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How many of you have heard you will no longer be a How many of you have heard you will no longer be able to travel once you have kids? I find most people who say these things don’t even have kids or if they do they have never traveled with their kids!

I’m not really into counting countries and we enjoy visiting places more than once, seeing the beauty all over the US and right in our state too. You don’t have to travel far to give your kids amazing experiences but you can also take them wherever you want. Y’all know my motto, if kids live there kids can visit!! 

Where have you been that people said you were crazy for taking your kids (or your parents for taking you) but you were so glad you didn’t listen to them and went anyway.

#travellingwithkids #familytravel
Everything you need to know about visiting Chichen Everything you need to know about visiting Chichen Itza, one of the 7 Wonders of the World (SAVE + SHARE this post).

Chichen Itza is 2.5 hours from Cancun, 2 hours from Playa del Carmen, and 90 minutes from both Tulum and Merida.

You can get here by renting a car, booking a private tour on Airbnb Experiences like we did, coming on a tour bus or for budget travelers taking the ADO bus. 

Most tours from Cancun are all day long, leaving as early as 7/8 am and as late as 9 pm drop off. This is because you’ll visit cenotes outside of Chichen Itza and the town of Valladolid. Since we only had 4 days in Cancun we didn’t want to spend a full day on the road but also really wanted to visit so booking private transportation allowed us to skip all the other stops and just go there and back. We were picked up at 9 and back at the hotel by 4 so we could have a relaxing evening.

Current admission is $533 Mexican pesos for adults, $80 for kids 3-12 and free for kids under 3. That’s about $30 US for adults and $5 for kids.

Once inside there is the main attraction that everyone comes to see but there are also other Mayan dwellings and a cenote. I recommend coming with a guide or hiring an official guide once on site so they can give you information on the history.

Have you been to any of the 7 Wonders? If so, which one(s)?

Hubby and I climbed the Great Wall of China together in 2007, Jordyn, James and I have been to the Colosseum in Rome, the girls and I have been to Petra and we all visited Machu Picchu, Christ the Redeemer, Chichen Itza and the Great Pyramids of Giza together!

#chichenitza #7wondersoftheworld
Today is the last day of school and I could not be Today is the last day of school and I could not be more proud of Jordyn! Look at all those awards she racked up at her end of the year ceremony. She’s reading 3 grade levels above hers, was only 9 points away from a perfect score on her state reading test and made the Honor Roll every quarter of the year. It’s time to celebrate, let summer begin!!!
We’ve been to 34 states and while we haven’t v We’ve been to 34 states and while we haven’t visited them all yet these are 4 states you should consider visiting this summer. (SAVE + SHARE this list for inspo)

📍Idaho- Last year we explored Southern Idaho and it blew us away. City of Rocks National Reserve, Kayak to Shoshone Falls, white water rafting, and walking behind Perrine Coulee Waterfall are musts!

📍Alaska- We visited the South East part of Alaska, Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan and WOW talk about stunning. You’ll love exploring ice caves, walking on glaciers, canoeing through ice bergs, seeing the volcano and hopefully spotting some bears!

📍Utah- From the famous national parks like Zion and Bryce to the lesser known areas like Kanab, Utah is stunning. You can’t miss sand boarding through Coral Pink Sand Dunes and ATVing through the gorgeous landscape.

📍California- Where else can you surf and ski/snowboard in the same day? California has the most national parks in any state so you know the beauty is beyond amazing. Having lived there for 3 years I’ve explored so many cities and there is something for everyone!!

Would you like me to share my website link for our itineraries for each of these trips in stories? Have you been to any of these? Which state intrigues you the most from this list? What city/state would you like to see us cover?

#visittheusa #bucketlisttrip #travellingwithkids
We have been traveling with our girls since they w We have been traveling with our girls since they were 6 weeks old. Is traveling with kids always easy? Nope! Are there added costs to traveling with kids? Yes! But having status with World of Hyatt has helped elevate our travels, making things a little easier and saving us money, here’s how (SAVE + SHARE this post).

