Category Archives: Exploring North America

My Three Caballeros

Dad, BigB and CAM at Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.

My boys had a fabulous time visiting this national park. They were still raving about their stargazing experience and their ride into the canyon when I met them a week later. Because they’re boys, I think they got the most fun out of seeing my reaction when they gleefully told me that they now really understand what it means to “be dusty as a cowpoke” and to “pee like a horse” (as well as other equine toileting details which I won’t bore you with). I tried to keep a straight face as I admired the photos they’d taken on their ride.

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When Weather Gets In The Way Of Your Road Trip

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If you follow me on twitter (@wandermom) or are one of my Facebook friends, you’ll know that I’m currently home alone. My husband and children packed up our car and headed south for the first great American Road Trip this family has ever really done. The map below shows the planned route with stops – an intended 3-day stay to camp and hike at Yellowstone National Park is not marked, but was on the itinerary.

What we didn’t bargain on was the weather. I almost feel like we should be obliged turn in our Irish passports for this. It’s utterly shameful that in planning a camping trip in August we didn’t even consider the possibility of rain. I say “we”, because although I’m not on the trip and my help was repeatedly refuted in the planning of the trip (as in: “No, it’s our trip, you’re not involved”!!), I was invited to assist with the packing.

The resulting photos from my family’s sodden adventures yesterday and today – with my husband’s witty comments – are just to good not to include as my Photo Friday post for this week. Enjoy!

Day 1 started early, leaving Seattle at 7am to drive to Silverwood UT with plenty of time for a fun-filled day at Silverwood Theme Park. My boys are huge Garfield fans and by all accounts the park fulfilled all expectations. The torrential rain and thunderstorms, on the other hand, meant that my husband posted the following on his Facebook status: “Silverwood theme park with the kids.Seems today is torrential monsoon theme.Curious how much of our tent is still above mudline.”

The net results of so much precipitation was that by the time my phone rang at 9am on Day 2, the boys were not – as planned – hiking in the Missoula area, but instead had been driving since dawn and were almost at Butte. I checked Facebook and this is what I read: “Missoula:Just drove through a 200 mile-wide sheet of rain (or maybe it was just a moving 12 feet-wide sheet).Looks like plenty more ahead.”

An Irish flag on the street was a fitting welcome and at least raised their spirits as they dragged the wet sleeping bags into a launderette. Unfortunately, it was tinged with a little sorrow as they realized they’d just missed the annual Montana Irish celebration. Maybe we’ll all be back in 2010.

I was glad to hear that the sun was shining in Butte – until I saw the next photo my husband had posted for me of the tent draped over the car in a parking lot in Butte.

The caption: “Bringing down property values wherever we go.” Lovely.

There’s really not much I can say to that. Although I guess when your tent is soaking wet and you plan to use it again that night, your options are fairly limited.

The odyssey is continuing. The road-travelers voted to continue driving until they’d left the rain behind. At last check-in they were in Salt Lake City. The original itinerary is now abandoned and a new one will be developed over breakfast tomorrow morning. Watch out for more photos and stories next Photo Friday.

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Sunset Over Lake Washington

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This is why the Pacific Northwest is stunning during the summer months. When the sun shines, we get spectacular sunsets with flaming colors reflected over lakes and mountains.

This photo was taken at the marina at Carillon Point in Kirkland, WA looking west towards Seattle and the Olympic Mountains.

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Related Posts:
Summer Family Fun In Seattle
Family Hikes In Seattle

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Four Tips For Finding Vacation Rental Accommodation

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I’m a huge fan of renting vacation properties directly from owners as an economical, affordable and sanity-preserving choice for family vacations. Sanity-preserving because I am a princess with regards to sleep in that I need my eight hours every night, no exceptions and that can be very difficult in a shared hotel room with two children – particularly when one of those children is a night-owl and the other an early-bird.

I recently helped a family member find a property for their upcoming vacation using Homeaway.com. My relative contacted me today expressing her satisfaction “for all my hard work”! I spent perhaps an hour researching and finding a property for them using a method I’ve practised many times when planning trips with my children. I’ve shared my steps below. Leave a comment and let me know if you agree, disagree or have any suggestions to improve this.

Research Neighborhoods At Your Destination
I use a guidebook for this step and if possible, I talk to someone who knows the area in question. In this case, I used the Lonely Planet Buy By Chapter service, picking up a couple of chapters of their guidebook for the state in question. I’ve found that it’s very useful to have some basic information on the neighborhoods in a city or the towns in a resort area before I start looking at property listings. If I can, I pick up a local map (or use Google maps) to get a feel for the geographic layout also.

