Travel reports and advice for families for the best outdoor experiences, including national and state park visits, camping or glamping
As fun as Colorado is in the summer, there’s something more important going on here at the YMCA of the Rockies. “It’s eating and joking around with all of our cousins.”
While a lot of people are still trying to figure out what an “adventure resort” is, Adventures on the Gorge is showing their guests of all ages what a vacation destination should look like
There is certainly lots to choose from this summer — 170 new rides, slides and experiences at 75 parks and attractions across the United States and in Canada
Get ready to get spoiled—for a few days anyway. That’s why the Johnstons, including Kendall, 11, and Reagan, 13, have decamped from Denver to the Four Seasons Resort in Vail for their fourth weekend—this time the Fourth of July.
this is July Fourth weekend, the resort’s busiest of the summer season. It’s family central at Adventure Ridge located at the top of the gondola at 10,350 feet. Wow what a view!
Cloud Camp is the historic Broadmoor resort’s highest wilderness experience. But my daughter Mel and her boyfriend Hank Lockhead – experienced backpackers—think it’s more of a luxury experience with well-appointed log cabins, beautiful bathrooms, gourmet meals…
There are lots of milestones at our reunion—25th and 35th anniversaries; 80th, 70th, 60th, 50th and 30th birthdays. One of the grandmothers tried to give the family a quick family history lesson
if I’d done my homework, the Rocky Mountain National Park rangers would have told me to hike early, as parking spots at some of the popular trailheads—like Beaver Lake, a four-mile round trip hike that is kid-friendly—are gone by 8:30 am.
Welcome to Family Reunion Central. In fact, the Estes Park Center and its sister resort Snow Mountain Ranch host more than 1,300 reunions a year—more, they believe, than any other venue in the United States.
if you play your cards right, you’ll all have fun celebrating the nation’s birthday — and learning something about American history at the same time.
Pietro La Rosa, with his flowing mane of gray hair, beard and lilting Italian accent, is not like any pub owner I’ve ever met nor is The Prince of Greenwich pub menu typical
It’s great that the south rim of the Grand Canyon so close to Flagstaff, Arizona. We could envision wanting a hotel room and shower to stay in after backpacking in the desert heat for 5 days
I’m sure the kids have lots of ideas, and they may not all involve theme parks. It’s a good idea to talk to the kids about what you’re thinking for a summer trip
People have been coming here to “take the waters” since the Romans first built the baths and temple here to worship Sulis Minerva, Goddess of the Thermal Spring.
Wales is celebrating 2017 as the Year of Legends. This country is known for its verdant natural beauty and rich history. Our recent trip exposed us to both.
There’s a lighthouse just a stone’s throw from Orlando that’s calling your name. LEGOLAND Florida’s new Beach Retreat is a beacon for weary families looking for a place to unwind
The Inn by the Sea in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. A private boardwalk leads through a wildlife sanctuary to an idyllic sandy beach, where you’ll see lobster boats and sunsets straight out of an Edward Hopper painting.
It doesn’t cost anything to visit the Lincoln Memorial at night, to play pilot in a mock cockpit at “America by Air,” a permanent exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum, attend a family event or one for young children at the Museum of African American History and Culture or visit the giant pandas at the National Zoo.
I convinced my dad to join me this spring in Arizona for spring training. As coincidence would have it, two of his very best friends from his college years at The University of Texas were also planning a trip.
Dubai is such a mixture of the old from the Bedouin tradition and the new—the tallest building in the world–The Burj Khalifa–and the biggest indoor theme park
A quick father-son trip to spring training in the Cactus League to see the World Champion Chicago Cubs (yes that’s still sinking in). Air travel misadventure our first day followed by adventure in the Sonoran Dessert on day 2.
We’re kayaking in the mouth of the Russian River in Jenner, CA as one harbor seal after another pops up his head. We see Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Ospreys with fish in their mouths, going to their nests presumably.
Who says spring break is just for college kids? Certainly not the families impatiently waiting in line at Orlando theme parks, but at least it’s not as hot as in midsummer!
Vacation days don’t often get better than this. After a hearty breakfast at Vista Verde Guest Ranch——think fluffy buttermilk pancakes, sausage, oatmeal and eggs all varieties—we head out together snowshoeing
Vista Verde Ranch, about 25 miles north of Steamboat Springs, is about as opposite a downhill mountain resort as possible. Set on 540 acres in the middle of Colorado’s Routt National Forest, this is the place to come to explore the wilderness on cross-country skis, horseback, fat bikes or snowshoes away from the crowds.
We walked amid thousands of penguins (we saw five species) not bothered by our presence and fur seals who were. The huge elephant seals ignored us, as did the humpback whales we watched from zodiacs.
It feels as if I have the entire mountain with its fresh snow all to myself—and it’s Saturday. Welcome to Ski Cooper, just outside of Leadville with 39 trails and four lifts spanning 400 lift-served acres and no artificial snow
February is the ideal time to visit a historic site or explore a museum exhibit celebrating African American History Month, which is also celebrated in Britain and Canada.
Welcome to the world of cruising. The best part: You can easily stay within budget and bring the grandparents along without any trouble.
