My son Trey has really developed a love for fishing over the last year or two on seeing how Jimmy John Shark does. During our summer vacation to Hilton Head Island my wife searched hard for a fishing trip to take our six year old and his five year old buddy. We struggled to find a boat large enough for group of eleven and eventually found it would be easiest to just have the four guys take the boys out for this trip. Once the group was reduced down to six we quickly found Bulldog Fishing Charters and reserved their 2 hour fishing trip that was marked as great for kids ($350 for up to 6 people).

The Bulldog is 32 foot long and is captained by Christiaan Politzer, a second generation Hilton Head fishing captain for over 25 years. Christiaan’s teenage son Stratton was also on board for our trip serving as first mate. Both were extremely helpful and courteous throughout our entire trip. After cruising out for awhile we had reached our fishing destination above a pile of rocks that local legend says was formed by old sailing ships dropping their rock ballasts on their way into Savannah.

Once our anchor was in, the crew immediately threw in some lines for the boys. While doing so we were told of the history of the area and how the rock pile is full of sea bass that should given plenty of entertainment for the boys. Before the lines were even in the water for a minute they had already hooked one of these black seas bass. None that the boys caught were large enough to keep, but they still had a blast reeling them in and probably caught a dozen throughout the trip.

While that was going on they also threw in some larger rods for the adults. Though we didn’t see any sharks on this short trip, we did reel in 2 cobia and thought we might have had a shark or sting ray on but it broke the line after a good fight from my dad. We had an amazing trip on the Bulldog and would not hesitate to go on another trip with Captain Christiaan in the future.

On our way back from Hilton Head, my family I and stopped for the night in Asheville, NC and the next morning visited the nearby town of Hot Springs. I had booked us on a calm water rafting trip with French Broad Rafting.

Given that my wife and I had both rafted a handful of times in the past, I booked the unguided 4 mile trip through class I-II rapids. The minimum age limit for this trip is 4 years old, so our little one just barely qualified.

After checking in at Hot Springs, we grabbed our gear and headed immediately for the water. There was another group that was going with a guide at the same time we were, so we let them go ahead and tried to follow them. But with only two paddlers we soon lost sight of them. Fortunately they have given us some verbal directions on which way was easiest to navigate throughout our three-hour float. Once our trip was over the staff was waiting with a van to drive us back to our car and where we started.

Our entire family loved the trip and wanted to go again right away. We will definitely be back.

Back at the end of last year, Kim and I finally visited our 50th state of Oregon. We met our friends Doni & Phil for a quick tour of Portland. Since their move to California, they have visited Portland before and were excellent tour guides showing us the best that Portland has to offer. Breweries, and lots of them! I’ll have some specific restaurant suggestions and reviews coming in the near future. For now here are some other photos of our adventures.

Now that all states have been visited, I have to come up with some other travel goals.

We just hit the one year anniversary of The Lebrewski Cruise and I just realized I never posted anything about it. Once the cruise was announced, I knew it was a must do as it combined a couple of my favorite things good music (namely O.A.R.) and craft beer. I easily convinced Kim that we should leave the kids behind with their grandparents and set sail to The Bahamas. We had a blast seeing O.A.R. perform three shows, finding some new great bands such as Jared & The Mill, tasting a ton of craft beer, and seeing a couple of different ports. We would have considered going again, but unfortunately the cruise appears to be one and done. Anyway, here are some of my photos from that trip last year.

Happy New Year! Below is the list of cities that I visited in 2016 with at least one night spent in each place.

• Sevierville, Tennessee *
• Cincinnati, Ohio *
• Sandpoint, Idaho
• Nassau, The Bahamas **
• Great Stirrup Cay, The Bahamas **
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Kansas City, Missouri
• Effingham, Illinois
• Williamstown, Kentucky *
• Orlando, Florida
• Cocoa Beach, Florida
• Lake Mary, Florida
• Montgomery, Alabama
• Gulf Shores, Alabama
• Bowling Green, Kentucky
• Lexington, Kentucky
• Washington, D.C.
• West Portsmouth, Ohio
• Portland, Oregon

* Those cities marked with an asterisk were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days.
** Those cities marked with a double asterisk were ports on a Caribbean cruise.

See also: 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006

Just before election day, my family and I took a trip to Washington, D.C. On our first day we explored the monuments via bikes rented from Bike and Roll DC. We followed that up with a trip through a visit to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Our second day was mostly dedicated to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park. And we spent our last day at several museums that we had missed the day prior: Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

I loved that nearly everything we visited was free to explore, which made it great for the family. If we had quickly grown tired of a particular attraction we left without feeling bad that we had wasted too much money. Our family loved this action packed quick trip to our Nation’s Capitol.

My family has made it to the point where more than eight or nine hours in the car while driving to or from a vacation is long enough. So we have started stopping for the night at various places along the way. On the way back from Gulf Shores this summer we stopped near Mammoth Cave to visit Kentucky Down Under. It was recommended to me from some family members and I was surprised to have never heard of it before.

