A Weekend Trip & $500 Hotel Giveaway!

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A Weekend Trip

A couple of weekends ago we packed ourselves up and headed out of town for a quick little weekend adventure! We snuck away and took Henry to Sacramento, which is actually where we tied the knot. We’ve been wanting forever to go back to the places where we hung out while we were planning our wedding, and it was so cool to do that now with little dude in tow.

A Weekend Trip

We cozied up at the Comfort Inn® Hotel, which was totally perfect — an awesome home base to come back to in between adventures. They’ve been hard at work, updating and creating change that makes a stay there even better. Big white fluffy beds to snooze on (or jump around on; see the little video we made for evidence), Wi-Fi and charging stations aplenty for working during Henry’s naps (crucial, because we always work on the road!), and an even better breakfast (you know I love a wafflemaker)! They even provided a crib for Henry, which was awesome. We’re so used to traveling with a crib for him that it seemed like such a luxury to have one on site. It was a perfect spot to rest up and recharge for all three of us.

The hotel was right by the American River Bike Trail so we brought our bikes and took Henry for a spin. Did you know that there’s a whole field of sheep on the trail? They all had little lambs and we stopped to hang out. We ran around downtown a little the next day, hitting a few great restaurants and spending a good chunk of time in the Capitol. It was so quiet and empty inside and I loved every second. I could sit in the senate chamber room forever. And they were putting the lights on the big Christmas tree outside, which melted my heart.

A Weekend Trip

A Weekend Trip

On our last night we took Henry to Old Sac, which is where we had our wedding reception! It’s so funny to go back to a place and see it through a different lens, now as a wife and mom. Before, I probably was mostly concerned about fitting as many things into a day as possible. Now I’m thankful for things like quiet hotel rooms and an easy, healthy breakfast that I can feed my son. Perspective, huh?! Traveling with Henry along for the ride as a party of three is definitely different than the old footloose, fancy-free days of traveling just as a pair. But every trip we take with him is better than the last, and I’m so grateful to be able to have him along. As parents though, I think our number one travel tip is to stay somewhere that suits little one. And on this trip, Comfort® helped us head out every day totally ready to tackle some killer adventures.

A Weekend Trip

We had such a gorgeous couple of days that we want to give you the same! We’ve partnered with Comfort Inn & Suites, by Choice Hotels to give one lucky winner a $500 credit to stay at your favorite Choice Hotel! Pick a destination and see for yourself just how awesome they’ve become with their new upgraded experience. To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment and tell us about a trip you’ve taken (near or far!) that changed your perspective on things. Be sure to also leave an email address where we can reach you in case you win! Giveaway will close on Friday November 27th at 8 am PST. Happy travels! xoxo

A Weekend Trip

P.S. For more, find Choice Hotels on YouTube.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Choice Hotels. The opinions and text are all mine.

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75 Comments

  1. We took a trip to see my husbands grandmother in Indiana. It was like being in a totally different world from where we live. It changed my perspective to see what a smaller town is like. His grandmother has lived in the same house almost all of her life and some of her children live just a few houses away. It was a totally different environment and awesome to be able to see her life there and feel connected to it.

  2. From my amazing Cancun honeymoon…to a week in Chicago…a few days in Old San Juan Puerto Rico…a backroads drive in Kentucky…an Alaska cruise…a yearly trip to the Central Coast…lots of weekends in Strawberry…. Every trip changes my perspective just a little.

  3. I am a planner, type-A to my core, but after some bad weather on a trip to Chicago a few years ago forced us to change plans on the fly I’ve embraced travelling with loose plans that can be modified at any time. This worked to our advantage for our last 2 vacations as my sister and I planned a 10 day road trip from Calgary to Victoria only booking a few days in Vancouver to start and then booking hotels in cities on days that had the best weather; we got to spend days in the city, in a surf town, at the beach, in wine country, and the rockies on the best days by being flexible. This year we packed up the SUV and spent a week in the mountains alternating between hiking, sightseeing, luxe hotel stays with hot tubs looking over mountains and nights car camping. Flexible travel is my absolute favourite way to do things now. Up next, San Francisco!

  4. I took a trip out to Arizona to see the grand canyon recently and was just taken aback by the beauty of the land!

  5. On a recent trip to Chicago with our 5 and 7 year old I learned to just go with the flow. And to not depend on our GPS, as we drove around Chicago for two hours trying to find something. haha

  6. This summer, my husband and I went on a two week trip to an island in Nicaragua. Definitely had to learn to let go off any and all planning the minute a cow on the runway delayed our plane from taking off!

  7. Danny’s mini donuts?? ?

    This one time, a super cool high school teacher took us on a trip to New York to compete (and place!) in a national competition and it definitely made me realize how lucky I was to have an amazing teacher who wanted to take us on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure! ?

