Celebrating our 8th Anniversary at Olivia Beach with Buick Encore GX Essense

Celebrating our 8th Anniversary at Olivia Beach with Buick Encore GX Essense

One of my favorite areas to stay on the west coast is Olivia Beach in Lincoln City, Oregon. The homes are brand new and have that perfect beachy charm, which is why I knew I wanted to spend it there again for our 8th anniversary. The neighborhood is also spectacular; perfect for families traveling together. I was hoping we would snag an Oliva Beach home with a hot tub so we could relax our old, sore muscles, but every house with one was booked. We were lucky enough to find the one we did (The Mermaids Grotto) at such a great price though since my husband still had a credit through his old job.

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Great Wolf Lodge With Kids Under 4

Great Wolf Lodge With Kids Under 4

I’ve had my eye on Great Wolf Lodge for a few years now since I love water parks. We used to go to Wild Waves every year with a group of people and it was a ton of fun. Now that we have kids, I figured I’d use it as an excuse to take them to Great Wolf Lodge for our oldest daughter’s almost 4th birthday last month since it’s indoor and we don’t have to worry about the weather ruining our fun if it were to be cold and dreary with the PNWs fickleness.

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A Must Have for Any Travelers: Itinerary Tracking Apps

As a regular international business traveler, I would often find myself having several flights booked for different dates and times. Keeping up with all the information was beginning to become a bit difficult. I was currently using a day planner for my needs, however it was not easy to track upcoming events, all the meetings I needed to attend and other important travel factors. A colleague of mine mentioned installing an app on my phone for tracking and managing my itinerary. I decided to look for what was available and came up with four options; currently I use WorldMate, and however may change if some of the other platforms update their platforms.

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This is what I found about the various itinerary tracking apps that were available, you should consider you specific needs to determine the one that will work best for you.

TripIt

This app provides a single itinerary for everything including flight, hotel and car rental. All of this information is emailed to the TripIt site to ensure you have the latest information about confirmations, delays or cancellations. You can download the app for $49 annually, which may seem pricey, but has become an investment well-made for my travels. You can also access past reservations if you have a particular hotel or room you wish to stay in and it provides directions to the airport, as well as layouts of the terminals.

WorldMate

This app has several more features and free tools than the other options. You can integrate your Linkedln connections, search for nearby restaurants, and have an easy to use currency converter (which has become very useful for business travel) and weather forecasts. One of the most appealing considerations is the fact that this app is free, and has features that others do not.

Trip Case

This itinerary app provides instant imports when you book with one of the 600 supported travel agencies. You can also call the airline through the app if you wish to change or alter your flight or seating arrangement. You can only share your itinerary with email contacts, and not social networks. This app also has limited features and tools for itinerary management.
Before traveling to any new country, you will need to take the time to make sure that you will be able to enter their borders. In Canada, you will not be able to enter the country with a felony. Seeking out pardon services Canada will allow you to get the paperwork you need to get into the country and enjoy its beautiful scenery.

Hawaii Vacation is Less Than 3 Days Away!

Our late anniversary present this year is a vacation to Hawaii. My husband was talking about going there back in may but I knew I couldn’t rely on him to actually follow thru, so when my parents gave us some money from their inheritance, I decided we were going, and we booked our trip in September. We’ll be staying at the Hilton waikiki village resort with an ocean view room. There’s even a lagoon and like 5 swimming pools.

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I think we may be a little crazy to take an infant on a 6 hour plane ride though, but we figured it’s better to do it now rather than when she’s mobile. Although, lately, she’s been trying to throw herself off of our laps. I just hope she behaves on the plane and doesnt have any blow outs. Even though I haven’t used an airplane bathroom, I know they’re small and it’s not going to be pleasant.

Please lord let us get through this flight safe and sound.

I get extreme anxiety when flying and hitting any sort of turbulence will make it 10x worse.

Ugh.

I’ll just think happy thoughts of 84 degree weather, pretty beaches and Mai tais with little umbrellas.

