Vacations Blog

Like any good fish story, this one got away.  That’s right, you just missed Salmon Days in Issaquah, WA and you should be ashamed of yourself.  Go ahead and cry it out.  I’ll wait.

Okay, enough.  You brought it upon yourself.  Now sit still and let me tell you what you missed, aka, rub it in.

Every year about this time the salmon leave the deep, salty waters of Seattle’s Puget Sound and they start swimming.  They swim through lakes and streams and wind their way to Issaquah Creek, where the water is shallow and clear.  They swim all the way to the hatchery in which they were born, they do their thing with the eggs and the stuff and then they die.  Needless to say the salmon don’t find the occasion as festive as we do.  I watched them for hours and never saw a single party hat. Read More »

Chicago's Navy Pier

Do you have a family?  Is Chicago your kind of town?  Well, you’re in luck.

The Navy Pier, pictured here, is free to the public.  That’s FREE.  It’s Chicago’s most visited tourist attraction and has all kinds of activities and events for travelers of all ages.

The Ferris wheel, a carousel and swing ride bring the boardwalk to life.  The miniature golf course, the Amazing Chicago Funhouse Maze and Chicago Children’s Museum give the area a taste that is strictly Chicago.  Also, stuff to eat.

Visit Chicago.  Take the kids.

UPDATE: Sorry about the Olympics, Chicago.  We still dig you.

Photo courtesy of the City of Chicago

For more family-friendly travel photos visit DeliciousBaby’s Photo Fridays.

Tenure is a great thing, especially when it equates to four paid weeks of vacation per year. Unfortunately, my husband doesn’t have as much vacation time as I do. Since mine is a “use it or lose it” kind of situation, there are a couple of weeks out of the year that I find myself on vacation while my husband still works.

One such vacation week is coming up in October. I’ve started making tentative plans for how to occupy my time – you know, OTHER than the cleaning and “honey-do” list the vacationing spouse is required to take care of. My ambition is to make myself feel like I’ve been fully entertained for the week for as little money as possible. I want to feel like I’ve actually taken a vacation, not just sit on the couch at home all week trying to avoid spending money.

DAY ONE:

I will dedicate a leisurely hour lounging in the tub, followed by a trip to my local library. I will then take any books I procure to nearby Desert Breeze Park, lay down a blanket (because by that time it’ll be cool enough to stand the sunshine), and read for as long as I want. I might even take a ride on Desert Breeze’s miniature train, if I’m feeling adventurous.

Total Cost of Day One: $2.00 for the mini train ride.

Read More »

After the 5-hour, nerve-racking motorcycle ride out of the Kathmandu congestion and into the outlying mountain ranges, I planned on doing a whole lot of nothing in Pokhara.

And that’s exactly what I did. Read More »

Waking up blows. And no doubt, this is the last thing you want to do when you’re on holiday.

But, as we’ve talked about before – vacations are all about making us cool, yes? If you don’t come back with stories of drinking with the locals, boring tidbits on food preparation and a few sets of unfortunate coasters, then you haven’t really done your job, have you?

Oh yes – and pictures. In this day in age of social networking, if you’re not ‘tagging’ your own feet with the beach in the background, then your vacation credentials should be taken away all together.

Which brings me to my original point of waking up early…once.

For a sunrise, of course:

Now – a few things you need to do to prepare for said ‘rise’.

It’s cold. No matter where you are. See, the sun keeps things warm. So if it’s not visible, then you won’t be warm. So bring warm clothes. You roll your eyes and wonder if I’m just trying to meet word count (totally possible), but I’ve climbed* 2 volcanoes in the past year and have witnessed too many strangers cuddling (which, if you’re into, I can recommend a few bars in Berlin) out of poor preparation.

So bring a blanket or something.

And then charge the camera.

Get a coffee.

And have one day when you see both a rise and set.

‘Cause that’s the kind of thing friends back home love to hear about.

Call him 'Lance' and you're in trouble.

Listen, I’m not going to lie to you, okay? I’m in Hawaii on a tour where we’re being treated like rock stars. Meaning, I am anything but slumming as far as hotels go. When I get a spare few hours, I will find some funky cool little places to stay in for less than usual, I promise. And let’s be honest, any quick search of cheap hotels in Honolulu will pull up more info than even I could steal and attempt at passing off as my own.

But, having been traveling for over 11 straight years now, I can offer some little tips on how to have a lot of the same experiences as the happy family on the brochure, without having to pay as much.

Take today, for example, I had a few extra hours before a welcoming party.

I could have easily picked up the guide book and read that the Iolani Palace was just down the street from me.

I could have found out through, well, a number of resources online, that it was an easy walk from my hotel.

I could have walked around outside, sat under the giant banyan trees and taken this monument in.

