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In-Ground Stock Tank Pool and Hot Tub

June 16, 2020
In-ground stock tank pool
In-ground stock tank pool
In-ground Stock Tank Pool and Hot Tub

Let’s cut to the chase and show you exactly how we built our in-ground stock tank pool. I’ll try to save you all of the fluff on how awesome it is and how happy it makes us every day. The 8ft by 2ft stock tank pool is plenty big for 4 large adults to enjoy at the same time. Add in some Palm Springs style floaties to create a Pinterest-worthy setting. Use the heating process outlined below to keep it at perfect pool temperatures or crank it up for some hot tub fun!

The Process

Below is an outline of the steps we took while completing our in-ground stock tank pool and hot tub. Don’t get overwhelmed. We had never done anything like this before either. Take it one step at a time. It is so worth it once it’s done.

  1. Order all of the tools and parts first (links provided in ‘What to Purchase’ section below these steps. The products we used are also linked throughout the below step by step).
  2. Purchase a stock tank and pick it up. We got our 8 ft tank from a local Tractor Supply store and picked it up with a Uhaul 20′ truck (which Lacey drove; she is very proud of that). D&B Supply stores also carry stock tanks.

    UHaul for Stock Tank
  3. Place the pool on your yard where you want it to eventually be in-ground and dig an outline around your pool. Put some thought into where you’re putting it as you will be trenching out the electricity to your pool pump as well as the hot water input/output hoses/tubing. Your water heater needs to be mounted on a stable structure (fence or house). I would recommend keeping your pool within 15-20 ft of where you will be mounting your water heater to make sure the pump flow rate will be strong enough to run your heater.

    Stock Tank
  4. Move the stock tank and start digging within the outline you just made. Be careful as there could be sprinkler lines or other important utility lines underground.

    In-Ground Stock Tank Pool and Hot Tub
  5. Dig, dig, dig until you have completed the hole with the depth of around 20-22 inches. The exact depth you want will depend on the height of the pavers or whatever else you will be bordering the pool.

    We were lucky and had plenty of room along the back of our fence to dump dirt. Wear gloves to avoid blisters! You’ll thank me later.

  6. If you run into sprinkler lines, like we did, you’ll need to re-route them to be on the outside of your hole. I purchased some sprinker pipe and push and click coupling from Home Depot to make this as easy as possible. Sprinkler pipe size varies.

  7. From the area of your hole that is closest to the wall/fence you will be mounting your water heater and hot water pump on, dig a 2 1/2 ft x 2 1/2 ft square that connects to your circle. Make this about 20 inches deep as well. This is where your pool pump is going to go and where you will access your pump connections attached to your pool.
  8. Dig an underground trench leading out from your pump box to the wall/fence where you will be mounting your water heater, hot water pump, and where your electricity will connect. Insert some flexy drain pipe in the trench and pull through an extension cord (for your pool pump) and the hoses/tubes for your hot water input/outputs. MARK your black tubing so you know which line is going to be the input line and which is the output. Bury the flexy drain pipe and patch up any grass that got damaged.
  9. Drill 4 holes in your stock tank within a 2ft square section (2 holes for your pool pump and 2 for your hot water input/outputs). One 2-3/4″ hole on the top left of your 2ft section, and another 2-3/4″ on the bottom right. One 7/8″ hole on the top right and one 7/8″ on the bottom left. Make sure there are a few inches of clearance around the holes as you will need room to screw on the pump plunger valves and the hot water input/outputs.
    I would recommend including the stock tank drain plug (comes built in to the stock tank) within this 2 ft section so you can seal and monitor for leaks there as well.

  10. Connect your pool pump input/outputs as well as your hot water input/outputs. For the hot water input/outputs, the larger pieces will be on the outside of the pool. Don’t connect any hoses yet! That will come later after placing the pool in the hole. Seal/caulk thoroughly around your connectors and also the stock tank’s built in drain plug. Let this dry for at least 24 hrs in 70 degree+ temperatures.
  11. Tamp (pack down), lay paver base, and level the entire inside of the hole and any bordering area where you might be laying pavers.

    A basic approach to leveling is to lay a few 1 inch thick pieces of wood across the ground (the length of your hole) and make them level with each other. These will be your leveling guides. Start at one side of the hole and start pouring paver base on top of your leveling guides. Take another piece of wood and lay it on top, perpendicular to your leveling guides. Start pulling back the paver base with this piece of wood (2nd pic below). Add more paver base to low spots and keep pulling the paver base back until the entire area is level. Then remove your leveling guides and gently fill in their tracks with paver base. Sprinkle some hose water on top and you should have your level foundation for the stock tank!


  12. Drop the stock tank in the hole with the connectors being lined up inside the pump box you dug. Back fill in any gaps around your pool with dirt.

  13. Build a frame for your pump box. I used some scrap 2 x 4’s I had in the garage along with some old fencing planks to use for the walls of the box. I fashioned a lid from some beat up white fence planks my mom had left over. We also stuffed in a rubber maid container for the pump to sit on. It helps keep dirt away from the pump.

  14. Connect your pool pump hoses to the input/outputs you installed. These are the large grey hoses shown above. Next, you will need to connect the hose fittings you purchased to the hot water carrying black hoses/tubing you also purchased. Once you have done that, connect the black hoses to the input/outputs you installed. You can also see that the hot water input (bottom left black hose) has a filter connected to it. That is recommended to help avoid any large pieces of debris from being sucked into your water heater.
  15. Mount the water heater and pump to your wall or fence. This should be placed right above where you trenched out the electricity and hot water input/output hoses. Do not plug in the mounted pump unless you are ready to use it. It turns on automatically when plugged in.

