I’ve only been to Guatemala as a footloose single person, but I thought that the colonial city of Antigua and the jungly Mayan ruins at Tikal were magnificent.
My travel blogging colleague Tim Leffel has much more current info.
If you’re considering taking your family on a trip to Guatemala, check out Tim’s GoNomad article “Pyramids to Panajachel: A Family Vacation in Guatemala.”
Thanks for the great info, Tim!
Technorati tags: travel, family travel, Guatemala
** Yesterday we enjoyed Part One of the DC Traveler‘s guest post about family travel to Washington, DC, and today I’m excited to bring you Part Two…. **
Imagine your kid’s face just inches away from a 14-foot tiger shark, with its massive razor-sharp teeth. Luckily, there’ll be a thin pane of glass between them, but that’s how close you can get to a swimming shark at the National Aquarium in Baltimore.
Plus, what kid wouldn’t love the dolphin show? For the younger ones, there’s always “Nemo” and “Dori” in the Caribbean reef fish tanks.
The National Aquarium is about an hour from DC by car or train. It’s best to order your tickets online in advance; the Aquarium staggers visitor entry to manage the crowds, so the wait between purchasing your ticket at the window and actual admission can be a couple of hours on weekends and during busy periods.
National Aquarium in Baltimore
501 East Pratt Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
If you can’t get your kids to turn off their iPods for anything, check out the Hard Rock Café, just down the street from Ford’s Theatre (the infamous site where President Abraham Lincoln was shot.)
Hard Rock memorabilia includes (perhaps along with the over-priced cheeseburger) a black leather costume worn by Gene Simmons of KISS, a Lenny Kravitz Les Paul guitar, and even the saxophone that the newly elected President, Bill Clinton, played at his Inaugural Ball in 1993.
Hard Rock Café
999 E. Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20004
What kid doesn’t like cold, hard cash? The Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, DC offers a 45-minute tour of their money printing facility, where you can watch various denominations of U.S. currency being printed while you stand only feet away from millions and millions of dollars.
Bureau of Engraving and Printing
14th & C Streets, SW
Washington DC 20228
For some GREAT photo ops with smaller kids, just about a mile from the National Mall along the beautiful Potomac River is East Potomac Park. At the end of the park on the peninsula is Hains Point, and there you’ll find the giant sculpture “The Awakening.”
It’s a mostly buried 100-foot tall sculpture of a man who appears to be struggling to free himself, with only his face, a hand, arm, leg and foot exposed above ground. Kids love to play on it while parents take photos. It’s also a great place to let the children run around after a day inside countless museums.
Hains Point – The Awakening
East Potomac Park
About ¾ miles south of 1090 Ohio Dr. SW, at the end of Hains Point
Washington, DC 20001
Besides these fun activities, don’t forget there’s always:
– Riding (or climbing) to the top of the Washington Monument
– Seeing The Declaration of Independence at The National Archives
– Stopping by the Lincoln, Jefferson and FDR Memorials
– Spending time at the National Museum of Natural History
– Visiting the pandas at The National Zoo
– Seeing the falls at Great Falls National Park, our version of Niagara Falls
– Watching the Changing of the Guard at Arlington National Cemetery
– Catch a game, depending on the season. DC is home to the MLB Nationals, the NFL Redskins, the NHL Capitols, the Wizards of the NBA or the MLS DC United. Finding tickets, even the day of the game, can be easier than you think.
If your kids have never ridden on a subway, take the Metro around DC. Make sure to ride in the first car, and grab the front row seats as the train travels underground. Even getting to your destination can be fun!!
** Thanks very much to Jon for his guest posts, and check out The DC Traveler for more ideas if you plan to travel with kids to Washington, DC. **
Technorati tags: travel, family travel, Washington DC, DC, Washington, Washington DC travel, The DC Traveler, DC tourist information, DC sightseeing, Bureau of Engraving and PrintingNational Aquarium in Baltimore, Hard Rock Cafe, DC monuments
I just got off of a conference call with BlogHer founders Elisa Camahort and Lisa Stone, who were announcing the exciting 2008 schedule of eight BlogHer events under the theme umbrella “Reach!”
