Lazy 5 Ranch- Mooresville, NC
www.lazy5ranch.com
This place is essentially a mini safari. You can either ride through in your own vehicle or take a wagon ride through. My mom did not care for the animals scratching up her new swagger-wagon so we opted to ride the ranch's wagon. Make sure you bring cash because this place does not accept any other form of payment. Once we started the tour I got to feed all kinds of animals. A hungry giraffe even licked my hand. My cousins were mortified, but I loved it! Our guide told us that we could feed any of the animals that came up to the wagon (ostrich, emus, bison, giraffes, etc) but we should not feed the zebras because they bite! My mom was watching me very closely because she knew I still wanted to feed the zebras, but I was a good girl and just looked at their pretty black and white stripes. When the safari was over we ate a picnic lunch. There is a nice picnic area with tables and benches to eat comfortably right next to a playground where I played after lunch. There is also a convenience stand by the benches that sold ice cream, popsicles and cold drinks. The restrooms are relatively clean and there is ample hand washing stations to clean up before lunch!
 |
| Boarding the wagon to head out on the safari |
 |
| Feeding the giraffe was the highlight of my day! |
Great Wolf Lodge Charlotte/Concord- Concord, NC
www.greatwolf.com
This indoor water park was extremely fun! My mom signed up to get their email promotions months before our trip and she kept watching the prices and analyzing their discounts in order to score the best deal. Our first day there we arrived around noon, much earlier than the published check in time. The front desk still gave us our wristbands and we got to play in the waterpark while we waited for our room to be ready. They also gave my cousins and I wolf ears that we loved and wore the whole weekend. Around the regular check in time our room was ready and as my mom and aunt went to the car to get our belongings they noticed the check in line was very very long. We were so glad we checked in early and beat the long lines! We stayed in a family suite big enough to comfortably sleep all 5 of us. We spent the majority of the first day in the water park enjoying the slides, rides, and pools. I went on the kiddie slide about 25 times in a row and when I got tired of it I wanted to ride the big kids slide with my cousins but I was too short. I was really sad, but my mom distracted me with a fun game where I got to jump on a line of about 6 plastic lily pads that were anchored to the bottom of the pool in order to get across the pool. I pretended like I was a frog and had a blast doing it. After we were tired of the indoor water park we went to the arcade and played a lot of arcade games. Then we left the Lodge to eat dinner at a BBQ place nearby. When we came back there was a story time in the front lobby. I stayed and listened with my mommy but my cousins (age 8 and 9) felt like they were too old for story time and went to the arcade instead.
 |
| We rode this kiddie slide over and over and over again!! |
Georgia Aquarium & Centennial Park- Atlanta, GA
www.georgiaaquarium.org
This aquarium is truly amazing. The shows that are included in the admission make the pricey admission ticket worth the price. Oh and before you buy your tickets check with your employer to see if they offer discounted tickets. My mom bought our tickets through her employer in North Carolina and it offered a pretty good discount. I was enthralled by the dolphin show. My mom tells me its better than the dolphin shows she has seen at SeaWorld. The show was about an adventurer who gets shipwrecked and has to battle agains bad guys and pirates. The actors and dolphins did so many awesome jumps and flips. We sat in the "wet zone" so I got to get splashed by the dolphins jumping. I LOVED it. The other shows the aquarium offered were equally good. There were a lot of interactive side shows that kept my cousins and I entertained in addition to the typical aquarium stuff: i.e. looking at fish and sharks and other underwater creatures.
 |
| I blended right in at the aquarium with my fish dress! It was a going away present from the neighbor at my old house in North Carolina. She always bought me the prettiest dresses. I'm going to miss her. |
www.centennialpark.com
This park was built when the Olympics were held in Atlanta. Its a nice park in the middle of downtown. My favorite part was the spray grounds. My cousins and I put our swimsuits on and then ran around for about an hour getting soaking wet. Carefree childhood at its best. After we were finished playing in the water we dried off and headed to the playground in the park. There was a preschooler playground and a big kids playground. We spent a little time at both of them and it was nice. Very close to the playground there were a group of men who my mommy said probably didn't have a permanent home to live in. They were just standing about with large backpacks and shopping carts. I smiled at them and they smiled back.
