Finding a home away from home.

No surprise, but I find my travel dreams are much much larger than my budget.  In my footloose and fancy-free days I have spent a year each in two countries: Israel and Greece. I feel it takes about a year to get to really know a country; its culture, holidays, customs, the way its people look at the world, etc. At this point, with two kids and husband who earns our family’s income at a 9-5 job, exploring a place for a month is about all I can imagine. Even with that amount of time permitting, the cost of staying somewhere for a full month would put any type of long trip out of our budget for several years to come. But then again….

A while back I vaguely remember hearing about house swapping. I decided to look into it a bit to see what people’s experiences have been. Swapping homes is actually a relatively popular way to explore just about anywhere. Aside from the cost savings of a hotel or vacation home, Sylvia Guermo says, she has been doing this because the unique places she travels often don’t have hotels or inns. People I have interviewed about their own experience, say they also enjoy traveling this way because the comfort of staying at a house is higher than coming home to a small hotel room. Also, in selecting your home you often end up conversing (by email or phone) with the people you will be swapping with, and may feel, when its done, as though you know them as a friend.  The home-owners often leave insider information for you, such as the best restaurants in town, great places to see, directions to the nearest grocery store, etc. During your long-term stay this can help you feel like you’ve gotten to know a town better.

Clearly there are many advantages if you are interested in house swapping. The negatives that I imagined hearing, such as the house was not clean, or the reciprocating family broke/stole things, did not come up in any of the experiences I  heard. Susan Lehman mentioned that upon return she found one of her pipes clogged, which cost about $500 to repair. The repair bill, she says, was still far cheaper than renting a hotel would have been. Several people advised to do your homework by asking lots of questions about the property to make sure its a good fit for you.

How do you find a match? Predictably, there are several fee-based services. The one most mentioned was Home Exchange.  Their website is easy to navigate. Simply put in an area where you’d like to travel and the personal page of the nearest subscribers pop up. The subscriber describes their own home, lists locations they would like go, best times for them to travel, whether pets are allowed or if they own pets, etc.  I noticed many subscribers list locations they’d really like to visit, but also list that they are open to traveling about anywhere for the adventure of it. Another well-established site is Digsville. Here the exchangers can actually rate their experience with their host.  Sherpa Exchange is a new company – their official launch date is March 20th. What makes them unique is that they do criminal background checks on each exchanger. (You must list your house to navigate the site.) They have let me know that if you register prior to the launch date your year’s membership is free. Registering after March 20th will require their $49 annual fee.  

Other services specialize in people who own vacation homes or property that is not currently occupied. This way it is easier to “bank” time, meaning you don’t have to be traveling on the same dates as your exchange partner. One such agency is The Vacation Exchange. You select a destination and the service will find an appropriate vacation home for you. You pay a fee each time you make an exchange. Trekadoo is similarly a vacation home exchange system, this one does not charge a fee, but since it is a new business there does not appear to be as wide a selection as others in terms of available properties.One person described a great experience she had using craigslist.

Is this something I could do? Yes, I could see us trying this as a way to explore a particular area. There were several listings that offered long weekend exchanges and not necessarily several weeks or longer. It is a huge leap of faith, giving access to your home to a family you’ve never met. Many folks even exchange vehicles. Still, the optimist in me sees how many positive responses I have found, and thinks this is a great opportunity to travel on a budget. I may choose a fee-based service over a free one for an additional layer of security (or perceived security). Those agencies that appear well established do have websites that make it easy to dream of places you could go to. If getting the time off is available, it may be fun to give it a try. What do you think?

This post is part of the Mondays are for Dreaming series, hosted by Mara at Mother of All Trips. Check out her site for more travel dreams.

Photo Credite: Via Magazine and nj.com

Photo Friday: Guess How Big This Art Is

Last Wednesday we visited the Crocker Art Gallery. Though I was quite skeptical about visiting an art museum with young boys, we had a pretty good time. You can read more about that trip here.  The thing we most enjoyed was a piece of art that you can walk through. It plays with light and mirrors. See if you can guess from these pictures how big this artwork is:

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Now scroll down to see the wide shot….