Mmhmm.

Less than 3 days now. YAY!!!!

Barrier Island Adventure: North Captiva Island!

Barrier Islands can be found all over the world. But Americans often don’t realize that their very own barrier islands are the most prominent anywhere in the world. Lots of coasts have them, but between roughly Boston and the Gulf of Mexico you’ll find the most famous. That’s a long way too, so the might even be considered the most extensive, if you add up all the multiple chains of islands along this very long stretch of coast; even long island.

Plenty of barrier islands are popular retreats, along the coasts of Croatia and Australia but the Eastern United States generally takes the cake as far as boasting the most barrier islands. Visited by many, they’re understood by very few. Why are they there? And what makes them so fragile and beautiful? And what should we know before we visit again?

What Are Barrier Islands?

Barrier islands are islands that lie parallel to a coastline, normally as extended deposits of sand and similar sedimentary materials and separated from the mainland by a channel, lagoon or similar body of water. The Intercoastal Waterway along the east coast of the USA includes many of these bodies of water in its total 3,000 mile span.

Most scientists believe that barrier islands formed at the end of the last Ice Age when run-off from melting glaciers washed sediment into the sea as it was rising and which then collected sediment from the sea behind them continuing to build mass.  In many spots near the mouths of rivers, one can see that sediment from the inland is prevented from being washed out to sea by the barrier islands.  But there is ongoing debate – among geologists especially – as to exactly how and why barriers islands come about.

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What Makes Barrier Islands So Important?

Whenever there’s a major storm on the Atlantic of Gulf Coasts, people behind a coast protected by barrier islands will know the difference. Open coast is often hit much more dramatically, sometimes disastrously, than is coast behind the barrier islands (hence the name “barriers”). The islands effect on ocean swells during storms can be important, and often will spare the coast much more extensive damage.

In part because barrier islands are not always developed for people, they’re also important as wildlife refuges. Countless species of flora and fauna make their homes in these precious and often little visited islands. Of course, not all barrier islands are off limits to people.

How Has Human Intervention Affected Barrier Islands?

Obviously some islands do get visited by people – some of them quite a lot.

Human development along the East and Gulf Coasts of the USA has led to some extreme successes, and to some total disasters. Obviously writing from North Captiva Island, we can argue that the best thing for people to do with these islands is to just leave them alone. But that is not always realistic and it’s certainly worth looking at many of the practices that have affected these islands in the past.

Florida has lived a hundred years of real estate booms and busts. So if hurricanes don’t do you in, Florida market conditions just may do the trick. None of it has scared off the hale and hearty Florida real estate developer.

While some islands remain nearly pristine, and some are simply too small to develop, some others have been gravely damaged, by over building, by poor planning and because people don’t always understand how currents, tides and sedimentation ultimately affects these islands. Add in climatic conditions that may be leading to higher sea levels, and you end up with a lot of unknowns. People may very well always want to visit barrier islands, just like they want to visit any islands – but doing so requires a level of conscientiousness and care that we’re only recently seeing developed on a significant scale.

That’s not to say the long and noble history of Florida is only bad development decisions. In 1975, some forty years ago, already, the State of Florida purchased 350 acres on North Captiva Island to preserve a good part of this island, not only for posterity, but to protect the unique and important island that’s actually protecting so much of the mainland. Other barrier islands include everything from parks on St. George Island to Amelia Island and Big Talbot Island. There’s lots for all kinds of guests in each of them, but each will ask guest to be cautious, respectful and careful with the unique environment these parks are intended to preserve and protect.

North Captiva is but one barrier island along a very long stretch of coast that includes literally hundreds of others. One of the reasons it’s a bit more accessible is that North Captiva Island has lots (some 300) of private residences that can be rented , enjoyed and really lived in. Outside of all of them, though, is a very big state park that brings the unique barrier island eco-system and environment – as well as all those beaches – into clear focus and ready access. That’s just part of the reason the island is so popular.