TripLearning

Battleship New Jersey In January we purchased a membership to a local museum ( Havre de Grace Decoy Museum ) because I knew we could get the NARM reciprocal benefits . Many museums are connected to various groups like NARM or ASTC and then members are able to use their membership at one museum to get into other museums. This is how our family is able to visit lots of locations affordably. To help you see the benefits of such a membership, here is where we have gone so far and how much it would have cost: Havre de Grace Decoy Museum ($12) Delaware Museum of Natural History ($36) Battleship New Jersey ($65) Penn Museum ($44) Hagley Museum ($27) Eastern State Penitentiary ($32) These visits would have cost $216 and I didn't even take the whole family on these outings. The Association Membership at the decoy museum cost $100. We still have almost 11 months left to use this membership and have already saved over $100. I also like being able to support a local ...

Do you like art museums? Are you intimidated by the idea of taking your kids to an art museum? Don't be. Art museums are for all ages and there are many art museums that are free, have free days, or pay-what-you-wish times. Many have a wide variety of art, so you may find pieces you love and pieces you detest in the same building. That's part of the fun! Pick your favorites and least favorites. Baltimore area residents:      We have 2 amazing art museums in Baltimore that are free!       The Walters Art Museum has a wonderful collection of ancient art, as well as European, Renaissance, Asian, and more. If you have kids that find ancient Egypt interesting, they will enjoy this museum. It has a variety of rooms and displays, so explore the various floors. They even have magnifying glasses for kids to use in some of the rooms to look at jewelry and smaller items. Walters Art Museum- Special Faberge exhibit on 1st floor       B...

I hate to leave people out of the loop on deals I find out about, but I also know I can't always remember to personally tell all my friends. So, I have decided to post deals on Fridays. (I have linked to most of the pages. Just click on the name to go to their website.) This Friday's deal is time-sensitive, so it takes priority. " Six Flags has 18 parks across the United States, Mexico and Canada with world-class coasters, family rides for all ages, up-close animal encounters and thrilling water parks." - from their website They are currently offering VERY good deals on their season passes. They do vary by park. Six Flags America (Baltimore/DC) has one of the best deals at $61.99/person. It also includes lots of extra benefits right now, including free admission and parking to all the other Six Flags parks. There is another Six Flags in NJ and that one has a safari area that looks similar to the safari ride at Animal Kingdom in FL. I rode my first roller ...

Just a small portion of the fish tanks there. Though some of my family was disappointed there were no dogs, there was plenty of interesting animals to see at That Fish Place or That Pet Place in Lancaster, PA. It costs nothing to look and it was interesting to see such a variety of fish, reptiles, and rodents. Of course, my favorite part was the sting ray touch tank. I love any opportunity to pet sting rays and all of my kids finally tried this time. This visit ended up inspiring my youngest to save up for a fish of his own. The sting ray tank. One of the sting rays. Check out  That Fish Place/That Pet Plac e .

We enjoyed a couple days in Salisbury/Fruitland, MD where we lived for eight years.  It was nice to visit and already see changes in the last year.  Since we had only a short amount of time, we spent most of it seeing family and friends in the area.  My parents and children did take a walk through the city park and FREE Salisbury Zoo.  Our 7 1/2 year old daughter agreed to be the photographer in my absence.  Flamingos get their beautiful pink color from eating shellfish. One of the Llamas resting on a hot day. Jaguars are one of my personal favorites and my daughter got both of them in one photo even though they were pacing the enclosure. There are many geese that live in the zoo and park in Salisbury. The Salisbury Zoo is a small zoo, but that makes it very manageable.  When we lived nearby we would visit on an almost weekly basis during much of the year.  We were able to learn the names of almost all the animals and because it i...

Instead of a romantic getaway for our 10 year anniversary, we took a couple days to get away as a family. We have been to the Lancaster, PA area several times in the 5 years we have lived in Maryland. It is about 3 1/2 hours away. On this summer trip we decided to go to Dutch Wonderland (only open during the week in the summer & some weekends in May, September & October) and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. On Wednesday we went to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania . They had family days in August, so kids were free. Normally the prices are $8 for adults, $6 for children 6-17 and FREE for kids under 6. So we saved $6 on the admission of our 7 year old. The railroad museum is a large building with many trains and displays. They have a great kids area with hands-on activities and displays. We had about 2 hours until closing, so we spent most of our time walking up and down the aisles between all the full-size train engines and cars. The kids enjoyed being able t...