Category: Mexico

Favorite Family Beach Destinations & Why We Love Them

Posted in Alabama, Beach, Destinations, Mexico, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, United StatesTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

There’s nothing like a trip to the beach, especially for a busy family! While we love adventuring, hiking, and exploring, it’s sometimes really nice to plan a low-key vacation to a beautiful destination. And then, when you get to that beautiful destination, it’s perfectly alright to do absolutely nothing except enjoy where you are and who you’re with! I think that’s why we love going to the beach. It never involves too much planning and we usually return feeling relaxed and rejuvenated. I’m including some of our favorite beach destinations, both in the US and south of the border. This doesn’t cover every beach we’ve visited, but it’s a nice start if you’re getting ready to plan a trip to the beach!

United States

The US has some fantastic beach destinations, some more unique than others! I am fascinated with the different landscapes from coast to coast. Below are just a few of our favorite beaches in the United States and why we love them!

Orange Beach, Alabama

Beautiful beach sunset

This is our most recent beach vacation, and even though we’ve been traveling to Orange Beach for over twelve years now, we still enjoy each and every visit! This is one of those places that has beautiful white sands, emerald waters, delicious food, and isn’t very crowded if you plan your trip out right! The past two visits to Orange Beach have been in March and April and the crowds were basically non-existent. It looks a little different during those peak summer months, though. We love Orange Beach because we keep it super low-key and chill. You can find us hanging out at the beach, boogie boarding on the waves, warming up in the hot tub, and trying new seafood restaurants each evening. The boys love that we start each day with no major plans!

My favorite boys at one of our favorite places!
Those waves though!
Our most recent family photo, Orange Beach 2023.
These boys stayed in the ocean for basically three days straight!

Things to do in Orange Beach:

Cannon Beach, Oregon

Jereme walking along the tide pools at Haystack Rock

I have wanted to visit Cannon Beach for forever and I finally got the chance last March over our spring break. We visited as part of a Pacific Coast Highway road trip and we all agreed that we wished we would’ve had more time here at this beach. We adored the little beach cottage we stayed in and the town is super quaint and welcoming! The tide pools made my whole life and the boys still talk about having bonfires on the beach in the evenings. We have big plans to return to Cannon Beach and stay at the exact same cottage one day!

The first ever tide pools and starfish I’ve seen in nature!
We were all amazed at the marine life!
It was a little chilly at this beach, but we still loved it!
Bonfires on the beach at night!

Things to do in Cannon Beach:

Folly Beach, South Carolina

Under the pier right next to the hotel

Folly Beach was our first ever trip to South Carolina and it was a great one! We loved the hotel we stayed at and I highly recommend it for families! Folly Beach is also known for amazing finds, like shark teeth and shells. So if you have kiddos that love sharks or shells, check this destination out! I also loved the proximity to Charleston and some of the plantations and historical sites in the area. Overall, this is a really fun family destination. South Carolina is such a beautiful state!

Sandcastles are always fun
These boys love swimming!
Our first full day in South Carolina!

Things to do in Folly Beach:

St. Pete’s Beach, Florida

That water & rainbow!

This destination has it all! You can visit just to relax at the beach all day, but there’s also a vast amount of water sports, shopping, & dining! We visited a few summers ago and the boys still ask to go back. We had a blast parasailing, sliding on some of the inflatable slides outside of the hotel, relaxing, and eating amazing seafood! The water is also stunning and so blue! It was a little crowded, but we were there during the peak summer months, so that’s to be expected when you’re visiting just about any beach in Florida! The hotel really made the stay worthwhile and we didn’t even leave this resort much because it truly had everything! We also really enjoyed the beach’s proximity to Tampa.

Parasailing right outside the resort
The boys loved these slides!
We made s’mores on the beach every night!
And spent the days in the water!

Things to do at St. Pete’s Beach:

Galveston, Texas

There’s nothing better than a Texas sunset!

If you live in Texas, then visiting Galveston is a must since it’s in our state! Even though Galveston is not known for white sand beaches and clear, blue waters, it’s still my kiddos’ favorite beach destination! We always have such an awesome time when we visit. I think my boys love it so much because it doesn’t require a lot of driving to get there and it holds such special memories for us. We’ve visited for just a weekend and even stayed once for ten days!

