wildtalesof.com

October 28, 2013

Bayview State Park: Simple Setup, Spectacular Sunset

We just had one of those weekends where we didn’t travel very far from home, but still felt like we were truly getting away.

Skagit Valley is just an hour and a half or so north of Seattle. Its most famous claim-to-fame is the Tulip Festival that takes place every spring. The rural area is also spotted with adorably charming small towns, pastoral view after pastoral view, and its situated where one can take in the water to the west and Cascades to the east, including Mount Baker, all in one spot.

In need of a fall getaway, we made the quick trip to see what staying in a state park cabin, with a toddler, might be like.

Bayview State Park (also in the town of Bayview) is located on Padilla Bay with views of the larger town of Anacortes as well as the San Juan Islands. It’s a small state park made up of mostly cabins, campgrounds and RV spots, but it’s quiet, and it has an incredible beach.

You’ll hear much more about our trip, from the food we ate to the hikes and other adventures we got into, but I just love how we started off our weekend.

For one, we were relieved to learn it clearly doesn’t take nearly as long to setup “camp” at a cabin as it does when tents are involved. We also had a better plan: One person works while the other gives full attention to Bergen (2 years old). Then switch. No more thinking we can both set things up and “keep an eye on” the little guy. It just doesn’t work and it’s not worth the time we think we would save.

In what felt like no time, our beds were set, chairs and supplies were out, and food was organized (you’ll see we didn’t need much). And then, we were munching on appetizers, enjoying refreshments, and making our way to witness sunset on the bay.

In addition to rocks, Bergen has now added sticks to his collection habits, so you might imagine he was quite pleased at the selection. He was so content here, just wanting to explore and gather treasure after treasure.

Skagit Valley is also known as an incredible place for bird watchers. Here we had our first of many great blue heron sightings throughout the weekend.

Usually after awhile I’m told to quit it with all the picture taking, but this time, Slaed understood because every time we looked out, the sky had changed, and was showing us something a little different.

Where can YOU get away without traveling too far? Share your favorite destination, even if it’s just down the street!

Come join the conversation! You can keep up to date with each and every post by subscribing to the blog via email. We’d also love to have you join us on all of our adventures by “liking” our facebook page and following us on twitter!

More from Skagit Valley:

Naptime Road Trips: La Conner, WA

October 23, 2013

Good Eats in Madison, Wisconsin

With only three days to dive into the food scene of Madison during our trip last summer, we really didn’t waste a lot of time, and were not about to take any chances. We were prepared with a guide book as always, but more importantly, we sought out recommendations from friends who’d lived in and visited Madison. Only folks who really knew their stuff could be trusted. Admittedly, we had some preconceived notions.

Beer, cheese, and ice cream were all top priorities, and not surprisingly it wasn’t long before we’d sampled all three. There is more to Madison than just those basics though, so here’s an overview of a few spots you wouldn’t want to miss if you find yourself in the city of four lakes. The Roman Candle, a local pizza joint with 3 locations, was the one spot we chose more on a whim and out of convenience than from our great list of recommendations. We had just arrived in the city that afternoon, it was getting late, and after exploring some of the local parks and waterfront, we needed to get food into Bergen’s (2 years old) belly immediately. We were quickly welcomed in to the restaurant despite Bergen’s impatience and squirminess, and we breathed a sigh of relief when we noticed the shelf full of books, toys and other amusements right next to our table. These supplies were exactly what we need to help us get through this meal.

Once we got a glance at the menu, we settled one of their specialty pizzas. “The Pestoral” reminded us of one of the old standbys we order for a favorite spot in Seattle, and the Madison version did not disappoint. This pie has a pesto sauce and is topped with tomatoes, fresh Wisconsin feta, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, red peppers, and there’s even some basil thrown into the mix. After a rough night of tossing and turning and a not welcome early rising, we were ready to be spoiled by exceptional food. Good thing, we were led in the right direction (thanks to a nice local who actually walked us right to the door) to the popular breakfast spot, Marigold Kitchen. Even though the restaurant was busy when we got there, I somehow was able to walk right up to the counter to order while Slaed and Bergen snagged a spot. By the time I was joined them at the table, the line was getting close to going out the door!

We went the sweet and savory route and coordinated with a stack of fluffy pancakes topped with strawberries and a expertly crafted breakfast sandwich piled with a fried egg, fresh Wisconsin cheese, applewood smoked bacon, tomatoes, and green onion. This is an order at the counter, then staff brings your food to your table kind of spot. I should also mention that Slaed got the best glass of orange juice (fresh squeezed) he’s had in a long time.

Of course you can’t be in Wisconsin long before you start to notice all of the German influence. After Bergen’s nap and a little freshening up, we decided to start our evening off with some appetizers and a beer or two at the Essen Haus. This traditional German restaurant with 16 German beers on tap, really got us excited about being in the state.

