I've always dreamed of seeing a manatee in the wild with my kids. Last winter I finally made it happen over a long weekend spent north of Tampa. When to see Manatees in the wild near the gulf coast First off, there are only certain times when you can see Manatees in this part of Florida and that's when the ocean water gets cooler. Manatees like it on the warmer side so when the ocean gets cold, they make their way up inland streams and rivers where the temperature is just a

We were so excited when we booked our spring break trip to Washington DC, and little did we know, after making the fourteen hour road trip, we'd be arriving just in time for cherry blossom season! We arrived on the outskirts of DC around noon the second day of driving. We were DONE with the car. We couldn’t wait to get checked into our hotel…that is until we saw the sign to Mt. Vernon. “Should we go check it out kids?” “Yes, yes we should.” We decided to make the detour to ch

I've only been to Arizona on work trips (snooze) so hadn't really had the chance to explore beyond the main commercial districts until a recent trip with my family. I seriously had no idea that Arizona had so many amazing ruins! Here were a few highlights: Wupatki National Monument and Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument About ninety minutes south of the Grand Canyon, not far from Flagstaff is the Wupatki National Monument and Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. The