USS Midway in San Diego

A couple months ago, we were lucky enough to spend some time in San Diego. I decided to incorporate some of the activities we would do into our homeschooling. Our hotel was fairly close to the USS Midway and quickly decided that museum would be one of our activities.
For homeschooling, I looked on their website and found A TON of information about the place. I typed up some questions about information I was able to find and then used that worksheet as a way to test my son's ability to find information on a website. Now, this may not be something learned in public school, but I definitely think it's a real world skill that should be learned.

Now, on to our experience. It was about a ½ mile walk (it took us about 15 minutes) to the USS Midway. Lucky for us, kids were free during the month of October so we were able to take advantage of that.
We walked onto the ship and immediately watched the 15 minute movie to the right. It was pretty interesting and told about the battle of Midway to show why the Navy fought so hard to name this carrier after the famous battle. Then, we walked over to the information desk to get Owen’s Junior Pilot quiz. They told us we needed to get the free audio tour lanyards so we did that. The questions on the quiz were labeled by location, which made it pretty easy to find the ones we needed. You point the little thing on the end of the lanyard at the audio thing you want to listen to and then hold it up to your ear like a cell phone to listen to it. Then, for Owen, he just had to answer a multiple choice question about something from that audio clip.
We walked around the hangar deck first and were able to get in some of the model aircrafts. I think that was Owen’s favorite part. We came across the Air-Combat 360, which is like a flight simulator where you get inside and one person pilots the aircraft while another person shoots at other aircraft. At first, Owen seemed skeptical, but then wanted to do it. However, he threw a huge hissy fit when he actually got in it. He was screaming about how he didn’t want to do it anymore and started whining big time. I was so embarrassed. I couldn’t believe he was acting like that. Fortunately, the employees there were super nice. They were very patient with him and helped us convince him that he would have fun. Tom would pilot the whole time and wouldn’t ever take him upside down. He eventually did do it though and seemed to somewhat enjoy himself. Now, normally, I wouldn't force my kid to do something he didn't want to do, but he had already told us he did want to do it and we'd payed for it, too. Plus, I knew it wouldn't actually be scary.

We grabbed ourselves a bottle of water from the cafe before heading down below deck. It was a huge maze down there. And there was so much to see! We climbed down lots of flights of stairs and then back up! We saw the galley, the sick bay, the chapel, the wardroom, the captain’s quarters, and everything in between. We even saw the brig (jail). It seriously took us over an hour to walk through the whole area.

We then made our way up to the flight deck where Tom and Owen took forever walking around the admiral quarters. I sat and watched some videos instead. My feet were getting tired. When they were back, we walked around some more where Owen was able to touch and get in some of the aircrafts. He loved it. I wish we had been able to see the bridge, but the only way you can see it is to take a 30 minute tour, which had a line of about 20 minutes, and we just didn’t have time for that.

When we were done looking at everything on the flight deck, we walked back down to the hangar deck and looked through the gift shop. Owen was able to find a replica USS Midway that he thought was really cool so he bought that.

Then, we walked back over to the information booth where Owen was presented (with a cute little ceremony) with his wings for getting all the questions right on his little quiz. It was adorable and he loved it.

Then, we walked back to the hotel. We were at the USS Midway for about 3 hours and we needed every second of it. We truly could have spent about 4 hours there if we had the chance. So when they say you need 3-4 hours to see everything, they’re not kidding.

Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego

We started our trip to San Diego at this hotel, mostly because the company my husband works for was paying for us to be at a conference there. It was absolutely beautiful, though.

First, the details:
Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego
1 Market Place
San Diego, California, 92101
(619) 232-1234
Check-In: 4pm / Check-Out: 11am
Valet Parking: $49 / Self-Parking: $35

This is considered a luxery hotel and surprisingly had complimentary wifi and 24-hour texting service.

