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Recently, I have seen some other travel bloggers putting together both 2016 travel recaps and 2017 travel resolutions, and I figured what a fun way to look back at the year and all of the great trips we have done! And of course I have a few adventures I am excited about in 2017! I only just launched this blog in October, and did not get an opportunity to write about everything we did in the first three-quarters of the year! So without further adieu… I give you the Momma To Go 2016 Travel Recap!
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2016 Momma To Go Travel Recap
January – we started the first night of the New Year off right, in a hotel! A little staycation at the Spring Hill Suites in Tarrytown to be exact! We spent New Year’s Eve with family in Poughkeepsie, New York, about a two-hour drive from our house. On New Year’s Day, instead of driving all the way home, we spent one of our Marriott rewards nights in a hotel about halfway to home.
At the hotel, the kids swam, and then we had an amazing dinner at the Sweetgrass Grill in the cute little town. Unfortunately it was cold and rainy so we didn’t have a chance to walk around. Plus we were super tired from staying up late to ring in the New Year!
At the end of January I spent a weekend in Brooklyn with #thegirlfriends. This was a much-needed getaway and a highlight was spending the afternoon at the Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club! Although after hitting the food truck, bar, and board games that were available, we never even played shuffleboard!
February – The end of February saw our annual family reunion in North Carolina to celebrate my grandpa’s 104th birthday. You read that right, 104. I took my daughter with me and she was able to spend the weekend playing with her second cousins. Of course we hit the Cary Towne Center and she loved the jumper! My cousins also thought it would be fun to get old-lady housecoats from K-Mart and parade around in them. And I am not afraid to admit I still wear mine at home…
March – March we had our big school break, and hence a 10 night trip to Florida. My parents spend most of the winter in SW Florida, although in 2016 they were back in New York so we had the run of their condo.
We had a blast in Florida (as always) visiting annual favorites such as the Sun-n-Fun Lagoon, Congo River Mini-Golf, Vanderbilt Beach and Sanibel Island. We added in new places such as an airboat swamp tour down in Alligator Alley, a visit to Lovers Key State Park, and dining at the newly opened Cooper’s Hawk Winery. On this trip, I was also training intensely for my first half marathon.
April– In April I had another #thegirlfriends trip, this time back to our alma mater in Washington, DC. Okay technically we stayed at a friend’s house in Arlington, VA, but we descended on the Nation’s Capital for the 20th anniversary of the founding of our rugby team (of which me and several friends are founding members). As always with #thegirlfriends we ate to our hearts content visiting DC favorites, Guapo’s and The Bottom Line. On Sunday I broke off from this group to meet up with two other friends on Capitol Hill. We had a nice lunch at Lincoln Park Kitchen and Wine Bar, walked through Eastern Market, and then rode back to Reagan National Airport in my friend’s convertible mini-cooper!
May– On May 1, 2016 I ran the Long Island Half Marathon, my first ever! I clocked in with a time of 2 hours, 14 minutes. I file this under travel year highlights because, obviously, accomplishment, but also because we stayed the night before the race at the Long Island Marriott in Uniondale. My family and I enjoyed an awesome pre-race meal at Maggiano’s, which had just opened near the Roosevelt Field Mall (I grew to love Maggiano’s in college when many friends of mine worked there.)
June – When school ended in mid-June, baby girl and I took another trip to North Carolina. It was technically little man’s turn to come, but he had a baseball playoff game that he didn’t want to miss. On this visit we took a day trip to Carolina Beach, rode the train at the Cary Towne Center and ate yummy Mexican food!
July – Besides our annual day trip to Ocean Beach Park in New London, Connecticut to meet up with mammascooking and her family, we stayed close to home in anticipation of …
August – We were so blessed to have spent most of August in the beautiful state of Hawaii. If you are new to MTG, definitely start here, which talks more about our three week sabbatical to Hawaii. We visited Maui and the Big Island. I need to blog more about this trip, so many stories to tell, but so far I have written about Driving the Road to Hana, and the all –important Hawaii money saving tips!
September – As the first of #thegirlfriends turned 40 on September 20, we all descended on her hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota to celebrate in style. Since I started MTG in October, I blogged about my 48 Hours In… Minneapolis (one of my most popular posts so far!) And I still can’t believe there exists a bar, with a full-size ferris wheel ride! Definitely a 2016 travel highlight!
October – This randomly turned into the great casino-going month! Hubby and I snuck away, kid-free, for three days to Vegas. I think we found that important balance of relaxing, as tired parents should, and experiencing the food and fun of the town. You can read about my 48 Hours In… Vegas, my longest post to date.
At the end of October I visited Atlantic City, NJ for the AmeriHealth Half-Marathon, my second half of 2016. I managed to shave about 2 minutes off my previous time. This trip was planned as a fun long weekend for the whole family, but was thwarted by baseball playoffs, so I went solo (thankfully, meeting up with my cousin who I did the race with).
November – In November I visited Baltimore, Maryland for the Amy Schumer show that never happened. Read about that adventure here, 48 Hours In… Baltimore including a once in a lifetime chance to sleep in a bunk bed with a huge dog mural on the wall!
For Thanksgiving, we drove up to Belfast, Maine to see my mother-in-law and enjoyed the holiday with her. We managed to do some other fun New England-y stuff that you can read about in 48 Hours In… Belfast. This seven-hour drive (each way) also prompted the super popular Family Road Trip Games post, which if you missed, check out and pin for later!