  8. I took a trip to New Orleans earlier in the year. It was incredible to see the culture there- like another world. I’ve always felt the need to travel abroad to experience a new culture like this and it really changed my perspective on travel in general. Although I still love the idea of traveling abroad, there is still so much to see and experience right here in the US.

  9. A few years ago I spent about a week traveling and camping in Utah with my dad. We started off at Archs national park to Moab where we took afloat trip down the Colorado and visited Dead Horse State Park. Headed then to Canyonlands where we ate dinner and slept in the truck as there was a massive rain storm that flooded our campsite. From there we went to Natural bridges monument (the first ever established apparently) then stopped for lunch where the Colorado meets the dirty devil river before heading to Lake Powell and continue to Capital Reef. National Park where there’s a working orchard and a freshly baked pie shop. We hike up to Butch Cassidy’s hideout.

    Then it was off the beaten path to Grand Escalade, and other little state park off the highway where we hike to a stunning waterfall and made a huge fire.

    We ended the trip with camping at Byrce and hiking in Zion. It was a wonderful road trip with lots of fun times with my dad. Playing silly trivia games in the car, cooking at our campsite and our personal inside joke anout emergency ponchos. I realized though, sadly, that this was more than likely my dads last tent camping trip as it was painful for him to sleep and hard on him psychically. So grateful for our trip together.
    .

  10. I grew up in Calgayr hating snow and cold weather – it was a blessing when I moved to Vancouver! But then, I was invited to go up to Whistler to teach a lecture and it was during December during the Whistler Film Fest. Not only did I fall in love with Whistler and it’s culture, I fell in love with the snow again! I go up a few times a year to indulge!

  11. Hands down, best trip, was my very first adventure into outdoor recreation to Yosemite NP. Our high school took seven of us to Yosemite and there I got my first taste of backpacking, wilderness, and adventure…and I haven’t stopped since! This trip drastically changed my life, and now I work full time in outdoor rec because of it!! We, get this, even finished our trip in San Francisco, and stayed in a Comfort Inn on our final night before flying back to the Midwest! I love traveling and adventure!!

  12. My guy and I took a trip to the Grand Canyon. We hiked to Supai and stayed near the gorgeous waterfalls. It was amazing. That’s also where he proposed.

  13. Ooh, I would love to win this! Quick weekend getaways are always so refreshing. The trip that comes to my mind is the one we recently took to Iceland. I’ve always had pretty “typical” dream destinations (Paris, London, Santorini, etc.) but my husband picked Iceland and I agreed since he was so excited about it, not really expecting much. But I LOVED IT. It made me realize that while big cities are certainly fun, it’s even more amazing to get out in nature and see something majestic and so different from what I’m used to. It definitely captured my imagination and now I’ve expanded my list of dream vacation spots!

  14. My wife and I traveled to France in April for two weeks. After staying in Paris for awhile, we took a train into Provence and rented a tiny apartment in a very very small village. Our apartment had electricity but no Wifi, TV, or even radio! It was a quiet few days we spent there, but it was so good for us and our relationship 🙂

  15. I bet you already know what trip I am going to say 🙂 The day I graduated with my BA in Theatre, I got on a plane for the first time in my entire life, flew to New York City, and house-sat for two weeks the one person I knew in the entire state. While I was there, I fell in love with that amazing city, which is why I moved myself there a month and a half later. Those four years in NYC were like nothing before or since, and I still miss my city. I haven’t been on a “real vacation” in a couple years (at least!), and Joel has never been to NYC, so our trip in January can’t come soon enough!

  16. Growing up in a rural area, my perspectives on the world changed greatly when I started to travel. Although I enjoy visiting scenic locations, I seem to learn the most when I travel to bigger cities. I recently visited New York City for the first time, and had a blast! I can’t wait to return.

  17. I thought my perspective would change when traveling internationally, gaining this great worldly perspective and cultural experience (which is wonderful) but really it changed after a road trip with my husband traveling from Nashville to Savannah. It was one of those trips that everything seemed to go wrong. Car rental experience that certainly amped up the number of gray hairs in my bangs, stomach bug while driving in the worst rain storm I have ever seen and just a lot of those mishaps that you now look back on and laugh. What I learned is to keep smiling. My husband and I are building a foundation together and how we will handle the twist and turns of this journey. We want our children to learn to always see the silver lining in a rain cloud and just enjoy being together where we go.

  18. Probably my trip to Cancun, Mexico.. despite how cliche that was. It was really interesting to finally visit Mexico and meeting everyone.. the workers were BEYOND friendly and grateful. Although its not necessary to tip, we did and they were BEYOND grateful for merely $2! It’s insane. We learned that they travel from far parts of Mexico to come to these resorts and work long hours for very little pay. It was an eye opener. I plan to go back because of the great hospitality.