Amenities: bathrobes and slippers available upon request, microwave ($20/stay) /refrigerator ($25/stay) /rollaway bed ($20/night) available upon request, hair dryer, coffeemaker

Hotel Activities:
Iconic, Marilyn Monroe Spa
Cabana Rentals (2 pools: 1 family and 1 adults only, hot tub)
Rooftop Cinema Club at Grand Hyatt (Doors open at 6:30 to enjoy the beautiful views, each person gets a personal set of wireless headphones, comfy deckchairs for one or love seats for two, blankets are available from the box office, bottomless popcorn, candy, full food menu, and drinks)
Fire pits for roasting s’mores and a children’s outdoor play area

Food:
Sally’s Fish House & Bar
Lunch is 11:30a-3p / Light Bite Menu is 3p-5p / Dinner is 5p-9:30p
For Kids: chicken tenders, filet mignon, pasta, and more at $12 per item
Plenty of seafood, but plenty that isn’t as well
Lunch is $18-$25/entree while Dinner is closer to $40/entree

Top of the Hyatt
Sky lounge 40 stories up with floor to ceiling windows
Open 3p-1:30a
Small shareables and desserts are available

Brew30
Selections from local breweries and distilleries with burgers ($14-$18) and salads on the menu
Open 11a-11p, daily (happy hour is 3p-6p)

Seaview Breakfast Buffet Restaurant
Fresh scrambles, made-to-order omelets, waffles, pastries, and other favorites
$28/Grand Breakfast Buffet or $21/Continental Buffet (Complimentary for children under 12 per paying adult)
M-F 6:30a-11a / Sa & Su 6:30a-11:30a

Market One
On-the-go meals and snacks (deli-fresh sandwiches, ready-made salads, pastries, and Starbucks coffee)
Open 24 hours

GrandEats
Room service
Breakfast: 6a-11a / Dinner: 5p-11p

Our experience:

We were able to check in right away when we got there. The guy at the front desk was very friendly and switched our room from a King bed to 2 Queen beds on a high floor. We were super excited to see what kind of view we would receive since we were located right on the bay.
We walked into our room and were greeted with a nice, clean room. It didn’t feel huge, but it also didn’t feel cramped. There was a nice huge window on the far side of the room with a table and two chairs in front of it. We immediately set everything down to look at what kind of view we had. It was amazing! We could see the city to the left, but we could also see the bay to the right. It was great and we spent some time taking pictures.

For the most part, our stay was pleasant. We had a couple issues with only having scalding hot water in our shower, but maintenance came to fix it pretty quickly. I had also forgotten a couple items at home (like a hairbrush). I called down to the front desk, and within 30 minutes, someone brought me the items I had requested. Now, that's service!
On our second day there, we headed down to the pool on the 3rd floor. We had a great time looking at the backyard play area. There was corn hole, giant connect four, Foosball, and ping pong. Then, we found a chair to put our stuff on. The pool itself is heated to 80 degrees all year round so it didn’t feel cold inside the pool, but if you kept your head out for too long, you did get quite chilly (in early October). Overall, we had a great time. We really enjoyed everything the hotel had to offer.

Our only slightly negative experience came at the one restaurant we decided to eat at on property.
When we got there, they said it would be a 25 minute wait to sit outside and I feel like, why are paying more to eat at a restaurant on the water if you can’t sit outside? So we waited for about half an hour. I’m not really sure why we waited though. There were so many tables empty, and while I understand that a lot of people had reservations, the people that were there when we got there were gone by 7, when all the people with the reservations came. It was annoying and we almost left, but they called us just as we were getting ready to leave.
We were seated and decided to just order a couple things because I wasn’t that hungry. However, we still ordered way too much food. Tom and I got some crab cakes to share for our appetizer. It came out fairly quickly, but our waiter was so distracted by other people (mainly his boss) that he didn’t come over to take our order until we were already done eating our crab cakes. That was annoying and when we were waiting for our food, I was so tired! I just wanted to go to sleep and it was taking so long to get our food. Eventually, it did come though. Owen ordered chicken strips and fries. He didn’t end up eating very much of it. I ordered a cup of clam chowder. It was pretty good, but I just wasn’t hungry. Tom got a new york strip with chimichurri on top. He seemed to like it, but it was a little under what he usually enjoys. He ordered it medium-rare and it was definitely more rare than anything else. He couldn’t finish his meal either, so we got a box for it. I hate having leftovers on vacation. We never eat them! But Tom didn’t want them to go to waste. Especially since we payed $120 (including tip) for our food.

