original auto rental! I couldn’t believe it! Check it out and let me know what you think. Also if you have any other auto rental tips, comment below!
Pack outfits in baggies to save space and to make life easier!
Road tripping with young kids has been such a rewarding experience for our family, but let’s be honest…sometimes it can be a challenge! Since our family vacations have mostly consisted of long road trips, our kids don’t really know its NOT normal to be in the car for sometimes 40+ hours total on a trip! Over the years we’ve found some tricks that have helped us along the way to make life a little easier and the trips more enjoyable.
Border Bags:
This is an idea I definitely can’t take credit for, but it has been a LIFESAVER for us on trips! I stumbled across this blog on Pinterest years ago, and thought it was such a great idea! Even though the girls are older now, they still get excited about these! We don’t like for them to be on electronics the whole time we drive, so border bags break up the trip and give them something new to play with/do along the way. These bags just contain simple items (most of the items we purchase at the dollar store) they get to open each time you cross over a new state border. You could easily change this to be given at time increments of your choice if you aren’t road tripping across a lot of states. Be warned though, that instead of asking “are we there yet?” they may begin to ask “when is the next border bag?!” Some of their favorites have been dry erase markers, pom poms glued to magnets and a cookie sheet, travel games, sticker books, movies, new coloring books/crayons, pipe cleaners and beads, slinkies and glowsticks if you’re driving at night. Word to the wise: don’t buy slime…it turns out to be a disaster! Trust me on this one!
I usually try to include one or two educational bags, but you can tell in these pictures how well that went over! Oh well, you can’t win them all!
Travel Games:
One of our favorite games to take on trips is the “Question Jar”. Just clean out an old jar and add silly questions to ask each other, “would you rather” questions or even truth or dare questions. Here are some examples of questions that are in our jar. This blog also has some fun travel games that have become some of our road trip staples as well.
Travel Notebooks:
Another idea I found on Pinterest, are these awesome travel notebooks that you can fill with activities to keep the kids occupied. Simply get a three ring binder and a pencil pouch you can attach in the binder and fill it with color pencils and crayons. In addition to the games and activities, I included daily writing prompts for the girls to write about their favorite parts of each day. (What can I say?…its the teacher in me!)You can find these free printable pages here, here and here.
Packing:
We’ve had to tweak things as we’ve begun flying to our starting points and then beginning our road trip, but through trial and error we’ve figured out some tried and true packing methods that may help you:
Pack outfits in individual baggies (including underwear) and label with each day of the trip. Admittedly, this was way easier when the girls were younger because now they are teens/tweens who can’t decide what they want to wear (*sigh*), but we still try to do this to make life easier. Ziploc even makes 2 gallon baggies which works better for adult size clothes/jeans, etc. Since we stay at a different hotel almost every night, its a hassle to lug in all of our suitcases every night, so each family member brings a backpack that has their toiletries and PJ’s in it, and then we just grab the baggie with the next days’ clothes and throw it in the backpack to keep us from having to unload the whole van.
Meals and Snacking on the Road
To keep the girls from eating all the snacks in one day or incessantly asking for snacks, I would fill up these little tackle boxes at the beginning of the day and when the snacks were gone, they were gone. (I usually only do this if its going to be a long driving day).
Rubbermaid containers are awesome for nonperishable food items. I typically have a small container for breakfast items (granola bars, pop-tarts, etc). Most hotels we stay in have complimentary breakfast buffets, but we always have breakfast items on hand for days our hotels don’t include breakfast. I pack a medium sized container for lunch items (bread, chips, peanut butter, paper plates, utensils, paper towels, etc) and then everything else in the cooler. Some of my fondest memories are from fun picnic spots we have found along the way! Not only do you get to enjoy some beautiful outdoor spots, you save money as well! We try to only eat one meal a day out when we road trip.
There have been times when haven’t been able to find a good picnic stop, or the weather wasn’t conducive to eating outside. In those cases, I’ve made lunches to eat in the car and put the kids’ lunches in these handy little baskets from the Dollar Tree.
Sadly, as our girls have gotten older there are some of these travel hacks we don’t use anymore. As a result of these tips, however, I can look back on our road trips with fond memories and not too many moments when I wanted to pull my hair out! I hope some of these tricks can help those of you with young kids as you head out on the open road and make some great memories!
