Vancouver, Washington: One of the Best Easy Weekend Trips from Seattle

If you're looking for an easy Pacific Northwest getaway, Vancouver, Washington might just be one of the most overlooked destinations in the whole region! Located just across the Columbia River from Portland, this charming city offers a walkable downtown, a beautiful waterfront, fantastic restaurants, and plenty of local character.
For travelers searching for weekend trips from Seattle or Tacoma, or even a day trip, Vancouver, WA delivers the perfect mix of convenience and charm! It's close enough for a spontaneous getaway but full enough of things to do that you can easily spend an entire weekend away exploring.
Between browsing vintage shops, walking along the waterfront, eating your way through local restaurants, and discovering the city's history, Vancouver is the kind of Pacific Northwest destination that gives you that off the beaten path feel. You'll leave feeling like you chipped away at one of those spots that no one else knows about, so get out there and enjoy it before anyone catches on!
Here's how to plan the perfect Vancouver, Washington getaway.

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The Best 5 Day Normandy Road Trip

Most people hear Normandy and think D Day beaches. Heck, even I did before I did my research! But Normandy is a region, not just a beach and it holds some of the most breathtaking scenery in all of France. Normandy is one of the most famous destinations in France and it's just a few hours outside of Paris. It's an easy addition to any trip, and it can be experienced with a road trip. There are miles and miles of rolling countryside and dramatic coastal cliffs and everything in between.  You really aren't going to want to miss it! Here's the ultimate 5 day Normandy road trip.

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Best Place to Watch Sunrise on Grand Canyon's Southern Rim

When you find yourself close to a National Park, you should always take advantage of viewing sunrise and/or sunset. Many of the National Parks we visited on our Ultimate Southwest Road Trip™ are doing their best to work towards the International Dark Sky status. This just means that a park is doing its best to improve the night sky visibility in order to protect and preserve the nighttime environment. Sunrise is a different story! One of my first questions to any and all of the park rangers and volunteers was "where is the best place to watch the sunrise?" I got a lot of different answers and with only one morning sunrise to test it out, I think we found the winner! Read on!

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Top Ski Resorts to Visit in BC

I grew up in Indiana where the hills on a golf course were the highest point around. We had plenty of snow, but fresh snow was made for sledding. Growing up, I would occasionally see ski tags hanging like a prize off of the zipper of a ski coat but I never thought to seek out a ski trip. It wasn't until a few years after living in the greater Seattle area, that I took from sledding the hills adjacent to several ski resorts in our area, and decided to learn how to ski. My oldest son had learned from his grandpa one winter, and the invitation to join the in-laws on a ski trip to Whistler, BC, was accepted. I signed up for ski lessons {BC ski resorts have THE BEST ski lessons for all skill levels}, and I've been skiing every winter since.
If you were to ask our kids what their favorite winter activity was, they would all say, hands down skiing. This mama wants to give them what they want, so I've started researching the best ski resorts in British Columbia {BC} Canada. Here is everything you need to know about the top 8 ski resorts that are all driving distance from the greater Seattle area.

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Road Trip play list

As you might know from my posts last week,  we just returned for a two week long road trip in the Midwest. We started in Seattle, flew to Indianapolis and traveled more than 1500 miles in between hitting Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. No road trip is complete without a play list.

My 14 year old son compiled this one for us. Cruise by Florida Georgia Line She Don't Know She's Beautiful by Sammy Kershaw Gravy by the Lost Trailers Mr. Policeman by Brad Paisley Longneck Bottle by Garth Brooks Truck Yeah by Tim McGraw Queen of My Double Wide Trailer by Sammy Kershaw Jolene by Dolly Parton Take a Back Road by Rodney Atkins Any Man of Mine by Shania Twain White Trash Wedding by the Dixie Chicks Down on The Farm by Tim McGraw Amy's Back in Austin by Little Texas Hog Wild by Hand Williams Jr. American Honky Tonk Bar Association by Garth Brooks Holler Back by the Lost Trailers Save A Horse by Big and Rich Small Town Girl by Kellie Pickler I Go Back by Kenny Chesney Since we were in the Midwest, we stuck with country.   A genre we don't usually listen to. There were plenty of songs that my husband and I would have swapped out. Which would you have added to the list?

