Mom's First Trip with Lewis N. Clark

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Lewis N. Clark. All opinions are my own.

As a first time mom and frequent traveler, preparing to go on my first trip as a mother was stressful and exciting. A few weeks ago I flew to Washington, DC for a couple of days to finish up my job. It was likely my final trip to DC for the foreseeable future.

The most stressful part of the trip was leaving my twins for the first time and also pumping for them for the duration of the trip. I also used the trip to test out a couple of products from Lewis N. Clark. This is the second project I have worked with Lewis N. Clark on. You can read about the first one here.

Traveling Made Easier with Lewis N. Clark

For almost 20 years, Lewis N. Clark has been making travel and outdoor adventures more comfortable and secure through their wide-range of products. Their product line includes everything from comfort accessories like neck pillows and eye masks, outdoor gear such as dry bags and duffel bags and packing solutions.

Meow Wolf's "The House of Eternal Return" in Santa Fe, New Mexico

In 2016, no trip to Santa Fe is complete without a stop at Meow Wolf. Meow Wolf is an art collective based in Santa Fe. In March of this year, its permanent art complex opened in a former bowling alley, with help from George R. R. Martin (yes, that George R. R. Martin), the city of Santa Fe and a Kickstarter campaign.

A Dog-Friendly Trip to Santa Fe

Hi! It's me, Carson! I wanted to tell you about a trip that my mommy took me on last month to one of our favorite cities - Santa Fe, New Mexico.

My mommy likes Santa Fe for its arts, culture and food. I like it because everyone there loves doggies!

Vancouver Trip Highlights

Our Labor Day Weekend trip to British Columbia was rounded out with two full days in Vancouver. If you missed my previous post, I wrote about our fun day trip to Victoria and Butchart Gardens.

This was my second trip to Vancouver. My first having taken place over 8 years ago. Since it was so long ago, I did not mind at all visiting some spots that I had been to before.

Here are my favorites from our short trip to Vancouver!

Granville Island

One of my favorite things to do in other cities is visit their public markets. I love Reading Terminal Market in Philly, Grand Central Market in LA and Chelsea Market in NYC. Granville Island Public Market has the same kind of buzzing energy that I find so exciting and there is beautiful food as far as the eye can see.

Day Trip from Vancouver to Victoria and Butchart Gardens with Landsea Tours

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you know that I was traveling in British Columbia, Canada over Labor Day weekend. Did you know Canada also celebrates Labor Day over the same long weekend? I did not!

On our first full day in BC, we took a day trip with Landsea Tours to Victoria and Butchart Gardens from Vancouver. Now, I am not a huge fan of bus tours, but when you are short on time and transportation and logistics are complicated, I feel that turning to a guided bus tour is the way to go. Getting to Victoria from Vancouver is quite a trek and since we did not want to rent cars, booking a bus tour was definitely the right way to do it for us!

Victoria is located on Vancouver Island, which is accessible only by ferry or plane. We were picked up from a nearby hotel at 8 am. Then we took a 40 minute drive to the BC Ferries Terminal in Tsawwassen. We had to wait for about an hour since the ferries only depart once an hour.

Ferry Ride on the Coastal Celebration

Once it was time for our ferry to depart, our tour bus drove directly onto the ferry named the Coastal Celebration. Once the bus was safely parked, we were able to disembark the bus and explore the ferry's amenities for the majority of the 90 minute ferry ride. 

How I (Accidentally) Walked 14 Miles in Boston - Part 2

Meanwhile, back on the Freedom Trail....

I dragged myself out of the comfy hotel room and back onto the sidewalks of Boston. I meandered my way past Boston Public Garden and Boston Common, towards Beacon Hill and spotted the beautiful gilded dome of the Massachusetts State House. It is hard to make out but the dome is topped with a gilded pine cone.

Family Reunion in Southern California

As I posted previously, Raisin Bread and I were in Southern California last weekend to run The Coaster Run 5K with my siblings. In addition to the race, there was lots of driving (around 250 miles!), lots of good food and time spent with family.

