July 3, 2025

Family Travel & Adventure Gear Picks: REI 4th of July Summer Deals

If you are anything like our family, you have many adventures on the horizon for this summer. First, I would love to know what your summer plans are, or at least what you are most looking forward to! Leave us a comment below, and let us know what is on the top of your summer adventure list! And next, I (as an REI affiliate) want to make sure you know, that there is an excellent 4th of July Sale happening now until July 7, 2025, and in some cases beyond.

Here you’ll see just a quick selection of items that stood out to me, but head to the full site to see ALL THE DEALS. Navigate by category, gender, type of sport, and more in order to find the deals that best suit your family’s adventure needs! Are you an REI Member? If not, the $30 lifetime membership is more than worth your investment between member-only deals, coupons, yearly dividend, and more.

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December 16, 2016

2016 Gift Guide for the Travel and Outdoor Loving Dad

Dads can be so hard to shop for because they often already have everything they need! Nonetheless, I have 7 unique ideas for the travel and outdoor loving father in your life! These gift are meant to inspire, make outdoor and travel a little easier and more comfortable, and add a some fun into his adventures with the kids.

Gift Guide for the Travel and Outdoor Loving Dad

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February 3, 2016

Family Travel & Vacation Planning: Brainstorm List Printable

Since we’re so big on planning ahead, we almost always have plenty of time research and get excited about upcoming travel and vacation. We get ideas for what to do in the locale that we are visiting from guide books (we almost always purchase one for our trips), fellow travel bloggers, tourism websites, magazines, and just talking with family and friends who have traveled before us. You’d think I’d would have been more organized with all that information coming at me, but really it was just a jumbled mess of torn out pages from the newspaper, magazine clippings, and random notes here and there. Until now!

I finally got around to creating a tool that would help me keep all the potential activities, tours, restaurants, shops, parks, and more organized! It’s just a simple brainstorming list with spaces to jot down those ideas by categories that make sense.

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January 25, 2016

How to Prepare for Cabin Camping with Kids

We love taking advantage of the cabins available through our state park system. We try to plan cabin getaways at least twice a year. Lodging is inexpensive, and preparing for cabin camping is a whole lot easier than tent camping via the car or backpacking. Our most recent cabin camping experience was at Samuel P. Taylor State Park in Marin County (north of San Francisco), and we have our next cabin camping trip planned for this spring at Ike Kinswa State Park about 2 hours south of Seattle in Lewis County.

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December 21, 2015

6 Last Minute Gift Ideas for Travelers and Outdoor Adventurers

If you’re still searching for just the right gift for that someone on your list, I have a few easy last minute gift ideas that just might help you complete your holiday shopping! Given the theme of our blog, I have categorized them as great for travelers and outdoor adventurers, but really they’d work for so many types of people.

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November 20, 2015

Wenatchee, WA Weekend in Pictures

Last weekend we got to enjoy the small city of Wenatchee, Washington. Wenatchee is located in North Central Washington about 2.5 hours from Seattle and 3 hours from Spokane, Washington at the confluence of the Wenatchee and Columbia Rivers.

After Slaed attended a conference there over the summer and brought back various tourism information showcasing their new public market and natural beauty of the region, I knew I just had to get out to Wenatchee! I had to see it all for myself, or at least more than just a passing through for breakfast or lunch like I’d done once or twice on our way elsewhere.

Wenatchee’s claim to fame is Apples, and the city identifies as the Apple Capital of the world. Washington State produces the most apples in the U.S. (about 100 million boxes), and a huge chunk of the deliciously tasty fruit comes from the Wenatchee Valley. Fun fact: Every single one of those apples are picked by hand!

Since the area boasts 300 days of sunshine a year (plus rich lava-ash soil), it’s ideal for growing apples, but it’s also ideal for a family who may be a little tired of the rainy Western Washington late fall & winter. We didn’t get sunshine for this visit, but we did get a break from the precipitation, especially on this particular day where there was flooding, high winds, and power outages all throughout the state.

Be on the look out for a full city guide of things to do with kids, places to eat, and where to stay, but in the meantime please enjoy this quick snapshot of our trip!

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