Searching for Proper Barbecue - Colorado to Georgia

Quite literally in the middle of Kansas, 600 feet below the surface of Hutchinson, a Strataca Salt Mine tour guide asked me if I enjoyed Roy's BBQ for lunch. Bemused, I learned that Roys has such a distinct smell and the salt mine is devoid of smells, so tour guides quickly learn this approach with tourists. Strataca and Roys, or odd sites and barbecue were the treats on this road trip but the underlying purpose was for a move.

Michael at the Strataca Salt Mine.

My father-in-law (Michael) and I were in Kansas because our calling was to relocate one of our cars from Monument, Colorado to Atlanta, Georgia. The four-day journey was punctuated with a handful of museums and a superb selection of barbecue joints.

We set out from the Denver airport in the late afternoon and drove four hours to our first waypoint in Colby, Kansas. En route, we enjoyed a picnic dinner at the surprisingly well appointed Limon Railroad Park (by donation).

Day two's first stop was the Fort Hays State Historic Park. The buildings and exhibits are very well done. For young visitors, there is a 'bison herd' across the street (with bison numbering just a few). Plan 1-2 hours at this attraction. From Fort Hays, we drove to Hutchinson, Kansas for the Strataca Salt Mine. This was a major waypoint during the trip planning: where else can you descend 600 feet into the crust of the Earth to view an active salt mine? It turns out that the salt vein stretches into New Mexico, but this is the best way to get up-close to the operation.

An industrial elevator carries both workers and tourists down under. The tourist portion of the mine is sectioned off for safety. Tourists get to see dioramas containing mining equipment and the blasting techniques used to excavate salt from the mine - the salt is used mainly for ice removal. The underground gift shop has free wifi and there are a couple of add-ons for your visit. Tourists can ride the mine train in a loop that shows more of the mine or you can book a seat on the tram tour, which also shows more of the mine.

BBQ is an American treasure.

The Strataca Salt Mine was such a great stop that Michael and I decided to check out the other local Hutchinson attraction: the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center. We expected a couple of planes and some cheap displays but we were instead treated to a plethora of rare air and space artifacts. The museum's motto, "Out of this World. Right in the Heart of Kansas" is an appropriate saying. Aside from the Smithsonian collection, the Kansas Cosmosphere impressed me more than any air and space museum I have seen (including the National Museum of the USAF, Seattle's Museum of Flight and many others). To quantify my claim, know that the museum collection contains a spacecraft from Mercury, Gemini and Apollo (Liberty Bell 7, Gemini 10 and Apollo 13).

Ending a big second day of the trip in Wichita gave us the opportunity to ride the free downtown tram to Old Town where we enjoyed excellent pizza and local brews at Public.

Day three was a 450 mile push from Wichita to Little Rock but we found time for a few diversions. The first was Fort Smith National Historic Site where Michael was able to purchase his National Park System Senior Pass. Ten bucks gets you free access to all National Park properties for the rest of your life (seniors include those 62 and over). The Fort Smith prison, gallows and courtroom are all available for viewing. Kids love romping around the grounds to see the out-buildings and the neighboring Arkansas River. Tip: Pick up lunch at the Garrison Pointe Market, which is walking distance from Fort Smith (it is in a gas station, but those who know of the Whoa Nellie Deli know the deal). In Little Rock, we tried Sims BBQ but were thoroughly disappointed. 

Elvis's Birthplace in Tupelo, Mississippi.

Day four's drive was from Little Rock to Atlanta. The main diversion was Elvis's Birthplace in Tupelo, Mississippi. Most fans visit Graceland but I found ticket prices there to be obscenely expensive. The Tupelo museum and home were small enough to visit in 1-2 hours and were right on our route to Atlanta. In Tupelo, we tried and liked BBQ by Jim. This joint was a meat and two sides type of place with excellent sauce and a family-focused orientation.

TripTips:

1. Stock the car with cold beverages and healthy snacks.

2. Plan activities in cities between your lodging locations. Most attractions do not open until 9am or 10am, so you will lose lots of drive time if you stick around in a city to do something there.

3. Picnic when you can to save costs.

4. A newspaper or magazines in the car give you something to chat about with your trip partner(s).

Family Fun North of Atlanta: Southeastern Railway Museum

Last week, before we headed out to Erie, PA we headed up this way to the Southeastern Train Museum.  We were at this museum in 2014. BOY! The've made some changes. Most notably, the "Second Thursday Preschool Program," which I will just call Toddler Time.  Toddler Time happens once a month and brings a theme to the railroad museum from 10:30-12. When you check in, you get a wrist band for the adult in your group and a schedule. Each group cycles through activities. We went to one focused on Police Cars. We completed activities about traffic lights, learned about dialing 9-1-1, met a real police officer, and listened to police themed stories.  