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Keep scrolling….

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Do you have something pictured in your mind?

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Voila. Not as big as you may think.  Thanks to Debbie at Delicious Baby for hosting Photo Friday. Be sure to visit there to check out more travel photos.

Where to Wednesday: Crocker Art Gallery

As I drove out of Old Sacramento last week, I noticed a huge addition being built at the Crocker Art Museum. Attached to this old Victorian building that has been standing there since I was a young kid, is an addition as sleek as New York’s Guggenheim Museum.  I shy away from art museums. I can only take so much of standing and admiring before things all start to blur together. The thought of bringing two energetic young boys to a place where they aren’t allowed to touch things also made me apprehensive. But, on a whim, I decided we were going to try it and see what happens. Worst thing, we leave and go elsewhere.

There are three floors at the present time. The new addition will open October 10th of 2010. The kids, no surprise, took as much interest in the leveler blinds as they did in the paintings on the wall. However, the paintings and sculptures did open up conversation for us to talk about what people used to wear in different periods, what occupations were held long ago that you don’t see nowadays, and how art differs in other cultures. In addition to the typical hanging art and sculptures along the hallways, one room held clothing from I’d guess about a hundred years ago: dresses, hats, shoes, and parasols. Another room was dedicated to Asian art.  Another had beautifully painted plates, which the kids got a kick out of. Our favorite place was a well-lit foyer area where there was an exhibit that you could walk through. It had many walls with small mirrors on them, the kids really enjoyed the effect the light and mirrors created. I have some photos that I am holding for the upcoming Photo Friday so check back again!

Though our trip didn’t happen to fall on an event day, there are several activities that Crocker Art Gallery hosts specifically for youth and families. Once a month there is a day called ”Wee Wednesday” where art projects are available for the little ones. Also there are story-and-art hours, and drawing classes for teens. This Saturday is Free Museum day, so you may find it worthwhile to go and check out for yourselves. Their online calendar  makes it easy to plan for special events. By the way, from noon until 3pm on the second Saturday of each month are kid-based activities that follow different themes. This month, Feb. 13th, the teme is “Drawing from Still Life”. Regularly, adults are only $6 and kids six and under are free, so regardless of which day you plan your trip, it won’t break the bank. Metered parking is directly in front of the museum, so bring your quarters. For us, one hour was just about right.

I don’t consider myself very artistic, but I like the idea of  bringing my kids somewhere that supplies the materials and the inspiration. I think they will get much more appreciation of art that way than by relying on me. So for the years that it has taken me to get here (even though it’s practically in my backyard), I’m glad we went. I hope to go back on a day with planned kids’ activities. Maybe it will help me tap into the inner-painter I wish I could be.

What Legoland Got Right

We are truly a Lego family. My husband has lego kits stashed as birthday presents for our kids for the next several years. So it was no surprise that a trip to Legoland on our southern California vacation was going to happen within the first 24 hours we were down there.

I have learned to be skeptical of theme parks, based on our last trip to Disneyland.  My oldest was petrified of the walking characters and my youngest one didn’t want to go on any rides. Luckily there were enough shows and parades to distract them, but what would Legoland offer other than rides? If you have young kids, Legoland has lots to offer and doesn’t need to rely on the flashy parades or light-studded shows. Where Disneyland can be over-the-top energy (and crowds), Legoland downplays the glitz. It offers enough fun to fill a day, but not to the point where it is meltdown-overwhelming. Now for older kids, admittedly, this may be a let-down. But for the crowd who are looking for great playtime, not necessarily to be entertained, this is a theme park that stands out.