And of course, men are most welcome to attend any of these….
** BlogHer Business will be held in New York April 3-4 2008 at the Affinia Manhattan hotel. As Elisa reminds us, last year’s BlogHer Business included “the women behind the corporate blogging efforts at Google, Yahoo!, Cisco and Wells Fargo, the women who run such media outlets as the Washington Post.com/Newsweek Interactive, iVillage and Redbook Magazine, and women who are technical experts at everything from blogging software applications to traffic building, monitoring and measurement.”
** The main BlogHer conference will be at the Westin St. Francis on Union Square in downtown San Francisco July 18-21 2008. I spoke at BlogHer 07 in Chicago this past summer, and I can tell you that this is a superbly-run event. Don’t miss it! Elisa says, “We plan to continue to be the blogging conference that features every facet of blogging, from the intimately personal to the intensely political to the purely professional.”
** To reach out to East Coast and Southern bloggers, there will be a two-week BlogHer Reach Out Bus Tour in October 2008, traveling to a number of cities for one-day blogging events. The tour will start in Boston MA, then move to Washington DC, Greensboro NC, Nashville TN, Atlanta GA and finish in New Orleans LA. If you’re a blogger in or around any of those cities, consider either attending or speaking. If you know any great local bloggers, contact Elisa and let her know about them. She says, “we couldn’t pass up the chance to prove that great blogging is happening all over, and about every topic under the sun.”
For the full story, here is today’s BlogHer 2008 post on the BlogHer site.
I’ve found there’s nothing more tonic than meeting fellow bloggers in person to exchange ideas and business cards….I’m just trying to figure out how to pack in a trip to both San Francisco and New Orleans.
See you there!
Technorati tags: travel, BlogHer, BlogHer 08, blogging conferences
*** Today is my daughter’s 15th birthday (yes, my son was also born in September.) In honor of her arrival, I have a great guest post about family travel to the area where she was born: Washington DC.
Please welcome fellow blogger and friend Jon Rochetti of The DC Traveler — he has so many good ideas, we’re going to give you Part One today and Part Two tomorrow. Take it away, Jon! ***
Kids love Washington, DC. There are so many things for them to see and do, and it’s not just being dragged around dusty old museums. Plus, with the summer wave of tourists over and the heat and humidity of summer gone, now is the perfect time for a visit to the nation’s capital.
Here are a few kid-friendly ideas, including a few not-so-common activities:
First, how about taking the kids on a 90-minute tour around DC on a DC DUCK – an original World War II DUKW (”Duck”) amphibious vehicle.
You drive around the National Mall, then cruise the Potomac River, entering the river near Reagan National Airport, just under the takeoff and landing pattern of the airport.
This, the kids will love.
DC Ducks at Union Station Main Entrance
50 Massachusetts Ave., NE, Washington, DC 20018
Next, the city has two great Air and Space museums, one at Independence Avenue on the National Mall and a second, newer and larger one near the Dulles airport. It’s the world’s most extensive collection of aviation history under two roofs; kids get to see everything from the original Wright Brother’s Flyer close up (it no longer hangs from the museum ceiling since it’s now part of a special Wright Brothers exhibit) to the Space Shuttle.
Between the two museums, there’s aviator Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis aircraft, the SR-71 Blackbird (the fastest plane ever built) and a full size Apollo moon landing craft, all guaranteed to get a few ”Way cools!!”
Parents will also love that admission to both museums is FREE.
The National Air and Space Museum on Independence Avenue also houses some of the Treasures of American History collection from the National Museum of American History, which is closed for renovations until the summer of 2008.
