This summer, our family has been on three long trips. The first trip was a family vacation to Southwest Colorado to explore parts we hadn't seen yet. The other two trips involved catching up with our family and friends at our respective hometowns. We knew this was going to cost a lot of bucks, between gas, hotels, and food. So we did what we could to reduce our food cost by eating from groceries instead of at restaurants. Here is what I learned:
1) Most Hampton Inns don't provide a microwave or fridge in the room. Only a few provided a fridge. The few microwaveable meals we brought along didn't get used.
- I had hoped we could check in to our hotel at each place, scope out what amenities the room had, then hit the local grocery, coupons in hand, to let everyone pick their food for their dinner. This only worked the first night on the first trip.
2) Having picnics at town parks with playgrounds or at rest areas can be fun, as well as save a lot of money.
- This is the plan we executed most often, always at lunch. I think there's something mentally acceptable to us all about having picnic-type food for the noon meal.
- There are several things I am glad we brought along for these picnics: a picnic table cloth, clips to keep it attached to the table, disposable plates, zoopals and re-usable picnic utensils, napkins, ziploc bags, water bottles, bottle of dish soap, dish pan, scotch brite sponge, kitchen scissors, rubbermaid and ziploc containers, chip clips, wet wipes, and of course a cooler, armed with gallon-size ziploc bags to hold ice. Most of this fit in a couple of cloth shopping bags which rode in the back of our van.
- Some of the food we bought or brought along and used included: water-flavor packets (like Crystal Light), fresh fruit, yogurt, flavored rice snacks, chips, peanut butter, jelly in a squeeze container, mayo in a squeeze container, mustard, bread, deli meat and cheese, ranch dressing, carrots, green pepper strips, crackers, cream cheese, granola bars, bottled teas and juices.
- There are a few things I brought but didn't use: small Tupperware microsteamer, spatula, can opener, small cutting board and a sharp knife.
3) Clipping coupons and taking them along saved us some bucks. Before we left, I clipped coupons for everything I thought we might possibly buy, including paper plates, dishsoap, napkins, chips, etc. I had also stocked up on some of the above food we brought along using coupons at our local grocery when they were on sale.
4) At some point, you just get tired of eating picnic food and saving money. One day we just gave up and hit a fast food restaurant, but the next day we were back to feeling able to eat from our stores.
5) The less junk food we pack, the less we eat, which makes us feel better as we travel. I tried to pack lots of tasty fruit and veggies and healthy options, and avoided buying packages of cookies. The fact that I had crystal light flavors we all like kept us from purchasing or drinking as much pop or other sugary convenience store foods. There were a couple of times I really craved ice cream though. :)
6) Downtown hotels don't tend to have free continental breakfast, but they do have a mini coffee pot, which means we can have hot tea and oatmeal made from the hot water. We bought some tea, splenda, and instant oatmeal packets, and voila! (Our downtown hotel was charging $10/day for wireless internet as well. We enjoyed a sabbatical from internet access those days.) Thankfully most of our hotel stays were ones that included continental breakfasts. We really like Hampton Inn's with hot options, including Belgian waffles!
7) Some other ideas I discovered in internet searches that I want to try next time are:
- Take a can opener, a can of tuna, and mix together with mayo, mustard and relish for a refreshing tuna salad sandwich.
- Pita bread or tortillas filled with hummus and veggies, or meat and cheese.
- Potato salad or pasta salad purchased from local grocery as a side dish.
- Eating an entire meal at the grocery store deli or kitchen. We did this when I was a kid on some vacations. It's like a buffet, and can be less expensive than a sit-down restaurant, and has more healthy options than a fast-food restaurant.
- Buy a fully cooked rotisserie chicken and a loaf of french bread for dinner.
8) With daily availability of a microwave, we could have had so much more. These ideas are great for extended-stay rooms or suites, or military families like me who will, in the near future, find themselves in the middle of a PCS move and who are getting tired of eating out:
- Steamfresh veggies from the freezer section
- Easy Mac (We did this one evening, but the hotel water we used made the pasta taste weird. I should have used bottled water.)
- Pre-made BBQ pulled pork on buns.
- Pre-made taco meat on tortillas with cheese, tomatoes, lettuce. (Kinda messy, but really good!)
