Posts Tagged: Travel
Magical weekend in San Diego with kids
We had the most magical weekend in San Diego with our kids. We were living in Phoenix at the time so we took a labor day weekend getaway to San Diego. San Diego is just a five hour drive from Phoenix. I picked Matt up from work and we drove straight to San Diego. By we driving straight I mean Matt drove and I sat next to him for moral support (if someone sleeping next to you counts as moral support). He likes to drive and I don’t so it works out pretty well. Who drives in your home?
Since Matt grew up in California and we still have extended family there I feel like it’s a place we will always go back to. I don’t feel the need to see everything. It was a relaxing weekend but we still did a lot and there are still things in San Diego I want to do when we go back.
First, we knew we didn’t need to go to the San Diego Zoo for this trip. Matt and I have both been to the San Diego Zoo. We were “zooed out” from living in St. Louis where the zoo is free and having recently been to the amazing Omaha Zoo. I want to see Mission Beach in San Diego. According to another hotel guest, “Mission Beach is the most crowded beach that he’s been to.” We found some less crowded beaches for this trip. At some point I want to see large beach crowds. Matt told me the most crowded beach he’s seen was in Waikiki Beach in Hawaii.
After looking through these photos and thinking about everything we did, I wanted to nail down what made this trip magical for me. I wanted to know so that I can recreate it in the future. I’m glad that this trip wasn’t out of the country because we definitely couldn’t go out of the country frequently. Could this magical type of weekend be recreated in a cold location or was the fact that this trip was in Southern California where temperatures are temperate all of the time be the key?
Georgia U-pick farm
One of our family traditions is to do a U-pick farm every year. Last year was a unique because we picked asparagus for the first time. This year we went blueberry picking at Morning Belle Farms in Woodbine, Georgia. The blueberries were plump and delicious. The farm has a facebook page that is more up to date as far as the amount of berries and hours.
Tips for the Omaha Zoo
I have heard that the Omaha zoo is one of the best in the country. I’ve been to lots of zoos across the country including the San Diego Zoo and the DC zoo and thought how could it be so good? We had been living in St. Louis as well and the zoo in St. Louis is free and the thought of paying to visit a zoo didn’t exactly thrill me. I mean we were at the zoo in St. Louis a few days before and then we drive to Omaha to pay to visit a zoo?
However, my friend Marissa said that if we’re visiting Omaha then we MUST visit the zoo. Marissa lived in Omaha for four years so she knew what she was talking about. She also recommended to spend the whole day there. I read some things about the zoo ahead of time and thought I was prepared for the zoo. However, I was totally blown away with how amazing it is. I knew to pack swim suits for my kids because I had heard there was a splash pad there. We were visiting in the summer time so we also packed lots of drinks, sunscreen and snacks. There are not more animals or more exotic animals there than other zoos but each exhibit is thoughtfully done.
An example of how the zoo’s exhibits are enriched is the elephant area. There is an elephant crate that you could walk through. I felt like I could get a good sense of how large these animals were. There was also a safari jeep and helicopter that the kids could climb in.
My son was reading the zoo map and his eyes immediately locked in on the children’s zoo area and it says “learn through play”. He kept saying we need to go to the children’s zoo because we learn through play. We came early and stayed till the end and we could have stayed longer at the zoo.
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