Most families only visit Loveland, Colorado, because the town is the last stop on Highway 34 before you reach the gorgeous Rocky Mountain National Park, just 30 miles away.
Benson Park Sculpture Garden
But if you’re heading into the National Park, or simply driving through Colorado on Interstate 25, Loveland makes for an interesting stop along the way.
If for no other reason than to see the statues.
Loveland has nearly 300 pieces of public art, mostly sculptures, spread all over, in front of city buildings, dentist’s offices, schools, and private homes. You can drive around town, playing a game of spot the statues, but I don’t recommend it if you want to keep your insurance premiums down. Instead, go directly to where the bulk of the artwork is on permanent display, at the Benson Park Sculpture Garden. And it doesn’t cost a thing to enjoy.
The park is a dazzling site, with over 130 sculptures of all shapes and sizes placed around three large ponds. When I first took my kids there, their response was the usual, “Oh no, do we have to walk?” But once they meandered down the trail and spied their first statue, a boy playing marbles with a dinosaur, they were immediately hooked. Aching feet were completely forgotten as they discovered new surprises around ever corner.
Benson Park is in a quiet, residential area, so it feels peaceful and uncrowded. On the cold spring day we were there, it was certainly free of people. The morning snowfall added to the magical air of the place as we took our time walking the trails.
This is the kind of place you’ll want to have your camera ready for memorable poses of your kids with the various sculptures. They’ll plead with you to take a picture of them with every strange and whimsical creature they see.
There are picnic tables, benches, and bathrooms, so don’t worry about how much time you spend. We were surprised to find two hours gone by without even noticing.
Granted, we were not in any kind of hurry. Loveland was an overnight stop for us on our way through the state. I highly recommend the new Holiday Inn Express just off I-25, which features the usual indoor pool but with a kid-pleasing giant red water slide.
Colorado is an amazing state, with majestic mountains and stunning scenic vistas. It’s easy to overlook the little things. But, next time you’re traveling through the area, you’ll find it well worth your time to add Benson Park Sculpture Garden to your list of places to see.
Universal Orlando Resort and Warner Bros. have finally revealed the “first-ever details about the incredible scope of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.” Not the least of which is that the land will open in spring 2010. That’s soon!
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will be an addition to Universal’s Islands of Adventure park, which is already AWESOME (it’s all Marvel characters though, which leads me to wonder what talks are underway between Universal and Marvel’s new owner Disney). The Spider-Man ride alone is worth the price of admission.
Harry Potter’s new land is obviously based upon the stories and characters of J.K. Rowling and promises to remain “faithful to the visual landscapes of the films.” Read More »
With school underway the extended weekend and multi-day trips will be harder and harder to come by. Unless you don’t have school-aged kids, then bite me. Read More »
The northern panhandle of Idaho is my family’s stomping ground. Over the years, we’ve discovered a great number of cool and exciting places to take the kids. So, when people ask what there is to do around here with children, I always have a ready list of sights and activities that will make any family vacation a memorable one.
Ten Cool Things For Kids In North Idaho
1. World’s Longest Gondola Ride
Silver Mountain Gondola
In the town of Kellogg, you can board the longest gondola in the world for a 20 minute ride to the Mountain Haus terminal at the top of Silver Mountain, a climb of 3400 vertical feet. In the winter, you’ll find some of the best ski runs around, but in the summer you can hike the nature trails, go mountain biking, or ride the chair lifts for more scenic beauty even higher up the mountain.
2. Hiawatha Bike Trail
Along the Hiawatha Bike Trail
I’ve covered this amazing trail already, but it bears repeating: This is an incredibly easy ride for kids of all ages. 17 miles of gradual downhill biking through stunning wilderness, with a shuttle bus waiting for you at the end to take you back to your car. The 1.6-mile Taft Tunnel alone will keep your children talking about this adventure for a long time.
3. Digging For Garnets
Digging for star garnets
There are only two places in the world to find star garnet gem stones… India and Idaho. Near the tiny town of Clarkia, Idaho, is the forested Emerald Creek Garnet Area, run by the US Forest Service, where you can dig into a massive pile of mud and gravel, then use sluice boxes to search for star garnets. What kid doesn’t like playing in the mud?