- Tortillas, can of black beans, cheese = bean and cheese burritos!
- Microwaved baked potatoes.
- Canned soups (need to take along containers for heating)
So, overall, we did pretty well saving money on vacation food where we could stand to do so. Maybe you've got some ideas for your next trip that can keep some of your cash where it belongs - in your bank account!
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
July 23, 2011
June 12, 2011
Colorado Family Vacation - Days 1 and 2
Now that my soldier is home and my children are out of school, it's time to explore Colorado! So we took a week to leisurely go to some parts of our state that we hadn't been yet.
Sunday afternoon, May 29, we set off going South on I-25 past Pueblo. Our first discovery was a "point of interest" sign I encouraged Derek to follow to see what was so interesting. It WAS interesting, but we weren't sure what it was until that evening when I connected my netbook to the hotel's wi-fi and did a search. The thing was Huerfano Butte. There was no interpretive sign to tell us what we were looking at, at least not that we saw. Our online research fascinated us more so than the viewing of the orphaned butte itself. Especially after we saw the next phenomenon, the radial dikes in the Spanish Peaks of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. We only viewed these from the interstate, but the angle of the evening sunlight really made them stand out. We decided we were already having an interesting vacation, geologically at least.
Monday morning, we headed toward the Great Sand Dunes National Park, but got sidetracked when we saw a sign pointing up a road for Zapata Falls. It was relatively early in the morning, so there wasn't a lot of traffic out, and once we hit this road, and it turned into an unimproved gravel road, in land owned by the Bureau of Land Management, winding up the mountain, we wondered what sort of adventure we were getting ourselves into. It reminded us of a drive we took on Maui in 2007 into a park where there were reported to be big redwood trees, which we never found, but had fun looking. After a few slow, bumpy miles, we found a few trailheads, and finally the one to hike to the Falls. It was a short distanced hike we felt we and our children could handle, so we took it, and were rewarded with a pretty neat view. With all the snow the Rockies had this past Winter and Spring, there was plenty of snowmelt coming down this waterfall, and many others we observed on this trip. After exploring and taking pictures, we headed back to the car and drove back down to the road toward the dunes. The video at the visitor's center at the Dunes was very interesting - the most well-done and interesting video of it's kind I think I've seen, actually. It was a VERY windy day, and pretty cold, and we didn't really wear proper footwear for dune-hiking. So we explored only briefly, until the wind bothered us more than we could stand. I had no desire to hike the dunes, especially to the top. These are the largest sand dunes in North America, and they ARE pretty spectacular.
I intend to come back and edit this later with some pictures.
Sunday afternoon, May 29, we set off going South on I-25 past Pueblo. Our first discovery was a "point of interest" sign I encouraged Derek to follow to see what was so interesting. It WAS interesting, but we weren't sure what it was until that evening when I connected my netbook to the hotel's wi-fi and did a search. The thing was Huerfano Butte. There was no interpretive sign to tell us what we were looking at, at least not that we saw. Our online research fascinated us more so than the viewing of the orphaned butte itself. Especially after we saw the next phenomenon, the radial dikes in the Spanish Peaks of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. We only viewed these from the interstate, but the angle of the evening sunlight really made them stand out. We decided we were already having an interesting vacation, geologically at least.
Monday morning, we headed toward the Great Sand Dunes National Park, but got sidetracked when we saw a sign pointing up a road for Zapata Falls. It was relatively early in the morning, so there wasn't a lot of traffic out, and once we hit this road, and it turned into an unimproved gravel road, in land owned by the Bureau of Land Management, winding up the mountain, we wondered what sort of adventure we were getting ourselves into. It reminded us of a drive we took on Maui in 2007 into a park where there were reported to be big redwood trees, which we never found, but had fun looking. After a few slow, bumpy miles, we found a few trailheads, and finally the one to hike to the Falls. It was a short distanced hike we felt we and our children could handle, so we took it, and were rewarded with a pretty neat view. With all the snow the Rockies had this past Winter and Spring, there was plenty of snowmelt coming down this waterfall, and many others we observed on this trip. After exploring and taking pictures, we headed back to the car and drove back down to the road toward the dunes. The video at the visitor's center at the Dunes was very interesting - the most well-done and interesting video of it's kind I think I've seen, actually. It was a VERY windy day, and pretty cold, and we didn't really wear proper footwear for dune-hiking. So we explored only briefly, until the wind bothered us more than we could stand. I had no desire to hike the dunes, especially to the top. These are the largest sand dunes in North America, and they ARE pretty spectacular.
