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Journeys and Jaunts

Family Travel, Solo Female Adventure Travel, Tips and Tricks for Traveling with your Dog

Massachusetts

Day-tripping to Rockport, MA with Kids

Location: Rockport, Massachusetts

Motif #1, Rockport Harbor

Rockport is a quaint coastal village north of Boston. It’s a beautiful area to walk around no matter what season it is. We bundled the kids up and took them for a chilly outing. Here are the best things to see and do in Rockport for a day. 1. Halibut Point State Park Stop at this abandoned ... Read More

The best things to do with kids in Salem, MA

Location: Salem, Massachusetts

Spooky tree in Burying Point Cemetery

The town of Salem is infamous for the deadliest witch hunt in our nation's history. The Salem Witch Trials took place from 1692-1693 after two young girls became ill. When the local doctor could not find anything wrong with the girls, it was blamed on witch craft. Fueled by fear and ignorance, the ... Read More

Visiting Garden in the Woods with Kids

Location: Framingham, Massachusetts

Garden in the Woods

Garden in the Woods is where my mother gets all of her inspiration for working in her backyard. She loves their mission of planting native plants so that they can in turn nurture the wildlife around them. They offer many well-known programs to teach about the importance of pollinators, wetlands and ... Read More

  • This place is pure heaven. Pink sands and turquoise blue water. The Reefs is the prefect place for a romantic getaway! #bermuda #gotobermuda #beach #vacationmode #instavacation #couplestrip #love #nofilter #thereefs #thereefsbermuda #travel #destinationbermuda
  • Towards the end of our time in Nicaragua, we decided as a group that we wanted to not only climb the dormant volcano, but also belay into the crater. We hired a local guide to help machete our way since it wasn't a well worn trail. We crossed through the cloud forest, which literally looked like the dagobah system (Star Wars fans???) We made it, but things got interesting on the way down when a storm came through. Have you ever been in the clouds during a lighting storm? Not fun. It was insane and really dangerous. There were places where we would be trapped on a cliff and say "ok, jump to that branch and swing yourself over that ravine." The torrential rain turned our trail into a mudslide and as our legs turned to jello after the hours of hiking, we would fall and just keep sliding. It was like a scene out of Romancing the Stone. At one point our guide got frustrated with us and left because the sun was going down and he said we would be camping there for the night. We made it out about 8 hours later covered with mud from head to toe. Needless to say, we were the last group of students that were ever allowed to summit the volcano. Once we realized we survived the day, we walked down the street lit only by our headlamps to Chico's house. There was no real electricity on the island and he was the only person with a refrigerator, which meant COLD beer. It never tasted so good. We were all covered in bug bites and rashes. There were lovely bugs there called chiggers that once you felt itchy, that meant that they had laid their eggs inside of your skin. The only way to kill them was to paint your skin with clear nail polish so they had no oxygen. My friend's bites were getting worse and worse even though she was lathering herself with after-bite every day. Three days in, someone looked at the bottle and let her know that it was zit cream. We were crying tears we laughed so hard. #hiking #nature #travel #mountains #adventure #landscape #outdoors #volcano #adventure #trekking #explore #wanderlust #hike #naturelovers #outdoor #instagood #beautiful #hikingadventures #forest #nicaragua #nicaraguatravel #photography #centralamerica #ometepe
  • This is the actual moment I fell in love with traveling. Sitting on the beach in Ometepe, with the sun setting behind a giant volcano. It is such an old photo, but it brings me right back. I fell in love with the local people, especially the children and even got to teach a bit of English at the elementary school. I was studying to become a primatologist and wanted to follow in Jane Goodall's footsteps. I would spend 8 hours a day hiking through the volcano in search of the troop of howlers I was observing. It was a magical time and an eye opening time. This experience put me on a new life path towards helping animals in developing countries. #animalrescue #adoptdontshop #animals #rescue #animal #love #animallovers #animallover #pet #compassion #rescueanimals #loveanimals #wildlife #animallove #animalwelfare #crueltyfree #saveanimals #happy #helpanimals #travel
