Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Travel Journals

On Pinterest I have come across quite a few travel journals. I had never really seen anything like them and I just fell in love with the idea. Since I am so over scrapbooking, I thought this would be a really fun and easy way to keep travel keepsakes together. 

Here are a few of my favorite examples:


This one is mostly pictures with a hand-written description of what the family did each day. She even put sea shells in a plastic pocket. It is held together with binder rings. (To see more of this journal and get instructions on how to make it, click here.)


This one is probably my favorite of all of them. She kept the coffee sleeves from their trips to Starbucks, valet tickets, maps, brochures, and more. She included pictures and hand written notes on each of the items to remember where they stayed, ate, and played. It is all held together with binder rings. (To see more of this journal, click here.)


I really like this one because it's so orgnanized. She did use stickers and embellishments, but it isn't overdone. It has pictures, brochures, maps, and so much more. It is also held together with binder rings. (To see more of this travel journal and get tips on what to collect and how to put everything together, click here.)

I wish I would have known (or thought) about this before our trip to Northern California. I didn't keep anything except for pictures to remind me where we went and what we did. Every morning in San Francisco we would walk to Noah's Bagels for breakfast and I could have kept a napkin or something like that for my travel journal. I could have kept my hop-on hop-off bus pass, menus from Tacolicious, Kara's Cupcakes, and Asqew Grill, a chocolate bar wrapper from Ghiradelli Square, and a trinket from China Town. I could have written down how much I loved the clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls and the best garlic fries in the world at Fisherman's Wharf. 

Here are a few of our favorite pictures from San Francisco: 

 We loved all the history and architecture in San Francisco. These are the most photographed homes in the United States. One of them has been on the market for while and if you are interested in purchasing it, it will cost you 4 million (reduced from 7 million). You might recognize this row of homes from the show Full House.

 The Golden Gate Bridge in the fog. 

 All the people standing around are actually in line waiting for ride on the trolley.

Chinatown was so busy, but a lot of fun to see.

We also spent a few days in the Redwood National Park on this trip. The Redwoods were more of an emotional part of this trip (pictures do not do these majestic trees justice). We did a few hikes in the Redwoods and there is something very spiritual about them. I felt such peace walking through the forest and you could literally hear a pin drop it is so quiet. The forest floors are covered in in ferns and when you look up you can't see the tree tops. I just wondered what these ancient trees have seen in their thousand plus years of life; the fires which they survived, the earthquakes and floods, and the loggers. On this trip I learned that only about 4% of the trees were saved from loggers. It actually made my heart ache to hear that. Over 90% were cut down, a lot of them being much bigger and much older trees. But I am thankful for what is left and feel blessed that I was able to walk among them. 

Our last stop on this trip was Napa Valley. We only stayed one night so I didn't collect much of anything, even pictures. But it was gorgeous and I would love to go back and spend a few more days. 

I didn't take this picture, but it shows how gorgeous the Napa countryside is. 

I will have to put something simple together for this trip, but in the future I will definitely start collecting more keepsakes for travel journals. I would love to look back to see and remember everything we did. 

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