San Francisco

 

The photo in the bottom right corner is the view from our campsite. I couldn’t believe how beautiful our random little pullout spot was. 🙂

We spent a very enjoyable day poking around the funny city of San Francisco. We crawled over historic ships in the marina and visited the sourdough bakery. We ordered a breadbowl of clam chowder, the crust perfectly toasted a golden brown. We found a public installation of an Andy Goldsworthy art piece in the park. I had heard there’s a flock of parrots  living on Telegraph hill, so we went to investigate. After maneuvering through the impossible San Francisco streets we managed to squeeze our CRV into a parking spot. I was sure glad we had four wheel drive–or I’m sure the car wouldn’t slipped where it stood.

We hiked up the sidewalk to the Coit tower on telegraph hill and sure enough, we spotted green parrots with red heads clambering around. Apparently a pair of abandoned pets had managed to find a niche that worked and they proliferated.

Some ghirradelhi chocolates wrapped up our fun day.

Tip: It costs $8 to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge

Visiting San Francisco with Kids

San Francisco is a great option for kids! It’s beautiful and fun to drive around in.

Tip: Play “I spy” with the Golden Gate Bridge as you can see it from many parts of the city.

Tip: Walking along Fisherman’s Wharf is free and full of interesting things to experience.

Tip: If you go into the two different stores on Ghirardelli Square, you can get two free handouts of silky smooth chocolate.

THE CRACK! St George

Can you believe we crawled up through this thing? We survived the crack of St George!

I think Google Maps knows it as “The St George Narrows.”

It was fun to show Tyler this little treasure I learned from my old high school cross country days. I suppose you just start gathering cool places to visit as you go along this life. I guess that’s why they usually pin wisdom on old people.

They’ve really developed the area since high school though–paved the road and added bathrooms and trails and stuff.  Explore around!  There’s a cool old fort built right into a rock cave too.

Tip: this particular little slot canyon is not even a 5 minute drive up from St. George. It’s easy to get to and easy to do with any age group. 🙂

Visiting The St George Narrows with Kids

Just do it! This is one of the most kid-friendly slots I know of.

Tip: There are bathrooms at the parking lot.

St George

Bryce Canyon National Park

Exploring Bryce Canyon was the greatest! We loved wandering through the hoodoos. Mostly we love joking around together. It’s so amazing how the pillars just form like that! We felt like tiny ants in a farm scootching along the bottom.

Tip: Even though Bryce Canyon is a desert, its elevation is pretty high and it gets COLD! It snows often in the winter here. Keep that in mind when choosing a time of year to visit.

Visiting Bryce Canyon with Kids

Tip: Take the time to hike down among the hoodoos. It takes a bit more effort, but rounds out the full experience of the place.

Tip: I recommend doing their Junior Ranger program here. They have some great activities that help keep kids engaged at each viewpoint.

Washington DC

 

Biking through DC was surreal! Floating through and around those beautiful monuments and memorials felt almost transcendent. I thought about what each one meant and all the people involved. The bike made it feel like my own breezy, contemplative world. I’m so thankful for all those incredible people who pushed the edge of possibility and created a free place for me to live.

Tip: Definitely get the bike. It’s called Capital Bikeshare and it costs $8 for the day. You just take the bikes from one station to the next all over the city. Walking just takes too long and you will be unnecessarily exhausted at the end of the day.

Visiting Washington DC with Kids

Tip: Pace yourself. It’s a big place and there’s a lot to see. Maybe pick one or two Smithsonian museums and one or two memorials. Unless you have several days, just that will fill up your day.

Tip: If you like getting stamps in your National Park passport, go to the Washington Memorial gift shop–they have all the stamps for the area there. Also, many of the Smithsonian Museums have stamps too, you just need to ask for them.

NYC!

We explored New York like a jungle. Caught the ferry and got a good look at lady liberty herself. Times Square was full of many colorful signs and people just as colorful. It was so fun to be in such a hoppin, famous place! Jostling elbows and dodging chefs as they worked the fire ovens, we grabbed some pizza down a side street and munched it right in the middle of it all. That garlic knot was not messing around–pretty sure they put a whole clove on there. 😆 finally it was time to step into the theater with a giant yellow and black lion on it. I was SO excited to introduce Tyler to the Lion King. And it did not disappoint. Thunderous voices and unreal costumes–we enjoyed ourselves immensely. I felt very lucky to be there. 🙂

Visiting Chinatown and the 911 memorial finished our our day.

Tip: Take the Stanton Island Ferry. The ferry is free to ride and parking is $8 for the day. It’s nice to not have to worry about driving into the city or finding a place to put the car.

Visiting NYC with Kids

For some reason, big cities make me more anxious than deserted wilderness, but kids would have a blast in New York. This city has a lot of character, and you could imagine you all are characters from all the movies that were filmed here.

Tip: If you stick to the touristy areas, you should be just fine as far as safety goes.

Tip: There are some interesting characters at Times Square, so maybe some frontloading for your kids would help them not be so shocked.