  • Back in 1998, I traveled to Ometepe, Nicaragua. It was my first solo international trip. I lived at the biological field station at the base of a volcano and spent 8 hours a day hiking in search of howler monkeys. I was studying primatology and was writing a paper on their behavior. At the end of the trip, I got to accompany the vets as they darted some of them to take blood samples. Anesthesia doesn't affect a monkey’s prehensile tail, so they could be sound asleep while dangling 30 feet above us. We couldn't leave them in that situation, because they could fall at any second so we would stand beneath them for hours waiting for them to fall. When they did fall, it was really nerve racking because the canopy was so think, we had to judge where they would land. My job was to stay with the monkey until he was completely awake and back up in a tree. Someone snapped this pic of me reading Jane Goodall's book as they left. Not long after, I saw what I thought was red liquid pouring down the rock beside me. I turned my head to see a deadly coral snake just inches from my face. I think my heart stopped beating. I rolled away from it, which startled it and it went slithering away... directly into my backpack! For real- I was like "keep it!" It was getting dark and my monkey was up in the tree, so I started to head home when something hit me in the head. Then it happened again and again. They were bats dive bombing me! Needless to say, I got my ass kicked in the jungle that day. I came home with my hair in every direction, clothes disheveled, and covered in mud. Who gets robbed by a snake?! 🐍 🦇 #nicaragua #nicaraguatravel #instatravel #travelgram #travel #instagood #nica #discovernicaragua #centralamerica #nicaraguasiemprelinda #travelgood #photo #travelphoto #traveller #placestogo #instagram #nature #monkey #snake #ometepe #instaphoto #backpacking #instapic #tourism #primatology
  • If you are a LEGO-loving family, but organizing them has become a thorn in your side, check out our latest post (link in bio). I will show you how mommy keeps her sanity (at times). ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Did you know that LEGOs can't be recycled? They are made from plastic #7, so will end up in a landfill. I found a great organization that would love to take your old LEGOs off your hands! The best part is that you don't have to organize them and the sets don't even have to be complete. Just send to the address and they will take care of the rest. Your old LEGOs will be donated to children's hospitals and orphanages around the world! Good for the planet- and putting smiles on children in need= win, win!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #lego #declutter #organization #getorganized #simplify #homeorganization #organizedlife #organizingtips #home #sparkjoy #tidyingup #organizingideas #mariekondo #declutteryourlife #konmari #tidy ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #toyorganization #playroom #playroomorganization #toyorganizer #toys #kidsroom #playroomdecor #momlife #ikea #toyorganizing #labeleverything
  • My kids ticked off a bucket list item at LEGOLAND when they got to meet Emmet and then interview a real Master Builder!!! Poor girl could barely answer a question before they were asking her something else. They loved asking her how many LEGOs she has stepped on in bare feet. The pain is real, folks! They even caught a glimpse of what she was working on for the Wang Theater! Link in bio for the full story and highlight video. #LEGOLAND #LEGO #takeyourkidseverywhere #havekidswilltravel #travelmom #travelkids #familyadventure #travelwithkids #familytravel #kidstravel #wecollectmemories #exploretogether #boston
  • Is your child ready for a passport? Let me walk you through the process! Check link in bio for post with free printable. #travelbetter #iamatraveller #instavacation #traveladdicted #passportready #takeyourkidseverywhere #havekidswilltravel #travelmom #travelkids #familyadventure #travelwithkids #familytravel #kidstravel#exploretogether #travelwithtoddlers
  • The last time I flew with my kids, my little girl was THAT baby on the plane. She cried from the second we boarded the plane to the second we landed. I did everything in my power to calm her and I will never forget the anxiety I felt from seeing the horrified passengers around us. At one point, I looked up and saw two men mouth to each other "OH MY GOD!" I felt so badly and I felt even worse for my little girl who was trying so hard to self sooth. The only place she was happy was lying on the floor in the aisle, which annoyed people even more when they had to step over her to go to the bathroom. The next time you hear a child having a hard time on a plane, just know that that little one and the parent are having a much worse time than you are. Nobody wants to be in that situation, so stick in your headphones in and give them some grace. And thank you to the moms that get it and high fived me on the way out. You rock. #travelgrams #travelbetter #traveldeeper #iamatraveller #instavacation #passportready #takeyourkidseverywhere #havekidswilltravel #travelmom #travelkids #travelwithtoddlers #womensupportingwomen #internationalwomensday