More than 150 objects are on view, including the original Kermit the Frog puppet, Alexander Graham Bell’s experimental telephone, R2-D2 and C-3PO from the Star Wars movie Return of the Jedi and Dorothy’s sequined ruby red shoes worn in the classic movie The Wizard of Oz.
There’s even a pair of not-so-fashionable (but definitely NOT oversized, baggy or droopy) Levi Strauss jeans from the 1870s.
National Air and Space Museum
Independence Avenue at 6th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20560 (map it)
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
14390 Air and Space Museum Parkway
Chantilly, Virginia 20151 (map it)
What kid doesn’t love to play hide and seek?
At the International Spy Museum, kids can learn how adults play hide and seek. While this museum is probably not great for very young children, it is a fun, family-friendly place. The museum covers everything about spies… gadgets, bugs, hidden cameras, weapons and vehicles, including James Bond’s 1964 Aston Martin DB5 from the classic Bond film Goldfinger.
Kids (and adults too) can learn about invisible ink, microdots, buttonhole cameras and how Hollywood helped the CIA develop ingenious disguise techniques.
They occasionally offer kid’s programs and workshops, such as creating disguises, codes and ciphers and other themes, so check their website for programs and dates.
International Spy Museum
800 F. Street, NW
Washington, DC, 20004 (map it)
*** You may not particularly want to see the National Naval Medical Center, where my daughter actually arrived, but Jon has tips for good places to eat in Bethesda, the community where the hospital is located.
Stay tuned for Part Two of the DC Traveler’s suggestions. ***
Technorati tags: travel, family travel, Washington DC, DC, Washington, Washington DC travel, The DC Traveler, DC tourist information, DC sightseeing, National Air and Space Museum, DC Ducks, International Spy Museum, DC monuments
Today is my daughter’s birthday and we’ll have a special treat; two guest posts about the city where she was born.
Stay tuned!
I was thinking about what sometimes happens when you go with your kids to see something, and there’s an accident or other sobering event.
Do you wonder if you made a mistake to take them there in the first place?
I was covering the NHRA Fall Nationals drag race just south of Dallas this past weekend, both to finish up a Texas drag racing story that I’m writing for Texas Highways, and to cover the event for the Fast Machines motorsports blog.
Unfortunately, one of the lions of the sport, John Force, had a terrible accident during Funny Car eliminations. He’s going to be OK (here’s an interview with his daughter Ashley Force, who also drives a Funny Car on her dad’s team) but the whole episode was pretty scary. Here’s a link to the ESPN report and video.
You couldn’t see much from the stands, just a lot of pieces and parts and smoke (because the incident occurred at the very end of the drag strip after the run) but there were lots of families at the race that day.
How do you explain to a child that one of the most popular drivers in the sport might have died right there in front of you?
How do you explain to a child what has happened when there is a crash at an air show?
You’re probably not going to take your 10-year-old son to see the bulls run at Pamplona in Spain, but this is something to think about when it comes to doing even something as innocuous as a rodeo at your local county fair.
There are risks and danger, even in family travel….do you try to avoid seeing any risky events with your kids?
Technorati tags: travel, family travel, John Force
First, however, let’s acknowledge that this weekend is Chocola d’Amour, a chocolate festival in the often-overlooked city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Smak lekker!
Here’s a quick list of links to posts with useful information and cash-saving ideas….
** Quick travel ideas from the frugal folks at Wise Bread.
** The Millionaire Mommy Next Door has 10 ways to save on travel expenses.
** Here’s a cool blog about cheap places to eat in Oahu, Hawaii — hat tip to Travel Post for telling us about it.
** Travel expert Arthur Frommer says that a lot of savvy English-speaking travelers book their cut-rate hotel rooms through Wotif, a site based in Australia.
** The Kiplinger’s personal finance magazine and Web site is also analyzing hotel prices, and they say to expect to pay more for hotels next year, especially in big cities.