Story Time 

Historic Train Ride 

After Toddler Time is over they run the miniature train and then the historic train. These tickets are separate from the Toddler Time fee. The historic train is a bit of a let down. The cars are converted cabooses, but they have minimal windows to see anything out of. The train runs up the track 100 yards, switches track, runs back towards the roundhouse and then does the cycle in reverse to return to the "station." My three-year old loved watching us go through the switch so it was worth it, but not the best "train ride" we've been on.

Mini Train Ride

The miniature train can be likened to a zoo train, which makes two loops on their track. They are currently working on a tunnel and other track improvements to this small train. 

Since our last visit they have added an entire room of museum quality train pieces - uniforms, china, train pins - in addition to a small working model railroad.  Several more trains have been restored and opened to walk through. They have a list on their webpage that lists their current train inventory. 

Several of the busy train lines run right past the museum, so you are guaranteed to see several trains come by. The Engineers know the museum is here, so they wave and blow the horn to the delight of all the children. 

A Few Tips: 

If you are doing toddler time and your kids love trains, arrive at 10am when the museum opens so you have some time to climb on the trains. The 30 mins prior to the program was enough time for the kids to hop on to a few of the open cars and check them out so they were not asking to do that as we changed stations. 

If your kids eat at 11:30, like ours do, pack a lunch and plan to skip one of the stations. Our Police Car visit got out early, so we grabbed lunch out of the car and ate in the pavilion between stations. The program runs till 12:30, at which time both trains run... so if you don't have lunch packed and want to ride both trains it will be after 1pm before the kids get fed. 

They hold the big historic train until everyone has had a chance to ride the miniature train, so don't go line up for the Historic Train first, or you will be stuck waiting for the later boarding of the miniature train. 

If you are just going to the museum, call first to confirm the train schedule. It varies seasonally so you will want to check and see what the schedule is before you plan your visit. 

There are a few indoor exhibits, but most of the museum is outside and can be very hot. Pack water and bring hats and sunscreen.

Erie, PA with Toddlers

We once again headed north to visit Oma and Opa in Erie, PA.

Last time I blogged about our Erie trip it was winter. Erie is known for its cold winters and record snows. You can read about our winter visit here, where we flew into Pittsburgh, did a few things and then drove to Erie. A summer visit means lots of outside time enjoying the lake and green, green grass.

This trip we flew into Buffalo, NY. We made a quick stop to visit with my 96-year-old great aunt. As we were leaving her place, we made the decision to take the kids to Niagara Falls before driving to Erie. I realize it is in the wrong direction, but we wanted the kids to see it before we left the country. (This is basically our mantra this summer.)

A summer Saturday is probably the worst time to make the spur of the moment decision to visit the falls. Parking in Niagara was $30 in most of the lots. We saw a few for $15. If your just making a quick stop, like us, there is a plethora of 2 hour free street parking.

Once we parked the car we asked at an information station how far to walk to the falls. The lady told us we were 30 min walking from the falls. Turns out we were only about 5 min. There is so much you can do here, so if you have the time check out all your options on the state park webpage. With the little ones and family so close, we knew we would be back.

We chose to simply walk along the Niagara River to the falls on the New York side. We did not venture out onto Goat Island, although it does provide my favorite view. We resisted the urge to make a quick visit to Canada and instead made the 1.5 hour drive to Erie.

Our focus for the trip was on seeing family. We spent most of our visit watching the kids play with their cousins in the yard. Opa let them sample currents from a bush. They picked cucumbers from the garden They had a wing and pizza picnic in the backyard. They played water balloons, trains and cooked in the kitchen. We only ventured out to give Oma and Opa some quiet time!

We had a huge list of things to do in Erie, but only checked off a few of them.

The Erie Zoo is a strange mix of old buildings and brand new exhibits. We went on their "frozen treats" day, so the zoo was crowded but still enjoyable. Every animal was out and about playing when we visited. (Even the sloth was working his way across the top of his exhibit.) The train is not to be missed as it takes you into an area that is only reachable by the train. The kids loved how the train goes over the creek. They have a wonderful kids area where you can pet the wallaby and feed birds. There is also a huge playground in the kids area. We packed a lunch and found a table right next to the penguin exhibit. We could have stayed all day, but it was hot and the kids were getting tired.

