VRBO ~ The Perfect Place to Find Your Vacation Getaway!

I don't even remember the first time that I heard about the Vacation Rental By Owner (VRBO) website, but I do know that it was my sister who told me about it and I am so grateful!  What is VRBO, you ask?  It is a website for owners of vacation homes to list their properties for rental and also a place for travelers to search for these properties in which to spend their vacations.  There are properties stemming from secluded woodland cabins to huge houses fully stocked for your use.

The first time we ever stayed in a VRBO property was this past March when we headed north to Bayfield, WI, to tour the Ice Caves.  We found a two bedroom property that was located fairly close to the Ice Caves and it was the perfect retreat for us.  The Carriage House was exactly what we were looking for and it felt like we were right at home there.

The living room area with the painted mural on the wall

The boys with their bunks

Coming into the Carriage House

Kris and Jake in the living room area

I actually booked our first VRBO cabin last August when we were planning our trip to Wyoming.  I found the Bunkhouse and I knew that we just had to stay there.  It was located halfway between Cody and the East Gate to Yellowstone, so that is exactly where we wanted to be.  It looked like this home would have everything we would possibly need for our 5 day stay there and it did and more!  If I could have, I would have brought that home back to Wisconsin with us, complete with the mountain stream and views.  It was just gorgeous!

View of the Bunkhouse

Mountain stream running through the property

Looking at the Bunkhouse from across the stream

Enjoying a little fire

Petting Ward and Patricia's horses

Beautiful place to relax

While the homes that we've stayed in have been beautiful, we've found an added bonus to using the VRBO website and that's the owners of the homes.  In both cases, they've been so helpful in regard to every aspect of our vacation from sending emails with places to visit/grocery shop/scenic attractions, welcoming us as soon as we pull in, or simply checking in on us during our stay to make sure that everything is going fine.  We highly recommend using the VRBO site for your next vacation!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

More than once before we left for our trip, I had people I know ask, "Hey, Jen!  I see that you're taking a big family vacation.  How do you decide where you want to go and what you want to see?"  I've pondered that for awhile and just thought I'd share some of the resources that I have used.

A big family vacation is something that our family loves to take, but it isn't something we do every year.  We've set it up as an every 4 year vacation and that makes it nice as we can do some thorough research on places that are "in the running" for our next trip and save up money for it.  After visiting South Dakota in 2010, I will admit that we fell in love with the West, but Wyoming was NOT in the mix of places we were looking at for our vacation this year until my hubby was brutally honest with me.  "Jenny, I know that you'd really like to go south and explore Tennessee, but I'm really not all that interested in going there.  Would you consider somewhere else?"  Would I?  Sure I would, so we talked it over and he wanted to go West again, so we looked at some options and then selected Wyoming as our destination.

At the Northeast Visitors Center

Jake "riding horse" at the Visitors Center

The first place I always go to once we've picked our destination is the state's tourism department as they are a wealth of information!  I obtained the paper copy of their vacation guide along with the app of it for our iPad.  I still like getting the paper copy so that I can make notes and highlight things we might be interested in seeing as we're planning our trip.  I was able to request that Wyoming vacation guide right from their webpage at Wyoming Tourism.

Second, check your friends and colleagues.  Who has been to the state you're going to or even the venues you plan to take in?  I have been so lucky in this regard as my parents have been West numerous times and so have many of my colleagues and they're all eager to share places they loved and would definitely visit again.  They are usually pretty honest about places you could skip, too.  This all helps in planning out your itinerary.

Finally, check those travel websites such as TripAdvisor.  Many of the places we stopped on our vacation asked that we please leave a review on TripAdvisor so others could see what we liked about the venue.  I actually used quite a few reviews from this site to help plan our vacation.

There are many other places you can obtain travel information, but these are my top three.  What are some places that you would recommend?

The Vore Buffalo Jump

My parents have been excellent travel agents when it comes to places we should see when we've ventured West in the past.  I shouldn't be surprised that they shared some true gems with us before we left Wisconsin on this year's venture to Wyoming and I'm so glad that they did.  One of those such places was the Vore Buffalo Jump in Beulah, Wyoming.

What is a buffalo jump, you ask?  According to definition, "A buffalo jump is a cliff formation which North American Indians historically used in order to hunt and kill plains bison in mass quantities."  The area where the Vore Buffalo Jump is located is a natural sinkhole that worked extremely well for the Plains Indians. They would chase the buffalo into the sinkhole where every bit of the bison was used in some part from the hide to the meat.

Historical sign at the Buffalo Jump

As we entered the small building on the site premises, we were greeted by a friendly tour guide who stated that a tour had just begun and they were walking to the archaeological site as we were speaking, so we quickly joined in with the group.  As we descended down to the site, it was easy to envision the Native Americans using this buffalo jump and all the work it took to prepare the bison.  

When we got to the bottom of the sinkhole, I was truly amazed to see where archaeologists had been digging and all that they had found there.  I can't imagine being on that dig and coming across such a find!  The bones were scattered everywhere and the tour guide explained how each part of the buffalo would be used.  It was a very interesting talk!

What a find!

Brock learning what they would use some of the bones for

The tour guide sharing information on the buffalo with Brock

Jake with a buffalo horn

After exploring the dig site, we went back up top where we went into the teepee exhibit hall and learned more about the Native Americans in the area and how they used the jump.  The boys even learned of games that Native American children played and they got to try one of the games out.