I intend to come back and edit this later with some pictures.
November 08, 2008
Maui Trip
We had a great trip to Maui this week.
We had to get up really early to meet the Hawaii Superferry at the dock in Honolulu at 5 a.m. on Monday, November 3rd. We had our car packed with all the supplies for our 5-day, 4-night stay, and drove it right onto the ferry. The passenger deck was large, comfortable, and had a small play area for kids. We had a great view of the sunrise as we pulled out of Oahu a little before 6:30. The 3-hour trip was pleasant, and we were able to eat our breakfast food I brought, plus some extra we bought at their concession. We had a nice view of Molokai and Maui as we sailed by. We docked in Maui a little after 9:30. Our first trip was to the 'Iao Needle in scenic 'Iao Valley. We enjoyed the short hike to the view of the needle (a thin ridge sticking up in the middle of the valley), then drove into Kahului for some lunch. We couldn't find the place we were looking for, Manana Garage, because, as we found out by asking a local, it had gone out of business 2 months prior! So we instead went to Amigo's and had our fill of Mexican food. Next we headed to the Aquarium, called the Maui Ocean Center. It is one of the best aquariums I have ever been to, and we spent 2 hours enjoying all it had to offer. Besides having a live coral reef, it has a tunnel you can be inside while viewing the fish and rays all around you. We saw baby sea turtles, jelly fish and squid, and lots of other marine life as well. By then we were all tired, and headed toward our condo to settle in. We stayed in a 1 bedroom place in Kihei with a full kitchen, which allowed us to bring our cooler full of groceries for the week. The girls shared the bedroom, and my husband and I took the sofa bed. We had a view of the pool, and were a block's walk from the beach. Everyone was tired, so besides a short walk around after dinner, we didn't do anything except go to sleep!
Tuesday morning we woke up and decided to venture out on the road to Hana and beyond, which would take us around the South side of Maui, circling the volcano, Haleakala. So after breakfast we headed out early. Derek got lots of practice driving curvy hilly roads and we stopped at several lookouts and interesting places. We saw one particular waterfall that was truly spectacular. We ate snacks along the way, and stopped for lunch at the Haleakala National Park's lower section where we also hiked to a waterfall and saw people swimming in the tide pools. It was interesting to see the town of Hana. On we traveled on the unpaved, one-lane roads at times, viewing a very different kind of climate on the drier side. Ranches, steep cliffs below, steep slopes above, and dry land with little vegetation was the scene. We made it all the way around and back home to cook dinner, and viewed the election results. (Yes we voted, absentee in the month prior.)
Wednesday, our destination was the Haleakala crater and the Polipoli State Park where we hoped to see Redwood trees. So the 10,000 feet we had to climb to the crater was a nice drive going back and forth up the mountain at a steep pace, most of it through a large cow pasture. We also had to watch for Nene, the Hawaiian native geese that don't seem to move if they see a car. The summit was spectacular! We'd seen the volcano on the Big Island, but this one was unique. The crater is 7 miles across and 2 1/2 miles wide, and the clouds blow in one side that is open. We could see the Big Island from the top as it was an exceptionally clear day. Really an awesome experience. It wasn't too cold at about 60 degrees. We enjoyed various lookout points for awhile there, and then headed back down for lunch. The view of central Maui from the road on the mountain was luscious! In the town of Pukalani, we ate at this awesome Italian place called Serpico's. Yummy! Then it was on to Polipoli State park. We have a 4-wheel drive vehicle, and it was necessary for this venture. After slowly meandering through more ranch land, zig-zagging up the mountain, and then onto the one-lane dirt road with random potholes for several miles, we finally spotted the park trail heads. There was, fortunately, a nice restroom there, and we were happy to get out and stretch our legs. We hiked about 45 minutes before deciding to turn back to avoid getting stuck on the unpaved road in the dark. We never did make it to the stretch of trail that was where the biggest redwoods were supposed to be. Oh well. We'll hit California sometime in the future.
