The past few weeks I have tried imagining our life without my beloved Santa Fe, and I never imagined I would be this sad about giving up a vehicle.
I asked my family and close friends to help me understand why I was so depressed about giving up this car. I have even cried about it on more than one occasion. Instead of teasing me, they were so sympathetic and empathetic. They helped me see I wasn’t crazy or irrational. It leads me to believe that this may be more common than I had realized, perhaps even universal. There are several reasons for this, I think.
We live our life in our cars. My husband reminded me how many memories we’ve made and how many road trips we’ve been on. Our children have grown up in this car. They were age 4 and 8 when we got it, and we’ve had it for 7 years! I looked back at old photos of our kids and this car, and invoked even more tears.
My favorite memories are the vacations and beach trips we’ve taken. We’ve been to Charleston, Tybee Island, Florida, and Gulfport. We believe in enjoying the journey as much as the destination so seeing that rocket at the Tennessee Alabama state line, going to Bucee’s and grabbing a peach milkshake at Peach Park will long live in our memory banks.
The day to day errands and running the girls to all the things are equally memorable. We’ve been on Girl Scout camping trips, to Space Camp, soccer games, gymnastics, swim team, horse riding lessons, piano, guitar, and all of the other activities the girls have explored. We’ve taken car rides with the girls’ friends with the sunroof open singing Taylor Swift and Morgan Wallen at the top of our lungs. The time spent in our cars with family and friends means so much, but so does the time we drive solo.
We spend so much time by ourselves in our cars. It has been a safe haven and a quiet space for me when life has been hard, but also such a place of joy as I have spent these 7 years exploring exactly who I want to be going forward in life. Going for a drive can be an escape. It can be therapeutic and even healing. I’ve had many a good cry, gotten frustrated with Siri for botching my voice-to-texts, and yelled at many a bad driver – if only they could hear what I’m saying!! Taking a drive by ourselves in the car can also just be downright fun. So much glorious daydreaming and the best music, cranked up loud.
I love all of the bougie features of my Santa Fe. I love my heated seats and steering wheel. I love my power everything, large and numerous cupholders, and I love the third row with the option to fold it down. Above all, I love my pano sunroof the most.
As days passed coming to terms with saying farewell to my beloved car, and I continued to feel sorrowful, I felt the need to write this in order to process all the feelings. I am reminded of the quote that goes “don’t cry because it’s over, be smile because it happened.”
One of the best things about living in Middle Tennessee is the beautiful fall foliage and all of the fall activities that we have to offer. I’ve put together a list of my very favorite things we love to do in the fall in the Tennessee-Kentucky area. We live in Clarksville,Tennessee, and we have a true color change if leaves that is beautiful and not to be missed so you can be sure that a lot of the items on the list are outdoors! Living less than an hour away from Nashville, many of our favorite fall activities are located there as well as some of the surrounding areas. We are also just a half hour away from the Kentucky state line so you’ll find some Kentucky locations made my list. I love living in Middle Tennessee in the fall! If we ever move, fall will be high on my list of things that I miss.
Go to a pumpkin patch! There are so many great ones. Gentry Farm, Lucky Ladd Farm, and Walden Farm are all wonderful.
Go to Cheekwood. The mums are breathtaking and the pumpkin displays are amazing. The pumpkin houses are so cute and make a great photo op.
Go on a hike. In Clarksville we love to go to Rotary Park, Dunbar Cave and Billy Dunlop Park. There are some cute trails near downtown Clarksville as well. In Nashville we love to hike at Radnor Lake.
Outside of Nashville there are so many great waterfall hikes such as Machine Falls and Burgess Falls. Late October and early November offer the best chance to see fall leaves.
Honeysuckle Hill Farm. This is a family favorite and a tradition that has so much to offer. There are hayrides, a “pumpkin patch,” mining for gemstones, awesome playground, in-ground bouncy trampoline, zipline, and so much more.
Boo at the Zoo. The Nashville Zoo is so much fun on a regular day, but they also do such an amazing job at creating this wonderful experience during the Halloween season.
Take a drive along Natchez Trace near Franklin, TN. The views of the fall foliage are stunning!
Go on a trail ride with Circle T Ranch! Located near Hopkinsville, KY, they offer a couple near Halloween that include a haunted hayride, and making s’mores and roasting hot dogs over the fire afterward.
Todd County Bale Trail. Some of the best things in life are free, and this is one of them. The bale trial is basically amazingly decorated hay bales that can be found throughout Todd County and has the feel of a scavenger hunt. Just print the hay bale map and enter the addresses into your GPS and away you go! This year there was an Inside Out them for several of the bales and they were adorable! While you’re in Todd County, make a day of it by checking out The Country Pantry and Schlabach’s, Guthrie’s Amish grocery and bakery! Or in downtown Elkton where many of the bales can be found, check out the soda shop or Hampton’s for the best burger and shake!
