USA East

Whether you are heading to Williamsburg VA for a weekend or a week here are my best tips for exploring the living history museums with kids and taking fun breaks from the historical stuff, plus restaurant ideas and a great family hotel.

One of the great things about Washington, DC is that it’s an easy drive to a lot of great kid-friendly weekend getaways.  Within a few hours you can be on the …

New Yorkers live to eat. With all the walking we do, we can indulge in sweet treats now and again, and when I’m exploring the city with my tween we …

After 16 months of being “stuck together” in full or partial covid quarantines, Rich, Tween Traveler and I took a vacation. We went to Stowe, Vermont for five days. We …

We spent two summers in a row visiting Acadia National Park, off of the northern coast of Maine. We never go anywhere two years in a row, much less a destination …

Where can we go for an easy, quick, cheap, active, romantic, family, summer, winter or fall weekend getaway from New York City?  This is the question I get asked more than …

We only visit the Hamptons in the off season. We can’t imagine dealing with the crowds, traffic and party scene that typifies this string of beach towns during the summer. …

I’ve spent a lot of time exploring the east side of the Hudson River, but haven’t spent a lot of time on the west side since I was a kid. …

Cooperstown, New York, is home to the Baseball Hall of Fame. But the museum brings enough people to town every year to support hotels, restaurants, breweries and a fair number of …

The Finger Lakes region of New York offers an ideal combination of museums, outdoor activities, and yummy local food, wine and beer. For a family that enjoys hitting a museum …

Alabama is not the first place I think of for a family beach getaway. In my mind U.S. beaches are on the Atlantic or Pacific coasts, period. But after five …

I really liked St. Augustine, Florida. It’s a city that predates both Jamestown and Plymouth. Its lesser know history, outdoor activities and great local food blend very nicely to create …

People visit Savannah, Georgia to explore the genteel, antique-filled homes during the day and sip Southern cocktails in the evening . If you’re visiting this southern city with small children, …

In the spring, Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley Virginia is impossibly green and in the fall its leaves burst into color.  The historic town of *Staunton, at the valley’s southern end, is …

Hershey, Pennsylvania is a no brainer for an easy summer weekend getaway with kids if you live anywhere between Washington, DC and Connecticut. What you might not realize is that …

Updated March 2020 One of the challenges to visiting a New York City is finding fun, authentic, kid-friendly things to do, that every other tourist isn’t also doing.  Here’s one …

One of the easiest and most fun weekends with kids that you can do in Hudson Valley is a winter ski getaway. Catskill Mountain ski resorts like Belleayre, Windham or …

Hotel Review: Nemacolin Woodlands Resort for Families & Couples Where: Farmington, PA The Vibe: *Nemacolin Woodlands, a luxury resort  in Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands, doesn’t have a single vibe. The type …

We booked a cruise out of Miami over winter break. Since we’d never been to this famously colorful Florida beach city, we decided to spend 48 hours exploring. Planning our …

Updated October 2020 Tween Traveler headed off on a two-night camping adventure with her scout troop trip in early June, leaving Rich and I free to take our own 36-hour …

The Berkshires are one of those regions that looms in my mind as a summer vacation paradise.  The region stretches along the spine of Route 7 up the length of …

It’s a challenge for a city or region to develop a new tourist zone from the ground up. It’s even more unusual to develop one that is interesting enough to …

The Hotel: Woodloch Pines Resort Where: Hawley, Eastern Pennsylvania The Location: *Woodloch Pines is an all-inclusive resort that sits on the rural edge of the Poconos.  Rather than one large hotel, the …

Updated February 2020. A lot of people use Gettysburg as a stopover en route to other Pennsylvania destinations, like Pittsburgh or Hershey and Lancaster. And this is a shame because …

The Top attractions in Washington, D.C. are well documented: the zoo, the monuments, the capitol, the museum with Dorothy’s ruby slippers. But let’s face it, the heat and huge crowds keep …

If you’re planning to visit NYC on a family vacation you’ll quickly learn that Midtown East is not known for being the neighborhood that’s most cool (that’s Brooklyn), glamorous (SoHo), …

The *Blue Man Group first started banging on paint-laden drums in 1991 and it now has permanent shows in five US cities and Berlin, plus a touring version of the …

Updated February 2020 Tiny Traveler headed off on a group camping trip recently, leaving Rich and I with 48 hours of treasured grown-up time. We were overdue for a couples …

Lake Placid, NY is one of our favorite winter wonderlands. We’ve traveled there for a few winter breaks and even Christmas. As long as you pack clothes that will keep …

One of the things that brings us back to Lake Placid year after year is that the town has a lot of dining for its small size and much of …