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Last week, we had the privilege to spend the 4th of July holiday with the hubby’s family in Lawrence, Kansas. And while Lawrence may not be the travel mecca that Dublin is, we had a great time re-discovering the city where my hubby grew up, and that we’ve been visiting once or twice a year for the entirety of our marriage.
Even after all this time, we always manage to find something new and fun!
Once again, we were able to take this last-minute trip thanks to our Southwest Companion Pass, which we earned by opening two Southwest credit cards and completing the minimum spending.
As a result, I was able to use some of our accumulated Southwest points (16,998 points, in total) to book my round-trip ticket, and then the hubby was able to fly for free as my companion. That equals a savings of about ~$600 on our flights alone.
We also stayed with one of the hubby’s brothers, making our accommodation costs free as well. In fact, our only travel “expense” this trip was on a rental car — we booked with Alamo via the Southwest Vacations portal for a nice little discount: we paid a base rate of only $25/day for a full-size vehicle (a Chrysler 300!) and managed to earn an additional 1,200 Southwest points bonus (for booking the car through their portal) + nearly 500+ Marriott Rewards points (we get 5x points on travel with our Marriott Visa) on the spend itself.
And, of course, we found some time to get out and explore. One of our new finds this trip was a great Mexican restaurant called Port Fonda. We enjoyed a margarita flight, and I found a new favorite drink: the “Fonda Colada” is like a Pina Colada, but instead of rum, they used tequila. This helped to counteract the typically syrup-y sweet flavor of the coconut and made for a real winner in my book.
Another great discovery was Potter’s Lake on the University of Kansas campus (also pictured up top). As this was summer, and the campus was relatively quiet, this was an incredibly tranquil little getaway in the center of town. And even better, the water lilies were blooming for us!
We also went to an old-time-favorite to long time Lawrence residents, but a place that I had never visited before: an island-theme college bar in Lawrence called The Sandbar.
And the Sandbar was a blast: because it was summer, the college kids weren’t clogging up the place, and so instead a mostly thirty-something audience was jamming out to 80s rock music, all while being served toys with each drink. The more you drank, the more toys you earned!
Overall it was a great trip to Lawrence, Kansas— we got to see family, shoot off some fireworks, and explore this charming little city. Hope you had a great 4th of July as well!
Tell me in the comments: what was the best part of your 4th of July weekend?