  19. I went to NYC for the first (and only) time while in collage. It was such an amazing experience! I had never seen snow fall (grew up in FL and Sacramento) and it hadn’t snowed in a while in NYC. I was walking through beautiful central park when it began snowing, beautiful snowflakes in a beautiful city. It’s an experience I will never forget!

  20. We just got to attend a wedding at the same place we got married in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia! It was so fun going back as a guest and imagining what everyone was thinking about during our wedding.

  21. A funny thing happened when I went to D.C. for the first time as an adult after visiting the sites as a teenager. I saw the city in this whole new way and it made me really think hard about where I could see myself living outside of NYC.

  22. The trip sounds like fun. I love taking little trips, even close to home! One of my favorite trips was driving with my dad from Florida to San Francisco for college. It was so much fun getting to experience driving straight across the country.

  23. This past summer my mother, sisters, and I took a trip to San Fran together. It was so fun to explore and dive in to another “culture” – We are from Dallas so BIG DIFFERENCE! The most memorable part was when my mom was trying to stop so we could get out and see the Golden Gate bridge and she missed t he turn off. All of a sudden I hear ” Ohhhh no….. quick look – the bridge!!!” It was so funny. I only got to see it from a window!

  24. I took a trip to Poland quite a few years ago that became the catalyst for me moving to Europe. I’m back in the US now but it was definitely life-changing!

  25. We got to take a no-baby weekend trip to Cincinnati, where we just moved away from, a few weeks ago and it changed our perspective by letting us enjoy all the good things that we loved about the city – it was all friends, dinner, drinks, shopping, brunch… And then when we came back home to our new city we appreciated our new home and the new routines too.

  26. My favorite trip was to Tybee Island a couple of years ago when I was pregnant. We went in the fall and it was like a ghost town. We were able to wander about and it felt like the whole area was “ours.” It was completely different than going during peak time and I want to go on trips on the off season all the time now!

  27. I’ve been living in the US for 12 years now and taking trips back to Costa Rica put things into perspective every time. It is hard to forget the many advantages we have here in the US: from clean roads to affordable prices in clothing.

  28. A recent trip to Charleston, South Carolina completely changed my perspective on…pimento cheese! It may seem trivial, but seriously, I thought pimento cheese was an icky, gelatinous, hot pink-colored substance that I would push around my plate so as not to offend an elderly relative. But no, the real Southern thing — a blend of sharp cheeses, grilled veggies, homemade mayo — is LEGIT. I was so wrong. Now, that I know the secret to making the good stuff, I’ll never badmouth pimento cheese again.

  29. We took our first overseas trip with our toddler son a few months ago and it was so different! Before, my husband and I could travel with just a small backpack and do things on the fly, but this trip was a lot more planned out (and full of stuff). Wouldn’t change it for the world though!

  30. My first ever trip to Europe really opened my eyes to how new our country really is. I was in Italy and to see the thousands of years of history, art, culture and religion was an amazing experience. The Italians also have such a different way of living and priorities than Americans. I hope that I carry some of that with me today.

  31. Love this post! My now-husband and I took a trip to Paris + London right after I graduated from college. It was our first big trip together and our first time to Europe. Not only did it help us understand what kind of lifestyle we love best (definitely prefer the countryside to the big city!), but it taught us so much about each other and how we worked as a couple! We had no idea then that we would be married almost 2 years later, but through the photo ops, travel arguments, and learning experiences, we grew to understand each other’s needs and quirks better . And how can you not fall in love under the Eiffel Tower or on the London Eye!?

    We’re coming up on our one year wedding anniversary and continuing our travel tradition with a trip to Belize 🙂

  32. I think it was the first time I went out of the US – to Germany with my parents. It was soo cool getting to see what the rest of the world (to a little kid) was like!

    eloquent [at] live.com

  33. My husband and I rented a room at a hotel not far from our house for two nights last week… One night for each of us to get a full uninterrupted night of sleep! It was amazing.

    Our baby will be one in a couple weeks and sometimes I think I will die from lack of sleep. Lol

  34. My husband and I took a detour to check out downtown Martinez, CA. We had no idea how charming it was, so many cute shops and houses. They even have a ton of bocce ball courts near the marina, next time we will bring our bocce set!

  35. i did not know i Lived in a shell in Florida! I went to the olympics in Australia and it blew my minds. So many different counties were there to cheer on their teams of every nationality. It was a melting pot of learning other cultures and getting to know people from all over the world. If i had the chance i would do that again. I want to learn it all. I had the time of my life

  36. When you are visited new city and you are in a lack of time (1-2 days for a big city) try to create travel map. This could save you some time and you will see more interesting places. I used http://well-way.com and similar services. It helps you with tourist routes, sad that it works bad with active rest. You will not skiing faster 🙂

  37. We went to Jamaica on our honeymoon ( a long time ago) and it was beautiful but I was glad when we landed back in the good old USA. We really are lucky to be citizens and enjoy all the freedoms we have in America.