A visit to Erie is not complete unless you head out to Presque Isle State Park. In summer the beaches are the place to be. We set up our little camp on one of the beaches and the kids played all afternoon. There are lifeguards on duty that keep everyone in the shallows. We did not let the kids get in too deep, but they loved playing at the waters edge and digging in the sand. There was ample parking and we did not have to walk terribly far to our car.

We grabbed dinner at Sara's, which is a family tradition. We all sat at one long table with all the kids enjoying hotdogs, fries, milkshakes and cream sickle ice cream. When my little one was on a milk protest, this is where Opa took him to get a milk shake and he has been a milk drinker ever since.

Also on Presque Isle is Waldameer and Water World, an amusement and water park. We did not get to it this visit, but it will be top of our list when we return for older kids. There are lots of ticket options, including a pass that is perfect for little ones looking to just spend an hour or two there. You are able to purchase a set amount of points such that you can just do a few kiddie rides and head to the beach, if you want. The Tom Ridge Environmental Center is also located here. We have been here on a previous trip. The center itself is free, but there are IMAX shows for a fee. This is a great 30min indoor option to learn about the ecosystem of the lake.

We love to head down to the waterfront in Erie and walk around. H really wanted to head up the Bicentennial Tower, so we paid our admission and headed up. (We may have been the only visitors all day.)  The tower is not quite tall enough to see the lake, but you do get a great view of the bay and the entire city.  The tower offers free admission the first Sunday of every month. Down on the pier we watched some fishermen catch fish and crawled around on the statues.

The Erie Naval Museum is just next door. We had plans to visit, since it is part of the Blue Star Museum program, but our toddler had other plans. The Brig Niagara is sometimes in port and available for tours. Call first as she is often late and the webpage is not accurate. A few other attractions down on the waterfront (that we did not have time for) include: Harbor View Mini Golf, Scalawag's Pirate Cruise, and Liberty Park and the water taxi.

We made a return visit to the ExpERIEnce Children's Museum in downtown Erie. They have made a few large changes since our last visit. The top floor is a bit more organized and features an amazing play grocery store sponsored by Wegmans. In the basement a play area for little ones has been added. They have foam blocks for climbing over and a sensory wall. I had to shoo some big kids out of the way but then our teeny's had plenty of room to play without being knocked over. There is also an outdoor play garden. We only spent a few moments out there before the torrential rain started.

You know we found a railway museum to visit! We combined a visit to the Lakshore Railway Museum in Northeast, PA with a visit to Gravel Pit Park, where Jeff completed his Eagle Scout project many years ago. Gravel Pit Park has old playground equipment that the kids enjoyed, plus a bunch of snowplow blades they enjoyed looking at. The Railway Museum never actually opened the day we were there - the volunteer was late or something of the sort - but we still spent nearly an hour checking out all the cars. They have the best collection of working train switches we have ever seen at a museum. H loved switching them all and seeing how they worked.

Here are a few other things we had on the list but did not get to:
- Pick Your Own Fruit. There are a variety of places but Finnell Farms in Harborcreek is where my in laws get the grapes for their Jam. Rahal Farms in Northeast, PA also looked to have a good selection.
- The Asbury Woods Nature Center 
- Splash Lagoon Water Park which we have been to in the past and I tend to save for winter visits, but boy is it fun.

The one mishap of the trip happened when we mistakenly left the I-Pad at Oma & Opa's house. We were an hour into the drive back to Buffalo when we realized our mistake. Luckily I had a whole bag of Usborn Books that we barely used on the trip, so the boys were plenty entertained on the trip.

We did make one last stop at Ted's in Buffalo, another family tradition, to make sure the kids gave it a try before we leave the country! Ted's conveniently has a location right by the airport.

Rome, Georgia with Toddlers

You never quite know where you are going to end up! We ended up tagging along with the grandparents and finding quite a bit of fun in and around Rome, GA. If your headed that way download the Rome, GA app.

We started our morning by grabbing a Starbucks for our walk and Panera Sandwiches for an afternoon picnic. Rome is small so it was easy to find both these places right off the main drag.

We headed downtown to park by the river. The Heritage Trail is an easy paved walkway along the rivers. We parked at Unity Point at the base of the old railroad bridge where the rivers meet. There was plenty of shaded parking. We walked down the hill to get on the trail headed East. We stopped at the Towne Green. There is a fountain suitable for playing in here as well as a grass field. I packed swimsuits and towels so the kids could run around in the fountain but the three year old was only interested in crossing bridges... so we pressed on.

