Category Archives: Activities And Adventures

Activities and adventures

Hiking in Australia

hiking-great-ocean-road2

I was flipping through old photos during this past week looking for photos to use to illustrate my presentation for the author event at World Wide Books and Maps in Seattle – to promote Traveling With Kids. Coming across this photo was a total surprise – a very pleasant one

We visited Australia in 2000, spending some time in Melbourne first and then taking a short road trip along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. Naturally, with a preschooler in the car, we couldn’t spend all our time driving, so we broke up the day by exploring some of the hiking trails we passed – which is where this photo was taken.

Check out more fun Photo Friday photos on DeliciousBaby.

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Flips Are Fantastic

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We took our Flip Mino for a test-drive on our recent trip to Whistler, so today for Photo Friday I’m going to showcase some video clips which we took on that trip instead of still photos – just for fun.

Setting up the Flip is incredibly easy. Literally, you take it out of the box, connect it to your PC and once charged, it just works. It’s also tiny, a truly pocket-sized device. The geek in me loves the fact that there are no memory cards or other storage media to fiddle with. This is truly a well-designed product. Taking videos is just a snap, so easy in fact, that I was able to record this short clip while snowboarding along-side CAM.

And here’s one the WanderDad took of BigB and me coming in towards the Catskinner chair on Blackcomb.

I have two small criticisms of the Flip Mino: firstly, 2x digital zoom isn’t quite enough for filming your children tearing down mountains. They become indistinguishable dots on the horizon very quickly. The range of the zoom is only about 30 feet which is OK, but not great. Secondly, within moments of downloading my video clips to my PC, I found myself hunting around online for video editing software. The application supplied with the Flip is very good at helping a novice user navigate through downloading and copying videos from the device to the PC, but does very little else.

Wander on over to DeliciousBaby for some more Photo Friday fun. And if you’re so inclined, Amazon.com has a great selection of Flip camcorders.

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Surfing in San Diego

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I’m sure if you read this blog regularly, you’ll have realized that we’re an active family who enjoys getting outside and having fun. We hike, we dive, we ski and someday, I’d love for us to learn to surf, so I’m thrilled to feature a guest post from Nancy Solomon of Ciao Bambino with information on surfing in San Diego. Thanks Nancy!

surf-camp

I grew up in San Diego, but now live in Boston with my four kids. Each year, we head west for a winter and summer break. I want my kids to understand where I came from and connect with their California roots. What better way to get in the California groove than surf camp?

Unlike many tourists who tend to cluster in areas like Mission Bay near Sea World, downtown, or in Coronado (also beautiful), my favorite area in San Diego is the North County specifically, La Jolla and Del Mar. These areas highlight the ocean while embracing a casual elegance that’s hard to find. Both the easy access to outdoor activities, such as the beach and Torrey Pines State Reserve, coupled with the wide variety of local shops, restaurants, activities and of course, surf camps make this area perfect for families.

Like most, my kids are very high energy. Everyone, including my husband and me, does much better when we burn off some energy in the morning. Menehune Surf Camp was a terrific venue for this. We’d check the kids in and get them in their wetsuits- this part was always amusing! Then, my husband, younger son and I would take a great walk on the beach and come back to watch the last part of the session. The instructors are adorable and engage the kids with both surfing and fun games. The kids surfed for 3 hours and then we had the afternoons free to explore. So, not only did the combination of surfing in the morning and exploring in the afternoon work well, but now my kids have a skill very unique from most of their Massachusetts friends- great for bragging rights!

Check out my other posts about San Diego: San Diego- Top 5 Kid-friendly Excursions, and San Diego- A destination for all Seasons.

If you go to the Del Mar area, for activities try Torrey Pines State Preserve, Del Mar Fair and Race track (summer only), Sea Grove Park playground (on a lucky day, you can walk from Starbucks to the playground and push your child in the swings while watching the dolphins swim- can you tell this is my happy place?). For kid-friendly dining go to Pizza Port, Rubios, Roberto’s, Del Mar Plaza (outdoor wine bar is perfect for sunsets), Java Depot and Stratford Court Café.

If you go to the La Jolla area, for activities try The Birch Aquarium and Childrens’ Cove. For kid-friendly dining go to Pescador Fish Market, The Cottage, and The Brockton House.

Nancy Solomon is an avid traveler and writer for Ciao Bambino. She lives outside Boston and has four children 9,8,5 and 1 with whom she enjoys sharing the world.

