The Sewing Mom

My step-daughter, her husband and their beautiful baby were just here this past weekend and we had so much fun. That little girl is growing so fast that we’ve decided to do our best to head out to Los Angeles, possibly for Thanksgiving to see her again. We have so many memories out there, it’s where I met my husband, where we got married and where we owned our first home. We left California in 1991 and I’ve only been back a couple of times since. There really are so many great things to do in Los Angeles and the surrounding area, that I have no doubt we could keep ourselves busy.

The last time we were out there was when my step-daughter got married a few years ago. We went out a week before the wedding and spent 5 days in Anaheim visiting Disneyland and California Adventure. I’ve been going to Disneyland since I was a little girl and it was so much fun sharing that experience with our own daughter. I’m hoping that if we do go in November that we’ll be able to take our granddaughter to see Mickey Mouse, even though I don’t think she will be big enough to ride too much.

Another one of our favorites was always Knott’s Berry Farm. They don’t have all the giant roller coasters that Magic Mountain has, but they do have a lot of fun rides and great shows. We didn’t get to go there the last time we were in town, so that would be something fun to put on our to do list.

I think one of my most memorable experiences I had in Los Angeles was getting to see Michael Crawford perform in The Phantom of the Opera, it was absolutely incredible. I still love the music from the performance and listen to the cd regularly. That show gave me my love of live theater, something I’ve tried to share with our daughter by taking her to see Broadway productions.

We never really visited the museums in Los Angeles, but if I went to New York, I’d be sure to visit the Metropolitan museum of art, mainly because of all the historical paintings that are there. In fact, strangely enough, I just this morning read that San Antonio has its own Metropolitan Museum of Art. That’s a heck of a lot closer to Dallas then New York, so maybe I’ll check that out first!

With airfare becoming so expensive and all the add-on charges like fees for luggage, it’s becoming questionable, even with our high gas prices, if flying is the cheapest method of travel, especially when you’re talking about an entire family traveling. One thing I’ve done to help me plan our upcoming trips in July was to sign up for online travel guides from Trusted Tours and Attractions. I’ve all ready signed up, but if you sign for the newsletter now, you can win a handheld GPS system. Hurry though, this offer ends on June 30.

As much as I hate moving from state to state, it has afforded me the opportunity to see many things and places in this country I might not have seen had I lived in the same place all my life. We even make a point of trying to see things that many locals may take for granted. If we hear about something that peaks our interest, we try to go check it out.

For example, as I’ve mentioned on this blog before, there were so many things to do in Chicago that we really took great pleasure in heading downtown on the train or by car when we lived in the southeast suburbs. In the seven years we lived there we visited most of the museums, the aquarium (one of my favorites), Navy Pier, and of course, Sears Tower. We also spent several occasions shopping on the Magnificent Mile and even attended one Broadway Show while it was on tour in Chicago. It is truly a city with a wide variety of entertainment. I always looked forward to our trips downtown.

Things were no different when we lived in Connecticut. We were so close to New York that it was easy to find things to do in New York City, the hard part was traveling into the city, it’s so congested and filled with one way streets. The first time we went, my husband drove. He found his way down there with the help of a good map (this was pre-GPS) and even found his way into a good parking garage close to 5th Avenue and all the shopping. From then on, anytime we went to the city, we drove the exact same route and parked in the exact same garage. We didn’t want to take any chances on getting lost! Have you ever driven in New York City? It’s absolute bedlam and the streets are filled with crazy drivers, not just the taxi drivers either! It’s wild!

New York City is quite a bit more intimidating to me than Chicago, it’s just so much bigger and more crowded. We did have a blast though finding the Empire State Building and Time Square. These are places that you always see on T.V., so it was so awesome to get to see them in person. We even stood outside to the studio where David Letterman tapes his show. We shopped a lot and my favorite was F.A.O. Schwarz, probably because my daughter was so little and it was fun being in that huge toy store with her.

I think the only thing that I had really wanted to do while we were living out there was to do a couple of the sightseeing tours, particularly the tour to the Statue of Liberty. I never did see that statue and I really wanted to.

I never want to miss out on something like that again, so I’ve signed up for the Trusted Tours and Attractions newsletter to keep me informed and give me ideas of things to do. By the way, if you sign up for the newsletter by May 31, you’ll be entered to win a $150 iTunes gift card. Just think of all the music you could listen to on your next vacation!

A friend of ours was visiting us a while back and we got to talking about a time we’d all been together in Chicago. It was around this time of year and, while we were living in a southeast suburb of Chicago, he had flown in for business. It was a beautiful week and the list for Chicago things to do so we decided to meet him at Navy Pier to start off our touring adventure.

Our daughter was about 3 years old and the three of us drove our car to Navy Pier where we met our friend and his co-worker. There are so many fun places to see in Chicago that we focused on the Navy Pier area and then toured the Sears Tower.

Navy Pier is full of things to do, including the giant ferris wheel, arcades, an Imax theater and many restaurants to choose from. We became very adventurous and took a high speed boat tour of the harbor. We froze our butts off even though it was a beautiful day, it’s easy to forget how much cooler it is when you’re out over the water, especially in the spring months. We still had a blast and remember laughing through the entire boat ride because the wind was so cold. It was a lot of fun though and I highly recommend it.

Now that we live in the south and I’m not working a full time job, I’m thinking it would be fun to accompany my husband on a couple of his many business trips. I’ve recently been looking at sightseeing tours and things to do in San Francisco for the next time he travels out west. I love China Town and I know my daughter would have so much fun riding the cable cars.

I just found out that if you sign up now for the Trusted Tours & Attractions newsletter you’re automatically entered to win a $150 iTunes gift card. My daughter could sure download a lot of songs with that!

Where are you going on your next vacation?

The Sears Tower was awesome too. It’s always amazing to me how far you can see from the observation deck. On a clear day, which it was when we were there, we could see four different states; Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. It really was breathtaking. We recently found the photographs we had taken and the certificates we received for “surviving” the elevator ride up to the top.

We lived in Connecticut for 2 years, and during that time, we traveled by car to so many of the surrounding areas. After living in Texas where you can drive for days and still be in the same state, living in New England made us feel like we could be someplace new in a matter of hours!

One spring break, we decided to check out things to do in Boston and learned it only took a couple of hours to drive to the city itself. We opted to go during spring break and tagged along with my husband during one of his business trips. My daughter was only about 2 then, so while I didn’t do one of the many sightseeing tours that are offered, I would recommend the tours. There really is so much to see and do there, plus, who can resist taking any of the harbor cruises?!

While we were there, I took my daughter to the Museum of Science. It was fantastic, with so many hands on exhibits, especially for children. While we didn’t have time to visit, I would have loved to go to the New England Aquarium, I’ve heard it’s beautiful. In addition to all of the sites, there are some great places to eat. We ate at a small tavern that was so full of history. Previous guests included John Hancock and Paul Revere! It was amazing to sit in the same place as those I’ve read about only in history books. Let’s not forget that Boston also is part of the Freedom Trail!

Boston is a somewhat congested city and can be a bit daunting to get around. If you’re planning a trip there, I recommend signing up for the Trusted Travels eNewsletter and if you sign up now, you’ll be entered to win a handheld GPS system. Just sign up by April 30, 2008. Trusted Tours and Attractions is a great way to receive discounted tickets on sightseeing tours and they offer this service in over 23 U.S. cities.