Walking from the jump site to the exhibit hall

The boys with a buffalo hide

Brock in a teepee

Playing a Native American game

One of the neatest things set up for kids at the site are two sandboxes: one where children can dig for arrowheads and another where they can pretend to be archaeologists and find the bones themselves.  I think the boys would have played here forever had we let them!

One of the arrowheads Brock found

Jake sifting through the sand

Finding buffalo bones

Brushing off bones

The Vore Buffalo Jump was definitely worth the stop.  We learned so much history there and the tour that we got was excellent!  Brock commented after our vacation that this was his favorite spot to visit.  We highly recommend this tourist attraction to anyone traveling to Wyoming.

Kris and the boys outside the exhibit hall

Visiting Sioux Falls, South Dakota

A week ago today, we got back from our 9 day adventure in the West.  I got to thinking today, "Jen, you really must blog about everything you did out there as it was so much fun!"  But when I think about everything we saw and did, I can't even fathom how long of a blog post that would be, so I've decided to break our trip up into bits and pieces.  Some posts may be about one place or one town and all we took in there.  Other posts may be about the beautiful things we saw including the terrain in the West.  Whatever my heart feels like writing about, I'll tackle that topic and for today, it's Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

In June 2010, we stopped briefly in Sioux Falls to take in the Great Plains Zoo on our way to Rapid City. The boys really enjoyed the zoo despite the very rainy weather we had the day we visited.  We had planned on taking in some other sites that day, but the weather deterred us.  That was not the case this year!

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am a HUGE lover of waterfalls, so a visit to Falls Park was a MUST on my list of things to do on our trip.  When I saw the falls, they took my breath away!  They were so majestic and beautiful and I'm so glad that we stopped!

Entrance to Falls Park

The Observation Tower

Beautiful buffalo statue

View from the Observation Tower

Right down next to the falls

The boys and me

After walking around the falls, we decided to take in another Sioux Falls attraction and that was the Sertoma Butterfly House and Marine Cove.  What a neat place!  The first stop we made was to the Marine Cove. There were lots of gorgeous fish in aquariums, but the big appeal to the boys were the touch pools.  They were allowed to touch sharks, sting rays and a variety of other marine life.  It was a great experience for them!

The boys at the Pacific touch pool

A sea cucumber and a starfish

Anemones

Sting rays

Brock going to touch the shark

 A clownfish

Hey, how did they get in there?!

After finishing seeing the Marine Cove, there was a door that led to the Butterfly Garden and oh, what a beautiful place that was.  Green and lush vegetation everywhere and butterflies and birds flying from plant to plant or dish of food.  It was so pretty!

Beautiful!

Butterflies feasting on fruit

Jake looking at a butterfly

The boys checking out this blue beauty

So pretty on the flowers

We really enjoyed our afternoon spent in Sioux Falls!  After visiting the Butterfly House and Marine Cove, we had a picnic in the park right next door before venturing on to Oacama where we spent the night.  I definitely recommend a stop in Sioux Falls if you get the chance.  Of all the places we took in during our vacation, Jake stated that the Butterfly House and Marine Cove were his absolute favorites.

Perrot State Park

One of our goals as a family is to take our boys to every Wisconsin State Park by the time our oldest, who is 7 right now, is 18 and leaving to make his own way in the world.  We have been to many of those which are local for us like Wildcat Mountain State Park and Devil's Lake State Park, but we're trying to venture out a little farther this year to take in some of those that we haven't been to yet and our latest visit was to Perrot State Park in Trempeleau.

The Wisconsin State Park System holds an Open House every year in the state parks on a weekend in June where admittance is free.  No state park is required and many Wisconsin residents take full advantage of this weekend exploring our state parks and all they have to offer.  Even though we already had a sticker for the 2014 year, we decided to venture to Trempeleau and Perrot State Park on the Open House Day of June 8, 2014.

Perrot is situated where the Trempeleau and Mississippi Rivers meet and the views from the many hiking trails at the park make it a must see!  We decided to take on Brady's Bluff which is 520' high and definitely a bit of a challenging hike, but once you are on the top, you'll know why you kept trudging onward.  The view is breathtaking!

At the base of Brady's Bluff

On our way up!

Looking at Trempeleau Bay

Overlooking the Mississippi River

Daddy and his boys on the steps

Looking at Trempeleau Mountain at the top

Brock and Mommy taking a rest in the shelter at the top.

We were very warm by the time we got to the top!

In addition to the trails at Perrot, there is a great Nature Center to visit with lots of fun things for kids to check out.  The boys really liked the tanks with the frogs, fish, and turtle in it.  They stood there and watched them for quite awhile.  The boys then checked out the Investigation Station with lots of deer antlers, bird nests and turtle shells just to name a few.  They had so much fun in the Nature Center that they didn't want to leave!

Checking out the turtle with Daddy

What is in these boxes?

Brock at the Investigation Station

Jake with a big shell!

For those of you who enjoy camping, there is also a campground at Perrot with tent and electrical sites, both.  We all said that we'd love to bring out tent up some weekend and camp here as it was just gorgeous! The Malphy Family gives Perrot State Park two BIG thumbs up!