4. Coeur d’Alene City Park and Independence Point
Coeur d'Alene City Beach and City Park
Just west of downtown Coeur d’Alene, the 16-acre City Park and Independence Point sits on the northern shore of Lake Coeur d’Alene. Here you’ll find a wide range of free activities, from playing on a huge wooden castle in the park to splashing on the smooth sands of City Beach. For something more adventurous, you can rent paddle boats, kayaks, and jet skis, or, view the lake from above via parasail or float plane.
5. Tubbs Hill Beaches
A secluded beach on Lake Coeur d'Alene
If you’re in Coeur d’Alene and you want to get away from the crowds at City Beach, I suggest taking a hike on Tubbs Hill, a 135-acred forested peninsula with a 2-mile loop trail that will take you to one of dozens of secluded beaches. Oh, there will still be people out there during the summer, just not as many. All along the trail, older kids will find rope swings and high rocks so they can fling themselves into the water below. Our favorite Tubbs Hill beach is at the tip of the peninsula, where there are smaller rocks for the kids to play on. Just a warning, though… Bring swim shoes. These beaches are mostly rocky, and not easy on bare feet.
6. Sierra Silver Mine Tour
Inside the Sierra Silver Mine
We’ve been on this tour so many times, I should get frequent miner miles. The tour starts in downtown Wallace, a town that is so historic they put the whole place on the National Registry of Historic Places. A trolley takes you up to the mine itself, where you don hardhats and then descend into a cool dark tunnel that winds into the mountain for over 1,000 feet. During the 90-minute tour, you’ll learn a lot about hard rock mining and the history of the Silver Valley. It’s completely safe, although a little bit noisy when they demonstrate the hydraulic equipment.
7. David Thompson Game Preserve
Oh, deer.
Located along the northern shore of Lake Pend O’Reille, this game preserve is cool with my kids for one reason. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands, of whitetail deer there, grazing contentedly along the paths and roads, and in amongst the Beyond Hope RV Park. Several years ago, the owners prohibited feeding the very tame deer, but it’s still fun to walk among them.
8. Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes
Chatcolet Bridge, on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes
I don’t propose you make your kids pedal the entire 73-mile paved Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes. That’s a long way. But you can certainly ride portions of the trail, which spans almost the entire panhandle and runs along rivers and lakes, over trestles and bridges, and through several historic small towns. There are 20 trailheads with parking and restrooms, so you can begin your ride anywhere. One of our favorite short rides starts in Heyburn State Park and crosses the 3100-foot Chatcolet Bridge, which spans the southern end of Lake Coeur d’Alene. Another beautiful spot to start a ride is near the Old Mission at Cataldo, where you can ride east along the north fork of the Coeur d’Alene River.
9. University of Idaho Arboretum and Botanical Garden
Stopping to smell the roses
Amid the rolling hills of Moscow, in the middle of the campus of the University of Idaho, sits 63 acres of walking trails, ponds, creeks, and, of course, lush vegetation divided into geographical regions. Don’t tell your kids that it’s educational, just let them roam the grounds and discover things for themselves. There are rare flowers and trees, and plenty of granite benches to sit or climb on. My kids had the most fun exploring the creek and ponds, where a student researcher patiently showed them tadpoles and frogs. The arboretum is open year-round, and it’s free.
10. Silverwood Theme Park
The kids drive dad at Silverwood
This goes without saying. Silverwood, the northwest’s largest theme park, is the #1 destination of families heading to North Idaho. Between the rides and the adjoining water park, all of which falls under just one admission price, your kids will be in paradise. Rollercoasters in the morning, water slides in the afternoon!
Seriously, who’s going to plan a family vacation to Spokane, Washington?
I was asking myself this very question today while watching news coverage of Spokane’s Hoopfest, the largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the world. The tourney is celebrating its 20th year.
There are 400 courts spread out over 40 downtown city blocks, with 6,400 teams participating this year, and over 200,000 players and fans wandering around town.
But that’s not a family vacation.
Spokane is one of those average cities, like Des Moines or Sacramento, that doesn’t have much of a reputation as a vacation destination. You hear Washington, and you think Seattle. Or Olympic National Park and the Pacific Coast beaches. Or Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier. Or the Cascade Range.
Even though Spokane is the second largest city in the state, and the fifth biggest in the Pacific Northwest, nobody’s buzzing about it as a family vacation destination.
