hiking with kids

Complete Guide to 1 Day in New River Gorge National Park

August 2, 2021 By Ross Nelson 1 Comment

Our newest National Park, christened in January 2021, is New River Gorge National Park and Preserve! I have to say first that I am often leery of new National Parks because they can be a stretch to consider them worthy of that status when compared to their peers (I’m looking at you, Indiana Dunes). Rest assured that after exploring New River Gorge this summer this is worthy of being called a National Park!

Our visit spanned a few days including 2 full days in the park, so we will share this as a choose your own adventure plan where you could spend a single day doing either itinerary or combine them for a great 2 day visit! I will dispel one other thought right off the bat here as well — you do NOT need to be a whitewater rafter to enjoy the park. We did not choose to do that and still had a fantastic visit that left us wanting to return to the area.

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Big Bend Top 6 Family-Friendly Hikes

May 2, 2021 By Ross Nelson Leave a Comment

Note: this post contains affiliate links.

Best hikes with kids at Big Bend National Park

Despite the mental picture we had of Big Bend and more broadly West Texas before arriving (that it would be flat and desolate), we were pleasantly surprised with both the beauty and genuine diversity of ecosystems in this park. We did some wonderful hikes and wanted to highlight those specifically in this post. As for logistics and itinerary, our other post on Big Bend dives into those details more fully.

These hikes are in order, but honestly the first three are ranked in order of our favorites and from there they are all equally enjoyable in their own right. You can’t go wrong with hikes 4, 5, or 6 and your availability of time and vehicle (especially 5 but also number 6 would be best to get to in a 4-wheel-drive vehicle) should determine which of them you will tackle.

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An Unforgettable 1 Day in White Sands

April 11, 2021 By Ross Nelson 2 Comments

It is hard to believe how many National Park sites have sand dunes — Great Sand Dunes, Guadalupe Mountains, Death Valley (with 2 separate dunes!), Indiana Dunes, the Mojave Preserve, and many more in National Monuments and other federal lands. We have been to so many of them that one of Joy Joy’s classmates thought she went to the beach every time they have a break at school when in fact we go to the dunes!

I originally visited White Sands as a kid, so it was nice to be able to return and bring the rest of the family who had never been before! Thirty or so years ago I was distracted by the newfangled stealth bombers flying over our heads but this time the scenery and threat of rain was all we could focus on.

These dunes are well deserving of the recent upgrade to National Park status (signed on December 20, 2019) as they protect just over 40% of the world’s largest gypsum dunefield that is otherwise part of the White Sands Missile Range. While we would have liked to get to tour the nearby Missile Range Museum to learn more about the testing that is performed here, it is really tough if you aren’t in the military.

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2 Best Family Hikes in Guadalupe Mountains National Park

April 8, 2021 By Ross Nelson Leave a Comment

Best family hikes at Guadalupe Mountains National Park

If you aren’t a die-hard National Park visitor, or are not from the Texas/New Mexico area, I expect you may be wondering what this park, Guadalupe Mountains, is. Receiving just 172,000 visitors in the last report, it gets just 1% of the number of visitors to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Most of those visitors will arrive the way we did, along Highway 180 between El Paso, TX and Carlsbad, NM.

Located just 25 miles west of Carlsbad Caverns, these parks are great to pair together into one visit. I’d suggest a day for each park as the minimum time to plan for and let Carlsbad take your priority as your ability to get an entrance ticket here is the most challenging part. We rented a home in Carlsbad, NM so we weren’t too far from either park.

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How to see the Best of Yellowstone in 3 Days

August 2, 2020 By Ross Nelson Leave a Comment

Note: We receive a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.

While many plan for a whole week to visit Yellowstone, we didn’t have that kind of time and knew that we would be returning to Yellowstone another time. We decided to focus on the more popular activities in the park on this visit, so here is our itinerary on how to see the best of Yellowstone in 3 days with kids.

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Top 9 Things to Do in Yellowstone National Park

July 29, 2020 By Ross Nelson Leave a Comment

Yellowstone has always felt overwhelming to us. So overwhelming, that it was the 27th National Park we chose to visit and it was only the whole COVID epidemic and associated closures that made us decide to go there when we did. It is a really big park, with a lot to see and do. We don’t (ok I don’t!) like to settle into a single big park for a week at a time, but rather like to spend 3 or 4 days in a park and then move along somewhere else and compile a list of places we would catch if/when we return.

We’ve decided to provide a visiting Yellowstone during COVID post as well as this top sites post, and an itinerary post with suggested places to stay and how we did what we did in just 3 days!

So, without further ado, here are our top 9 things to do in Yellowstone National Park!

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4 Best Dog-Friendly Hikes in Cuyahoga Valley National Park

May 30, 2020 By Ross Nelson Leave a Comment

Sometimes plans don’t work out. We had planned to go on a summer trip to Colorado and visit a few parks, but life threw us a curveball. Instead, we headed east to Cuyahoga and Indiana Dunes National Parks as the consolation prize. Our pup, Jasper, also came along because we couldn’t find a dog-sitter so last minute. Each of the following are our picks for the 4 best dog-friendly hikes in Cuyahoga Valley!

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Complete Guide to 1 Day in Everglades National Park

May 22, 2020 By Ross Nelson 2 Comments

Provided are two options for spending 1 day in Everglades National Park – choose your own adventure. Note: we receive a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.

Complete Guide to 1 Day in Everglades National Park

Whenever I think of the Everglades the first thought I have is – alligators. Sure enough, on our family trip to Everglades National Park we saw alligators. Lots and lots and lots of alligators! So many alligators, in fact, that when we were at the Oasis Visitor Center (in the adjacent Big Cypress Preserve), the woman next to us was surprised by how dismissive “Tots” was when he told me not to bother walking to the end of the boardwalk because it was just another few alligators. That’s what seeing 100 alligators in a day will do to you…

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7 Summer Hikes in Death Valley National Park

May 17, 2020 By Kim Nelson Leave a Comment

Our family’s picks for summer hikes in Death Valley

We use the term “hikes” very loosely in this post, as some of these are very short walks to an overlook or don’t really have a final destination per se, as you can go as far as you want (as in the Sand Dunes, for example). Also, while we rated the difficulty, some of these would not be moderate/difficult in normal temperatures. As with most things in Death Valley, they are made more difficult by the heat and desert conditions so be mindful of the conditions and forecasted temperatures in your planning!

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Top 2 Best Family Hikes in Yosemite

January 12, 2020 By Ross Nelson Leave a Comment

Yosemite National Park is a great National Park for families as there are many beautiful sites to see that require little to no hiking as well as some amazingly beautiful longer hikes. During our visit to Yosemite we chose to do the popular Mist Trail hike and the less popular, but still beautiful, Wapama Falls hike in the Hetch Hetchy area of Yosemite (in addition to many overlooks and short hikes). Following is more info about our picks for the top 2 best family hikes in Yosemite National Park.

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hiking with kids

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