    In-Ground Stock Tank Pool and Hot Tub
  16. Connect the black tubing to your water heater. Your input line will connect to the mounted pump then from the pump to the water heater. Your output line will connect directly from the water heater to your output nozzle on your stock tank. Then connect your 20 lb liquid propane tank (according to the instructions that came with you water heater. Read the instructions carefully. Spray some soapy water around your propane connections after opening to identify any leaks.
  17. If you’re bordering your in-ground stock tank pool/hot tub with pavers: Lay weed barrier around the perimeter of your pool. Lay paver base on top of the weed barrier and level it. Start laying your pavers while also placing and anchoring your paver edging up against the back row of pavers . We laid 4 rows of these pavers (225 of them) from Home Depot. We used about 7 buckets of Perma Sand to fill in the joints. Then we sprinkled some EZ Seed around the pavers to get some pretty grass growing back around the pavers. It took about 4 weeks for new grass to fill in.

    In-Ground Stock Tank Pool and Hot Tub
    In-Ground Stock Tank Pool and Hot Tub
    In-Ground Stock Tank Pool and Hot Tub
  18. Slowly start filling up your pool. Check for leaks at every check point along the way. If you sealed everything properly with this stuff, you should be good to go.

    If you’re good on leaks, fill it all the way up. Make sure the water goes above your output connections. Plug in your pool pump, make sure it’s connected correctly according to the instructions it came with. Turn it on and watch it work! There is a timer option on this pump. We have ours set to run for 2hrs every day.

    If you have fully read and understood the water heater instructions, give that a whirl too. As long is it is connected properly, all you will need to do to turn it on is to open the propane gas tank and plug in the mounted pump. The water coming in from the pump will turn on the water heater and hot water will start pushing back out to your In-ground stock tank pool through the top output connection. So cool!
  19. Grab 2 chlorine tablets, drop ’em in your chlorine floatie and throw it in the pool. Add 2 more tablets anytime these run out. They last about a week. Drop in your pool thermometer and you’re good to go.

What to Purchase

Before putting a shovel in the ground, hop online and order all of your supplies. Below is the list of what we ordered. It was nice ordering everything from Amazon for quicker/cheaper shipping and also so we could manage all of our orders in one spot.

Items needed to build your In-Ground Stock Tank Pool and Hot Tub

Tools:

1. You can significantly save on the flight, if you buy tickets during sales with canadadian travels, promotions, during the failure of booking systems. Stay tuned for airline promotions and you will always be the first to know about low-cost tickets. The number of inexpensive tickets is inversely proportional to the number of people who know about them. (Read the mailings). 2. When planning your route, consider the flight map of low-cost airlines. If you buy tickets on time, the cost of a flight with a low-cost airline (what is it?) May be less than the cost of travel from the city center to the airport. It’s a good idea for Europe to remember at least these four airlines: Ryanair, Easyjet, WizzAir, Norwegian. (Full list of low-cost airlines). 3. Fly through neighboring countries – Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Finland. If you have a lot of time and want to save money, then this is your option. (Examples of cheap routes).

AMES 2233400 9-Pound Steel Tamper with Hardwood Handle, 48-Inch
Critical tool to help level the underground surface where your pool will be placed.

BLACK+DECKER 20V MAX Cordless Drill / Driver, 3/8-Inch (LDX120C)
Power drill to make your input/output holes in the stock tank.

LENOX Tools Hole Saw, Bi-Metal, Speed Slot, Arbored, 7/8-Inch (1772429)
Drill bit for the hot water input/output holes in the stock tank.

MK Morse MHSA44C Hole Saw with Attached Arbor, 2-3/4″ Diameter
Drill bit for the primary pool pump input/output holes in the stock tank.

Performance Tool W30991 Black & Red Slotted Screwdriver, 5/16″ x 6″
You will need a flat head screwdriver to connect the hose nozzle hardware (below) to the black tubing.

Hanobo 1/2″ Brass Garden Hose Repair Mender Male Female Connector Stainless Clamp (3 Set-6Pcs)
Hardware that will be connected to the black tubing (below) to connect to the hot water input/output (below tubing).

TotalPond Vinyl Tubing, 1/2-inch
Hose that will connect to your hot water input/outputs and will be running water to and from your water heater.

RAINPAL RBS005 Brass Water Container/Rain Barrel Quarter Turn Spigot(Lead Free Compliant)
Hot water input/outputs connected to your stock tank. The larger side will be on the outside of the tank.
You will need 2 of these.

3M Marine Adhesive/Sealant Fast Cure (White, 10 fl.oz)
Powerful sealant to go around all of your input/output connections to prevent leaks.

Newborn 102D Drip-Free Smooth Hex Rod Cradle Caulking Gun, 1/10 Gallon Cartridge, 10:1 Thrust Ratio
Caulk Gun to apply the sealant around your input/output connections.

Flex-Drain 51110 Flexible/Expandable Landscaping Drain Pipe, Solid, 4-Inch by 25-Feet
Drain pipe you’ll be putting in the trench you made to the electricity and hot water input/output black tubes from your pump box.

BESTTEN Outdoor Power Strip with 20-Foot Ultra Long Extension Cord, 3-Outlet Weatherproof Yard Power Stake with Protective Covers, ETL Certified, Green
You’ll need a multi-outlet extension cord to plug your pumps into (length required will vary depending on your setup).