Geared toward kids under eight

There are countless theme parks whose rides are about getting the screams. Here, many of the rides are incredibly mellow and yet fun. My 5-year-old’s favorite was when he got to drive a lego car. He received a complimentary drivers license which he proudly pulled out of his pocket throughout the entire day. (Note: you must be at least 3 yrs old for that particular ride. Most others are based on height, 34″ being the minimum.) My youngest loved driving the lego boat. Twice at the end of the ride he ran back toward the line before we had completely gotten out of the boats. Luckily on a weekday in January, the lines were not long.

Infinite ways to distract kids while you wait

Long lines can dampen a fun day. Legoland has taken a few approaches. Most noticeably, there are tables complete with legos placed near the lines, so the kids can play while the parents save their spot in line. Brilliant! Secondly, there are life-sized displays also strategically placed where kids can touch them or watch them make music. While the older kid drives his lego car, the younger sibling who isn’t tall enough yet can mosey over to this lego art and play around.  Kid-sized lego art was abundant near the eatery we chose. Knowing kids rarely sit down for a full meal, I thought this was good enticement to have the little one at least explore things nearby as the adult tries to complete his/her meal. 

Takes the word interactive up a notch

I was surprised at the number of rides where either you control the levers (for example making your helicopter go up or down), you are encouraged to pedal (even when the ride propels you regardless of the pedals), or you are coached to pull yourself up a rope (though the ride will gradually lift you up regardless). I believe the boat ride mentioned earlier was so fun to my son because he had complete control of the steering. There is a fire truck ride where you even need cooperation from each of the four riders. Two take steering wheels while two must pump a bar up and down to get the fire truck to move. One ride even includes interaction for the spectators. The riders are in a pirate type ship squirting water at other boats (and beyond). There are also a few water squirters accessible to spectators, so they get the chance to squirt water to each boat as it passes. I am used to theme parks where you sit down, a bar comes over your lap, and you just watch as the ride takes off.  Legoland has a whole different approach. 

Engages your imagination

Everywhere you look, there are incredible things built from Legos. From larger than life people to miniature cities, I am amazed and inspired at the creativity of those who design these displays. For example, Miniland offers a tour of seven regions of the United States including New York, Las Vegas, New Orleans, San Francisco and Washington D.C.  Sections representing these cities are built to a scale of 20:1. Now seriously, if someone can design and put together monuments that look like those in our nation’s capitol, surely I can put something together that somewhat resembles a house. Or a car. Generally I try to stay away from creating space ships, which is mostly what my boys request I try to make. I don’t want to give away to them too early that I am so spatially impaired. But looking at everything around me - the crocodiles placed in the boat ride, the lego dog using the fire hydrant - even I am inspired to step up my game. Besides the artwork made by the professionals, there are places within the park where legos are placed and kids are encouraged to just build with what’s there. What a great way to both engage and unwind.

Best theme park food

I read on the window of a hot dog stand: “Gluten free buns available at request”. Could I dare dream that there might be quality food at a theme park?  Our lunch stop was at the Fun Town Market Restaurant. This was a large dining area with several choices for food. One end had a kids meal which had the typical options. For us more fussy parents there included a salad bar, a make-to-order stir fry station (you can easily hold the sauce), Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches, and an assortment of baked goods or ice-cream for dessert. I know for some, food allergies can be a real concern. You can even check out a dietary needs page on the Legoland website which lists options for those who need gluten-free meals, which environments are nut free, etc. Meal prices are still what you usually see at a theme park, but at least the food is good.

What Legoland needs to improve

As impressed as I am with this park, I think it will be a long time before we visit again in part because of the price of tickets. An adult ticket is $67, and tickets for kids (3-12) and seniors (60+) are $57.  For a family of 2 adults and 2 kids, that’s $250 just to enter the park. We haven’t even talked about food, souvenirs, drinks, etc.  That said, you can find coupons in various places. (Entertainment Book offers $5 off, Family Magazine and local media run occasional offers.) AAA members can receive a 10% discount. The best deal is to get tickets from Costco – AND there is one right in Carlsbad. There adults tickets are $55 and kids/seniors are $48.50. 