Research Available Listings
With some information on the region you’re interested in at hand, browse through the property listings for that area. My current favorite site for this is Homeaway.com because I find their search tools very intuitive to use. Using their Advanced Search, I can search by keyword, property size, price, dates amenities and other criteria.

I use a $1,000/week price rule-of-thumb when browsing listings. Using this as my mid-point, I can scan for suitable properties at or around that price range as my starting point for further research. I’ve used this rule-of-thumb for a number of years while renting properties in various countries and so far I’ve had no problems finding comfortable, clean and usually pleasant houses and condos to rent. (See below for my math if you’re interested). It’s always great when I find that the properties at that price point are too big or too luxurious for my needs. If this happens, I re-start my search using a lower price point – usually dropping by $200 at a time.

The next criteria I use to cull the candidate property list is reviews. If there are no reviews for a property, I usually drop it from my list. If you really like the look of the property another option is to contact the owner and ask for reviews from previous customers.

Finally, I examine all the photos supplied critically. I expect there to be clear photos of the kitchen, dining areas, bathrooms and bedrooms. The absence of any photos of a room mentioned in the property description makes me suspicious. I love it when an owner includes a diagram of the floor plan however I have found that this is something usually not shown on the property listing but something which an owner will supply on request.

Contact The Owners
At this point you should have 3-5 properties which look interesting to you. The next step is to contact the owner and ask for further information. Many owners will have their own website on which they provide additional information on the property (and sometimes the area too) over what is shown on the bare listings on a service like Homeaway.com.

It’s been my experience that the more responsive the owner, the more likely it is that you will have found someone whom you can trust and from whom you can be comfortable renting. Owners who don’t answer enquiry emails or don’t answer your questions about the property directly in this research stage are not likely to be helpful if you have problems after you have arrived.

Repeat The Above Steps
At least until you’ve found a property and an owner which you think will work for you. This can sometimes take multiple concurrent conversations with a number of owners and sometimes it can take just one phone call. Keep in mind that your owner-direct vacation rental experience is likely to be more successful more quickly if you start to look early for popular rental periods such as high summer or winter holidays.

Additional Info: The Math Behind $1,000/Week Vacation Rentals
I don’t like to pay large amounts of money for the bed I sleep in when I travel, but I do like my bed to be clean. I love the ambiance and luxury – and room size – of a four or five star hotel, but the cost of such accommodations are generally well above my price range. So, stripped to bare bones, I did some research on the price of a bed in a hostel and in general, a private room in a hostel costs between $20 and $25 per night. Since there’s four of us, that’s $80 – $100 per night for the cheapest form of rental accommodation available or $480 – $600 per week. Pretty darn cheap – but it comes with very little privacy. I like having a private kitchen and bathroom and I love my kids having their own bedroom(s). Using $100 each as the value I put on each of these amenities gives a top-line price of $900 for a week for a family of four in a private house or condo, rounding up to $1,000 to account for extras such as air conditioning, cable tv and a cleaning service. As I say, using this as a starting point has worked for me for many years.

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Seafair Clowns

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It’s Seafair weekend in Seattle! Actually, Seafair runs all summer long with neighborhood festivals and fun family and sporting events. The photo above was taken at the Seafair event in my neighborhood which is a Kiddie Parade and street fair. It’s a blast!

Have a great Photo Friday.

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Summer Family Fun In Seattle

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This summer we’ll be in Seattle and I’m looking forward to it. Seattle has a pretty well-deserved bad weather reputation for our damp and dreary Winter (and sometimes Spring and Fall too), but in the summer we have lazy, hazy days with the sun glistening off the waters of the lakes and the Puget Sound. The mountains east (Cascades) and west (Olympics) frame the horizon and Mt. Rainier, snow-capped, dominates the cityscape. With our northern latitude, we have long balmy evenings and glorious sunsets. I’m waxing poetical here, I know, but honestly, it’s hard not to.

This July we have guests coming to stay: relatives with three children ages seven, five and three. The’re coming from Portugal (to escape the heat of the Algarve) and they’ll be staying with us for two weeks. It’s the kids first visit to Seattle and I’m eager to help them make the most of their visit and so I spent some time this past weekend planning what I hope to take them to do and see while they’re here. Naturally, as with any family vacation, these are just a list of ideas and these plans could be turned upside down depending on temperament, tantrums, weather, interests or just plain kids-being-kids.