On Friday night, we arrived at LAX after dark. The lights of the city sprawl let me know that we are headed to the right place.

After picking up our rental car, we drove down to Westminster for dinner at Sumran Thai.

We started with the Picky Platter, a sampling of appetizers including crispy spring rolls, chicken satay, fried shrimp and calamari. It was much more fried food than I was used to, but all delicious.

I was debating over a number of noodle dishes but wound up ordering the Pad Thai. I wish I hadn't because it was too saucy and sweet for my taste.

Raisin Bread ordered the Pad Woon Sen, which I tasted and thought was quite lovely.

We continued south to San Diego to stay with my brother for the night at his newly purchased home! We also met their new maltipoo puppy, Cosmo, who is 4 months old and crazy with puppy excitement. 

The next day, we chilled at the house and took Cosmo on his first outing to the park.

For lunch, we stuffed ourselves silly with all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue at Manna. We tried some brisket, galbi, spicy pork belly and beef tongue. So yummy! Definitely something I miss now that I am in Albuquerque. 

Beef brisket on the grill

After some more hanging out at the house, we made our way to our hotel for the night, The Knott's Berry Farm Hotel. 

This was my first time staying at this hotel. On the second floor of the hotel, there is a section of rooms that are "Camp Snoopy Rooms." There is a glass door that separates this section of the floor from the regular hotel rooms. 

The hallway is also specially decorated in this section of the hotel with the whole Peanuts Gang.

 Our room was adorable as well. It was a whole Snoopy-themed extravaganza, from the headboards to the paw print carpet.

Guests staying the Camp Snoopy Rooms also are greeted by up to two Snoopy plushies, which are theirs to take home.

The room was really too much cuteness. Did we feel weird that there were four adults staying in a Camp Snoopy Room? NEVER!

For dinner, we drove over to the semi-new Anaheim Packing District. I had read about it in an issue of American Way Magazine and thought it sounded similar to places like the Ferry Building in San Francisco or Chelsea Market in Manhattan.



One of the main buildings of the Packing District is the Anaheim Packing House. Anaheim used to be a giant orange grove and this building served as a citrus packing house. The building has been restored and transformed into a bright and airy gathering place. I love when old buildings are salvaged and rebirthed into something modern and useful instead of being torn down.



There were many options for places to eat, but half of us decided on Orange Tei for ramen and sushi.

I ordered the karamiso ramen, and to be honest, it was definitely not the best bowl of ramen I have had. Not even close. There were too many assorted vegetables in the soup for a bowl of ramen. The broth and noodles were tasty though.

Dinner took a bit longer than we were expecting so we raced back to the hotel because we had to be back by 8 PM for a special visit! 

Another perk of booking a Camp Snoopy Room is that every night Snoopy comes by between 8 and 8:30 PM to tuck you in. 

Raisin Bread and I ready for our tuck in!

Here's Snoopy! He's ready for bed too. 

Getting tucked in was such a funny experience. My sister-in-law giggled the entire time and looked like she was about to cry from laughing so hard.

As a side note, I am sure that we are not the first adults to be tucked in by Snoopy. We are not that groundbreaking.

We, of course, did not go to bed after being tucked in but we did soon after. So exhausted and we had an early wake up call for the race!

After the race, we headed back to the hotel to wash up and rest before we returned to the Anaheim Packing District for lunch.

This time we hit up The Kroft. which describes itself as "comfort food reinvented." The offerings includes appetizers, poutine and sandwiches.

I ordered the prime ribeye dip with caramelized onion, horseradish, arugula and au jus, plus I added cheese. It was so delicious! Much better than yesterday's meal.

We also shared an order of the braised short rib poutine. Yum!

The Packing House had live music all weekend long. Loved it.

The previous night there was a huge line for popbar, which sells gelato on a stick, so we went over to check whether or not there was a line after lunch. There wasn't so we figured, why not?

I had a hazelnut popbar dipped in milk chocolate and Raisin Bread had peach dipped in white chocolate and waffle cone.

