We’ve been to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield a few times now. It’s one of those places that has both historical significance and modern day appeal. What? What sort of appeal is there to a battlefield, particularly with kids? Well, we’ll tell you. There’s more the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield site than just what the name prescribes. In addition to the history
From the first day we moved to Suquamish, Washington we had friends telling us about the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island. Always being busy and never being bored, we'd never carved out time to visit. Well, we finally did and it was amazing! We're going to keep it brief because the best way to explain the Bloedel Reserve and how incredible
We go to a lot of aquariums. I feel like I’ve started other posts about other aquariums that way too, but it's because it's true. Of all the aquarium's we've been to none have impressed us with their theming the way that the Downtown Aquarium in Denver has. Once you've worked for Disney you come to appreciate theming and how
Omagoodness. Have you ever been to a children’s museum? We have been to a couple children's museums and I'll tell you, they can be a bit stressful. The stress is all completely worth it though, or at least mostly worth it, when you see how much fun all of the kids have. The Children's Museum of Denver is really comprehensive
To be honest the reason we went to Denver wasn't actually for my cousin's wedding
We made the decision to visit Denver, like, beyond the airport Denver. A city that we’d written off at the home of the Broncos (and why would you want to visit there when you live in Seattle) and as just a stop-over on cross country flights, we learned that we actually loved Denver and are already planning our next visit.
Family travel in hotels is weird. When you're home everything is where you need it to be and you know exactly what to expect when your kids walk through the door. When you're checking into a hotel with kids it's totally different. Family travel is just different from business or solo travel in general and if you've never gone traveling
So, you know we love our National Parks. One of the most fun things we do when we go to a National Park, and this might sound kind of strange because it's so small, is to get cancellation stamps in our National Parks Passports and learn a little extra here and there. Do you have a National Parks Passport? If
Georgia, ooohhh Georgia… Yep, it’s on our mind a lot because we love it. Or at least we love most of it. And we always think it’s hot in the South. Like, always. It’s not though. Did you know they can get snow and frost and stuff? OMG! Okay, that’s an extreme reaction to standard weather, but when we travel
By now you know that we’re in love with St Simons Island, Georgia. It’s nautical, historical, beachy, covered in Spanish moss. Perfect. So, what’s the best way to see and get a good feel of the island? Biking St Simons Island from end to end is just awesome. Family travel can sometimes limit your activity choices, but then it also
The southeastern United States is a really fascinating area. It’s got the colonial and Civil War history; it’s full of tidelands, swamps and interesting wildlife; and its own past is a varied collection of maritime lore and people. As you stroll through the village area of St Simons Island, it’s got that quasi-Caribbean feel with the Spanish moss dripping everywhere
And our lighthouse obsession continues… On St Simons Island, the largest of Georgia’s Golden Isles, there stands a picturesque beacon just off the boardwalk. It’s surrounded by palm trees, oaks and green grass. It’s not too tall, but clearly breaks the skyline: the St Simons Island Lighthouse. You know we love to visit lighthouses for many reasons, but the attraction of
Historical sites rock for family travel. Well, most of the time. No, all of the time. Here’s why: they’re a snapshot of a moment in time that we’ll never experience again. Sometimes those sites are really well preserved and you can step back in time with little use of the imagination. Heck, sometimes there are even folks in costumes to
A town like St Augustine, Florida is great to explore with kids because there are so many sights and fun things to do around every corner. We didn’t do half of what we could have, but we still did a ton. Every town or city has its must-see sights. In NYC you’ve got the Statue of Liberty, San Diego has
Beyond pirates and forts, we were excited to experience alligators in Florida. One reason we knew we’d #LoveFL is because gators are our favorite animal…next to sharks. When we found out about the St Augustine Alligator Farm we just had to go. Without researching it at all we added it to our itinerary (thinking maybe it was a food farm).
Want to have an awesome day hiking Cape Flattery? Where? Oh, I see. You've never head of Cape Flattery. Well, let us enlighten you about one of the most beautiful places in all of the Pacific Northwest. About four hours, maybe a little more, from Seattle is the Makah Indian Reservation. If you watch the news in the US, you usually
Dads have the stereotypical reputation of a few key things: bad jokes, BBQing and convincing the family to rough it. None of these are bad stereotypes, but also none are true for every dad. I’ll be honest, these all are true for us…and doubly so as we’re a gay dad household. Our sons are used to our bad jokes and politely
Originally written for the Smart GayLife Before we had two kids, we were bold with our travel choices. We could throw caution out the window and road trip through rural Mexico and get stopped and searched by armed military. We could visit friends in San Francisco and stay out until 3am. We could trek through Canada in the frozen winter… but now
Having already gone on an amazing hike to Bullhead Lake earlier in the day, we were all pretty tired after dinner. We cleaned up camp and decided just to take one more jaunt, a short one. We put the tiny man in a hiking pack and headed off into the woods in Glacier National Park. Just onto the trail to
The story: One of the things that makes travel with kids more smooth than people would expect is sticking to the schedule. We’re not talking about the itinerary, but the nap schedule. If you don’t have kids, you might not be familiar but the concept is this: get and keep the kids on a nap schedule so that they can
The story: It's not everyday you get to see a rainbow in Glacier National Park. After securing a campsite we had one beautiful day to enjoy the area. Midway through day two though, the most ridiculous storm hit. We rushed the kids into the play area we'd made under a canopy and then the four of us sat there watching
We still haven’t visited Switzerland. It’s been on our list for some time and somehow we haven’t gone. We have been to the Rockies in the USA though, and I think that’s sated us. True, the Rocky Mountains don’t have the quaint villages, but they do have the beautifully jagged mountains, the pristine lakes, the Swiss-style buildings and folks in costume
You know how when you go to Vegas it’s blazing hot all day and you think you might die, and then you roll out at 4am and you’re frozen? The same thing happens in Yellowstone. The elevation mixed with the crazy weather patterns of the Rocky Mountains makes for a hit and miss battle with the elements. I remember as
If you’ve got kids or share your life with another adult, you know that getting “hangry” is a very real and present danger. If you don’t know what “hangry” is, it’s the morph from being hungry to being angry/irritable. Three of the four in our family suffer from this. Solution: picnicking. Knowing the best picnic spots in Yellowstone is extremely
Almost anyone in the world can tell you that Yellowstone National Park in the USA is the place you go to see geysers. Only the actual experience of being there will make you understand how amazing it is. True: there are millions of people in the Park throughout the summer, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t go and have
Once you’ve conquered the road trip that is driving to Wyoming from wherever you actually start, you’ll have more planning…and more driving to do. I’m lucky because I love to drive. I used to be a driver-guide for a cruise company in Alaska even; that’s how much I love it. Other people, not so much. The kids fall asleep, the
Originally written for GaysWithKids.com It’s funny. As I think about traveling as a gay man or as part of a gay family, I try to consider what makes our travels gay. Yeah, um, it’s just that we’re gay; nothing else. I was sitting here analyzing our adventures and writing and realized that our journeys aren’t any different than what a straight
Holidays are a strange phenomenon. We set aside a day to specifically think about a topic and then gather with people to celebrate it, aka cook food we don’t normally. Christmas makes sense because clearly you’re either celebrating the birth of Jesus or you’re celebrating your own sense of how well you know others by how much they appreciate the
I'm used to individual parenting. I mean, I'm home alone with the kids most of the time and I'm fine dealing with random tantrums and epic breakdowns with no logic behind them. When I'm on the road though and I'm staying in somebody else's house, yeah no. At home I'm the epitome of patience and have all the time in