Guest article featuring Kendra Thornton: Favorite places to travel!

Hey guys! I'm so excited to be posting this "favorite places to travel" themed article! If you read my last post, then you know that I teamed up to guest write with an expert in the travel industry. Kendra Thornton and I have both written articles about our favorite places to travel. Both of the articles are below. I hope you enjoy them, and be sure to check out Kendra's website for some great travel advice! 

Happy Reading!!
 

Chattanooga, TN: Fun-filled Family Getaway

Last May, my family and I were considering different places to vacation to for a quick, weekend getaway. After researching our options, we finally settled on Chattanooga, TN. Chattanooga offered some of the best indoor attractions coupled with exciting and scenic outdoor adventures. Chattanooga also has a rich history that makes downtown the place to be! Below is a list of just a few of the things that make Chattanooga the best choice for your next family vacation!

1.

Chattanooga Aquarium- This was definitely one of the best highlights from our trip to Chattanooga. The aquarium showcases all kinds of aquatic animals from sharks to alligators to penguins. It even features an IMAX theater along with a riverboat available for tours. There is sure to be something that will thrill every person in your family. The aquarium is a very popular tourist and local hotspot, so definitely be conscious of allowing enough time to explore every part of the aquarium when you plan your visit!

2.

Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel- This hotel has been one my favorite hotels that I have ever stayed. It is a hotel that used to be a real, working train terminal. There are so many great aspects to this hotel that you could take a good chunk of your day just to explore the grounds. It has everything from pools to gardens to shops and restaurants all on-site. One of the best parts is that you can actually reserve a renovated train car as your hotel room! The location of this hotel is hard to beat as well. It is in downtown and has a shuttle bus stop right outside of the hotel. (TheFREE shuttle bus gives you access to all of downtown including museums and the aquarium. And you can bring your stroller aboard!)

3.

Area museums- I love getting to visit a museum in a new city, and Chattanooga has plenty to choose from. There is a Creative Discovery Museum that is a great place to let the kids get some energy out. There are also multiple museums that offer the adults a little time to appreciate an impressive array of art and history. And there is even a whole museum dedicated to vehicle towing and recovery! All you have to do is decide if you are in a fun, silly mood or a more serious, contemplative one. Either way, there is a museum for you!

4.

Outdoors adventures- One of the absolute best parts of Chattanooga are the amazing outdoors activities that you can participate in. Rock City Gardens offers an exciting  and beautiful nature walk that leads you to Lookout Mountain, which is where you will truly be in awe of the 7-state view it gives you. Don’t worry if you aren’t in excellent shape, though because the walk is easy enough for anyone to be able to conquer. But do wear tennis shoes! Those paths can get slippery with all of the natural waterfalls. Once you have had your fill of climbing up the mountains, it’s time to go way down below. Ruby Falls was my daughter’s absolute favorite part of the whole trip. Ruby Falls is a natural waterfall that is 1,120 ft. below the surface. You get to take an elevator ride that lasts about 30seconds down to the beginning of the trail that leads through the mountain and ends at the waterfall. Along with the colorful lightshow that shines on the waterfall, it is a breathtaking sight. Your tour guide will also give you a brief history lesson about the waterfall, which only serves to make the fact that you are viewing it that much more incredible.

I hope that this list of our favorite parts of Chattanooga has made you consider it for your next vacation. This list is in no way totally comprehensive of all there is to do in Chattanooga because there is just so much. So get on out there and make some new lifelong memories with your family in Chattanooga, TN!

--By Dani Mosley

Why Las Vegas is Still My Favorite Vacation Spot

I enjoy traveling to many different places, but Las Vegas is one of the few places I make it a point to visit at least once a year. It's a perfect getaway if you're looking for some fun and excitement, and the surrounding area offers lots of natural beauty. If you haven't been to Las Vegas lately, I invite you to check out my list of recommendations.

1. Interesting Museums in Las Vegas

One aspect of Las Vegas that I've always found charming is all of the oddball museums and exhibits you can find all over the place. For example, the Atomic Testing Museum on Flamingo Road has all kinds of collections and exhibits on the topic of nuclear weapons and testing. They even have lectures dedicated to the mysterious Area 51, the possible site of an alien spacecraft landing! If you have a fascination with old signs and advertising you shouldn't miss the Neon Museum, which is full of remnants from the city's fascinating past. You can take a photographic tour of the museum's "bone yard" and add to your collection of interesting photos.

2. A Unique Mini Golf Experience

My whole family loves mini golf, and one of our very favorite places to play is KISS By Monster Mini Golf. This unusual mini golf course pays tribute to the unique American rock band that became famous in the 1970s. There is nothing quite like this course, which has 18 holes of bizarre but thoroughly entertaining features, including animated replicas of the band members. It's a challenge to focus on your golf swing as you try to putt the ball into Gene Simmons' head! This is the perfect place to come if you're looking for a fun activity in between meals or before you hit a show or the casino.

3. Eat For Free -If You Can Finish It All

Man vs. Food on The Travel Channel is one of my family's favorite shows, and in Las Vegas there are several places that have created similar challenges for the public. The Texas 3-Pound Challenge at Bally's Tequila Bar gives you 30 minutes to put away a BBQ Bacon Cheese Burger with 12 strips of bacon. If you succeed, you eat for free but if you fail the effort will cost you $35! If you prefer a steak challenge, you can pit your appetite against the 120-ounce Ultimate Steak at the Monte Carlo's Brand Steakhouse. Don't forget your wallet for this one, for it will cost you $250 if you don't clean your plate!