Items Needed to Run/Clean/Heat your in-ground stock tank pool:

Intex 28635EG Krystal Clear Cartridge Filter Pump for Above Ground Pools, 1500 GPH Pump Flow Rate, 110-120V with GFCI
Primary pool pump that will circulate and filter the water in your stock tank pool.

(Pack of 6) Intex 29000E/59900E Easy Set Pool Replacement Type A or C Filter Cartridge
Replacement filters for the Intex pump. Filters should be changed about every 6 weeks.

Intex Above Ground Plunger Valves with Gaskets & Nuts Replacement Part (2 Pack)
These will connect to the primary pool pump’s (Intex pump) input/output connectors and will allow you to prevent back flow to your pump while you change/clean the pump filter

(CURRENTLY SOLD OUT) Camplux 10L Outdoor 2.64 GPM Digital Display Portable Propane Gas Tankless Water Heater
Water Heater that will keep your stock tank toasty!

SEAFLO 33-Series Industrial Water Pressure Pump w/Power Plug for Wall Outlet – 115VAC, 3.3 GPM, 45 PSI
Pump that will be bringing water from the stock tank to the heater, then back to the stock tank.

LOVHO Sediment Filter Attachment Garden Hose Pressure Washer Outdoor Gardening Inlet Water (40 Mesh Screen)
Connect to your hot water input to prevent debris from pushing to your water heater.

Kem-Tek 177 1-Inch Chlorinating Tablets for Pool and Spa, 4-Pound
Chlorine to keep algae from growing in your pool. Roughly 2 tablets per week inside a chlorine floatie (see below) will do the trick.

Taylor K-1000 Basic Residential Pool & Spa Test Kit
Make sure you are putting the right amount of chlorine in your pool!

U.S. Pool Supply Economy Pool Leaf Skimmer Net with Adjustable 4 Foot Telescopic Pole
Pool Skimmer to scoop out large debris! You’ll need one of these for sure.

Fun Items to Have:

BigMouth Inc Pink Flamingo Pool Float, Inflates to Over 4ft. Wide, Funny Inflatable Vinyl Summer Pool or Beach Toy, Patch Kit Included
You’re not an official member of the Stock Tank Pool community without a Palm Springs style floatie. Ours is named ‘Carl’. What will you name yours?

Items we purchased In-Person from Home Depot (specific to how we laid pavers around our pool)

I know this seems like a lot, but it’s definitely doable and soon the hard work will be behind you and you’ll be enjoying your brand new in-ground stock tank pool and hot tub!

DitchingNormal

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Tips Travel

Easy Way to Fix your Pics!

July 15, 2017

There’s nothing worse than spending a ton of time and money traveling to a beautiful place only to realize the pictures you took are absolute garbage.  One of the best parts of traveling is being able to take home amazing memories.  An easy way to access those memories is with photos.  You don’t want to look back at your photos 10 years from now and think “I swear that place was prettier than that.”  Thankfully there is an easy way to fix your pics.

While Lacey and I are by no means professional photo editors, we have found a quick and easy solution to fixing some of the god awful pics we take.  We use a free (yes, free!) photo editing software called the Nik Collection, by Google.  As always, a reminder that we don’t get paid to promote anything; we just honestly love this editing software.

While there is literally an entire ‘collection’ of free Google photo editing software you can download here, the product we end up using the most is the Color Efex Pro.  Within Color Efex Pro, we typically only use 2 of the editing options – Darken/Lighten Center and Brilliance/Warmth.  These 2 settings make it easy to brighten up dark sections of your photos and also make the colors pop.  These are the only 2 settings we used to fix the picture below.

I know many of you could make this pic look even better, but we’re pretty satisfied by being able to make the terrible original pic look halfway decent.  At least you can see our faces now!  This pic was actually take a few hours before I proposed so it means a lot to me to be able to brighten up this one.  Thanks Googs!

Easy way to Fix your Pics

Let us know if you give the Nik Collection a shot!  Send us some examples of the pics you edited.

Good luck with your edits!

 

Below are a handful of pics from our engagement trip to Italy from a few years back.  Both our camera and our picture taking skills were awful at the time, but we were able to salvage most of the pics with the Nik Collection.  Take my word for it, before I edited the pics below, they were borderline unusable.

 

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Reviews Travel

The ‘Niagara of the West’ – Shoshone Falls, ID

April 16, 2017

Shoshone Falls is currently dumping more water per second than it has in 20 years.  The falls are only about 2hrs away from our home in downtown Boise, so we decided to go take a look! Shoshone Falls is often referred to as the ‘Niagara of the West’.  After finally seeing it in person we now understand why.  Currently running at about 22k cubic feet per second, this is by far the most impressive waterfall either of us have seen in person.

We were a bit worried about the large volume of people rumored to be visiting the falls this weekend.  Some were saying they had to wait over an hour to park during their visit.  Others had said traffic was backed up for a few miles leading up to the parking lot entrance.  Fortunately, we didn’t experience either of these things.  Whether it was good timing, or luck, we didn’t have to wait at all this past Saturday during our visit.  There were plenty of people there, but we didn’t have any trouble finding a parking spot about 200 yards from the lookout points.  The entrance fee is only $3 per car and well worth it.  You can find more details here.

We would highly recommend you visit Shoshone Falls, ID if you’re anywhere in the neighborhood.

Let us know if you have any questions while planning your trip!