Road Trip Overview

In early August, my son and I went on a 2 week roadtrip, just the two of us. At first, I was nervous about being the only person that could drive. What if I got tired? Well, I did have to stop a couple times for coffee, but we made it back home safe and sound! All is well in our house, and while we have just barely caught up on all of our laundry (I know, gross!) we’ve been home for a while and I’m here to share all the highlights with you.

I did a lot of research when looking for locations for us to stop at on our trip. I had some requirements when choosing places, the main one being, “where can we go that would be within a couple of hours of the last destination”. Since I was the only one driving, I didn’t want to have to drive more than 4-6 hours in one day. There were a couple of days where I had to drive further. But there were also days where I didn’t have to drive very far. I had multiple possible itineraries to choose from by the end of my research. But ultimately, we did make a choice.

Here’s how our trip went:
Starting Location: Bloomington, IL
Day 1: South Bend, IN (we just stopped here to spend the night with my husband’s family)
Day 2: Toronto, ON (Click here to see our day at the Lavendar Farm)
Day 3: Toronto, ON (Click here to see our day in Toronto)
Day 4: Niagara Falls (Click here to see our time at Niagara Falls)
Day 5: Boston, MA (Click here to see our day in Boston)
Day 6: Boston, MA
Day 7: Hershey, PA (Click here to see our day at Hershey Park)
Day 8: Nottingham, PA (Click here to see our factory tour of Herr's Chips!)
Day 9: Virginia Beach, VA (Click here to see our day in Virginia Beach)
Day 10: Lillington, NC (to visit my dad)
Day 11: Asheville, NC (Click here to see our trip to Hickory Nut Falls)
Day 12: Knoxville, TN (Click here to see our day in Knoxville)
Day 13: Nashville, TN (Click here to see our day in Nashville)
Day 14: Garden of the Gods, IL (Click here to see our day in Southern Illinois)
Day 15: Back to Bloomington, IL

The best parts of our trip were definitely seeing Niagara Falls, watching humpback whales dive for food, and viewing the amazing sights while hiking. As much as I sometimes hate nature, the best parts of our trip definitely involved it.

Herr's Chips

On a recent roadtrip, my son and I were able to take a tour of the Herr’s Snack Factory. And it was great! There’s a reason they were voted one of the best factory tours in the country!

The tour starts with a video about the history of Herr’s. It didn’t seem to drag on and I found it almost entertaining. Then, we were divided into 2 groups and taken to different parts of the factory. We went on a Thursday so they couldn’t guarantee that the factory would be in production.

The first place we went was the pretzel making area. It was not being used at the time, but we still got to see all the equipment, watch a short video about how they’re made, and listen to our tour guide talk about it. It was very interesting. I had never really thought about how pretzels were made before, but I’m glad I now know!

Next, we went to the tortilla chip making area. It was also not being used at the time. But again, there were videos to see, the tour guide to listen to, and equipment to see. Plus, it was great to hear that they don’t waste any of the fallen or broken chips. They’re sent to a farm and mixed with the food for the animals.

We were also able to walk through the packaging and storage area where there was a great view of the popcorn seasoning room. This one was in production so we were able to see the popcorn being coated in the seasoning drums. Plus, it was fun to see the storage area. It was HUGE! And to know that the entire warehouse is filled with completely new products in less than a week is astounding. People sure do eat a lot of snacks!

