Tami's Travel and Adventures

Jobs pay the bills but travel and adventure are food for the soul.

Archives for September 2018

A Weekend Getaway With Airbnb

Travel

Big Bear  California

I don’t know about you but I love to travel and go on adventures even if it is a simple one-day road trip. But let’s face it, the cost of staying in hotels has gone through the roof. You pay $300 plus to stay in a room you can’t check into until 4 pm and the check out time is before half of the retirees even wake up! No offense meant!
Airbnb Adventure at Big Bear Lake
Big Bear Lake
My family and I decided to check out Airbnb https://www.airbnb.com, a site where homeowners rent their homes out to others. I looked up cabins in Big Bear, CA and found a little two bedroom cabin that allowed dogs…and grandkids.  Sometimes the latter can be more destructive than the dogs! The price?  $107 a night!  It was a mere ten minutes to a ski lift, the town and a grocery store.   There was a large front porch where we spent most of our time enjoying the beauty of the pine trees.
Airbnb Porch sitting
Hanging out on the porch

Go Out and Explore Courtesy of Airbnb

When we go to places we love to explore the area.  You can find the best little hole-in-the-wall restaurants and some amazing places to just spend time outdoors.  We found a cool park that had exercise equipment for adults as well as two playgrounds for the kids.  My grandson had his first experience on a slide. The verdict is still out on if he enjoyed it or not!
Grandson Fun on a slide by Airbnb
Shane and his first time on a slide
We took a drive to the other side of the lake and hiked along the Alpine Pedal Path Trail.  Most of the trail is paved like a bike path which made it easy for the baby stroller, hence the name Pedal Path Trail.  My husband and daughter are big kids and were running off and playing on the fallen trees.  I have to smile when I see the playfulness emerge from these two!
Airbnb adventure in Big Bear Lake
My two big kids
Overall our weekend was great.  We will definitely use Airbnb in the future. You don’t have to hear your neighbors fighting, people running up and down halls and you have an actual area where you can cook, play outdoors and just plain relax.  So next time you are looking for a getaway, check out Airbnb and choose your next adventure!

Sand Castles – More Than a Plastic Bucket

Family Fun

Sand Castle
“Loving Embrace” Sue McGrew – Seattle WA

Sand Castle Magic

Remember the excitement of building sand castles as a child?  You would carefully pack together wet sand and remove sections forming doorways and windows in your fortress.

Or perhaps you were more like me, a tunnel digger burrowing your hand into the sand on one side while your friend dug through on the other. Remember that magical moment when your fingers touched and you would let out a shriek in excitement?

Sand Castle Medusa
Artist -Karen – Canada

Who would have known those early years of sand sculpting could lead to such extravagant designs!

Sand Castle in San Diego

The US Sand Sculpting Challenge and Dimensional Art expo is one of my favorite events and is held on the Broadway Pier in San Diego each year.

 
Creating Sand Castles

Ten international artists from around the world gather to compete for multiple big prizes.

Ten tons of sand are brought in for each participant who then has three days to complete their design.  Spectators come and view the process and meet the artists as they create their unique sculptures.

Artists start with a design then draw it on paper or create miniature clay sculptures to guide them as they are building.

Sand Castle Favorites

Sand Castle World

Rusty Croft‘s creation is titled “Home is Where the Heart Is“.  It is a sculpture of a giant heart cut in half and in each of the four chambers, it replicates a room in a house.  The detail Rusty puts into his work is amazing!

Commercial Person Sand Castle

Fergus Mulvaney from Dublin, Ireland created a design based on how commercialized the world is.  Fergus’ design is a person stamped with a bar code representing the effect it has on humans.

Sand Castle Jazzman
Sandman by John Gowdy

Another artist, John Gowdy, is a true Jersey boy and now resides in Italy where he continues sculpting in various media. He designed an image of the Sand Man after a famous song.  You can almost hear the music playing!

Playing at the Beach at Sand Castle event
Not your average hamster ball!

So the next time you feel like planning a day at the beach, Google “sand castle tournaments” and find one near you. They are held all over the world at various times of the year. Or you can allow yourself to be that kid again and go build your own masterpiece! Make sure you bring your camera!