The Explore All 50 States Project
Let's Go!
Millennium Park is a great place to start (and start early, there’s a lot to do in the Windy City) your adventure in Chicago just like we did because you can do it before 10am before most other things open. We got really lucky as we were able to walk from our hotel which wasn't that far. Millennium Park is an incredible public space filled with artwork and areas for concerts. We walked through the Lurie Garden … [Read more...]
Oklahoma has a wonderful riverwalk that's also known as Bricktown. It's a wonderful place to grab lunch or dinner, spend a little time shopping, even check out a minor league ballgame at the Bricktown Ballpark. Did you know that baseball great Johnny Bench was from Oklahoma? We had lunch at this fantastic little italian pizza joint. The owner whose name was Chris looked like he was straight out of Brooklyn, heck … [Read more...]
The Oklahoma City National Memorial was a particularly difficult stop. Not only was it heartbreaking and sad to imagine how many innocent people lost their lives, it was even more difficult to explain to the kids how someone expressed his political views by killing innocent men, women, and children. On the morning of April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked a rental truck loaded with explosives in front of the Alfred … [Read more...]
Nestled amidst over 250 acres of towering pines and rolling meadows just eight miles south of Rapid City lies Bear Country U.S.A. This is one of those drive through wild animal parks that I remember as a kid. On our leisurely three-mile drive through several enclosures we encountered black bear, elk, reindeer, deer, cougars, bobcats, rocky mountain goats, bighorn sheep, deer, sheep, and buffalo. All the animals are … [Read more...]
Walking through the Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns felt like we were walking through a giant Geode, and you know what, we probably were. This incredible cave holds the world’s largest display of dog-tooth spar crystal, which look like diamonds as all their facets are reflected in some of the pools in the cave. We walked down quite few steep steps to get inside the cave, but our effort was totally rewarded once … [Read more...]
Virginia City is a fun little historic town that looks frozen in time. We rode a little train from Nevada city into the town and I remember Isaac acting out and some strange man-a real relic of the old west, on the train told my son to behave or he'd teach him a lesson. I was so caught off guard that someone would say something like that to someone else's kid that I just froze. To this day I am mad at myself for … [Read more...]
I’ve been pretty successful at putting off traveling during the holidays for the last couple of years much to the dismay of my three children who did not waste a moment in letting me know they were bored out of their skulls. Even with local activities planned it was hard to make the most of their time off, so for the second time I am relenting and planning another winter ski trip to rendezvous with friends in Park … [Read more...]
Staying in a condo can be a super alternative to a hotel but it all depends on your type of trip and schedule. If you are exploring in a particular area with numerous excursions that are at a maximum of 2 hours away, a condo rental is definitely something you should look at as an option that can provide a cozy and often economical stay. My friend and fellow road tripper Lisa Orlanski rented a home in Vermont as … [Read more...]
I don't know about you, but traveling with my family often feels like I'm traveling with a bunch of food critics, travel reviewers, and nit-picky never satisfied types who have something to say about everything. I am glad everyone's brain is engaged and they have something to share, but hearing that no one's excited to try something new, or that something "sucks" can be a real downer. After all the time and effort … [Read more...]
Originally we were awestruck at the natural beauty of Zion and Bryce, some of our nations most beautiful and unique national parks. Now having seen more including Salt Lake City and Park City, we can honestly say Utah struck all of us as the work of G-d's paintbrush. In the spring and summer, beautiful colors, especially reds, oranges and yellows are transposed on magical rock formations. I still have yet to see … [Read more...]