Shoshone Falls, ID

Shoshone Falls, ID

Shoshone Falls, ID

Shoshone Falls, ID

Shoshone Falls, ID1 Liked this post

Travel

Best New York City Experience…so far.

April 8, 2017

New York City is like a giant storage unit that the world keeps stuffing awesome shit into.  It’s filled to the top and all the way to the back with food, sports, architecture, shopping, art, and entertainment.  Anytime you slide up the storage unit door, a pile of awesome spills out on your feet and you’re like “do we have too much awesome in here? Nah, I think there’s still some room in the back.”  We were lucky enough to make our 3rd trip to this amazing city recently and agree that it was our best New York City experience…so far.

First of all, I’d like to thank Matthew McConaughy and Kate Hudson for making this trip possible.  Seriously.  If it weren’t for the 2003 rom-com “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”, we never would have taken this trip.  Thanks to the scene below, going to a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden had landed itself on Lacey’s bucket list.  We take bucket list declarations very seriously in our household, so I knew we needed to make this happen asap.  We scored amazing seats (11th row) as the Knicks caught a beatin’ from the 1st place Celtics.  Lacey was dressed up in her custom Knicks jersey and seemed to be constantly in awe of her surroundings.  In addition to the game, there were a ton of celebrities on hand that were often hanging out directly next to where we were sitting.  The Knicks even honored the team from 1999 during the game which included every player Kate Hudson and Matty Mc-C cheered for during the movie.  What are the odds?!! To top it off, Lacey caught a Knicks shirt from the t-shirt gun people.  It couldn’t have gone any better.  Bucket list item checked off in style.

We only had 1 other pre-planned event for this trip; a live taping of Late Night with Seth Meyers.  This ended up being way more fun than I think either of us thought it would be.  While being led to the Late Night Studio within the Rockefeller Center, we walked by the main Saturday Night Live stage which was really cool to see in person.  As our tickets were free and didn’t have assigned seats, we were thrilled when the NBC ushers placed us in the 3rd row from the studio floor.  The guests that night were Chelsea Handler and Jake Johnson (Nick from New Girl).  We like those two a bunch so it made for an even more exciting experience.  They didn’t allow anyone to take pics in the studio so I grabbed a couple of screenshots from the episode to show where we sat. Shown at the bottom.

The rest of the trip was accidentally action packed, but in a great way.  We ate tons of delicious food at places like PJ Clarke’s, Toscana 49, dessert at Serendipity, and Juliana’s Pizza in Brooklyn.  We visited Central Park for some morning hot chocolate, we stopped by the “Fearless Girl” statue near Wall St., and quickly passed through Time Square on our way to catch a metro.  Lacey visited “blo“, a blow dry bar near our hotel in midtown.  Her hair is always awesome but I think she appreciated having someone else wash, dry, and style it for the day.

Last but not least, we visited the jewelry boutique where I purchased Lacey’s engagement ring 3 years ago.  Neither of us had ever been there before since I ordered her ring online.  The boutique was hidden in a nondescript office building in midtown on the 9th floor.  You had to pass through 2 security doors before waiting to be buzzed in through the main door.  It felt good knowing that it wasn’t an easily accessible, run-of-the-mill jewelry shop with “80% OFF SALE” signs everywhere.  The shop was filled with beautiful antique jewelry and had an amazing view of Manhattan.  We had Lacey’s ring cleaned and maintenanced while we were there.  I don’t think she has stopped looking at her ring since.

One thing that stood out to Lacey and I the most during this trip was finally being able to experience New York City the way we always wanted to.  Since our flights were free (thanks to the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass) we felt comfortable dropping a few extra bucks on tickets, dinner, wine, coffees, and desserts.  The more we thought about and appreciated that simple fact, the more we realized that it really did change our entire experience.  If we had to swap out our intimate dining experiences for fast food or if we had balcony seats at the game instead of our floor seats, it would have been a completely different experience for us.  Still fun, but just very different.  We couldn’t be more thankful for the credit card award options that let us get to places like this for free!

This was our best New York City experience…so far.  We’re hoping to catch a live taping of Jimmy Fallon and Saturday Night Live on our next visit!

Let us know if you have any questions!

Manhattan Brooklyn Bridge panoramic

Madison Square Garden Selfie

Madison Square Park

Madison Square Garden

Lacey Knicks seats

Lacey Knicks seats

Lacey Knicks seats

Lacey Knicks seats

Madison Square Garden Lacey

Fearless Girl Wall St

Fearless Girl Wall St

Time Square New York City

Manhattan Brooklyn Bridge

Statue Of Liberty

Brooklyn Bridge walk

Brooklyn Bridge

2nd time visiting the Brooklyn Bridge

Juliana's Pizza Brooklyn

Juliana's Pizza Brooklyn

Juliana's Pizza Brooklyn

Flat Iron Building

Central Park Lacey

Freedom Cone Brooklyn

St. Patrick's Cathedral New York City

Time Square New York City

NBC studios New York City

Late Night with Seth Meyers

Late Night with Seth Meyers

Late Night with Seth Meyers

NBC studios New York City

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Travel

Happy Maui-versary! – our anniversary in Maui

March 12, 2017

Last year I got Lacey a push-pin travel map for our anniversary.  It’s a really cool map, but I realized that it might have been kind of a sucky gift for an anniversary.  Anniversaries probably call for a little more effort than just ordering something online.  My bad.  This year, Lacey and I put our heads together about 4 months in advance and came up with an awesome idea.  Rather than doing material gifts, we were going to spend our 2nd wedding anniversary in Maui, HI.

