South Mountains State Park

For my recent birthday, I told my family that I wanted to go hiking together.  Charlotte, situated in the Piedmont area of North Carolina, is conveniently located less than 90 miles from the Appalachian Mountains.  There are abundant hiking opportunities within an hour or two of Charlotte – from trails at the Whitewater Center to Crowders Mountain in Gaston County to endless hikes in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  I expected us to pop over to one of the old standbys, but my husband surprised me by conferring with some coworkers who are avid hikers and planning a visit to South …

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Zootastic Park

While Charlotte lacks a major, accredited zoo, there is no shortage of privately owned and operated zoos / wildlife parks in the Charlotte area.  We’ve been to Lazy 5 (multiple times), Zootastic Park, and Tiger World and enjoyed them all.  When JB turned 9, we decided to celebrate with a unique experience instead of with a party.  I know a few people who have done one of the Animal Encounters at Zootastic and raved about it.  It sounded perfect for our animal lover. I will admit to having mixed feelings about private wildlife attractions.  In most cases, the owners started …

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Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge

We always head to NJ the day after Christmas to have our family holiday celebration at my parents’ house.  Since we usually spend a few days, we try to find some sort of day trip to get the kids out of the house at some point.  This year since weather was relatively mild, we were able to go on an outdoor adventure.  Outdoor (non-snow) winter activities are tough to find in the NJ area but I had seen pictures online of the Great Swamp and thought it might be worth exploring. Some 11,000 years ago, Great Lake Passaic was formed …

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Grandfather Mountain

Part state park and part non-profit tourist attraction, Grandfather Mountain is the highest peak on the eastern face of the Blue Ridge Mountain range.  Its rocky summit has an elevation of 5,946 feet.  On a clear day, you can see Charlotte 90 miles off in the distance. Until 2008, Grandfather Mountain was privately owned and its tourist attractions were operated for profit.  In 2008, the state purchased the undeveloped part of the mountain and turned it into a state park.  Ownership of the developed portion was transferred to a newly created non-profit.  Today, the back country trails are part of …

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Bushkill Falls

When I stumbled across Lakota Wolf Preserve as an interesting outing for my animal-loving kids, I wanted to find another activity in the area to make the 2+ hour trip from my parents’ house worthwhile.  There isn’t much else nearby in NJ but just across the border in Pennsylvania are the Pocono Mountains.  Some quick research on Trip Advisor and I zeroed in on Bushkill Falls as a great option. Bushkill Falls calls itself “The Niagara of Pennsylvania”.  While that may be a bit of a stretch, it is home to a series of 8 scenic waterfalls, including a beautiful …

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Lakota Wolf Preserve

Located in Columbia, NJ, the Lakota Wolf Preserve is home to some two dozens animals, including wolves, bobcats, and foxes.  Part wildlife sanctuary, part education center, the preserve offers tours twice a day at 10:30 and 4:00.  Reservations are required for weekday tours but not weekend tours.  The reservation process seemed a bit antiquated and overly complicated, but after a few back and forth phone calls we were able to reserve a morning tour on a Friday. Located on the property of the Camp Taylor Campground, the preserve sits on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  Centuries ago, wolves …

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Allaire Village

Located in Farmingdale NJ, Allaire Village is a living history museum representing life in the early 19th century industrial community known as Howell Works.  One of several businesses owned by James P. Allaire, Howell Works produced pig iron which was shipped to NY for use in the production of steamship engines and boilers.  A self-sustaining village was built to support the business and its 400 workers and residents.  Thirteen of the original buildings still stand today and are open to the public.  Through education and reenactment, the Historic Village at Allaire portrays life in Industrial America. The Visitor Center is …

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SeaStreak Ferry

On all of our previous visits to NYC from Central NJ, we have taken the train.  NJ Transit is easy and affordable.  It is also incredible boring.  It functions primarily as a commuter train system and therefore caters to commuters more than families or vacationers.  Even when my kids were train-loving pre-schoolers, they didn’t enjoy the long and boring ride.  The trip from Red Bank to New York Penn Station (not to be confused with Newark Penn Station, which is the stop right before and sounds pretty much the same on garbled train announcements), takes almost an hour and a …

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Both my boys read and loved the book From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, a story of two siblings who run away from home to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  So when we started talking about which museum to visit in New York City, the decision was quick and unanimous.  They both wanted to go to the Met and were excited to see if they could recognize different rooms and works of art from the book.  It’s rare that the boys agree on something like this (and indeed, my oldest briefly changed his choice …

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Spyscape

Spyscape did not make our list of “things to do with kids in NYC”.  In fact, we had never even heard of it.  But when we exited the Newark Airport, my 10 year old spotted a huge billboard for it.  Immediately the badgering began.  “What’s Spyscape?  It sounds cool.  Can we go there?  Can I look up Spyscape on your phone?  Can we go tomorrow?”  And so it continued until we determined what it was, that it was indeed cool, and that we probably couldn’t go tomorrow but would try to fit it in on Sunday.  (Remember my earlier comment …

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