But my favorite place, by far, was the potato chip area. I loved learning how they get all the potatoes out of the trucks! I’ll let you learn that one for yourself though. My son’s favorite part was when our tour guide was able to walk onto the factory floor and retrieve a tray of freshly cooked chips for us to taste. They were still warm and very delicious. Clearly this area was in production. They were making kettle chips. We could have stood at the windows all day, watching chips go through the seasoning drums, get weighed into bags, travel on a belt (where the imperfect ones were blown into a box) to a machine that counted the bags and put them into boxes.

At the end of the tour, we were given a bag of kettle chips and a bag of either pretzels or steak chips. Then, we looked around the small store they had. I decided it would be fun to buy a vintage tin with 20 bags of chips inside. I was able to pick out whatever flavors I wanted to be put inside. They took the paper I filled out, and I had a tin full of chips about 10 minutes later.

Owen’s Notes: “Chips! My favorite part was trying the freshly baked, off the line chips! They were so warm and delicious. I loved it.”

Herr’s Chip Taste Tests:

Grill Mates Montreal Steak: At first, I found it a little strange that the chips tasted like the seasoning you would find on a steak, but as I ate more, I started to really like it! The chips are flavorful, but not too strong. They were pretty good, and while I wouldn’t necessarily choose to eat them all the time, they’re a nice change from your average chip flavors. 7/10

Buffalo Blue Cheese: I’m not going to lie to you, I thought I might hate this one. I mean, it has the word buffalo in it and while I like spicy, I don’t want it to linger on my tongue for hours. It also says blue cheese and I’m just not a fan. However, I’m really glad I tried it because it was delicious! The spice was nice, but not overwhelming. After eating a small bag, there is just a small hint left on my tongue. And while you can definitely taste some tangy cheese, it isn’t too blue. I would absolutely eat these again. 9/10

Cheddar and Sour Cream Ripples: These were pretty good, but they’re exactly what you would expect from cheddar and sour cream chips. I do think that ripples taste better than regular chips so they had that going for them. 8/10

Sour Cream and Onion: Now, some people may say “it’s just sour cream and onion, what’s new?” but I don’t agree. When it comes to sour cream and onion, everyone makes theirs different. These are a little sweeter (but not in a bad way!) than other brands. They’re wavy and seriously delicious. I may have a new favorite brand for sour cream and onion! 9/10

Barbeque: Most people are probably like “Oh, yeah, BBQ, classic” but I for sure think everyone’s is a little different. I can’t quite put my finger on what’s different about their recipe, but it’s good! 8/10

Baked Cheese Curls: Ok, so I know I’ve been saying that Herr’s products taste different from everyone else’s, but this time, they don’t. The cheese curls here are just the same as everyone else’s. Lucky for me, I love cheese curls. 7/10

BBQ Corn Chips: These were great! But I actually wish the BBQ flavor was a little stronger! It’s very mild and I want more. 7/10

Honey BBQ: I liked these, but you definitely need to be in the mood for sweet. They taste just like the regular BBQ chips, but with honey. 8/10

Baby Back Ribs: Personally, I wasn’t a fan of this flavor. But my husband loved it. I think it was too smokey and vinegar-y for me. 4/10

Tangy BBQ Popped Chips: These were fantastic! I liked the popped chips more than I thought I would. 9/10

Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips: I feel like I have to compare these to Doritos. They are far less cheesy and far more tortilla-y. I liked them, but I would choose to eat Doritos if given the choice. 7/10

Happy New Year!

So I took a couple months off from blogging in order to really enjoy the holiday season. Well, now I'm back and I'm ready to tell you some awesome things that happened!

First, I went to New York City for my birthday in early December. It was amazing so look forward to some great posts about that!
Speaking of travelling, I don't think I made any posts about when I went to San Diego in October! We'll definitely have to make some about that, too. I just love to travel and even though I try to make my blog about all kinds of things, it always tends to be very travel heavy. And I'm okay with that!