I figure people end up here for other reasons, such as a weekend of basketball at Hoopfest, and then at some point it dawns on them that there might be come cool things to see and do in the area.
So, what exactly is there for a family with kids to enjoy? Read More »
As you may have heard in my critically acclaimed (moms are like critics) podcast regarding travel with children (and pets), it’s always nice to make a pit stop count.
This is how we do it. Get outside and stretch their legs and their imagination. Also, run an unofficial tally on the local number of ladybugs.
It’s that time of the year when a family man’s fancy turns to… gardening?
Up here in the north country, we wait patiently all winter for spring to come so we can get back into our yards to push dirt around in our neverending quest for the perfect landscape.
We took a family vacation last year to Utah, where I found inspiration for my backyard projects in an amazing place called Thanksgiving Point.
Located in Lehi, Utah, about 30 minutes south of Salt Lake City, Thanksgiving Point is a sprawling complex that features a wide variety of activities for the whole family. But the highlight of the place is the 55 acres of gardens, with 15 themed areas, such as the Monet Garden, the Butterfly Garden, and, my favorite, the Secret Garden.
Largest man-made waterfalls
Oh yes, and don’t forget the largest manmade waterfall in North America. My kids wondered why I can’t build something like that in our backyard.
The gardens are stunning, and immense, and you could probably stroll along the 4 miles of paths all day, exploring and reveling in nature’s splendor. But that’s not going to happen when you have kids, and it’s certainly not going to happen when you have so many other things to do at Thanksgiving Point.
Like gawking at dinosaur bones inside the Museum of Ancient Life. You’ll find plenty to gawk at, as this museum offers up the largest display of mounted dinosaurs in the world. If it’s not enough to look, there are hands-on displays for your kids, including real fossils and bones. It’s rather humbling to touch something that was walking the earth 50 million years ago. Does that make me a science geek?
Dinosaurs rule at Thanksgiving Point
The collection impressed us so much, we walked through the museum twice just to soak it all in. After that, we sat down in the XanGo Mammoth Screen 3D Theatre (it’s like IMAX) for a fun movie about ancient sea creatures.
When you’re done with the extinct animals, walk the kids over to another part of Thanksgiving Point called Farm Country. Yes, the place has more themed areas than Disneyland. At Farm Country, your kids are going to get hands-on experience with farm critters. They’ll get to milk a cow, gather eggs, groom a goat, go for a hayride, and call the pigs to dinner. If you live in a city and your kids have never seen a farm before, this will be a chance to teach them just exactly where their food comes from.
Next, you’ll want to run your kids through the hedgerow maze in the Children’s Discovery Garden, just in case they’re not completely worn out yet. And make sure they pay a visit to the bear cave for a little scare.
After the gardens, dinosaurs, mazes, and agriculture lessons, there’s still much to do. There’s a complex of shops, restaurants, and movie theaters. There’s also a beautiful golf course that was named best public course in Utah by Golf Digest Magazine. If you’ve run out of steam, perched right on the edge of Thanksgiving Point is a Marriott Springhill Suites that has the most comfortable hotel beds I’ve ever slept on. Seriously, I can’t remember the last time I had a more refreshing night’s sleep.
Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point
Although our ultimate destination last spring was not Thanksgiving Point, it certainly was a welcome diversion on our road trip through the state. In the future, we’ll include a one or two-day stop there in our vacation plans. Utah has an incredible number of National Parks. Five in all: Bryce Canyon, Zion, Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef. Not to mention its close proximity to Grand Canyon and Mesa Verde National Parks. At some point, no matter where you live, there’s a high probability you’ll find yourself in Utah, driving down I-15 from Salt Lake City, thinking about how far it is to Arches or Zion. And then you’ll remember that Phil told you to make a stop at Thanksgiving Point with your kids. You’re welcome.
The best time to visit is when the gardens are open, which is from the end of March through the end of October. Spring is, of course, one of the more colorful seasons at Thanksgiving Point. Their Tulip Festival runs from April 17th to May 2, when over a quarter million bulbs are in bloom.
Thanksgiving Point Gardens
Italian Gardens
Children's Discovery Garden
Museum of Ancient Life
All photos by Phil Corless, except the tulips (courtesy of Thanksgiving Point)
There’s about to be more magic in 