Red Kangaroo

The grounds of Kentucky Down Under not only contain the Mammoth Onyx Cave, but they over the years have expanded to include animals from around the world, with an emphasis being placed on Australian species. One of the owners is from Australia and since 1990 kangaroo, dingo, kookaburra, and emu. There are also plenty of more native farm animals, along with wolves, a large bird garden, and several reptiles.

Sulcata Tortoise

The coolest part is easily walking through the kangaroo habitat where you are allowed to pet and feed them. My three-year-old could have followed them for hours. While my five-year-old was much more interested in the giant Sulcata Tortoise that was in the same enclosure.

Mammoth Onyx Cave

Mammoth Onyx Cave is included with admission to Kentucky Down Under and all guests are assigned to a 30-minute tour time. I found this to be about the perfect length of time for our family, and I think most other families on our tour would agree. While the temperature is cool (especially on a hot day) the cave can be a little tight and dark in places. Our three-year-old found it the perfect spot to take a nap in the middle of the tour, while our five-year-old enjoyed keeping climbing on his own with a flashlight and looking for salamanders.

Kentucky is well worth a couple hour visit and be sure to check Groupon before you go as we found discount tickets were available, which made our visit even better!

After spending a few days at Walt Disney World last week we moved over to Cocoa Beach for some relaxing in the sun. Most of the days were spent relaxing around the pool or playing at the beach. We did drive up to Port Canaveral to watch the SpaceX rocket launch, but that was the extent of our excitement until the last day, when a few of us rented kayaks from SoBe Surf and explored Sykes Creek.

Our Group With A Manatee

Rather than taking a guided tour we decided just to rent the kayaks and go out exploring on our own. We met up with one of the SoBe employees at their shop and then followed him in our car out to the launching pad, less than a half mile down the road. We were given our equipment and some suggestions on where we could find some wildlife.

Manatee Attack

Once we paddled out to Sykes Creek from the launch we decided to head about 300 yards south to a little cove where we were told manatees liked to hang out. We paddled all the way to the back of the cove before without seeing more than a few birds, but as we began to paddle back out toward the main creek we were surrounded by manatees!

Belly Up

The giant sea cows were very slow-moving and gentle, though one of them found Nick’s kayak to be very interesting. He even went belly up to get his mouth fully on the bottom of the kayak. Immediately I was mad at myself for not bringing my GoPro as I would love to have seen what they were doing under the murky water.

Manatee Zone – Minimum Wake

We spent a good amount of time in the southern cove before paddling north to a larger cove that didn’t seem to have any manatees in it. We continued north to the Merritt Island Causeway bridge, where we spotted a dolphin. We tried to follow it as it continued north but we quickly lost track. On our way back toward the launch, we found a dolphin who was busying trying to catch a meal along the shore wall.

When we finally made it back to the launch we had been out for roughly three hours. I think if it weren’t so hot we could have paddled all day, but we still saw plenty in the few hours that we were out, and managed to get some exercise in as well.

We are back from our week-long vacation in Florida. We are still recovering from some long and hot days but we had an awesome time! First things we did was to visit Walt Disney World, specifically we spent our first day at the Animal Kingdom and followed it up with two days at the Magic Kingdom.

Pretzel Face

Tree Of Life

I figured that Animal Kingdom would be a somewhat relaxing start to the trip after traveling the evening before. We kicked it off with trips on TriceraTop Spin for Kim and our preschool aged kids, while I took my brother-in-law Nick (age 15) on Expedition Everest, Primeval Whirl, and DINOSAUR. The kids also spent some time in The Boneyard right at its opening at 10.

From there we had an early lunch before going to Finding Nemo – The Musical, which was probably my favorite show of the trip. The puppeteers were really good at both singing their parts and working the large puppets. After enjoying the show and the air conditioning, it was time to brave the heat. Fortunately I took the older two (Trey and Nick) on the Kali River Rapids ride while Paige and Kim met Mickey and Minnie. I had made FastPass+ reservations for both so we didn’t have to wait in either of the long lines.

Adventurers Outpost

After our separate events we rejoined to see some of the animal displays at the Maharajah Jungle Trek and Discovery Island Trails before watching the Flights of Wonder bird show. After the show it was time for our FastPass+ reservation on the Kilimanjaro Safaris ride through various animal enclosures. I thought the hippo display was the coolest as I have never seen that many hippos together at one time.

Hippos

Giraffe

Rhinos

We were all very hot by this point of the day, fortunately we had just a few more indoor shows to catch. First was Festival of the Lion King, which the kids really seemed to enjoy. The acrobats dressed as monkeys were huge crowd pleasers and the sing along songs were great to hear. On our way out of the park we stopped by It’s Tough to be a Bug inside the Tree of Life for the short 4D movie featuring the characters from A Bug’s Life. It was a solid day and we managed to see nearly everything the park has to offer before leaving just past 5.

Magic Kingdom

If we thought that our first day was packed full of fun, that was nothing compared to the second day in the parks which brought our first day at the Magic Kingdom. Just as we did the day before, we split into two groups to kick off the day. I took Nick on Space Mountain while Kim took the kids on Astro Orbiter. Making a quick entry to some of the most popular rides rewards you with nearly zero wait time at the beginning of the day.