At the north end of the Green a pedestrian bridge crosses over the river. There are a few little pull outs on the bridge where we had great views of the swallows flying around the bridge, a group of geese headed under the bridge and even a few turtles sunning themselves.

At the end of the bridge we headed West, back toward the railroad bridge on the upper path, switching to the lower path to pass under the old railroad bridge at the headwaters. The path turns North and there is a gazebo, bathrooms and a playground - your now in Heritage Park. We stopped here for a snack and playtime. The kids enjoyed the small park and the gazebo gave us some much needed shade.

At the Gazebo you can switch back to the upper path, which crosses over the old railroad bridge and back to the parking lot. This loop took us about an hour with the three year old walking and the many many stops for playing and animal spotting.

As soon as we loaded the kids into the car the one year old was asleep. We drove down Riverside Parkway, actually paralleling the trail that goes over the Pedestrian Bridge. Here we found the perfect picnic spot. Riverside Park has two large areas, split by the railroad tracks, with a playground and covered picnic areas on both sides.

After our picnic we loaded everyone, including Grandpa and Grandpa, into the van and headed off to Cartersville, GA.  I always like to drive a bit after lunch in hopes of getting a nap, and this did not disappoint, both kids were asleep for most of the drive.

The Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville was a huge surprise win of the trip. This little museum has fantastic exhibits. If you've read our Atlanta visitors guide you will know we were not impressed by Fernbank. The Tellus Museum has taken the time to focus on a few things and do them really really well. The museum is small but the kids loved all four sections - Geology, Dinosaurs, Vehicles and a Children's Exploration area. They also have a planetarium, although we did not get show tickets. There are several outside displays as well; a Georgia rock garden, a Solar House, a few satellite dishes and some large trucks. There is also plenty of space to picnic here. The Tellus Sciecne Museum participates in the Blue Star Museums program, so it is free to military over the summer.

The kids were exhausted after our long day and slept all the way home. We grabbed some Bell Street Burritos for dinner once we were back in the city. The perfect end to our busy day.

Summer in Atlanta: What to do with Toddlers.

It's another fun summer in Atlanta. I always forget how much great stuff there is to do here. I'm rediscovering the city with H, my three year old,  and O, my one-year old in tow.

If your still in the "contemplating the trip" phase there are some wonderful blogs and kids pages that you should check out. Occupy My Family has a wonderful list of current events going on in the city, their Facebook page  and Twitter account are quite active. If your here for an extended stay, or want to get an idea of the types of events going on, add it to your feed. Red Tricycle has an Atlanta Page that is great for seeing what is going on for specific dates. Atlanta with Kid is a great blog about just that.

Here is a run down of what we have been doing. We hope you find some things to enjoy as well. (If your reading this summer of 2015 its being updated as we complete activities so check back.) 

Parks

Dekalb Toy Park. This is your regular run of the mill park, except people leave their old plastic toys here for other kids to play with. They have it all. . The park has a paved path that runs all the way around it and is lined with ride on toys - trikes, cozy coups, push cars - they are all there waiting to be ridden. The playground is almost lost among the piles of construction toys. Kids have formed small villages with the play houses. This is the most crowded park we have been to (on a weekday) but all the parents (save one) were involved, friendly and playing with all the kids. This park is walking distance from most of downtown Decatur. Plenty of coffee or lunch options. There is also ample street parking. 

Piedmont Park.  Piedmont Park is one of my favorites. Parking used to be a problem, but they have added a nice (paid) parking deck that really makes things easier. We went right after breakfast and loaded the kids into the stroller for a morning of walking and playing. The park has two great playgrounds  - one by the public pool, and one by the Piedmont entrance. The playground by the pool is the most popular and can entertain my kids for an hour, easily. The community garden, orchard and dog park are also highlights on our walking adventure.

The Legacy Fountains, though are our favorite. This fountain play area are like the ones down at Centennial Olympic Park, except much tamer. My one year old was happy to walk around in the fountains. Going early in the day means less sun and you'll have the place virtually to yourself. There are bathrooms that are always relatively clean. (I don't feel grossed out changing in them, but it is a park bathroom.) Plenty of seating and places to park your stroller, plus a big lawn for laying towels or a blanket out make this a perfect spot for kids of all ages. 

