Orlando With Kids: Disney’s Animal Kingdom – The Condense Version

October 30, 2009 By 18 Comments

Disney Animal Kindgom Tree of Life

This past Summer, we took our quick vacation to one of our family favorite spots – Walt Disney World. We have been there countless times and yet still enjoy it every time we visit.

We have been there since before we have kids. I know.. It must be something they put in the water or in the air. Every time we step foot in this place, it just likes magic. You suddenly have this happy feeling.

However, there is certain park that we seems to have the worst of luck whenever we visited. The Disney’s Animal Kingdom park is the newest park (at 11 years of age). We have visited this park a few times and each time we just couldn’t get to explore it to the full extent.

Disney Animal Kindgom With Kids

Our first couple trips we were attacked with Florida heat. No surprise here that Florida can be hot. Add that to one of the largest park with a lot of walking, we just couldn’t take the heat.

Our recent trip, we had a high hope. We came prepare with all essentials to survive the heat in Disney’s Animal Kingdom with kids. We wanted to try out the new ride – Expedition Everest. But before heading for the thrill, we opted for a easy and fun ride first.

Wildlife Express Train & Conservation Station

We hopped on the Wildlife Express Train to the Conservation Station. Believe it or not, this was our first time doing this ride! What a gem!

Disney Animal Kindgom Kid Club

I highly recommended this ride and station for family with small kids. The ride is fun and exciting for kids without too much hassle. After we got off at the station, we walked along a shade path to the conservation station. Along the way, there is Discovery Kid Club station with a ranger to help kids learn about nature. There are 6 Discovery Kid Club in the whole park. You can look at the map on where to find them. Kids will get their pin and a stamp on their Discovery Kid passport. It’s a great way to get kids engaged in exploring the park.

Another big plus is that the conservation station is indoor and cool. Anyone visiting Animal Kingdom will know how hot it can be even on a good day. So this station is a great escape for family with kids. There are also picnic tables all around for you to take a break and have snack.

Kilimanjaro Safari

After spent what feel like hours there, we hopped back on the train to Kilimanjaro Safari. It was probably as close as Africa we can get for our family at this moment seeing the cost of going to the real Africa is out of our budget. Kids enjoyed seeing animals and fun bumpy ride along the way.

Disney Animal Kindgom Safari

I think this ride will be good for family with a bit older kids. School-age kids will throughly enjoy this ride as they can look at the chart provided in the bus to look out for the animal. Younger – preschoolers might enjoy the ride but it can be a bit scary for them if they are not used to bumpy ride.

After a hot and long-lined lunch (yes, I probably should read all the tips about lunch or food in Disney), we walked toward Asia for the Expedition Everest (or we thought we could).

Flight of Wonder

But the walk proved to be too difficult for them to handle. So we took a short break at Flight of Wonder show. It was a really really nice show. The birds were amazing and the casts were very entertaining.

Disney Animal Kindgom Ice Cream

And don’t forget to try out the pineapple ice cream in front of the entrance. It was a life-saver for me.. Cool and tasty!

That’s when it came to an end for us. The rain came and we got soaked. So we decided to abort all other plans and head back to our condo.

Even though it was a really quick visit for us and we only covered 3 rides/attractions, the kids truly enjoyed the experience and I won’t give up on Animal Kingdom anytime soon. :)

Family Tips:

  • Prepare for a long walk by bringing stroller for younger kids (or even big kids)
  • Bring essential stuffs to combat the heat – hats, fan, sunscreen, water and light clothing
  • Pack a poncho or small umbrella because you never when it’s gonna rain in Florida
  • Take frequent break. Look for indoor theatre or store for a quick cool down in between attractions

Do you have any other tips for family travel to Disney’s Animal Kingdom? 

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Orlando Things To Do

Filed Under: Attractions/Museums, Walt Disney World Tagged With: , , , , , ,

5 Easy Steps to Start Bidding on Priceline

October 26, 2009 By 10 Comments

Priceline

Thinking about jumping on the priceline bandwagon but don’t really know how to start bidding on priceline?

