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 good tip to help you avoid the crowds: NYC has more than 100 museums, many of them far less crowded and just as …

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 Hunter are close to the New York City metro area, offering a much shorter drive and far less expensive family …

Hotel Review: *Nemacolin Woodlands Resort Where: Farmington, PA The Vibe: *Nemacolin Woodlands, a luxury resort located 90 minutes south of Pittsburgh, doesn’t have a single vibe. The type of vacation you have depends on where you stay—one of three hotels or on-property vacation homes—and what activities you’ve come for. On …

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 2-night itinerary was a challenge, Miami doesn’t market itself as a family destination. There are plenty of fun and unique …

All hail the Girl Scouts! Tween Traveler headed off on a two-night camping adventure with her troop trip in early June, leaving Rich and I free to take our own 36-hour kid-free vacation. This year we chose Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Barely two hours from New York City (if you’re up …

St. Augustine, Florida, is the longest continuously occupied city in the U.S. It’s often not the first place parents think of for a Florida beach vacation with kids. But with its mix of hands-on history, quirky fun and beaches, it’s an ideal something-for-everyone family destination. Here are my picks for …

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 Western Massachusetts. And it offers a bounty of things for families to do on a weekend getaway or weeklong vacation. …

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 be a destination all by itself. But Maryland has done exactly that with the *National Harbor, a great base for …

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 resort has a series of small buildings and cabins that dot a woodsy campus on the shore of a picture-perfect …

We had 24 hours in Gettysburg, which was not quite enough to see the town and its sights; 48 hours is probably perfect. But it seems a lot of people use Gettysburg as a stopover en route to places like Pittsburgh, Hershey and Lancaster (we were breaking up the drive to …

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 the zoo’s animals well hidden in summer. Kids have limited interest in monuments and with tough security in place it can …

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), or exciting (Times Square). But it is close to some several classic NYC experiences that kids, tweens and teens will …

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 show. It’s clearly as popular as it is hard to sum up and it many parents wonder, can you take …

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 vacation but couldn’t stray too far. So we headed to Dutchess County, two hours from home in the Hudson Valley. We took advantage …

We went to Williamsburg, VA to take a walk through American history. Within a few square miles, Williamsburg offers up a “historic triangle:” the first successful English colony in North America, the battlefield where we won the Revolution and the town that was Virginia’s capital until 1780. We wondered if it would …

Lake Placid 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 you warm outside and the weather remains cold and snowy, there is a lot of fun packed into this Adirondack town. We …

Read about Lake Placid activities. 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 it is very enjoyable. There is plenty of standard ski-town fare–pizza, pasta,chili, steaks and burgers–but quite a …

You might also read  10 More Things To Do in Washington DC With Kids Wow, what a great #MOMtravelchat Twitter party we had with the Smithsonian, our first ever paid sponsor. Washington DC was the topic of the evening. Local parents and travel experts chimed in with advice on taking kids to …

New York City means different things to different people. At Christmastime it often means shopping. Lots of shopping. If you happen to find yourself in NYC after Thanksgiving with a shopping list, and perhaps a tween or teen who loves to shop, here are a few stores you’ll definitely want …

I’ve always just assumed the Christmas song “Silver Bells” was written about New York City. New York is a vibrant—if somewhat crowded—place to get into the holiday spirit, which is why so many people do.  As a lifelong New Yorker there are things our family makes sure to do year after …

The Christmas season can get chaotic. There are meals to make, families to visit, gifts to buy, decorations to put up; .you know the drill. Taking a time-out from all that to visit a city full of holiday lights and sounds gives you actual quality time with your partner and your …

Hershey, Pennsylvania calls itself the “Sweetest Place on Earth.” Visiting at any time of year is a chocolate-filled, family centered experience. So you can imagine that this is a place where they really get into the holiday spirit in a big way. I’ve learned that taking my family to Hershey …

Fall is a great time of year to for quick weekend getaways. It’s cool, but not cold, places tend to be less crowded. Apples orchards, fall festivals, corn mazes and haunted happenings offer inexpensive family fun and your last shot at pleasant outdoor time before winter sends you indoors. And …

Like Mystic? Read about nearby Newport, RI with kids, too. We’ve been to Mystic with Tiny Traveler three times now. It’s an easy weekend or overnight from New York City and its New England coastal vibe — sailboats, wood frame house, clam shacks and ice cream— deeply appeals to me. …

Read about the outdoors and where to stay on the Outer Banks. We came to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for the beach, no doubt about it. But every beach vacation has its rainy day— or that point where our blond, blue-eyed family has had way too much sun and …

Baltimore is a small city with a lot of great food packed into it. Its Southern leanings show up in desserts like the multilayered Smith Island cake. There are also the varying flavor accents of the many ethnic groups that have called the city home. And of course there are all …

After a relaxing week at the beach in South Jersey I’m feeling very chilled out. We often “vacation” by returning home to Europe. It’s a flurry of jet lag, suitcases, visiting family and staying in lots of improvised guest rooms. We needed a real break, an easy journey from home, …

It seems that sitting on a tour bus and having an informed guide point out a city’s sites is no longer enough for the average tourist. Nowadays bus tours must have a theme – some might say a shtick – not to mention a really cool bus.   The tour must …

I was carrying a very tired four-year old who wasn’t ready to leave Philadelphia’s Please Touch museum even after a full rainy day there. She clutched my neck, leaned up and whispered urgently in my ear, “Mommy! Can we come back to Philadelphia again one day?” The City of Brotherly …

On previous, childfree trips to Newport, Rhode Island, we grooved in the hot sun at the famous Folk Festival, kayaked Narragansett Bay, slurped raw clams and drank a lot of beer. These activities weren’t likely to go over well with Tiny Traveler, age 4.5, so I wondered what we would …