Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Top Five Favorites (As a local)

When you go somewhere, do you ever wonder where the locals really hang out? I always do, So I am going to share my top five local hang out spots from the places I have lived. 

Here's a preview of what to expect:

I have five kids ages 5-14. In the past 8 years we have lived in Spokane WA, Omaha NE, Scottsdale AZ, Aberdeen WA and Yakima WA. I am a stay at home mom, so whenever we move I try to find the best family friendly activities to do. I want fun stuff for me and the littles to experience. There are always the touristy destinations that you discover first, then the everyday nearby parks and hangouts for your neighborhood. And I am always looking to find the best family places to hang out without spending a lot of money. It usually ends up being a combo of the tourist places and local finds.

Free, fun activities are my favorite, but there are some things that are worth spending money on as well. For example, if I lived in Anaheim, Disneyland would be a place I would want to hang out at with my family. So, it would be worth it to me to spend the money to go there. BUT I would not buy a full price daily pass every time I wanted to go with the kids, I would want the most economical way to go there. So I would do the math-figure out how often I would REALLY go there. Am I going weekly? Monthly? Or will I really only go a few times during the year? Once I honestly assess how often I would go, then I would look at the ticket options and buy a pass for the option that is most economical. (In the Disneyland example, if I was a California resident, the best option for me would likely be to purchase a locals only annual pass.)

When you move to a place you have to find your places, the ones you want to hang out at, then find the smartest, most economical way to make that happen. Your places will probably be different than mine, but I thought I would take some time to share about my top places from the places I have lived. Be on the lookout for upcoming Top Five lists! 
Photobucket


My awesome Turtle Bay Photo

Guys! Hey Guys! As you have surely noticed, I love to travel. Like, LOVE it. (To be fair, the actual traveling part stresses me out, but that's another story). I have been sharing some of my travel experiences on here, but this is not the only place I contribute to. I actually love to contribute reviews on sites like TripAdvisor and Google. 
One of the things I do fairly often is to post pictures on Google maps of places I go. Most of them get a few views (like 1-1000), but I have one that I posted a couple weeks ago (the one pictured above) that has exploded to 160,000+ views because it is the MAIN picture you see when you google the place, Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu. Check it out here and see if my picture shows up as the main picture for you: Turtle Bay Resort on Google Maps
Photobucket