This trip was a rare case because we actually paid for most of it out-of-pocket and did not use any rewards points.  We did, however, get 1 of our flights for $99 + taxes while using the Alaska Airlines “companion fare” that comes with this card.  So we still saved about $600 dollars on flights.  Our tax returns covered the rest of the trip including a 5 night stay in an ocean front studio suite at the Honua Kai Resort.

The Honua Kai is beautiful.  The resort has multiple pools, a water slide, a lazy river, a charming ocean front restaurant, and easy beach access.  We would definitely recommend staying here if you’re planning a trip.  It is located on the northwest side of the island, minutes from Ka’anapali Beach and Lahaina.  The studio we stayed in was incredible.  We had a full kitchen (where we baked our wedding/fun-fetti cake), living room, large bathroom with a tub and shower, and a large patio equipped with furniture.  The best part was the sliding glass door leading out to the patio.  You could slide and fold this door together creating an “open air” feel leading from your room out to the resort and ocean.

While we didn’t have much planned for this trip, there were a couple of things we really wanted to do.  I wanted to see some waterfalls and Lacey wanted to do some cliff jumping.  We knocked out both pretty quickly and stumbled upon some awesome plants, animals, and geography along the way.  We visited the Heart Shaped rock near the Nakalele Blowhole and we happened upon the Twin Falls and Garden of Eden along the road to Hana.

We spent our final evening in Lahaina on a bench facing the ocean and sunset.  We shared a giant shaved ice while marveling at nearby whales as they lept out of the water.  So incredible!

For us, this was the perfect way to spend our 2nd anniversary.  Hopefully this becomes a Thompson tradition!

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

the Honua Kai sent us an anniversary gift!

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

baking our wedding cake!

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

Maui, HI

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Travel

Los Angeles for President’s Day Weekend

February 26, 2017

Lacey and I didn’t originally plan on taking a trip in between Aruba (late Jan.) and Maui (next Saturday!), but the weather in Boise continues to be absolutely miserable.  The buzz from the Aruba trip wore off quicker than we’d hoped as the wind, rain, snow, and inversions of Southern Idaho kept coming.  Lacey and I are both really affected by ugly/dark/cold weather (who isnt?!).  I’m not sure if it’s to the level of seasonal depression disorder, but it sucks nonetheless.  After a few days in a row of being bummed out, we decided we had to seek out some sunshine.

With plenty of Southwest points paired with the Companion Pass and our recently earned 2 “anniversary” nights with Hyatt, I started doing some searching for a Presidents Day Weekend getaway.  From Boise, Southern California is usually our best bet for a quick trip to sunshine this time of year.  I had a little trouble out of the gates finding award night availability with Hyatt.  I searched places like San Diego, Long Beach, Newport Beach, and Laguna Beach.  No luck.  It seemed this was just too short of notice to book a room with awards.  Then I remembered Lacey telling me about how much fun her and her mom had wedding dress shopping at Manhattan Beach.  I quickly searched for, and found, availability at the Hyatt House near Manhattan Beach.  After a quick chat with Lacey, we booked the trip.

The conversation went something like this:

  • Mat – “How do you feel about going to Manhattan Beach for President’s Day? We can get there for free, use 2 free nights at a Hyatt, and then book a 3rd night with a points+cash combination.  The entire trip would cost $83.”
  • Lacey – “Oh my gosh, yes! Book it!”

So I did, and we enjoyed a quick and casual, no plans, just hanging out, Netflix by 7pm, awesome weekend in the Los Angeles/Manhattan Beach area.

The weather was a little chilly during the trip, but the sunshine did come out each day after some morning clouds.  We ventured to Hollywood and Sunset Blvd, while hiking to the Griffith Observatory.  We made our way to Venice Beach and crushed some In and Out Burgers on the way back to the hotel.  We even caught a movie during a couple hours of cloudy drizzly weather one morning.

Another awesome experience courtesy of rewards points.  We saved $900+ on this trip by using the Southwest Airlines companion pass and the Hyatt rewards programs.  Let us know if you have any questions on how you can do the same!

Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory

Sunset Blvd Hollywood

Sunset Blvd Hollywood

Venice Beach

Venice Beach

Zoltar

Muscle Beach Venice Beach

Los Angeles for President's Day Weekend

Griffith Observatory2 Peeps liked this so far.

Rewards Points Travel

Nearly $22k of Free Travel in 12 months

February 11, 2017

Lacey and I just did the math and realized that we redeemed nearly $22k of free travel in 12 months.  To be exact, it was $21,833.42 from February ’16 – January ’17.  Holy shit!  We traveled to some amazing places (20 different cities) and stayed in some incredible hotels along the way.  The majority of our travel expenses were either highly discounted or completely free thanks to credit card rewards points.  I can’t stress enough how easily all of you can do the same thing!

Our 12 month travel recap includes the destinations listed below.  Click the links to get more details on what we experienced in the past 12 months and how we did it for next to nothing!

While there were a number of rewards programs we used to get all of this awesome stuff, there are a few programs that gave us the most in return.  Keep in mind that we don’t get paid to promote any of these programs.  These are our genuine opinions based strictly on our personal experiences.

