Throwback Thursday: Pennsylvania, Summer 2002

With my crazy cousins in Pennsylvania in 2002. I lived in PA that summer with four of these cousins, and the other three were visiting for the week. I hung out with them all last week at Grandpa's funeral, and I can't believe how GROWN UP they are!

Going: Day Trip to Green Bay

Dad has taken us (his three daughters) to the Vikings/Packers game in the Dome for the last 25 years. It is such a fun tradition. For the last 5 (maybe 6?) years, he's also taken us to the Vikings/Packers game at Lambeau. My parents moved to Green Bay 5 years ago, so we've made a weekend out of it and had a good time seeing some fun games.

This year, my folks have just moved back to the cities, so instead of having a place to stay in Green Bay, we had to make the trip in a day. I was leaning toward not wanting to spend my day in the car to see a pretty bad Vikings team get beat by the Pack, but Dad talked me into it. 

Luckily my sister lives just over the MN/WI border, so we stayed at her house the night before to save us time in the morning. We still got up EARLY and were able to see a very pretty sunrise while on the road.

Then we went to see some of Dad's friends at a tailgate party and we went to the game. You guys. IT. WAS. COLD. We went to the Vikings/Packers playoff game at Lambeau last January in cold weather, so I thought I was pretty prepared with my clothing. But....no. For some reason this time seemed so much colder. The windchill at kickoff was 2 degrees. The real problem was my feet. I did have some small hand warmers that I was able to stuff in my boots, but they only worked for about 30 minutes. I was pretty ready to get to the car and get warm......and then the game went into overtime. And then it ended in a tie! Total letdown. I will admit, a tie is better than losing to the Pack, and the game was much more interesting than I anticipated. So it was at least a little bit worth the cold. Here is my sister demonstrating just how bundled up we were at the game:

And here I am with my other sister in the stands:

I had to pack an annoying amount of stuff for the weekend - I went to my sister's straight from a work event, I had to bring all of my overnight stuff, I brought all of my schoolwork so I could get some stuff done in the car (which I followed through on, thank goodness!), and I brought all of my dress clothes for work in case I decided to crash at my sister's again on Sunday night if I was too tired to finish the drive home (which is what happened). All in all, it was quite a bit of planning for just a day away, but making football memories with my family is always fun. And not losing to the Packers is good, too.

Planning: Chicago

I'll be going to Chicago for work in December and I need to do it on the cheap. Everything I spend on the trip will come out of my budget for the year, and I don't have a lot of budget to go around. 

The conference hotel was $140/night, but I figured I could find something a little less expensive. I didn't want to walk too far since it will potentially be cold and windy, so I didn't take the absolute cheapest hotel I could find, but I found something within four blocks that was $106/night. I'll save almost $100 after my 3 day stay.

I also considered driving so that I would have flexibility to come and go from the conference when I wanted to. I do get reimbursed for milage, but again, that would come out of my budget. I ran the milage and figured it would be about $230 for milage, and then I would have to add on parking at a downtown hotel for three nights, which could probably run about $40-$50/night. I looked up flights into Midway and found something that worked pretty well with my schedule for $115. I did some online research and figured out I can get a cab from Midway to downtown for $25-$30 if I'm in a hurry, or I can ride the El for $2-$3 and walk the few blocks to my hotel. 

Turns out flying is WAY more affordable than driving! I've driven to Chicago so many times....I'll have to consider flying in the future (unless I'm going with a number of people who are splitting the gas to make it more affordable).

I really, really love Chicago and I'm excited to spend a few days in the city just before Christmas!

Throwback Thursday: Washington DC, Summer 1990(ish)

I know that I *just* posted a throwback to this Washington DC trip a few weeks ago, so I'm breaking my own "rule" of not posting photos from the same trips on my Throwback Thursdays. But my Grandpa passed away one week ago today. We spent the past week celebrating his life and the impact he's had on so many people. Grandpa loved to travel, and I had a chance to travel with him all over the United States. Unfortunately, the only picture I have in my computer of those travels is from Washington DC, so that's why you get a repeat. I'll have to get some more of those pictures in my computer so I can share more of the wonderful memories I made with my Grandpa. I'm thankful he passed on his love of travel to me, along with his love of sports and jokes, and most importantly, his love of the Lord. I miss you, Grandpa!

Dreaming: Surreal Travel Destinations

I love making lists of dream places to travel. I have some lists linked on the right hand side of this blog - 100 places to see, the Seven Wonders of the World, etc.....all things I have "on my list". 

But I think this list of surreal travel destinations is my new favorite! I haven't been to ANY of these places! I *have* been to a bamboo grove in Japan (and one in Hawaii actually), but not the one listed here. And while I was in Bolivia last year and would have loved to make it to the salt flats, it is literally an entire trip within itself, even if you are in the country, so there was no way I could make it. 

A pretty fun list to dream about, yeah?!

Throwback Thursday: North Dakota, February 2007

Rugby, North Dakota - Geographical Center of North America. A quick stop while driving through on a drive for work. On a TERRIBLY windy and snowy day. Of course.

Throwback Thursday: Honduras, November 2007

Medical Missions Trip with my sisters to Honduras. I assisted the dentist and this was our "clinic".

Going: Weekend in Dallas

I just got back from a weekend in Dallas with my family. It was SO much fun! I think one of the things I liked most about this trip was that I didn't plan a single thing - I just showed up! (Hence the lack of a "Planning" blog for Dallas!)

It's not that I don't like to plan trips - I really, really do. But the circumstances of this trip lent itself to being planned more by Mom than by anyone else. Which ended up being great for me since I haven't had much free time since I started school in October...plus I've been planning other trips to Chicago (blog coming), Mazatlan, and London. So this time around it was nice to just show up at the airport. I didn't even buy my ticket! I have very generous parents!

Every fall, my family goes to a Vikings game at a stadium we've never been to. Other than the "never-been-to-that-stadium" requirement, we also try to pick a game that isn't during the Holidays, and we try to pick a place that we think will also be fun to be tourists in on Saturday. The last few years it has worked out to have friends visit us who aren't far from the city we are visiting, and they've also joined us at the game. 

This year we chose Dallas. Mom worked on the plans with our friends who joined us from Oklahoma, and we had a blast. 

We flew in on Friday night and met up at the hotel (maybe I'll write more about the Residence Inn in another post - a GREAT option for traveling with family). Saturday was packed. We toured AT&T Stadium in the morning, which was awesome, and then grabbed a quick bite on the way to the tour at the former Texas Book Depository, where JFK was assassinated. Then we headed to the Fort Worth Stockyards where we took pictures on a steer, ate some steak, and watched an honest-to-goodness rodeo! It was quite an experience - and MUCH more anxiety-inducing than I anticipated. I thought that I might want to find myself a cowboy while I was in Dallas, but after the rodeo, I think I would settle for a cowboy who has no interest in bull riding! After the rodeo, we headed back to the hotel because we were EXHAUSTED after all of our activities - peppered with great conversations and lots of laughing during the car rides. Good thing we got an extra hour of sleep thanks to Daylight Savings.

Sunday was the Vikings game. We didn't expect to win, so the fact that the game was even close was fun. The stadium had the "windows" and ceiling open, so it was a really fun outdoor/indoor atmosphere. And we had the best stadium nachos we've ever had in our lives. We headed straight from the game to the airport, and I even said hi to some of the football wives who were also on our flight :)

All in all, a WONDERFUL football trip. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite family traditions. 

Here are some fun pictures from the weekend (please excuse the phone-quality photos):