11 Travelers Share About Their Favorite Summer Adventure

I invited travelers to share their favorite adventures from the summer. I love getting new ideas and tips when I talk to other travelers.

I also get lots of new ideas for travel destinations and adventures that I want to add to my list for the future. I think that you will find many adventures that you will want to add to your list after you read their stories.

Hilarye Fuller from Dotting the Map’s Adventure

We took all four kids who’s ages range in 6,4,3, and 0 on a cross-country trip from Tennessee to Canada and lived to tell the tale!

We had so much fun stopping all along the midwest from historical sites to fun places like the Mall of America.

It was fun for the kids to see some of the cultural differences between Canada and get to visit a “foreign” country. The trip lasted three weeks and I’m not going to lie it was a little stressful at times but for the most part, we really enjoyed the time together as a family and seeing so much of the United States we hadn’t seen before.

You can read more about Hilarye’s adventures at Dotting the Map. 

Kirsten Maxwell from Kids Are a Trip’s Adventure

We took a road trip from Chicago to Indiana and stopped at a place called Koteewi Aerial Adventure Park in Noblesville, Indiana. After checking in and receiving our safety equipment and some instructions from the guides, we set off to explore treetop trails that were suspended anywhere from 16-60 feet in the air!

There are 5 different courses and each one is self-paced. We had to clip ourselves on and off the zip lines and taking the jump from the first platform to soar through the air was scary and exhilarating all at the same time!

What I loved about this place was that it took our kids outside without complaint. They learned problem-solving skills, teamwork, communication, and we all enjoyed every minute. We will be seeking out more adventures like this in the future!

You can read about more of Kirsten’s adventures at Kids are Trip .

Eileen Gunn from Families Go Adventure

My daughter And I visited the New York Historical Society, a museum we had never been to. We got to explore a lot of U.S. History from an NYC vantage point. And we visited a temporary exhibit about Mo Willems books, narrated by him– very fun for both of us.

You can read more about Eileen’s adventures at Families Go.

Patricia Monahan’s Adventure from Our Whole Village

Each and every family trip is unique and special, but every once in a while you hit the jackpot. Wengen and, more specifically, Beausite Park Hotel stole our hearts this summer.

The famous ski resort in the Swiss Alps is absolutely gorgeous in the summer. Our family of four enjoyed the family-friendly hikes, the picnic lunches prepared by the hotel and a visit to Jungfraujoch, the highest railway station in Europe. And every afternoon there was plenty of time to relax and enjoy the pool, followed by a delicious dinner served by the most attentive staff. We didn’t want to leave!

You can read more about Patricia’s adventures at Our Whole Village.

Kara Williams’ Adventure from The Vacation Gals

My family and I rafted the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon for 7 days in July. No technology, sleeping under the stars, meals cooked by raft guides, lots of laughs rafting the rapids = AMAZING ADVENTURE!

The scenery was extraordinary, and the side trips — namely hiking up creeks to jump in waterfalls — were so much fun.

We went with Hatch River Expeditions, which I highly recommend: Only 16 passengers on the boat, which is motor-powered, allowing us to travel the entire length of the canyon, 188 miles in a week.

You can read more about Kara’s adventures at The Vacation Gals. 

Heather Johnson’s Adventure from The Food Hussy

We went to Gatlinburg this summer and had the best time! Gatlinburg is so much fun – I love all the little businesses and fun places that you can walk to.

You can read more about Heather’s adventures at The Food Hussy. 

Dana H Freeman’s Adventure

My family went on a lot of adventures this summer. We traveled to Cape Cod, the New Jersey Shore and even to a few places in our home state of Vermont.

However, by far the best trip I took this summer was unfortunately without my children. My husband and I went on a 4-night wine tasting Windjammer Cruise in Maine! We sailed on the recently renovated Schooner Ladona that departs from the port in Rockland. With no formal itinerary in place, each day our Captain charted a course along the remote Maine coast allowing us to explore the many islands of the Penobscot Bay.

Our trip included days spent relaxing on deck, a traditional lobster bake, a shore excursion to the town of Stonington, and evening wine tastings curated by Michael Green, Gourmet Magazine’s wine consultant for over 20 years.

Vintage cruising is a truly unique experience that I would highly recommend.

You can read more about Dana’s adventure on her website. 