We grabbed lunch at Willy's on the park corner at Piedmont for the perfect lunch treat. They also offer King of Pops here if your looking for a cool treat.  You can spend all day in the park or combine it with a trip down the East Side Trail or Botanical Gardens, as both are adjacent to the park. We, however, headed home for naps for everyone. 

Peachtree Dekalb Airport Park. I have never seen so many dad's as I did at PDK Airport Park. My transportation crazy kids love this place. This park is all about location! This run of the mill playground is located on the airport property in the shadow of the control tower.Picnic tables are covered by a small airplane hanger, adding to the theme. There is a small amphitheater that gives the kids enough height to see the whole airport. The airport is busy enough that every few minutes something is taking off or landing. We saw a plethora of planes take off and land as well as several helicopters. Parking is plentiful and clearly marked.

Just down the road is a bunkhouse for the Southern Railway. Engines are almost always parked outside the bunkhouse and trains roll through frequently. The MARTA line is also visible, running parallel to the train tracks on an elevated platform, so you are sure to see a few of those too. The best viewing spot is behind the Frosty Caboose. Grab an ice cream or hot dog and enjoy some quality train viewing. There are actually a variety of restaurants that have opened up on the other side of the street that look good, but we have not been to any of them.

Old Fourth Ward Park & Splash Pad. I've blogged about this one before. It was even more of a hit this time around. H was able to run around in the splash pad on his own and little O loved touching the water, but was not interested in playing in the splash pad itself. We visited on a really hot day, so it was crowded.

Tanyard Creek Park. 

Tanyard Creek Park. This cute little park is actually part of the belt-line. This park has it all, a field to play in, two great playgrounds, a bridge over the creek with ducks and turtles and a train bridge. This is one of the boys favorites and they refer to it as the "train park" since we almost always get to see a train while we are here.

Centennial Olympic Park. Centennial Olympic Park are probably best known for the fountains on the south side of the park that you can play in. We tend to avoid these with the toddlers as they are usually over run by larger kids. Little ones end up run over or scarred by the powerful jets. When we walked through the park at 9:30am, there was absolutely no one in the fountains.  On the north end of the park are two great playgrounds side by side. Our kids played here for over an hour running between the two.

Museum

Atlanta Botanical Garden - The Atlanta Botanical Garden has so much surprising programing. The gardens themselves are lovely and always evolving.  The gardens are closed on Mondays, but the rest of the week feature family programing like story time, stroller walks and treasure hunts. We dropped in on one of the weekend family workshops where for $6 (no registration required) we made a terrarium to take home. 

There is a children's garden complete with splash pad and small play structures that will occupy kids while surrounding them with plants. We also love the canopy walk. Its usually pretty quiet and plenty of space for H to run a bit ahead of us. The whole garden is stroller friendly. 

I also had the chance to leave the kiddos at home and attend one of the cooks in the garden series. Chefs from around Atlanta prepare a meal inspired by what is growing in the herb and vegetable garden. There is an outdoor kitchen so you get a cooking lesson while you enjoy the food and wine. As an added bonus on your way out you can peek at the lights in the garden, the current nighttime display that requires a s

Atlanta History Center. Note theAtlanta History Center is currently under major renovation to make room for the Cyclorama. The History Center is also part of the Blue Star Museums program, so its free to visit for military. The current exhibits are not particularly toddler friendly, so we blitz through the museum. (I figured even if just a few things peaked his interest its something... right?) The three year old actually enjoyed the section on the 1996 Olympic Games, but was otherwise non engaged. The gardens and other buildings are a different story. We spent the bulk of our time exploring the grounds. There are formal gardens around the Swan House, a working farm and a log cabin to explore along with a meandering path through the woods. We spent most of the morning here and had the place basically to ourselves. 

Zoo Atlanta. Zoo Atlanta is a family favorite and every trip home involves at least one visit.  We ended up getting a membership since we were going to be here all summer. It has already paid for itself. In addition to just visiting the zoo - which is one of only three places in the US that you can see Pandas - there is a variety of kids programing that goes on. We visited during Art Week and were able to watch local artists painting the animals. They also had stations set up for the kids to do art. H got to try painting like an elephant, with a paint brush in a pool noodle.

Zoo Atlanta offers classes for kids of all ages. We have O registered for Stroller Cubs (ages 0-2) and H registered for Adventure Cubs (3-4). I almost always bring O to H's class, but try to leave H with the grandparents for O's classes. The June adventure cubs focused on Animal Dad's. The kids got to meet a few animals up close, complete a craft and then go see some animal dads in the exhibits. These classes are available to non-members and include admission, so you can stay after to explore.

