‘It’s good to do hard things’

My daughter, Hannah, graduated from high school in May, the culmination of the last 13 years of public school and the commencement of the next step in her life. At the beginning of last August, with her senior year and applying for colleges both looming, we began searching for scholarships. I got online and found...

Free things to do at Rocky Mountain National Park? Yes, please!

I’ve been to Rocky Mountain National Parks numerous times in my life, most recently this May, and three times in the last three years. It’s one of my absolute favorite places in the country. And I discovered something new in my planning this time. There are parts of the park that are outside the entrance...

‘I read. I travel. I become.’

Road Trip Tweet from 2012: We’re listening to “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” while driving in preparation for visiting the Holocaust Museum later this week. I think back to that tweet often when planning road trips. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum was a highlight of our trip to Washington, DC, that summer....

Roadtripping with the kids to see the castle on the hill

Castle on the hill ... No, not the Ed Sheeran song ... We’re talking about the castle on the hill near Sedalia, Missouri, which can be seen from Highway 65. Bothwell Lodge State Historic Site features a 31-room, 12,000-square-foot summer home sitting atop a 120-foot bluff and two natural caves. The “castle” was built for...

Road tripping with the kids: are you up for the adventure?

In 2005, my dad decided he wanted to take his kids and grandkids on a mega road trip surrounding a family reunion in California. Months were spent in planning where we would go, what routes we would take, places to stay and activities we would enjoy. We’d hit as many National Parks as we could,...