4. Take a Mixology Class

Las Vegas is famous for its bars and clubs, and you can be sure that the city has some of the world's best bartenders. One fun activity I signed up for last time I was in town was a Mixology class at the Monte Carlo, so I could pick up a few drink mixing tricks of my own. This two-hour class is taught by the hotel's very knowledgeable Director of Beverages and includes a tasting. This is a popular class that is limited to four participants, so you should book in advance if you want to sign up for it. Now when I entertain at home, I can mix a few drinks just like the pros!

Las Vegas is one of those cities where it's almost impossible to get bored. There are so many things to see do and even places to stay. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, sites like Gogobot make it easy to plan your trip and read user reviews so you can be prepared to take on the city.

By Kendra Thornton

Pictures of Chattanooga vacation

 Ella loved the pizza diner car!

 

 

 Locked away with Jaws!! Still got time for kisses though! :)

 

 

 Just arrived to our hotel/renovated train station!

 

 

 Chattanooga Choo-Choo, our hotel!

 

 

 Seeing how Ella measures up compared to the penguins!

 

 

 In the butterfly room!

 

 

 The view from the top of Look Out Mountain! You can see seven states! It was fun, even in the rain!

 

 

 Ruby Falls! Ella's favorite part of the entire trip! This is one of the rare pictures when we could tear her eyes away from the waterfall!

 

 

 Dipping her toes in the stream outside of the Tennessee Aquarium!

 

 

 Tourist-y pic in the hotel! :)

 

 

 I love this one!

 

 

 Inside the "diamond" cavern at Rock City!

 

 

And our hotel once again!

 

 

We had such a great time on our first family vacation!!

Playing catch-up

Time to play catch-up. I've been pretty busy the last week and a half and I have not done my blogging! Shame on me. So lets pick up where we left off last time.

My first Mother's Day has now come and gone. It was a pretty big deal for me, especially since I never expected to be celebrating it so soon. But the day let me realize just how excited and thankful I was to be celebrating the fact that I am Mommy to the best little girl in the world. I started the day off by working in the nursery at church. Ella stayed home because she was too tired to be woken up so early. :) sleepyhead. We made fun arts and crafts for the kids to give to their moms, and it was exciting to know that I have that to look forward to in the future. I came home to KT getting himself and Ella ready to take me out to lunch. He had to work that evening so we had to have our dinner at lunch time. Outback was yummy, although Ella decided she would make sure everyone in the restaurant knew she was there by doing her screaming for no reason antic. It seems to be a permanent habit she has picked up. After lunch KT took me to a plant sale (yes, I really said plant sale) and Books-a-Million. He knows I love books and, much to my surprise, has actually been paying attention to me when I have been talking about how I want to garden. Hmmph. So we did some looking around and then had to come home for him to get to work. Ella and I spent the night playing until she passed out on me and then, with nothing else to do, I passed out too. The next morning I woke up to flowers and a card from KT and Ella. He has this habit of only giving holiday gifts either very late the night of the holiday or the day after. No clue why, but I have accepted it. And that day we went and got me some tomato, cucumber, and oregano plants. So I am now officially a gardener. And judging by the size of my plants, I am a pretty good one at that! Oh crap, I just realized I forgot to water them today...I'm sure one day won't hurt...right?? :)

Okay, so Mother's Day was a success. I got flowers, cards (all of KT's family sent/gave me cards which was super sweet!), phone calls/texts from family and friends, plants, and dinner. And then KT surprised Ella and I by telling us on the Friday after Mother's Day that he was taking us on vacation! We were pretty excited. He picked out Chattanooga and told me to find a hotel I liked and figure out what activities we would do. I took this very seriously and planned us a fantastic trip. Did I mention he decided this on Friday and we were to leave the next morning?? Yep. So by I 'planned us a fantastic trip', I mean the best trip I could in the few hours I had. But the trip deserves its own post full of tales of exciting adventures and pictures! So be sure to check that post out! And if you have Facebook and want to see even more fun pictures, then click here.

We also had Ella's doctors visit this week. Today she weighed in at 16lb 8oz and measured 27 3/4" long! Although last week we were told she was 16lb 15oz (but they didn't strip her so that could be the cause of the difference) and 26" long. Now I am just not sure how the measurement became so different. I am pretty sure my child did not grow almost 2" in a little over a week, so there must have been an error on someone's part. We are going to measure her ourselves and see what we come up with. Either way we have a good sized baby! Our poor baby had to get more shots today and it seems that for the first time she may have had a reaction to them. She had her lunch around 12ish and by 3ish she vomited twice. :( And she ran a low grade temp of 100.9. She hasn't ever had a temp or a reaction to the immunizations before so can't say for sure that that is what caused it. I, being a first time mommy, of course called the doctor and the nurse said it was normal. But she did have to get medicine for the first time today, and she took it like a pro! She seems to be doing fine this evening, so hopefully everything has gone away. I am very happy about the fact that she has never been sick, and I do not plan on having that change now!

Well, now that you know every detail of what has happened to me in the last couple weeks...I am sure you are bored out of your mind. After the Chattanooga post I promise to get back into more meaningful topics. Until then, hold yourself over by reviewing any posts you may have missed! Like learning how to become a guest writer, Ella turning 6 months old, or just seeing how it all began.

By the way, we are getting to stay in our current apartment for a couple more months so fingers
crossed for good luck on our job search!



Ella loves to play with receipts..really.