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Ross Nelson

Complete Guide to 1 Day in Everglades National Park

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Provided are two options for spending 1 day in Everglades National Park – choose your own adventure. Note: we receive a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.

Complete Guide to 1 Day in Everglades National Park

Whenever I think of the Everglades the first thought I have is – alligators.  Sure enough, on our family trip to Everglades National Park we saw alligators.  Lots and lots and lots of alligators!  So many alligators, in fact, that when we were at the Oasis Visitor Center (in the adjacent Big Cypress Preserve), the woman next to us was surprised by how dismissive “Tots” was when he told me not to bother walking to the end of the boardwalk because it was just another few alligators.  That’s what seeing 100 alligators in a day will do to you…

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8 Quick Stops in Death Valley National Park

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8 Quick Stops in Death Valley National Park

Our first trip to Death Valley was in mid-June 2018, so it was hot but not as hot as it gets further into the summer.  This post contains quick stops in Death Valley National Park that would be appropriate on really hot days, if you’re just driving though, or on a day trip from Las Vegas.

I love Death Valley National Park.  It’s on the very short list of my favorite parks because of its’ diversity, minerals (bringing vivid colors of rocks), and the mysteries of the desert for a guy who calls Minnesota home.  Many see the desert as a hot, dry, windy, oppressive place that seems to be out to kill you.  And they are right!  What you can also see is a beautiful, unique, mysterious place that, when engaged safely, will be a stunning spot for your family to visit.

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Top 2 Best Family Hikes in Yosemite

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Top Family Hikes in Yosemite

Yosemite National Park is a great National Park for families as there are many beautiful sites to see that require little to no hiking as well as some amazingly beautiful longer hikes.  During our visit to Yosemite we chose to do the popular Mist Trail hike and the less popular, but still beautiful, Wapama Falls hike in the Hetch Hetchy area of Yosemite (in addition to many overlooks and short hikes).  Following is more info about our picks for the top 2 best family hikes in Yosemite National Park.

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Best things to do in Yosemite with Kids

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Our list of top quick things to do in Yosemite with kids. Note: We receive a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.

things to do in Yosemite

Yosemite is a special place.  It is scenic on a scale to match mighty parks like Zion, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, and Glacier National Parks.  It is busy to match the Grand Canyon and again, Zion.  Our first reflections on Yosemite were not great – the busyness made it a hassle and that rarely makes for a fun day for our family as we prefer quieter, more peaceful parks.  After later reflections, however, we did it well with a blend of short stops and a few longer hikes.  There are plenty of quick things to do in Yosemite with kids and this list only covers a portion of them.

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Zion National Park with Kids

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Note: We receive a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.

Zion National Park is currently the 3rd most visited National Park and for good reason, it is beautiful and fairly close to many major cities.  Here is our family’s guide to visiting Zion National Park with kids.

On our Spring Break adventure in Utah, we planned to spend one day in each of the National Parks but carved out two and a half days to spend in Zion.  Why?  Two reasons.

First, to take the pressure off of trying to cram everything into one day. Since you have to take a shuttle bus to get around, we weren’t sure how much extra time that would add. The number of visitors to Zion has ballooned from 2.8 million visitors in 2013 to 4.5 million in 2017 (whew!), so we knew the crowds may cause things to take more time as well.

Second, the park had a few hikes we for sure wanted to do and we thought it best to do them on separate days.  Add to those the opportunity to explore the city of Springdale, and we were glad we made the choice we did.  In the end, we spent about 2.5 days in the park as we decided to visit the separate Kolob Canyon section on our way back to Las Vegas. It was the perfect finale to our trip.  But, I’m getting ahead of myself!

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Bryce Canyon National Park with Kids

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Following our stay in Moab and visits to Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef National Parks we headed to Bryce Canyon. Here’s our 1-day guide to visiting Bryce Canyon National Park with kids.

When I was a kid, one of the most memorable places we visited was Bryce Canyon.  I remember hiking through the hoodoos and taking picture after picture with a film camera (most of which didn’t turn out that good).  So, on our Mighty 5 National Park adventure I knew that a full day at Bryce was going to be a highlight.

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Capitol Reef National Park with Kids

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After leaving Arches and Canyonlands in the Moab area we headed towards Capitol Reef National Park.  Following is our best tips for viewing Capitol Reef National Park with kids. 

Capitol Reef, the site of a geologic monocline (wrinkle in the earth), is a beautiful, unique, and frankly hard to visit park.  Situated in a remote part of central Utah, this park presents a public face that is very accessible even if the geologic aspects are not. 

The history of Capitol Reef is really interesting and it is a pretty unique National Park, so it was well worth the stop. We entered the park from the east and did not spend the night here but rather visited on the day we left Moab and headed towards Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks.  As a result, we got a taste of the park but would like to return and spend some time outside the main area to see more of the monocline itself.

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The Best of Canyonlands National Park with Kids

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Our tips for visiting Canyonlands National Park with kids.

Canyonlands National Park with Kids

Canyonlands has 3 distinct areas, all of which have their own entrance roads and are, well…not close to each other.  We debated seeing the Needles section, which is accessed south of Moab, but instead chose Island in the Sky.  Island in the Sky is the most visited section, and we were not disappointed.  Island in the Sky is an easy section of Canyonlands National Park with kids as far as hikes are concerned because there really aren’t that many. The hikes they do have are either fairly short or too long or steep to consider doing with kids.

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The Great Washington Road Trip – Days 1-4, Mount Rainier Road Trip Itinerary

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This will be a series of posts containing our road trip itineraries for each park we visited in Washington state – Mount Rainier, Olympic, and North Cascades National Parks.  This post contains our Mount Rainier road trip itinerary.  Don’t miss days 5-8 in Olympic here and days 9-14 in North Cascades here. This post contains affiliate links.

Washington National Parks road trip itinerary

Washington State is one of the most diverse and beautiful states for adventurers.  From waterfalls to mountains, rainforests to tide pools, cities to wilderness, you see so much variety that you are all but guaranteed to find something to love!

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Best Mount Rainier National Park Family Day Hikes

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Our family’s top picks for Mount Rainier National Park family day hikes.  For our top picks for shorter hikes, visit this post.

Mount Rainier National Park family day hikes.

While there are quite a few options for Mount Rainier National Park family day hikes, we chose two of the best on our visit. Some of the ones we were thinking of hiking still had quite a bit of snow on the trail, which is always possible even into July depending on snowfall that year. Our top choices for day hikes in Mount Rainier were the Comet Falls Trail and Mt. Fremont Lookout.

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