Annual Galveston family photo
We always stay at Sea Scape Condos!
Mini Golf at Magic Carpet Golf

Things to do in Galveston:

Mexico

There’s something really special about those all-inclusive beach resorts in the Caribbean and our family has had many wonderful experiences visiting Mexico! So far, we’ve had the chance to take our boys to Cozumel, Cabo, and Cancun. Each destination offers many excursions and activities that are fun for all ages! The resorts in Mexico make it so easy for travelers and usually have people assisting you upon arrival to find the perfect excursions for you family!

Cozumel, Mexico

Love the water and those palm trees

We really love this little island. Jereme and I have traveled to Cozumel at least five times on our own and with our kids. The people are amazing and we have made many special memories exploring the island. I cannot get over the water! It’s so clear and you can literally see fish swimming everywhere, right from the shore!

Iberostar Cozumel Resort
Shopping in town
Chicken nuggets on the beach

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Grand Fiesta Americana

Cabo is one of my personal favorite destinations in Mexico! I love the how the desert meets the ocean here. And watching whales right from our hotel balcony was a truly amazing experience. It’s not always the best place to swim in the ocean and finding a hotel where this is available involves some planning. But it’s such a beautiful destination and there’s something here for everyone to enjoy!

Look at these fish right off the shore of the resort
My boys loved swimming with them!

Cancun, Mexico

Family photo in Cancun!

Cancun is a wonderful place to visit, especially since the international airport is located here! We’ve actually only stayed in Cancun once as a family, but it has been one of our favorite vacations to date! On our first night here, we were able to help a local group release baby sea turtles back into the ocean and this experience is one that I will never forget!

Swimming in Cenote
Day at the resort
Swimming with dolphins
Mayan Ruins

We use the fabulous travel agent, Alexa Spahr to book our trips to Mexico and beyond. She comes highly recommended and has helped us book several trips. She really works within your budget and travel dates and it’s always been such a smooth and easy process with her help. You can contact Alexa via email at alexa@travelwithalexa.com and be sure to check out her website www.travelwithalexa.com. If you reach out to Alexa, please let her know I sent you her way!

As you can see, beach destinations can be a low-key and relaxing trip, but there are also a ton of activities to explore! We like a nice balance, so we’ll usually spend a day at the resort and then a day packed full of excursions and continue that pattern! If you’re interested in planning a trip to the beach and are in need of any ideas or recommendations, please reach out! I’m happy to answer any questions you may have, so leave me a comment. I’d also love to hear about your favorite family beach destinations!

How to Plan a Memorable Romantic Getaway

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Day to day life is just flat out hard these days, so making the time to get away with your significant other is highly recommended! Jereme and I try to get away together once a year, but it can be hard to find the time with our busy schedules. I thought I would share some helpful tips for planning a memorable getaway with the one you love the most. After all, it is the season of love!

Planning Activities

For starters, I recommend creating a list of activities that you’ll both be interested in trying. Before I plan a destination, I usually think about what it is I’m craving in the moment. Some days I want to relax on the beach, while other days I want to climb a mountaintop! Once I’ve figured out just what we want to do the most, I start researching destinations that offer those activities. Jereme can be a little more adventurous than me, so I try to include things that we’ll both enjoy! For example, I might prefer cozying up in a cabin surrounded by snow, but I know Jereme is going to want to snowboard. If we decide to head to the mountains together, we’ll go boarding a few days and then hang around the cabin together the other days. It’s a win-win!  

Romantic Vacation Activities You’ll Both Enjoy:

  • Spa treatments
  • Take a hike
  • Go snowboarding or skiing
  • Wine Tasting
  • Go for a bike ride
  • Relax on the beach
  • Take a hot air balloon ride
  • Go camping
  • Take a road trip
  • Go kayaking or canoeing
  • Explore a new city
  • Watch a sunrise or sunset
  • Go snorkeling
  • Take a cooking class
  • See a show or concert
  • Go to a fancy restaurant
  • Go sailing
  • Visit a National Park

This is a fairly small list of activities for a romantic getaway. I’ve spent many hours researching ideas for us, and there are some lists that go on and on. Ultimately, you know yourself and your significant other best. I absolutely know that Jereme would never want to take a dance class together, so I would never plan for that on one of our trips. I am all about trying new experiences, but know your interests and your limits. After all, this is supposed to be a fun getaway!