You are in luck. I won’t claim that I’m an expert in Priceline because I’m sure there are plenty of people who have used them extensively. However, I have used it with success a few trips that I am able to give you a few easy tips to get you to a good start.

Now, if you are unsure whether to use priceline vs traditional hotel booking, you might want to step back and evaluate your options carefully. This post will talk about steps to take once you have made up your mind to go with priceline.

1. Research your accommodation area and location

It’s best to know where you want to stay in your city destination. If you have no clue, you might want to start from asking your friends, checking websites with destination recommendation, joining travel forum to get inputs from other travelers.

My first step for this is always check some of my favorite family travel blogs like Travel Savvy Mom or Delicious Baby for family-friendly area to stay. Then I hop to Trip Advisor forum for more details information.

Trip Advisor forum is a great resource. My advice is to spend sometimes searching on the forum before asking. You might already find your answer.

Arming with a couple options of area to stay, I log in to BetterBidding.com – a Priceline and Hotwire forum. This site is fabulous for priceline bidding tips and info.

2. Check hotels listing in your desired area

Now that you know which area you would love to stay, your first stop should be the sub forum for the state that you want to visit in BetterBidding website. In there, you can check out the hotel listing (Keep in mind that this is a user based forum so take the information as it is but don’t expect 100% accuracy on the hotel listing).

This listing will give you the general idea of the possible hotels that you can win. Again, make sure you are comfortable with the choices. If not, move on and book the hotel yourself.

Also, make sure that you are comfortable with hotel amenities. One big caveat for priceline is that there is no guarantee that you will get 2 Queen Beds. And the room is always the general guest room. So if you are looking for a suite or different room type, you will have to resource to other hotel booking sites.

3. Determine how much to bid on priceline

Right about this time, you are probably ready and itchy to start the bid. But hold your horse.. You have a couple more steps before entering that first bid.

What is the best bidding amount? That’s the biggest question because you don’t want to bid too high that you overpay for the hotel. Yet, you also don’t want to bid too low that you never get a chance to win and wasting your time there.

First, check the winning bid for hotel in your area on BetterBidding. They also have new feature that you can even see the wins for the same date as your travel date. This will give you a general idea on where to start.

Next, you can check Hotwire price for hotel with similar star ranking and in the same area with the same date. Having the information from Hotwire will help to put a top bid for your hotel. You don’t want to bid higher than what you can get from Hotwire.

Also make sure that when you look for winning bid, check the date. Because date does play a big role in your rate. Booking during high season will yield a higher rate than booking during low season. So don’t get fixated to the winning bid of other travelers because they might not have the same date as yours.

4. Learn the trick to rebid after rejection

Based on Priceline’s rule, when your bid gets rejected, you have 2 options. You can either wait 24 hours to rebid or you can change your search criteria like different date, different hotel ranking or different location. However, with all the hard work you have done to research the best possible location with best possible hotels, you probably don’t want to change those criteria. There are a way to get around this. Here is how.

First you need to learn the bidding zone in your city destination and available hotel levels (stars). Let’s say there are 5 bidding zone in a city and you bid 4 stars hotel in zone 1. Now, you must check to see how many zones in that city that have hotel with less quality (3 stars or less). And with luck, Zone 2,3, and 5 has only 3 stars or less hotels. That’s mean you can add zone 2, 3, and 5 to your rebid with a guarantee that you will still get 4 stars hotel in zone 1.

Another tip to keep in mind is that always start your bid with the highest stars hotel. Priceline will allow you to add lower quality hotels to your rebid but not the other way around. So if you know that you can go with 3 stars hotel, start your bid with 4 1/2 stars to see if you might be in luck.

5. If all else fail, wait and be patient

What to do after all these steps and your bid is still rejected with priceline counteroffer?

Wait. Don’t accept the offer. It means you are very close to the accepting bid. So if you already use up all your rezone bidding, wait till the next day to rebid.

Hope these steps will help you to save big on your next trip.

