May 29, 2015

Washington State Travel: 5 Destinations for Families

Seattle area aside (since we live here and all), Washington State has so many amazing destinations for families to enjoy a getaway together. Here I’m featuring just 5 of our favorite areas to explore. So many more places await us though (and I’ll have another batch of 5 next month), from spots that we’ve mearly passed through to areas we haven’t even touched.

Of course not everyone lives in the Seattle area, but I also wanted to note that each of these destinations is within a 3 hour drive from the city, so if you’re based here or in one of our surrounding communities, these road trips are very family friendly!

Port Townsend

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May 22, 2015

Chun’s Reef: Tide Pooling Fun on Oahu’s North Shore

What’s one of the best, most useful travel tips out there and one you hear most often? For me it’s one simple piece of advice that seems to come up over and over again.

Ask a local.

Following this tip almost always yields good results, and hey, if not, at least you struck up a conversation with someone new. You never know where that connection might lead you.

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May 20, 2015

Packing for Family Travel: 6 Steps for Success

Maybe it was due to the fact that I had to help pack the boys up for a trip that I wasn’t going on (more on that soon!), but I recently found myself reflecting on the way we go about stuffing our suitcases prior to an adventure. And I realized something: We almost always go about packing in the same way. And it works! Rarely does anything significantly important or essential get left behind. At least not anymore.

Now that we have a system in place, things like drivers licenses, boots for a cold weather destination, toothbrushes, and medication are all stowed safely in our luggage. Yes, each of those items were forgotten by one of us at one point or another. We are much more prepared these days.

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May 14, 2015

Why Travel is Good for Your Parenting: Perspective from Lake Wenatchee, WA

There are so many reasons to travel:

To see family
To escape
To explore the natural world
To gain perspective

Travel also opens up my mind to the new, to change, to better myself, to realize, and see that there might be a different way to do things.

A friend of a friend, not a parent herself, taught me how to be a better mom.

Only she doesn’t even know it.

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May 12, 2015

11-Day Road Trip: Packing for a Family of 4

Do you consider yourself an expert packer? I’m somewhere in the middle of an expert and a novice.

Like many, I have mixed emotions when it comes to packing for a trip. On the one hand, having to pack means we are about to embark on an exciting adventure! But on the other hand, it takes a lot of work to decide what we need, organize all those essentials, and fit it all into bags and suitcases. I worry about over-packing and forgetting necessary items all at the same time.

Last month, when it came time to start getting ready for our Oregon-California road trip, I agonized about getting it right. We had 6 different overnight destinations. Thus, I wanted to make sure that we had a system that wouldn’t leave our car looking like a tornado blew through. I didn’t want to waste a lot of precious adventure and family time trying to figure out where something was located.

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May 7, 2015

Wine Tasting with Kids in Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley

While visiting family in Sonoma during our Spring Break road trip, we spend an afternoon exploring wineries of the Dry Creek Valley. The area, specifically known for their zinfandel grapes, is located on the west side of US 101 in Northern Sonoma County close to the towns of Geyserville (tiny) and Healdsburg (small). The landscape, as one would expect, is absolutely gorgeous, void of a lot of development, and lucky for us, free from crowds. Whether that was due to the weather (rain off and on), time of year (early April), or just the fact that this particular region has remained undisturbed from a lot of other retail, I can’t be completely sure, but I certainly appreciated it!

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Port Townsend

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To see family

To escape

To explore the natural world

To gain perspective

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