Amazing Destinations for Couples

Who even are these babies? Photo circa 1998.

You might not know that Jereme and I are high school sweethearts! I love sharing our story. We started dating at fifteen years old and now have spent more of our lives together than apart. Traveling is something that we started doing together over twenty years ago. We were married for six years before we even thought about having kids, so we’ve had countless trips together! The following destinations are some of our favorite places that we’ve visited fairly recently together.

South Lake Tahoe, California

Secret Cove Beach

Lake Tahoe is an amazing destination for a memorable romantic getaway! The location itself is absolutely stunning and there are so many outdoor adventures and places to explore. I have honestly never seen a lake so beautiful in my entire life!

Secret Cove Beach view from the hiking trails
Kayaking at Emerald Lake State Park

South Lake Tahoe Highlights:

  • Hiking to Secret Cove Beach
  • Kayaking at Emerald Lake State Park
  • Exploring Heavenly Mountain Resort

Click here to for our entire South Lake Tahoe guide!

We had such an amazing weekend away!

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

The Arch!

Our first trip out of the country without kids was to Cabo San Lucas for our anniversary. I cannot recommend this place enough! We stayed at an amazing All-Inclusive resort that I never wanted to leave. The food, the drinks, the views were unforgettable! So much so, we ended up returning to the exact same resort the next summer!

We had the best time at the beach!
This resort is amazing!
And the food was the best part!

Cabo San Lucas Highlights:

Full disclosure – I spent a lot of time puking on this boat ride, I was so seasick. Jereme had fun LOL!

Winter Park, Colorado

The views here are gorgeous!

The truth is, we haven’t gone on a ski trip together without our kids in a quite some time. We used to go every winter together before we had them. It was the one trip a year that I knew we would make sure to plan for and we just continued that tradition once we had our boys. We have taken grandpa on several of our recent trips, which gives us some alone time to spend together on the mountain! This is such a great destination for couples that are adventurous. And it doesn’t get more romantic than being tucked away in a cozy ski lodge together!

Finally boarding together by ourselves!
I still got it!

Our Winter Park Highlights:

  • Snowboarding
  • Hot tubbing
  • Ice skating
  • Tubing
  • Snowshoeing on the Frasier River Trail
Can you tell the mountains are our happy place?

Washington, DC

I went to the White House on my birthday!

Remember when I mentioned to find activities and destinations that everyone will enjoy? Well, Jereme totally took one for the team when we visited DC a few years ago for my birthday! He knows that history is totally my thing, even though it’s not really his. But, we both ended up having a wonderful time! It was so much fun exploring a new city together for the first time. And we really both enjoyed the historical sites around DC and the museums and monuments are amazing!

This bike tour was so much fun!
I highly recommend seeing the monuments and memorials at night

Our Washington DC Highlights:

  • Eating all the lobster rolls & clam chowder
  • Nighttime bike ride tour of the monuments
  • Seeing the White House for the first time
  • Smithsonian Museums
  • Massages
We really enjoyed this trip!

Romantic Destinations and Activities on Our Bucket List

We have so many trip ideas on our bucket list! Here are a few destinations and activities that I hope we get to do together, just us!

More Tips for a Memorable Couples Trip

  • Go in the slow season
  • Book a room with a view
  • Splurge on a nice meal
  • Get room service
  • Take a nap
  • Plan a Staycation
  • Unplug from social media

I hope you find these ideas and recommendations helpful for planning the most memorable romantic getaway! Check back soon to see where Jereme and I end up exploring this year. If you have a destination that we should add to our list, I’d love for you to leave a comment! Happy travels, my friends!

Cancun Family Vacation Travel Guide

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Occasionally the Road Trip Queens take to the sky, especially when the Caribbean is calling! My family decided to end the summer in Cancun, Mexico and man, it felt like THE trip of a lifetime. From releasing baby sea turtles, to swimming with dolphins, traveling to Chichen-Itza, and exploring a cenote, we had the adventure of all adventures this summer! Keep reading for our complete Cancun family vacation travel guide!

We’ve been to several different destinations in Mexico and have traveled to/from the Cancun airport, but we had never stayed in Cancun for vacation. Let me tell you, if you haven’t been GO! I can’t really even accurately describe the water, it’s other-worldly. The people were kind, the scenery was beautiful, and we always felt safe at our resort and on our excursions.

