Adventuring Beyond

Adventuring beyond through travel, food, and more.

National Parks

Top 9 Things to do with Kids in Great Smoky Mountains

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Our family’s picks for the top 9 things to do with kids in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This post contains affiliate links, we may make a small commission on purchases made through links.

Top 9 things to do with kids in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Of the national parks east of the Mississippi, Great Smoky Mountains is, well, the greatest! This beautiful park is, especially at sunset, a sea of hills that layer stunningly and distinctively. Mountains? Umm… Not in the western mind, but for the east it is a “yes!”

For families, Great Smoky Mountains should be considered solidly on the list of “top 5” national parks. It is easily accessible and has many kid-friendly programs and hikes. With Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg directly next to the park you can easily blend nature hikes and wildlife with mini golf, laser tag, wax museums, and a legitimate amusement park with a good dose of twang!

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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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7 Summer Hikes in Death Valley National Park

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Our family’s picks for summer hikes in Death Valley

7 Summer Hikes in Death Valley

We use the term “hikes” very loosely in this post, as some of these are very short walks to an overlook or don’t really have a final destination per se, as you can go as far as you want (as in the Sand Dunes, for example). Also, while we rated the difficulty, some of these would not be moderate/difficult in normal temperatures.  As with most things in Death Valley, they are made more difficult by the heat and desert conditions so be mindful of the conditions and forecasted temperatures in your planning!

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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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Kings Canyon National Park with Kids

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Our tips for visiting Kings Canyon National Park with kids.

Kings Canyon National Park with kids

We recently came back from our summer trip to some of California’s National Parks.  After one day in Sequoia National Park, we decided to visit Kings Canyon the following day.  While Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks are managed as one park, they are quite different and we found we liked Kings Canyon best.  Kings Canyon is so much less well known than Sequoia but it really does stand alone as the best kept secret in the area!Unfortunately for them, most visitors to Kings Canyon only visit the small part of the park that is home to the General Grant tree and the Grant Grove Village shopping area and Visitor Center and then call it a wrap.  What a shame!

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Our Comprehensive, Non-Hikers Guide to Sequoia National Park

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Our top picks for a non-hikers guide to Sequoia National Park. Note: We receive a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.

Non-hikers guide to Sequoia National Park

Beyond hiking in Sequoia, we enjoyed a few other sights that are worth visiting while in Sequoia.  These stops are perfect if you don’t have a lot of time in the park or are just driving through.  Beyond these quick stops, we would also recommend visiting Crescent Meadow and General Sherman tree which were quick little hikes.  You can read more about those hikes in this post. All of these stops were easy drives from our rental home in Three Rivers.

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5 Best Family Hikes in Sequoia National Park

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The best family hikes in Sequoia National Park. Note: this post contains affiliate links. We receive a small commission if you purchase through a link at no additional cost to you.

Best family hikes in Sequoia National Park

We recently got back from our summer National Parks trip to California.  We did this trip a bit differently than we normally would in that we flew to Las Vegas and rented a car rather than driving from our home in Minnesota.  This presented a whole new set of packing challenges, but that is best saved for another post.  On this trip we went to Mojave National Preserve, Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon National Park, Yosemite National Park, Mono Lake and the Eastern Sierras, and Death Valley National Park (along with a pleasant, though unplanned, stop at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge).

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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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