1. Being a family of 4 standard hotel rooms can be kind of cramped. Having status with World of Hyatt means we’re eligible for free upgrades when available including suites as a Globalist.

2. Eating out for breakfast everyday on a vacation starts to add up really quickly. As a Globalist we get free breakfast for 2 adults and 2 children.

3. At hotels with club access Globalists also get free access which includes drinks and snacks, the perfect way to hold kids over until dinner without spending money.

4. I don’t know who decided 9 or 10am was a good time for check-out, hello we’re on vacation, we want to sleep in! Having status with World of Hyatt means you qualify for late check out at 2pm or 4pm depending on your level of status. So whether you sleep in, hit the pool or use the other amenities at the hotel you can enjoy a little longer. It especially helps us when we have flights later in the day.

5. After paying for our hotel room we hate having added fees. Thankfully when you have Globalist status with World of Hyatt resort fees are waived on free night awards and/or eligible rates.

6. Free hotel nights! There is nothing like booking a hotel and not paying a penny! Having joined World of Hyatt we rack up points (on more than just stays) and the higher your status, the more points you earn to get free stays faster.

7. As World of Hyatt members we even earn American Airlines miles on our Hyatt stays, getting us free flights faster to save even more money!

From being more comfortable to finding more ways to earn, you’re missing out if you haven’t joined World of Hyatt!

@hyatt #HyattPartner
4 Ways to Redeem Points at Hyatt Hotels & 7 Ways t 4 Ways to Redeem Points at Hyatt Hotels & 7 Ways to Earn World of Hyatt Points & (SAVE + SHARE):

Ways to Redeem
1. Redeem points for rooms at Hyatt hotels. There’s nothing like experiencing luxury without the cost, so glad I could redeem Hyatt points for this stay with one of the best views of Tokyo.

2. Redeem points to cover your meal at participating restaurants at Hyatt hotels.

3. Redeem Hyatt points to cover your spa treatment at participating spas at Hyatt hotels. 

4. Redeem points through World of Hyatt FIND experiences. With over 200 experiences like cooking classes, tastings, & walking tours there are so many activities to choose from!

Ways to Earn
1. Are you an elite member with American Airlines? If so, you can earn 1 Hyatt point for every $1 spent on AA flights. These are in addition to the normal miles you’ll earn on American, just sign into your AA account & link your World of Hyatt account.

2. Rent a car through Avis & can earn 500 Hyatt points per rental. Just provide your Hyatt membership number when making the reservation & use AWD code K817700.

3. Book a FIND experience by World of Hyatt and earn 10 points per $1 spent. Hyatt offers over 200 experiences such as culinary classes with celebrity chefs, hot air balloon ride in Arizona, guided bike tour over the Golden Gate bridge and more.

4. Even if you aren’t staying at a Hyatt property, if you eat at the hotel restaurant or book a spa treatment you can earn 5 points per $1 spent. We actually ate at a Hyatt restaurant in Kyoto & even though we weren’t staying there I gave my World of Hyatt number & received points!

5. Earn points on everyday spending with a World of Hyatt credit card: 2 points per $1 spent on restaurants, airline tickets, local transit, rideshares, & gym memberships plus earn 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.

6. Transfer points earned on other credit cards who partner with Hyatt such like Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, Freedom Unlimited & Freedom Flex. 

7. Book a cruise with Lindblad Expeditions & earn 5 points per $1 spent.

Are you doing any of these?

📍Andaz Tokyo

@hyatt #HyattPartner
If you visit Lisbon or any mainland city in Portug If you visit Lisbon or any mainland city in Portugal I highly recommend adding a trip to Madeira! It’s an island off the coast of Portugal, actually closer to Africa than Portugal. Here’s how I spent 6 days in Madeira (Save + Share this post):

🇵🇹Day 1: Pool day at my hotel (NEXT Hotel) for most of the day and then I went running up the crazy hills of Madeira to see Funchal by foot.

🇵🇹Day 2: I explored the NW part of the island visiting Seixal Beach, Ponto Moniz, Fanal Forest and Ilheus da Ribeira da Janela.