** How about 7 tips for booking train tickets in Europe from Budget Travel‘s This Just In. I like tip #4:
“4. You can only buy a Eurorail ticket in the U.S. but it’s not always your cheapest option for rail travel in Europe. Says Mark Smith, “In theory, Eurail tickets can ONLY be bought outside Europe, as they are intended for overseas visitors. But in many cases you’ll find ordinary point-to-point tickets are a cheaper option, especially if you book direct with the European rail operators at their own website rather than through an expensive US agency, and especially if you are prepared to pre-book tickets on a no-refunds, no-changes-to-travel-plans basis so as to take advantage of European railways’ various budget-airline-beating special train deals.”
Rolf Potts reports that these days, rail travel in Europe gets even better.
** Smarter Travel offers up five hidden, affordable beach destinations. Don’t worry, the Miami Herald says that September is ideal for mid-Atlantic beach vacations.
** The Washington Post travel bloggers have some survival tips from the pros.
** Our own host BootsnAll has a great article on banking securely while traveling.
** And lastly, from the New York Times, the Frugal Traveler’s 2007 American Road Trip across the United States takes him from New York City to Seattle. Lucky guy….
Technorati tags: travel, family travel, travel tips
Sometimes, it’s a pain in the neck to travel with kids.
There, I said it.
I know that with over 200 posts (so far) on a blog about family travel, I must sound as though I have the whole thing nailed down, diaper bag and all, but I do not.
In fact, there are a lot of occasions when I wonder why I even drag my kids out of the house and try to go places, because they get crabby and don’t want to eat new foods and don’t want to walk through XYZ Nature Preserve and don’t want to see “another dumb museum.” Ungrateful twerps.
That’s why I had to grin when I read dooce today; she wanted a nice family trip to San Francisco and instead, everyone was just miserable.
She wrote that she’s still coming to grips with the whole concept of Being A Parent, even though she’s “finally stopped feeling guilty and embraced my version of that role. I knew that I loved my child, that I would do anything for her, but that I don’t necessarily do this thing like many other women. And that’s okay. I am okay with being the mother who doesn’t get a thrill out of sitting on the floor and playing blocks for two hours.”
Hey, I used to think that I, too, was missing some warm and fuzzy maternal gene, but I don’t like a lot of that stuff, either. I’m much better suited to working with older kids, but both of my children had this annoying requirement of getting through baby and toddlerhood first. What’s up with that?!
Family travel takes some perseverance, especially with mealtime issues like teaching your kid to try new foods in, say, Spain. You know, it can be a hot, exhausting hassle to take the kids to Pompeii. Some of the most convenient times to travel are right in the middle of the school year, and while you can choose to pull kids from classes anyway, that may lead to more problems.
Still, I do not believe that just because “I have kids, I can’t travel.” The good far outweighs the bad.
Unfortunately, dooce continues to say that she’s disappointed in herself, that “Going on this trip forced me to realize another facet of this, that although I wanted to be the mother who could travel with her kid, I’m not. I can’t do it. I do not enjoy it. And I’m inclined to feel guilty about it, because I want that photo album with pictures of our family in front of interesting and far off places.”
Now, I know that this is easy for me to say, but IT WILL GET BETTER.
dooce’s daughter is about four years old. My kids were each four years old once. One of them was an old soul even at four. The other was, well, on crack or something.
Fast forward to now. One of my kids is a seasoned traveler and great company, the other is also seasoned but can get on my last nerve incredibly quickly. I would never stop taking that child to see things, but I try to have enough sense not to set us up for too much frustration when I do plan a trip.
Hang in there, dooce. You’ll be able to leave your heart in San Francisco soon….
Technorati tags: travel, family travel, blogging
Many of you know that I’ve proposed a travel blogging panel at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive tech conference in Austin TX March 7-11 2008.