Like most of you, I’ve been watching WAY too much news lately. One of our local Atlanta news channels has a graphic which says “Facts Not Fear” whenever they are sharing daily updates about the Coronavirus. However, if I’m being totally honest, the news they are sharing does bring about fear at times. But if you notice the picture behind the words you will see a recognizable medical symbol of a staff with a snake and it is that picture that reminds me to have FAITH and not fear.
Hang with me for a minute while I dive into a little history. This staff is often referred to as the “Rod of Asclepius” named for the Greek god of healing. However, many believe the Greeks borrowed this idea from the story of Moses and the Israelites. If you read in Numbers 21:4-9, you will find an unusual story that involves complaining, venomous snakes and a bronze serpent on a pole. As Moses was leading the children of Israel through the wilderness, they began to complain and question why he (and ultimately God) had brought them out of slavery in Egypt just to die in the wilderness. How quickly they had forgotten about God’s deliverance from the plagues and how he had parted the Red Sea for them to cross on dry ground. As a result of their complaints, the Lord sent venomous serpents that began to bite many of the people. Yet even in this punishment, we see God’s grace through the instructions he gives Moses. As Moses prayed on behalf of the people for their healing, the Lord told Moses to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. Anyone who had been infected with venom could look to the bronze serpent as it was lifted high on the pole and they would live.
Upon first glance this can feel like a pretty random story, but we see it show up in the New Testament when Jesus himself refers to “the serpent in the wilderness”. If I asked you the most memorized passage of Scripture from the Bible you would likely say John 3:16 (and could probably quote it yourself). Yet, if we look at this verse in its context, which is so vital, we see that Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, a Pharisee who had come to Jesus at night as not to be seen. If we back up and look at verses 14 and 15 as well, we read Jesus’ words to Nicodemus that were ultimately words of prophecy about his own life:
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him many have eternal life.For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.“
Just a short while later those prophetic words would come true as Jesus would take on the curse of our sin through his death on the cross. In essence, he would be like the serpent lifted up on the pole and all who look to him can be healed from sin, the venom that infects our hearts. Paul reminds us in Galatians 3:13 that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” By looking to Jesus, we can be saved.
When we see this symbol that we have come to associate with the medical community, we can be reminded of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for our sins. While I believe Jesus does bring physical healing (I’m a walking billboard for that!), it is more important that we focus on the spiritual healing that Jesus brings. It is because of Christ’s death on the cross and His resurrection that we can have hope in the midst of these crazy times we are living through. It is easy to watch the news and be filled with anxiety, uncertainty and fear as they share the facts about this virus. Fears about our health and the health of our loved ones, worry for those who are on the front lines responding to this crisis and anxiety about what’s next for those who have lost their jobs can consume our thoughts. As we see these facts before us each day we must instead fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2) who gives peace in the midst of the storm. The next time you see the symbol of the serpent and the staff, I hope it will remind you to look to Jesus and to be filled with faith and hope instead of fear.
One of the road trip routes we are most often asked about is our route to Niagara Falls. People are often shocked to find out that we actually drove all the way to Canada with two young kids in tow! Although a 41 hour road trip may seem like a daunting task to some, the reward of the sites along the way was definitely worth it. Niagara Falls was the ultimate destination for this road trip, but we found several other noteworthy stops along the way. Some of them were planned before hand and some we discovered as we traveled. Our first destination on this trip was Petersburg, Kentucky to visit the Creation Museum and meet up with some of our dear friends who live nearby (miss you Marcums!). At the time we visited, only the Creation Museum was built. But in 2016 the Ark Encounter was completed and L and I were able to visit there on a school field trip a few years ago. It is located about an hour away from the Creation Museum in Williamstown, Kentucky and is a must see and makes the Bible truly come alive!
After leaving Kentucky, we started our trek through Ohio and made a quick stop along the way to Niagara Falls. As I mentioned in a previous blog, we love to see historical Presidential homes as we travel. Again, I realize this may be totally boring to some people, but we love these historical stops. James Garfield’s home was built in 1876 and includes the first presidential library ever established. It’s a cheap and worthwhile quick stop in my opinion. I realize there are plenty of other worthwhile stops in Ohio, this just happened to be a cheap stop along the way. If presidential homes aren’t your thing, there are several others options you could see and still stick pretty closely to this same route. We plan to go back to Ohio at some point to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (for me) and the Pro Football Hall of Fame (for Brian). There are also a few things in nearby Cincinnati to check out that we have seen on other trips including a Cincinnati Reds game, Cincinnati Zoo (home of Fiona the hippo, and former home of Harambe the gorilla, may he rest in peace), and iconic Skyline Chili.
