Happy Birthday Southwest, and thanks for celebrating your birthday with low airfare for us!! If you go to their site June 22-24 and book travel between September 8th and November 17th, airfare is al low as $39 one way!! That means all you family members that have been dying to visit us can do it on the cheap (and on my birthday if you want)!!

Please read this fantastic post on Moms by Heart about how to get the very best airfare deals with this promotion!!

Having gone to visit Salt Lake City last week, I wanted to follow up my Tuesdays Travels: Salt Lake City post with a few tips and tricks I learned while I was there.

Lagoon discounts:

• Using a Coke can for admission to Lagoon gives you $5 off per person, but you must enter before noon and you have to have a coke can with the offer on it with you.
• The Deseret Book discount is good, but you have to buy a book to get a discount. And the book you buy determines how many discount tickets you get. So, if you were already planning to buy one of the select books on this promotion, then it is a good deal, otherwise don't bother-just get the Coke cans.
• We found that the best discount we could get when we were there was offered through local Credit Unions. If you know any locals, ask them to check at their credit union for the best available discount tickets. You generally have to pay cash for these tickets but they are great discounts.
• The other option may seem hokey, but it is true as well. In the LDS church the congregations are called wards and a group of wards together make up a Stake.  The local Utah Stakes have "Stake Lagoon days". If ou have LDS (Mormon) friends in Utah, you might check and see if their Stake Lagon Day happens to fall when you are visiting because that is actually THE VERY cheapest deal that I found (but none for our family were going on while we were there).
• I am hearing that there may also be discount tickets available at Costco, but I hae no confirmation on this.

Seven Peaks, and Raging Waters Discounts

• I learned when I got home that Costco stores have discount tickets to these locations. A few of you have asked me if I know how much the discounts are, but I don't. Do any of you know?
• Apparently some of the local supermarkets and credit unions also carry discount tickets.

Tuesdays Travels today will focus on a place I used to live as a teenager: Denver, Colorado. My dad attended Law School at DU for 3 years, so I lived in Denver (ok actually Aurora) Colorado from 6-8 grades. So, much of my Denver knowledge is from a young teendaged point of view. I do not want to tell you to just go hang out at Cherry Hills Mall, so I did some research on this one!!

As always, I will use the following categories for this Denver post as part of my Tuesdays Travels series:

• General Information
• Getting there
• Accommodations
• Transportation
• Food
• Attractions and activities
• Shopping

General Information

Denver is the capitol city of Colorado and is located right by the beautiful Rocky Mountains! Nicknamed the Mile High City due to it's elevation, it is a beautiful city with a variety of food and fun options! It is where I lived when I fell in love with the theatre, so it has a special place in my heart!

Getting There

Denver is fairly centrally located in the west, so driving to Denver is certainly an option to consider. If you live in Omaha, it is a pretty quick drive for a vacation-only about 7-8 hours.

You may also look into flying. You should be able to get good deals into Denver as it has the largest airport in the country and has 6 airlines that go to/through Denver. It is a hub for United Airlines and Frontier Airlines. I recommend reading my Tuesdays Travels: Overview post for info on how I search for best flight prices and options.

Accommodations

When I have visited Denver in the past, I have always had friends or family to sty with. I don't anymore, so when I go back to Denver, I will simply do what I always do and start by looking up hotel deals on the following websites: Expedia, Hotwire, Travelocity, and Cheap Tickets. You could also try to make an offer at Priceline, but I only try one offer there, then if I do not get it, I go somewhere else that works with me better than they do.

Transportation

I will tell you that the airport is pretty far outside the city, but luckily there are many options for travel between the airport and the city. You can of course rent a car, but there are other options as well. Many hotels have shuttles between the airport and their hotel. There is also public transportation available, and you can probably walk to some of the places you want to go depending on the location of your hotel. The city of Denver has a great website on which there is an excellent page about transportation options in town. Please see that page here.

Food

The main 2 food experiences (away from my house) I remember from living in Denver were both fairly expensive, but were both not just meals, but full experiences: Casa Bonita and Mataam Fez.

Mataam Fez is a Moroccan restaurant complete with sitting on the floor and belly dancers. It is a lot of fun, but as I mentioned it is fairly expensive and it is not is a great neighborhood. In fact it is in a terrible neighborhood, but well worth the experience-just be careful going from your car inside to the restaurant!

Casa Bonita is a must do for any families visiting Denver. It is every child's dream dinner. They are the self proclaimed "World's Most Exciting Restaurant". The multi-story, Mexican-themed restaurant includes a 30-foot-tall waterfall, cliff divers, fire jugglers, strolling mariachi bands, a pirate cave, magicians, puppet shows, skee-ball machines, etc, etc. Be warned though-you are not going here for the food! It is terrible-well all is terrible except the all you can eat sopapilla desserts. But, you have to purchase an entree to enter, so buy something cheap and be warned it will not be good food. Then plan on watching the cliff divers, enjoying all the entertainment, and eating a lot of the sopapillas-they are heavenly! It is the only truly edible thing in the joint in my opinion.

I actually have read multiple reviews today that recommended eating at Taco Bell on your way over to Casa Bonita, then looking at your required entree purchase more as an admission fee. If you are looking for a uniquely Denver "dining" experience though, do NOT miss Casa Bonita!! (I have to refer you to the funniest and possibly most accurate review I have ever read about this place, but with a warning that there is some poor language involved in the review. See it here.)

In my 3 years of living in Denver, those were by far the most memorable dicing experiences I had, so I recommend trying one or both of these great experience places!

As far as being frugal in Denver, I would try to get a hotel with a kitchen area and stop by your local Walmart or King Soopers and get some food to eat in your hotel!

