About Me

Hello and welcome to my blog!

My name is Audrey and I live in Berkeley, CA with my husband and our two little girls. I am starting this blog as a challenge to myself to start exploring the beautiful place I get to call home - Northern California. Five years ago, my husband and I were newlyweds, both working full time jobs, with no kids, renting a one-bedroom apartment and saving plenty of money each month!  We have since bought a home, had two beautiful children and said goodbye to our savings and hello to the sometimes overwhelming task of trying to entertain young kids on a budget. 

The real catalyst behind this challenge to myself has been the countless number of times that I have been asked by a co-worker on a Monday morning, "How was your weekend?", and my response has been something along the lines of "uuuhhh, I can't actually remember what we did...", followed by an enthusiastic "but I think it was good!". How does this keep happening!?? I spend all week eager for Friday afternoon to arrive so I can have my precious weekend, and then before I know it, it is Monday again and the weekend came and went. Part of this, I am sure, is just a side effect of having two young children and often being exhausted by everything it takes to keep a family of four up and running. The other part is not knowing what to do that is fun for the entire family and AFFORDABLE! So this is where the blog comes into play. Something that will hold me accountable (I hope!) and push me to find fun and memorable day trips/mini vacations to create memories with my family and hopefully be a resource for other families looking for affordable ways to have fun.

Happy Travels!

P.S. If you have any suggestions for new places to explore...please share with me! My email is thethriftytravelerca@gmail.com.