Exciting News
The countdown has begun and we have about 6 weeks till our Epic Summer Road Trip begins! We have so much to do in regards to planning and preparing, but we will get it done at some point. We are feeling the anticipation and are ready to jump in the car and start our adventure.
Our Travels
We kicked off the month of April with a trip to New Orleans. We had four days of great humid-free weather and one day of torrential downpour. We kept ourselves busy with walking through gorgeous parks, eating and drinking ourselves to the diet-mode we are in today, riding the streetcars, visiting one-of-a-kind attractions like Mardi Gras World and trying new local beer. We had a blast getting off the beaten path and hope to write a few more posts about our experience in the city.
Dave went back to work for a few days when we got back and the very next set of days off, we headed down to Cape Girardeau, Missouri for a short weekend trip. I’ve had Cape on my list of places to visit in Missouri for a while now and it just so happened we had the chance to get there this spring.
We started out with a drive to Ste. Genevieve area, Missouri’s oldest town. We hiked at Hawn State Park before heading to town for dinner at Anvil Restaurant and Saloon. We had quite the encounter with the fascinating owner who explained to us why they had clowns all over the inside of the saloon as decoration. It’s like he read our minds, because we were asking ourselves the same question while eating dinner.
The next day we headed to Cape Girardeau, a river town in southeast Missouri. We love finding hidden gems in the Midwest! If we didn’t spend time in southern Illinois, we probably would have never known the city existed. We spent a few enjoyable days hiking, gambling, eating and drinking in the area.
On our next few days off, we stayed in the St. Louis area. We spent an afternoon at 4 Hands Brewery for their annual Food Truck Feast, then headed over to one of our favorites, Civil Life Brewery.
The next day, we rode the 8-mile Grant’s Bike Trail right to Grant’s Farm. It was our first time visiting the Anheuser-Busch attraction. We don’t know what the status of the farm will be since they sold Anheuser-Busch so we figured we would check it out before anything changes. It’s another great FREE attraction in St. Louis. It includes a tram ride, encounters with many animals and FREE beer. Obviously, this was our favorite part! They normally offer two free pints, but they were also giving out samples of a new Root Beer-Beer as well.
The Blog
We shared our tips on How to Easily Track Travel Expenses and More in our first post. We love this website/app, it has helped us track expenses and stay on budget for years. It’s also helpful in the category of tracking fraudulent activity which can be hard when traveling so much.
We also wrote about one of our unique experiences in New Orleans: Mardi Gras World. Like I said above, it rained for one entire day while we were there so we wanted to find something fun to do indoors. I’m not sure we would have visited otherwise, but I’m glad we did because it was such a cool and one-of-a-kind experience! We also found a few charming restaurants in New Orleans that we shared with our readers!
Cape Girardeau provided a fun getaway for the weekend as we Chased History in Cape Girardeau. We visited Missouri’s oldest covered bridge, sipped wine at local wineries, explored a Civil War fort, won some money gambling, sample local brews, stood on a captivating overlook of the Mississippi, and hiked in a scenic state park. Check out our 15 Reasons to Visit Cape Girardeau!
Our last write-up of April was revisiting our time spent in Florida. We still have a few more to go to cover everything we saw during the month we were there.
We were lucky to find a brewery and winery, the Southernmost winery in fact, in Homestead- Schnebly Redland’s. The place was unbelievable! A man-made paradise with avocado wine and shark bait beer!
Social Media
The month of April started out with 7,500 Twitter followers, we now have over 8,250. We have 2,550 followers on Instagram and 750 friends on Facebook.
Most Popular Photo on Instagram
Our most liked photo of April was from our trip to New Orleans. We loved walking through the vibrant and eclectic Bywater neighborhood.
May Plans
In May, we will be visiting Branson, Missouri with my father-in-law with the goal of finding the best places and things to do off the main touristy strip.
We are then heading to Boston for a few days. It’s our second time in the city, but last time we were only there for two days. My number one goal is to visit Fenway Park and get to a Red Sox game if possible. We might take a ride to Harvard University and will hopefully get to the Freedom Trail.
We will be ending the month of May with a trip to Hannibal, Missouri with family. It is Mark Twain land as Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) spent his boyhood years there. It is the setting for his books, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Many of the characters were based on people he knew in town.
Francesca | The Working Mom's Travels
What a fun month! I LOVE Ste. Genevieve. Haven’t been back in about 10 years so it’s time to plan a return trip!
Dang Travelers
It was our first time visiting Ste. Genevieve which seems crazy because we are in the St. Louis area all the time and it’s a short drive from there. It is a super cute area with tons to do! We heard the market is worth the visit so we’d like to make it back for that as well.