Filed Under: Travel Tips Tagged With: , , ,

Little Zoo Aboard Carnival Cruise

October 22, 2009 By 17 Comments

One of the fun thing we looked forward to on our Carnival Cruise was the towel animal that would be waiting for us on our bed or inside our room. We didn’t know what we will find so it was a big fun for the kids.

Here are animals we found in our cabin on our Carnival Cruise a couple years ago. Enjoy! :)

Carnival Cruise Towel Animal

Carnival Cruise Towel Animal

Carnival Cruise Towel Animal 3

Carnival Cruise Towel Animal

Carnial Cruise Towel Animal - Monkey

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Filed Under: Carnival Cruise

Asheville With Kids: Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Asheville Downtown

October 21, 2009 By 2 Comments

HolidayInn

I typically don’t write hotel review on my blog. If people want to read reviews, there are plenty of review websites like TripAdvisor or Hotels to read about.

However,  I also know that as a parent who loves to travel, I love to hear about personal experience from other travelers on their stay – what to do, where to eat and where to stay. These are main things when we plan our trip.

So here is our own experience at Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites – Asheville Downtown during our stay in Asheville.

Price:

I got the hotel room from Priceline.com for a very good price for less than $70 per night. It’s a great discount while the listing price on their website is over $120 per night for the same period. If you haven’t tried priceline, give it a try.

Location:

The hotel is located a couple miles from downtown area. Even though, the hotel name is Asheville Downtown. You can’t really walk to downtown.. Ok.. You might but it will be a really really long walk.

With that being said, there are plenty of other convenient factors to make this hotel a great location for family.

First of all, it’s next to Fiddlin’ Pig restaurant. And there are other restaurants and fast food places right around the corner.

Second of all, Ingle grocery chain is right across the street. For family who travels with kids, we all know how important having access to grocery store is for parents. You never know what you might forget.

Holiday Inn Asheville

Room:

The hotel room is very NICE. I was very impressed with the room decoration and cleanliness. It’s nothing fancy like a 5 stars hotel but it’s simple and decorate in the transitional style. The hotel is in a really good shape. I think they just opened only a few years ago.

Holiday Inn Asheville Amenities

There are also other amenities that make it a great option for family. A small refridgerator will help keep drinks cool. A microwave will help heat up food in the morning or a quick meal when kids go hungry. Also free high speed internet helps keep mom & dad in touch with the world. Just make sure to bring your network cable.

There are plenty of storage space for our family of 4 to put our clothes in the dresser and hang it up. Another great plus is a curve shower curtain to give more room in the shower.

Holiday Inn Asheville Swimming Pool

Hotel Service & Facilities

I normally don’t put too much weight into a hotel pool. Most of the time, when we travel we would be out all day with hardly any time to spend in the hotel. But this trip, I’m glad the hotel has the indoor pool to give the kids something to do after a long day.

Holiday Inn Asheville Pool

An indoor pool is nothing fancy. It’s a small heated indoor/outdoor pool. Unfortunately, it was too cold to try the outdoor part. I don’t know if it was too cold that the heated water still seemed too cold or they didn’t heat it up. But my kids didn’t have a problem jumping back and forth between a jacuzzi and the pool to warm themselves up.

We didn’t have much contact with hotel staffs throughout our stay. They were very professional and courteous whenever we talked to them.

Overall

We were very happy during our stay there. I would go back there for another stay in the future.

Disclaimer:

In light of current FTC ruling, I want to make sure that I follow whatever blogger’s rule there is.

This post is based solely on my experience and my opinion without any outside influence. I have NOT given any discount from Holiday Inn. I paid for the hotel bill from my own pocket. They probably don’t even know that I wrote about this post.

Asheville Hotel Review

Filed Under: Hotel & Resort Review, North Carolina Tagged With: , , , , ,

Fun Corn Maze at Dusk with Kids at Uncle Shuck’s

October 19, 2009 By 9 Comments

Uncle Shuck Corn Maze

A couple weekends ago, we made a last minute trip to visit our local corn maze – Uncle Shuck’s Corn Maze in Dawsonville. Typically, we tend to visit corn maze earlier in the day. But this time, we planned for a sunset visit. We got there with about 20 minutes before the Sunset.