The response has been exceptionally positive, and thanks so much for the Panel Picker comments left by readers from Successful Blog, Julie’s World, the Perrin Post, World Hum, Music and Markets Tours, Budget Travel magazine (with their great blog This Just In,) Mike at Los Madrones, Liz at My Year of Getting Published and Europe String.
Many people get their start online by writing a travel blog during a trip, so it seems like a natural fit for a tech conference like SXSW, which covers a lot of online media/social media topics.
My proposed panel is called Blog Highways: Travel Blogging for the Wanderer, and the deadline to register, vote and leave comments is midnight tomorrow, Friday September 21 2007.
We’ll find out in October whether the panel was chosen, and if that happens then I promise that the panel will have some exciting travel bloggers who will join me as speakers.
Thanks again for your support.
I’m up near Dallas tonight, ready to hop out of my hotel bed tomorrow and start working the finishing touches on a Texas drag racing story that I’m writing for Texas Highways magazine. The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Fall Nationals will be held at the Texas Motorplex this weekend, and your trusty correspondent is also covering them for the Fast Machines motorsports blog.
Yes, you can take your kids to a drag race, and it’s a lot of fun!
There has also been some interesting writing this week in the diverse world of blog carnivals.
My post on a special event for homeschoolers in Colonial Williamsburg was featured in the homeschooling blog carnival.
If you’re curious about homeschooling, check out these posts and descriptions from the carnival:
** Summer M presents Homeschooling As a Class Issue posted at Mom Is Teaching. Choosing to live on one income isn’t just for the wealthy.
** Dana presents Revealing the secrets of homeschooling, how I get it all done posted at Principled Discovery.
** In Homeschool Record Keeping, Patti of All Info About Homeschooling looks at several ways to match your need for accurate documents with your level of organization and your family’s balance of chaos.
** Annette Berlin presents Don’t Neglect Art posted at Homeschooling Journey saying, “Most homeschooling parents consider art a “back burner” kind of subject. They get to it only when there’s nothing more important to do. And even then, they do just enough to satisfy their state’s regulations. Not me.”
** DeputyHeadmistress presents Out of Doors Play posted at The Common Room. “Children who aren’t handling wood and clay, sand and water, bricks and acorns, leaves and grass, and other such stuff because they are too busy inside in a sterilized, sanitized environment lit by artificial lights and enhanced by artificially created noises, the beeps, sings, and whistles of computers and cartoons- these kids are not figuring out what to do with the things they learn.”
** In Unsocialized or Socialized, Jocelyn of Lothlorien wonders why homeschoolers are often taken to be unsocialized. Well… after a trip to the grocery store and a run-in with a very unsocialized teenager, it made her wonder… Do people really know what they’re talking about?
** Lynn tackles The Socialization Red Herring posted at Homeschool2.0 Blog. After 17 years of homeschooling, she sees the socialization concerns and objections as being lamer than ever.
Additionally, my post on Hispanic Heritage Month travel options was featured on the Carnival of Family Life. For more family thoughts:
** I liked the Veteran Military Wife‘s thoughts on Tent Camping with the Scouts at Ft Desoto Beach (in Florida) since it’s “Camping tips for non-campers.”
** A road trip is one of my favorite activities; I checked out Jody DeVere’s Road Trip Survival Guide posted at Ask Patty – Automotive Advice for Women.
Finally, the Carnival of Cities had its debut in Dubai on the Sandier Pastures blog, and included my post about a Chicago River architecture cruise. I’ll highlight the carnival’s posts about Europe:
** Sognatrice takes us Into the heart of Calabria: benvenuti a badolato! in Bleeding Espresso.
** Liz Lewis presents the basics of Segway travel in Madrid on Two Wheels, The Segway Tour posted at My Year of Getting Published.
** Hairy Swede shares his Triumphant Return to Student Life in Uppsala posted at A Swedish American In Sweden.
If you want to see more, click on through and read each carnival’s full set of entries.
Technorati tags: travel, family travel, blog carnival, blogging.