High Museum of Art.  The High Museum was one of the biggest surprise "wins" of our visit.  They offer a weekly Toddler Time (thursday) and weekend family tours,  so I thought we would check it out.

Toddler Time is self lead. We received all the materials to make our Knuffle Bunny Puppet and found a seat to work on our own. Once we were done with our craft we worked our way over to story time in one of the galleries and into the family area for some fun play and drawings.

In addition to family programing they currently (June 2015) have a Mo Willems exhibit that is hung at kid level. The Spinning Tops exhibit on the lawn also turned out to be very kid friendly. I did bring the stroller along, allowing us to browse the other galleries. H enjoyed pointing out things he liked or that looked like his friends. We actually ended up spending most of the day at the museum. H even announced he would like to go back! 

Fernbank Museum of Natural History. So.. we were a bit underwelmed with Fernbank. I had wonderful memories of visiting and the website made it seem like they had added all sorts of fun activities for the kids. They do offer a military discount and we did not opt to do the IMAX.  

We arrived at opening (10am) and other then one large group basically had the place to ourselves until we left around noon. NatureQuest, the children's touch and play area, was fun but smaller then I thought it would be. H did play here for about 30 min so it was worth the visit, but we have seen better.  The other exhibits were all a bit over the kids heads. We walked through them all, H's favorite being "A Walk Through Time In Georgia" that features walkthroughs of different geographic areas in Georgia. 

The Georgia Aquarium.  The Georgia Aquarium is always one of the big splurges when we visit Atlanta. Its expensive but the kids love it. One of the exhibits is currently under renovation but there is still plenty to do. We booked our tickets, including parking online and saved ourselves a few dollars. If you go right when it opens (~9) you will have the place basically to yourself until around 10:30. All the kids loved standing in front of the two big tanks and watching the animals and divers. We hung around for the dolphin show, which is more show then dolphin performance. It also takes FOREVER for the theater to empty out. Upstairs there is a great new interactive exhibit. Our kids were too little for the ipads, but they still had fun playing with a few of the exhibits.

Children's Museum of Atlanta.  The museum is closing in August 2015 for a massive overhaul and the pictures look fantastic. I won't really talk about what is offered though other than to say my kids are obsessed with their train table! Parking is a problem, you will nee to finding parking in one of the pay lots and walk. This is easily combined with a trip to Centennial Park and one of the parks best playgrounds is just across the street from the museum. We've been to a lot of Children's Museums and the staff here is the best around. They are all around the museum, not timid to engage kids or ask kids (um.. or parents) to follow the museum rules, and they are constantly restocking and putting things away. I assume none of this will change with the renovation. Can't wait to check out the new renovation!

Shows 

Woodruff Arts Center - The Woodruff Arts Center is home to the Alliance Theater and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. If you think that this sounds too advanced for your littles you would be wrong.

All summer the Woodruff Arts Center is hosting Sunday Arts Festivals for families that are worth checking out. They are free but you need to register online or once you arrive. Our three year old loved the activities which included an "acting workshop," a family photo scavenger hunt, music and a craft.

The Alliance Theater has the Theater for the Very Young that brings in tons of shows geared at little ones. I took our three year old to see Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical as his first real theater experience.  Later in the summer we have tickets booked to take our one year old to Blub, Blub, a play designed for kids 0-2. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has family performances designed for young children, although they seem to be on a break for the summer. The events are always changing so make sure you check out the webpages to see what is going on when you are visiting.

*I took our one year old to "Blub Blub" and it was amazing. They limit the number of attendees so each child truly gets to participate in the show.

Center for Puppetry Arts. The Center for Puppetry Arts is in the middle of a large museum expansion (that looks amazing!) Our summer visit was limited to seeing a performance of "Click, Clack Moo: Cows that Type" and the corresponding "Make A Puppet Lab" included with the performance. They also show films featuring "puppets on the large screen." If your visiting Atlanta with little ones it is worth checking out the performance schedule. Our three year old loved the show and they always spend time explaining how the puppets work afterwords. We left the one year old with the grandparents, although there were plenty of babies in the show. 

Restaurants 

(There are so many great places to eat in Atlanta. This is simply the list of where we went this trip.)