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Two stunning family travel deals

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top-of-blackcomb

There are incredible deals on Whistler accommodation available right now! The WhistlerBlackcomb resort is offering 3rd-night-free specials and there are steep discounts to be found through online meta-search engines such as Priceline.com. However, I just booked a 3-night stay at a 1-bedroom ski-in, ski-out condo for $100/night (for comparison, the price range on Expedia for equivalent properties is $250 – $400/night). I found this deal on AlluraDirect – a website specializing in owner-direct vacation rental properties at Canadian ski resorts. Whistler, here we come – again!

old-navy-rashguard

The second family-travel-worthy deal I noticed this weekend is the low, low price on kid’s swim shirts at Old Navy. These $12 shirts carry a sun protective rating of UPF 40 – i.e. significant protection against harmful UV rays (UPF 50 fabric blocks 97.5% of UVA and UVB rays). At this price, you can pick up two or three and be sure to always have a shirt handy to keep your child sun safe. Swim shirts are so much easier than fiddling with sunscreen, and as Jamie from TravelSavvyMom pointed out recently, it’s not easy to know whether the sunscreen you’re using is safe! Pick up a swim shirt and let go of any sartorial concerns – at least your child’s skin will be protected.

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have baby will ski

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skiing-with-baby
How to take your baby skiing

Meet Jay, who runs one of the equipment rental stores in Whistler. I met Jay and his family when we stopped for lunch on Blackcomb Mt during our New Year trip to Whistler. It was difficult NOT to notice him as he threw off his ski jacket and I realized that he was carrying a baby in a Baby Bjorn. It was also obvious that he had skied with the baby in the front pack.

I’ve heard about people doing this, but I’ve never met anyone who has. Jay explained that yes, he was a pretty experienced skier. He also cautioned that the resort doesn’t sanction taking a baby skiing in a front pack. Still, to me, this is an example of how you can still do all the things you like to do – with an infant. As Jay said, “we don’t ski the same way, it takes us longer to get out on the mountain and we don’t ski the same terrain, but, for us, it was the only way we could keep skiing.”

And the baby? Five months old, happy as a clam strapped to his Dad’s chest with a healthy glow from all that fresh air.

Wander on over to DeliciousBaby for more Photo Friday fun.

I’ve also entered the contest on HomeAway to win a week at one of their fantastic selection of vacation rental properties. Check out my contest entry here, and if you like it, I appreciate your vote. Thanks!

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Whistler Trip Report Jan 2009

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CIMG0650

We hadn’t actually planned to go to Whistler for New Year, but the whacky pre-Christmas weather in Seattle meant that by January 30th we had spent most of the previous 10 days rattling around the house and everyone was suffering from cabin fever. WanderDad heroically took the boys sledding and we went for some walks in our neighborhood, but the weather was truly conspiring against even these feeble attempts at exercise. The precipitation seemed to be switching randomly between snow, sleet and rain causing us to get sopping wet on each expedition.

Just for kicks, late on January 30th, we had a look at deals and specials on the WhistlerBlackcomb website. Surprisingly, even with the recent economic woes, there didn’t seem to be any significant reducations available for accommodation (our biggest expense on a trip to Whistler). Interesting, but suspicious. I checked a few of the internet booking engines, but again, didn’t find anything which jumped out as a recession-worthy pricing. At this point, the WanderDad, his heart set on a few days of hardcore powder fun, dismissed my obvious ineptitude and took the driving seat. Going straight to Priceline.com he entered a ridiculously low bid price ($150) for a 4-star hotel room in Whistler Village – and it was accepted! For New Year’s Eve!!

It’s exciting to see how Whistler is pulling out all the stops for the 2010 Olympics, starting with the improvements to the Sea-to-Sky Highway (Hwy 99) from Vancouver. Our trip to Whistler took 4.5 hours door-to-door including 20 minutes at the U.S.-Canadian border. More passing lanes and better road surfaces on Hwy 99 are welcome improvements and definitely make the road safer to drive.

CIMG0646 Whistler Valley from the Peak2Peak Gondola

The Peak-to-Peak gondola is definitely an exciting addition to the resort. Before our trip, I was adamant that I would wait a few seasons before taking the 11minute ride between the Roundhouse Lodge (on Whistler Mt.) and the Rendevous (on Blackcomb Mt.). As we all know, when you travel with kids, you will do anything to keep them happy and so my terror of unsafe engineering, collapsing gondola towers and almost 2 miles of unsupported span was tossed aside and I marched into the super-sized gondola. We skied Whistler in the morning and Blackcomb in the afternoon and didn’t loose the hour it has taken in prior years to download from one mountain and upload to the other. I’ll just need to work on my worries before we visit again.

