Finally the rains have stopped. Well, almost.  I am certainly getting spring fever though. I can’t wait to start finding new places we’ve never been. With the kids still in school, the multi-day trips away from home are still limited. May is a great time, though, to start gearing up with day hikes and weekend trips. Isn’t that just what you were thinking about doing too? Hey, wouldn’t...

Many families visiting California want to spend at least one day at Disneyland. If big crowds aren’t your thing or you weren’t planning to head that far south, fear not. California has quite a few other theme parks to choose from. To get more info from a pro, I asked Alex Miller, author of California Theme Parks, and employee of the Walt Disney Company, to write about three theme parks throughout...

In the Sierra Nevada foothills, eight miles east of Jackson, rests evidence of the peaceful life of the Miwok Indians. It is a valley with large open meadows and tall valley oaks that once provided the native Americans of this area with ample supplies of acorns. The attraction of this state park, the grinding rock, is an outcropping of marbleized limestone with some 1,185 mortar holes — the largest collection...

The most intimidating part of any trip for me is the in-car packing. How do you entertain kids who are strapped into their seat for an extended amount of time. My two boys are both too young to read, so entertainment cannot include any of those books that have activity directions on each page. The  youngest doesn’t even like coloring so much, so coming up with entertainment is most definitely challenging. ...

A while back I got some information from my friend Sylvia at Seaside Properties about how kid-friendly Sanibel, Florida is. This Florida island is two-thirds nature preserve. There are shells all over the beach, and wildlife a plenty. It sounds like an incredible vacation spot with kids, and one I had never heard of before. But, since it is clear across the U.S. from me, and four transcontinental flight...