City ❀ Country ❀ Beach
This bakery beat Bobby Flay with their empanadas on the Food Network! When I found out they had a location in my hometown, I just had to try it for myself. This is the view from the street when I arrived. I wasn’t expecting the …
If you’ve never been on a cruise and just want to try one out, I highly recommend going on the Margaritaville at Sea cruise where it’s 5’oclock all the time. It’s Jimmy Buffet’s themed cruise and it is so much fun! If you do your …
The way prices are these days with everything, there are some simple, practical, and realistic ways you can save money for vacation. If you have a family of four or more, you will especially want to know these money saving tips. There are ways to be able to go on vacation on a reasonable budget. But first I must say, that you should never go into debt to go on a vacation. Save up! It will feel so much better when you come back and know that you don’t have to pay back with interest that meal you ate, that museum you visited, or that theme park you went to.
If you have a warehouse membership such as Sam’s, Costco, or BJ’s, you can eat lunch or dinner there. This is not the fancy meal you may have envisioned or the healthiest, but if you especially have a large family, this will save you quite a bit of money. We have eaten here for lunch before while on vacation. They usually have pizza, burgers, and/or hot dogs with a drink, plus desserts like churros or ice cream very inexpensively.
Another way to save money on meals is to cut out one meal in the day. We usually do this with breakfast especially since our sons like to sleep in. We will eat lunch, dinner and have a snack somewhere in between or in the evening. You’d be amazed how much you save on a 14 day vacation with one less meal! Now, if your hotel offers free breakfast, especially a hot breakfast not the continental kind, then eat that and have an early dinner. By the way, if they offer a continental breakfast, grab a few extra pieces of fruit and pack it with you for your snack later!
Look for a place that offers membership reciprocal benefits. If you know of a place you want to visit, see if they offer this on their website. Here’s an example. Our Florida Aquarium offers discounts or free entrance to other places you may want to go to known as the SHARE Program. Check out all the benefits!
Before we headed to the U.K., I found out that we could visit six castles on one annual family membership on the Historic Royal Palaces than it would have been to pay for each of us at each different castle! It ended up being a huge savings!
Also, if you’ve never heard, your local library may offer free museum passes to certain museums. I talk all about it here under the library section.
Another way to save is by joining the NARM Association. NARM stands for North American Reciprocal Museum association.
The NARM Association is an extensive network of hundreds of cultural institutions across Bermuda, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, Mexico and the United States, connecting their memberships for unprecedented access to arts, science, history, botanical gardens, and more.
https://narmassociation.org/how-it-works/
One more way to save on places to go is by purchasing an annual membership pass to America the Beautiful entrance passes. If visiting as many national parks as possible is on your bucket list, then this is the way to go! You save an enormous amount of money especially if you’re a 4th grader, in the military, or a senior citizen! What a beautiful gift this would be as well to give to someone. My mother has been able to get into for free at many places using this pass!
I strongly suggest that you shop the local supermarket. They have some of the best deals even if you just need a souvenir. This is especially true if you’re staying at a place that provides a full kitchen. Buy what you would if you were at home and cook it at your resort, Airbnb, condo rental, etc. If the place you’re staying at has an outdoor grill, cook outside. Fresh air is good for the soul so cook out and/or eat out in the patio area. If the supermarket has a loyalty card, sign up even if you’re just visiting and will probably never go back. You will get the same discounts every local gets. And again, if your hotel/resort provides a free hot breakfast, take advantage of that. That’s one less meal to buy!
You can find community events on the Visitor’s Bureau of the city you’ll be visiting or search on Facebook. Local community events are a great way to find free or nearly free events going on. Even if you’re having a staycation, you can tap into your local visitor’s bureau. Our visitor’s bureau where we live, for instance, is Visit St. Pete/Clearwater.
You might be like “Yeah right! I barely have enough to live on.” There’s one thing I believe in and tell myself “Pay yourself like you were a bill.” This is one way we do this. Even if it’s just $50 a month that you put into this fund by the end of the year you will have $600. Yes, it may not be enough for even 1 flight internationally, but if you use it wisely you can have a lovely road trip. Food? Weren’t you going to eat anyway if you were at home? Hotel? Look for deals online. Even better, call the hotel directly. We have received better rates by calling the hotel directly (when not using our timeshare) than booking online. If you don’t ask, you will never get. Gas? Use the $600 you saved up plus whatever you would have used during those weeks of vacation. Instead of driving to work, to the store, etc. you’re driving to your destination(s).
