In our household summer is waving a frenzied goodbye and fall is just around the corner. Everyone seems to have received the memo except the weather… It is still hot around here! But school is starting. Fall football teams are packing the otherwise abandoned pristine green fields and the sounds of neighborhood kids playing late…

From Lake Tahoe we jumped down I-80 towards San Francisco and stayed just north of Bodega Bay. THE DRIVE WAS BEAUTIFUL! But when we arrived we were all a little shocked by how cold it was. Man, what a temperature difference! Doran Park Cost:$30-$32/ night. Day use fee of $7 per car if you aren’t…

To say we were ecstatic to hit the road might be an understatement And with the Hang Ten Paddle board, a host of bikes, and our running shoes all stowed [not so] neatly in the back – we were ready for adventure. We are new to the stand-up paddle boarding [SUP] world. You can ready…

It took five days. FIVE days to get my”chill” on. For good or bad, I would define my family as weekend warriors. What is a weekend warrior? Well, as a family we don’t want to squander or miss a moment of time we can be playing. Our weekends keep us recharged for the sometimes long…

As I type this, my kids are urgently digging for treasures in the sand around camp. Sea lions are ‘barking’ off a nearby island. Life is good. The blog has been quiet for awhile and will continue to be for the next few weeks as we wind our way up the coast. If you’d like…

I do some “risky” things. Climbing. Backpacking. Some might even say skiing. But not that risky. I am that person who sits down after a fun multi-pitch 5.7/5.8 trad climb (for you non-climbers, 5.7 is easy) to read Climbing Magazine or Backpacker Magazine. I like absorbing other people treacherous tales and the lessons they’ve learned…

Today, I want to introduce you to Dave from 14ers4kids. In case you don’t know, a 14ers is commonly know amongst mountaineers as a peak topping out at 14,000 feet above sea level. And Dave’s story inspired me because he took something he loves, summiting mountains, and is using it to help orphaned children. Last…

Campfire roasting logs? If you in our same line of thinking a real fire has real wood. But Chris and I have a funny history with Duraflame and their distant cousin the Fireside Supreme. Long before we were dating, even before we were friends we ended up on the same ill-fated backpacking trip. After realizing…

I cannot say this was my first time on a Stand Up Paddle board (SUP)…. but it was a first for my family. See I grew up windsurfing every weekend and windy day for most my youth and on non-windy days we just took the board out with a paddle. We didn’t have a name for it….

As a family, we’ve tried out a ton of different sleeping bags over the years. And for the vast amount of families, you cannot go wrong. Well…too wrong. Most sleeping bags on the market will keep your kids warm in moderate to warm temperatures. But there are significant differences that can affect a good night’s…

Duration: A total of 5 nights and 7 days on the trail so far. Location: Testing in the Wasatch and Uinta Ranges Best Uses: Backpacking, Multi-day trips for those looking to go “light weight” or even climbing day trips where a larger pack would be needed. Yays! Size is great. I could easily fit a…

After an inspiring all-women’s backpacking trip in Colorado last year, I was motivated to plan my first trip out here in Utah. After much debating on location, I settled on The Notch Trail, High Uintas because it was super scenic and pretty tame in terms of trail difficulty. We had a few “first -timers” and…

With the Fourth of July staring us in the face, I figured I would share some of our favorite camping items for family fun! These range in price and size but have each added tremendous value to our camping trips. 1. BugLit This little LED “buggy” looking light is my newest favorite piece of gear…for…

The emergence of the barefoot movement has been met with a lot of hesitance from people like…well, me. I am straight up old-fashioned. And have had years honed in athletics with the gooshy-supportive-shoe stuff thrown at me. Then last year, as I spent more and more time rock climbing (ie. minimal shoe) and doing yoga, I noticed…

I promise I’ll never give you fake. Consider it a personal goal I have never to be fake. But sometimes it happens on accident, doesn’t it? Especially with bloggers. See, everything is going along fine and then wham! You get hit by something. And if you are like me, that something takes me out of…

I read a great article by my fellow blogger, Cragmama, about the benefits of letting your kids go barefoot indoors and out. I’ve heard the stats before, benefits that include: Promoting natural development Increased body awareness relative to its space Increased strength and agility in the feet, ankles and legs. I love the lifestyle bare feet…

Gosh, when looking for a tent, where do you start?! Honestly, when we first had kids I wished we had started here. I never really considered Kelty as my brand of choice when tent shopping but I have been more than pleasantly surprised! We sort of figured we only use it backpacking when the kids…

Every once and awhile I have some romantic, glorious idea…albeit ambitious. And last winter, when the snow swirled deep, I was dreaming of sunshine and wild flowers and high mountain lakes. I got it in my head to try taking my kid’s backpacking…not a long distance, but far enough to feel like we were getting…

I really don’t have any idea how to approach this post. Every person requires a different amount of food. Quantity also depends greatly on age of kids and gender! So what I am going to do is add in a bunch of qualifiers. First, we went with another family of four and there was much…

This last week we embarked on our first backpacking trip as a family, and our first trip into Willow Heights Lake in the Wasatch. Really it could not have been more perfect and our trip report is coming soon. But for now I wanted to share a glimpse into our time on the trails through…