Becky Morales’ Adventure from Kid World Citizen

My favorite adventure began at 4am, in Aguascalientes, Peru. The kids were groggy at first, but then they realized that today was “the day” and they all piled on their sweatshirts, new alpaca hats, gloves.

After we bundled up, we grabbed a couple of rolls from the hotel and sprinted through the dark streets- all downhill!- towards the bus stop. With hundreds (thousands?) of other tourists, we boarded the buses up the mountain, through the cloud forest. It is so much spookier at night! Finally, we arrived and the crowd was electric with excitement.

After entering, there was climbing and more climbing, and my husband and I asked each other why we hadn’t brought the carrier for my 2-year-old son. The altitude was beating us up as adults, while my kids sprinted up the path, yelling at us to hurry. Finally, we made it to the top and overlooked the foggy mess.

We couldn’t see 100 yards in front of us! The guide assured us that as soon as the sun broke through the clouds, we would be rewarded. The kids were antsy, some tourists started back down the path, and we sat down to eat some crackers. All of sudden the sun began to rise over the tops of the mountains, and like magic, the mist lifted.

As if someone was blowing the fog away, Machu Picchu began to emerge from the clouds. The kids took a breath in unison and began pointing and laughing. It was perfect. We had studied that Incas the past year, and now we were going to see the engineering and stone masters’ feats en Vivo.

You can read about more of Becky’s adventures at Kid World Citizen.

Tara Schatz’s Adventure from Back Road Ramblers

I partnered with Vermont State Parks this summer to photograph and write about as many of the parks as I could reasonably visit in one short season.

I camped, hiked, canoed, and explored in 22 beautiful parks, sometimes alone, and sometimes with friends or family. It was a magical experience – 35 nights spent under the stars, and thousands of photos!

One of my favorite adventures was camping and hiking at Mt. Ascutney State Park (link below). I’ll be sharing more of our state park adventures on my blog in the coming months.

You can read more about Tara’s adventures at Back Road Ramblers.

Nicole Dean’s Adventure from Nicole on the Net

I had two adventures this summer. One to visit my grand-daughter in Latvia, which was amazing, but I’m going to tell you about another one today. My friend, Kelly McCausey, and I started a business called Beachpreneurs back in 2014 so that we could hold retreats at the beach and basically pay for our travel.

We’ve had 4 mastermind retreats at Pensacola Beach in Florida which we call the “Beach House”, and we decided to try doing a “Beach Cottage”. The new event “The Cottage” was going to be held in Myrtle Beach and we were going to have the two of us leading the mastermind, up to three attendees, and a Virtual Assistant and the plan was to get stuff done.

We ended up with one attendee and, like most things in life, that was perfect and exactly as it was meant to be.

So, we enjoyed our beach house, which had six bedrooms and it was right on the beach. We got some work done, but we also had quite a bit of fun, too. We had sushi at a place that old sold burgers and sushi. It was so good that we went three times. They even had odd sushi that was fried chicken and covered with mac and cheese. We found a great Indian restaurant and amazing Italian food, too.

But the highlights of the trip were that we went and got a VIP pedicure in a private room, just the four of us. And, we wrapped up the weekend by getting tattoos.

Yes, you read that right. Three of the four of us got tattoos. Between the sisterhood and awesome masterminding, the beach, the food, the wine, the pampering and the “interesting” souvenir on my wrist, it was a trip to remember.

You can read more about Nicole’s adventures at Nicole on the Net.

Carla Rexroth’s Adventure from Simplify Life with Mrs. R

Last weekend we took a daycation in celebration of my nephew’s girlfriend, Lil Miss C’s birthday and I bet you can guess where we went… yep Charleston, SC. I just can’t get enough of the Holy City.

It was the first time Lil Miss C has seen the historic downtown and we had a great time showing our prized Charleston off to her. We parked the car in the St. Philip’s Street Parking Garage and took the City on foot. We wanted to start the tour at the Charleston Farmer’s Market but didn’t realize it was closed for Father’s Day Weekend. Rats!

However, we were fortunate enough to catch the street performers I mentioned in my post Is Charleston SC Really a Food Mecca- Insider Advice To Be In The Know and the kids really enjoyed their performance.

I invite you to come along on my City tour of Charleston, South Carolina!

You can find out more about Carla’s adventures at Simplify Life with Mrs. R.

Thanks to everyone who contributed their story.

 

Do you have a great adventure that you want to share?

I would love to hear from you!