It’s been a few weeks of traveling through six states to cross from eastern to western America. The past month has been loaded with sweet memories and a multitude of blessings from the Lord… as well as long days and frustrating situations. The Lord always manages to use these trials to show Travis and I where we can improve in our marriage and parenting. It’s been difficult to find time to do any work on my website, but I squeeze it in when I can. I finally finished my article on Traveling For Cheap, as well as info on our favorite travel credit cards and the step-by-step on how we go about planning affordable stays. Also, I’ve been discovering so many fun freebies lately, so check out my list of 8 Freebies you can score TODAY.
Another national park visit complete at Mammoth Cave. Though we have an annual national park pass, we still had to pay over $50 for an actual tour, which felt pretty expensive considering our two year old cried through most of it. Levi would have much preferred to ride the shuttle bus around for hours. But we still managed to snap a few shots and show the kids a cave for the first time.
Our travels also took us through Louisville, Kentucky and I have to say, it’s been one of my favorite cities to visit. Not only does the city offer plenty of free fun, but we also had the chance to visit friends. I have to give a special thanks to the Underhill family and Schindler family as they took us in, hosted us, cooked for us, and loved on our family of four.
The Underhills are a frugal family just like us, so naturally I took many notes on how to save money from their family of six. We took tips like how to cook up the most delicious poor man’s nachos, how to find the best freebies and discounts at the Oxmoor Mall, and how incredibly fun an evening competition of Mario Party is on the Nintendo switch. They’re a game-loving family, so I’m inspired to go home and whip out all the board games collecting dust in our cabinet. Games are such a fun form of entertainment… plus free! The kids finally got out in the snow and practiced some sledding in preparation for our visit the White Sands National Park next month. Kentucky has faced more snow than they could have imagined this winter and much to my kiddo’s delight, we got to be a part of it. Travis and I even escaped for a little date during our stay with the Underhills while their very capable teens watched our kids. It was incredibly refreshing to say the least.
I can’t tell you how delicious a home-cooked chili dinner or baked oatmeal breakfast tastes when you’ve been on the road for over almost three months. The Schindlers treated us to a comfy stay that truly made me miss home. I’ll look forward to all the cooking and baking from scratch once we return home.
Our new friends from Instagram – Kate and Thomas – reminded us how God is directing our steps on this big road trip. They live with a similar desire to travel often, which I’ve found is rare in young families. We share a sense of adventure that lots of other families think is uncomfortable. God is revealing that just because our desires are different doesn’t make us wrong.
My husband has happily checked another zoo off his bucket list during our quick pitstop in Garden City, Kansas. I can’t lie, this town is mostly just cow smells and open fields. But the HUGE free zoo makes a stop here totally worth it.
Next stop, Colorado. We’re visiting both Colorado Springs and Pagosa Springs. I anticipate two very different stays, so I’m looking forward to reporting back on the rocky state. Let me know if anyone has tips or tricks to staying cheap out west. We’ve been booking in Arizona, California, Utah, and beyond. These states are definitely harder to stay in on a tight budget
See ya on the road!
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