Read more about the article New York City Itinerary

New York City Itinerary

Our girls have wanted to see the Big Apple for a long time. Although they’d been for a family wedding as toddlers, they obviously had no recollection of it. Both my husband and I have done numerous trips to the city so it wasn’t on our radar for a “see something different” vacation. Schedules opened up and I could take one daughter on a mother-daughter trip to New York for three nights. We hit the ground running and didn’t stop until we got on the return plane home.

Per my daughter’s requirements, she didn’t just want to do a bunch of museums. I had to create an itinerary to give her a good overview of Manhattan with a blend of tourist sites, walking around, shopping and dining.

The best way to see the city is to walk. And walk we did. Another great way to see it is by taking the subway. With a refillable Metro card, we got around everywhere by subway or bus. I’m proud to say we only took one cab ride during the entire trip. (more…)

Vancouver/ Seattle/ Olympic National Park Itinerary

Sea-to-Sky Highway between Vancouver and Whistler, BC

Our trip to Seattle and British Columbia was the 2nd of our big trips with our children who were in elementary school. Since flights were significantly less expensive for  Seattle, so we decided to incorporate that into our trip to British Columbia. (more…)

Chicago, Wisconsin & Michigan Itinerary

During the summer of 2014, we created a driving trip to Chicago, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan about two weeks before the trip. Why a driving trip and why those states?

Millennium Park, Chicago

Let me back up. We had flown for the Boston/Maine trip and the Seattle/Vancouver trip, but had driven for the Washington DC/Shenandoah NP trip. The cost differential between flying and driving was significant enough that we wanted to drive somewhere again. But where should we go? I looked at our map of the US and drew a circle around places within 12 hours from home. Chicago was one of the cities that had popped up.

Since I was missing Wisconsin and Michigan from my visited states list, I wanted to incorporate those as well. A brochure I ordered from Wisconsin highlighted beautiful lighthouses in Door County. From there, we realized we weren’t far from the Upper Peninsula and could swing around and see Mackinac Island. (more…)