Category: Travel Adventures

Travel Adventures

Roseville, MN: Perfectly Positioned

— Katy Flint4 Comments
Roseville, MN: Perfectly Positioned

Roseville, Minnesota boasts that it is Perfectly Positioned and after our (mine & T’s) trip recently, we’ve learned this to be very true.  It is 10 minutes from downtown St. Paul and 10 minutes from downtown Minneapolis!  How perfect is that?!  We had never heard of Roseville and we had no idea what they offered, but now we are ready to go back!!  Plus staying at the Courtyard by Marriott was super convenient, comfortable, and a great place to call “home” during our visit!

THAT Cooking School –

Are you a “Chopped” fan like me?!  If so, then THAT Cooking School is for you!  THAT stands for Teaching, Heart, and Team Building.  This is a great place for taking your group (of any kind) for team building or if you have a new team and need to break the ice!  Heck, this would even be a fantastic place for a first date.  Not only do they challenge you to create together, work as a team, but also have fun!

Como Zoo & Conservatory – 

You will not be disappointed when you stop by the Como Park Zoo & Conservatory, a free zoo!  They have a wide variety of animals including penguins, seals, giraffes, and gorillas and there is also a Conservatory with extensive gardens!  The entire facility is quite impressive with it’s beautifully landscape and natural looking grounds and I can’t wait to explore it more in-depth with the entire family!

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Travel Adventures

Courtyard by Marriott: Roseville – A Perfect Place to Stay

— Katy Flint2 Comments
Courtyard by Marriott: Roseville – A Perfect Place to Stay

T and I recently had the privilege of staying at the Courtyard by Marriott in Roseville, MN for a long weekend!  I say privilege because this facility is top-notch and it was our honor to stay here!  We’ve started to travel and stay in hotels  more recently since we sold our camper. We have stayed at a variety of facilities and this was, by far, our best yet!

courtyard
Courtyard by Marriott: Roseville, MN

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Iowa

Dubuque, IA: A Family Day Trip!

— Katy Flint12 Comments

I’ve lived in Iowa my entire life and have never done anything, but drive through Dubuque, IA. Can you believe that?! Well, thankfully we solved that problem back in July and ended up having a fantastic family day trip!

In mid-June T and I determined that we were taking July 3rd off (it was a Monday) and spending the day with the boys!  Since selling our camper last summer (no time to camp), we promised them that we would do more weekend and daytrips and this seemed like the perfect opportunity!  So, after much research and debating, we settled on Dubuque area for the day.  We are so glad that we did!

National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium

The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium was our first stop of the day!  The boys love aquariums and so that was the immediate draw for us.  We also love learning about the Mississippi, it’s history, etc. so it made complete sense.  The first highlight was the stingray exhibit where the boys could touch them!  Who doesn’t love hands-on activities?!  We found the history portion of the museum very intriguing as we learned about the natives that had inhabited the area.  And of course the boys (all three) were drawn to the Riverworks Splash Zone, which is an area with different experiments and interactive activities using water!

Next, we headed outside to enjoy the outside exhibits.  We liked walking through the old river ships and barges that explained the history of their purposes and the river!  We especially liked the Steamboat William M. Black.  Exploring this old steamboat that was used to dredge the river was quite fascinating!  Of course, we also liked the Mississippi River Discovery Center & Aquariums because of all the tanks of fish and river otters!  Before we left, the boys had to try their hand at the remote control boats too!

R & M playing with the remote control boats the the National River Museum & Aquarium.

 

Want to Stay the Night? Stay at The Hotel Julien Dubuque
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I’ve lived in Iowa my entire life and have never done anything, but drive through Dubuque, IA. Can you believe that?! Well, thankfully we solved that problem back in July and ended up having a fantastic family day trip!

In mid-June T and I determined that we were taking July 3rd off (it was a Monday) and spending the day with the boys!  Since selling our camper last summer (no time to camp), we promised them that we would do more weekend and daytrips and this seemed like the perfect opportunity!  So, after much research and debating, we settled on Dubuque area for the day.  We are so glad that we did!

National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium

The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium was our first stop of the day!  The boys love aquariums and so that was the immediate draw for us.  We also love learning about the Mississippi, it’s history, etc. so it made complete sense.  The first highlight was the stingray exhibit where the boys could touch them!  Who doesn’t love hands-on activities?!  We found the history portion of the museum very intriguing as we learned about the natives that had inhabited the area.  And of course the boys (all three) were drawn to the Riverworks Splash Zone, which is an area with different experiments and interactive activities using water!

Next, we headed outside to enjoy the outside exhibits.  We liked walking through the old river ships and barges that explained the history of their purposes and the river!  We especially liked the Steamboat William M. Black.  Exploring this old steamboat that was used to dredge the river was quite fascinating!  Of course, we also liked the Mississippi River Discovery Center & Aquariums because of all the tanks of fish and river otters!  Before we left, the boys had to try their hand at the remote control boats too!

R & M playing with the remote control boats the the National River Museum & Aquarium.