We missed getting a picture with the Ohio sign since it was above the interstate, but we managed to get a picture with the Pennsylvania sign (even though we only drove through a small portion), the New York sign and ONTARIO! Another fun part of this road trip is that we were able to see all 5 of the Great Lakes. I made the girls attempt to make the shape of the beginning letter of each lake so we would remember which lake was in the picture. On this part of the trip we were able to spot Lake Erie.
Just before we made it to Ontario, we stopped in Buffalo, New York to have dinner at the famous Anchor Bar which is the original home of the hot wing. Brian felt it was absolutely necessary to stop here and he would say its worth the stop. I hate wings and think its too much work for two bites of chicken, but I can vouch for the pizza there, though. It was delish!
We finally made it to Niagara Falls late that same evening and we were able to see fireworks over the falls which was incredible! Sadly, all of my pictures of the fireworks are blurry so its just a memory I have to carry in my mind. It was a long days drive from Ohio to Ontario, but it was worth it when we were able to catch our first glimpse of the falls. All I could say was “Wow! Wow!” over and over again. The girls just kept saying “Mama, you sure are saying wow a lot!” There are truly no words to describe just how beautiful it is to see this place in person. While you can see the falls from the US side, I would say the view is better from the Canadian side and there are more things to do. We purchased the Adventure Pass which included the Hornblower Cruise (boat that takes you right up to the falls), Journey Behind the Falls where you literally get to walk in the tunnels behind the falls, White Water Walk which is a boardwalk alongside the rapids and tickets to a 4D movie experience called Niagara’s Fury. This pass was our biggest expense on this trip, but it was a great value and well worth the money. It was a great way to see all of the major sites at Niagara Falls. This pass also includes transportation on WEGO which is the hop on/hop off bus transportation to all of the major tourist spots.
During our time at Niagara Falls, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Niagara Falls-By the Falls. Brian wrote in a previous blog about how we use travel using hotel points and Holiday Inn is one of hotel chains we often use because we know the experience is typically consistent. One of the extra perks we received during our stay was a complimentary pass to the Skylon tower to see an aerial view of the falls. It was absolutely breath taking even though it felt like we might blow away!
Upon leaving Niagara Falls, we headed to Toronto (only 1.5 hours away) where we stopped for the evening. On this portion of the trip we were also able to see Lake Ontario. We only spent the one night in Toronto before heading out early the next morning, but we did do a little exploring around town that evening. Brian turned into Clark Griswold, planning the next leg of our journey by paper map since we were heading where we knew internet service would be limited.
We traded the big city of Toronto, for miles of sparsely traveled Trans-Canadian Highway on our way to Michigan’s Mackinac Island. This was a beautiful portion of the trip, but be prepared that there are only a few trading posts (yes I said trading posts) with gas along the way and no restaurants to grab a bite to eat. You’ll definitely have to plan ahead if you travel this route and it will be the longest stretch you’ll have to travel with not too much to stop and see along the way. It was fun to stop at the quaint trading posts that were few and far between, and see a really cool snowmobile bridge that I don’t think I would have the nerve to ride a snowmobile across! Keep your eyes peeled for moose along this route, too! We weren’t lucky enough to see one, but at every trading post they told us they were definitely around and to watch out for them.
This route will bring you back into the US via Michigan’s upper peninsula by coming across the international bridge at Sault St. Marie (pronounced Soo Saint Marie). We made it at just the right time to catch a beautiful sunset over Lake Superior.
We spent the night in Mackinac City and the next morning we took the ferry to beautiful Mackinac Island (pronounced Mack-in-aw). This island is one of the most unique places we have ever visited! You can only reach the island by ferry and there are NO cars on the island. Bicycles or horse and buggy are the only means of transportation so it feels like traveling back in time. Even UPS/FedEx deliveries are made by horse and buggy! They are also famous for their many fudge shops so you must try some before you leave. The carriage tour is a great way to see all of the points of interest on the island, including Fort Mackinac, Arch Rock and the Grand Hotel. You can take the early ferry over, go on a carriage tour and then enjoy the lunch buffet at the Grand Hotel. This is a great way to see the hotel if you don’t want to drop $1000 a night to stay there. You’ll also be able to see you’re third Great Lake there, Lake Huron. It’s definitely worth the long drive from Toronto to be able to see this place!
