Category National Parks

I’d been putting off the Smokies for years. Too crowded, I figured. Too touristy. Then my sister-in-law dragged us there last October, and within about twenty minutes of driving into the park — fog rolling through the valleys, my kids…

The first time I drove through the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel, my kids were half asleep in the backseat. Then we came out the other side, and my eight-year-old literally gasped. Red canyon walls towering a thousand feet straight up, the…

My seven-year-old stood at the edge of the Tunnel View overlook, mouth literally hanging open, and said “that’s not real.” I get it. The first time you see Yosemite Valley spread out below you — El Capitan on the left,…

My seven-year-old stood at the edge of Mather Point, grabbed my arm, and whispered, “Mom, that’s not real.” And honestly? I kind of agreed with her. You can look at a thousand photos of the Grand Canyon and still not…

My seven-year-old was standing on a boardwalk in Yellowstone, watching Old Faithful build toward its eruption, and he turned to me with this look on his face — total disbelief that what he was seeing was actually real. That moment…

My seven-year-old was standing on a boardwalk in Yellowstone, watching Old Faithful build toward its eruption, and he turned to me with this look on his face — total disbelief that what he was seeing was actually real. That moment…