I’ve dragged my kids through monsoon-soaked jungles, icy alpine meadows, and scorching desert canyons — but nothing has made their jaws drop quite like Olympic National Park. This place is genuinely three parks in one: ancient rainforest draped in neon-green moss, rugged Pacific coastline littered with sea stacks and tide pools, and wildflower-covered alpine ridges … Read more
I have dragged a stroller up granite slabs, bribed a three-year-old across a meadow with fruit snacks, and ugly-cried at a waterfall view while my six-year-old asked if we could go back to the car — and I would do every single minute of it again in Yosemite. This park is, without exaggeration, one of … Read more
I’ve hiked with a cranky toddler on my back through Patagonia and navigated a double stroller across cobblestones in Portugal, but Great Smoky Mountains National Park still holds a special place in my heart — because it’s the one park where my kids have consistently been more excited than I am. Misty ridgelines, cascading waterfalls, … Read more
I’ve hiked with a squirmy toddler strapped to my back and a six-year-old who needed snack bribes every half mile, and I’m here to tell you: Zion National Park is one of the most spectacular places on earth to do exactly that. The towering red canyon walls, the sparkling Virgin River winding through the valley … Read more
The first time I strapped my then-two-year-old into a carrier and walked the edge of the Atlantic at Acadia National Park, I cried a little — partly from the wind, mostly from the sheer magic of it. Acadia is one of those rare parks that genuinely delivers for every member of the family, from the … Read more
It was 11:47 PM in a Marriott hallway somewhere outside Zion National Park, and the housekeeping cart had just rattled past our door like a steel drum parade. My three-year-old — who had finally fallen asleep after two hours of overtired meltdown — bolted upright and started screaming. We had a sunrise hike booked for … Read more
We were twenty minutes into a trail at Great Smoky Mountains when my six-year-old planted herself on a rock and announced she was “done with nature forever.” My three-year-old, perched in the carrier on my back, had already thrown his snack cup into a rhododendron. The waterfall was only half a mile ahead. I needed … Read more
We were halfway down the Bright Angel Trail at the Grand Canyon when my then-three-year-old hit a patch of loose gravel in her regular canvas sneakers and went down — fast. She was fine, thankfully, just a scraped palm and wounded pride, but I stood there holding her while my heart rate returned to normal … Read more
We were somewhere above 9,000 feet on the trail to Emerald Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park when I looked back at my then-10-month-old strapped into the hiking carrier behind my husband — her little face tipped up toward a cloudless Colorado sky, completely unshaded, squinting in that blissed-out baby way that made me simultaneously … Read more
We were somewhere outside of Amarillo — three hours into a four-hour drive to Palo Duro Canyon — when my six-year-old’s crayon rolled under the seat for the fifth time and my three-year-old dumped an entire container of goldfish crackers onto her lap. The iPad had died an hour earlier. I had nothing. I promised … Read more
