Since the first time we visited Florida as a family we’ve wanted to see more and more of the Sunshine State. Florida offers a variety of family road trip options ranging from beach vacation, island hopping in the Keys, to exploring the one-of-a-kind nature on the Gulf Coast. We just completed an epic Florida Gulf […]
Somewhere between the skyscrapers of Los Angeles and the beaches of San Diego there’s pocket of Old California. When you’re touring Southern California it’s easy to just breeze on down to your final destination, but why would you when you could make some great SoCal stops? Mission San Juan Capistrano is one stop you have […]
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 […]
San Diego, California is such a popular west coast destination. We all love to head to SoCal for the nearly guaranteed sunshine and beaches where you can actually swim. And the coastal vibe is so different, with bare feet everywhere and flowers blooming on the bluffs year round. Cabrillo National Monument is a great place […]
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 […]
There’s no doubt that the West Coast of the USA is an awesome place full of diverse people, sights and nature. The cities of the West Coast are really progressive and each gives a totally different experience. We’re going to share with you how you can get the full West Coast road trip experience from […]
If you’ve ever gone traveling with us then you know we like to have fun, we like to go to bed early, and we love when we find awesome free things to do. We know lots of the cool fun free things to do at home because we do so much local travel but free […]
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 […]
Can you think of anything that is more Southern California than visiting the Santa Monica Pier? I don’t think we could name a single thing. Well, maybe a day in San Diego on the Beach surfing… But no, the Pier. Even though a day at the Santa Monica Pier seems like the most touristy and […]
More often than not we find ourselves visiting places we’ve been 10,000 times. We don’t live far from Port Townsend, Washington and that’s where a lot of our family is so we are there quite often. We love Port Townsend, as most Pacific Northwest residents do, and it’s our duty to share just why and […]
We love our hikes. Winter, summer, whenever. We also love visiting beaches. Have you ever done beach hiking? Beach hiking is an awesome challenge because it is so different than hiking on a hard rock trail. The Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge is a perfect place to experience beach hiking as well as have some fun […]
It’s been awhile since we’ve shared any details about accommodations while we travel. Well, we’ve stayed someplace now that we must share: Domaine Madeleine in Port Angeles, Washington is the most awesome and perfect bed and breakfast that we have visited. It’s the Olympic Peninsula BNB that puts others to shame. Well, we need to stay […]
When you’ve lived in Seattle for a long time, you stop trying to find new things to do or you forget the fun things you used to do. When we were much younger, Chris and I lived very close to Volunteer Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. The Hill is one of Seattle’s oldest neighborhoods […]
Christmas is such a hoot. We love getting to do Christmassy, holidayish things and especially love traveling during the holidays. We just returned from Atlanta where we were visiting family and did a few fun, special holiday activities there. In addition to visiting the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, we also got to do some exploring […]
We often return to places that we have really enjoyed in the past, especially when it’s a place of learning and science that completely fascinates the kids. The Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, Tennessee is just that: engaging, fun and perfect for family travel. Fyi, I just want to apologize in advance because this article is going to […]
Once upon a time, Chris and I took a trip to Portland, Oregon and hated it. We left early even. Everything was closed, the city was dirty and we were bored. Well, my opinion has completely changed. Every year my BFF Jon and I take a boys trip and head someplace fun for a weekend […]
Following the recent shocking election of Donald Trump in the United States, our minds are spinning out of control of what to do. We cannot relocate our lives and run away from this. We can’t secede from the Union (or can we?) and we can’t just sit at home moping about so many of our […]
We’ve written several times about what we look for in a destination, from activities to cost to previous visits. We’re pretty good at making travel decisions together to create the most fun vacations for our kids. Following the recent election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States we were very curious how […]
Since summer keeps us going going going we are always a tiny bit excited for fall. Fall is the perfect time to chill for a bit (for at least three weeks straight), prep for the next big trip (usually a warm couple weeks in Mexico) and do our pumpkin thing. Yes, most families have some […]