Municipal Market.  If you happen to be anywhere downtown hop on the street car (free till 2016) and take it to the Sweet Alburn stop. Cross the street into the market. You will find a wide variety of produce, meat and food options. Our group could not agree on just one place. We split up an enjoyed a few of the tasty options they have here.

Fellini's Pizza (Pizza)  -  I think i recommend this place in every blog post about Atlanta. Its my go to favorite place to grab a slice of pizza. I always get a salad and mix up the type of slice I get. My kids love it too. Ask for the kids slice to have a "kids cut" and its cut into small pieces. Our favorite location is in Candler Park, but you can't go wrong anywhere you go.

Willy's (Mexican)  - Willy's is another perennial favorite.  Everything is good but everyone knows the Quesidilla is the best item on the menu. Whatever you order add a side of the white cheese sauce. I thought white cheese sauce was a thing everywhere, but after moving away I discovered that was not the case. Get some while your here because its the local thing to do. Again, you can't go wrong with an Atlanta location, but the one on Howell Mill has a margarita bar...no need to say any more.

Bell Street Burritos - We frequent the Buckhead location. They have every type of burrito you can imagine and they are pretty hearty. Its a favorite for pool night dinners. I haven't tried the chillies, but they area available only on Friday's and come highly recommended.

Dancing Goats Coffee - Plenty of outdoor and patio seating are the hallmark of this coffee shop at Ponce City Market. The coffee and muffins were delicious. The kids loved digging in the gravel pit and sitting on the oversized chairs. We parked at the Old Fourth Ward Park and walked down the path to the coffee shop and market.

Grant Central Pizza -  We were at an evening event at the zoo with the kids and decided we wanted to try this place for dinner. Service was slow but the pizza was so delicious and cheap! It was full of families so my kids being slightly cranky was not an issue.

Other 

Street Car in Atlanta

Atlanta Streetcar.  The streetcar makes a loop that is easily walkable. Combine the free ride in the air conditioning with my train obsessed kiddo and you have a win! We enjoyed the ride and even got to chat with the driver.  The cars run every 10 minutes ish. The Streetcar is free until 2016. We hopped off at Sweet Alburn and grabbed lunch at the Municipal Market. The MLK Historic Site is another popular stop. The streetcar is assessable by MARTA. 

View from Skyview Atlanta 

Skyview Atlanta.  Skyview Atlanta is the enclosed ferris wheel in downtown. We found a Groupon for it and decided we needed to try it out. I was pretty sure it was going to be silly, how much can you see when there are tall buildings all around? Turns out, you can see quite a bit. We could not get the audio in our car to work. We are plenty familiar with the city though. The wheel gives you lovely views of Centennial Olympic Park, Downtown Atlanta and much of  Georgia Tech. The ride lasts about 20 min. The kids thought it was great and we enjoyed the view from on high. 

Home Depot Workshops - The Home Depot on Ponce offers these every Saturday (most stores nationwide offer them one Saturday a month.) They set up outside when the weather is nice and start at 9am. Its a great little morning activity. You get to take home the craft, an apron with the kids name on it and a pin for each craft completed. Its also completely free! 

Public Libraries - Public Libraries are usually a go to for kids fun when we are traveling to a city. They are just not a hallmark in Atlanta. We checked out the Buckhead location, which is plenty big with a wide selection of books. The books are generally in poor condition, at least compared to our Colorado "home" library. The event list is minimal, with most activities occurring out in the suburbs.

Legoland Discovery Center. We bought our tickets online and signed up for Toddler Time, a guided story and building activity. Toddler Time was great. The kids loved listening to the stories and learning to build  the story characters.  After that our visit went downhill. The discovery center itself has lots of fun activities - two rides, a soft play area, a theater and lots of places to build with legos. Our problem was it was completely overrun with camps. There were easily 6 different groups there of varying ages making the ride lines prohibitively long and my little guys could hardly get into build anything. It was crowded to the point of being dangerous for the littles. The staff (other than the guy that ran Toddler Time, who was great with the kids.) seemed completely disinterested. I attempted to inform a staff member we had been waiting in line for a ride for 20min because the camp group kept re-cycling through to pair taller kids with smaller kids, and was told I was free to get out of line.  We ended up sticking mostly to the small toddler area. The kids had fun, but I was annoyed. I attempted to call a manager there to let them know I was dissatisfied, but no one ever answered the phone and although I left a message I never received any sort of call back. 