After purchased the tickets, we headed straight to the corn maze. There are other activities you can do around the corn maze but with limit sun light we just had to save that for future trip.

Corn Maze map

The corn plants are full and tall. I love the the corn field is so green. It’s much better than walking along the brown corn field like we did last year. You can’t really tip-toe or jump to see your way out so you really do need a map or good internal GPS system. Don’t worry they will give you a map with your ticket purchase.

COrn Maze

Our first goal is to get to the bridge so that I can take some pictures of the corn maze before dark. Mr. Rojo was doing a great job leading us to the bridge. But I was a bit disappointed at my own skill. I didn’t get any good pictures. Guess we might have to head out there again.

Corn Maze

Then, now the real work had just begun. There are 2 corn mazes and each has 6 check points that you have to complete. Each check point has a punch hole (with distinct shape). Once you complete all check points you can return the card to win a grand prize.

Moon

We could only complete 5 checkpoints. By that time, the creepy music started to play as they got ready for the Haunted Maze. Plus we were so under-dressed that everyone was freezing for the falling temperature. It was time to head out.

Fun at Uncle Shuck

After we got out from the maze, we let the kids check out the kiddie version. I am not sure what kind of vegetable that is but my guess was it’s kudzu. They had fun running through the maze and played a bit before we headed back home.

Next time, I guess we have to plan to arrive a bit earlier to take advantage of other fun activities there. And for a more daring and adventurous family, you can wait till dark and go for the Haunted Maze. I for one, will NEVER do that.

Family Tips:

  • Bring jacket or sweater for a drop in temperature during night time
  • Bring your flashlight if you plan for a dusk corn maze
  • Wear comfortable shoes. This can be a long walk if you don’t really know where you are going
  • Bring camel pak or water bottle
  • Haunted Maze is extra so if you don’t want to do it, make sure that you tell the cashier up front.

Check out my round up for fun corn mazes around Atlanta at Atlanta With Kid.

Filed Under: Day/Weekend Trips Tagged With: ,

Foodie Heaven in Asheville

October 16, 2009 By 24 Comments

Being a frugal parent and trying to save on family travel, I always a big fan of packing lunch and cooking dinner to save on restaurants during our vacation. BUT, there is always an exception to any rule.

Our recent trip to Asheville was one of the exception. After a quick research on best places to eat, I was overwhelmed by the amount of options for this small town. I literally have to plan my meals around restaurants and yet still couldn’t fit it all in. So my next trip will have to be longer so I can try out all those recommended restaurants.

With the busy schedule of the conference we were able to fit in 3 restaurants that are worth writing about. I mean we did eat out more than 3 meals but some other meals were our typical fast food joints to save time.

Noodle Shop

Noodle Shop Asheville

Our first great meal was at the Noodle Shop on Pack Square. We found this noodle restaurant during our Asheville Photo Walk and I made up my mind there and then that we had to come back and had dinner there. And we were not disappointed.

Pad Thai @ Noodle Shop

Mr. Rojo ordered Pad Thai and I had to say it was by far the best Pad Thai I have had in a while. If you love Pad Thai from normal Thai restaurant in your neighborhood, you might feel a bit disappointed. This Pad Thai is not a dish that leads with sweet taste like American Pad Thai that you normally get. See!! there is this misconception that Pad Thai is this sweet and a bit saucy dish.. But no!! Real Pad Thai doesn’t even look red. It has a combination of salty and sweet taste. And they have nailed it.

Egg Noodle @ Noodle Shop

I order the noodle soup which came out the size of the big bowl that can probably feed our whole family. We ordered pork egg noodle dish for them. And it was amazing!! Too bad, we were too full to finish it all. I wish I live there so we can order take out all the time!

Noodle Shop on Urbanspoon

Tupelo Honey Cafe

Tupelo Honey Cafe

The next morning, we headed out early to one of the favorite breakfast place in Asheville – Tupelo Honey Cafe. I didn’t know that they opened at 9AM but it was a perfect timing for us. We waited a bit for them to open with a long line of customers. I mean it has to be good, right? For people to wait for them to open. Talking about no-pressure here.