Instead of that famous café you buy your coffee from everyday, limit it to twice a week. Shop the store ads and plan out your meals at home by using what’s on sale that week to save more money. In fact, I shop every two weeks because I plan out the meals every two weeks. I actually spend less money doing this than when I shopped every week.
I’m going to tell you exactly what I do to save up. Now, I like to save up for vacations, but of course, you can save up for whatever you need/want.
In the grand scheme of things, the more money you save at home equates to money you can use while on vacation. If you can get a $50 Walmart gift card by using points on apps, for instance, you can actually use that gift card later while on your vacation to cover food expenses.
Saving money for vacations doesn’t have to be out of your reach if you make it a priority. I hope you have gained some insight on these simple, practical, and realistic ways you can save money for vacation.
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Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri is the mecca for family fun. It is a theme park based on all things from the 19th century. It is a one-of-a-kind park because it has an attraction like no other theme park has, Marvel Cave. Silver Dollar City has thrilling rides, time period shows, beautiful shops, and friendly & helpful employees. Come along on our tour of fun at Silver Dollar City theme park!
Entrance
The fun at Silver Dollar City theme park begins at the entrance. As you arrive you are greeted with a water tower clock that really operates. What I loved about this park is that they built it around the natural beauty of the trees and mountains. This park is great on a hot day because there are many shady areas and stores to visit!
When we arrived we went to the Hospitality House and we made a donation to the cause that Silver Dollar City supports in exchange for our entrance. They help children in need in their community.
Birthday’s at Silver Dollar City!
If you have a birthday within a week or so of your visit to Silver Dollar City, you will get a birthday freebie! You have to go to the General Store to receive it. I won’t spoil what it is!
Navigating the Park
It is very easy to navigate the park because of the way it is laid out. First of all, on the ground of the park are bright signs leading you to places you may want to go to next.
Secondly, there are also sign posts with many of the attractions, rides, restaurants that you are looking for.
A third option, and I highly recommend this, is downloading the official mobile app of Silver Dollar City. You can access everything from here: tickets & passes, rides & wait times, show schedule, dining, craftsmen, shopping, exploring the park map, and what I liked the best was highlighting only those attractions, rides, & dining you want to visit. It’s a personalized plan for your fun day!
Shopping
The fun at Silver Dollar City continues at the stores! I loved them! There were so many to see and the products are top quality. Many are hand-made unique gifts! We bought a few for gifts others and for us to keep as well! One of my favorite stores was a quaint Christmas shop. It will put you in the Christmas spirit and it doesn’t matter what time of the year you’re visiting!
Dining
Since you saw photos of taffy and pickled bologna, I thought it was fitting to continue our tour of Silver Dollar City with dining options. Aside from fantastic sweets like fudge, taffy, assorted copper kettle candies & chocolates, and pickled foods, there are lunch and dinner spots to satisfy everyone’s appetites! There are also many tables outdoors.
We ate dinner at the Rivertown Smokehouse and it was really good. The platters include one or two meats, 2 sides, and a roll. Sandwiches, salads, and kids meals are also available. I especially liked their baked beans!
Employees
I have to mention the employees only because we have never received such friendliness and helpfulness than at Silver Dollar City. We were literally standing in front of the park sign routing our course and we had two different employees (not at the same time) come up to us and offer help. The retail employees were also very knowledgeable about the products in their stores.
One employee that stood out was a gentleman by the name of Mark that was our tour guide for the Marvel Cave attraction. I will highlight Marvel Cave at the end because we thought it was the BEST part of the park! Mark was super knowledgeable and was very safety conscious of the group. He made the tour so much fun with adventurous music clips, lights, and history behind the cave. Scroll & read through to the bottom to learn all about Marvel Cave. It truly are the employees who make the experiences come to life!
Rides
Silver Dollar City has rides for every type of thrill (or non-thrill) seeker. Personally, I don’t do rollercoasters, but our oldest son does. For him, the scarier the better. He said they were all great, but his favorite was Powder Keg.
Another rollercoaster is Wildfire. Check this video out!
Water rides are always great on a hot day. These are the kind of rides I love! Check these out!
This is the American Plunge water ride. Both the Mystic River Falls and the American Plunge rides are a lot of fun! If you rent a locker for the entire day (best option) and have a change of clothes, you don’t have to worry about walking the park dripping wet (and you will get wet)! Or, you can ride the water rides early in the afternoon and dry off as you walk around the park. This is best on a hot & sunny day.
These are a few more rides.