These are just a few of my favorite things to do Clarksville and surrounding areas! We are so blessed to live where we do with so many rich offerings of things to do and places to explore.
This pic was taken 6 years ago when we stopped off in Chattanooga to eat on our way to the East Coast. I promised myself we would go back and finally keeping that promise!
I’m in the process of planning a short family trip to Chattanooga, and I wanted to share and post my bucket list in the hopes that others might share other ideas for us to add. I would especially appreciate feedback from locals. When we travel, we love to immerse ourselves in the city we are visiting. To pretend for a short time that we live there. While some of the items on our list are admittedly touristy, I always tend to enjoy the non-tourist local favorites the most. Let me know your thoughts and pros/cons of the places already on the list as well. Thank you much!
Tennessee Aquarium (curious how it compares to Chattanooga Aquarium)
The Incline Railway
Lookout Mountain
Coolidge Park
Ruby Falls
The Hot Chocolatier
Chattanooga Market
The Passage Waterwalk
Little Debbie Park
Cardboard Hill
Rosie Mae’s Alpaca Farm
West Village (Shopping)
Clumpies Ice Cream
Tony’s Pasta Shop
Rembrandt’s Coffee House
Yellow Deli
Urban Stack
Mean Mug Coffeehouse
Syrup and Eggs
The Daily Ration
I can’t wait to read any tips or advice you may have to share about your own experiences in Chattanooga!
My high school besties and I have been talking about a Maine girls’ trip for years. This year we all turned 50, and decided to make it happen. My friend Caryn lives in Maine, and she was the best hostess and tour guide we could have asked for. She LOVES Maine and was able to provide us with an experience that only a local could provide, and Maine now has a special place in my heart after this trip! We were able to see exactly why she loves her home state for the last 20+ years. It is my hope that anyone who reads this will want to add Maine to your bucket list of places you must visit. If the words don’t convey the value, the pictures definitely will!
Caryn lives in Falmouth which is just 10-15 minutes north of Portland, and about a two hour drive from Boston which is where we flew in. You can fly in to either Portland or Boston, so it is worth your time to compare costs. We were able to save money and my friend Lori was able to use points by flying into Boston. If you would like to read about our Girls’ Trip to Boston and how to spend 24 hours in Boston with your girlfriends, you can find that post here.
To get to Maine from Boston, we had to pass through New Hampshire. I was expecting to check off two states on this trip, but New Hampshire was an added bonus! I’ve noticed that state lines almost everywhere that I travel are on bridges.
Our first stop was one of my favorite parts of our entire trip. We visited The Cliff House, a luxury hotel located in Cape Neddick, near Ogunquit. The hotel is oceanfront on the cliffs in southern Maine, and such an exquisite hotel with an even more exquisite view! I did not want to leave. You will want to make your way through the courtyard where the firepit is located and back toward the pool area. Be sure to walk along the back side of the hotel for a different and equally captivating view with every turn. There were lots of “oohs” and “ahhs” and so many pictures taken!
If you stop by to walk the grounds at The Cliff House please ask the employee at the gate. We explored with permission and our friend is a repeat customer of the spa there. This is a high end resort and you would want to carry yourself as such while you are there. This belongs on your Maine bucket list!
Our next stop was Kennebunkport. I was so excited to drive through this beach town! I follow an influencer on Instagram, @thenashvillemom. She posts about Kennebunkport, particularly at Christmas, and her posts are so inspiring that you want to go there! To see it firsthand, I understand now why it’s so special to her.
We stopped for lunch in Kennebunkport at The Boathouse, what would end up being one of my favorite meals of the trip. It was a pretty hot day for Maine, but outside the breeze coming off the water was so nice! We decided to eat outside. I always love eating outdoors, and the atmosphere here was part of what made the experience so special. I loved watching the boats and activity in the water and the yellow striped umbrellas added to the charm and overall aesthetic.
The Boathouse in Kennebunkport
The star of the show was the food! The menu was amazing and made it challenging to decide. I find that is almost always a good sign that wonderful food is to come. I got the Maine Coast Monkfish Stew. Sound strange? If you’ve never tried monkfish you are truly missing out; it’s known as “poor man’s lobster” because it has such a similar flavor to lobster, but more affordable. In this soup I really couldn’t distinguish it from it’s fancier counterpart. I also got the lobster fried rice which was such a generous serving and a table favorite. We had lobster rolls in our future later in the evening and the girls teased me about getting lobster items for lunch too, but my love for lobster runs DEEP. It is not possible to get tired of it. Why wouldn’t you get as much lobster as possible while in “lobster land?” We live in landlocked Tennessee and I am convinced now that the flavor and the freshness factor is nowhere near back home compared to what we got here. My friends got a burger and Korean lettuce wraps which they also loved! 100% recommend The Boathouse in Kennebunkport!