Tips worth passing along

I followed the advice of Bridget Smith who knows Legoland well. If you have younger kids, she suggested starting on the left side of the park, right around Fun Town and moving clockwise. If you have older kids, you may want to approach the park beginning on the right side. If you plan to visit Legoland you should check out her site, or even purchase her Legoland Guidebook.

Another tip I have learned is that if you are looking for rare lego parts within the park, you can enter free of charge as long as you leave the park within an hour.

Directly next door to Legoland is the new Sea Life Aquarium. I will be writing about our experience there on a later post.

Note: I received complimentary park passes, however this post is based solely on my own experience.

Mondays are for Dreaming: Tulips

This weekend was the first time the sun climbed out of the cave it has been hiding in.  The last two days have been crisp and warm, if you can have those both at the same time. Makes me yearn for spring, and spring makes me yearn for…. tulips. Don’t know why, but to me the winter isn’t over until a few tulips (or daffodils) have sprung.

A few little known facts about tulips: they were first cultivated and hybridyzed by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. The word tulip is thought to be a corruption of the word “tulbend” for turban. It is the national flower of Turkey. Tulip bulbs can be used as a replacement for onion in cooking. It is the third most popular flower after rose and chrysanthemum. (How it got beat by chrysanthemum is beyond me.) The life-span for a tulip is 3-7 days. My wedding bouquet was made entirely of…. tulips.

Showers are predicted again for an entire week. Yes, I know, we Californians can be whiners when it comes to weather. My prelude to spring was brief, but nice. As long as it’s Monday and we are all dreaming, you can find me in a field of tulips in bloom.

This is part of the Mondays are for Dreaming series, hosted by Mara at Mother of all Trips. Check out her site for more travel dreams.

I used this site and this site for tulip trivia / photo.

Photo Friday: Following an Old Trail

Recently I learned about an outdoor store in Sacramento, Trailmix, that created a scavenger hunt in Old Sacramento. We took the adventure which made for a fun afternoon. You can read more about that trip in Wednesday’s post. 

One of the stops was an old schoolhouse. I have often seen this school from the outside, but it happened to be open as we went around on our scavenger’s hunt. This was a one room building heated by a pot-bellied stove in the middle.  Some of the desks had mini chalkboards on them, really giving the feel for learning without backpacks or binders. The classroom, which served up to eighth grade, was divided into readers and non-readers. Just one teacher attended to all of the students. The photo didn’t really fit into Wednesday’s post, though I found it to be one of the most interesting stations we had to visit. I thought it was worth adding to the collection of travel photos for Photo Friday. To see more travel photos, be sure to check out Delicious Baby.

Where to Wednesday: A Scavenger Hunt in Old Sacramento

Do you know the feeling where you’ve been somewhere half a bugillion times and then one day you discover things that had been there all along and you never even saw them before? That was my day today, thanks to a cool new outdoor store in Sacramento called Trailmix.  Alright, maybe they are not so new, I just hadn’t seen them until now.  Sharlene at Double the Adventure pointed me to the store. After checking them out online, I learned that they have a kid-friendly scavenger hunt throughout Old Sacramento. The end spot (or beginning in our case) leads you back to their store, where kids can grab a prize for completing the scavenger hunt.

I grew up in Sacramento and have been through Old Sac. countless times. Some of the stores have changed, but mostly the cobblestone street, statues, storefronts, and wooden-plank walkways have remained the same for as long as I have seen them. Using the scavenger hunt sheet as a guide, I actually looked at things I have walked by hundreds of times and just today learned how far back they really go. To take this journey, you can either download from their website the ten riddles that take you around Old Sac. or there are plenty of sheets available inside the Trailmix store on I Street. The sheet also includes a map that makes it easy to find each station where you hunt for the clue to answer the riddle. Think your child will not be able to make it through ten separate locations around Old Sac? Also on this sheet is an alternate (or supplementary) eye spy game.  Three free museums are listed and under each is a short list of items to locate in that building.  The hunt took us between one and a half to two hours, but it was a highly distractable group. The clues are all within plain site, you could complete the scavenger hunt regardless of  whether any specific location is open or closed. I won’t give much else away by talking about where we went, but I will mention it sure opened my eyes as to how much history has always been right there, if I just looked beyond the stores.