If some of these days seem short on activities, it’s because I’ve found that when planning a family trip, it helps to just plan one activity a day and to allow ample time for just hanging out and having fun – time which we don’t always get during our daily lives.

Day 1: I’ll spend the day introducing our visitors to our neighborhood so that they can find important things like cafes, ice-cream stores and parks while we’re at work during the following week. This is Seattle, so it’s not too surprising that even in my almost-suburban neighborhood there’s at least eight espresso joints from which to choose. My favorites are Zoka Coffee Roaster and Diva Espresso – both local companies. For ice-cream, these kids are in for a treat since we’re lucky enough to have the original Molly Moon homemade ice-cream store just down the street and newcomer Fainting Goat Gelato in case the line at Molly Moon’s is too long (it’s a popular spot). I expect that choosing a park in which to play will be a daily occurrence for my young guests. There’s a long list to choose from, but those with wading pools will be high on the list – a perfect way to spend some quality outdoor time with younger children in Seattle in the summer.

Day 2: My boys love water play on hot summer days and having a picnic by the International Fountain at the Seattle Center has always been a fun day trip. Playing around the fountain as the water and starts and stops – in time to the music – is a big hit with kids of all ages. It’s not for the faint of heart though, it can get crowded and younger children should be with a parent. If the International Fountain is just too much, the quieter, more secluded Fountain of Creation is just a few steps away on the north side of Key Arena.

Before we leave the Center, we’ll take some time to check out some of the other onsite attractions including the Pacific Science Center, The Children’s Museum, Space Needle and EMP – not to mention the Fun Forest .

Day 3: Today will be a Mom’s day. At the very least we’ll go for a kid-free walk, run or bike ride. I’ll make some beautification appointments in advance at either Ummelina or Habitude and we’ll finish the day at the Summer Concert Series event at Chateau St Michelle with a picnic on the lawn.

Day 4: I’m not a fan of theme parks (too loud, too many people, too expensive), but I do make an exception for water parks. Wild Waves is just off the I-5, an easy 30 miles south of Seattle in Federal Way. For us, it’s always been a once-a-summer, special event – my kids are looking forward to this daytrip already! It is pricey: entrance tickets are $28.99 + tax, but this year, the City of Seattle is selling reduced price tickets ($21) at community centers through September 7th.

Day 5: I’m calling this “Downtown Day”. I’ll be giving my guests tickets for the Ride the Ducks city tour and guest passes for the Seattle Aquarium. I’ll be suggesting that they stop for sandwiches at Three Girls Bakery or Le Painier on Pike Place Market for lunch but to take their food across the street to Victor Steinbrueck park where they can enjoy the sunshine and watch the ferries as they ply the sound.

Day 6: If you’ve ever planned a trip with kids you’ll know that it’s important to schedule some downtime. A day or a morning where there’s nothing at all on the agenda. This day could get moved up or back or duplicated, but in all the time I’ve traveled with my boys, it’s served me well to always include a do-nothing-day as I plan our trip.

Day 7: Holiday viewings of ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory‘ is a family tradition in my family. I can’t wait to see and hear what these kids think of the sights and sounds at Theo’s Chocolates. They may be too young to remember all they learn while taking the factory tour, but I expect it will be a highlight of the trip nonetheless.

Day 8: There are so many things to do at the Seattle Center that it only seems fair to add a second visit.

Day 9: Have you ever been a local who just never took the time to visit a prime tourist attraction in your city? I’ve never taken an Argosy Seattle Harbor Cruise but I do know – from other guests who’ve visited and taken the cruise – that it’s a fun 1-hour tour of Seattle giving a completely different perspective on the city and the harbor. (I have discount coupons from SeattleTourSaver which I can use – thanks alaskatravelgrm).

Day 10 and 11: No visit to Seattle would be complete without experiencing the great, great Pacific Northwest outdoors. So, we’ll be camping. I’m still considering where to camp, although old favorites like Salmon La Sac will always be a good choice and the Hood Canal is a fun spot for family camping. We’ll have fun introducing our guests to fine american camping traditions such as ‘smores

Is there anything you love to do with family or friends when they come to visit which you think I’ve missed? Do leave a comment.

If you’re looking for a family-friendly hotel in Seattle, check out my review of the Hotel Monaco.