And most importantly, we finally (okay we’d really only been in town for a day) got to sample the fried cheese curds that everyone told us about, and boy were we spoiled! These are the best fried cheese curds we had over the course of our 7-day stay in Wisconsin (and we ordered A LOT of cheese curds). The staff was super helpful (and patient with us) and we also loved the traditional pretzel served with horseradish and mustard. I’d love to go back and really dig into some of their German food specialties.

We’ve now learned that maybe we were pressing our luck a bit by taking Bergen to 2 restaurants in one night, but we were too excited about some of the recommendations we received and we thought we just had to do it all (or at least try to). And we really can’t complain too much because The Great Dane keyed us into another Wisconsin tradition: The Fish Fry. We should have gone with two orders from the fish fry menu, but if you didn’t already know, we love to coordinate our entrees to encompass different tastes, so we had one fish fry and the Great Dane’s burgers on a fancy pretzel bun. My recommendation…fish fry all the way.

It’s tough to really go wrong with any farmer’s market, but Madison’s Saturday Farmer’s Market is really something special. Instead of sitting down for breakfast on this morning, we opted to just do lots of little snacking and nibbling as we made our way around the capitol building. We tried locally made (with local ingredients) scones and mini fruit pies, but the most memorable treat was the raw corn. The woman at the stand shucked the corn for us, and assured us that we did not necessarily need to cook corn in order to enjoy it! We also learned that little Bergen would do just fine with his own piece of corn on the cob—he was occupied for a good 20 minutes munching off each and every last kernel.

More Madison Food Recommendations:

Ice Cream at Babcock Hall Dairy Store-Grab an ice cream cone that’s big enough for lunch!
Willy Street Co-op-Handy spot for grabbing a few staples for your hotel or rental. Great salad bar perfect for lunch on the go.
The Weary Traveler Free House-Plenty of local beers on tap and an overflowing meat and cheese plate that will satisfy all the hungry mouths in your group.

Have you spent time in Madison, Wisconsin? What did you see, do & most importantly…EAT?

October 20, 2013

Budget Travel Tips: 10 Ways to Save Money on the Flight

We’re thrifty people. We like to stretch our dollar (or euro, quetzal, krona) as far as we can, yet still have good fun and adventure along the way. Saving money and finding deals is not always easy. It takes time, patience, and sometimes a willingness to scrutinize every possibility you can imagine. And even when you thought you found your perfect price, you still aren’t satisfied and continue to go back and recrunch and reanalyze. At least that’s been our experience.

In our years of booking flights online, we’ve come across a few ways that help us get the best possible cost and the most value for our money. Some are easy to implement and can be utilized right away, while others take a little extra time and work.

1. Know Your Airline Options. Go to the airport website that you’d like to fly into, and find out ALL of the airlines that fly in and out of that particular hub. Not all airlines are included in the flight search engines (expedia, kayak, travelocity, etc.), so you want to make sure you are aware of each and every option at hand. Also know that there may be more than one airport near your destination, so be sure to check them all.

2. Plan and Book Trips Early. When you book well in advance, I’m talking up to a year, you will save money, most of the time. In general, the closer you get to your trip, the higher the price (yes, crazy sales happen). So it’s smart to make travel plans far in advance, especially for high travel times like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Be aware of your family’s holiday schedule and plan according.

3. Research and Study Flights. Spend a few weeks researching the flight that you are interested in without any intention of actually booking, of course making sure that you are giving yourself plenty of time. Get familiar with the flight patterns and options. This will give you more confidence when it’s actually time to pull the trigger.

If possible, many say it’s important to clear your search history. Search engines get to know the flight you are interested in and searching for, and may increase the price when you go to look it up again. They do this to make you think need to book right away (for fear of the price going up even more).

4. Avoid Travel on Sundays. Unless it’s a holiday weekend (or Christmas happens to fall on a Sunday), everybody wants to fly to their destination on Sundays, so of course prices are going to be higher. If your schedule allows you to be flexible, fly on other days of the week.

5. Join Frequent Flier Programs. When ever you fly a particular airline, even if you think you’ll only fly with them once, it’s always smart to take the time to join their mileage program. Any chance to gain “miles” is an opportunity to save money later on down the road. If you have kids, make sure you sign them up for a their own account too! You are never too young to start accumulating miles and start saving, though most programs start at 2 years of age.

6. Be Smart when Utilizing Miles from Frequent Flier Programs. Once you start accumulating miles on frequent flyer programs, it can be tempting to get excited and book with “awards” right away. It’s important to step back and weigh your options first though. You want to get the most bang for your mileage buck. Be savvy and use your miles for bigger ticketed flights. We save our miles for cross-country trips, flights to Hawaii, and even international destinations.

