On our second Universal day, we went to Universal Studios Florida. Similar to Islands of Adventure, the park is situated around a lake, making navigation fairly easy. Some of the areas do extend further back from the lake, opening up a little opportunity to get turned around in the streets of New York and Minion Land, but overall it is still really well laid out. We decided to head counter-clockwise in this park, but this time it was not a ride calling our names but a character. As we peered down the streets of Hollywood, we spotted none other than …

We spent our first of two Universal days at Islands of Adventure. The park has 6 main lands – Marvel Super Hero Island, Toon Lagoon, Skull Island, Jurassic Park, Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Hogsmeade), and Seuss Landing. I loved the layout of the park, as everything was oriented in a circle around a lake. I don’t like when parks are sprawling with multiple offshoots because you can easily get lost in the different paths or miss an entire section of the park. With a circular layout, you really just needed to decide which direction to head in and go …

Part of the huge appeal of the Moab area for us was the opportunity for adventure. While our boys enjoy hiking (and especially did in the national parks around Moab!), they are teens and definitely up for more daring experiences as well. Canyoneering was at the top of their list. Canyoneering is a form of rappelling that specifically involves descents through (you guess it!) canyons. Rappelling involves using ropes and your own body weight to lower yourself down a rock face. None of us had any experience rappelling so we had to find a tour suitable for beginners. I did …

A few years ago, one of my best friends went to Moab with her family and posted a video of them doing an off-road jeep tour. It looked so crazy and fun, I immediately knew that if we ever went to Moab, we had to do that tour. So when we decided on a Utah spring break, I couldn’t wait to start researching jeep tours. There are a few different off-road options – UTV, you-drive jeeps, ride-along jeeps. Having seen the terrain, I knew right away that any you-drive option was not for us. So we focused on the ride-along …

Moab is lucky enough to be centrally located to two National Parks. Arches is in Moab itself and Canyonlands is a short drive away. Canyonlands is the largest national park in Utah and is divided by the Green and Colorado Rivers into three districts – Island in the Sky, The Needles, and The Maze. Covering such an expansive area, large sections of the park are remote and accessible only by 4 wheel drive (or not at all by vehicle). The Maze is the most remote and therefore least visited of the three districts. Its rugged wilderness is attractive to experienced …

Featuring over 2,000 stone arches, the aptly named Arches National Park was one of the highlights of our trip. A geological marvel formed over the course of 65 million years, the park’s sandstone formations must have an opening at least 3 feet wide to be considered an arch. This means that erosion can cause a formation to earn its official “arch” designation at any time, or that erosion can cause an arch to collapse, losing its designation. In order to restrict the number of visitors and help alleviate overcrowding, Arches requires a time entry reservation between April and October. Reservations …

My initial plan for the drive between Park City and Moab was a stop at Goblin Valley State Park and Little Wild Horse Canyon, mostly because they fulfilled two of my Utah bucket list items – hoodoos and slot canyons. But as our transfer day approached and I really got into the details of planning the stop, I realized that it was too aggressive for our timeframe. Although it was roughly along the way, it would have added an extra 100 miles and an hour and 45 minutes of driving to the trip. Since I knew we wanted to get …

When we realized that our spring break fell early this year, we decided it was the perfect opportunity to head out west to ski again. We went to Keystone in Colorado for President’s Day two years ago and were excited to try some spring skiing this time. I was excited to ski but didn’t want to spend a full week skiing (too many days for me and too expensive) so we looked for locations with other activities nearby. Utah seemed like the perfect place because we could combine it was a trip to Moab and some of the national parks. …

After spending our first day in Clearwater Beach exploring the beaches and towns, we decided to spend our second day out in nature at Honeymoon Island State Park. A barrier island featuring 4 miles of beaches and a beautiful pine forest with a 2.5 mile nature trail, the park offers ample opportunity for hiking and wildlife spotting. We took an Uber to the park and paid the $8 per vehicle entrance fee before being dropped off at the Rotary Centennial Nature Center. After wandering through the exhibits, we grabbed a map and asked a park ranger for directions to the …

With limited time in Clearwater Beach, we didn’t plan any major activities. We just wanted to relax, spend time together and explore the area a little bit. What better way to explore than on the Jolley Trolley? The Jolley Trolley popped up in a lot of the research we did before the trip and then the concierge at our hotel highly recommended it. The trolley offers a North Beach Route and a South Beach Route, both of which stay local to Clearwater Beach, as well as a Coastal Route, which crosses the causeway, stopping in Dunedin on the way to …