Category: Road trips
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The Trip to San Diego: Our First Adventure After Divorce
If you’re a dad with a young daughter, you probably haven’t thought through every detail of what happens when you go hiking — especially the bathroom logistics. I learned this the hard way. We were halfway through a beautiful hike in Anza‑Borrego Desert State Park, heading back from a small oasis tucked into the desert,…
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What We Take Up the Mountain—and What We Leave Behind
The first time we went up “the mountain,” it was early fall—just a couple of weeks after we moved into separate houses. “The mountain,” in reality, is a local ski hill (and yes, mountain is a generous term) that offers ski lift rides in the fall for leaf viewing. At the top, you get a sweeping view…
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A weekend in Ottawa (Fall Romance Edition)
If you think Ottawa is just home to stuffed-up bureaucrats and overstuffed politicians—you’re not wrong. Originally elevated by Queen Victoria from a small lumber town to the national capital, it’s not exactly the city people write love songs about. But look beneath the surface (or paperwork), and you’ll find world-class museums, quiet canals, and a…
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The Birthday Present: Experience Gifts for 9-Year-Olds in Ontario
There’s no way around this—when I turned nine, my parents had it easy. All they had to do was pay attention to what cartoon I was watching that week, and they nailed it. I’ll argue with anyone that the best present a nine-year-old boy could get in 1986 was Castle Grayskull. Looking back now, it’s…
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Road trip bathrooms – the spooky and the spectacular
Before Ray Kroc became the billionaire behind McDonald’s, he was a traveling salesman. Life on the road made him—and many of his colleagues—keenly aware of which rest stops had the cleanest bathrooms. Kroc believed so strongly in the power of clean facilities that it became a core part of McDonald’s business strategy. When you work…