For Christmas, I bought my husband a 3D printer! It has definitely been all about learning this past month, but we already love it!

My son struggled wanting to start school back up, and honestly, so did I. I'll let you know all about how we dealt with that.

And finally, I definitely want to share some homeschool projects.

Phew, that should probably last us a while. Who knows, I may have gone on another vacation by then! haha

Well, I hope to see you all soon!

Free Habit Tracker Download

It's been a while guys! I have been all over the place with homeschool, planning our next trip, and trying to get this holiday season started. But I just made this habit tracker inspired by one I saw on Instagram and I just had to share it with all of you. I'm excited to start developing good habits next year. I want to work out regularly, not go months without creating, and making sure I blog every week.

I'm not sure if you're like me or not, but one thing I love is checking a box. I make a ton of lists and checking something off my list is just so satisfying. It's gotten to the point where I start my list with 'finish making list' just so that I can check it off when I'm done. Pathetic, I know.

Anyway, just in case anyone else would like to join me on my path to better habits, here is what I came up with: Click here for a fully editable version

I Dyed My Hair Purple!

So, there I was, sitting in my living room, looking at the pictures I had just posted on Facebook from a weekend away when I scrolled past one of those Overtone ads. In case you don’t know what Overtone is, it’s like a hair dye. But you dye your hair crazy colors (like pink or purple or blue). And it looks like hair creme as opposed to normal hair dye. And before I knew it, I was dreaming of crazy colors.

Ah! I’m 29. I’m not some teenager that can just do whatever they want to their hair...right? Well, I’m an adult. I CAN do what I choose. And I choose to embrace the crazy in my life and go for a new color.

Backstory: I haven’t touched my hair with dye of any kind in over 10 years. I used to highlight, lowlight, full on dye my hair whenever the mood took me when I was a teenager. I never did anything crazy. They were always natural colors. But then I got pregnant and I had heard that you’re not supposed to dye your hair while you’re pregnant. So I didn’t. Then we were poor. Then some woman that was cutting my hair made me feel disgusting because my roots were too far out to just need maintenance, but not far enough out to look like it was done on purpose. Needless to say, I never went back there again. And I decided I just wanted natural hair so that I didn’t have to worry about it. So I grew it out. And I grew it out. And I grew it out. My hair has been completely natural from root to tip for over 5 years.

But the desire has struck! I need that dye job. So, I decided to go with something a little low maintenance (so that when it grows out, it DOES look like I did it on purpose). Here’s where I decided on a Balayage.

But I had some questions. And I needed a new stylist. The one I had gone to for a couple years just wasn’t doing it for me. Seriously, I have the worst luck with stylists. They either complain about how much and how heavy my hair is or they just don’t talk that much. Some of them simply don’t know how to work with my hair (it’s super thick and fairly long) so the cut they put in it, doesn’t work for me. And while some have clearly been worse than others (hello, woman who told me my dye was terrible), I just haven’t really connected with anyone. And while the lady I was with for a couple years did an okay job with my cut, I had ZERO confidence in her ability to dye my hair properly.

I looked. I researched. I found pictures of hair people had done before, and I settled on a couple girls from Fringe in Bloomington, IL. They seemed young and modern and willing. So I called to make an appointment for one of them to just cut my hair first. I went in, and got a couple inches taken off. The girl was so nice!! And she did a great job on my hair. I asked questions and she seemed knowledgeable. So we started talking about the dye job I might want done. She gave me some advice. And I booked my appointment for Wednesday, September 18th at 11am to get my hair done.

This is what my hair looked like before I went into the salon that day:

She highlighted my hair and then put a lavender toner on top of that. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, 3 hours and $300 later, I was done. That may sound extravagant to some, but I have some crazy thick, long hair. And it was totally worth it! Check it out!

