No rain dance required: three soggy days on the Olympic Peninsula

According to the middle-aged waitress in Hoquiam, Washington's only coffee shop, it had already been raining on the Olympic Peninsula for two days straight when we drove through en route to nearby Lake Quinault Lodge. And the forecast was not promising to get any better. "Can't imagine why you're visiting in March," she observed, pouring my coffee into a brown ceramic mug. "It'll still be … [Read more...]

Seeking ohana in Kauai’s quiet spaces

This post is sponsored by The Hawaiian Islands, where you could be Living in the Moment on the Island of Kauai. Miles past the smattering of resorts, tourist destinations, and restaurants dotting Kauai's scenic coastline, a rusted pick-up truck sits at the end of a dirt drive, waiting to be loaded with the week's mango crop. My three-year-old nephew, barefooted and shirtless, hefts one in, … [Read more...]

Why I travel with kids

With fair regularity, I get asked why I travel so much with my kids. Isn’t it exhausting? Will they even remember it? How do you make the time to get away? I could give the stock answers, and I sometimes do: I travel with my kids because I want them to have first-hand knowledge of their country and world. I travel with them because I hope that in so doing, I will create life-long learners of them. … [Read more...]

Our top ten national park travel moments

The Pit Stops for Kids family does our best to do more than 'talk the talk' of family travel: we pack up the kids and walk the walk...through rainforests and woods, deserts and beaches, striving to take our kids beyond the boundaries of what they know of our corner of the natural world. I suppose it's no surprise that our top travel moments have occurred on just such 'foreign' soil as our own … [Read more...]

Standing Alone

Inspired by our travels to Arches National Park. The only downfall of Moab, Utah? In summer, it tops 100 degrees by 11 am. But during our visit, we got a fairly early start and hit Arches National Park before ten. I’d never been here before, and I can say with solemn reverence that it was nothing short of stunning. I’m not usually the type to ohh and aww over geological wonders (I’d much … [Read more...]

Hidden

(Inspired by our travels to Death Valley National Park.) The first thing anyone notices (or at least the first thing I always notice) about Death Valley is its unapologetic inhospitality. You drive over the rise of the highway from Beatty, Nevada and a vast, cracked valley of barren land stretches out before you, and you cannot help but think of empty hands extended. Of cupped palms dry … [Read more...]