Each kid on this A&K expedition to Antarctica has many memories but distinct favorites. “Sailing by an iceberg, it was so beautiful,” said Lake, 12, from New York City.
Then there were the whales—feeding at the edge of the ice here in Wilhelmina Bay, which is kind of a supermarket for whales with abundant Krill that the Southern humpbacks feed on.
The kids—and some of the parents from this Abercrombie & Kent expedition to Antarctica — are sliding down the hill they’ve just trudged up on their backsides. It is so warm everyone has shed parkas, hats and mittens.
We’re ashore with Abercrombie & Kent on the rocky, crescent shaped Half Moon Island which was known to sealers as early as 1821. The stars of the show are the Chinstrap Penguins
Adults and kids alike on the Abercrombie & Kent trip aboard Le Boreal are on deck, bundled in parkas and hats as we pass a giant iceberg where Chinstrap penguins frolic
We’re in some of the most treacherous seas of the world, Captain Etienne Garcia, tells the boys and girls.
This morning in Gold Harbor on the southern end of South Georgia, an elephant seal pup, just a few months old, approached Sophie as if to say “Be my friend!”
Welcome to St. Andrews Bay in South Georgia with the backdrop of the Heaney and Cook Glaciers and home to the largest King Penguin colony in the world
they’re juvenile King Penguins, also known as “Oakum Boys,” who still have a fluffy coat of downy brown feathers and they’re pecking at their moms to feed them
On the Southern Ocean for the second day between the Falklands and South Georgia – rocking seas, HUMPBACKS! and Christmas carols.
This morning, as the Southern Ocean rocks the boat with waves 10 or more feet high, the kids have gathered in a corner of the sixth floor restaurant to dissect a squid.
On the first day of our A&K adventure cruise from Argentina to the Falklands, S. Georgia and Antarctica – 34 kids on board and a lot of enthusiasm for learning
Make it an overnight when you head to see that favorite holiday light display or museum exhibit. Go see Santa somewhere else besides the mall.
At the TMS Family Travel conference held on Amelia Island Nov. 10-12, I experienced how one man’s passion for the culinary arts can convey an aura of wellness over an entire resort
Just before sunset at the Hyatt Regency Clearwater, kids are in the pool on the eighth floor while parents are nearby nursing a cocktail. The beach is spread out below us.
At the popular Clearwater restaurant Nauti Nancy’s, families bring their catch–which the restaurant prepares blackened, lemon picata or beer battered—along with sides for $10.
Germany has the most holiday markets in Europe, drawing tourists from around the world, though you’ll also find them a popular holiday tradition in neighboring Austria, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia.
I wondered when I planned this trip if my gang of grown kids, who love nothing more than tearing down those steep slopes, would like a more laid-back holiday — at least for a few days on a week-long winter trip to Colorado. I needn’t have worried.
You don’t need to wait till Halloween to put on costumes, not when theme parks, resorts and haunted attractions have already kicked off special Halloween events
There are literally hundreds of Octoberfests around the country this fall — some kid-friendly — but there are also plenty of apple, pumpkin and harvest festivals from which to choose
Fall is family time along Mexico’s Pacific Coast whether you want to take a bike ride around town, practice your Spanish, head to a local festival or relax at an all-inclusive resort
The beautiful Vassa Spa at the new Nickelodeon Hotel & Resort in Punta Cana has an 11-step “ritual hydrotherapy “program that comes with a spa treatment, complete with a “spa butler”
The just-opened Nickelodeon Hotel & Resort in Punta Cana has a well-appointed kids’ club with cooking lessons, arts and crafts, a wide selection of toys, games (video and board games) and a slide that lands you in a pool of brightly colored plastic balls. But most of the families I’ve met have been keeping their kids with them.
I always suggest parents and grandparents let the kids lead some of the time on vacation, even when they are in grade school. They will take you in unexpected directions
The scenery is beautiful. There are plenty of activities. And you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars for lift tickets to have fun in the summer or fall in Aspen/Snowmass CO.
By staying in a yurt at YMCA Snow Mountain Ranch, you can enjoy the outdoors without the annoyances of lurking bears, determined bugs and cumbersome sleeping bags.
Walt Disney was tapped out. The construction of Disneyland was taking nearly every penny he had. A kid-friendly, upscale hotel next to a theme park seems like a slam-dunk, but not in the early ’50s
After an arduous 16 mile hike yesterday, I’m at The Spa at Viceroy Snowmass while an experienced massage therapist ministers to my aching legs and shoulders.
If I’ve learned one thing from travel—especially with kids—is that you have to take the bad with the good. That’s a good lesson for the kids to learn, along the way, of course. And perhaps there is no better time to remind you of that adage than on an outdoor adventure. We certainly were reminded on the hiking trail.
Crested Butte bills itself as the Wildflower Capital of Colorado and there is a Wildflower Festival going on with everything from art classes, guided wildflower hikes, photography classes and more.
A trip to the beach is a perfect summer getaway — and a bargain too. As long as you opt for a destination that’s off-season in summer — like the Caribbean or Arizona — you can have your pick of deals.