Great ideas with the family for Labor Day

1. Freezer cooking

Perfect for a rainy Labor Day, organize your kitchen into workstations and have the family create meals to freeze for the months ahead. Casseroles, cookie dough, and pasta sauce work the best. You’ll enjoy the time together and the money savings!

2. Backyard camping

Get up early in the morning and head out camping -- in your backyard! Bring all of the supplies necessary for a day and night out and restrict going inside the house to emergencies only. Pitch a tent, roast marshmallows, tell ghost stories, and sleep under the starry skies. This is a perfect way to introduce kids to camping.

3. Talent show

Who knew Grandma was such a great dancer? At breakfast, introduce the idea for a family talent show night. Throughout the day, have someone make the program, while the performers have the day to prepare. Have your camera ready!

4. Try a new cuisine

Explore a cuisine that the kids have never tried before, like Ethiopian, Korean BBQ, Brazilian, or Japanese. Before heading to the restaurant, spend some time researching the region, locate it on a map, and find out a few unique customs.

5. Make and fly kites

Using a traditional kite pattern, paint and decorate kites using glitter, markers, ribbon, and whatever else you have on hand. Using plenty of string and a good gust of wind, fly the kites outdoors. Make it a competition and split into teams, challenge one another to see which kite stays in the air the longest.

 

Here are some great tips for your cross-country travels

1.) While your TomTom/iPhone/whatever else you use for a navigation system is great, an actual map will help you out when you're lost and without signal on your fancy GPS. Pairs well with a compass.

2.) No, we don't mean you should drive a Jeep Compass, but you should bring a real old-school compass. It always seems that you only get lost when you don't have cell service.

3.) The last thing you want on a cross-country drive is to be stuck on the side of the highway with a flat tire and no spare because you needed the room to pack all your stuff. Bring tire plugs and tire goo to help out in a pinch.

4.) Bringing a good co-pilot to share the driving responsibility, and keep you entertained while on the road. Plus someone's gotta help you when you're broken down on the side of the road.

5.) Out on the open road you never know what you might want or need to see later so a decent dash cam is a must.

10 roads you must drive on in the world

1.) Hana Highway-

Hana Highway in Hawaii travels along Maui's coastline and consists of 620 sharp turns and 59 bridges. You'll experience a variety of views, including waterfalls, rain forests, and, of course, the ocean. 

 

2.) North Yungas Road-

The North Yungas Road in Bolivia is beautiful but also known as the world's most dangerous road because of its single lanes, tight turns, and steep drop-offs.

 

3.)

Col de l'Isera-

Col de l'Iseran in France is the highest paved road in the Alps. This scenic route is open only in the summer and has been used several times in the Tour de France. 

 

4.) Chapman's Peak Drive-

Chapman's Peak Drive in South Africa is about five miles long with 114 curves and offers stunning 180-degree views of both mountain and sea.

 

5.) Rohtang Pass-

India's Rohtang Pass offers a spectacular view of glaciers, peaks and rivers. Be warned — it's also known for its massive landslides. 

 

6.) Atlantic Road-

The Atlantic Road in Norway stretches across seven bridges and offers a beautiful view of the Atlantic Ocean. If you drive in calmer weather, you might even see whales and seals.

 

7.)

Interstate 70-

The Interstate 70, which runs through Utah, is most beautiful in winter, especially when it winds its way through the snow-covered Spotted Wolf Canyon.

 

8.) Karakorum Highway-

The Karakorum Highway was bulldozed in the 1960s and '70s and now connects Pakistan and China.

 

9.) Milford Road-

The Milford Road in New Zealand winds for 144 miles through Fiordland National Park, in the heart of the Southern Alps. It also connects to Milford Sound, one of the filming locations for the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

 

10.) Valley of Fire Road-

The Valley of Fire Road in Nevada passes through beautiful red sandstone formations that look like they are on fire when reflecting the sun. 

How often should you get an oil change?

Of course, driving conditions are seldom ideal. Lots of idling, stop-and-go traffic, extremely hot or cold weather, humidity and towing can all decrease the lifespan of engine oil. Plus, every car is a little different. The interval that is perfectly fine for one car could be way too long for another. So in reality, very few drivers will go 25,000 miles without an oil change, even if they spring for high-grade synthetic oil. And most of them shouldn't, although some can go 10,000 without a problem.