Even though I loved my hair, it wasn’t exactly what I had asked for. In reality, I wanted an ombre look and I for sure didn’t get that. Lucky for me, I did like the way my hair looked in the end. However, I was incredibly disappointed when all the purple was gone after only 3 washes. I payed so much money! And for what? Not what I asked for and the purple was gone only a couple weeks later. Well, I decided to order Overtone (you’ve probably seen the ads on Facebook). Check out that post in a couple weeks to see how it works.

Making the first day of homeschool special

First, let me just wish my husband a wonderful Happy Birthday! He never reads my blog, but I just appreciate him so much!

Now, since this was our first full year doing homeschool, I wanted to make our “first day of school” special. And I think it worked! We had a great day getting the hang of things. Here’s what we did:

We started with a mini photo shoot. You know, your typical “first day of school” pictures with the parents.

Then, we headed out to The Original Pancake House for breakfast. Owen was thrilled to have chocolate chip pancakes before our school day started.

When we finally made our way down to our classroom, I had put streamers up on the doorway and filled the room with balloons. I hung a poster that said “Welcome to 4th grade”.

We started with a welcome letter that I had written to him to tell him how excited I was about this upcoming year. I wanted to have a printed letter that he could stick in the front pocket of his binder so that he could look at it any time he wanted.

While we did spend most of the day learning, I wanted to have some fun breaks in our day with a couple useful crafts. The first one was a bookmark that he could decorate to use in his book for morning reading time. He loves to draw and color so I thought this would be a great break between lessons. The second craft he worked on was a little pouch that he could glue together and color to hold his reward dollars that he will earn throughout the year to buy fun stuff.

Overall, we had a great day! It was a great introduction to our school year. It was a special day that deserved to be celebrated. And we did just that!

A Day In Southern Illinois

Our last stop before we headed back home on our 2 week road trip was in Southern Illinois. I use that term because we kind of travelled all over the place in our 24 hours there.

Our first stop upon returning to Illinois was the Garden of the Gods. We decided to take the half mile observation trail. It was a very short hike, if you even want to use that term. To be honest, it was more of just a walk for me. My son, on the other hand was climbing all over the place. He was climbing every rock he could get his hands on. Clearly, we were very cautious and I held my son’s hand when necessary because in this area, you are very high up and every year, people die from accidents on these rocks. The views are just stunning from here. And we had so much fun finding the camel and monkey rock formations. Even though the main path is only a half mile, we spent an hour here. Partially because we spent a lot of time off the main path on the large rocks and partially because we took the time to sit and embrace the beauty of this place. There were plenty of people that stayed much longer than we did. It didn’t feel crowded at all, but we visited at noon on a Wednesday.

Owen’s Notes: “I really liked that I got to climb around a bunch. There were so many rocks that I got to climb up, down, and over to. There were also so many sights to see like the camel and the monkey.”

We stayed in the Best Western in Marion for the night. The biggest reason I chose this hotel was because we had enough points to stay here for free. It was clean and nice enough. It was nothing extravagant, but it was exactly what we needed. They had a pool and a hot tub, which we did swim at. It was a perfect way to end our trip. They also had free wifi, free breakfast, a mini fridge, and a microwave. Plus, the hotel was right next to the highway so it was a great location for us.

The next morning, we drove over to the Rolling Oak Alpaca Ranch. I had made a reservation for a tour online in advance. It cost $10 per person. Our tour started at 9:30am and lasted about an hour. We were able to hang out with the alpacas and feed them. We also met a couple goats. It was great to learn all about the alpacas. Plus, since our tour was just myself and my son, we could ask any questions we wanted and take as many pictures as we wanted. Then, we learned all about how yarn is made. I just love the couple that owns this farm. They have such positive attitudes and were such a pleasure to be around. We truly had a blast and it was just the perfect ending to a perfect trip.

Owen’s Notes: “I really really liked all of the alpacas. I also liked that I got to see goats. My favorite alpaca was Little Num. I got to hug her.”

