Tourist With A Blog

To go with my end of summer theme this week, let's talk camping. My favorite summer camping spot is Big Lake. I grew up camping in this area, and I love returning. We try to head here for a few days each summer. Getting There It is a bit of a hike to get there, about 4.5 hours, so at least 4 nights is needed. It's a beautiful area, though, and worth it. We like to stay at the Apache Trout campground . It's a very nice campground. We like to get a double spot and share it with my parents. There are other campgrounds nearby, and I know my brother prefers to boon dock nearby. Greer isn't that far either- and that's another fun spot. What We Do Big Lake itself is the main star. We head down probably once a day and fish. This year we rented a boat which you can do through their store .  Sometimes the fishing is good, sometimes it's not (this year not one fish was caught!). But it's pretty ei

As summer comes to an end, I wanted to post about our family summer getaway to Cabo San Lucas. We wanted to try out an all inclusive with the family, but wanted it close by so not to be a travel nightmare. We were traveling with my parents and my sister's family, so we chose a resort that would accommodate all our tastes.   Getting There We started the process of getting the kids' passports in November last year to make sure there was plenty of time before our summer trip. Since they're under 16, the passports are only valid for 5 years (so now I need to plan another trip to get more use out of them! Hopefully Costa Rica next year...). Based on other vacations and everyone's schedules, our trip didn't take place until July. We knew it was going to be hot, but that's just the way it worked out. We figured we'd mainly be in the pool anyhow, and we were. We all flew together on the short flight straight to Cabo.

Now to the star of the show. As I mentioned, Oktoberfest was the plan that started it all for our Europe trip. We were meeting up with one of my besties to celebrate her 40th. Did you know entering Oktoberfest is free? At it's core, it's a family friendly fair full of rides, vendors, and typical fair atmosphere...well, times 1000. The size and rides and even vendors were extravagant.  Each year, they tear down and then rebuild the beer tents. This is the part of Oktoberfest we were there for. If you go, make sure to reserve a table early. They sell out quickly and while you can enjoy the beer gardens pretty easily, inside the tents is where it's at. There are some helpful websites out there such as https://www.oktoberfest.de/en/beer-tents/reservations-at-oktoberfest. For the first Oktoberfest day, we just went in to explore. We dressed up in our dirndl and