 

Want to Stay the Night? Stay at The Hotel Julien Dubuque
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Travel Adventures

Visiting the World’s Largest Toy Museum

— Katy Flint4 Comments
Visiting the World’s Largest Toy Museum

Well, we did it! Family vacation has come and gone! We got back recently and as I’m going through so many of the pictures I took, the ones from the World’s Largest Toy Museum are some of the most fun!

This year, the Flints headed back to Branson, MO to finish what we started last year! 😉  We spent 3.5 action packed days exploring and doing more and different things than we did last year!  They’ll be a post about the rest of those, but on to the World’s Largest Toy Museum Complex!  world's largest toy museum

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Travel Adventures

Danna’s Bar-B-Que & Burger Shop: Branson, MO

— Katy Flint7 Comments
Danna's Bar-B-Cue

We Love Branson

Who doesn’t love some good barbecue?!  And who doesn’t love a quaint locally owned joint?!  That’s exactly what you get at Danna’s Bar-B-Que & Burger Shop in Branson, MO!  The options of places to eat in Branson are endless, but you can never go wrong with a visit to Danna’s! Whether you want a juicy burger, pulled pork, or smoked chicken, you won’t go away hungry!

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Iowa

Gusto Pizza, Des Moines: Delicious & Family Friendly

— Katy Flint3 Comments

Have you been to Gusto Pizza in Des Moines? If you haven’t, you need to! We paired our trip to Gusto with an iCubs baseball game.  The games are such good family fun, if you’ve never been. We’ve been to several now and each time we’ve gone, we’ve done a tailgate meal because well…it’s a baseball game! This time, however, we decided to grab supper at a restaurant near the field instead.

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Iowa

High Trestle Trail & Trail Etiquette

— Katy Flint8 Comments

This past Sunday, my mom asked me if I wanted to join her for an afternoon bike ride on the High Trestle Trail. I had never been, it was a gorgeous afternoon, and the bridge has been on my Iowa Bucket List for quite sometime now! So, I took her up on the offer!

High Trestle Trail

The trail is gorgeous!  It’s a beautifully paved (cement) trail!  We parked at Slater and biked to the bridge and back, which was about 20 miles total!  The trail itself, is a good balance of sun and shade, and slightly rolling, which makes me a happy lady!  The few tunnels and small bridges along the route make it visually appealing!  There are also quaint bars and smoothie shops located along the trail in both Madrid and Slater!  While we didn’t patronize those places, they look wonderfully quaint!  I love that the communities along the trail have embraced it and are catering to the public!

Check out the Rolling Prairie Bike Trail in Franklin County, Iowa
HTT 1
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Camping

Our Favorite Things…Branson Style

— Katy Flint4 Comments
Our Favorite Things…Branson Style

I can hardly believe that it’s been over 2 weeks since we’ve been from our family vacation in Branson! I swear the older I get the faster time goes! But, I digress…we had such a fantastic time in Branson and all four of us have actually commented, “I’ll go back!”  So, what were our favorite parts about Branson?  Here they are…and in no particular order!

Top of the Rock/Lost Canyon Tours

A friend of mine recommended the Lost Canyon Tours at Top of the Rock to me and so I had to look into!  You are able to go on self-guided tours along their path with a golf cart through the canyon and caves and my interest was peaked.  This is something right up the boys’ alley and it didn’t sound so bad to me either!  They weren’t wrong and neither was I!  Being outside and closer to nature (away from the hustle and bustle of the city is fantastic).  Plus the views aren’t too shabby either!

branson
One of the many beautiful sights in Lost Canyon

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Travel Adventures

Hollywood Entertainment Center: Branson

— Katy Flint4 Comments
Hollywood Entertainment Center: Branson

#FlintsTakeBranson is all over: Done, finale, finished! One of our MANY stops was the Hollywood Entertainment Center on the main drag in Branson.  We actually made it our very first stop of the trip because we were that excited about it.

hollywood 2

The Hollywood Entertainment Center in Branson consists of four different aspects: Shoot for the Stars Miniature Golf, The Hollywood Wax Museum, Maze of Mirrors, and Castle of Chaos.

The marker and narrative display at each hole!
The marker and narrative display at each hole!

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Travel Adventures

A Trip Down Memory Lane at Tyden Farm No. 6

— Katy Flint8 Comments

Recently I got the privilege of visiting Tyden Farm No. 6 with some of the other North Iowa Bloggers and what a treat it was!

The impressive Tyden No. 6 barn
The impressive Tyden No. 6 barn

The History of Tyden Farm

Tyden Farm No. 6 is located outside Dougherty, Iowa in North Central Iowa.  It is owned by Ted & Judy Pitzenberger, who bought the farm from the Tyden family in the 90’s.  Emil Tyden was a Swedish immigrant who bought several acres of premium Iowa farmland in the early 1900’s and built up a total of 8 farms!  He was a very forward thinking man and was very good to his workers, and because of that he was beloved in the area!  Tyden owned over 200 patents and made his fortune in the industrial sector of the world (Viking sprinklers and the Cargo Seal, which is still used by companies today are his most well-known accomplishments).  However, he also made a strong impression on the agricultural world in North Central Iowa and the people of Dougherty.

Ted explaining to us how the water tower (in the background) worked to provide water to the entire farm!
Ted explaining to us how the water tower (in the background) worked to provide water to the entire farm!

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