After leaving Mackinac City, we headed towards Grand Rapids but went a little out of the way to see a place our girls still talk about. Sleeping Bear Dunes is along Lake Michigan’s beautiful shore and is such a fun place to explore. When traveling with kids, this is the perfect place for them to run and play after being cooped up in the car. Be warned, however, there are a few really steep dunes that come with a steep fine if you choose to try and go down them and have to call for help to get back up.
The last portion of our trip was a long drive that could be broken up along the way if you choose. We drove from Grand Rapids to Bowling Green, Kentucky but we did stop to see the University of Notre Dame along the way. Some other options could be going a little out of the way to Chicago (this was another trip for us), stopping in Indianapolis (see this blog for Indianapolis options) or Louisville. Brian was a huge Notre Dame fan growing up so this was a must see stop for him. I will admit, my only knowledge of Notre Dame came from watching Rudy, but it was still a really cool place to see. Sadly, they were replacing the turf on the field so we didn’t get the full effect.
From Bowling Green, we made our way on back to Atlanta without any touristy stops on our way. Since we used to live in Bowling Green, this was a route we traveled often but you could definitely stop in Nashville or Chattanooga along the way. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading and traveling with us!
This Mid-Atlantic road trip route is still one of our family favorites. We did this route when the girls were still pretty young (back in 2013) so we would like to go back on this same route now that they are older and may have more of an appreciation for some of the historic sites. Since we have already been to South and North Carolina, we just paused for a brief photo op at their signs before stopping for our first night in Richmond, VA.
We started the next day in Arlington, Virginia at the Arlington National Cemetery before heading on to Washington D.C. It was quite the humbling experience, especially watching the solemn changing of the guards ceremony at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
After spending a few hours in Arlington, we made the short trip on to Washington D.C. We spent some time exploring the National Mall and then toured the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. D.C is another wonderful place to visit with so many FREE options. We were only there for a couple of days so we didn’t have time to explore all of the Smithsonian museums, but I would highly recommend checking them out. Unfortunately, while we were there, it was during a time of government shut down so we weren’t able to see all we wanted to. We were only able to see the White House from behind the fence and the Washington Monument was being restored so we definitely want to go back sometime to see all we missed out on.
We spent our next full day in D.C. seeing many of the monuments and memorials while on a walking tour. This tour has been one of the best we have ever done by far! It is called Walk of the Town and it is lead by a man named Tim who is a retired history teacher who knows his stuff! Check out his website to find more info about all the places you will see. The tour is free, but most people give a tip as a way of saying thank you for such an amazing tour. When anyone asks us what to do in D.C. we always highly recommend taking this tour!
Although we didn’t have time to see all of the places in our nation’s capital that we wanted to see, we did have a few more stops before heading to our next destination. On our last day in D.C., we were able to visit Ford’s Theater where President Lincoln was shot and the U.S. Capitol building. Both of these places were free to visit as well. We were not able to take many photos inside of the capitol building, but it was so surreal to be able to see it in person. You can set up a tour of the Capitol through your Senator or Representative.
After spending a few days in D.C., we headed on to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to see where the famous Battle of Gettysburg took place and where Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address. While we are big fans of Abraham Lincoln (see my previous blog with famous Lincoln sites), this stop was (dare I say) a little bit of a snooze fest with young kids. We purchased a CD at the visitor center that provided narration as we drove for what seemed like hours through the battlefield. My recommendation would be to skip on the CD (your car probably doesn’t even have a CD player anymore anyway) and just make a quick drive though, stopping at the visitor center and to see the spot where Lincoln gave his speech.
Next we headed to Hershey, PA to visit some dear friends of ours who moved away from Georgia (We love and miss you Noll family!). They were able to take us to do some fun touristy things near where they live. Our first stop was to Hershey’s Chocolate World to get to see just how all of that yummy Hershey’s chocolate. They also give away samples! The whole place smells like delicious chocolate and it was such a fun tour.
Next we headed to see how the Amish live in nearby Lancaster. And boy, do they know how to cook! I’m sure you can’t go wrong with any Amish restaurant, but we ate at a place called Plain and Fancy that had been featured on the Food Network and we left stuffed!
We spent our last day in Pennsylvania in the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia! Our first stop was to see Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed. It was incredible to visit a place filled with such significance in our country’s history. This is another place you can visit for free! Just outside of Independence Hall you are able to catch a glimpse of the famous Liberty Bell. Another spot in Philadelphia we had to check out before leaving town was the iconic “Rocky steps”. Please notice that I beat Brian to the top! And of course we couldn’t leave Philly without deciding if Pat’s or Geno’s has the better cheesesteak…my vote is Pat’s, but both were amazing!