With Alaska Airlines, we are also able to use miles to gain discounts on flights. For example, we can receive 50% off a flight if using a certain number of frequent flyer miles. We’ll often take this option instead of depleting our entire mileage bank on just one trip.

7. Consider a Linked Credit or Debit Card. This day and age, we’re using our credit and debit cards all the time, why not capitalize on that frequent usage and get a few rewards along the way? Research the card that works best for you and your lifestyle. Some cards even offer deeply discounted companion tickets so someone traveling with you gets to come along without a lot of extra cost.

8. Be Loyal. It can be tough to stay loyal with all of the amazing sales that seem to pop-up all over the place, but we’ve found that the more we travel with our chosen airline, the more benefits we receive. Obviously the miles accumulate much faster when you try to stick with one particular airline thus giving you more options to save.

Then if you’ve really worked hard (and flown quite a bit) you can reach a more elite status with that airline, and gain even more benefits and perks. Choose wisely though. Choose an airline that makes sense with where you live and the areas that you frequent.

9. Fly Non-Stop. When you only have one leg, you are making your travel less complicated and sometimes you can also save quite a bit of money. When we fly from our home on the west coast to family on the east coast, instead of flying to the smaller airport via a connecting flight, we make the larger airport our destination, rent a car, and drive the rest of the way. For example, we fly from Seattle to Atlanta, and instead of flying on to Charlotte (where family lives), we drive. In situations where we need to rent a car anyway, it’s more cost effective.

10. Check Back for Price Drops after Booking. Believe it or not many airlines will refund you the difference (in a credit for future travel) if the price of your flight drops after you’ve already booked. It pays to check back frequently, and often just requires a call to the airline on your part. Be careful though as some airlines do charge a fee in order to get the refund. This may help in deciding which airline to go with!

Do you use any of these ideas? How do you save on air travel?

Come join the conversation! We’d love to have you join us on all of our adventures by “liking” our facebook page and following us on twitter! You can also keep up to date with each and every post by subscribing to the blog via email.

October 18, 2013

Our Midwest Beach Vacation: Exploring Point Beach State Forest in Two Rivers, WI

When you hear “Wisconsin”, what’s the first thing you think about?

Cheese, cows, curds, and beer all seem to be classic answers.

How about the beach though?

Does splashing in the waves, boogie boarding, and walking along the shore come to mind?

It most certainly did not for us, but after attending a family wedding in Madison, we were willing to give the coast of Wisconsin a try. In fact, we turned what could have been a short wedding weekend, into a full week mid-west vacation.

From Madison, we made our way north to the small “beach” town of Two Rivers on Lake Michigan. Normally we choose to stay in town and close to the action of restaurants, cafes, and local shops, and while we weren’t far (just 2 miles), this time a comfortable retreat that was closer to the water was more important to us.

Our Midwest Beach Vacation: Exploring Point Beach State Forest in Two Rivers, WI| WildTalesof.com

Happy to support Wisconsin’s state parks system, we chose Point Beach State Forest to be our first spot of exploration, and minus a break for lunch and Bergen’s (2 years old) nap, we made the most of the entry fee and spent the majority of the day here.

First, we decided on a leisurely (though long) walk along the water with Bergen beginning and ending in the backpack carrier. He also started off with regular clothes, changed into his swimming gear when it became evident that we wouldn’t be shy about the water, and was back in his dry clothes as we made our way home.

We nearly had the beach to ourselves and took our time taking in views of the lighthouse, stopping to investigate the differences in the lake shore verses ocean shore, and giving Bergen plenty of time to throw sand and rocks into the water and chase butterflies.

Our Midwest Beach Vacation: Exploring Point Beach State Forest in Two Rivers, WI| WildTalesof.com

After a while, we saw a blue tent set-up in the distance and made the goal of reaching it for our turn around spot. We planned to then take the forest trail back to get a different perspective of the park.

Our Midwest Beach Vacation: Exploring Point Beach State Forest in Two Rivers, WI| WildTalesof.com

As we approached the group at the blue tent, the people were friendly enough, but they were skeptical. Like us, I think they were enjoying their deserted beach time, and weren’t sure about this family of three encroaching on their fun.

Behind them, we started up the walkway, to find the forest trail that would lead us back to the park entrance. Here we ran into even more people, and discovered that we actually were invading these vacationers space! After following the walkway, we found a set of rustic cabins (available to rent from the state park) and quickly realized we needed to get out of their hair before they started thinking were some sort of weird intruders.

