National Get Outdoors Day

National Get Outdoors Day is in it's second year and will hold events all over the country on June 13th.

"Participants from federal agencies, nonprofit organizations and the recreation industry are again teaming up to host the second annual National Get Outdoors Day (GO Day) to encourage healthy, active outdoor fun at sites across the nation. On Saturday, June 13, these diverse partners will offer opportunities for American families to experience traditional and non-traditional types of outdoor activities. Prime goals of the day are reaching currently under-served populations and first-time visitors to public lands, and reconnecting our youth to the great outdoors."
People are so disconnected from the natural world around them, even the nature around them everyday. The saying Take time to stop and smell the roses" couldn't be more important in today's world. Next time you are walking from your car to the entrance of the grocery store pay attention to how much nature you see around you. I bet if people took the time to do this more often they would be happier, calmer and more appreciative people. That is why I am so happy for an event like this.

There will be an event here in New Orleans at the Bonnet Carre Spillway, you can find an event near you by checking out the National Get Outdoors Day website.

Postcards

I get a lot of really cool post cards through postcrossing. Today I received four more:

This one from the Ukraine depicting the Kyiv. monument to princess Olhe.

This one from Washington State of Mount Rainier, the highest volcano in the contiguous 48 states.

This one sent from Germany actually depicts the Vltava River in Prague where the sender went on a class trip last year.
This postcard makes me want to plan a trip to Prague just to take a day of leisurely strolling over those bridges, picking up some lunch and eating it in a local park...oh that sounds like heaven.

And last but certainly not least This one from Russia of the Tolzhsky Monastyr on the Volga River.
This postcard was very well writen and informative, the picture was also taken by one of the bloggers on the site listed on the card. check it out at www.yarfor.me

Maybe I should make my own postcard.

San Antonio

Even though I made that list of upcoming trips just a couple days ago the line up has already changed. Now we are planning a trip to San Antonio, Texas at the end of the month. That is right we just found out that my husband will be working in San Antonio from the 15th to the 30th of June and the little guy and I are planning to tag along. Now I can hopefully find someone to watch the dog and the new kitty, if not they will have to come with us and that won't be as much fun, trust me if you are already in charge of a toddler on vacation adding in a dog and cat doesn't really go with the more the merrier rule.
I have been to San Antonio, TX before with my family when I was much younger. I have fond memories of riding on the boats by the riverwalk and visiting the Alamo which really moved me. Also we spent the night at a state park just outside the city. It just happened to be a lunar eclipse the night we camped out there, people were gathered with their telescopes looking at the night sky. I remember that this particular park owned a telescope that had been given to them by Louisiana State University. On top of that all through the park were these little deer. They were all along the path when we were walking back from eclipse viewing they were still there hiding in the fog when we woke up the next morning too.
I don't know all the things we will do while we are in town but I am looking forward to seeing San Antonio again and rediscovering the city with my own family.

Postcrossing

I have found something that I just love. It is postcrossing! What you do is simple. You get 5 address' for people all over the world. Then you send them each a postcard. Each postcard you send has a special tracking number that is entered on the postcrossing website when received. When one of your postcards arrives at it's destination you receive an email letting you know, then you can request another address and send out another postcard. While all this is going on you are also receiving postcards from other people and registering them on the website. I love it because I get to pick out and send postcards to people which is great for me because I love stationary and anything having to do with writing, also I love getting postcards from all over the world. They have such interesting things on them. The map above shows my postcrossing map. The pink lines are tracking the places I have received postcards form and the blue lines are tracking where I have sent postcards.

Budget Travel Giveaway

A few years ago my Mother-in-law got me a gift subscription to Budget Travel magazine. I love it! Each issue is full of great travel tips, stories that make me want to start packing my bags, they always have a road trip complete with route and unique stops along the way which I really appreciate because I love a good road trip. There is almost nothing better than throwing your bag in the car and hitting the open road. This issue has some great road trips and tips specifically for road trips and tons of other stuff.
Another thing I like about Budget Travel is they don't pay anyone to go out on assignment. In other words they don't set up free hotel room stays or pay authors a bunch of money to go to Africa to write a story about being on safari. That way the opinions expressed are generally more honest and unbiased rather than bought. Authors do get paid when they get published in the magazine they just aren't paid before.