🇵🇹Day 3: I went on a sidecar adventure where I explored Valley of the Nuns, the Cabo Girão Skywalk, and the fishing town of São Pedro with @madeirasidecartours.

🇵🇹Day 4: Whale and dolphin watching tour but we only saw dolphins. In the evening I did an Airbnb Experience at a locals farm house where he cooked a great dinner where 90% of the items were picked directly from his gardens that day. He also taught us how to make poncha, a favorite local drink. The tour should already be linked in my Maderia story highlights.

🇵🇹Day 5: I toured the SE part of the island visiting Ponta do Garajau, Monte Palace, and ended the day at the most beautiful views from Pico do Arieiro (the shots of me on the clouds).

🇵🇹Day 6: I watched the sunrise from Miradouro Ponto do Rosto and then did an 8 mile hike of Levado do Caldeirão Verde. After the hike I relaxed at the pool!

If you want photos taken in Madeira I recommend @robframing.

Honestly Madeira was everything and I don’t see it dropping out of my top 5 international destinations anytime soon.

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Things to Do in Southern Idaho

September 15, 2022      Destinations, Idaho

One day I came across Visit Southern Idaho’s Instagram account and immediately added it to my bucket list of places to visit. My family loves the outdoors and it has so many activities we enjoy doing. We got the opportunity to spend five nights when Visit Southern Idaho invited us to explore and these were some of our favorite things to do in Southern Idaho.

Where to Stay When Exploring Southern Idaho

When visiting Southern Idaho we found it best to base ourselves in Twin Falls. The city has grown a ton and here you will have some of the best options for hotels and Airbnbs. There are also tons of restaurants, bars and even shopping so it’s a good place to be if you forgot an important item at home and need to grab something at Target.

How to Get to Twin Falls, Idaho

There is a regional airport 5 miles south of Twin Falls, Magic Valley Regional Airport but it was actually more convenient for us to fly into Salt Lake City airport in Utah and make the 3 hour drive from there to Twin Falls. The reason is because from Miami we could get a direct flight whereas to fly into Twin Falls we’d not only have 2 connections making the journey 3-6 hours longer than a flight to Twin Falls but the flights would also cost us about $300 more per person. As an alternative you can also fly into Boise, Idaho (if you won’t have to make a connection to get here) and make the two hour drive to Twin Falls.

Things to Do in Southern Idaho

Boat Ride and Kayak to Shoshone Falls

You cannot visit Southern Idaho and not see Shoshone Falls. While there are quite a few viewpoints where you can look down into the falls, the best way to capture all of its beauty is from the water. You can paddle board here but we preferred kayaking so we booked a tour with AWOL Adventure Sports. We chose the boat ride and kayak so we’d avoid the full 8 miles of kayaking and just kayak 4 miles round trip from Pillar Falls. AWOL Adventure Sports is located right in Twin Falls and tours with them should be on every list of things to do in Southern Idaho.

White Water Rafting in Hagerman

Southern Idaho has some amazing opportunities for white water rafting, 35 minutes from Twin Falls in Hagerman. It was our first time and we are so happy we went with Idaho Guide Service. Daniel, the owner and our guide was absolutely amazing. We did this in late July and the path we took was considered Class 3. Our kids were 6 and 8 at the time of our visit and Daniel let us know they have taken kids as young as 3.

The entire trip is about 3 hours which includes a stop for lunch. They provided sandwiches, fruits, chips, cookies, water and soda but you can also bring your own food if you have dietary restrictions. What we loved most was it wasn’t just a rafting trip. When we weren’t going through the white water you could hop into the river to swim or play rodeo. Rodeo is where you stand on the front of the raft and your guide spins the raft around and you see how long you can hold on before falling into the water.

Walk Behind Perrine Coulee Falls

We’ve personally never had the opportunity to walk behind a waterfall so this was pretty cool to us. On the way to the parking lot of Centennial Waterfront Park on the side of the road is Perrine Coulee. It’s a very easy walk and we saw people of all ages and fitness levels doing it. Be sure to wear a waterproof jacket for when you’re behind the falls as of course you’ll get a little wet. Since it’s in the same location as AWOL Adventure Sports it makes sense to do this before or after you kayak to Shoshone Falls.