A couple of the campers were nice enough to lead us to the trail and we were on our way. Unfortunately, we didn’t last long. Being the spoiled Pacific Northwesterners that we are, it didn’t occur to us to bring the bug spray (that we packed, but left at the rental) along with us. Before stepping foot into the forest, we didn’t even think we’d need it! Isn’t bug spray just something you slap on at night while enjoying some outside time? Not even close.

Our Midwest Beach Vacation: Exploring Point Beach State Forest in Two Rivers, WI| WildTalesof.com

Can you tell Slaed was high tailing it out of there?

The mosquitoes literally consumed us. And poor Bergen in the backpack carrier was defenseless. He couldn’t even reach down and swat them away. We were back to the beach in a hurry, which is a shame because I was really looking forward to getting to know more of the woodsy parts of Wisconsin that we had heard so much about.

I guess we should have been more prepared. The girls who helped us get to the path originally must of assumed we were smarter, because they made no mention of the pests. All they said was what a great time we’d have hiking!

A much more pleasant return.

After this experience and even more fun later on in our trip, we are a couple of believers in the Midwest beach! Calm water, soft sand, beautiful views… Just stay clear of the forested areas unless you are well-equipped and ready to defend yourself.

These suckers were certainly not the worst pests we’ve encountered, but bad enough. Where have you run into the worst bugs in your travels?

More from our Midwest Vacation:

October 15, 2013

Built-in Adventures: Experiencing Fall on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail in Carnation, WA

After a travel adventure in California’s Bay area, yesterday Bergen and I set out on another built-in adventure to pick up our pup, Norman at the boarders. She takes such good care of Norman, treating him like one of her own, that we are okay with driving out to the country to reunite. Besides, it gives us a chance to experience the beauty of Snoqualmie Valley. No matter the season, I treasure the drive out, and I’ve picked up favorite spots to stop and explore along the way.

This visit gave us the perfect opportunity to burn off some energy and take-in all the fall color changes happening here in Western Washington. While we barely scratched the surface of the 31.5 mile Snoqualmie Valley Trail, we covered enough ground to see plenty of gorgeous autumn leaves, a salmon spawning spot, and even caught a glimpse of the October happenings at one of the region’s most beloved farms.

The trail, stretching from Duvall to Rattlesnake Lake near North Bend, has several access points. We entered at Nick Loutsis Park in downtown Carnation, and walked just a half a mile or so (remember we were going at toddler speed) to where the trail crosses over Remlinger Farm.

Stopping at the bridge that took us over the Tolt River provided me with a mix of emotions. For one, I was terrified that Bergen might slip through the opening between the edge of the bridge & railing, and fall. Highly unlikely, I know, but for some reason bridges bring on a new fear for me now that I have an active toddler by my side (or often running away from my side).

Then when I studied the water flowing below us a little more closely, I saw one salmon floating there, dead. When I continued studying the river and it’s banks, I realized there dozens of salmon floating in the water and also stuck along the edges and in between rocks. I was worried. How completely sad.

We moved on, but I later realized, thanks to some informative signage that this is normal. It’s peak spawning season for several species of salmon, so they’ve made their journey back and have now died. The natural order of things.

And another remarkable reminder of this season of change.

What seasonal changes are you experiencing in your world?

Have you checked out our latest giveaway?

October 9, 2013

Kowalli Baby Carrier Cover Giveaway!

I recently posted about the Kowalli Carrier Cover that we just added to our Adventure Gear Arsenal. I’m so happy with this handy tool that keeps both me and Bergen (2 years old) warm while I’m lugging him around in the ergo carrier.

I’m thrilled to announce that the folks at Kowalli would like to giveaway a carrier cover to one our readers! Remember, you can read all about the details of the carrier cover, how it works, and what I love about it in my previous review.

Kowallis can be used with all soft carriers (ergo, moby, beco, etc), and is made for children 0-3 years old. Even if you don’t have a little one at home, what a great gift for your babywearing family and friends!

To Enter the Giveaway

Easy: “Like” Kowalli on facebook, and leave a comment here on the blog letting me know you’ve done so.
Bonus Entries-Your name will be entered again depending on how many bonus entries you submit thus increasing your chances of winning (make sure to tell us in your comment which of these you did or already do!):
- “Like” Wild Tales of… on facebook
- Follow” Wild Tales of… on twitter
- Share this post by tweeting or sharing on your facebook wall or page. Make sure to tag @WildTalesof in your post.

Winner, Winner…

1 Kowalli Carrier Cover (valued at $69) will be given away to one lucky reader! Winner gets to choose from several great color combinations that Kowalli offers. Contest ends and all entries must be received by Friday, October 18, 2013 at 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time. Winners will be chosen at random and notified on Monday, October 21, 2013. Giveaway open to U.S. and Canadian residents 18 years or older. After notification, winners have 3 days to connect. Questions? Don’t hesitate to contact me!