  1. Southwest Airlines Companion Pass –  Lacey and I have redeemed over $5,000 worth of free flights from this reward so far. This reward lets you AND your companion fly for free for up to 2 years.  Lacey and I still have all of 2017 left to use this perk and we’re going to do our best to make sure we continue earning this reward for as long as possible.  Check out how to earn the SW Companion Pass here.
  2. The Hyatt “2 Free Nights” card – link here.  After meeting the spending requirements, you’ll earn 2 free nights at ANY Hyatt property.  Lacey and I both earned this reward and used our 4 free nights at the Grand Hyatt in Aruba for an $800 per night ocean view suite.  This card also gives you 1 anniversary night per year.  Lacey and I just used our anniversary nights to book a stay on Manhattan Beach – Los Angeles.
  3. The Wyndham card – What a nice surprise this card has been!  You don’t hear much about this card on the mainstream travel blogs.  You’ll earn 45k points after hitting the spending requirement.  You can book ANY of their hotels for a flat rate of 15k points.  So out of the gate, you get 3 free nights anywhere.  We used this to book an ocean front suite on South Beach in Miami.  It was one of the best hotel experiences we’ve had so far.  More details in this post.
  4. The Hilton Honors program.  I love Hilton! They have multiple cards you can sign up for making it easy to stack points quickly.  Their customer service reps treat you like royalty when you call to book your room(s).  I’ll never forget how cool it felt to have someone say “Alright Mr. Thompson, let’s see if I can get you into our most luxurious property during your stay.”  There aren’t many occasions in life when I feel like a big shot, but the Hilton reps make me feel like that every time I talk to them.

We are so lucky to have experienced everything we did during the last 12 months.  We are very grateful that there are ways for people on a budget to get to see the world.  When there’s a will, there’s a way!  We hope to continue this pace throughout 2017 as well.  So far we’re booked through June 2017 with vacations to Los Angeles (Manhattan Beach), Maui, New York City, and Sayulita Mexico.

Let us know if you have any questions once you start planning your next vacay!

Edits and pics from our travels last year:

San Diego:

Lahaina Beach House

Gas Lamp San Diego

Giant Margarita San Diego

Houston (Final Four):

Final Four 2016 NRG Stadium Houston, TX

Final Four Custom Lanyard

This pic was on our custom lanyards that we wore around our necks.

Lacey at Final Four 2016 Fan Fest

NRG Stadium Final Four 2016

New York City:

Brooklyn Bridge New York

Juliana's Pizza Brooklyn New York

Freedom Tower New York City

Weekend in New York Yankee Redsox Game

Manhattan Skyline

Florence, Italy:

piazzale michelangelo florence

Scooter Tour 3 Days in Florence, Italy

Scooter Tour Florence, Italy

Tuscany Florence Italy

Bicycles Florence, Italy

Florence Italy downtown

Rome, Italy:

st. peter's basilica Rome, Italy

roman colosseum Rome, Italy

Trevi Fountain Rome, Italy

Italian Open Rome 2016

st. peter's basilica Rome, Italy

Rome, Italy

Malta:

Malta Valletta Goza Comino Blue Lagoon M'dina

Malta Valletta Goza Comino Blue Lagoon M'dina

Malta Valletta Goza Comino Blue Lagoon M'dina

Free Summer Vacation

Malta Valletta Goza Comino Blue Lagoon M'dina

Malta Valletta Goza Comino Blue Lagoon M'dina

Malta Valletta Goza Comino Blue Lagoon

Malta Valletta Goza Comino Blue Lagoon M'dina

Chicago:

Weekend in Chicago

Weekend in Chicago

Weekend in Chicago

Weekend in Chicago

Weekend In Chicago

Weekend in Chicago

Huntington Beach, CA:

Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach Pier

Huntington Beach Vans U.S. Open

Huntington Beach Vans U.S. Open

Huntington Beach Sunset

Denver, CO:

One Day in Denver

One Day in Denver

One Day in Denver

One Day in Denver

One Day in Denver

Aruba:

I heart Aruba Sign

Baby Bridge Aruba

“Baby Bridge”

Flamingo Island Aruba

Rainbow Aruba

first view upon opening our window shades at the Hyatt in Aruba. Not a bad start

Curacao:

Curacao Sign

Hilton Curacao

view from our Hilton Suite in Curacao

Curacao Hilton

Willemstad Curacao

Willemstad Curacao

South Beach – Miami, FL:

South Beach Miami

South Beach, Miami

South Beach Miami

South Beach Miami

view from our upgrade at the Shelborne in South Beach

South Beach Miami Henna Tattoo

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Rewards Points Travel

Aruba, Curacao, and South Beach Miami for free

January 29, 2017

Idaho is going through one of the coldest/snowiest winters in the past 30 years.  Snow, ice, freezing rain, slush, inversions, misery.  We had to escape it if only for a short while.  Luckily, we already had a getaway booked for January not knowing just how badly we would end up needing it.  This is kind of a funny story how it all came about actually.  Back in September, we booked this trip out of spite for the sole purpose of getting back at the Hyatt hotel brand.  Somewhat of a blessing in disguise, here is how we ended up visiting Aruba, Curacao, and South Beach Miami for free.

Last summer, Lacey and I visited Huntington Beach, CA.  You may remember our post about it here.  We ended up staying at a little Air BnB during that trip by default as Hyatt would not let us use the 4 free nights we earned from this card.  The Hyatt reps were so awful and unhelpful while I was trying to book nights at one of their $200 per night properties down there.  I felt like they were doing everything in their power to prevent me from redeeming the awards we earned.  Long story short, Hyatt pissed me off super bad and I wanted to get back at ’em for how they treated us.

