When you’re traveling a lot for work, chances are that you don’t get to do too much exploring beyond the office. We’re really fortunate in that we get to travel for fun as a part of our work, but sometimes we also tag along when Chris (papa) has his own work trips. We recently got […]
Every city has its defining characteristics that make it unusual and attractive. Seattle has the ferry system and Pike Place Market, Los Angeles has the film industry and beaches, San Francisco has the cable cars and all of its hills… Well, the coolest San Francisco’s hills is for sure Telegraph Hill, and the wonders of […]
California. That California life is so awesome with all that nature and sunshine. What better way to experience it than by doing a California coast road trip? We’re going to start at the northern border, but reverse our plan and you’ll have just as amazing of a time. So you’ve just crossed the border from […]
Yosemite National Park is one of the most visited or dreamed about destinations in the United States. Can you blame everyone for wanting to explore the valleys and peaks that are the subject of countless Ansel Adams photographs? Who wouldn’t want to stare up at the incredible granite cliffs from the valley floor. And did […]
Growing up in Washington with family in both northern and southern California, the West Coast road trip was guaranteed at least once per year… if not three times. This meant though that we got to experience everything: lighthouses and coastlines, hiking in the mountains or rides in Disneyland. Such an array. Now, being parents, we […]
So many ways to approach a West Coast road trip. Seriously. You can do the Pacific Coast Highway from the Olympic Peninsula of Washington all of the way to Tijuana, Mexico. Or you can shoot down the i-5 corridor, making intentional stops within an hour or two off the freeway. Or you can wing it […]
Going off the beaten path is something so many travelers strive for. You know that we’re usually traveling with kids, so we try to experience the less-crowded areas of the world when we can so they can see what the earth is actually like. When you ask somebody if it’s quiet in Yosemite National Park […]
I went to Crescent City, California once when I was a kid. I just remember being told that in 1964 a tsunami (tidal wave) crashed into the town… and then I was terrified of visiting Crescent City or any place on the coast. Well, I’m a grown up now and Chris and I have been […]
We grew up in a great period in film history, where there were movies like the Land Before Time, Ferngully and, from even before we were born, The Gnome-Mobile. On our way to California’s North Coast and the Redwoods, the boys got to watch The Gnome Mobile in the car and they loved it!! If […]
As we made our way through Northern California and explored the beaches and National Parks, we stayed in all kinds of hotels and lodges. When we left the Bodega Bay Lodge and headed north along the coast, we landed in Eureka, CA and were welcomed by the Carter House Inn. This was such a nifty […]
When you live on the coast you get accustomed to certain maritime things. You know, like hearing fog horns, continually sweeping up sand in your house, having lighthouses in half of your family photos. We love lighthouses, but then you probably already knew that. While we were touring the Northern California coast we got to […]
After spending so much time up in the mountains and loving Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, we really needed to get to the ocean. At home we live across the street from the beach and can look at water whenever we want, so we’re used to it. Being land-locked doesn’t suit us. A […]
Ooh, we love a good tourist attraction. Not a tourist trap, but a genuine attraction. Of all of the classic American icons a few really stand out: the Statue of Liberty, the White House, the Golden Gate Bridge. In our house, being the family travel folk that we are, we’ve got a lot of maps, […]
While we typically just do our own thing and plot out sights we want to see, every now and then we’ll do a tour. National Parks are so easy to explore on your own, especially when you’re planning on hiking a bunch, but when we were in California, we opted to do the Yosemite Valley […]
Such a variety of accommodations in this world. We’ve seen them all and stayed in half of them. On our epic road trip through the National Parks of Northern California, we got to experience some wonderful places. The Evergreen Lodge at Yosemite National Park is so different from the other spots we stayed. We loved […]