I could have gone inside, paid the $20, and read the information given by one of the older volunteers at the door.

I could have found out that it had electricity 4 years before The White House, or, perhaps, that this was the official residence of the monarch until the King was overthrown in 1893.

In fact, I could have easily cut-and-pasted all sorts of wonderful information about this downtown jewel right here and, thanks to this handy thesaurus that pops up with a click, might have even convinced you it was my own.

Or, I could have taken up a friend-of-a-friend’s offer to show me around.

Which I did.

See, Hawaiian’s are some of the most accommodating people in the world, they’re also some of the most laid-back; these are things you probably know. But in this day and age of social networking, everyone is one degree away from anyone else in the world.

And people like living here, they like talking about living here – so take them up on it.

I guarantee that with one ‘friend invite’, or one ‘tweet‘, you can find someone anywhere who has an hour.

That’s what I did, and now anytime I come back to Honolulu, I’ll have a new friend-guide, known to most as ‘Lancey-Poo’.

And that’s something everyone should have.

Aric Q. is traveling to Hawaii and he’s trying to do it on the cheap.  We will be following his adventures here on UpTake and we will be wishing him well, but we will NOT be wiring him money.

Tim helps prepare me for Hawaii in the only way he knows how.

You’re looking at how much I know about Hawaii.

They make decent beer at cheap prices.

I mean, I’ve heard all sorts of things about it, but have no opinion – reason being is that I was brought up poor, still am, and even if I wasn’t, it’s an expensive place…

And if I’m going to shell out, I might as well go back to Thailand.

But Hawaii got word of this and is set to prove me wrong – something that has proven easily done ever since I proclaimed the Counting Crows to be ‘the next Dylan’ – and have sent for me.

So tomorrow I’m off. Actually, in less than 4 hours I’m off and I’m just now packing.

I’m not bringing much – a carry-on bag and a small backpack, as these luggage fees ad up when you have to fly out of Bend, OR (if this makes no sense to you, just know that there are no direct flights from here to Honolulu…or, well, most places). But I also want to enjoy myself as much as anyone else, so there will be the obligatory cocktail-with-a-tiny-umbrella, some surfing, local music and cheap trinkets to pass off as archeological finds to my family at Christmas. I want a flowery shirt and to go on a boat. Hell, I’ll get my hair put into beads if I can find it cheap enough.

Why? ‘Cause when I come back, I want to look like I just did Hawaii.

I’m just not going to give it my money…which works out nice as I don’t have any.

More tomorrow – can someone call me at 4am?

You know what happened…

Aric Q. is traveling to Hawaii and he’s trying to do it on the cheap.  We will be following his adventures here on UpTake and we will be wishing him well, but we will NOT be wiring him money.

When I was little, growing up in the back BACK woods of Maine (think Stephen King, here), I couldn’t be kept away from anything having to do with water. Ponds, lake, streams, even standing water in the fields after a rainstorm. It seems all I wanted to do was get the cuffs of my jeans wet and muddy.

Fast forward some thirty-mumble years, and I still have that inclination. Dwelling in the desert presents a problem, though, unless I want to wade in a community pool or a “man-made lake” (anathema!).

This is where my very favorite scenic drive in Arizona comes in. It’s Scenic Route 89A through Oak Creek Canyon – twenty-eight miles of tree-lined and mountainous winding road that follows along Oak Creek.

On one end, you have Sedona:

On the other end, you have Flagstaff:

All along the middle, you have this:

And this:

And this:

Aaaaaaand this:

There are great little places all along the route to stop and take pictures, or to obtain refreshment. Private resorts and bed and breakfasts abound. Swimming (and sliding!) at Slide Rock is popular for families with children. Hiking along the West Fork Trail and Palatki Indian Ruins is appropriate for all skill levels.

Finally, the road climbs out of the canyon, and a the top of the final crest (over 6,000 feet!) there is a rest stop maintained by the National Forest Service. It features necessary conveniences, an Information booth, a lookout area from which the entirety of Oak Creek Canyon is laid before you, and Native Americans set up along the pathways selling their crafts.

It was a beautiful and refreshing way to spend an afternoon. We rely upon this scenic drive at least two or three times a year, to get us out of the sweltering heat of the Phoenix metropolitan area. It was hard for us to come back home when all we wanted to do was plant ourselves next to Oak Creek and never leave. We did come back home (work calls, after all), but it’s comforting to know that we can go back any time we need to.

To experience the drive from the Phoenix area, take I-17 north, then take exit 298 to access Highway 179 east to Sedona. Highway 179 connects to Highway 89A in the heart of town.

To access the drive from Flagstaff, take I-17 to the junction of I-40, then take exit 337 to Highway 89A. You will then follow the route south to Sedona, instead of north like we did. It’s just as pretty going in the other direction, trust me!