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.

Visiting Knoxville, Tennessee

Towards the end of our Mother/Son roadtrip, we decided to take a couple stops in Tennessee. First stop, Knoxville.

We stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott Knoxville Downtown at 210 W Church Ave for 2 nights. I chose this hotel because it’s so close to downtown. It’s close to public transportation. They have free wifi and a mini fridge. And I’m so glad I did. This hotel was pretty nice! It was probably one of the nicest places we stayed during our trip. Self parking costs $15 a night, which is what we did. There is no breakfast included, but I think you can purchase some. However, we decided to go to a place just a couple blocks away.

We ate brunch at the French Market Creperie Downtown. We started by waiting in line, which was fairly slow moving. After we ordered, we found ourselves a table and waited for our food. It did take a couple minutes, but that’s because it’s made from scratch! I had a mushroom, spinach, bacon, and swiss crepe while Owen ordered a s’mores crepe. They were both delicious! But I don’t think any kid could sit there without a huge smile on their face while being presented with that awesome s’mores crepe.

Owen’s Notes: “I love crepes and when I had a s’mores crepe, I just thought it was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever had in my whole life. I want to go there again!”

Then, we walked to the visitor’s center to watch some live music. Every day, they broadcast live on the radio from this location so it was fun to see the two acts perform, knowing that we were watching something that other people around the world were listening to. We really enjoyed the Bird and the Bear. They were pretty good. Inside the building, they have bathrooms, brochures for things to do around town, and a local gift shop. There’s also a great mural on the side of the building that you should check out before or after you see the acts.

Next, we headed off to the Knoxville Zoo. It cost us about $37 for my son and myself. Parking was $5 (but we paid for that at the gate along with our tickets so I’m not sure what’s to keep people from lying and saying that they didn’t bring a car). It didn’t seem to be too busy, but we were only there for a couple hours in the afternoon due to the heat. We saw so many great animals! It was an absolute blast. Owen even got to ride a camel. The elephants were inside, but Owen bought himself a wax one to bring home. They had these wax animal machines all over the zoo. My favorite part to walk through was definitely monkey area. There were multiple different levels to walk through so it was like you were up high with them swinging on branches. Overall, we had a great time. I would definitely recommend a stop if you’re in town.

Owen’s Notes: “Knoxville Zoo was a great zoo. I loved that we got to see so many animals. My favorite one that we got to see was the sleeping tiger. He was so cute. He kept opening one of his eyes.”

Then, we decided to go for a hike to the Bluffs. So, first of all, I was super confused where I was supposed to park. I had heard that you’re supposed to park in one place (so we did) and then, after walking a ways, I learned I could have parked closer. That was annoying. I would definitely recommend googling the bluffs in Knoxville to find out where they are. There are a couple things you should know before going though. The road/path is large rock gravel. So, even with tennis shoes, it was painful to walk on. It’s not a very long hike, but it was pretty uphill so at the end of our day, after we’d already walked A TON, this was a little difficult for me. However, the view that you get is beautiful. Now, while I don’t necessarily recommend going past the sign that says not to go any further, that is what we did to see the amazing views. And clearly, almost everyone else does as well.

The last thing we did that day was to catch a free trolley to the Sunsphere. We took an elevator to the observation deck and walked around it a couple times. The Sunsphere is a free attraction and there is a ton of informational things to read while on the observation deck. Plus, it gives amazing views of the city. There were a couple other people up there at the same time as us, but I definitely wouldn’t say it was busy at all.

Owen’s Notes: “Sunsphere! At first I was really scared because I’m afraid of heights, but once I got used to it, I really really liked it. You could see the whole city from up there. So cool!”

We decided to walk around the World’s Fair Park for a while before walking back to our hotel. We took a couple pictures with the water. Owen’s favorite part was definitely the fountains. He ran through them multiple times and got completely soaked! He was just so happy, though, so how could I possibly complain. Then, we decided to walk back to our hotel and call it a night.

Owen’s Notes: “My favorite part was when I got to go through the fountains. I went through the fountain like 15 times. I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to get even wetter, but I had to stop.”

We were definitely exhausted from our day and slept really well that night!

Hickory Nut Falls

My son and I started our two week road trip visiting cities and going to the beach and hanging out at a theme park. So, to change it up a bit, we decided to go hiking between visiting my dad in North Carolina and visiting Knoxville.

We really only had time to go to one place, so I chose Hickory Nut Falls, which is located in Chimney Rock State Park. Something I didn’t know before we went is that it does cost about $20 to drive into the state park. There are 2 options to parking. You can park down below and take a shuttle to the top, or you can drive all the way to the top. The road wound around a lot. It was weaving back and forth up the mountain and at times, it was very difficult to see if other cars were coming. However, I was happy with my choice to drive all the way up though, so that I didn’t have to wait for the shuttle.

At the top parking lot, there is a building where you can buy souvenirs. There are also restrooms. It’s a nice area. I guess that there’s usually an elevator to take you to the top of Chimney Rock, but when we were there, it was out of order. And to hike up to Chimney Rock was climbing up 500 stairs. There was no way I was going to make it so we just took in the views from the benches set up in front of the gift shop. It was seriously beautiful!

We took our time during our hike to Hickory Nut Falls as we climbed down a set of stairs and took the amazing mile long hike to see the 404-foot waterfall. It’s not necessarily a difficult hike. I’m sure some people classify it as an easy hike. However, it’s not flat. There are some stairs. There are some logs to step over. It does go uphill. There are rocks to climb over. It was a great little hike though. I would definitely recommend it to people that are only mildly into hiking. When we arrived at the waterfall, my son had a great time climbing down to the rocks and playing in the water at the bottom of the falls.

It definitely took way less time to hike back. That is, until we reached the hundred and seventy some steps back to the parking lot. Those sucked. But I made it. And I loved the hike. I would absolutely do it again. And you should check it out too!

Owen’s Notes: “It was pretty exhausting to get there, but once we got to Hickory Nut Falls, it was beautiful! I got to climb around on rocks to get to the bottom of the waterfall. I got soaked!”