Six flags New Jersey

This was by FAR the best six flags! Better than magic mountain. What makes this park so good, is they have a wide variety of coasters and rides.  PLUS, they have an impressive safari experience that’s included with your entrance fee.  It’s the best of both worlds.  The worlds tallest roller coaster is also here–kingda ka. You can see it in the background of the picture. Mind blowingly tall! 450 feet tall 128 mph. My eyelids were flapping in the force. I was SO scared to go on it! But I conquered my real fear and wanted to go again.

Tip: Find a way to come on a weekday in the off season.  We came in September and lines were super short.  Six flags has a website called “Is it packed?” that has crowd forecasts that seems pretty accurate.

Six Flags Maryland

 

Check out this coaster! We couldn’t figure it out. Supposedly some kid broke his neck on it once.

We did this entire six flags in two hours and did some rides several times. The place was deserted–so we took full advantage.

In the morning we went to Ft McHenry and had a good time exploring those ramparts we’ve sung about our whole lives. We didn’t know what it was until I was walking around the gift shop plastered with American flags and the national anthem playing nonstop. “Oh… THAT for mchenry.”

Ha ha! It was fun to see.

Olive Garden for dinner–I personally ate at least 3 salad bowls. Watched national treasure in anticipation of DC the next day.

Tip: It’s a small park. If lines are short, you can ask the ride attendants to let you do coasters twice in a row. We did the Superman ride several times.

Macaw clay lick, Tambopata

Going to this clay lick was possibly one of my favorite things I have ever done. It seemed like the whole sky was made of rainbow feathers. Flocks of red and green, yellow and blue macaws soared past–like a living prism. A gang of toucans came through chirping loudly. I was the first to spot a cuckoo bird and we found a woodpecker. Giant weaver birds sang their enchanting call from their tidy nests while a family of monkeys leapt through the trees. Four kinds of parrots decorated the trees like living Christmas ornaments. It was like the world’s best animal show, all presented before me. All my childhood dreams of visiting the Amazon Rainforest = fulfilled.

Tip: Make sure everyone has their own pair of binoculars. There’s so much to see, you’ll miss it if you’re passing around binoculars.

Visiting the Tambopata Clay Lick with Kids

This site is extremely remote and took some time to get to, but was completely worth the effort. The lodge we stayed at made it easy to have this experience. They took care of all the transportation and food, which took a great deal of stress off our shoulders.

Tip: It was over an hour boat ride up the river, which was highly enjoyable and the kids would love it as you scan the trees and water for wildlife. We saw a capybara with her baby and an owl on our way up.

Tip: Go with a lodge. I don’t think you can reach this site on your own.

Tip: We left very early to get here (4:30am or so) and it was a bit chilly at that time of day.

Tip: Practice with binoculars before going! There are many animals and birds to see and it’s made much easier with some basic binocular skills.

Wayne’s Wonderland, Capitol Reef

We had the BEST time Canyoneering today! Wayne’s wonderland in capitol reef had a 200 foot rappel that got my heart pumping pretty good! I love crawling through the narrow windy maze that somehow has a way down every time– even when it seems impossible. I like it best when Tyler holds his hand out to help me through a particularly tricky section. I got wet up to my waist, but Tyler made it through the whole canyon completely dry all except for his big toe! Driving the scenic road, we snagged some apricots that were warm and orange in the sun. Down in town, we got some pickle and pinto bean pie and it was as actually pretty good if you can believe it. I didn’t like the pickle one so much since it was made with sweet pickles, which should be banned as a public health issue.

Tip: Capitol Reef is a slightly underrated National Park. It’s awesome! And you avoid the crowds of Zion or Bryce. Visit when the apricots are ripe.

Visiting Capitol Reef with Kids

Capitol Reef is super kid friendly. The petroglyph walk is short and accessible with a nice boardwalk. Go in the spring and you’ll likely see young deer and caterpillars crawling around.

Tip: This National Park doesn’t have an entrance fee unless you do the scenic drive.

Teton National Park

Majestic

Backpacking up into Death Canyon in Teton National Park was surreal it was so beautiful! These are shots from our day hike through forests of wildflowers. Reds, purples, blues, yellows, and oranges made our narrow dirt path into a jungle as we crossed creeks creating rivers. Our hammock nap was nothing short of tranquil. We took a “short cut” down off the side of the mountain face (which is never a good idea I might add) that took us dangerously down through cascades and wildflowers. We thankfully made it safe back to flat ground and snuggled back into our cozy campspot. I love backpacking with Tyler and building our own little safe place right in the woods. He showed me how to use the filter and we learned about portable bear cans together. I was happy and warm as we went to bed with the sun.

Tip: This is an excellent National Park to go backpacking. Make sure to reserve a permit ahead of time, or you’ll just have to take what’s open.

Visiting Teton National Park with Kids

Tip: Jenny Lake is gorgeous and you can drive there.

Tip: If possible, go backpacking. This can be a major endeavor with kids, but they will surely never forget it.

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