Shows & Experiences
This is where I truly believe Silver Dollar City stands out from the rest. The 19th century theme continues throughout the shows & experiences. From the blacksmith to the Wilderness Church, from the Grandfather’s Mansion (fun house) to the Saloon show, all of these make you feel like you’re in a different era.
Saloon 
The Showdown at the Silver Dollar show is the theme park’s longest running show since 1973. It truly is a classic and I really hope they stay for many years to come. It is funny, dramatic, action packed, and will keep you on your toes. You can even order a real drink from the bar! The pre-show begins outside the saloon with a real married couple capturing your attention and preparing you for what is to take place inside. The couple is as cute as can be and they make a great team!
Marvel Cave 
And now for the BEST part of Silver Dollar City theme park! Marvel Cave is unique because this is NOT a man-made cave. The theme park was built around it! You will literally descend nearly 500 feet below the surface. There is a part at the beginning of your tour that you have to be able to stoop low because there are many entrances and tunnels like that. You should wear good fitting shoes and, in my opinion, you should be comfortable in dark, tight spaces. Our tour guide, Mark, was absolutely wonderful. He was knowledgeable and made our experience so much fun! For more super interesting history on Marvel Cave visit here.
Not recommended for guests who may suffer from a fear of heights, visual impairment, difficulty with depth perception, claustrophobia or have a history of seizures. Guests will experience a one-hour walking tour which includes 700 steps and a difficult climb to exit. There are wet, dimly lit walking surfaces, enclosed spaces and narrow passages which require stooping, bending and twisting. The exit is a 3-minute cable train ride. Loading and unloading the train requires negotiating stairs, low overhead clearance and varied walking surfaces. Guests must be able to participate with limited assistance from companions. Guests must be able to traverse uneven walkways and steps. Guests must be able to maintain an upright and seated position with control of their upper torso, head and neck while on cable train. Guests must be able to brace and grip handrails with one functioning hand/arm.
https://bit.ly/3RYCWQI
Overall, our family loved Silver Dollar City theme park and we would absolutely love to visit again one day. Make sure you visit and check it out for yourselves if you’re in Missouri! And if you’re visiting during the Christmas season, check out this Complete Guide to An Old Time Christmas at Silver Dollar City!
If you’re looking for great BBQ in Missouri outside of Silver Dollar City, make sure to stop at Hickory Log Restaurant & Lounge. The ribs, especially, are delicious! Check out other Missouri posts below!
During our family road trip toward our final stop in Missouri, we decided to have a BBQ dinner at Hickory Log located in Dexter, Missouri. They truly live up to their motto of “Famous for Bar-B-Q Ribs!” This restaurant with its rustic elegance décor has …
Let’s face it. You want to have fun, get the most out of your trip, but you also don’t want to spend a fortune. We totally understand because that’s how we always plan our trips. New York City can be expensive and you’ll hear it …
If you’ve been hesitant to cruise, fear no more. Let me tell you why now is the best time to cruise! We’ve cruised many times before and now more than ever, it is the best time to do so. Here is why.
My top reasons why you should cruise now:
Throughout this post I will incorporate these reasons of why cruising is best now (watch for the 1, 2, 3, 4, superscripts), based on our personal recent experience, and everything we did on and off the Freedom of the Seas ship by Royal Caribbean to make our 25th wedding anniversary the most memorable ever!
It was a very pleasant surprise to see how Royal Caribbean has been dealing with the pandemic. I have to give them huge credit for all the work they’re doing to keep their passengers safe and healthy. All of my top reasons I listed above1-4, in other words the consequences because of the virus, is what makes 𝙉𝙊𝙒 the best time to cruise.
If you want a buffet, you got it. However, if you want to serve yourself, it’s not happening. I actually like it better this way because people are just messy sometimes when they serve themselves. Plus, everyone is touching the serving utensils.4 You can go up as many times as you want and you can also tell the servers to give you an extra portion, but you many not do it yourself. As for places to eat, there are many options! Our ship had a pizza place (buffet), Johnny Rockets (extra charge), the main dining room (more formal & not a buffet), Hibachi restaurant (celebrated our anniversary here & an extra charge), Italian restaurant (an extra charge), steakhouse (no photos & an extra charge), poolside food (we didn’t partake), Windjammer Café (buffet & we ate here a lot), and island port food (buffet).
Pizza is all they have here and they have about 3-4 different types of pizza.1 It’s located in what I call the mini-mall. It really does look like a mall with shopping, bars, and food. Photos to come below.
