Holiday Travel: Winston Salem, NC

This year my family and I decided to do a bit of traveling during the holiday season but we didn't want to go too far. We decided to go on a four day journey to visit Winston Salem and Asheville to check out some attractions these locations have to offer.

Day 1: Winston Salem

We arrived in Winston Salem around lunchtime and headed straight downtown. I was excited to discover upon parking the car that it only costs 25 cents an hour to park in downtown Winston Salem! What a way to promote patronage of downtown businesses! We then headed to a locally owned restaurant for lunch called Skippy's.

Skippy's turned out to be a great choice for lunch. Their specialty is hot dogs in a pretzel bun although they do serve other items. My husband and I both enjoyed a Reuben style dog with spicy mustard, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese while my daughter had hers with ketchup. The hot dogs were delicious. Equally yummy were the chili, cheese fries that we ordered as a side. Once our tummies were full, we were headed to SciWorks which was a short drive away from the downtown area.

SciWorks is an interactive Science Museum with many fun exhibits for children of all ages. The permanent exhibits include an environmental park, outdoor science park, a planetarium, a sound exhibit, a health exhibit, a physics exhibit, an indoor animal exhibit hall and a traveling exhibit hall (which was all about money during our visit).

My family spend the most time in the sound exhibit which featured a walk-on piano along with several stations dealing with sound waves and vibrations. We enjoyed making our own music and echoes while having discussions about the science of sound.

Another area we enjoyed and spent a lot of time in was the environmental park and the outdoor science park. My daughter loved watching the otters play in their exhibit and seeing some other animals such as deer and racoons up close and personal. The outdoor science center allowed us to do things such as test out different pulley systems and hear with bat ears. After  two and a half hours of playing and learning, we decided to check in at our hotel.

Brookstown Inn is a charming historic hotel located in downtown Winston Salem. Upon entering the hotel, we noticed that it was beautifully decorated for the holidays and had some wonderful architectural features such as exposed brick walls and large wooden ceiling beams. Our room was equally impressive. We really liked the set up of the room as it had a sleeping area separated from a living room area.

After settling in, we enjoyed a wine and cheese reception provided by the hotel. The hotel also provided a milk and cookies hour later in the evening which was very exciting for my 6 year old.

We are excited to explore more of Winston Salem tomorrow.