Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Where to Start? Mike says his favorite national park is the one he happens to be in when asked the question. This is true for us right now about Rocky Mountain National Park; after camping there for a week, it's definitely one of our favorite parks at this point.

We camped for a week at Moraine Park campground on the East side of the Park. Above is a picture of the view from our campsite. The weather was terrific: sunny and in the 60s and 70s most days; cool at night (down to the low 40s, high 30s). Wildflowers were blooming all over the place and we saw lots of wildlife: elk, coyote, marmots and mule deer.

What struck us most about the park is how accessible it is. The Park Service takes its mandate very seriously to both preserve our wild and historic places and to make them accessible to the people and to the generations that come after us This is almost an impossible charge when you think about it: to preserve and to make accessible! The Park Service does a good job of it, though. We were in Rocky Mountain 4th of July weekend; the park was packed with people, but we were able to get to places that still felt like wilderness.

In addition to plenty of back country hikes, there are also a number of nature trails in the Park for people who are mobility impaired. We took our girls for a walk on a handicap accessible trail around a beautiful mountain lake. A couple of hundred yards off the lake, was a handicap accessible back country campsite! Photo above.

Kearney, Nebraska

After a night in Hastings, Nebraska, the birthplace of Kool Aid, we visited a major Nebraska Roadside attraction: The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument in Kearney. (Though it's technically not roadside, since it is built over I-80.) This interactive exhibit is a tribute to westward mobility: starting with the pioneers along the various trails that converge at the Platte River (Mormon, Oregon, California), on to the transcontinental railroad, followed by the Lincoln Highway, and culminating in the current day I-80. It sounds hokey, but it works; we all really enjoyed it. This attraction is mentioned, usually with affection, in Roadside America, Roadtrip USA and other guidebooks. If that's not enough to reel you in, a scene from "About Schmidt" starring Jack Nicholson was filmed here.

We then headed on to Colorado, where we're spending the night in Brush. Brush is in the Eastern Plains, not too far from Yuma, the town which served as the inspiration for Plainsong by Kent Haruf. (If you haven't alreadyread the book, do! Or rent the movie by the same name). The weather here is pretty brutal: hot (97 today) with high winds and often fierce storms: tornadoes, hailstorms, you name it. It will be good to go into the mountain tomorrow.

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, West Branch, Iowa

Tonight we're staying near West Liberty, Iowa, in a very affordable Econolodge surrounded by nothing but cornfields. This afternoon, we visited the Herbert Hoover National Historic site, in West Branch,Iowa, the town where President Hoover was born and where he lived until he was 9. Above is the two room cottage where Hoover was born and lived with his parents and his brother and sister. President Hoover and his wife are also buried there; above is a photo of the gravesite. In addition to the Hoover cottage, there are also a collection of historic homes, the schoolhouse Hoover attended and the Friends Meetinghouse where he worshiped, along with a reconstruction of his father's blacksmith shop. Also on site is the presidential library and museum.

I think it is really interesting where Presidents' choose to be buried and where they build their libraries. Hoover left here when he was 9 and never lived here again, but chose this spot for his library and burial site. He must have had great affection for his hometown; the town, in turn, is very proud of its President.

Indiana Amish Country

We're taking I-80 out to Colorado and trying to find interesting places to stay along the route. Yesterday, we spent the morning in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. (Photo Above) This is one of the 10 most visited national parks in the U.S and a lovely place to spend a few hours or a couple of days. There are a number of trails and walking paths, including a towpath along the Cuyahoga River, once part of the Ohio-Erie Canal System. There is also a scenic railroad, some historic sites, and a really pretty small town nearby, Peninsula, Ohio. If we have time, we'll spend a couple of days here on the way home.

We stayed the night in Indiana Amish Country, in a town called Shipshewana. Like Lancaster County, this is a big tourist area, for the same reasons Lancaster is popular. We had a very nice Amish-style dinner at the Blue Gate restaurant, which was a welcome break from road food.

Camp Tweedale, Oxford, PA

We dropped off Grace & Lucy yesterday for five nights at Girl Scout Camp Tweedale. This is Lucy's first year at sleepaway camp! (Grace's 5th). With the girls enjoying themselves at camp, it gives us a few days to pack up and prepare for our trip.

Spring Break 2010: St Augustine, Florida

As a dry run for this Summer's roadtrip, we drove down to Florida where we spent a week at Mike's sister's house outside of Jacksonville. We took it easy driving, spending two nights along the road each way, which still gave us five nights in Florida.

Saint Augustine is a fabulous vacation spot. It really emphasizes its Spanish colonial roots, with a lot of tourist attractions with that theme. We visited the Castillo de San Marcos, a large fort (and national monument) in town, went to a living history museum, toured some historic sites (everything is a first here: first schoolhouse, first church, etc). We went to some roadside attractions for Irene ( Alligator Farm, Ponce De Leon Fountain of Youth), went to the original Ripley's Believe It or Not for Grace & Lucy (and took the Ghost Tour later) and, for Mike, hit some beautiful beaches and state parks.

Overall, it was a very satisfying family vacation.

Above is a picture of Grace & Lucy at the Fountain of Youth, Grace at the Castillo, and Lucy wrestling an alligator (stuffed).

Christmas Vacation

Our first trip of the year was to Lake Placid, New York. The Adirondacks is a family favorite of ours; we weren't able to get there last Summer because of our big road trip, so we came up for Christmas week to get our Adirondack "fix". We rented a cabin at another old favorite, the Wilderness Inn II, which is a cabin cluster and fun restaurant/bar in Wilmington, NY. This family-owned resort is headed by a former NYC Rockette who, though now in her 90s, still greets guests in the restaurant.

We had perfect weather, lots of snow, though not too cold, and the kids were able to go tubing, sledding (and dogsledding), make snowmen, and go cross country skiing.