We decided last minute to change our route back home to drive through a few more states. Instead of making our way straight back to Virginia, we made a quick trip through New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. We were only a little over an hour away from New Jersey so we decided just to wake up earlier and see a few more places! The city of Cape May, New Jersey is full of beautiful Victorian homes and hotels, and even though we just drove through, it was worth the quick stop.
To add a little excitement to the trip, we took a ferry from New Jersey to Delaware so it was fun to say we crossed into a new state on the water instead of the road. I get motion sick SO easily, so the ferry ride was not my favorite part but the girls loved it!
We continued through Delaware and Maryland and we did not really stop to do any sight seeing in either of these states on this trip. For now, we count them as states we have seen since we drove through them both. Another last minute addition to our trip was a stop at Assateague Island that is partially in Maryland and partially in Virginia. I had remembered reading the book Misty as a girl about the wild horses who lived on this island. As I got online to find more info about stopping here, I read about a “Pony Swim” that took place in late July where they would bring some of the horses to Chincoteague Island to be auctioned off. I got so excited realizing that we were lucky enough to be able to be there on the ONE DAY of the year when this took place…until I double checked the date and realized we had missed it by a day!! Unfortunately, we were only able to see them all penned up for the auction and those that were not sold would swim back to Assateague the next day. Even though we missed getting to see the horses running wild and swimming, it still was a fun stop!
On our way to our last stop in Williamsburg and Jamestown we had to drive across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel which is 17 miles long and slightly terrifying if you don’t like bridges and tunnels!
Finally, we stopped in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia which was such a cool place to explore. The tickets to be able to see every building/exhibit were pretty pricey so we decided to skip out on buying them. You are still able to walk around the town and see in several of the buildings that are open to the public without having the all access pass. I feel like we still had a great experience without dropping $200 to see everything.
We also visited nearby Jamestown the same day and this is still one of Brian’s favorite places we’ve visited. Although, I’m still a little sad the true story really isn’t anything like Disney’s Pocahontas, I still really enjoyed it too. The tour here was much more affordable because kids tickets are free! It was amazing to see how some of the oldest history in our country has been preserved there.
Upon leaving Virginia we made our long trek back to Atlanta with one of my children playing a penny whistle for hours upon hours that I stupidly let her purchase with her souvenir money. This trip was 31 hours total in the car and the girls did great…most of the time anyway. The only long portions without stopping for the evening were between Georgia and Virginia, so this is another one that is very doable, even with young children. Its a great route to see a lot of our nation’s history without breaking the bank!
In my experience, when it seems the Lord is trying to get my attention about a particular issue, the same Scripture verse seems to appear EVERYWHERE! Maybe I’m just hyper-sensitive to it as well, but I choose to believe the Lord has something He’s wanting to teach me through the words found in John 15:5, specifically the word “abide”.
My word for 2020 is “BE” so I’ve been focusing on what it means to be still and know that He is God as Psalm 46:10 says. When I chose that word in January, I had no idea that just a couple of months later our crazy, busy life of “doing” would come to a screeching halt as we literally would have no other choice but to just “be”. While I must admit I’ve enjoyed this slowed down pace of life with my family and being encouraged to stay home due to the Covid-19 pandemic, my mind has been racing with a million “what-ifs”. Trying to “be still” and “abide” in Christ has been difficult at times if I’m being honest.
I am broken hearted as I realize that this Saturday I should be leaving for a mission trip to Dominican Republic with some of my students, fellow teachers, friends and my daughter. I was so looking forward to experiencing this mission trip through her eyes as it would be her first time serving internationally. One of the verses we had chosen to focus our attention on as we prepared for this trip was John 15:5. We knew it was so important for us to focus on abiding in Christ if we had any intentions of bearing fruit on this trip. We recognized that apart from Christ we can do nothing. Sadly we had to cancel this trip as a result of the pandemic, but I’ve continued to mull this verse over in my mind daily.
I recently listened to a new book by Beth Moore entitled Chasing Vines in which she describes the imagery of the vine as used throughout scripture. Of course, she talked about this passage of Scripture in this book in great detail, drawing out crucial details from the surrounding verses in John 15. If we back up to verses one and two of this chapter, Jesus is reminding his disciples that he is the true vine and they are the branches. Like a master gardener, he prunes the branches that bear fruit in order that they may bear more fruit. Pruning, in the metaphorical sense, is never an enjoyable process, but the Lord is always faithful to bring about new growth in our lives in the same way a plant that has been pruned will continue to grow and thrive.