  38. i wen to mexico with my late fiance and it broadened my horizens to how amazing the world is. so much color and such amazing people!

    it made me so much more excited and full of energy to go out and explore!

  39. Two summers ago, I had just graduated university, but was still unsure about so many aspects of what I wanted to do with my life. I decided to leave my part time job, pack up a backpack, and buy a one- way ticket to Europe. It was a whirlwind three month adventure, all by myself. I learned way too many lessons to count about being on my own, meeting new people, making mistakes, and turning mistakes into “happy accidents”. All in all, it was a very eye-opening experience that changed how I look at myself and the world around me.

  40. Two years ago I landed in Boston to attend a weekend retreat. I expected a pleasant experience in the warm summer air and delighted in the quiet introspection that was sure to follow. But what I encountered was an oasis and a familiar hum which spoke to my spirit and beckoned me near. It wasn’t merely a respite but a yearning awakened and too evident to ignore. I wandered the streets in complete comfort and navigated the buses and trains like a local. It felt like home and I knew I would return once more. My second arrival solidified the first. I expected a little peace of mind but what I gained in return was so much more. I’d found the place which spoke my name. A rhythm which warmed me feet; one that I could move to without trying.

  41. My most recent trip was a beach trip with my new husband -We’ve been before and even stayed in the same hotel but it’s funny how our marriage made the entire trip feel different!

  42. I just returned from my trip to California with my husband. We were on our honeymoon on a roadtrip from the top of the state to the bottom. It is so nice to spend time-just me and him-and get to know each other better through hiking and taking walks along the beach together.

  43. We just returned from 3 weeks in Europe this summer. It was our first time overseas and it was great to see and experience different culture and a different mindset from our Western world.

  44. this past summer my brother and i went on a siblingtrip over seas.
    it was amazing – an incredible bonding experience i will never, ever forget.

  45. I traveled a ton as a kid, but my parents avoided cities like the plague. Flash forward to present, and I work in urban development, and I’m suddenly fascinated with everything about cities. Now I see as many cities as possible, from small midwestern towns to the big ones like Toronto and Pittsburgh. If we could all spend a little bit of time seeing how other cities solve problems, we could save so much time and see so many solutions!

  46. I spent a semester studying in Great Britain, and my three weeks in Northern Ireland certainly changed my perspective. From realizing how much bigger the world is and how much understanding is necessary for different cultures and their histories, to learning so much from the kind people there–I always seem to get a perspective shift when I travel!

  47. My husband and I traveled a lot before we had kids. Bringing the kids along has totally changed the way we travel, but not were. We have been big on small staycations throughout the year in Chicago for the last few years, but we are finally taking the kids on a 2 week trip to Costa Rica this January. I can’t wait to see our favorite destination through their eyes.

  48. I see so many women with gypsy hearts but who are afraid to go it alone. And that was me a few years ago. My husband joined the military, and I had to leave my little hometown bubble. He deployed instantly so I had to drive all our stuff and our baby 26 hours to home. Honestly, I had never driven much out of my home state. I was terrified, and shook for a solid 26 hours. I had to make that trek via plane and car so many times that I became comfortable with it. Even liking it! I started planning trips along the way. But I wanted more so I’d put together little regional weekend trips. I organized a trip to NYC and took a friend. It was perfect in every possible way. I started to have faith in my ability create awesome adventures. Most of them with only my little girl. ( My husband hates travel, which is perfect because someone needs to stay home wit the dog.) My kid is now 8 and has been more places than I had at 30! I’m not ready to quit my job and take my daughter backpacking through India, but I feel like I could if I wanted to! Traveling without another grown up’s help has made me confident in myself and shattered the glass roof for me!

  49. I was able to spend a month traveling in Europe. The enormity of the buildings and vast amount of history was eye opening. Living in the United States, something that is 200 years old seems ancient. Walking in buildings built in the Middle Ages was amazing!

  50. I love traveling, my most recent trip was to Las Vegas Nevada, I come from a small town so it was a huge difference but a lot of fun.

  51. Traveling to my in-laws house in Boston (from California) changed me a perspective because I have never been anywhere that had the history that this area has. I was amazed at all the places to see and learn about. We always stay in Choice Hotels whenever there is one available. They have a great Rewards Program.

  52. My husband and I traveled to St. Lucia for our 5 year anniversary . It changed my perspective of life in so many ways. It was so breathtakingly beautiful it reminded me of just how great our God is and what an incredible creator He is. Also, it opened my eyes to the sad truth of poverty our entire world faces. (even in these “vacation” spots)

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