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The Great Midwest Trip continues exploring Kentucky and Indiana

I'm interrupting my normal garage sale finds Friday to share with you the final day in our recap of The Great Midwest Trip.  

A two week long trip that started with us flying from Seattle to Indianapolis and driving a rental van for two weeks 1500 miles around the Midwest, exploring my roots and the places of my childhood.  

We visited Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Today I am finishing up a recap of our stop in Kentucky and Indiana. We started our morning in Tennessee and headed in to Mammoth Cave National park for a guided tour. Thankfully we left plenty of time to explore the Kentucky Home store for "pretty stuff" While at Mammoth Cave we took two tours. A self guided tour of the rotunda and a guided tour of the New Entrance. The cave is mammoth and has more than 400 miles of passageways. We explored less than a mile of them. After the caves, we drove up to Louisville and spent some time exploring Churchill Downs home of the Kentucky Derby. We made our way to the Louisville slugger museum and factory tour. I haven't spent a lot of time in Louisville {if ever} but it was surprisingly a very beautiful city. We spent the final days of our trip in Indiana. After several failed attempts in the past to get my family to come to Conner Prairie, I insisted that we visit this time.  Conner Prairie is a living history museum that has become quite interactive for the kids. The kids can take jobs like housekeeper or deputy and perform tasks on a job sheet allowing them to interact with the townsfolk rather than just observe. Conner Prairie has also added a civil war town.  Having grown up in Indiana you think I would have learned about the history and the role that Indiana played in the role, but I did not.   We stayed downtown Indy and had the chance to explore the canal district. What once was a good place to go to get drugs or get shot, is now a really cool addition to the city. You can rent paddle boats, kayaks or take a gondola ride on the canal or just explore it like we did. Having a drummer in my family, the Rhythm museum was on the must see list. We also explored the war memorial on the circle. My sports fans wanted to stop at Lucus Oil Stadium home of the Colts. And my new obsession is city capitals. I lived in Indiana for 21 years of my life and never once stopped in the Capital. Indianapolis is still one of my favorite cities! As we prepared to leave the city, tired after two weeks of traveling, we took a picture with the same race car that greeted us on our arrival. We look more weary and are definitely ready to be heading home. But wait! As we pulled away from the gate in our plane with the flight attendants doing their safety drills, the plane suddenly lost power.  The crew explained to us that the auxiliary power unit died and needed a jump start. We headed back to the gate where they attempted to jump the plane. After failed attempts and many passengers with connections, the plane was unloaded with passengers left to find flights to their final destinations. My middle child is not thrilled with change and was quite upset with this new wrench in our plans and was in tears for about an hour as we arranged a back up plan since we weren't leaving Indy anytime soon. Delta airlines having delayed both our flights coming in at the start of our trip, was not winning any new customers with this new predicament. Here we are, having never left Indy, sad that we can't get home. Take 2 Catching an early morning flight we made it home! We flew in on a beautiful day in Seattle and were greeted with amazing weather and even more amazing views as we landed! Places to see: Caves {Mammoth cave isn't the only one-explore Diamond Caverns or Marengo caves} Churchill Downs Louisville Slugger museum and factory tour Carriage ride downtown Louisville Conner Prairie Rhythm Museum Canal in Indianapolis White River Park trails Indy-rent a bike or a boat Circle downtown Indy Lucas Oil Stadium Indiana State Capital War monument downtown Indy We made a lot of stops, saw a lot of things and made some great memories. We are still recovering from our trip, but are thankful that we had the time to explore a part of the United States that we haven't spent much time in. I hope you have had time to explore this summer.  Even if it is just in your own city! Thanks for reading along on our adventures.