After lunch, we headed to the beach! One of the things we had requested to do while in Maine was go to a “real beach.” Goose Rocks Beach fit the bill. Powder soft sand and gentle waves. We didn’t spend a lot of time here, but it was enough for me to get my dose of “vitamin sea.” In the pictures of Goose Rocks Beach below, you will notice a design of concentric circles in the sand. I have always been fascinated with crop circles and how they get them so perfect? I can’t make one circle that isn’t lumpy!
As if this had not already been special enough, our next stop was one of my favorite memories we made on the entire trip. We got to see the Portland Head Light, a real lighthouse! It is Maine’s oldest and most beautiful. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it in paintings and other pieces of art. It looked so iconic. Again, I did not want to leave. Just like at the Cliff House, every twist and turn down the path revealed even a more beautiful view than the previous one. Portland Head Light is must on your Maine bucket list!
Finally, the cherry on top of this whole trip, we were treated to lobster rolls! You should know that you can get lobster rolls just about anywhere in Maine, even some gas stations had them. And you can pay big money for them too. Caryn had a friend who has access to lobster right off the boat, and all the best ingredients. Rolls buttered and toasted properly with lettuce and mayo. He came to her house and made them for us! This was definitely the best thing I put in my mouth on the entire trip and in my top ten for best bites of my life. Another friend and neighbor is a talented singer and guitar player and entertained us by the fire pit afterward. I will not forget this night or the hospitality!
My lobster roll
Amazing!
So good.
This is happiness.
We got to meet our dinner before eating it. That’s fresh!
We enjoyed time by the fire pit and wonderful live music.
I was introduced to the butter bell! And Kate’s butter. So good!
We flew out the next day, but before our flight we had time to enjoy breakfast together and spend a couple of hours at LL Bean and the other outlets in Freeport. I could not have been prepared for how big LL Bean was. It’s multiple buildings that cover several blocks, with other outlet stores nestled all around. And each LL Bean store held categories of items. There was an LL Bean store that was primarily clothing (huge), another for camping, and another for boating. You get the idea. In front of the LL Bean clothing outlet is a photobooth experience where you can take a pic with the giant LL Bean boot or where the ginormous LL Bean backpack. It was fun to watch little kids put on this big backpack! Part of the charm of the area is that the Starbucks, McDonalds, and some other restaurants and stores were formally houses. The whole area is very walkable and there were also some amazing souvenir shops that allowed us to grab some gifts from our families.
This trip to Maine was one that I will never forget and I look forward to bringing my family here (hopefully one day soon) and sharing it with them. When people think of Maine, they may think of snow and cold weather, but we had such nice temps during this July visit! If you have been planning to visit Maine, consider going in the summertime. However, I think for my next visit I would like to see the beautiful fall leaves when they change color.
Do you take the same vacation every year? If you answered yes, we did too, and probably for all of the same reasons we did: we loved going there. We also knew our way around, and knew exactly what to expect. We knew we would have a great time, and it was our happy place.
One beautiful spring day, I was sitting outside a coffee shop, enjoying my latte and working on a blog post. At the table next to me were two girls talking about the summer vacations they were planning. One was like me, planning her same favorite beach vacay, and the other said something I will never forget, and the title of this post, “why are you taking the same vacation every year?”
She went on to explain that she intentionally plans a different trip every year, and that there is a whole world to see. She asked her friend if she thought about exposing herself and her family to different places. She talked about how much fun it is to explore new places and to plan for each trip. She said how meaningful and enriching it was for her children to actually visit the places they had read about in their history books. She had fallen in love with adventure and trying new things. She then shared trip experience after trip experience, at which point she had me convinced.
I went home that day and announced to my family that we should start planning a trip somewhere new and different. I thought I would be met with resistance, but to my surprise they were excited. Since then we haven’t repeated a trip since except for one, where we visited our old faithful beach locale for nostalgia’s sake.
I’m not saying to never visit any place twice. And I also realize to some who already love to travel to new places, that all of this may sound obvious. But where I live, I assure you so many families travel to the same place every year, and I wonder if they will look back and feel they missed out. Will you? In a lifetime that is so fleeting, we want to live in a way that we have no regrets, and that we can feel we have lived it to the fullest.
