A Three-Day Getaway to Salt Lake City I had never been to Salt Lake City before. I’ve driven through Utah at least a dozen times between Colorado and California – I grew up in Colorado and I live in California – but Salt Lake City is north of the I-70/I-15… Read More
Maximizing Your Weekend to Beat the Sunday Blues
Thank you to Enterprise for sponsoring this post. Beating the Sunday Blues At the end of 2018 Enterprise commissioned a study on Sunday depression (aka the Sunday Blues), and the results are eye-opening. Essentially, even though the work week is Monday through Friday, and people only have two days for… Read More
Los Angeles with Kids
Things to Do in LA with Kids I get a lot of questions about what to do in LA with kids. That makes sense, given that we live less than two hours away. But we just don’t drive down very often. It’s a frustrating city, with a lot of traffic… Read More
Mammoth Lakes, California: Three Days of Adventure
Mammoth Lakes with Kids A confession: I had never been to Mammoth Lakes. I have friends who go all the time, and my kids’ school takes ski trips there, but for some reason, I hadn’t visited. When Visit Mammoth invited me to drive up, I accepted immediately. Mammoth Lakes is… Read More
A California Road Trip from Santa Monica to Monterey
A California Road Trip This was going to be the year when we explored more of California, and the year when I finally took my seven-year-old daughter to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. But halfway through the year I still hadn’t planned anything, and too many other destinations were starting to… Read More
TripAdvisor for Local Activities: Mountain Biking in Santa Barbara
Destination Activities There are a lot of ways to find things to do at vacation destinations. You can simply Google “things to do in _________”. You can look at specific travel blogs, like Travel Babbo! You can pick up the local visitor’s guide or go by the tourism office when you… Read More
A Kid-Friendly Ojai Getaway
Note: This post originally appeared at Travelocity.com. Ojai with Kids Ojai, California has long been a perfect Los Angeles weekend getaway. The town of 7,500 is less than two hours from LA, but worlds apart, set in a valley of sage and oak and surrounded by orange and avocado groves. It’s easy… Read More
Wildflowers in California: Witnessing the Super Bloom
Note: This post originally appeared at Travelocity.com. The Super Bloom It only occurs once every 10-20 years, so when it does, you have to go. I’m talking about the super bloom of wildflowers at Anza-Borrego State Park, which is happening right now – millions of seeds erupting in a riot… Read More
2015: A Look Back on a Record Travel Year
Such a fun travel year! Starting in Colorado and ending in Thailand, I flew 178,790 miles to 20 countries on 4 continents. I don’t think I had flown more than 150,000 miles in a year before? Five countries were solo – India and Japan for photo expeditions, Germany and Spain for travel conferences… Read More
A Halloween-Themed California Getaway: Rancho Bernardo Inn and Disneyland
My five-year-old hates being the third child, and she lets us know frequently that she hates it. Which is fair. After all, her older brother and sister get to do everything first, and she usually doesn’t get the deciding vote in family decisions. After a challenging summer traveling around Europe with her… Read More