Cozy Digs on a Frosty Night – A Review of Burlington’s Hotel Vermont

If you follow this blog you know that our family spends quite a bit of time in Vermont. Whether we’re skiing the slopes or hiking the trails, the Green Mountain state is one of our favorite destinations. Despite frequent visits, we hadn’t managed to make it to one of Vermont’s coolest cities. Subsequently, Burlington has been at the top of my travel list for quite some time. Because of the abundance of outdoor activities in and around the area, I’d {Read More}

7 Steps to Planning the Perfect Family Road Trip

Summer’s just about here and that means that it’s road trip season!  A family road trip is one of our country’s greatest traditions and though not without its challenges, it can be a super way to reconnect with one another.  Here is Kids Unplugged’s guide to planning a successful family road trip.  Enjoy! 1.  Plot it out Gone are the days of simply winging it on a road trip. With kids in tow, planning your route in advance, including your {Read More}

Unplugged in the Smokies – 3 Days of Smoky Mountain Adventures

At over a half-million acres, the Great Smoky Mountain National Park offers families a cornucopia of opportunities to explore wilderness unspoiled. One of just 22 sites in the U.S. to have been placed on the distinguished UNESCO World Heritage List, the National Parks Service (NPS) recently spotlighted GSMNP in a their new, online itinerary. Travelers can hike to a secluded waterfall, investigate preserved historical structures, observe thousands of species of wildlife (including the elusive synchronous fireflies each spring), join a {Read More}

Baseball and Beyond – A Weekend in Cooperstown, New York

Along many miles of two-lane roads through north-central New York, abandoned farmhouses languish with broken windows and sagging clapboard siding that has weathered to a deep gray.  Each one is its own version of Dorothy Gale’s house after the twister dropped it down on Munchkinland, yet the surrounding rural upstate-New York area has none of Oz’s Technicolor glitz. My girls and I were headed north for a weekend in Cooperstown, and as we traveled through the country beneath an overcast {Read More}

5 Reasons the Resort at Longboat Key Club is Ideal for Families

Our family, especially my dad, has always loved Sarasota, Florida.  In 1973, long before St. Armand’s key became a hub of sophistication and the county became the mecca of art and culture it is today, my Great Aunt Ann and Uncle Eddie relocated there from Connecticut with their four sons.  Their move gave the lot of us a built-in vacation destination and their home, just a short walk from the now-chic St. Armand’s Circle and beautiful Lido Beach, serves as {Read More}

Kiawah Island Resort – Unplugged Luxury at its Best

The goal of Kids Unplugged is to feature the best in off-the-grid family destinations–destinations that entice us to abandon our electronic devices, keep our heads up, and truly connect with one another and the world around us.  I recently visited a spot that fits that description perfectly–and luxuriously.  The Kiawah Island Golf Resort near Charleston, South Carolina. Families for whom golf is not a defining, or even a partial factor in deciding upon a vacation spot, are probably unfamiliar with {Read More}

Beach Walk and Turtle Talk – A Morning with Camp Loggerhead at the Longboat Key Club

As with many of the beaches along the Florida coasts, the stretch of white sand at the glorious Longboat Key Club is a seasonal nesting spot for endangered loggerhead sea turtles.  It seems that we’re having a week of sea turtle education as before our arrival at Longboat Key we spent a few days at the Kiawah Island Resort in South Carolina whose 10-miles of beach was dotted with about 100 turtle nests.  Our sea turtle experience would continue on {Read More}

Traveling with my Girls – A Post for Mother’s Day

Growing up, we did not travel very much as a family.  Money was tight, our parents were divorced, and both of them were more concerned with keeping us in new shoes and getting our dinner on the table than with saving for vacations.  We took plenty of day trips to the beach in the summertime and once or twice we rented a little cottage on the Connecticut shore in East Lyme or in Cape Cod, but anything beyond that was {Read More}

Driving from New York to Florida – A Step-by-Step Itinerary

You’ve made it to this post so I guess you’re seriously considering doing this drive.  Good for you!  To help you on your way, I’ve created a step-by-step itinerary for driving the 16+ hours from the New York metro area to the Sunshine State.  With stops you are looking at close to 20-hours door-to-door, depending on your final destination in Florida.  Total distance from New York to Jacksonville is about 940 miles. I’ve broken the itinerary down into two days {Read More}

The Ultimate Road Trip Packing List

So, you’ve decided to hit the road with the family?  A road trip can be a fantastic adventure and packing the car with the right gear will help avoid blood sugar meltdowns, stave off boredom, and allow you to reach your destination as smoothly and safely as possible. Food One thing I always do before a road trip is head to the market and stock up on a couple of bags full of non-perishable snack items.  When I’ve driven to {Read More}