From there we saw no line for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, so we went ahead and did that even though I had a FastPass+ reservation for this for the following day. No problem though as I was easily able to reschedule that for another attraction using the iPhone app. We then did a quick trip on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover while we were in the area before stopping at the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, which proved to be a hilarious live comedy show.

Mad Tea Party

Tea Cups

We then took not one but two spins on the Mad Tea Party, which was probably the most enjoyable ride we shared as one group of wide varying ages. As we did each day, we stopped for lunch just before 11 to avoid the crowds that packed the restaurants leading up to noon. We had a little extra time after lunch so we made a quick stop at Prince Charming Regal Carousel to find Cinderella’s Horse.

Cinderella’s Horse

Next we again split into two groups for arguably what was each of our kid’s favorite things we did. I took Trey and Nick on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train while Kim took Paige to meet Anna & Elsa. Both of these attractions are super popular and are some of the most sought after FastPass+ reservations. I stayed up until midnight 30 days before our trip to get these reservations and I am glad I did. At the time of our visits each one had a wait well over an hour!

Anna

Elsa

From there we watched another 4D movie at Mickey’s PhilharMagic before cooling off at Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak Station. The fun didn’t stop there as I had another FastPass+ reservation for our group on Peter Pan’s Flight, which I honestly thought was overrated. At this time Paige went down for a nap, so I took the boys into the Country Bear Jamboree show before we watched the Festival of Fantasy Parade.

After the parade we made a quick run over to our last FastPass+ for Under the Sea – Journey of The Little Mermaid. Amazingly I was then able to secure another FastPass+ for it’s a small world just minutes later using my phone. The kids all left the park singing this song as they couldn’t have been any happier. But before we left we took one final ride on the Pirates of the Caribbean to end a jam-packed day.

Mickey Bush

Accomplishing so much on our first day in the Magic Kingdom allowed us to relax a bit on this second day. But before we did that we once again arrived before the rope drop and split into two groups. I took the boys on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Initially I wasn’t sure if Trey would like the roller coasters as much as he did, but once we did the Seven Dwarfs and he loved it I was pumped to take him on more big rides. The boys liked Big Thunder maybe even more, so we quickly rode it again without any wait! We then walked right onto Splash Mountain before meeting back up with Kim and Paige who had already ridden Aladdin’s Magic Carpets and were busy playing in some of the splashing water nearby.

We then went straight for the Jungle Cruise, and in hindsight maybe we should have skipped the second ride on Big Thunder Mountain, as we ended up waiting roughly 20 minutes for this one, by far the longest we waited for anything in either park we visited. The kids were a little spoiled by that point and nearly melted down in line but we pushed through and enjoyed the comical cruise before grabbing lunch.

Belle

After lunch we had a date with Belle at the Enchanted Tales With Belle on a FastPass+. I almost removed the boys from this one and did something else but I am glad we all went to this, though none of us truly loved it as much as Paige. The audience members get to act out part of the story with Belle and I tried to convince Nick to play the role of the Beast. Maybe next time!

From there we again split up for another round of FastPass+ selections. I couldn’t get any other ride for the boys and I to do, so we went ahead and did Splash Mountain again on the FastPass+ I had originally booked long ago. The girls got to Meet Ariel at her Grotto. Paige added another autograph to her signature book along with a photo. These meet and greets were her favorite thing she did.

Ariel

I guess going under the sea really tired out Paige as when we all met up again she had already fallen asleep for a nap. I had yet another FastPass+ for the Barnstormer for all us, but instead I just took the boys on this smaller scale roller-coaster before we all decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel a bit earlier than the day before. We had debated going over to Tom Sawyer Island or taking a ride on the Liberty Belle Riverboat, but we didn’t wait to wait in line or wake Paige so we will have to save those attractions for another time.

For the most part we saw just about everything that we had wanted to see in a few long days. If the kids were a little older I probably would have tried to take them back to the park for the Main Street Electrical Parade along with the fireworks show, but they don’t often stay up past 8 or 9. Instead we spent the evening relaxing in the resorts outdoor pool and lazy river. The next day we woke up, swam some more, and then headed off to Cocoa Beach for a few more days of fun in the hot sun.

Happy New Year! One of my biggest resolutions for this year is to get back to blogging more regularly. Below is the list of cities that I visited in 2015 with at least one night spent in each place.

• Cincinnati, Ohio *
• Fort Lauderdale, Florida
• Ocho Rios, Jamaica **
• Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands **
• Cozumel, Mexico **
• Lexington, Kentucky
• Williamstown, Kentucky *
• Denver, Colorado *
• London, Ontario
• Northern Bruce Peninsula, Ontario
• Toronto, Ontario
• Niagara Falls, Ontario
• Independence, Ohio
• Virginia Beach, Virginia
• Orange Beach, Alabama
• Asheville, North Carolina
• Salida, Colorado
• Bellevue, Kentucky
• Oregon, Ohio
• Loveland, Ohio
• Sevierville, Tennessee

* Those cities marked with an asterisk were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days.
** Those cities marked with a double asterisk were ports on a Caribbean cruise.

See also: 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006