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The Great Midwest Trip Continued Kentucky, Tennessee

If you are just joining me, let me catch you up to speed.

Our family of five just returned from what we call The Great Midwest Trip.

We flew from Seattle, Washington to Indianapolis, Indiana and drove 1500 miles on a two week long road trip in a rental van.

I've shared with you the stops that we made in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio.

Today  we continue on to Kentucky and Tennessee.

We started our morning with a quick drive from Ohio to Lexington, Kentucky. Horse Country. Also home to University of Kentucky.  and Rupp arena We had more than a few people tell us that we needed to stop for ice cream at Grater's. We did. It did not disappoint. We spent some time touring the grounds of Henry Clay in Ashland Before heading on to my family reunion in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. This is the view from our balcony at the resort. The Great Smokey Mountains was our stop for five days so we took the time to do a few things while we were there. Nine of the 16 went white water rafting {on the border of North Carolina, which brings out states visited total to six now} We went to the Tomb pyramid attraction, visited the Titanic museum, enjoyed the resorts water park {similar to Great Wolf Lodge} and spent two days in Dollywood. This is a glimpse of the family that was able to be there for the reunion. All of my siblings and my parents My brother in law Will is an amazing photographer. He took some great family shots, but also some amazing landscape shots as well. The Great Smokey Mountains is a beautiful area! We spent some time exploring it one day and took a short hike to Laurel Falls. It was an easy mile hike to the falls that this group of all ages could do. We even saw a black bear and her cubs on the way back down. It was a fun stay in Tennessee and while we said goodbye to my family, we didn't say goodbye to the state. Come back tomorrow to see our adventures in Nashville. Recommended stops if you find yourself in the area: Graters ice cream {Cincinnati, Lexington} Titanic Museum The Great Smokey Mountains Dollywood {you must get the cinnamon bread, it's worth the price of admission}

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The Great Midwest Trip continued Indiana, Ohio

As I shared yesterday, our family just returned from two weeks on The Great Midwest Trip.

We flew from Seattle to Indianapolis, where we rented a van and drove around 1500 miles.

After spending our first full day at our Alma mater Purdue, we drove through Carmel, Indiana the town that I lived in from 6th grade until I got married.
Here is a picture that I shared in the story of us when my husband and I started dating.
Here is that red tree in the background now! The house is still there.

I grew up in this house. An Italianate house was built in 1860 in Greensburg, Indiana.

I haven't stepped foot in the house since I moved on the last day of my fifth-grade year 25 years ago. But for years, I have hoped that I could see the house again. It's a cool piece of history.

Thankfully, we happened to be in town during the owner's lunch break. They were home and were more than happy to show us around. Being able to see the house was at the top of my list of things to do, so I am so happy that it worked out.
The coolest part is that the new owners were replacing the wallpaper that my mom had installed back in 1987.  Before the wallpaper went up, she let us draw on the walls. If the new owner didn't believe me that I had lived there as a kid, the pencil portrait drawings on the wall upstairs were proof!
A huge thank you to the Russell family for allowing me back into my old home to take a tour of the place!

My oldest friend from across the street has now made her way back to Greensburg and we were able to reconnect and visit some of the old haunts in downtown. It was one of the highlights of the trip.

The only thing that Greensburg, Indiana is famous for is the famous tower tree. A tree that grows from the top of the clock tower. It's a mystery how the tree got there or how it grows, but it's said that the springs in the clock water it.

After leaving Greensburg, it was an hour drive to Ohio, which now brings the state visited count to three  {Michigan, Indiana, Ohio}

It's not a real road trip in the Midwest if you don't stop to eat dinner at Cracker Barrel.

Suggested places to visit: Cracker Barrel  Clay Terrace, Carmel, IN Monon Trail and waterpark, Carmel, IN Courthouse Tree, Greensburg, IN Decatur County Park, Greensburg, IN

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