Category: Travel

Great Saltpetre Cave Livingston, Kentucky
asouthernmother
May 17, 2016
great saltpetre cave livingston, kentucky

One little known fact about me is that when I was in kindergarten, my best friend and I said we were going to be archaeologists when we grew up. I had changed my mind by the time I started first grade, but that didn’t change my fascination with history, landmarks, antiques/artifacts, and travel. I found out not too long ago that a place with historical and geological significance wasn’t too far from our home. The Great Saltpetre Cave in Livingston, Kentucky is owned by the Rockcastle Karst Conservancy, and operated by several other organizations. The cave is only open to the public one weekend a year, when they invite visitors to visit free of charge for guided tours of the cave. They also offer free soup beans and cornbread, as an added bonus. Jeremy loves caves, so he had planned for months to attend this year’s open house.

great saltpetre cave livingston, kentucky

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Making Travel Easier With the gb Pockit Stroller
asouthernmother
April 22, 2016

“This post was sponsored by @GBChildUsa as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. I received the gb Pockit to facilitate my review.”

When Gabe was a baby, his father, was stationed in Bogota, Colombia. We traveled frequently domestically and internationally, and most of the time it was just Gabe at I. One of our trips included flying back from Bogotá with my 18 lb French Bulldog puppy Bob, in a carrier, Gabe’s bulky stroller, a diaper bag and a not quite 3 year old Gabe; I nearly swore off flying solo again. There were no direct flights from Bogotá to Lexington, so I would have to load and unload my stroller from gate check with Gabe on my hip and Bob on my shoulder. I was exhausted when we finally made it back home. I would have loved a lightweight version like the gb Pockit Stroller that we have now. It’s small enough that I could have carried it in the top of my diaper bag. and a lot easier to unfold. Who would have thought that the stroller seen below was shipped in that tiny box?

gb Pockit Stroller

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Sesame Street Character Breakfast at Beaches Resorts
asouthernmother
March 11, 2016
sesame street character breakfast at beaches

Part of my stay at Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort Villages & Spa was subsidized,

however all opinions are entirely my own. #BeachesMoms 

Kentucky has had a terrible winter. We went from 70F during Christmas to nearly 8 straight weeks of wretched snow. We had over 2 feet of snow on the ground at one point, and I was dreaming of the beach. I was longing to be back at Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort Villages & Spa. Last fall, I was invited to attend Social Media on the Sand with Beaches Moms; we had the most amazing family vacation. If you’re on the fence about going, I don’t hesitate to recommend Beaches Resorts. We stayed at the beautiful and luxurious Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort Villages & Spa, and we had an amazing time. You can read more about our vacation and the resort over on this post. During our stay we were lucky enough to be chosen for the Sesame Street Character Breakfast. It’s normally an extra charge, but we were invited along with several other blogger families. I’ve had a few people who were planning Beaches Resorts vacations ask me if I thought the Sesame Street Character Breakfast at Beaches Resorts was worth the small upgrade charge.

sesame street character breakfast at beaches

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What do you find soothing when you’re sick?
asouthernmother
January 31, 2016
Vicks VapoRub

“This post was sponsored by Vicks VapoRub as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. I received complimentary products to facilitate my review.”

The last time my son got sick, we were on a weekend getaway with my grandmother. It came on quick. We had spent the day at a theme park and had dinner, and Gabe didn’t have any complaints early in the day. My grandmother casually mentioned that Gabe’s hands felt warm. Gabe went to bed with her, and woke up in the middle of the night with a cough, runny nose, and nasty fever. It was a short trip and I hadn’t packed any kind of medication. The hotel didn’t have anything other than adult strength acetaminophen and ibuprofen. We had to make a 3:30am run to the nearest 24 hour pharmacy to find him some medicine. I purchased children’s strength acetaminophen and ibuprofen, along with Vicks VapoRub; I find Vicks VapoRub very soothing and it evokes comforting memories from my own childhood.

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Waiting At The Airport: USO Wishbook
asouthernmother
December 23, 2015
uso wishbook

Just a few years ago, I was nervously waiting on my connecting flights to Bogota, Colombia with a 17 month old nursing baby on my hip. My first leg of the flight was from Lexington, Kentucky to Chicago, Illinois; O’Hare was noisy, busy, and in my eyes, germ ridden. It wasn’t a vacation for us, you see in my former life I was an Army wife (in my former, former life I was an Navy Nuclear Electrician but that’s a story for another day) and we were traveling to stay with my (now ex-) husband. If traveling alone internationally wasn’t stressful enough, I was going to be in Colombia for months. I’d heard stories and watched news reports about the Colombian Cartel and FARC (“revolutionaries” that hated U.S. presence and involvement in Colombia). I was terrified, but we hadn’t seen him in months and we were trying to keep our family together. Our layover in Chicago was over 6 hours, which is uncomfortable enough when traveling alone, but I was trying to keep a baby entertained too. What would I do while waiting on our connecting flight? I remembered there was a USO facility in the airport.

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5 Reasons To Stay At Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort
asouthernmother
December 16, 2015
dollywood's dreammore resort

We’ve had unusually warm temps for this time of year. It was in the 70’s on Saturday, and we had made plans to enjoy the weather while it lasted. Dollywood will close for the season in just a week or two, and we thought it would be fun to make use of our season passes (as did most of the other area visitors) one last time. It’s not quite a 3 hour trip from here to Pigeon Forge, so we frequent the area a few times a year. Jeremy and I decided my son would love to have my grandmother join us. While searching for hotels online, I remembered that Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort had opened earlier in the summer. We hadn’t had a chance to check it out or stay there, so we decided to book there on a whim. If you’ve stayed in any of the hotels in the area, many have the same decor and atmosphere; we were pleasantly surprised that Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort is markedly different from many of the hotels in the area. Simply, the hotel has a touch of elegance that’s missing in the typical hotel on the strip, and you know it before you even pull into the entrance. Here’s our list of the top 5 reasons to stay at Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort.

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Blessing of the Hounds With The Woodford Hounds
asouthernmother
November 24, 2015

On Saturday, November 21, Jeremy, Gabe, and I had the pleasure of attending the Blessing of the Hounds with the Woodford Hounds at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill (wow, that was a mouth full). The Blessing of the Hounds is a centuries-old tradition that was believed to have begun by the now Patron Saint of Hunters, St. Hubert. The Blessing is a tradition among many hunt clubs, and there are several held throughout Kentucky, typically during the month of November near the date of the Feast of Saint Hubert.

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