Watch Basejumps Jump Off the Perrine Memorial Bridge

Southern Idaho is one of the top BASE jumping destinations on the planet so it has to be on your list of things to do in Southern Idaho. We chose to just watch the base jumpers jump off the bridge but if heights don’t scare you, you can also tandem jump with some of the best base jumpers in the world here. The activity will cost you though as the most well known tandem jumper charges $400 for you to join him. It’s located right in Twin Falls.

Tour the Shoshone Ice Cave

Roughly 45 minutes North of Twin Falls are the Shoshone Ice Caves. They are one of the largest known lava ice caves in Idaho. They offer walking tours through the cave daily from May 1-September 30th (they’re closed the rest of the year). Even though it will most likely be in the high 90s if you visit in July like we did, you’ll need a jacket for the caves as the temperature averages 27 degrees! There are also about 80 stairs you need to climb to get into the cave so it’s not accessible for strollers or wheelchairs.

Before or after your tour you can purchase geos from the gift shop and then crack them with hammers at the station outside. There is also a gem mining station.

Explore Lake Cleveland

Lake Cleveland was the furthest thing we did from Twin Falls, 90 minutes away but still in Southern Idaho. Since we visited in July we caught the wildflower bloom and enjoyed the gorgeous Purple Lupine and Christ’s Indian Paintbrush flowers.

Whether you come during wildflower season or not you can also rent kayaks or canoes to take on the lake. Some people also swim in the lake as well, our girls put their feet in and it was a great way to cool off!

Further up the mountains by Lake Cleveland is Mt. Harrison, the tallest peak in the area. You can stop by and enjoy the scenic view from the lookout point.

Go Ziplining through Centennial Waterfront Park

If you want some thrills while in Southern Idaho but base jumping is just a little too much for you, go zip-lining. At Centennial Waterfront Park through the same company we used for our Shoshone Falls tour, AWOL Adventure Sports, you can book a zip-line tour. The two hour tour takes you through 4 different lines of varying heights and lengths. If you’re doing it in the summer I recommend the earliest or latest tour to beat the hot sun.

Explore City of Rocks National Reserve

An hour and a half outside of Twin Falls but still in Southern Idaho is City of Rocks National Reserve. It’s beautiful as a great place for hiking and rock climbing. You can camp here, both tent camping and RV Camping but we just did a day trip and still had a lot of fun.

The Creekside Towers trail gives extensive views of the park. Be sure to also check out Window Arches Trail. It’s a very short hike so perfect for kids but it also has this beautiful arch.

What to Eat in Southern Idaho

We definitely didn’t go to Southern Idaho expecting the best food but we had some good meals. Here are some of the best places we ate in Twin Falls and the surrounding areas.

Breakfast

Twin Beans Coffee Co.

Black Bear Diner

Milners Gate

Nostalgia Coffee & Cafe

Lunch/Dinner

KB’s Burritos

Elevation 486

Koto Brewing

Jasmine Thai

2nd South Market (Food Hall)

The Best Time to Visit Southern Idaho

The best time to visit Southern Idaho is May to September. These are the warmest months and it will allow you to truly enjoy the beauty Southern Idaho has to offer. We visited at the end of July and while it was hot, being from Miami it was still cooler than home and no humidity so a win for us!

We had an amazing time in Idaho. The state is gorgeous and there are so many things to do in Southern Idaho, we hope to return to enjoy more of the area. Did you find this article helpful? If so please share it!

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Hi! We’re The Hambricks

Hi! We’re The Hambricks

If kids live there, kids can visit! That's our motto and you'll often find us exploring destinations most don't find "kid friendly". We've traveled to 35 countries on 6 continents with our children since they were 10 weeks old and share tips to make it easier and affordable. But mom and dad are people too so we also write about solo travel, baecations and girlfriend getaways.

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