Last spring, Brian ordered some peony bulbs to plant in our yard because he knows how much I love them. Granted we are not what you would called the best gardeners…in fact most of what we plant ends up dying, but I digress. We planted these little bulbs and as they started to sprout, Brian put little cages around them to remind him that they were there when he was weed-eating. Well, despite his valiant efforts to protect these plants, he still managed to accidentally whack one down and we figured we would just be down one plant. Until just the other day, when we looked out and realized not only had the aforementioned hacked down plant come back, but it had grown higher than all of the others! This accidental pruning turned out to be beneficial for this little plant and had caused new growth!
I’ve been reading through a chronological Bible for the past year and a half and guess where I ended up just last week? You guessed it…John 15! In this chapter Jesus is speaking to his disciples just before his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, yet they are applicable to those of us who are His modern day followers as well. Again, the reminder that Jesus is the true vine, we are the branches. He prunes the branches that are bearing fruit so they may be more fruitful, and those that do not bear fruit are thrown into the fire..(ummm…yikes!). When we bear fruit it shows we are his disciples but we must focus on the most important part of this passage….apart from Jesus, the true vine, WE CAN DO NOTHING.
On Sunday, my pastor (Craig McAdams) delivered a powerful sermon in the midst of this worldwide crisis on the topic of rejoicing. One of the passages of scripture he referenced was John 15:5 (ok…I get it Lord!) and he said “sometimes God has to remind us that we are not the vine, we are just a branch and apart from him we can do nothing.” We are incapable of producing the fruits of the spirit listed in Galatians 5:22 (love, JOY, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control) on our own if we are not connected to the true vine, Jesus.
In these uncertain days head may we abide in Christ and continue to recognize the following things:
Some of the difficult things we are dealing with right now may be God’s pruning in our lives in order that we might bear more fruit and glorify Him.
We must stay connected to Jesus, the true vine by spending time in His word and in prayer. For me this means spending less time watching and reading news that is only going to cause me to fear (not a fruit of the Spirit by the way)…God does NOT give us a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7). When we are connected to him we will bear much fruit so that He is glorified, even in the most difficult circumstances.
Recognize that apart from Christ, we can do NOTHING on our own!
When circumstances are completely out of our control, we can rest in the fact that Jesus IS in control and all we have to do is ABIDE.
This post was written by Brian because he is really the brains behind our cheap family road trips. We often get asked about how we get free hotel lodging and airline tickets so I asked him to write a blog to explain!
One of the biggest keys to our road trips is the fact that we are able to get lodging and airline tickets at drastically discounted rates (typically no cost at all). The secret to that is taking full advantage of credit card points.
BEFORE YOU READ ANY FURTHER PLEASE READ MY DISCLAIMER
*The key to maximizing credit card points is you HAVE TO pay your credit card off on a monthly basis! If you carry your balance over, even just one month, you lose. If you have trouble budgeting then please ignore this entire post. I’m honestly terrified to write this because I don’t want people to get into credit card debt trying to save a few dollars on lodging.
So now that I have explained that, back to the discounts. Credit card companies have excellent incentives to get you to sign up for them. I use several different cards just to maximize the points. I have a couple hotel and an airline card. These cards typically also have great promotions to sign up. I’ve included a few links below for you to check out. Most of these cards charge an annual fee, but they also provide things like 1 free night, or a free companion airline ticket and often times those make the annual fee worthwhile. We earn enough points in a year that I never pay for a night of lodging. Most people assume that since I travel for work most of our points come from that. That’s not true. I do earn some points through travel but 75% of my points come through credit cards.
Check out the links to see if any of these match your needs. These are my two favorite that earn the most points. Full Disclosure. These links are my referral links. If you are interested in signing up, I would love if you would use them so we both get rewards. I don’t want you to feel that I am trying to persuade you for my advantage. These are truly the cards I use and love.
Delta – 90,000 mile sign up bonus after you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months.
