kid-tested traveling? – closed

UPDATED: Congrats to Kerrie Frick Gregory! She’s the winner of her choice of Family Travel Guides from Kids Love Travel!
Enjoy making your special memories, Kerrie (:

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[giveaway included in this post]

Resources.

I love resources.

And, if you know anything about my family, you probably know that we travel a lot.

So, when Michele Zavatsky contacted me a couple months ago about writing a review for one of their books, Kids Love Missouri, I was absolutely tickled to death!  I knew it was a perfect fit, and just could not wait for the book to get here.

The Kids Love Travel books (Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland/DC, Missouri, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia/DC, Wisconsin, I-95, and I-75) are this amazing compilation of information and reviews about the attractions in each given state or highway, written by a family of 4 (George – dad, Michele – mom, and Jenny & Daniel – the kids).

There are many, many, many, many, many, many (that’s 6 many’s, but who’s counting?) reasons I love this book!

For starters, like I already mentioned, my family travels a lot.  Road trips are a part of our weekly life, both to places in Missouri and elsewhere.  In reading Kids Love Missouri, I’ve now discovered there are actual fun things to do in and around the places we travel to all the time!!  Not to mention the fun things that are right around our house that I never even knew existed. Cut me some slack though, I’m not from here!  (Insert Exclamatory ‘Texas is Awesome!’ Wordage Here)

The whole Kids Love Travel series is, honestly, an amazing resource for parents (and non-parents, for that matter!).  Where else are you going to find a complete printed, kid-friendly, detailed play-by-play of every single attraction in any given state!?  When I was a (homeschooled) kid, my mom went crazy for “educational” (usually pretty local) things to do with us.  And rightfully so!  Well, with a book like this, whoever has the job of “activity planner” in the family has it easy-peasy!  There’s no guesswork.  There’s no wondering if a certain attraction is good for the ages of your kids.  There’s no wondering what it will cost.  There’s no wondering when they’ll be open. There’s no wondering what there will be to do around a certain area.  Heck, there is no wondering.  No wondering at all!

Not only is this book (and presumably all the Kids Love Travel Books) chock-full of some really incredible amounts of information, the information really is organized into the most useful ways possible.  Let’s say, just hypothetically, you’re a homeschooler.  As homeschooling moms often do, you desire to take your kids on a field trip that relates to a certain subject that your kids are studying.

Well, in the back of the book, there’s an index divided by subject!  History, Animals/Farms, Science, Dining/Lodging (okay, so Dining/Lodging isn’t a school subject…still a great reference!), and so much more!

Or, if “seeing it all” is more your style, each chapter (and the chapters are situated under the appropriate city, which is situated under the appropriate area of the state) is supposed to be one day’s worth of sight-seeing.

Even if you don’t have kids, this is honestly just a great travel resource for anybody.  Most of the attractions listed in the Missouri book are things that kids and adults alike will enjoy!  Some of the attractions are educational and some of them are purely entertaining, and how wonderful it is to have a break-down of them all.

I can’t wait to get my hands on the other states’ books!  And I especially can’t wait until they publish a book on all the wonders and attractions of Texas.  But I’m not biased toward Texas.  Nope, not at all.

And now…

Bonus!  Michele and George have agreed to give one of you a Kids Love Travel (any of the states listed above) for FREE!!!

Don’t miss your chance to win this amazing book, kids or no kids!  It’s an absolutely indispensable part of planning trips and making memories that you’ll cherish for a lifetime.

To enter:

1. Click Here to visit Kids Love Travel’s Facebook Fan page
2. “Like” their page by clicking “Like” at the top of the page
3. Leave a comment on the wall, saying “Enter me to win the Kids Love Travel book on SouthernMother.com!“

This giveaway will end Sunday night at 9pm CST, so hurry!  And make sure you follow the directions to enter – comments left here or on SouthernMother’s Facebook page won’t be counted as entries!