For various reasons, making the pre-season ski swaps and sales didn’t quite make my list this fall, so we found ourselves packing the car for our trip without any equipment for our boys. Without time to check out local retailers, we decided to rent at the resort ‘just this once’. So, here’s a quick summary of this year’s equipment rental pricing:
The resort offers rental packages which can be booked in advance with a 30% discount at Equipment Rentals. You can ignore this. The rates – with discount – are higher than rates for comparable packages at rental locations in Whistler village. We used Summit Sports paying $60 for a four-day skis/boots/poles package + a 10% discount since this outlet was in the hotel where we were staying. Affinity Sports has slightly better pricing ($50 for four-day rentals). For comparison, a weekly rental for the same package costs $30 at the Joe’s Sports store in Seattle. (Guess where I’ll be this coming weekend.)

When you ski with kids, it takes longer than you think it should to get out in the morning; they need take an unbelievable number of food and potty breaks; and if it’s too windy, too cold or just too something, you may end up coming down the mountain early. But on a good day, it’s so worth it. We committed to learning how to ski and teaching our children to ski ten years ago when we first visited Whistler – inspired by the many multi-generational family groups we saw out on the mountain together. Our investment is finally paying off. On this trip, we were definitely playing catch-up to our kids.

If you’re visiting the Whistler area soon, here’s our choices for ‘run of the day’ (chosen by BigB and CAM):
Day 1: Whistler Mt. Roundhouse to Creekside: Pony Trail to Franz’s – a long, long run to get your ski legs going.
Day 2: Blackcomb Mt: Wishbone to Zig Zag – fun, fun, fun. Some wide sweeping sections, some narrow steeps and a long curve around to the Excelerator chair.
Day 3: Blackcomb Mt: Dragon Alley (Kid’s Terrain Garden) to Connector. This is what makes Whistler such fun for families: kid-sized gladed tree runs – groomed, no less. Dragon Alley and it’s pair run Black Forest both let out onto Connector for a lazy swoop down to the Solar Coaster Express.

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Happy New Year 2009 from Whistler

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Happy New Year, Wandermom readers!

For this Photo Friday post, I’m sharing photos taken just today at Whistler, B.C. Enjoy!

CAM and BigB with maps of the mountain, planning the day’s activities – while Mom and Dad waited in line to pick up our EDGE Cards. Available to residents of Washington State and Canada, get excellent discounts on lift tickets and shopping uses these passes.

on-the-gondola
CAM and BigB on the Whistler Village gondola, smiles all around!

WanderMom and her boys on Blackcomb after traversing from Whistler to Blackcomb on the newly-opened Peak-to-Peak gondola (that’s the red, over-sized gondola car just at the top right of the photo).

I’m a little tickled as I show these snow-laden photos since Debbie’s own Photo Friday post today is all about warm weather. Two Seattlites, both moms, two totally different holiday trips. I’m also looking forward to see what travel and/or holiday photos other Photo Friday regulars share for this first weekly round-up of 2009.

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planning family ski trips

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CAM and BigB at Snoqualmie

It’s just about that time of year when, in my household, we start thinking of winter sports. It’s hard not to, we get mail or email almost daily from one of the many ski resorts in Washington or British Columbia enticing us to buy season passes or to book a ski trip early this year. Ha! Not in this economy. But since we’ve skied for the past ten years with our kids (you have to do something to get them outside in the wet and miserable Pacific Northwest winters) I have some tips on planning a ski trip with kids which hopefully, you’ll find useful.

If you are planning a ski trip, the first step is obviously to choose where you want to ski. Start by choosing a region: e.g. the Rockies; the Northeast; British Columbia. Once you have made that choice, you will probably find that there are multiple resorts in that area. The Lake Tahoe area in California is an extreme example of this: there are 15 different ski resorts around Lake Tahoe. When we visited this area in 2004, we skied at three different resorts during the five-day trip and even the kids enjoyed comparing the resorts.

BigB, three years old, first time on skis – again at Snoqualmie – taking lessons with Powder Pigs, a local ski school.

Childcare Facilities
A must for any family with infants and toddler. Not all resorts have childcare facilities for infants. Even where such facilities are available, advance reservations are usually required since the number of available places is limited. Additionally, the location of these facilities is also important: the best option is that the childcare is on the ski hill for ease of access for you in case of emergency.

Ski Schools
Most resorts have some form of ski school. If you are looking for lessons for children, it is important to look for a school which advertises this as Kid’s Clubs or Kid’s Programs. For younger children look for small group sizes and half-day lesson options paired with a suitable childcare program.

Choosing a resort
For ease and comfort, choose a resort where all the off-mountain facilities are clustered in a village-type location at the base of the mountain and select accommodation which has convenient access to services. Get a copy of a resort map either from the resort website or by calling guest services in advance to help with this.

Accommodation
Most ski resorts provide a variety of accommodation types: from typical hotel rooms to condos and houses. Check a resort map before you book your accommodation choices. For example, if you know you’re going to use the childcare facilities and they are located down the mountain from your ski-in-ski-out condo, you will find yourself trudging uphill every evening most likely carrying your child and his or her equipment.