The food at the main dining room was delicious. It’s more formal, but jeans, t-shirt and flip flops are just fine. I wouldn’t recommend shorts and if you’re in a hurry, I also wouldn’t recommend it here. The menu consist of fixed dishes and you can order them every day if you want, but they also have new menu items you can try every day as well. There were two appetizers that I really wanted to try one night and they said it was alright to get both so I was excited! Also, as you can see I loved the desserts. We had fantastic service from our waiter and assistant waiter.3
I can’t say much about poolside food because we didn’t try it. However, it is an option and it’s great to have options.
This is where we really celebrated our 25th anniversary. What a surprise it was when Izumi brought out a chocolate dessert plate in honor of our anniversary!3 It was the perfect ending to our dinner! Everyone in the restaurant sung us Happy Anniversary to the tune of happy birthday. The food was spectacular and there was a lot of it! The waiter made it very special because we were the center of attention at our table and he made a heart out of the rice.
It’s nice to see an old favorite onboard the ship. If you love burgers, this place has almost every kind burger imaginable. We have eaten at Johnny Rockets in the past and that’s why we skipped it onboard, this time. There was plenty of food to go around on the ship at other locations!
We didn’t eat here, but I just had to take photos of this restaurant because it’s beautiful! I’m sure their food is up to par with the main dining room. We had a tough decision on deciding where to have our anniversary dinner from many of these restaurants on board, but we ultimately decided on Hibachi.
Since we’re talking about food, I had to include the one port we stopped at, Coco Cay. Since Coco Cay is a Royal Caribbean Island owned by the Bahamas, all the food was included just like the buffets onboard the ship. It was great not having to worry about money on the island. The food was Caribbean themed and included tropical non-alcoholic fruit punches, water, and desserts! Chill Island is the section where the buffet is so we just made ourselves cozy on the beach nearby. I will talk more about our island port below.
It seems that everywhere I go, I take more dessert photos than anything else! I wish I would have taken photos of the quantity and quality of food this place has! These are the reasons why we ate here most of the time. It’s open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.1 The café has two very long hand washing stations (one on each side) and it is strongly recommended to use them before you enter the café.2 They have staff there making it a fun experience as a reminder to do so with their “washy washy” slogan.
There is something for everyone. I understand there are other cruise lines that are more famously known for families with children. However, don’t underestimate Royal Caribbean. You will not be bored not even for a minute while on Freedom of the Seas. Here’s why!
Our room was serviced by our steward twice a day.2 However, even if it’s the cleanest room we always wipe it down ourselves before making ourselves comfortable. It’s a habit I have especially once the pandemic started. He was there in case we needed anything throughout our journey. We opted for a balcony room and we are so happy we got it. I’m not sure if we can ever go back to a room with a porthole window or none at all. There was plenty of room for the two of us with even a small couch, cooler, and safe!
Sometimes it’s the small touches that make a difference and Royal Caribbean delivered. The towels were so cute the way our steward folded them into animals or objects. The daily cruise directory was set out for us by evening time turndown so we knew exactly what activities and important information were happening the next day.3 Also, don’t forget that with Royal Caribbean you are allowed to bring a 12 pack of soda per stateroom. Check with their rules prior to boarding though in case these rules change.
Who doesn’t love this?
𝙃𝙞 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚!
We were supposed to dock at Nassau, but Royal Caribbean had to cancel that port. We were still able to dock at Coco Cay, the private island for Royal Caribbean owned by the Bahamas. My husband and I were there 25 years ago and this time it looked very much developed. There is more to do here than you may think. From chilling at the beach, zip lining, to a water park, there is something for everyone and very well worth getting off the ship and enjoying.
We decided not to book any excursions this time around and just chill at a section of the island literally called “Chill Island.” The location was fantastic because the lunch buffet was nearby! Waiters came to service us with drink options. By the way, ALL food and drinks (except alcohol) are included. The food was delicious and so were the tropical drinks.
Since we didn’t do anything else but chill and snorkel, we decided to take the free tram around the island and that’s how I took all the photos of the other spots you can visit. The tram will even take you back all the way to the ship!
We had an amazing 25th anniversary trip on the Freedom of the Seas by Royal Caribbean. If you’re not sure whether to cruise now or not, in my personal opinion NOW is the best time to do so!
If you have any questions that I can answer about this cruise or others we have taken, please feel free to comment below and I will answer them. And if you have cruised recently, what did you like best about your experience?
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Since we’ve been spending so much more time at home and travel has been extremely limited to what is essential, creating a space(s) at home to remind of us travel is so needed for our mentality. It not only reminds us of our travels, but …