Angrily, I googled “most expensive Hyatt hotel”.  At the top of the results was their resort in Aruba.  What a coincidence, Southwest Airlines flies to Aruba meaning Lacey and I could get there for free because we earned the Companion Pass.  This was our chance to stick it to Hyatt as these rooms were $600 per night.  Suck it Hyatt.  Side note, these rooms in Aruba were a challenge to book as well.  Their website would tell me there was no availability when I search for 2 or 4 consecutive nights at this resort.  Oddly, when I searched 1 night at a time it was available.  So, I ended up having to make 4 separate reservations in order to get 4 nights in a row.  Keep this in mind when you’re looking for availability on Hyatt’s website.  I’m not kidding, they do their best to prevent you from using your rewards.

While booking our flights to Aruba, I found that we could break up the trip by making stops on the island of Curacao and in South Beach Miami.  We had never been to either place and both looked amazing.  We booked a suite for a night at the amazing Hilton resort in Curacao with honors points and booked 2 nights at the Shelborne Boutique Hotel on South Beach in Miami with Wyndham reward points.  I have to mention how awesome the staff at the Shelborne resort were to us.  I emailed them prior to the trip to confirm our reservation and briefly mentioned that it was an anniversary trip.  When we checked in, they said “it looks like you are celebrating a special event with us so you have been upgraded to an ocean view penthouse suite.”  I had totally forgot that I emailed ’em about it and was a little caught off guard at first.  Then I turned to Lacey and said “happy anniversary, ha”.  If that weren’t enough, they sent us a bottle of champagne later that night.  That was pretty amazing of them and we are so grateful.

Our week-long trip was just what we needed to break up this awful winter here in Idaho.  Each place we visited was amazing for their individual reasons.  Aruba’s beautiful white sand beaches, flamingos, and iguanas made us feel like we were in a different reality.  Curacao’s tropical surroundings and heavily Dutch influenced architecture had us wishing we had more time to spend there.  The hustle and bustle of South Beach blended with the beauty and calm atmosphere at the beach had us asking each other if we were ready to move there.

One last thing to point out.  We ended up paying $25 a night to upgrade our room at the Hyatt in Aruba to an ocean front suite.  So for $100 + taxes we stayed in a room that was priced at $789 per night.  We ended up getting a value of about $3100 from our 4 reward nights.  Maybe Hyatt will rethink their customer service approach when someone is trying to book a $200 per night room next time 🙂

Total Amount of Free Flights/Hotels for this trip alone = $6,799 prior to taxes

  • Southwest Flights – $2900 (we used Southwest points and the Companion Pass to book these flights)
  • Hyatt in Aruba – $3100 (Lacey and I both signed up for this card to earn 2 free nights each)
  • Hilton in Curacao – $309 (used a combination of these cards over time to earn Hilton Honors points)
  • Shelborne Boutique Hotel on South Beach – $490 (we used Wyndham reward points from this card to book this)

Photos in Aruba –

Renaissance Island (where the Flamingos and Iguanas are)

Baby Bridge (natural arch)

Bon Bini Festival

California Lighthouse

Eagle Beach

Rainbow Aruba

first view upon opening our window shades at the Hyatt in Aruba. Not a bad start

Grand Hyatt Aruba

I heart Aruba Sign

Flamingo Island Aruba

Flamingo Island Aruba

Flamingo Island Aruba

Flamingo Island Aruba

Iguana Island Aruba

Flamingo Island Aruba

California LightHouse Aruba

California LightHouse Aruba

Coconut Drink Aruba

Aruba Panorama

Baby Bridge Aruba

“Baby Bridge”

Aruba Rock Garden

rock garden near the natural bridge

Aruba Natural Bridge

Bon Bini Aruba

at the “Bon Bini” festival

 

Photos in Curacao:

Downtown Willemstad

Hilton Curacao

Willemstad Curacao

Willemstad Curacao

Willemstad Curacao

Willemstad Curacao

Dushi Curacao

Curacao Sign

Curacao Hilton

Hilton Curacao

view from our Hilton Suite in Curacao

 

Photos in South Beach:

Shelborne Boutique Hotel

South Beach

Henna Tattoo on South Beach

South Beach, Miami

South Beach Miami

South Beach Miami

South Beach Miami

South Beach Miami

South Beach Miami Henna Tattoo

South Beach Miami Henna Tattoo

Lacey got her 1st Henna Tattoo on South Beach

South Beach Miami Henna Tattoo

South Beach Miami Henna Tattoo

South Beach Miami

view from our upgrade at the Shelborne in South Beach

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Travel

A Day in Denver

August 24, 2016

Lacey and I had never been to Denver before.  Being that Southwest has nonstop flights from Boise, we decided to give it a look.  If nothing else, we could put a new pin on our travel map.  With the help of some beautiful weather, public bicycles, nachos, and 21oz. margaritas, we enjoyed our day in Denver.

Thanks to the Southwest Companion Pass, Lacey and I hopped on a free flight to Denver last Saturday morning.  We landed, caught the hotel shuttle, dropped off our bags, and took a $5 Uber to downtown Denver.  We were enjoying brunch and mimosas at the Viewhouse on Market St. by 11:30am.  The Viewhouse is one of the coolest sports bars I’ve ever been to.  It’s like Disneyland for drunken sports fans.  They have a huge outdoor area on the 1st level that is full of backyard games like corn hole.  The top floor patio, where Lacey and I hung out, has amazing views of downtown Denver and of Coors Field.  Their brunch is delicious and is accompanied by solid happy hour specials that include bottomless mimosas and a build your own Bloody Mary bar.  Our day in Denver was off to a strong start!