We’ll never get tired of sharing certain types of things with the world. We have our favorite destinations and activities and we’ll share lots of different ways to experience them. Port Townsend, Washington is one of those destinations and something we love there is Fort Worden. And at Fort Worden we have discovered the Port […]
We recently put out an itinerary for doing a road trip loop around the Puget Sound here in Washington State. With that, we got a few emails and questions about where to find the prettiest spots in Washington. We thought “Um, that’s such an opinion piece and is going to vary for everyone,” but we’ll […]
Okay, new favorite thing to do on a Thursday afternoon: destination dining. Whaaaaa? Yep, it’s the coolest and most unusual, but most Pacific Northwest thing you can possibly do. The Pretty Fork, a local Seattle progressive dining tour operator, has got the concept of destination dining down. I heard about destination dining with the […]
Every year we get together with our family for a big family reunion trip. Hold up, that’s a vague statement because our family is enormous. We get together annually with our immediate family for a week at Lake Cushman on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. We love it there; it’s beautiful. We love even […]
Until I moved to San Francisco in my early 20s I’d always heard of Tahoe and people going to Tahoe for the summer or staying in a lodge for skiing at Tahoe for the winter and I never got it. It seemed so common and yet so exclusive. Well, it turns out that we have […]
We get a lot of questions about visiting the Pacific Northwest with kids. People want to know the obvious like “what are the can’t-miss sights?” or “should we really pack for cold weather in July?” We’ll answer that second question first: yes, it rains. For the other questions though, here is the first of 3 […]
We travel a lot, right? Do you ever wonder what actually sticks with kids and makes a lasting impression? When you’re planning your own vacation, do you seriously talk to your kids to see what they want to do or where they want to go. After interviewing our own 4 year old, it’s become a […]
We’re going to do a stereotypical and highly ridiculous thing. A lot of writers will tell you about the “only sight you need to see in…” or the “absolute most perfect…” and we try not to do that. Ever. Tell you what though, we are going to tell you about the best most worthwhile hike […]
It’s probably been a long while since you have sat down and watched Northern Exposure, right? Yeah, I can’t say that I’ve seen an episode in the last 20 years, but we went a had an awesome family weekend in Roslyn, Washington where they filmed it and the town is just as rustic, quirky, and […]
I’m sure we all have memories, either recent or from childhood, that are grossly inaccurate. A great example is when you can recall a great hike and it’s been years and you think taking your kids on it will be a blast… and then you realize that it’s a hike along cliffs and above churning […]
Apparently our new hangout is Anacortes. We’ve now had several trips up, all for different reasons and love it. We just returned from another awesome trip, this time specifically camping and spending the weekend at Washington Park in Anacortes. We’d visiting the Park once before and it was fun, but this time we dedicated our […]
Family travel usually keeps us doing things like hiking and animal related activities, which we completely love, but what if we said that a new thing happening in Washington State adds a fun new aspect to family travel: wine tasting. That’s right, family friendly wine tasting is happening in the Pacific Northwest. We travel […]
The Pacific Northwest has countless spots where you can look around and say “Wow, I love it here!” Seriously, every view is different and beautiful. It’s also a place where kids can run wild and play on the beach (almost year round). Fort Casey on Whidbey Island is such a place. From forest trails to […]
So, if you read our article about Anacortes, you know that the town totally surprised us. We always thought of it as a town that we just had to drive through to get to the ferry for the San Juan Islands, but we discovered it’s much more than that. While there we stayed at the […]
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 […]
Once upon a time we wrote this great article about why you shouldn’t write off a destination and basically said that you should always give a place a second chance or even just go experience it for the first time despite what others have said. Anacortes, Washington is one of those places. There are so […]
Spelunking: the act of exploring caves and wandering deep into the earth… with kids. That’s what we got to do at Oregon Caves National Monument. We had an the best experience, which we were a bit worried about before starting our tour. We were welcomed by Oregon Caves National Monument for our ranger-led cave hike […]
If you know me (Rob, Hi!) you know that I use the word “magical” in 50% of my sentences… and so does Oliver… because he’s my mini-me. Blame it on working for Disney or just watching a bit too much Harry Potter, but I love the word. I’m going to use it again: The Oregon […]
2 dads traveling the globe with their 2 sons, teaching them the value of culture and education, experiencing the outdoors, and giving the kids a broad world view.