December – I haven’t blogged about my December adventures yet. Little man and I went to North Carolina to visit the family and spent one entire day making Christmas cookies with my aunt! We did some holiday shopping and other festive things.
And lastly, over the kids’ holiday break, we drove down to Atlantic City and spent two nights enjoying wintery beach days and casino fun!
I have to say, 2016 was full of fun adventures! In the works for 2017 include two winter trips to Florida (Orlando, and back to SW Florida), a 40th birthday adventure to Italy, and I have two trips to North Carolina planned (in my head at least). Thinking our bigger family trip will be at the end of the summer and I have a San Francisco to San Diego road trip in mind. I have a big birthday in 2017 AND it’s our 10-year wedding anniversary so I know hubby and I have thrown out the words DUBAI in terms of travel wish list, but need to think more about that!
What was your best adventure of 2016? Where do you hope to go in the year ahead?
How did we make out? Check out our 2017 recap!
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Great post! Love our annual meet up in Connecticut! You are inspiring me to plan some trips this year! We are usually more impromptu/last minute travelers 🙂
i have taken advantage of travel deals that were offered last fall, booking for this winter/spring! I usually dont plan so far ahead either!
Looks like you had an amazing year! Can’t wait to see where 2017 will take you!
I love how every month has it’s own adventure! I can feel stuck in a rut, especially over the winter months. This has inspired me to plan something monthly (even if it isn’t traveling far), but something different and exciting to give us something to look forward to!
I hear ya, I need to have something on the schedule or I go nuts!
You had an awesome year! We took our kids and my in-laws to Port Aransas, Tx and rented a beach house and it was a blast!
Ive never been to texas!!!!!!!
Woah! Looks like you guys had a terrific year! We don’t do much traveling because of our dogs. But when we do we go BIG!
Hope this year brings even more great travels!
Sounds like a fabulous travel year! We spent the summer in Hawaii too, and we had the most fabulous time, we can’t wait to return! I’m interested to hear about your San Francisco to San Diego road trip plans too, as I’m in the planning stages for the exact same trip, and there seems to be so much to do between those two cities!
right now I am thinking fly to San Fran, do the touristy stuff, see friends, stay downtown. Then go to Santa Cruz–I worked there for three summers in the early 2000s so want to revisit, take kids to the boardwalk, have garlic fries! After that I told hubby I want to go to the Hitching Post since we love the movie Sideways, then to visit friends in San Diego, maybe hit Disneyland as well!
This is awesome and you guys did a lot of family traveling as well. I love places that the kids are able to go to.
Looks like 2016 was full of fun adventures for you guys! My dream is to go to Hawaii, it looks absolutely gorgeous there!
Such fun! What a year! I am from Long Island, I love Roosevelt Field 🙂 If you ever get to Richmond, Va, there is a great mall here too! I especially love your picture in the kitchen with pink sneakers! Here’s to another year of great memories and travel!
yay for LI! Roosevelt Field even did more renovations and expansions last year and its even nicer than it was!
Looks like you have new adventures in each month! I can’t wait to see where 2017 will take you. I’ve never been to Hawaii but it’s in my travel bucket list already! I hope that someday I’ll get to see the beauty of Hawaii.
I hope you’ll have a more awesome 2017!
What an awesome looking year of adventures!! I am so glad you made it to Cooper’s Hawk; it’s our new favorite restaurant! Super excited to read your Hawaii money-saving tips, hoping to get there in the next few years. It would be higher up if the prices weren’t so crazy, so any tips are greatly appreciated!! Can’t wait to see all your adventures in 2017!
yes Coopers Hawk just came to Naples! We ate our Easter dinner there. Oh and drank 🙂
I Love this !! Your year looks amazing! I love the ride in the everglades it looks awesome! Thank you for sharing your travels!
It looks like you had a lot of fun adventures in 2016. It is lovely that your family is able to travel together. Hawaii is one of our favorite places to travel. We have never been to the big island so I look forward to reading more on that.
I need to keep recapping Hawaii! I love blogging but Im slow to get the content out.. I’m also working part time, oh and a parent!
OH! I adore your life of travel. Your year looks like so much fun and adventure!
Love the recap post. I enjoy your writing style.
Looks like you had a great year
As I was reading I realized you spent your Florida vacation right by where I live, Naples, Florida. It is beautiful here and I’m lucky to live where others vacation!
we are here now! I love it here I keep joking with my husband that I bought a one-way ticket this time.
What an amazing year! It all looks so fun!
LOL!! I really enjoyed that. This is just a reminder to me that there is so much traveling I would love to do with my children. There is so much to see here in the U.S and we really need to take advantage.
Congrats on grandpa being 104. How is he? My godmother will be 94 next month, still driving, exercising, etc.
This was a lovely read. Really enjoy it. Blessings to you and your family and cant wait to read more.
thanks! we are heading to NC next weekend to celebrate his 105!
I loved reading all about your adventures. And I can’t wait to read about more. Thanks for inspiring me to take more adventures.
Awesome! I’m leaving to Disney for my FIRST half marathon and so excited! Def checking out your saving money in Hawaii post. Going there for our anniversary in May.
have a great race!
a great roundup!!! in this day and age (which is really fast paced) it’s so important to document and celebrate all that we do! so enjoyable! #fearlessfamtrav
Wow, that was a good year for you and your family. Amazing trips last 2016. More travels to come!!
I enjoyed reading all about your year. I must admit I am curious about how you get to travel so much. I also started my blog in November and could use some tips.
I work for myself, so that helps. We use points and can travel on the off times. I also stay with family in Florida and NC so that helps also!