EARN 3X MILES ON DELTA PURCHASES
EARN 2X MILES AT RESTAURANTS AND U.S SUPERMARKETSEarn
FIRST CHECKED BAG FREE ($60 value)
PRIORITY BOARDING
ANNUAL COMPANION CERTIFICATE
NEW – FEE CREDIT FOR GLOBAL ENTRY AND TSA PRE✓® ($100 value)
Marriott – 2 options 1 free night after you spend $1000 (no annual fee) 3 free nights after you spend $3000 ($95 annual fee)
Earn 6 points per $1 spent at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels
Earn 2 points per $1 spent on all other purchases
Additionally, you earn:
Free Night Award every year after your account anniversary, valid for a one night hotel stay at a property with a redemption level up to 35,000 points
Guaranteed Silver Elite Status and an exclusive path to Gold Status by spending $35,000 each anniversary year
Another trick is I am on a constant search to find new cards that offer bonus points when you sign up. One thing to know is you can “requalify” for the sign up bonus every two year. But you have to cancel your existing card and start over. If you are married, you can literally get sign up points every year by alternating back and forth between you and your spouse. Remember you can always cancel the card after you take advantage of the sign on bonus.
*If you struggle with keeping your credit score in the “excellent” range, this is not for you. Every time you apply there will be a temporary hit on your credit report. If you have good or excellent credit it’s no big deal.
A couple other cards that I switch to:
Hyatt – 50,000 Bonus Points when you spend $6,000 in the first 6 months
Hilton – 125,000 Bonus Points when you spend $2,000 in the first 3 months (UNBELIEVABLE BONUS!)
I’d love to hear any other credit card travel tips you have. Feel free to drop a line.
In 2010 we moved from Georgia to Bowling Green, Kentucky so that summer we knew we wanted to do a road trip to some nearby states. St. Louis, Missouri is only a little over 4 hours away so it was the perfect place to start! There are SO many free and inexpensive things to in St. Louis, especially with kids.
Our first stop was City Museum which was one of the only things we did in St. Louis that had paid admission. It was still very affordable and was well worth the price of admission! Although the name museum is in this spot’s title, it is anything but your run of the mill “boring” museum. It was once a giant warehouse that is now filled with interactive exhibits for kids to run and play til their hearts are content. This is one of those places that words can’t really fully describe, so here are a few pictures that will give you a little glimpse into this crazy, awesome place!
Our next stop in St. Louis was a visit to Ulysses S. Grant’s home. I realize that historical sites like these may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I would encourage you to give them a shot! Many times, admission is free (this one was) and you can learn some new things during your visit.
On that same day we visited Grant’s Farm (named for Ulysses S. Grant who once worked part of the land) that is the ancestral home of the Anheuser Busch family. This is another FREE attraction where you can see lots of animals (some of them by train I might add!) including the famous Busch Clydesdale horses!
We finished up the day by taking in a St. Louis Cardinal’s game, (even though we are die hard Atlanta Braves fans!). We love checking out baseball games when we visit other cities and Busch Stadium is a great place to catch a game with a beautiful view of the St. Louis skyline, including the Gateway Arch. We did have a friend who had a connection and hooked us up with these tickets, but usually you can find baseball tickets that are pretty affordable. You can even find cheap tickets on the same day of the game you want to attend on sites like StubHub.
Another FREE tourist attraction in St. Louis is the St. Louis Zoo. There are some small fees for separate attractions, but you can still see a ton without doing all of the extras. A big storm came up while we were there and we ended up having to make a run for the car while dodging lightning bolts, but now that we survived the harrowing ordeal its a fun memory! Brian still says we wouldn’t have gotten caught in the storm if I hadn’t insisted on going to see the giraffes!
Of course, we couldn’t leave St. Louis without seeing its most iconic spot, the Gateway Arch! There are several different price options for both the tram to the top and the museum below. I do not enjoy heights or enclosed spaces and the tram to the top of the arch included both (yippee!), but I’m so glad we did it! The view from the top was amazing! I also had no idea there was a museum at the arch until we visited and it was definitely worth the time to explore.
After leaving St. Louis, we headed north to Springfield, Illinois to check out Abraham Lincoln’s home. One thing you will quickly learn about us is we’re big fans of visiting Presidential homes! This is another National Park exhibit that is FREE so its worth checking out. Many times these homes have been furnished with replica furniture, but there are many original pieces in Lincoln’s home, including the couch he was sitting on when we accepted his Presidential nomination (Ok…I know I’m a total nerd)
While in Springfield, we also visited Lincoln’s burial site and we were able to see Civil War re-enactors (I don’t even know if that is the proper term) perform a 21 gun salute.
After boring the kids to death with day of history (haha!) we headed east to Indianapolis, Indiana to check out something a little more kid-friendly, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Admission here is admittedly a little pricey, but it was really our only big ticket attraction on this road trip. The girls LOVED this place! L still talks about it ten years later and although AK is too little to remember, we have picture proof that she loved it too! We spent an entire day here and I still don’t know if we spent as much time there as the girls would have liked to! It was definitely worth the price of admission!