And yet most people still aim for 3,000-mile changes, perhaps because they don't know it's excessive, or perhaps because they adhere to an extreme better-safe-than-sorry principle. The result is millions of extra dollars wasted on oil changes and millions of extra gallons of oil potentially polluting the environment.

The best advice, then? Ignore the oil industry and go by your car's user manual, which will probably advise an interval of 5,000 miles or more. You'll save some money -- and possibly keep the world a little greener in the process.

Romero Hyundai Mazda Blog

NATIONAL VACATION MONTH!

We are midway through the summer and we decided to put together a few of the great national parks to travel to in the United States! The better question is we want to know if you have been to any of these? Or if you plan on taking any roadtrips to them with your family!? It is beyond amazing these great destinations may lie so close to you!


1.) Grand Canyon National Park- A powerful and inspiring landscape, Grand Canyon overwhelms our senses through its immense size.
Unique combinations of geologic color and erosional forms decorate a canyon that is 277 river miles (446km) long, up to 18 miles (29km) wide, and a mile (1.6km) deep

2.)  Carlsbad Caverns National Park- Carlsbad Caverns National Park is a great place to view the night sky in a whole new way. The park offers full moon and star party tours to take in the natural illumination, but the real highlights are the 117 absolutely marvelous caves formed by sulfuric acid that has eaten away at the limestone. The rock formations and stunning "cathedral"-like interiors are nearly without rival. Visitors can take guided and unguided tours of the Hall of the White Giant and the Spider Cave, and watch Mexican free-tail bats burst from Carlsbad Cavern at dusk in the summertime.

3.) Yellowstone National Park- Classic destinations always stand the test of time, and as the world’s first national park, Yellowstone certainly qualifies. Most notably the home of Old Faithful Geyser, the park features an impressive collection of lakes, mountain ranges, canyons and rivers. Centered over the Yellowstone Caldera — the largest super volcano on the continent — the park is a singular destination for wildlife viewing in the spring, summer and fall, and is ideal for skiing in the winter. For a first-rate photo opportunity, don't leave Yellowstone without venturing into the Hayden Valley, a prime location for grizzly bear sightings and bison encounters.

4.) Great Smoky Mountains- Clouds obscure a valley in the Great Smoky Mountains. The nation’s busiest park, Great Smoky Mountains draws more than nine million visitors a year, twice the number of any other national park. It's located in Tennessee and North Carolina.

Inspecting your belts and hoses under your hood

• First, shut off the engine, and give it time to cool. This is important, as you will be handling parts that become scalding hot while your car is being driven, and a moving belt or fan could easily cause you to lose a finger.
• Once conditions are safe, open the hood and locate the serpentine belt at the front of the engine. (Some older cars may have more than one belt, but they will all be in the same area.)
• Check the belt (or belts) for obvious signs of wear. The top or outer part of a belt should be smooth, with no cracks or frayed edges.
• Bend or twist the belt to check the grooved underside for cracks. Small cracks in individual grooves are normal, but a crack that is deeper or wider than a groove could be the start of a break.
• Likewise, check the coolant hoses at the top and bottom of the radiator for any cracks, nicks, scratches or bulges.
• Look for any glassy, hardened spots in the rubber. These indicate heat damage.
• Check the coolant level. Low coolant indicates a leak, which may or may not be located in the hoses. You can often track leaks by looking for coolant residue, which is usually white, green or pink.

         

If the belts or hoses show any of these signs of wear, they should be replaced.

Great insight on the 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe

Positive reviews, pricing, and long-term ownership costs. The big three. The trifecta. What do these three factors have in common?  

Every car brand strives to produce a vehicle that masters each one. And with the SUV market growing every year, there’s a lot of cut-throat competition!  

But only the 2014 Santa Fe stands out as the SUV that perfects it all with this much style.

The 2014 Santa Fe is dramatically redesigned from its previous models, and comes with all the bells and whistles.  It handles like a dream, slicing through curvy roads like butter. Did we mention it’s roomy enough to fit everyone comfortably, turbocharged, AND boasts an amazing MPG for its class?

Its advanced V-6 engine is smooth as silk and tough as nails.

Why are you still sitting there?  Get yours today!