Off Like a Herd of Turtles: Family Travel Blog

This was my 3rd trip to Maui, the 2nd with kiddos in tow. There is something magical in the air here and the diversity of activities from water play, to hiking, to wildlife viewing is unparalleled. Here's a synopsis of our recent trip. Hope it's helpful! West Maui Overview: We once again stayed at the wonderful Honua Kai on Ka'anapali Beach (see here for 2019 Maui trip). I am very particular about which units have the best lanais and the best views and I got what I think is the 2nd best 2 bedroom in the place (the BEST is the one we had last time, but was booked for our dates). I very much enjoyed all of our adventures, but ultimately, this trip was intended to be a babymoon for our two kids (Zooey, 8 and Oliver, 4) as we eagerly await the arrival of their baby brother or sister, so I highly valued our quiet lanai time. Every morning Ollie and I waited for the sunrise and every night we all gathered to watch the sunset. The simple things are the best (though admittedly not...

  Our Matanuska hiking day was our first Big Adventure of the trip. There was only 1 tour company that I found that allowed for children Ollie's age (let alone Fynn's age haha) so after some quick vetting I booked with https://glacier-tours.com . Interestingly, you can only book via phone or text. I texted the number and after some quick back and forth had the tour booked. No confirmation number. When we arrived, they had us down for the wrong day. But it was no problem- it all worked out. That was a big theme of the trip- we had multiple minor (and even major) mishaps, but each time it all worked out. Our experience with Alaskans and the Alaskan transplants who work in the tourism industry, is that they were very kind, very flexible and very, very helpful!  This kid was a HUGE help in guiding Fynn and I over some tough terrain. Climbing over "quick mud" All I knew about this tour is that we would walk on the glacier and t...

We made it to AK!!!! The first 4 nights of our trip were at the Eklutna Lake Campground in Chugach State Park. The is the 3rd biggest state park in the country and it really is huge. We stayed in two different areas of the park and they really are quite different (will discuss Bird Creek Campground later). Interestingly, most of the land is in the municipality of Anchorage but it in no way feels like you are in a city. However the proximity makes it very easy to get to- the Eklutna Lake campground was just 45 minutes from the Anchorage airport. Happy to be in AK! We arrived to rain, but were fully expecting some amount of rain during our time, and it didn't dampen our spirits at all (see what I did there?). We also knew Adam had already set up camp so we'd be fine with some trailer time and clam tent time if the rain got bad. As we drove however, the weather improved and we ended up with a nice evening to explore our new campground home. Everyone says the weather in Alaska can ...