Thursday our goal was to circumvent the East side of the island. First, though, we had to drive the rest of the way down South Kihei Road to La Perouse Bay. It was neat to see the lava fields there, and some old Hawaiian walls built with lava rock. We were too late to try to spot the dolphins that are reportedly sometimes there. However, we had more island to explore, so we headed North toward Lahaina. We enjoyed the scenery and seeing the areas many tourists enjoy. Lanai was off in the distance. In Ka'anapali, we enjoyed a restaurant called Honokowai Okazuya Deli. The restaurant has the best local food for carry-out, and we enjoyed their chicken katsu, panko fried mahi-mahi, kung pao chicken, sticky rice, macaroni salad, and their unique cole slaw. Yummy. The fun stop we made later that afternoon was at Julia's (I think it was in Kahakuloa) where you can buy the world's best banana bread. It was scrumptious! So was the coconut candy, and the candied mango. We didn't make it to any of the olivine pools or to the blowhole, because the natives were getting restless (the children in our back seat). And we had promised them we'd spend some time at the beach across the street from our condo, which we did in the wind. Then we fixed supper and prepared to check out the next morning.
Friday's checkout was followed by breakfast and Denny's, and then a drive to the Superferry dock, and our trip back to Oahu. It was really neat to see another one of our state's islands. A word to anyone who might come to vacation here - don't just limit your time to Oahu, because there is so much variety among the other islands that Oahu doesn't have if you're interested in different terrains and ecosystems. Our trip last Fall to the Big Island was extremely interesting, and our trip to Maui was equally so. Oahu has a lot to see and do, and plenty of beaches and recreation opportunities, but the other islands are less crowded, and more relaxing. We hope the Superferry has service to Kauai by Spring so we can vacation there for a few days before we move out of state.
We had to get up really early to meet the Hawaii Superferry at the dock in Honolulu at 5 a.m. on Monday, November 3rd. We had our car packed with all the supplies for our 5-day, 4-night stay, and drove it right onto the ferry. The passenger deck was large, comfortable, and had a small play area for kids. We had a great view of the sunrise as we pulled out of Oahu a little before 6:30. The 3-hour trip was pleasant, and we were able to eat our breakfast food I brought, plus some extra we bought at their concession. We had a nice view of Molokai and Maui as we sailed by. We docked in Maui a little after 9:30. Our first trip was to the 'Iao Needle in scenic 'Iao Valley. We enjoyed the short hike to the view of the needle (a thin ridge sticking up in the middle of the valley), then drove into Kahului for some lunch. We couldn't find the place we were looking for, Manana Garage, because, as we found out by asking a local, it had gone out of business 2 months prior! So we instead went to Amigo's and had our fill of Mexican food. Next we headed to the Aquarium, called the Maui Ocean Center. It is one of the best aquariums I have ever been to, and we spent 2 hours enjoying all it had to offer. Besides having a live coral reef, it has a tunnel you can be inside while viewing the fish and rays all around you. We saw baby sea turtles, jelly fish and squid, and lots of other marine life as well. By then we were all tired, and headed toward our condo to settle in. We stayed in a 1 bedroom place in Kihei with a full kitchen, which allowed us to bring our cooler full of groceries for the week. The girls shared the bedroom, and my husband and I took the sofa bed. We had a view of the pool, and were a block's walk from the beach. Everyone was tired, so besides a short walk around after dinner, we didn't do anything except go to sleep!
Tuesday morning we woke up and decided to venture out on the road to Hana and beyond, which would take us around the South side of Maui, circling the volcano, Haleakala. So after breakfast we headed out early. Derek got lots of practice driving curvy hilly roads and we stopped at several lookouts and interesting places. We saw one particular waterfall that was truly spectacular. We ate snacks along the way, and stopped for lunch at the Haleakala National Park's lower section where we also hiked to a waterfall and saw people swimming in the tide pools. It was interesting to see the town of Hana. On we traveled on the unpaved, one-lane roads at times, viewing a very different kind of climate on the drier side. Ranches, steep cliffs below, steep slopes above, and dry land with little vegetation was the scene. We made it all the way around and back home to cook dinner, and viewed the election results. (Yes we voted, absentee in the month prior.)
