The past few weeks have been a wild adventure. We have traveled across the United States – we literally drove across the country – which has been exciting because we’ve been able to see and learn a lot of new things. You’d think that being stuck driving in a car would bore us to pieces, but quite the opposite happened. The car trip gave us lots of time to talk and collaborate which got our creative juices flowing and we now have even more awesome creative kids content, coming soon.
Here is a quick update on the places we’ve been the past few weeks
Washington
We spent several weeks during the summer enjoying the beauty of the the Puget Sound. Afterwards, we drove to Longview to visit family and go to Squirrel Fest – a Longview tradition. We had a great time enjoying the last bit of summer with our family before we headed off for more adventures that would take us across the country.
Oregon
Heading South, we spent a few days exploring Central Oregon including the areas of Bend, Sisters, Redmond and Sunriver. Even though it was still September (and we expected it to still be warm) we were surprised at how chilly the weather turned in just a few days. There was even snow on the nearby mountains.
We visited a lot of coffee shops (as this is one of our family traditions), explored the Old Mill District of Bend, and took captures of the area from Pilot Butte. Visiting friends was another highlight of our trip in Central Oregon. We even ran into people we never expected – like some of our friends from Red Leaf Organic Coffee in Longview, Washington!
Nevada
Our next destination was the beautiful Lake Tahoe area. We roamed around the shopping area and ran into a few fun shops, including a sweet shop where they carry lots of interesting candy and sodas.
After a meal at our first Hard Rock Cafe, we spent the day driving around Lake Tahoe. The scenery was absolutely stunning. At a viewpoint area along the highway we got some captures of the lake. Although I must say, the photos don’t do them justice!
Lake Tahoe was amazing, but Hayden and I were excited to visit our next destination – Las Vegas. Hayden and I have wanted to visit Las Vegas for a few years, so when we got the opportunity to spend a few days there, we jumped for it.
One of my favorite aspects about travel is looking at architecture, so going to Vegas was a dream come true for me. I was fascinated by how many billions of dollars have gone into the city’s unique industry. We started at Treasure Island, took many photos of Caesar’s Palace, and made our way down to the Paris Tower Experience, where we got fantastic views of the strip. We didn’t walk the whole strip, but I got to see most of everything that was on my list.
Arizona
A fun surprise on our way to Tucson, Arizona was getting to see the Hoover Dam. We didn’t stay long, but we stayed long enough to learn about the area, history behind it and grab a new bumper sticker to add to our violin case.
By the time we arrived in Tucson, it was the weekend, so we could hang out with our family. We spent the day swimming, playing games, and just having a good time. Our main draw to going through Arizona was to visit family, so we didn’t do much touring around.
Texas
We love Texas! This was our second trip to Texas this year. From coffee shops to adventures at Restoration Hardware and amazing eateries, we spent a couple of days in an area of North Austin called The Domain. It reminded us of the Pearl District in Portland, Oregon because of the modern buildings and the young ‘hip’ vibe. As we were exploring, we passed by a cupcake ATM machine. Eeek! Apparently, the cupcake ATM is there for the night owls who want a sweet treat when the store is closed. Since it was still daytime, we were able to walk into the cupcake shop.
Austin was a lot of fun, but we were ready to get back into full swing for our homeschool projects. We traveled to a small town in East Texas called Henderson, settled in, and got refocused.
Back into the swing of things
Now in Louisiana, the first part of our road-trip is almost complete and we are giving our full attention to our homeschool project. While we have spent these first few months of our project creating content, we realize that implementing a business plan of some sort is our next phase of learning.
As we begin to learn about business principles – such as business plans, marketing, finances (a big one), and many other aspects, we are learning how to integrate our project (and products) into an actual business some day. So far, this project has been a very valuable learning experience.
Over the summer, we announced that we would be coming out with our first album, but due to the natural disasters in Florida (where our support for the album is located) and a road-trip across the country, we have put it on the back burner until we can refocus and make sure we produce a quality product.
We really appreciate your support as we continue our learning experiences. Stay tuned for more fun content! Thank you for reading!
Cheers!
Madeline, from The Saturn Creative Team