There are so many things to do in southern Illinois. We definitely could have spent more than a day here, but alas, we had to head home.

Visit to Nashville, TN

One of the last stops on our Mother/Son roadtrip was Nashville. This is frequently our last stop on roadtrips. Nashville is such a fun place, even if you only have a day to spend here.

We drove into town and immediately went to Hattie B’s Hot Chicken to stand in line and get some awesome food. Parking is crazy in Nashville. We’ve never had trouble finding a spot, but it comes at a price, that’s for sure. This place is so popular, you definitely need to get there 30 minutes before they open on weekdays and possibly an hour early on the weekends if you want a table. I ordered chicken strips (medium heat) with pimento mac and cheese and potato salad. Owen got the kids chicken strips (southern, which means no heat) with fries. We also really enjoy their lemonade. I think it’s made in-house and it’s absolutely delicious. They’re not over-priced and the food is definitely worth a trip. It was hot outside and the indoor seating is incredibly limited so we did have to sit outside. However, it at least is covered and has fans.

Then, we headed out to the Adventure Science Museum. The cost was $28 for my son and myself. It was amazing! I’m kind of over children’s museums because they all have the same exhibits. So, once you’ve been to one, you’ve been to them all. But this is so different. First of all, it’s not just for little kids. There is a section just for them, but I feel like this “museum” is geared toward the older child, which is a welcome change. We played music, defeated germs, walked on the moon, hung out among the stars, climbed a spine, and slid down the digestive system. It was seriously amazing. We only spent about 2 hours here, but it was a fun 2 hours.

Owen’s Notes: “Oh my gosh! My favorite thing that we did there was doing the moon gravity thing. There was a machine that picked me up, lifted me into the air, and then put me back down again. I had to try to walk over to a flag on the ground and walk back. It was so fun, but way harder than it sounds.”

When we were done at the Adventure Science Museum, we headed downtown again to check out the Johnny Cash Museum. The cost was $20 per adult and $16 per child. It is ranked the number one music museum in the world. This museum is fairly small, but still worth a visit. We only spent about an hour here, and even that was pushing it. It seemed crowded, which was a shame, but we still had a great time. There was a ton of memorabilia and informational text you could read, outfits from famous moments and records displayed. But my favorite thing about the entire museum was that there were performances you could watch, a video history of Johnny Cash’s career, songs you could listen to with headphones, and a couple places where you could sit to do these things. They also offered a green screen photo you could buy. Overall, it was a decent museum that I’m glad we visited, but I don’t feel the need to go again during our many trips to Nashville.

Owen’s Notes: “My favorite part of the Johnny Cash Museum was taking a picture in front of the green screen and then getting a picture of me with Johnny Cash.”

Then, before heading back to our hotel, we popped into the Goo Goo shop to pick up some Goo Goo Clusters to bring back home with us. If you’ve never heard of a Goo Goo Cluster, you’re missing out. They are a regional treat that we discovered on our travels and we keep going back for more. It is a disc-shaped candy bar that contains marshmallow nougat, caramel, and roasted peanuts and then covered in milk chocolate. My family’s favorite is the peanut butter, though. Basically, they replace the marshmallow nougat with a soft peanut butter nougat. The Goo Goo shop is located right downtown across from the Johnny Cash museum so it’s pretty convenient when we’re in town. You should give them a try if you’re visiting the area. They also have a little cafe inside their store.

Owen’s Notes: “I love Goo Goo Clusters. We bought the peanut butter ones!”

Our hotel was the Wingate by Wyndham out by the airport at 1 Century Blvd. They have free wifi, free breakfast, a mini fridge, and a microwave. What else you could you want? It was clean and perfect for our needs. We always stay out by the airport when we visit Nashville. It may be farther from the action, but it is significantly cheaper. And saving money on our hotel allows us to spend money elsewhere.

Our trip to Nashville was a great one. I will always suggest this place to people planning a weekend getaway or as a destination on a roadtrip.