Pricing
Skiing is expensive. You can pay up to $90 for a daily lift ticket at some of the major U.S. resorts. Ticket prices will vary across resorts within a region and over time during a ski season, based on holidays and school closures. Christmas is more expensive than any other time during the season for lift tickets and accommodation. Equipment rental prices do not usually change within a season.

Additional Activities
Cross-country skiing, snow tubing, snowmobiling, sleigh rides, snowshoeing. These are all winter activities which may be fun if you want to take a break from downhill skiing or snowboarding.

Equipment rental
Renting ski equipment at resorts is usually more expensive than off-mountain. To save money, look for a retailer in your neighborhood from whom you can rent equipment more cheaply than at your resort. However, if you are flying to your ski resort, keep in mind that your airline may levy additional costs for odd-size baggage. If your kids are new to skiing, equipment rental may make sense while they adjust to the new activity.

CAM, my independent skier.

There are no ski resorts in Ireland and skiing was a tremendously exotic sport to me until I first tried it. And then I fell down – a lot. We are lucky to live in an area where day-trips to ski are possible and this has meant that it is more affordable for us to get our kids out on the mountain during the winter. Now I’m hooked. I will watch the weather reports for about six different resorts from now through the end of the ski season. My many years of driving to a local ski hill weekend after weekend in snow, sleet and rain are starting to pay off: last season we skied as a family (i.e. we didn’t have to enroll the kids in ski school) and the boys even took some runs on their own.

Do you have a favorite family ski resort? What are the features or facilities which make it better than others? Do you have a tip for planning a family ski vacation to add to the list above?
Leave a comment with your recommendations and suggestions.

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when the wind blows

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Cyprus is a strange place with a fascinating history. Since before the Middle Ages it’s been at the crossroads of Christian and Muslim societies. Even today, an international border bisects this tiny island into the (Greek) Republic of Cyprus in the south and the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus. The south of the country has been a package tourist destination for decades and shows the scars of rampant tourism-fueled development along the coastline. The Troodos Mountains make up most of the beautiful and unspoiled center of the country.

CIA Cyprus map

I loved the northern part of Cyprus which has escaped much of the over-development of the south. We were able to wander in small towns and take the boys hiking in the hills above Latchi (west of Polis on the map above) on the Aphrodite Trail.

CAM in the hills above Aphrodite’s Grotto, Cyprus

We didn’t particularly notice the wind that day, but looking at CAM’s stance in the photo above, almost exactly matching the angle of the trees, it’s easy to see why the landscape in this area is shaped by the wind blowing in off the Mediterranean Sea.

Check out more photos in the Photo Friday series at Delicious Baby.

Related posts (more travel photos):
Pig Photos
I Love Legoland
but i thought we were going to rio for mardi gras

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special times in seattle

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It’s started raining in Seattle. Not a surprise really, it’s October, and those of us who live here know that the grey we see outside our windows is probably with us from now until next April – and that’s the optimistic assessment.

A sunny day at this time of year is a special event that needs special treatment. Which is why, when the sun was shining last weekend, the WanderDad and I chose to ignore the usual weekend piles of laundry, a garden badly in need of weeding, and the myriad other household tasks. We piled the kids into the car, and headed for the mountains east of the city to hike.

Reality check moment: we didn’t actually ignore those things, I did. I don’t think anyone else in my household even notices they’re there

Mount Si

Mount Si is one of the most well-known hiking spots in this area. It’s a challenging hike for an adult, with a 3700 feet elevation gain and stunning views at the top. My kids are not quite ready for Mount Si, so we chose the smaller, and more family-friendly, Little Si. At 1,567 feet, with a 1200 feet elevation gain and a five mile round trip, this no walk in the park, but it’s a great hike for kids six-ish and over.

Amazon.com: Best Hikes with Kids in Western Washington and the Cascades.

We’ve used Joan Burton’s book to help choose hikes with our children for many years. Our copies of the books are dog-eared and worn from use. All hikes in the book are rated by ‘kid difficulty’ which is extremely useful. Burton explains her rating system in the preface and uses a handy icon to represent difficulty in the description of each hike. I have found that this one feature has meant that I refer to this book more often than any other hiking and Northwest guidebook when I plan a day trip in this area with my kids.

CAM and BigB at the top of Little Si

So, a tip from a local: if you’re visiting Seattle and you’re done with the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, and your kids are a little too old for the Children’s Museum or the Pacific Science Center, think about taking a hike. Drive east on the I-90 into the foothills of the Cascades and enjoy the clean, fresh air of the old-growth forest around you. Trust me, you’ll soon see why we locals rave about living here.