Now I want to share all that I love about Budget Travel magazine with one of you. I am going to give away this month's issue (June 2009) to one lucky winner.


How do I enter? Good question. There are 4 ways to enter:
1. Leave a comment on this post, yep that's it just tell me what you think about this post/giveaway and you will get one entry.
2. leave a comment on any post on my other blog, Mom's Not All, leave a comment here telling me you did and which post you commented on or the url to the comment.
2. Twitter about this giveaway, then leave another comment here telling me you did so and where I can find the tweet ie. a url or your twitter id so I can find you. This will get you one more entry.
3. Follow Me and you will get one more entry just leave another comment to let me know they you are a new follower and if you already follow me leave a comment telling me you already do.
4. If you have a blog of your own, spread the word about this giveaway on your blog then leave one more comment here telling me about it and giving me a link to your blog. This one is worth 2 entries.
All in all you can have up to 6 entries into this giveaway bringing you that much closer to your owning this wonderful photo album.

What are the Rules to this Giveaway?
1. An email address is required so leave it with your comment (or else how will you know you won)
2. A winner will be chosen using random.org
3. The winner will be contacted via email and will have 2 days to reply before a new winner is chosen.
4. Open to US address'
5. Ends on 6/8/09 @ 10PM CST. Good Luck!!!

And Now...
Tip Today - Always Leave copies of your itinerary, passport data page and visas with family or friends, so you can be contacted in case of an emergency.

Quote Today - “Too often travel, instead of broadening the mind, merely lengthens the conversation.” - Elizabeth Drew

Dreaming Of - Watching the rain fall in one of those severe Southern thunderstorms.

Travel history

Sharing your history is a great way to build a report and so I have built these maps of where I have been. One of these days I am going to travel to North Dakota, I know I will. There must be some reason to go to North Dakota, right? Maybe we will rent a cabin there some day.






visited 48 states (96%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or jurisdische veraling duits?

I think of myself as a well traveled person but when I look at this world map there is a lot of gray. Unlike with a lot of things in my life right now the gray in this image doesn't make me sad it motivates me to start planning my next big vacation.



visited 5 states (2.22%)
Create your own visited map of The World or another interesting project

Welcome my new Somewhere Else Travel blog. I am very excited about sharing all kinds of travel info with you. I have a hard time explaining to people why I love travel or how much I love it, but I will do my best here on this blog.

I figure a great place to start would be to share with you where I plan to travel next.

Trips we have planned:

• Where: Slade, Kentucky When: August 6 - 10 2009 Why: family reunion
• Where: Portland, Oregon When: August 12 - 26 2009 aprox Why: visit husband's family
• Where: Fort Myers, Florida When: September 24 - 28 2009 Why: my 10 year high school reunion
  

Trips we hope to take in the next year (or so):

• Week at Desire Resort - that would be just me and hubby
• Long weekend train trip - the little guy loves trains so we want to take a short train ride to somewhere close like Houston or Memphis or somewehere like that then spend a night or two in a hotel and return home. We could take a longer train trip but right now the price and time doesn't seem worth it, though I think that would be nice, but not sure it's a good idea to keep a toddler stuck on a train for days at a time.
• Girls trip to Wiscon next year
  

Dream trips:

• Paris
• Going back to Australia with Hubby and the Little Guy
• A cruise with Hubby and the Little Guy
• A Windjammer type cruise where you can work on the vessel while you sail.
  

Sprucing up

Welcome back Somewhere Else Travel blog. It's been a while but I am dusting you off and presenting you to the world. You need a little sprucing up but I think in a few weeks of doing a little here and a little there you will be good as new. You are still looking pretty good if I do say so myself. I can't wait to get to know you all over again.

Weirdly accurate

Your rainbow is shaded red and violet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a creative person. You appreciate energetic people. You are patient and will keep trying to understand something until you've mastered it. You get bored easily and want friends who will keep up with you.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Cuba there we come...

...Maybe. There are talks that Obama may lift the Travel restrictions with Cuba. If he does then sign me up. I have always wanted to go to Cuba.