Another score for me was found once we reached the final destination, the Trailmix store. This is an outdoor activity store MADE for families. Aside from being a store, there is a room with tables that get filled with kids on school field trips or with families coming out to some of the weekend workshops. (Workshops include seed planting, bird counting, using a microscope, plus more.) If the tables are empty, you are welcome to drop in, grab some snacks, or buy and assemble one of the many activity kits offered. (Examples include building a birdhouse, making a fossil necklace, etc. ) Truthfully, I’m not a big shopper. But give me an activity I can enjoy with the kids and you’ve got yourself a fan. Guess that’s why I’m enthusiastic about this store becoming another part of  Old Sac’s history.

top photo credit: Joanne Coughlin

Mondays are for Dreaming: Snow Play

Here in California we have gotten rain, rain and more rain. This has translated in the mountains to snow, snow and more snow. My family has never been much into skiing, but that is no reason not to expose the kids to the fun of winter snow. This Monday I am dreaming of a mountain getaway. In my dreams this would be a cottage near a hill that includes a sled in the garage (like we own a sled), a hot tub on the patio and a cupboard full of Baileys and hot chocolate. In my attempts to actually plan for such a future trip, I have come across some nearly-as-nice alternatives:

Get a cabin: One would think finding and reserving a cabin at the height of ski season in north or south Lake Tahoe would be incredibly difficult and expensive. This does not have to be the case. Checking out craigslist under “vacation rentals” yielded some excellent deals. One gentleman, Jim, let me know that he found a studio condo at the base of Donner one Friday night for $100/night, negotiated to have the cleaning fee waived, and had it booked within one hour. He mentions that on Thursday or Friday night, its a buyers market for great cabin deals.

Go skiing:  Boreal (one of the closest ski resorts to the Sacramento area) has a really nice program if you stay for a while. Its called 1-2-3 Ride Free where the first lesson is $75, the next two lessons are $25 each, then on the fourth lesson you get a season pass. This is offered for kids/adults ages 8 and older and includes equipment rental. Mount Rose, which is actually about 15 minutes northeast of Lake Tahoe, offers an nice family deal called Runs N’ Roses in which you can get 2 adult and 2 kid (12 and under) tickets for $130 any day of the week.  Kids 5 and under ski free.  Many skiers have their favorite hill, but if you are not so familiar with the plethora of ski resorts surrounding Lake Tahoe, here is a site that seems to rank them according to what you might want out of a ski run.

Find a snowpark:  Personally my kids (5yrs and 3yrs) are a bit young for me to want to try skiing with them. I have heard of a few snow parks with tubes and fun that are worth checking out. A couple of people have suggested I check out Planet Kids. It is in Soda Springs, which is a little over 2 1/2 hours from Sacramento.  For $20 -25 your kid can tube down hills all day. There are areas designated for kids 42″ and higher, and a place appropriate for the little ones as well. The latter, designed for kids 8 and under, has a climbing carpet to help them get up the hills, a tube carousel,  a climbing volcano, and a sleigh ride to get to the location.  A bit closer to the Sacramento area is the Dell Osso Family Farm. It is less than an hour and offers 90-minute tubing sessions, a zip line, reindeer, lights, and looks to be a whole lot of fun. At this point in the year they are only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and close after the end of February. Also, here is a list for snowparks through the CA Parks and Recreation Dept.

We admittedly only see the snow once or twice a year. As of now, that is just about right for us. But I do look forward to getting to the mountains more often and really enjoying the frosty air. Besides, a good few hours in the snow makes the Baileys/hot chocolate taste even better.

