Hocking Hills State Park – the last road trip of summer

Last week we wrapped up our last road trip of the summer: camping in Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio. The weather promised to be dreadful for camping and hiking: hot, humid, and rainy throughout, but somehow we ended up having a wonderful time. Just two days ahead of time we found ourselves scrambling to buy sandals that aren’t flip flops for the two of us who didn’t have them, and lightweight raincoats for the four of us who didn’t own one (in all the right colors for the kids, of course, which complicates the matter). It was surely the muddiest camping trip we’ve ever had. The hiking though? Breathtaking. I had no idea that Ohio had such beauty in it.

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Review: Getaway tiny houses – with kids

I first heard about Getaway, a chain of properties scattered throughout the US (largely within a short drive from major cities) that offer the opportunity to unplug and get out into nature by renting a tiny house without wifi, when a friend sent me an article about an outpost opening about 40 minutes from here. This particular location is technically considered a Getaway from Chicago (significantly further away), but that’s kind of their market. They appear to be aimed at young urban professionals with a demanding, fast-paced lifestyle who are looking for a chance to escape and simplify for a bit. Since our location had yet to open there was a promotional rate of $129/night which felt more than reasonable, so we decided to book a two night stay for early July. As the date approached we began to worry that maybe we weren’t exactly the target market they had in mind and that getting away with three small children in a quiet tiny house community might be a terrible idea, but we went for it so I thought I’d write a quick review.

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Northern Michigan Vacation – 2019

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Sleeping Bear Dunes at sunset. My favorite place.

It really hasn’t been that long since we returned from our road trip up north, but it feels like an eternity of juggling work and kids and school year prep has passed, so trying to get back there in my head to write about it is a challenge.

We thought about changing things up this year (without any specific locations in mind) but the kids love our summer tradition so much that they wouldn’t have it. Jude in particular talks about the cabins and Mackinac Island all year long. They love this trip. Continue reading

Charleston Spring Break 2019

When Kristin dropped off a large bunch of bananas to our next door neighbor just before we loaded up the car to to leave for Charleston, Colleen told Kristin that she recalled someone saying that we would never attempt that drive again after the first time. “I think that may have been the same person who bought way too many bananas before leaving for a road trip. I wouldn’t trust her.” Kristin replied with a wink.

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Charleston, SC summer road trip

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We just returned last night from the road trip that we almost didn’t take, and I’m so very glad that we made the journey. As I mentioned before, I had all kinds of worries about the drive, the heat, what we would do while we were there, but none of those things posed a problem. The kids were absolute troopers on the drive. Sure, they watched a million movies, but they really were pretty amazing about the whole thing. Continue reading

Long drives and road trips

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We’ve reached that point in the summer when suddenly there seems to be some sort of time vacuum happening. We text with friends to set up casual get-togethers and find that there are virtually no days left before school starts when we’ll all be in town (and we’re in a city where back-to-school doesn’t happen until after Labor Day). Although we’re doing fairly well with our summer bucket list, I started to panic a little last night. Continue reading