Coast2Coast’s 3rd Birthday!

|

The first week in June is our little blog’s 3rd birthday! We’ve come a long way from our first post on the opening of the Dr. Seuss Museum in Springfield, Massachusetts. Since that adventure, we estimate we’ve explored about 20 new-to-us cities, about 15 states, and driven over 30,000 miles adventuring (that’s NOT counting our regular schedule mileage!)

We’re getting ready to hit the road again soon. We postponed a pretty amazing, pretty epic, almost cross country trip that we had been planning for 2+ years. I’ve been moping about it for a couple of months now, but believe we’ll make our way there next summer. I’m hoping we can reschedule some shorter trips that were planned for the spring, including exploring the Berkshires in Massachusetts parts of Vermont, and Scranton, Pennsylvania. I’m also hoping to revisit some of our favorite New England resorts and share in depth guides for them.

This week, I’m recapping some of my most popular posts and sharing some stats for the blog. If you haven’t had a chance to read them, here’s a great index:

Coast2CoastwithKids’ Most Popular Statistics:

Most viewed post: Exploring Yankee Candle Village outside Springfield Massachusetts. The post was originally shared in April 2017 and every month, it still ranks in the Top 5 of all viewed posts, and most viewed in 3 years! I’m not sure if the section of things non candle lovers can do that is used as a negotiation, or the section about candy and ice cream that is used as a bribe, but the post consistently appears in the analytics each month. Find the post here

Most liked photo on Instagram: I have spent the past three years working hard to build my Instagram following to over 10,000 followers. The photo of our kids standing in two states at the same time inside the Great Smoky Mountain National Park has been liked hundreds of times. We loved exploring the park and recommend it for anyone, even people who don’t like to hike or camp. As a matter of fact, that’s the theme of the post- how to explore without hiking or camping. Find the post on Great Smoky Mountains here and follow us on Instagram here

Most retweeted tweet on Twitter: Dutchess County City Guide. We spent time throughout a recent summer exploring various towns in Dutchess County and found the friendliest people and lots of culture and history. Find the post for the City Guide here and follow us on Twitter here

Most shared post on Facebook: Our recent series on virtual ways to explore and learn included a list of children’s museums, zoos, and aquariums that offer online activities and tours. To date, it’s been shared 54 times- a record for us! Find the link for the post here and our Facebook page here

Would you like to save this?

We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later.

Most pinned post on Pinterest: Our recent Top 20 Places We Love in Massachusetts includes everything from National Park Sites to Cape Cod to Boston to Gloucester. It’s been viewed almost 30,000 times and pinned 40 times. Find the link for the post here and our Pinterest account here

Most viewed City Guide: Because of all the sharing on Pinterest and Twitter, my Top 20 Massachusetts post and Dutchess City Guide win. But other top City Guides include Gloucester, Massachusetts and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We have tons of outdoor family fun in Gloucester and 20 places kids will love in Philadelphia (and 10 of them are FREE!) Find the Gloucester City Guide here and Philadelphia City Guide here and find the index for City Guides here

Most popular travel tips post: I have shared advice (learn from our mistakes!) on everything from packing a suitcase and car to having a back up plan and how to eat at fancy restaurants. My post viewed and shared post is on Staying Happy and Healthy While Traveling with Kids. The headline? It’s a marathon and not a sprint! Find the link to the post here

Most posts for a single city: New York City!! We’re lucky enough to live an hour away from the Big Apple and try and explore a new spot at least once a season. We have over 20 posts dedicated to various places and seasons in New York City. Find the index to all of our posts here.

Most posts dedicated to a single theme: The National Park Service is our favorite organization. No matter where we travel, we look for a NPS site. We have organized whole trips around NPS sites like Acadia National Park.  Find the post on all the reasons we love the National Park Service here and the index of posts on NPS sites here

Most popular FREE post: My post on 10 Free Things to Do at Disney Springs has been shared and viewed more than any other post and I have about 10 posts of free things to do. Find the post on Disney Springs here

I hope you’ll stick around or join and stay for at least 3 more years of family fun and adventures!

