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
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 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
We were twenty minutes into a long-awaited dinner at a tiny trattoria in Cinque Terre — the kind with mismatched chairs, hand-written menus, and zero high chairs — when my three-year-old slid off a stacked-up phone book (yes, the owner tried) and landed face-first in a plate of pesto pasta. It was hilarious in retrospect. … Read more
I was standing in the security line at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, my three-year-old balanced on my hip, a carry-on dangling from one shoulder, and a stroller that required two hands and a small miracle to fold sitting stubbornly open in front of me. The agent waved me through the scanner. The stroller did not cooperate. … Read more