Wednesday, our destination was the Haleakala crater and the Polipoli State Park where we hoped to see Redwood trees. So the 10,000 feet we had to climb to the crater was a nice drive going back and forth up the mountain at a steep pace, most of it through a large cow pasture. We also had to watch for Nene, the Hawaiian native geese that don't seem to move if they see a car. The summit was spectacular! We'd seen the volcano on the Big Island, but this one was unique. The crater is 7 miles across and 2 1/2 miles wide, and the clouds blow in one side that is open. We could see the Big Island from the top as it was an exceptionally clear day. Really an awesome experience. It wasn't too cold at about 60 degrees. We enjoyed various lookout points for awhile there, and then headed back down for lunch. The view of central Maui from the road on the mountain was luscious! In the town of Pukalani, we ate at this awesome Italian place called Serpico's. Yummy! Then it was on to Polipoli State park. We have a 4-wheel drive vehicle, and it was necessary for this venture. After slowly meandering through more ranch land, zig-zagging up the mountain, and then onto the one-lane dirt road with random potholes for several miles, we finally spotted the park trail heads. There was, fortunately, a nice restroom there, and we were happy to get out and stretch our legs. We hiked about 45 minutes before deciding to turn back to avoid getting stuck on the unpaved road in the dark. We never did make it to the stretch of trail that was where the biggest redwoods were supposed to be. Oh well. We'll hit California sometime in the future.
Thursday our goal was to circumvent the East side of the island. First, though, we had to drive the rest of the way down South Kihei Road to La Perouse Bay. It was neat to see the lava fields there, and some old Hawaiian walls built with lava rock. We were too late to try to spot the dolphins that are reportedly sometimes there. However, we had more island to explore, so we headed North toward Lahaina. We enjoyed the scenery and seeing the areas many tourists enjoy. Lanai was off in the distance. In Ka'anapali, we enjoyed a restaurant called Honokowai Okazuya Deli. The restaurant has the best local food for carry-out, and we enjoyed their chicken katsu, panko fried mahi-mahi, kung pao chicken, sticky rice, macaroni salad, and their unique cole slaw. Yummy. The fun stop we made later that afternoon was at Julia's (I think it was in Kahakuloa) where you can buy the world's best banana bread. It was scrumptious! So was the coconut candy, and the candied mango. We didn't make it to any of the olivine pools or to the blowhole, because the natives were getting restless (the children in our back seat). And we had promised them we'd spend some time at the beach across the street from our condo, which we did in the wind. Then we fixed supper and prepared to check out the next morning.
Friday's checkout was followed by breakfast and Denny's, and then a drive to the Superferry dock, and our trip back to Oahu. It was really neat to see another one of our state's islands. A word to anyone who might come to vacation here - don't just limit your time to Oahu, because there is so much variety among the other islands that Oahu doesn't have if you're interested in different terrains and ecosystems. Our trip last Fall to the Big Island was extremely interesting, and our trip to Maui was equally so. Oahu has a lot to see and do, and plenty of beaches and recreation opportunities, but the other islands are less crowded, and more relaxing. We hope the Superferry has service to Kauai by Spring so we can vacation there for a few days before we move out of state.
August 02, 2007
Coast to Coast
We didn't stick our feet in the Atlantic Ocean at the end of June when we landed in Delaware after our flight from Honolulu, but we could have. Now we're in San Francisco, CA, and preparing to fly home. We have driven across the country, visiting 17 states (D actually logged 18 by including TX), and five of those were first times for me. I'd never been to DE, WY, UT, NV, CA. Every American should do this kind of cross-country travelling sometime in their life, just to appreciate the diversity of the landscape that we have! Some of the highlights of our last few days, driving from IL to CA include the hills and huge snow fences in WY, the Salt Flats in UT, the dry dusty lifeless areas in NV, and the Lake Tahoe area of CA. Spectacular! One other note - last night here in San Francisco when we got out of the car to go into the hotel, it was freezing cold! Well, probably in the low 50's really, but that's the coldest air we've experienced (besides AC) in 1 1/2 years! Yikes! We've enjoyed our trip, travelling as a family, seeing relatives and friends, and being away from home. But we're ready to get back home to our own beds, and our friends in HI. This is day 37 of our trip. 5 weeks and 1 day. We'll land in Honolulu by 5 p.m. tonight, and M starts school tomorrow!
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