After brunch, we walked across the street and found a public bicycle station where we rented 2 bikes.  We couldn’t think of a better way to quickly find out what all was going on in the downtown area.  While cruisin’ around, we ran into a Farmers Market right outside Union Train Station and then discovered the 16th St. Mall.  Lacey had heard good things about the 16th St. Mall from a friend, so we hopped off our bikes and decided to check it out a bit more.  Full of shops, restaurants, and people, this 1+ mile strip of outdoor mall was something I had never seen before in any other city.

As on most of our trips, I was on the prowl for a delicious margarita.  I wish I could remember the name of the place we found on 16th St, but I definitely found a winner.  The menu offered a 21 ounce, margarita.  Yikes!  It took quite a while to finish that bad boy off, but we enjoyed some great people watching from the patio of the restaurant while I worked on it.

Still on 16th St., we visited a cool little sports apparel shop. I’ve been wanting a new Chicago Cubs hat for a while now.  I don’t know if it was the margarita or just the excitement of visiting a new city, but I figured this would be a good day to make that purchase.  Surprisingly enough, I found the exact Cubs hat I had been looking at online the day before in Boise.  An all black fitted New Era hat with a white “C” on the front…likely the best Chicago Cubs hat ever.

Still riding the high from my purchase (and margarita) we headed back toward Coors Field to grab a bite at Lodos Bar and Grill.  This rooftop patio restaurant looked out to 2 other rooftop bars as well as Coors Field.  The surroundings reminded me of a beer commercial or something.  I always figured they staged those commercials to make ’em look like that, but as it turns out, that’s real life in downtown Denver.  Well done Denver, well done.

Following Lodos we headed over to Coors Field as we had tickets to the Cubs/Rockies game.  Right around that time, Lacey started feeling ill and we decided to call it a day rather then head into the game.  I think the altitude played a role in her illness as I wasn’t feeling so hot either.  Make sure to drink tons of water when you visit Denver!  You need to keep as much oxygen in your blood as possible being that you’re not going to get as much from the air as you normally would.

Aside from getting sick, we still had a good experience in Denver.  We got to see this beautiful city via bicylces and rooftop patios, we had some delicious food and drinks, and I scored a new hat! We will surely visit the mile high city again someday.

One Day in Denver

One Day in Denver

One Day in Denver

One Day in Denver

One Day in Denver

One Day in Denver

One Day in Denver

One Day in Denver

One Day in Denver

One Day in Denver

One Day in Denver

One Day in Denver

One Day in Denver

One Day in Denver3 Peeps liked this so far.

Rewards Points Travel

3 Free Hotel Nights for Your Next Trip

August 6, 2016

Many of our recent “how to get free travel” posts have been focused on earning free flights.   The reason being is that we’re currently in love with our newly acquired Southwest Airlines Companion Pass.  We booked over $4k in free flights in 3 months!  Anyways, that’s a previous story.  While free flights are a huge piece to the free travel puzzle, let’s make it complete by adding some free hotel stays.  I am going to give you really quick tip that will result in you booking 3 free hotel nights while choosing from over 7,200 locations and properties.

Before I tell you the sweet, sweet magic that will get you around $1,000 in free hotel stays I want to remind you that we do not get any sort of compensation for what I’m about to recommend.  The coolest part about our travel tips are that you can trust they’re genuine.  We aren’t trying to push a sale on you or anything like what some of the other point guy(s) 😉 often do.  All of our free travel posts are simply a reflection of what my lovely wife and I are doing to try and see the world.

That being said, Lacey and I recently booked a trip to Orlando, Aruba, Curacao, and Miami for January 2017.  Our flights were taken care of by our Southwest Companion Pass, but we still needed some free hotel stays  to make this trip doable.  We already had 4 free nights with Hyatt Hotels to use in Aruba, which is awesome, but we still didn’t want to pay out of pocket for all of the remaining nights of our trip.  After a few hours of researching I discovered…drum roll…the Wyndham rewards Visa card.

Before stumbling on Wyndham’s site via Google, I had literally never heard of their rewards program.  I usually only see updates on the same 4 hotel rewards programs over and over;  Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, and IHG.  At first glance, Wyndham’s bonus offer of 45k points didn’t seem very impressive.  In my experience, 45k points with any of the previously mentioned hotel chains would likely get you 1-2 nights at a shit hotel in a sketchy part of town.  This is not the case with Wyndham.  Every single one of Wyndham’s properties is a flat rate of 15k points per night.  Yes, this includes their most expensive properties.  No matter where you’re wanting to go, you’ll be able to book 3 nights with your 45k points.  Depending on where you book, you could save over $1,000 in free rooms with this reward.

This is how it works:

  1. Sign up for the card (here) – there is a $69 annual fee that will post on your 1st statement
  2. Use the card once and earn 30k points (posted to your account after 1 billing cycle)
  3. Spend $1,000 with this card in 90 days and earn another 15k points
  4. When your points post to your account, go shop for your hotel room at Wyndham.com3 Free Hotel Nights with Wyndham

Easy enough right?  Thanks Wyndham! 😉

Do yourself a favor and look at this list of the top Wyndham properties before booking your stay.  That’s where Lacey and I found this $330 per night resort we’ll be staying at on South Beach in Miami for free.  Spoiler alert, we’re going to put the extra money saved towards margaritas on the beach.  Sounds like a good investment to me!

Let us know if you have any questions!  Now go book a beautiful and expensive stay at a Wyndham property for free!

Huntington Beach Sunset3 Peeps liked this so far.