Thanks to Mara for hosting the Mondays are for Dreaming. Be sure to check out her site for more travel dreams.

Photo Friday: T-I-M-Berrrrrrr

You may have just read my post about the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, and the fun my husb -ahem- I mean the kids had building things.  For Photo Friday I couldn’t resist including this one, where my hubby has accepted a dare to take out each of the KEVO planks that held up his tower…. one by one. Any guesses as to how many sticks remain in this picture? For the answer, and a slightly different angle of this picture, check out Wednesday’s post.

Thanks goes to Debbie at Delicious Baby for hosting Photo Friday. Check out her site to see more travel photos.

A Day in Balboa Park

In Balboa Park there are fifteen of San Diego’s finest museums and one mongo sized zoo. Taking some recreation website suggestions, I wanted to check out one kid-friendly place called the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. But since we were here in front of so many enticing museums, I thought I would try to fit in at least one other museum first.

Museum of Man

What most caught my eye was the Museum of Man. I figured maybe if I went early on in the day when the kids are most focused, I could interest them in bones and pictures of prehistoric man. This is a good-sized museum. The entrance offers a large foyer and wonderful displays of multi-story rock pillars that have been carved by citizens of the Mayan civilization thousands of years ago. Artifacts from this era were on display. This amazes me, to be looking at objects carved by people thousands of years ago, but held no interest whatsoever to an energetic five and three year old. Upstairs were skeletons of neanderthals and very life-like sculptures of what could be our earliest ancestors. The bones gave the kids slightly longer pause, but it wasn’t until we got to the area where they could play archaeologist and uncover “fossilized” footprints under sand using a small brush that they really took interest. There is also a Children’s Discovery area which unfortunately for us, remained undiscovered. It highlighted ancient Egypt. We did find the Egypt room, but did not realize there was an interactive area further on and so left after glancing at the tombs of mummies.  Its too bad.  This was a nice museum, but mostly aimed toward the late middle school and up crowd. I look forward to sharing my interest in world cultures with the kids, but it will have to be at a different time.

Reuben H. Fleet Science Museum

Next on the agenda was the Reuben H. Fleet Science Museum. My expectation was that we would be in and out in two hours tops. With so many museums in one area, how big could it be? You can imagine how hard my chin hit the floor when we walked in and saw this. The camera does it only partial justice, it was hard to take it all in at one time. So for the first hour we let the kids run from one exhibit to the next, each one offering some kind of hands-on opportunity that was doable for even my youngest one. The displays offered explanations that were concise and understandable even to the non-science geek (thank you!). Even I could quickly get the gist of what each station was illustrating. 

After the first hour we hustled the kids into the 1pm showing of Under the Sea shown in the dome shaped IMAX screen. With this larger than life movie, I was a bit worried about how scary the experience would be to my three year old. I think the whole family agrees that the scariest part of this show was during the preview when the audience is led down a tunnel of light to experience the full effect of IMAX and Dolby sound. The movie was interesting and not full of meat-eating sharks. My little one fell asleep on my lap.

I took the sleeping Josh into the room designed for kids 5 yrs and under. Ryan and his Dad headed upstairs to build towers with the KEVA planks. The size and weight of these planks makes them surprisingly stable. A huge room was full of kids at tables making tall and wide creations. Jeff’s tall tower was based on what looked like only a few Popsicle sticks. When he and Ryan decided they were finished, Jeff was dared by another parent to begin removing each of the bottom sticks. Stick by stick they were removed, until this tower, about as tall as Jeff, was still standing on only four thin sticks. AND, the bottom sticks were in a single line all on one side of the tower, which to this day I can’t explain. But see it for yourself.

Four hours later we were starting to get hungry. By no means had we seen and done everything at the museum. There is a decent cafe on-site, but we needed more substantial food at that point. Even with growling tummies it was hard to tear the kids away. To read more about the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center you can visit the post on the city guide.

Disclaimer: I received complimentary tickets from Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. However, this post is based solely on my experience and my opinion.