My all-time favorite travel tip.

Three or four years ago, when we were returning from one of our  Las Vegas vacations, my oldest son wasn't feeling great and threw up on the plane. Now, I'd anticipated this to a certain extent - I knew he was queasy, and I had the air-sick bag ready to go... but I'd missed my cue by a half second, and let's just say he didn't exactly hit his mark. 

Of course he was in the window seat, I was in the middle, and some poor business man was on the aisle. No sooner had I gathered my wits and was looking up to figure out how in the world I'd manage the clean up on this, than the stewardess came over and without warning proceeded to dump coffee grounds all over his lap, my lap, the floor and the air sick bag.  I was a bit stunned - this wasn't exactly what I'd expected. To my surprise, however, the icky smell that we all know and dread, particularly on an airplane was completely overwhelmed by the pleasant aroma of coffee grounds. 

My son wound up making it home without further incidents, and I came home with a valuable travel tip - and have since added a ziploc of coffee grounds to our emergency travel box that always travels with us in the car. I've been known to grab one or two of the ready-packs of coffee from hotel rooms we stay in for just such emergencies.

We recently put the coffee ground tip to the test on our last Las Vegas vacation, which you can read about here (no gory details, I promise, just a healthy perspective on getting sick during vacations). I mean, when you're on vacation, you don't live in a bubble - we touch things, we get germs... we deal with it, right?

In Search of Triple D...

We watch a lot of Food Network TV. In fact, the boys are typically the first to request it.

On our last trip to Las Vegas, we thought it would be fun to visit a couple of restaurants we'd seen featured on Food TV. The show Meat and Potatoes boasted fantastic Mexican food at Agave, across from the Red Rock Canyon Casino - and the food did not disappoint. We'll be back, for certain - and we'll definitely take advantage of their killer happy hour deals.

Our true Food TV love, however, is Guy Fieri. We've been known to get sucked into back to back episodes of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The boys love his personality and of course all of the talk of delicious food. I love seeing different takes on American cuisine - and a glimpse of hard working entrepreneurs across the country where something special happens every day.  I will say that I credit our TV habits to raising a couple of Foodies. I like that they appreciate food beyond the (typical) Kiddie Menu.

We kicked off our Hoover Dam day with a stop at Boulder City's own World Famous Coffee Cup, known for, and featured on "Triple D" for their Chile Verde, which I'll elaborate on in a bit. The boys were clearly excited and a bit nervous to visit the Coffee Cup - having seen in on TV made it a bit magical, and I'll admit I was caught up in the excitement as well - if not sheepishly so. The decor was charming, and it was quiet enough (for late morning, mid-week) to not feel rushed. I won't go into elaborate details about the breakfast, other to say that I thoroughly enjoyed embarrassing the boys by asking our server (a family member featured on the show), a bit about the experience - and we ate amazing food. I will elaborate, however, about their famous Chile Verde.

I'm a big fan of the dish, regardless of where we are – and this was by far, the best I've ever had. Clearly homemade, I just wish I'd been able to prolong the enjoyment for at least a few hours. Alas, I filled my belly up before I could entirely satiate my desire for more! 

Wildfire - About this blog.

We've always named our vehicles.

Wildfire was the first one I remember, a sunny yellow truck with a camper. It launched my love of road trips and traveling adventures with my family. I continue that passion, camera in tow, with my own family in Humphrey (our grey Suburban, whose namesake is a wayward humpback whale circa 1985).

These are a few of our stories.




How the travel bug bit me...


Some of my earliest memories are of taking road trips with my dad. We'd go on so many in fact, my step-dad used to ask if my bottom was flat from all of the riding in the car! At 7 years old, of course I had to check into that...


As a parent, and knee deep in the throes of it, I'm hoping to document and share a few of our adventures. Maybe it will inspire a few of you to get out there and make some adventures of your own.