If you take the same vacation every year, consider branching out and trying somewhere different. Ask yourself what you love about that place, and why it is so important you to go there specifically. For us it was partly for financial reasons. Where we loved going was affordable! But I have been pleasantly surprised to discover places all over the map that we now love just as much that are just as affordable and in some cases they even cost less.
My intention for writing this is not to convince anyone that going on the same vacation is wrong. I hope to go to our old favorite again soon, and wish we had the financial means to do both each year: to go somewhere new and to to our beloved beach town. My hope is that someone who has never considered going somewhere new would have their eyes opened to the possibility that they might love another place as much as their old standby.
After reading this, if you feel as convinced and compelled to go somewhere new as I did that day at the coffee shop, I would love to hear about it. Let me know in the comments where you decide to go.
There are three things our family does when we travel, that I find are a little different than the norm, but they serve us extremely well. Once you’ve given them a read through, I’d love to know your own ideas of things your family has done to make your vacation experience more enjoyable. Please share in the comments!
Set a goal of seeing the country, maybe even the world.
I was writing on the patio at Starbucks one day, and overheard two girls talking about their vacations. One was explaining that they went to Destin, Florida every year and that was where they were going. The other girl replied, “Why would you take the same vacation every year when there’s a whole world to see?”
That was a lightbulb moment for me, because at that point taking the same vacation every year was exactly what our family had been doing! Not anymore.
We have made it our intention to visit a new state each year, and we pass through other states on our way to our destination. Fifty states goal! It is my hope that my girls will see all 50 states before graduating from high school.
Be a traveler, not a tourist.
Chef Anthony Bourdain taught us to be travelers, not tourists, and changed the way we visit new cities.
So now, instead of focusing on the popular tourist attractions, we try to find places that cater to each family members’ interest when we travel. I love yoga, going to the beach, knitting and jewelry making, so I try to incorporate these into our trips. One of my daughters loves music, plays guitar and loves to read, so guitar shops, record shops and bookstores are on our itenerary. My younger daughter is an avid swimmer and loves ice cream, so pools and ice cream shops are a must. Both girls love visiting coffee shops and doing art so I research those too. My husband is a classically trained chef so I research the best grocery stores, butcher shops, farmers markets and seafood markets. Of course we make sure to get a rental with a kitchen so he can cook!
We all want to check out the food scene, so researching local favorites is imperative. But the best way to find the really best food is to talk to the locals. Ask someone who lives there for their recommendations!
Avoid the crowds
The saying, “Look at what other people are doing, and do the exact opposite,” serves us well on vacation. Most people go to the beach in the afternoon and stay til sunset, so instead we are willing to get up early and see the sunrise. Then we can stay at the beach until around lunch time, or even pack a picnic lunch. We find that as we leave the beach, it is just beginning to get crowded. Getting to the beach early also helps us with parking! Visiting popular venues on weekdays and studying peak times helps us visit when they are the least crowded.
Dare to be different.
There is no right or wrong when planning your family vacation, but I hope these ideas have helped stretched the scope of your imagination for what your next trip could look like. Whatever your plans may be, you know your family best and you’re the best person equipped to make it the best one ever for everyone.
When you travel, are there certain creature comforts or extra items you bring along that you wouldn’t find on the typical packing list? I know our family tends to be a little extra!
But one thing I know for sure, the better we prepare, the better trip we have and the happier we are!
As I pondered our extra items, I couldn’t help but think, “Wow, we are pretty smart packers! We’ve thought of everything!”
Here are our extras! (Keep in mind we cook on our vacays so many of these are to stock our kitchen – we save money buying items at our local Walmart instead of paying marked up prices near our condo. 🤓)
Sound machine (can’t sleep without it)
Trash bags
Empty Walmart bags
Ziploc bags
Foil
Toilet paper
Paper towels
Olive oil
Vinegar
Spices
Kosher salt – most condos stock iodized 😣
Foaming hand soap (we use a natural kind)
Thieves cleaner
Dish soap
Dishwasher detergent
Laundry detergent
Coffee
Diffuser and essential oils
Beach toys
Bug spray (diy – natural)
Steak seasoning (my husband makes his own)
Kids snacks and drink pouches
For the kids:
DVDs – new ones they haven’t seen before
Art supplies
Crafts
Games (checkers, uno, etc)
Books to read to our 6-year-old at bedtime
Kneeling pad for bathing kiddos
Pitcher for bathing kiddos to keep water out of their eyes
Books for bedtime! Can’t forget those!
Please share in the comments if any of these are your extras too or if any of these helped you!
Essentially Better Living 