Seattle summer skyline photo credit: rickz

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You Just Can’t Get Away From The Guinness

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You can be in a remote town in Mexico, way off the beaten tourist path and there it is, right in front of you: a Guinness sign with the signature address from your home town and the iconic Irish harp logo. As my brother-in-law (who took this photo) said: “You just can’t get away from the Guinness!”.

2009 is Guinness’ 250 year anniversary and they’re celebrating (surprise!) with a 250 Anniversary Stout and a contest to win a trip to Dublin. Go on, enter. You never know, you may be in Dublin to join in the celebrations!

I’m just sharing the love by mentioning this contest here. There were no payments or sponsorships received by yours truly, although I wouldn’t say no if a six-pack or a t-shirt was to magically appear on my doorstep .

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Reading on Vacation

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Earlier this week, I wrote about our stay in Akumal, Mexico in 2006. This photo was taken one evening on that trip while I was reading aloud to BigB – I think we were reading from a chapter book from the Secrets of Droon series. I love how the colorful tile in our apartment stands out against the white walls and tiles.

You can tell that we’re enjoying the moment and that our oh-so-white Irish/Seattle skin has been enjoying the warmth of the Mexican sun – just count those freckles

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Akumal Mexico With Kids

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Akumal Mexico is one of my all-time favorite destinations for a family vacation.

This is one of my favorite photos from our travels. It was taken in Akumal, Mexico in 2006. (Check out the bear in CAM’s arm – that bear truly has traveled more than most adults!)

Akumal is a tiny pueblo between Playa Del Carmen and Tulum on the Yucatan coast. I stumbled upon the town when traveling with some girlfriends (without children!) in 2003.

Akumal Mexico: Activites
Akumal has a grocery store, some craft stores, two dive shops and a couple of restaurants. The Ecological Center is the heart and pride of the town. It hosts an interesting display on the history of Akumal as a nesting place for Green and Loggerhead turtles and information on the activities of center employees and volunteers in caring for the local turtle population. You can also sign up to participate in night-time turtle walks to help find turtle hatchlings. Hatchlings, on a dark beach, are guided by moonlight towards the water. Beach lights from houses and hotels can confuse them and cause them to turn away from the ocean and toward the danger of buildings on the shore.

CAM, who was then 10, was fascinated by the night-time beach walk and utterly intrigued by the hatchlings. Months after we had returned home, he was still re-telling the story of how he had helped to find a hatchling. Since BigB had fallen asleep as we drove to the start point for the walk, so, while CAM and his Dad were looking for hatchlings, I waited on a recliner with my (not-so-small) baby fast asleep on my lap. Imagine my surprise when a turtle came out of the ocean, lumbered heavily directly towards me, and started to thrash about on the sand preparing a nest. What a sight! Unfortunately this particular turtle-mom had chosen a spot extremely close to an existing nest, so although the naturalists tried to encourage her to move a little away from the existing nest, in the end she gave up and lurched back to the ocean – most likely to attempt to find a nesting spot at a different place on the bay.

Akumal Mexico: Lodging
We stayed at the Vista Del Mar condo hotel. Our two-bed condo opened directly onto the beach with hooks for hammocks outside the door. The tiled, white-painted interior was a cool respite from the heat in the middle of the day.

This condo hotel is not like the larger resort hotel developments which have been built along the Mayan Riviera from Cancun to Playa Del Carmen and more recently, south towards Tulum. The rooms are spacious and comfortable with fully equipped kitchens but they are simply furnished and there is only AC in the bedrooms. Similarly, there is an internet cafe on site, but no internet in the rooms and no cable TV.

The hotel facilities are basic – the on-site pool is small for example – but there are treehouses on the beach in which my children ate their meals at every opportunity and, who needs a fancy pool when there’s a reef on your doorstep? BigB and I snorkled daily.

Next time you decide to visit Mexico, I encourage you to stray a little outside dedicated tourist resort areas. You never know, you might, like me, find a family-friendly place like Akumal in which you really can relax away from the rush of modern life.

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Four Days To Pandemic

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That, folks, is a picture of the H1N1 influenza virus – just in case you were wondering what it looks like. Barely a week ago, I hadn’t heard of the so-called Swine Flu and was happy in my ignorance. Since then, I’ve visited my sister and her beautiful new baby; juggled work, kids and travel in a very packed weekend and ended up quarantined in my house for fear of spreading a potential infection to my friends and neighbors. What a whirlwind! If, like me, you’re feeling a little overwhelmed by the torrent of information on this topic and can’t really remember the sequencing of events, there’s a really useful Swine Flu Timeline interactive tool on the Fox News website. For this post, I’m going to focus on our experience and hopefully provide some insight to other families who are considering whether or not to postpone travel plans between now and whenever this pandemic abates.