Tupelo Cafe Menu

Once we got inside, we got seated right away. If we were about 20 minutes later, we would have to wait probably another 30-45 minutes. It was nice to see the local farmer delivered the fresh produce right there and then. Now, that’s fresh!

Frensh toast @ Tupelo Cafe

The menu is extensive and I would love to go back again to try other dishes. But alas, I could only eat one dish at a time. I settled for Petunia’s Pain Perdu – a New Orleans style french toast.. Oh.. My.. Word.. It was amazing! Now, I’m not one of the foodie blogger so don’t expect me to explain in detail with words that will make your mouth watering. I could only show you the picture and hope that it will do justice.

Mr. Rojo ordered the Country Breakfast and we ordered Sweet Potato Pancakes for the kids. If I didn’t finish all my food, I would probably eat more of the pancakes as well. It was delicious and good and healthy. I love healthy food. Make me don’t feel so bad eating out so much after all.

Tupelo Honey Cafe on Urbanspoon

Fiddlin’ Pig Bluegrass Barbecue

Fiddlin' Pig

OK. I think we missed out on this restaurant because we went there too early. Since I had some schedule to keep, we had to rush for a dinner on the last night. The Fiddlin’ Pig normally has live music starting at 6pm from Monday thru Saturday. And I think they are known for that because when we got there, all the great tables were reserved. But since we knew we wouldn’t be able to stay we wouldn’t mind sitting in the corner. Next time, we just have to try out the fun Bluegrass music.

We are not barbecue buff so I wouldn’t know much about what is what. So when they brought out Mr. Rojo’s order of barbecue ribs we were a bit concern because the meat looked a tad red to his liking. It turned out they smoked the ribs so that’s how it looks. Who knew!

Dessert @ Fiddlin' Pig

The food is nothing special to write home about BUT the dessert was so divine. We ordered Brownie and Ice Cream and I almost didn’t have a chance for a bite when I took Mr. Z for a quick bathroom break.

Fiddlin Pig on Urbanspoon

Now are you hungry yet? Because I am and I can’t wait to go back to try more restaurants. I mean I already have more to add to my list..

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PhotoStory Friday
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Asheville Travel Tips

Filed Under: North Carolina Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Best 10 Free or Cheap Things to Do with Kids in Los Angeles

October 12, 2009 By 6 Comments

LA_johnmueller

What to do with kids if you only have 48 hours to visit Los Angeles?

As we are planning our Southern California trip, I have planned out what to do in San Diego down to the hours.. Ok. I’m a bit obsessive when it comes to travel planning. I know that. Now that San Diego plan is ready, I can turn my attention to Los Angeles.

Los Angeles in 2 days is not merely enough but I just have to do it. I need my Thai food fix. It will kill me if I fly all that way but couldn’t taste Thai food that as close as I can get in Thailand. I just have to do it. :)

I know that LA is big so no matter how well I plan, we won’t be able to see it all. This time I will just focus on kid-friendly and preferably cheap or free activities. We plan to stay in the Hollywood area for easy access to much of the activities.

Here are my Top 10 Frugal Family Friendly things to Do with Kids in LA.

1. Griffith Park -The City of Los Angeles park – Griffith Park is a great place for the whole family. The biggest city park in the country has so many attractions and activities you will think you are visiting a theme park. Kids can enjoy train ride from LA Life Steamers Railroad Museum or Griffith Park Southern ride and visiting Travel Town. If train is not in their interests, perhap a pony ride or Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round. Oh! And the best part, admission is FREE for everyone. So you can have great fun in LA on a budget with your family and your kids.

2. Griffith Observatory – An iconic place of LA is not only in a great and amazing location but also FREE. What else can we ask for? The Griffith Park Observatory is part of Griffith Park. There is also planetarium show that you will have to pay small fee to watch the show. However, the show is not recommended for kids under the ages of 5. There are still plenty of kids-friendly interactive displays to keep little ones busy.