I wasn't overly impressed by my popbar. I have had better pops from DC's Pleasant Pops and Denver's Aiko Pops.

Since we are already in Anaheim, we swung over to Downtown Disney to do some browsing. I loved this Stitch print from WonderGround Gallery.

Turkey leg rice krispie treats

Then it was back to Knott's, where we went shopping around the Knott's Marketplace before meeting up for dinner.

My sister, dad and mom were all celebrating their birthdays this month, so we decided to have a family dinner at Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant.

There is an option for family-style, so we decided to do the fried chicken meal family-style. The meal included biscuits.

A cup of creamy chicken noodle soup and a big bowl of salad to share.

We also got corn and mashed potatoes and gravy along with our fried chicken.

We also got dessert, and I had a slice of apple pie. The meal was decent, not amazing. But the location was convenient for where we were.

The next morning we got up bright and early to head back home!

Kyoto - Bamboo, Shrines and Palaces

Our original plan was to stay in Kyoto for two nights during our trip to Japan last spring. I quickly realized that would be entirely too little time and added a day trip from Osaka into our itinerary. We were able to fit in quite a lot over this beautiful spring day. Our day was filled with some of Kyoto's most famous attractions.

From Osaka Station, it was a short 30 minute train-ride to Kyoto. We started our day in the Arashiyama section of town.

Arashiyama Bamboo Grove is one of Kyoto's oft-photographed sights, and it is not hard to figure out why. The bamboo grove is an atmospheric and serene location for a daytime walk, even with the crunch of the cherry blossom season crowd.

On the approach to the bamboo grove are many souvenir and snack shops. We picked up these delicious rice balls to enjoy on our stroll.

We returned towards Arashiyama Station and walked along the riverside. 

The mass of cherry blossom trees were in full bloom all along the river. The view of Togetsukyo Bridge next to the trees reminded me of why we decided to come to Japan during this season.

We crossed over Togetsukyo Bridge to venture over to Arashiyama's main drag. As we were making our way across, we came across these three young ladies in full maiko gear. I am not sure whether they were real maiko or just tourists dressed up to look like them. I suspect they were tourists.

Our last stop before lunch was Monkey Park Iwatayama, which I wrote about last year soon after our trip. Then it was off to lunch on the main drag. We stumbled upon this restaurant and were able to grab a table before the lunch crush.

I ordered a delicious meal of cold soba and rice balls. Yum! So simple but tasty.

Following lunch, we hoped a bus to Kinkaku-Ji (the Golden Pavilion). Originally, the site served as the retirement villa of a shogun, but following his death, it became a Zen temple. 

Kinkaku-Ji was one of the most impressive sights we visited on our entire trip. Not only was the building itself stunning, but it is in the middle of a large pond with lush green gardens surrounding it. I could just imagine what a peaceful respite this place would make. 

We continued on our whirlwind tour of Northern Kyoto and visited Nijo-jo, a feudal castle dating to 1603.

Entrance gate to Nijo-jo

The castle is surrounded by stone walls as well as a moat and consists of several buildings and gardens.  

After walking through the large entrance gate, we came upon the ornate Karamon Gate that leads visitors to Ninomaru Palace, the main building open to the public. Unfortunately, photos were not permitted within the palace.

Karamon Gate, leading to Ninomaru Palace

Ninomaru Palace

The Palace served as the residence and office of the shogun, with tatami-matted rooms and painted sliding doors. Most interesting were the corridors with "nightingale floors," which squeak when walked on. This was used as a security measure!

Outside the Palace was a traditional Japanese garden, with, of course, more cherry blossom trees. 

The day was winding down with the temperature dropping and the sunlight getting dimmer, but we decided to push on and visit one last spot. 

Fushimi Inari Shrine is a Shinto shrine that is famous for its thousands of red torii gates. It is a sight to behold! Plus, as you can see, the rows of torii make for great photographs. 

The shrine is dedicated to Inari, the god of rice, and foxes symbolize the messengers of Inari. 

It was a long day in Kyoto, and we were happy to be on our way back to our hotel in Osaka!