We stayed at Reflect Cancun Resort & Spa and it did not disappoint. The food was good, the drinks were better! We loved the different ceviche options at the pool.

On our first night, we stumbled upon a group that was releasing hundreds of baby sea turtles. We were invited to help in the release and to date, it’s one of the most memorable experiences I have ever been so fortunate to be a part of. Of course, I left my camera in the room so sadly I don’t have any photos of this awesome animal encounter. This was my favorite part of our trip!

On our second day in Cancun, we decided to just hang out at the resort. We played on the beach, swam in the ocean, explored the property, and relaxed by the pool. We never ran out of food options and had the breakfast buffet, lunch and snacks by the pool, and enjoyed the dinner buffet. We also booked our excursions on this day right at our hotel. We knew we wanted to visit ancient ruins, and Chichen-Itza was highly recommended by the hotel staff. They offered a package that included a bus ride, a light breakfast, lunch, a guided tour of Chichen-Itza, and a fun stop to swim in a cenote. We also booked an hour of swimming with dolphins at the hotel next door. It was so nice and easy to be able to talk to hotel staff and pick the best excursions for our time and budget.

Day Trip Chichen-Itza

Chichen-Itza is one of the new seven wonders of the world and a must-see if you’re in Mexico. My boys are very interested in ancient ruins, so we knew Mexico would be a great place to check out Mayan Ruins. Chichen-Itza is about a 2 hour drive from Cancun. We booked this excursion at our hotel and it included roundtrip transportation on a huge air-conditioned bus (with a bathroom) and fun entertainment with our tour guides. We also had a light breakfast, a delicious Mexican lunch buffet, and swimming in a cenote included in this excursion package. The tour starts very early in the morning, we were picked up directly at our hotel and didn’t return until 7-8 pm. The tour guides had a short presentation on the Mayan culture, Mayan artifacts were passed around, and we learned a little about the ruins – one of the guides was also Mayan! The guides escorted us around Chichen-Itza and explained all of the different sights and ruins and what they were thought to be so long ago. Then we had a chance to explore on our own. The only downside of this adventure was the heat! It was extremely sunny and hot at the end of July! Be sure to take sunscreen & water and wear a hat & sunglasses.

We ended the trip with a quick stop to explore a cenote! The water was freezing, so it was very refreshing after being out in the heat at the ruins. There were bathrooms and a changing room with lockers, so we were able to quickly get changed, grab life jackets, and then head down to the cenote, which is basically an underground sinkhole with water. The cenote we explore is called Cenote Ik Kil. Jake and I swam, but Jereme and Jett were able to jump off a ledge inside the cenote. This is one of Jett’s favorite highlights of the trip!

Swimming with Dolphins

As you might know, my family is full of animal lovers! So any time we can experience an animal encounter, we do it! We were able to book a Swimming with Dolphins adventure and it was held at the hotel next door to ours. I really liked this tour because we got a behind the scenes look at how these dolphins are cared for, and I swear they’re living their best life! We were paired with a sweet mom and son on this adventure, so it felt very personalized being in a small group. The dolphin trainers explained what our encounter would be like and went over some rules to protect the dolphins and ourselves while we were in the water with them. Then the dolphins swam out and we had the best time! They did some tricks, posed for a few pics with us, and then it was time for the dolphin ride along as the dolphins pulled us through the water with their dorsal fins. I was a little nervous at first and wondered what would happen if I missed the fins when they swam by. But then, my 5-year-old did it beautifully and the nerves melted away. By far this was the boys best memory in Mexico!

The rest of our trip was spent at the resort! The boys especially enjoyed the pool canoes and the bartenders making them fruity drinks!

*BIG TIP* if you tip the waiters & the bartenders, even a small amount, they will take amazing care of you! We never had an empty cup or had to wait for someone to take our poolside food order. We felt really special!

If you’re interested in planning a trip to Mexico & need any ideas, please reach out! I’m happy to answer any questions you may have.

We used the fabulous travel agent, Alexa Spahr. She comes highly recommended and has helped us book a couple of trips to Mexico. She really works with your budget and travel dates & it has always been such a smooth and easy process with her help. You can contact Alexa via email at alexa@travelwithalexa.com and be sure to check out her website www.travelwithalexa.com.