3. Grauman’s Chinese Theatre – One of the most famous theatre in LA or even in the world. Hollywood is all about movies and there is nothing that will be more hollywood than the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. You can walk around and checkout the historical cultural landmark. However, you can also check out the inside when you purchase the movie tickets. It likes killing two birds with one stone. But your movie tickets cost might be a bit higher than your hometown movie ticket.

4. Hollywood Walk of Fame – It’s cheesy, yes. But it’s fun. Kids will enjoy tracing their hands on many famous stars’ handprints. Walking along the Hollywood will give them a taste of fame. The best part is that it’s totally free. Just enjoy the stroll and have the discipline not to buy too many souvenirs.

5. El Capitan Theatre - Another famous theme theatre in Los Angeles. Also with the association with Disney it can’t go wrong for family with kids. I have been so in love with old world theatre like the Fox theatre in Atlanta. So I’m really looking forward to watching Disney movie in this historical theatre. Ok. The tickets might be a bit higher than typical AMC tickets. But it’s still a good deal comparing to other attraction around town especially in a big city like Los Angeles.

6. Page Museum – La Brea Tar Pits - A unique experience that kids will talk for year. As long as I have known, kids love things that are gross or out of ordinary. And the La Brea Tar Pits is both. The smell will probably stay with you for a whole day. But it will be an experience they will talk about for years to come. It’s not just all smell but kids will learn about one of the world largest and most diverse assemblage of extinct Ice Age plants and animals. The admission is free on 1st Tuesday of the month. General admission fee is $7 which is very affordable.

7. Getty Villa – I can’t wait to check out this museum that has fantastic Roman-inspired architecture and garden. Kids will be inspired by this educational museum that dedicate to the study of Greece, Rome and Etruria. Another big plus is the admission is FREE. There is a parking for $15 per car. But that’s very cheap considering you are in LA.

8. Santa Monica Pier – A fun outdoor pier offers a variety of entertainment, dining and shopping experiences, including the thrill rides of Pacific Park; a historic 1922 Carousel, and an interactive aquarium. You will also be able to enjoy the beautiful view of the Pacific coast and stay a while longer to take in the amazing view of the Sunset. There is no admission so it’s one of the major attractions that will fit any budget. There are several great family-friendly hotels by the beach.

9. LACMA NexGen Gallery – One of the Top 10 Best Art Museums for Kids deserves to be one of the best. There are a variety of programs to encourage kids in arts. Plus the NexGen program which is the only FREE youth membership program in the country allows kids to experience art even more. Join the program is free to all kids and will allow kids to enter the gallery for FREE along with one free admission for adult who accompanies the kid. At the Boone Gallery, you will can also utilize a variety of programs built with family in mind – family guides, collection highlights, children audio tour and art tole.  This what I call best program for kids!!!

10. Walt Disney Concert Hall – A unique architecture that’s a home of Los Angeles Philharmonic is a great place to visit even if you don’t want to sit through 2 hours for a concert. You can take the self-guided audio tour or guided tour daily at the Music Center. Check out the website for schedule and time.

So now, my problem is just finding time to fit all these options to my schedule.

Is there other fun and free things to do with kids in Los Angeles that I missed? Please feel free to leave me a comment!

Photo Credit: JohnMueller

Los Angeles Family Travel Tips

Filed Under: California Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Asheville With Kids: Biltmore Estate Photo Tour

October 9, 2009 By 20 Comments

BiltmoreHomeMorning

A couple weeks ago we went to Asheville for my first Blogger conference at Type A Mom Conference. We signed up for a sponsored blogger tour to Biltmore Estate Blogger tour on Sunday. I was so glad we did that tour. It was one of the highlighted for me.

Today, I will just post some of my favorite pictures during the tour of the house. There is no photography or video allowed inside the house. So I could only take picture of the outside and the Stable cafe. Enjoy.. I will do more detail post later. Promise!

BiltmoreHomeNoon2

The exterior of the Biltmore. Amazing!!

BiltmoreHomeNoon3

Another view of the Biltmore estate

BiltmoreView

Gorgeous mountain view from the balcony. Just imagine!

