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Category: Adventure

Iceland? More like Rainland am I right folks!

Iceland? More like Rainland am I right folks!

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After recovering from one of the more miserable travel experiences I’ve had, Ariel, Jacob and I wasted little time hitting the road on days 2 and 3 of our Iceland adventure. For the first time since our trip to Alaska (which perhaps not-so-coincidentally was the last time we were going away in advance of a baby), Ariel and I have been immersing ourselves in just totally epic landscapes all day every day. Sure Hawaii was beautiful and incredible, but this…

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Walking along the Reykjavik Rainbow Road
We Made It To Iceland

We Made It To Iceland

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You’ll notice the title does not include the exclamation point I would normally include… Let’s just get right to it – we’re really excited and happy to be here, but man getting here was a classic “not a pony ride in May-sunshine” experience. Our saga started sitting in above-average Belt Parkway traffic on the way to JFK. After getting through security, which for some reason closed the TSA Pre check-in line at 7:30 pm (is this a thing at JFK???),…

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Find Your Own Rivendell

Find Your Own Rivendell

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When traveling, especially on a long journey, finding an inviting, comfortable, and safe place to get some rest is critical. During the pandemic, when we weren’t traveling as much, it was still important to search for places of refuge from the mundanity and quiet but omnipresent low level anxiety of virus-driven daily life. Regardless of the circumstance, finding an oasis of peace and rest amongst the chaos can go a long way towards restoring both mental and physical stamina. In…

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On Being Home 2: Covid Edition

On Being Home 2: Covid Edition

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Well it’s been just about a month since we got home from our epic family adventure to Hawaii. Even though it’s been a while since I stood on the side of the Piilani Highway, feeling like we had reached a new pinnacle in our adventuring career, I’m sitting here at my office staring out at the steady thrum of cars and trucks motoring along the New Jersey Turnpike, with a strange feeling of unreality. In a lot of ways, it…

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Making Our Way Around Maui With A 4 Year Old: Baby Beach, Dragon’s Teeth, A Luau, And A Maui Road You Should Actually Stay Away From

Making Our Way Around Maui With A 4 Year Old: Baby Beach, Dragon’s Teeth, A Luau, And A Maui Road You Should Actually Stay Away From

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So after a week of exploring Maui with our son and my dad, I thought I would summarize what we did, because a lot of it isn’t really what families with young children do when they go to Hawaii. In fact, few families even go to Maui, as it’s generally seen as a honeymoon/romantic type of destination. But we actually found there was a ton of stuff to do, even with a 4 year old! We stayed Lahaina, near the…

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A father and son at Haleakala
Haleakala National Park In Maui With A 4 Year Old: A Review

Haleakala National Park In Maui With A 4 Year Old: A Review

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One of the things I was most looking forward to during our Hawaii trip was taking a drive up to the top of Haleakala National Park. I was excited to visit one of the most remote national parks in the entire system, and the pictures I had seen made it look like a far easier version of our somewhat ill-fated attempt to “simply walk into Mordor” aka the Tongariro Alpine crossing. The Red Crater really does look a lot like…

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A view from the driver's side window of the Piilani Highway
Should You Drive The Piilani Highway aka The “Forbidden Road” After The Road To Hana?

Should You Drive The Piilani Highway aka The “Forbidden Road” After The Road To Hana?

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This is Part 2 of a series on The Road to Hana and the “Forbidden Road” aka the Piilani Highway aka “the back road” to Haleakala. If you’d like to read about our experiences heading towards Hana, check out Part 1 by clicking here. The Piilani Highway has a legendarily bad reputation due to a sometimes literally lethal combination of really rough road patches, blind turns (some with cliff walls on one side and cliff drops into the Pacific ocean…

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The Pools of 'Ohe'o
The Road to Hana and the Piilani Highway (aka the “Forbidden” Road)

The Road to Hana and the Piilani Highway (aka the “Forbidden” Road)

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So I wrote this right after we got back from a rather epic driving day. After leaving the house at 8 am in the morning heading east via the Hana Highway, we staggered back at about 7 pm after heading west on the Piilani Highway. In short, the trip was incredible. But you already knew that, right? The Road to Hana is one of the best-known drives in the entire world. Nicknamed “the Divorce Highway” because of all the supposed…

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Exploring Oahu With A 4 Year Old: The Polynesian Cultural Center, Lanai Lookout, Kailua Beach, And A Diamondhead Fail

Exploring Oahu With A 4 Year Old: The Polynesian Cultural Center, Lanai Lookout, Kailua Beach, And A Diamondhead Fail

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The second half of our Oahu adventure (aside from LOST film site searches, which I already talked about), included our very first Hawaiian luau, and an exploration of the east coast of Oahu. For our luau experience, we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie. This effectively completed our Oahu island circuit, as we had previously been in this town during our trip to the sea turtle beach earlier in the week. The Polynesian Cultural Center is far more…

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Crystal Cave in Bermuda lit up
Bermuda: Take Two

Bermuda: Take Two

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Last time we were in Bermuda, it was just the two of us and I lamented the fact that we really didn’t get a whole lot of time to just relax. There was just so much to see and do, that we felt compelled to do it all. And I thought we DID do it all. Well it turns out that we really didn’t! First of all we missed out on the largest fort on the island, when we arrived…

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