I vaguely recall hearing something about an outbreak of flu in Mexico City on Friday, April 24th as I drove to work. Since we weren’t flying through Mexico City, I didn’t pay much attention to the story. At 6pm that evening, I was running through my packing lists and chiding my boys to make sure they had what they needed for the trip in their backpacks. We dashed to the airport with little time to spare before our red-eye to Guadalajara (via LAX) and didn’t even catch the evening news.

we arrived in Guadalajara at 7am Saturday, April 25th. There was nothing remarkable about passport control but I noticed that the customs staff were wearing gloves and facemasks as they checked bags. When we got to our accommodation, I worked for a few hours as my husband and children slept. Then we spent a quiet day by the pool with family. In the evening, we had dinner at a local restaurant on the plaza in Ajijic. There wasn’t a facemask or surgical glove in sight.

Early Sunday morning, April 26th, my sister mentioned to me that the staff at a local store were wearing masks. Given that I hadn’t read a newspaper or heard the news since Friday morning, I was probably more than a little arrogant when I brushed her off with a “Oh, it’s just a big fuss over nothing!” We spent the afternoon exploring Tlaquepaque, blithely unaware that schools and other public locations had been shut down in Mexico City and that the WHO had announced that the world was facing a swine flu pandemic. But later that evening, listening to the evening news on CNN, I started to get concerned.

On Monday, April 27th, WanderDad and I talked about whether or not we should mention the pandemic to our boys. My sense was that since we likely hadn’t been exposed, talking about it might scare our children and so we shouldn’t bring it up unless it was really necessary. WanderDad disagreed but given that we were eager to start our journey to Colima, we let the matter drop. Later that day, when we sat to dinner at the restaurant in our hotel, the waiter brought facemasks to our table. So much for ignoring the topic in front of the children.

Tuesday, April 28th was a busy day. After breakfast, we talked about the flu with CAM and BigB. They were, as WanderDad had predicted, more fascinated by the science than scared by the possibility of becoming infected themselves. We emailed a friend in Seattle who is a nurse and asked for advice on protecting ourselves and whether or not there was anything we should do during or after our flight home the following day. As we waited for her response, we realized that if there was any possibility that we had been infected, we would have to be careful not to spread the virus when we returned to Seattle. We emailed the children’s schools to get their input. (The kids were thrilled that they might have two extra days off school!) Emails were flying back and forth furiously: don’t bother with facemasks; make sure to use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer frequently and liberally; stay away from crowded places; yes, the schools would like us to keep the boys at home; yes, we should stay in our house for 3-5 after we returned and monitor for any flu-like symptoms.

And then, just as quickly as we’d arrived, it was time to go home. The airport in Guadalajara was pretty busy when we checked in for our early morning flight. Now it seemed that everyone, staff, officials and passengers, was wearing a facemask. We joked about being quarantined on our arrival into LAX, but our trip home was completely painless.

The most interesting part of this whole experience was being able to observe how people were reacting to the news as it broke around us in Mexico and then deciding how to communicate with our children about what was happening and why. With an on-the-ground perspective, it seemed that the level of reporting on the flu was out-of-proportion to the size of the problem and that this was causing unnecessary alarm. What worked best for the children was to talk to them calmly about the issue. Since we don’t speak Spanish, we were also protected from the impact of the media coverage. I can’t say for sure that this helped, but my sense is that it did because we were able to control the message to our children and avoid any undue alarm.

CAM obviously wasn’t too perturbed by the whole experience. He woke me on Thursday morning, wearing a facemask holding out this book (in gloved hands), open to the page on “How to Survive a Flu Pandemic”!

Will we change our travel plans for the rest of this year because of swine flu? I don’t think so. We will, if possible, avoid places where contagion seems more likely – although currently that seems to be just Mexico City. It seems to me that during the rest of this year it’s important to practice the things which you would normally do to stay healthy during the regular winter flu season: cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze and wash your hands frequently. If you usually spend the winter indoors worried about catching the flu, then maybe you should stay indoors now. If you don’t, well then, what are you waiting for? It’s a great time to travel!