BiltmoreClock

The clock at the Stable – it houses cafe and shops. Did someone say shopping?

BiltmoreCandyShop

Now, this is the reason why I didn’t get any garden shots.

BiltmoreCandy

And this is the reason why my kids ran wild

BiltmoreStableCross

The view from Stable cafe

BiltmoreLight

Detail.. detail.. everywhere…

BiltmoreSquare

Perfect visit. Wish we will be back soon.

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PhotoStory Friday
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Filed Under: North Carolina Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Experience Asheville on Foot

October 4, 2009 By 12 Comments

Self Portrait

As promised, you will see a few more posts about Asheville. It’s just so lovely there I can’t possibly fit everything in one post.

One of a neat feature at Type A Mom conference is the photo session. Mishelle @ SecretAgentMama was a speaker and she also organized the Photo Walk to downtown Asheville. I wasn’t a photographer by trade so I didn’t really know what to expect.

Basically, we walked around downtown Asheville and took pictures. Mishelle was so amazing and helpful. She gave me tips about how to take some interesting pictures. She is amazing.. Really.. Go check her site to see them for yourselves.

We started from parking lot by Church street. Then we walked up Patton Ave to the Plaze before turn to College street and ended our walk that Prichard Park.

Asheville is not your typical small town. It’s so vibrant and lifely. I don’t know how to articulate it in fancy word. You just have to visit and experience them for yourself to know what I mean. Sorry… not such a good travel blogger, heh?

How about some pictures? Hope it will help convey what I experienced.

Asheville Photo Walk Type A Mom

Learning Taking Picture

Asheville Photo Walk

Asheville Photo Walk

Mr. Z in Asheville

Yummy Cupbake

IMG_2472

Healthy Town

Bikes

Drum Circle at Prichard Park

Little Drummer

Tired

Asheville Things To Do

Filed Under: North Carolina Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Asheville With Kids: Hiking up Chimney Rock

October 1, 2009 By 16 Comments

ChimneyRockEntrance

Who would have thought that the Q Family Adventures will be so adventurous!

We have done camping and backyard hiking and now walking up Chimney Rock!!!

We just came back from our weekend/business trip in Asheville – which by the way IS a wonderful place to visit. There will be more Asheville posts coming.

It’s one of those spontaneous detour. We originally wanted to go canoeing but after woke up at 4:30 am to leave the house we thought we wouldn’t have the energy to do it.

ChimneyRockBase

Little did we know that walking up the Chimney Rock is as hard or even harder than floating on a canoe!

We arrived there early and almost missed the entrance. It is in a quaint town near Lake Lure. We parked the car and thought that we had to walk up to the park but quickly realized that we need to drive up to ticket and entrance.

The ticket information is about 1 mile from the highway so unless you are die-hard hiker just proceed with your car.

ChimneyMap

After we paid and followed the map to the base parking lot, we parked and got ready to walk up the 200+ steps up to the top of the rock.

There are several paths you can take to explore this park. So what we did was just one thing of many available options.

ChimneyRockTrail

The path itself was very shade and not THAT hard if you take regular break to enjoy the view.

ChimneyRockStairs

We did take a lot of break and checked out most of the view points because after all we did climb approximately more than 200+ steps up the mountain.

Now, for parents with small kids don’t worry. You can easily take an elevator up to the top and enjoy the view as well.

ChimneyRockView

The view on the top is amazing. You can see Lake Lure down below and the mountain in the background. I could imagine how beautiful this will be in Fall.

ChimneyRWeDidIt

Yes! We are talking about going back there again soon. Most importantly, I was so proud of Miss J and Mr. Z. They both did very well. There were no whining or asking daddy to pick them up. What a trooper!

Family Tips:

- I find it easier to walk up than going down. So take the path to go up and then take the elevator to go down.

- There aren’t many choices for food. So pack your lunch to picnic in various picnic tables around the park.

- Take it slowly. Enjoy the view while taking the break from the climb.

- If you plan to revisit within a year buy an annual pass. It will pay for itself after the 2nd visit.

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PhotoStory Friday
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Asheville Things To Do

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