Traveling with kids is always fun…and a challenge. We love to visit National Parks and typically do so in the summer when the hiking is good and the sun will be shining. We were invited to California to experience Sequoia National Park with kids and jumped at the chance. This was a great opportunity for […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
To be honest the reason we went to Denver wasn’t actually for my cousin’s wedding… It was actually to go to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We are dads. That means that we have kids that love dinosaurs. We needed to see dinosaurs when we went to Denver… So badly. The Denver Museum of […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
We’re just done with winter. Done. True that we’re not facing any blizzards here in the Seattle area, but you know what we do have? Cold rain. Not necessarily hard, crazy rain that leaves you in awe, but the kind of rain where it’s really chilly out and the drops get on the back of […]
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 […]
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 […]
The story behind the picture: I’m a stay-at-home dad (me, Rob) so I get to do fun stuff with the boys every day. Chris works in Seattle five days a week, so most of his fun time is mainly on the weekends or when we’re traveling. One of our favorite things to do is to […]
The story: it was a fun day in the middle of the week and I had the boys with me. Papa (Chris) was at work so the three of us were exploring. We happened onto Fish Park. That’s a weird name. Weird but really cool. We started trekking through the park and discovered that it’s […]
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 […]
Every day we see more and more photos of interesting places. We see mountains and lakes, beaches with crystal blue water, art collections and incredible architecture. It’s so difficult to decide what to visit next. How do you choose? Check out our four criteria for picking a destination before we take the plunge and see if this […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
No matter how you try, part of being a tourist is browsing through trinkets and postcards at some point during a trip. You might not mean to do it, but you’ll undoubtedly look at a snow globe or t-shirt even if you have no intention of purchasing it. When you travel with kids, a simple […]
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 […]
One of our favorite movies of all time is Maverick, starring Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson. I don’t know if it’s the humor, the ridiculous story or what, but if nothing else, there’s a lot to be said of the scenery. Deserts, prairies, cliffs, buttes, winding rivers. It’s amazing. If you’ve ever been to eastern Washington, […]
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 […]
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 […]
I hated flying for the longest time. I hated waiting to board, being delayed, taxing for what seems like hours, taking off, turbulence, landing, bumpy landings, sitting on the tarmac waiting for a gate, trying to collect carry-on luggage, trying to collect checked luggage, navigating a new airport… I could actually go on for twenty […]
You know how there are those things that you’ve loved your whole life and can’t imagine ever not liking? Yeah, for me that was going on road trips: with friends, with family, on my own – anything. Some of my favorite childhood memories were camping with my family, far off in the Rockies or up […]
I’ve loved Disneyland my whole life and can remember my very first trip when I was 4. I have worked there and spent countless hours in the park as both a cast member and guest. I’ve assisted so many families with little kids and helped to make magical moments. And then we took our own child there. […]
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.