Fall at Edwards

Fall at Edwards can be a bit of a let down - trees don't change color (there aren't any trees) and the weather doesn't slowly cool down, inviting you to wear jeans and sweatshirts. Luckily just up the road is the "Land of Four Seasons," Tehachapi. The first year we lived here we headed up there quite a bit, then we seemed to forget about Tehachapi until fall rolls around.

The first weekend in October, we headed up there with the EOSC travel club. The original plan was to head to the botanical gardens, but due to fall coming early they were closed. We regrouped and headed to the Souza Family Vineyard for some wine tasting. The vineyard serves only one of their own wines and then quite a few others from around the country. I can't tell you how the wines were since I had to sit this one out but they did bring out a nice food tray for us and were very pleasant to chat with.

Next, apple picking! There are two u-pick places and then 20 or so orchards that pick them from the tree and you pick apples out of a large box. In the fall you can get a map just about anywhere in town with a layout of the orchards. We visited a few to check out what types of apples were available - ask for a taste so you know what you are getting. We ended up splitting a box with the neighbors which gave us each about 40 apples.

We tried a Latin fusion restaurant for lunch. It wasn't terrible but I'm not sure I'll go back. My delicate stomach didn't take well to the smells or tastes but it's not their fault I'm pregnant!

A few weeks later in mid-October we decided to head back to Tehachapi with some other friends to Murray Family Farms. They have really upped their game this year - the hayride to the pumpkin patch is still there as are the pig races but they have added more fun. The kids we were with range in age from 1 to 3 and they all seemed to love it. There were duck races where you pump water to make your rubber duck float down a pipe, "cow" riding where you are towed behind a tractor in a half barrel on wheels painted like a cow and a giant inflatable pillow you can jump on. They had plenty of guides around making this a much more pleasant experience than in years past.

The farm also sells carving pumpkins but you will find cheaper ones at Trader Joe's.

For lunch we headed to Pacino's Spaghetti Factory in Tehachapi. It's nothing special but the food was good and it's a reliable alternative to the Apple Shed. The salads are huge - you can easily split one for your meal.

It's nice to get away and have it feel like fall, even for just an afternoon!

Pumpkins in the Rough

You can get pumpkins much closer to base, but we trekked out to the Murray Family Farms (62 miles west on Rt 58) for the full experience. Their $10 deal this year got you a hay ride to a pumpkin patch where you could pick a small pumpkin, a couple of weak corn mazes, a petting farm and pig races.

The pumpkin was worth about $3 and the corn mazes another $2 (we didn't pet the goats). And had that been all we did, I would have left unhappy. But some guy in a trailer brought four pigs and used Velcro to secure colored jerseys to each. He set up a chicken wire racing track and sent the pigs on a race. I've never seen such a spectacle. The Antelope Valley Fair had 'Mutton Bustin' last year (kids under age 6 riding sheep). But the pig races were something new and something fabulous. They were worth the $10 admission and made my day.

Murray Family Farms is hokey. The produce is expensive. And it's far. But if you're in the right mood, it can be a hoot, especially if they've got racing pigs!

Consider stopping at the Tehachapi Loop to watch a train loop over itself at this engineering marvel. And plan for dinner in Tehachapi on the way home.

Disneyland - SETP Symposium

Disneyland is 120 miles from Edwards and depending on the time of day and traffic, 2.5-4 hours. If you plan to make multiple visits, consider the Southern California Season Pass or a Costco 4-visit pass.

If you're heading to Disneyland for an SETP (Society of Experimental Test Pilots) symposium, consider these suggestions to make your visit more special:

1. Six miles from Mickey, but worlds apart is Park Avenue: 11200 Beach Blvd, Stanton, CA‎ -(714) 901-4400‎. Check their website for no-corkage-fee nights and fried chicken nights. Don't take the kids!

2. Pack breakfast foods. Call your intended hotel first and find out if you'll have a refrigerator. Then, pack a cooler with breakfast foods, snacks and water. You won't regret carrying a snack into the Disney parks when you see the prices.

3. Splurge what you saved on breakfast at the Napa Rose inside the Grand Californian Hotel. Reservations are strongly recommended. The entree prices are high, but it's a good value and you can't beat the location.

4. Walk to P.F. Chang's. Walk from the Disneyland hotels south on Disneyland Drive and go left on W. Katella Ave.

5. Skip the parks. If you're tired of Mickey and Friends, consider visiting the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. It's 15 miles away from the parks.

6. Take the kids to the beach. Just because you're at a conference at Disneyland doesn't mean you need to take the kids to the parks EVERY DAY. Drive 10 miles south and enjoy Huntington Beach.