Also, when you are planning to go to Denver, start checking out City Deal Tracker's Denver site daily to see what deals you can snag there. They list Groupon as well as 2 other Groupon-like daily deals. (As a total side note, if you do join and buy a Groupon, I would really appreciate if you do so under my referral link here.)

One more site to check out is MyDenverDeals.com.

Attractions and Activities

Here are a few lists of things to do from me (there is way more to do that I am listing!):

Choose from these "Must see/do" for first timers

• Denver Zoo
• Downtown Aquarium
• Professional Sporting events (Basketball: Nuggets at the Pepsi Center, Football: Broncos at Mile High Stadium, Baseball: Rockies at Coors Field, Hockey: Avalanche at Pepsi Center, Soccer: Rapids at Invesco Field at Mile High.)
• 16th St Mall
• One of the many parks or reservoirs (Like Cherry Creek reservoir-where I spend a lot of time in my youth!)
• Red Rocks Park & Ampitheatre (Beautiful!!)
• Coors tours
• US Mint tour (reservations required)
• Denver Art Museum (On the first Saturday of every month, admission is free for Colorado residents.)
• Skiing or hiking

How to get discounts on some on the attractions that cost:

• Also, when you are planning to go to Denver, start checking out City Deal Tracker's Denver site daily to see what deals you can snag there. They list Groupon as well as 2 other Groupon-like daily deals. (As a total side note, if you do join and buy a Groupon, I would really appreciate if you do so under my referral link here.)
• Look for discounts online
• Look in the travel books
• Ask at the hotel for discounted deals-they often have discounts available if you ask.
• Ask locals when you get there!
• Check out MyDenverDeals.com.

Free Attractions (My FAVORITE!!)

• 16th St Mall Trolley
• Many parks.
• There are 850 miles of off-street bike paths you can explore!
• Tour the Colorado State Capitol
• US Mint tour (reservations required)
• Coors tours in Golden
• Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison
• Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs
• Red Rocks Park

There are literally thousands to choose from. Since I have no clue what you will be interested in, can I recommend that you check out a travel guide (you can often find these at local libraries), go through it and pick the things you really want to do.

And Remember, you cannot so it all! Pick your favorites, then start looking for discounts.

Shopping

Check out some of the following fun and interesting shopping destinations:

• The teenager in my wants to send you to Cherry Creek Mall and tell you to scout out the boys...  :)
• Tattered Cover Bookstore is SOOO Denver and a must see for book lovers!
• 16th St Mall

Conclusion

These are just the things I have learned in my Denver travel/living and research and my opinions on traveling to Denver. I am not the definitive Denver expert by any means. Please feel free to add your own tips and tricks to this and feel free to ask me any questions you might have.

This will go quick-HURRY!!

Right now you can get a FREE sample of All Oxi-Active at Walmart. You will have to copy and paste this: http://www.startsampling.com/sm/walmart/captureAddress.iphtml?item=101224&source=&url=http://www.startsampling.com/alldetergent

Thanks Mojo Savings.

Today's Salt Lake City Groupon is $10 for $20 Worth of Tasty Thai Cuisine and Drinks at Thai Siam Restaurant. Yum!! I LOVE Pad Thai-it might be my favorite food...

As with all the deals, make sure you check out the fine print before purchasing. To sign up for Groupons, click on my referral link here (this does NOT commit you to buying any deal-you choose what you buy) and to see the Salt Lake City page, including today's deal, click here.

Not sure what Groupons is? Then click here to read all about it!

Today's Omaha Groupon is a great deal for those summer days with the kids! It is $10 for All-Day Unlimited Go-Karts, Mini Golf, Laser Tag, Spaceball, Jumpshot, and Water Wars at Papio Fun Park ($20 Value).

As with all the deals, make sure you check out the fine print before purchasing. To sign up for Groupons, click on my referral link here (this does NOT commit you to buying any deal-you choose what you buy) and to see the Omaha page, including today's deal, click here.

Not sure what Groupons is? Then click here to read all about it!

I saw a commercial for this last night and was super excited! Wes LOVES these razors!! I will have to go buy one today!!

Right now (for a limited time) Schick Hydro is letting you try one of their new Schick Hydro razors for free through Mail-in rebate! Here is how: You purchase any Schick Hydro Razor (up to $10.99) between now and August 18, then fill out and mail in the rebate form here by August 18th with the original UPC from the package and the original sales receipt. (You cannot purchase at BJ's or Sam's clubs for this promotion). TO read and review all the details see the rebate form here. It is one per household!

This is an exciting Summer Promotion! From June 21st through July 20th, we are empowering families to have fun through the Rayovac Powers Your Summer Promotion with daily summertime family tips and the chance to win lots of fun prizes!

To get involved, first go here and become a fan of Rayovac on Facebook. Then go to Rayovac's website at http://www.blogger.com/www.rayovac.com/PowersYourSummer. Tell them how you'll power your fun this summer each day for a chance to win prizes ranging from Cameras and Bikes to Camping Supplies and a Summer Supply of Rayovac Batteries!

There is also a Twitter event to support this promotion from Rayovac and 5MinutesForMom. The Twitter Event will feature more than 20 fun giveaways from Rayovac ranging from a summer supply of Rayovac Batteries to $50 Target Gift Cards. Here are the Twitter Event details:
Date: Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Time: 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. CST
Location: #rayovac
Follow: @Rayovac_Battery, @5minutesformom, @CirclePRMary

**I should disclose that the first 99 bloggers to promote the Rayovac Powers Your Summer Promotion won a prize package from Rayovac**