Our last stop on our way back to Bowling Green, was one more historic site, Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home. I mean, we already saw the only home he ever owned, so we might as well stop and see where he grew up, right? There is only a memorial of the cabin there now, but there is a re-creation of what his cabin would have looked like. YOU can also see staff dressed in period clothing who describe what life would have been like for the Lincoln’s. It may not sound like much, but its a National Park (which we love) and it was FREE so it was worth the stop.
This is one of the most affordable road trips we ever did because so many attractions we visited were FREE (in case you missed that theme). Total drive time on this trip was only a little over 13 hours, which was broken up over the course of several days so it is a very do-able trip with young kids. We have since been back to different parts of these states on other road trips so keep an eye out for future blogs with more fun places to see in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana!
“A very good place to start!” Please excuse the Sound of Music quote, but I really could not think of a better way to begin writing this blog I’ve been talking about doing for at least five years. People often ask us about road trip routes we have taken in the past and how we are able to do it affordably. I hope this blog can serve as a resource for your family as you get out and explore this great country!
Brian and I have always enjoyed traveling, but it wasn’t until about 10 years ago that we came up with this crazy goal of our girls seeing all 50 states before they graduate from high school. I remember well being on the treadmill at the gym and reading a Guidepost magazine article (don’t judge me…I’m an old soul!) about a family who had this exact same goal. I came home and shared the idea with Brian, he was totally on board, and the rest is history! Now….just how were we going to accomplish this goal?! It definitely seemed pretty lofty and out of reach at the time, but along the way we have learned lots of tips and tricks for road tripping frugally that we hope to pass on to you.
Our first family road trip with multiple sight seeing stops was back in 2009 when the girls were just one and four. We live in Georgia so we decided to explore some of our surrounding states and visit with some great friends along the way.
First stop…Tupelo, Mississippi (we didn’t really stop in Alabama on this trip, but I’ll post some great Alabama spots to see in a future blog).
The girls’ Paw-Paw (my father-in-law) and Mimi (my mom) both have a great love for Elvis so of course we had to stop to check out the birthplace of the king! It was fun to sit on his front porch, see his car, and even his outhouse!
Next stop…MEMPHIS! We were able to go spend a few days with some great friends, who have since moved near us and our kids even go to the same school now. I just love how God works! Despite our appreciation for Elvis, we didn’t make it to Graceland on this trip so we’ve still got that one on our list. We did, however, see a few other must see spots in Memphis!
The Peabody Hotel is a beautiful historic hotel in downtown Memphis with an unusual claim to fame. Each morning trained ducks walk a red carpet downstairs to the lobby where they swim in the fountain all day and then return to their room upstairs at the end of the day. Definitely a fun tradition to check out!
And of course you can’t come to Memphis without eating BBQ! We grabbed lunch at nearby Rendezvousand it did not disappoint! The ribs were out of this world!
The Memphis Zoo is also a great stop while in Memphis, especially if you have young kids. It also has a very affordable admission price which makes it a winner!
Kentucky, here we come! When we came to visit friends in the bluegrass state, we had no idea we would end up living there just one year later! There will be a future blog with several other places to visit in Kentucky, but on this trip we met our friends at a fun and completely random, kid-friendly place calledKentucky Down Under. It really is out in the middle of nowhere, but worth the stop if you’re passing by on I-65. I mean where else can you hang out with kangaroos and wallabies?!
We also made a quick stop at Mammoth Cave National Park but we didn’t do too much exploring because the girls were so little. We were able to venture to see the historic entrance of the cave though.
Back to Tennessee we go… On our route back to Georgia we stopped in beautiful Nashville. While we didn’t check out too much of the music scene on this trip, we did get to go on a really fun Riverboat ride on the General Jackson. Looking at the website now I can only see dinner cruise options, but years ago we went on a cruise that did not include a meal that was much cheaper.
Just one more stop in Tennessee before we head back to Georgia. Chattanooga has had a special place in my heart since college when my friends and I used to visit often from our nearby college town of Rome, GA. I knew I wanted the girls to see on of my favorite spots in town, Coolidge Park. Its a beautiful waterfront park with fountains for kids to play in and a historic carousel.
Thanks for journeying with me back in time to relive our first family road trip! This trip is where we caught the Road Tripping bug and where it all started! Stay tuned for more fun and exciting road trip routes!
Traveling Light 