 |
| Splashing away at the spray grounds |
Rosa Parks Library and Museum- Montgomery, AL
http://www.troy.edu/rosaparks/
Here I received my first history lesson in Civil Rights. My mommy took me through a gallery with many pictures, timelines, videos and narratives about Rosa Parks and the bus boycotts. After going through the gallery we sat down in a replica of a Montgomery city bus and then the bus started shaking and lights started flashing! We actually time traveled! Video screens appeared at the front of the bus and out the side windows that took us back in time to the days of slavery and told us about how Jim Crow came to be Jim Crow and a multitude of other historical details that my mom and Aunt said they were never taught in school. The journey continued to the era of Rosa Parks and the bus boycott and walked us through the key moments in the civil rights movement. My cousins and I were very humbled to learn this part of American history.
 |
| I was very eager to learn about Rosa Parks |
Pensacola Beach, FL
The ocean was beautiful. The beaches were nice and not too crowded, but I learned that I did NOT like sand. In fact I hated it and cried when I first had to step in it. I had been begging my mom to go to the beach for a long time and now that I was finally at the beach I realized that I want the beach but without the sand. My cousins were so nice and coaxed me into having a good time hunting for sea shells, splashing around in the water, chasing seagulls, building sand castles and yes burying our entire bodies in sand!
 |
| I wasn't too sure about the sand. For the first few minutes I preferred to lounge around in my chair with my water bottle filled with cold refreshing water while I surveyed the beach. |
 |
| By the end of the afternoon I got over my dislike of sand and was covered in it. Literally! |
New Orleans, LA
My mom says most people think of NOLA as a wonderland for adults, but she's the best mommy in the world and found that there are a lot of kid friendly activities to do in the crescent city. We spent an entire afternoon at Carousel Gardens Amusement Park located in City Park a short car ride away from the French Quarters. http://neworleanscitypark.com/in-the-park/carousel-gardens My mom got us wrist bands because if you plan on riding several rides its more cost effective than buying ride tickets. We went in the middle of the week and there was hardly anyone at the amusement park so my cousins and I got to ride the majority of the rides several times in a row. The bigger girls got to ride more rides than I could because I was too short for several of the rides including the roller coaster, but its ok because when I get taller I'm going back! My mom wanted us to go on Steamboat Natchez http://www.steamboatnatchez.com but unfortunately the timing of the cruise times did not work out for us. Instead we toured the french quarters and got a ton of photo ops in Jackson Square. We had breakfast at the famous Cafe Du Monde. The beignets were absolutely delicious. My mom had to order a second round of beignets for everyone because we all wanted more! Another fun thing to do is to take a horse drawn carriage tour around the french quarters. The horses are pretty but they leave poop everywhere. Yuck!
 |
| Riding the carousel at the amusement park |
 |
| Our first visit to Cafe Du Monde and they gave us hats. Well actually my mom requested it and our waiter obliged. My mom is a totally mamarazzi! |
 |
| Photo ops in Jackson Square. This is my signature hand on the hip and knee bent pose. You will see a LOT of it on my travel blog. |
Lake Charles, LA
For anyone traveling on I-10 going through Louisiana, Steamboat Bill's is a must stop place to have lunch or dinner. The cajun food here is excellent. Well seasoned and oh so yummy in my tummy. You won't regret it. Any restaurant that has good reviews on yelp.com is a good restaurant in my book because those yelpers can be highly critical! http://www.steamboatbills.com
Buc-ee's
Another must stop place while traveling in Texas. Buc-ee's is a Texas road trip tradition. They say everything is bigger in Texas and this convenience store lives up to that saying. It's super large and has the cleanest bathrooms west of the Mississippi. Their food is also great. My mom loves their apple turn overs. I love their caramel and butter glazed corn puffs called Beaver nuggets. Yum Yum!
And that folks is the end of my 1, 200 mile road trip saga with my mommy, my auntie and my two cousins. Girl Power!
No comments:
Post a Comment