 

Similar Posts

  • | | | | | |

    10 Ways to Have Fun in Lake Placid in New York

    The Adirondacks are credited with the concept of a vacation: since the mid 1800s, New Yorkers have been “vacating” the heat of the city and heading north to the cooler temperatures and natural beauty of the mountains, staying in homes known as “Camps.” The area known as the Adirondack Park is the largest state park in America, as well as the first state park. It covers over six million acres, more than 3,000 ponds and lakes, and over 1,500 miles of hiking trails. Today, more than seven million people visit the Adirondacks each year, but with so much space, so many activities and places to explore, it never feels crowded.

  • | | |

    Food Trail #5: Crepes Trail in Norwalk, Connecticut

    This week’s food trail is compact- we’re staying super local in one city: Norwalk, Connecticut. Norwalk offers plenty of family friendly places: Stepping Stones Museum for Children and Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk are two museums for which we had a family member for YEARS when our children were younger. We visited either spot at least once a week. Norwalk boasts several beaches and parks, boat cruises, and tons of shopping areas, including the SoNo Collection, an upscale mall that just opened in 2019. There are also dozens of restaurants in both the main city and the area known as “SoNo” (South Norwalk) which is extremely walkable. We’ve been going to SoNo for years to meet up with friends from the City (aka NYC) and friends who live in Westchester County.

    This week’ we’re sharing some of our favorite restaurants throughout Norwalk, all of which make delicious crepes.

  • | | | | |

    National Park Guide: Arches National Park in Utah

    Arches National Park in Moab, Utah, one of the most popular National Parks in America with two million visitors each year, is home to over 2,000 cataloged arches formed by erosion and weathering over the past 65 million years. Learn more about how the arches were formed here. Today, the park covers over 76, 000 acres and, in addition to the arches, is home to almost 500 species of plants, almost 200 species of birds, 50 species of mammals, 21 species of reptiles, and 6 species of fish (yes- fish!)

    We visited in June of 2021, during the still on going COVID pandemic, and there were some restrictions, mainly with the Visitor’s Center and programs. We highly recommend visiting early in the morning (being inside the park by 6am early), spending the morning hiking, and then leaving the park for lunch and a rest during peak afternoon sun. Later afternoon and evening will provide cooler temperatures and smaller crowds. Be careful to stay away from cactus and yucca plants, both of which are prevalent throughout the park. Both plants have sharp tips that can poke and easily puncture skin.

  • | | |

    Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island

    This is the 3rd post in a series detailing my recent visit to Newport, Rhode Island. To read about celebrating the holiday season in Newport, click here and to read about the International Tennis Hall of Fame, click here.

    Fort Adams has the honor of being both the largest fort in the United States and the only fort never attacked. Although, because it was never attacked or “officially in use”, it is not part of the National Parks program like many other forts throughout America. Fort Adams, located in Newport, Rhode Island, is one of twenty fortresses built after the War of 1812, took over 30 years (from 1820-1850) to complete, and is named after the second American President, John Adams. It was most effectively used as a training facility for West Point graduates before their official postings.

    The entire complex is a state park and open to the public, free of charge.  The public is welcome to use the restrooms, walk (leashed) dogs, fish, picnic, and even use the public beach. Sail Newport, housed on the property, rents sailboats and also gives lesson.

    On a recent visit to Newport, my family took the 90 minute, guided tours. We loved it. All of us, adults and children alike, found it interactive, informative, and even a little scary.  Steve Marino, our tour guide, made sure to engage our children throughout the tour.  You’ll need to start in the Visitor’s Center to purchase tickets. They offer a AAA discount. There are restrooms and a gift shop with snacks, drinks, and souvenirs. Strollers are allowed on most aspects of the tour, and you can leave strollers outside some “indoor” and tight spaces. 

  • | | | |

    Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, MA

    A New Yorker married to a Bostonian in the late 1860s, Isabella Stewart Gardner and her husband, John, travelled extensively and were inspired by the art they saw throughout the world. Gardner began collecting art and built a home, which she named Fenway Court, in Boston in the early 1900s. Today, all three floors of the Palace, as it is now referred to, are opened to the public, as part of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Some of Gardner’s collection of 7500 pieces of art, 1500 books, and 7000 artifacts are on display throughout the Palace and the new Renzo Pino Wing, which houses a reception area and services, administrative offices, Calderwood Hall, Bertucci Education Studio, the Living Room, Cafe G, and museum store.

  • 10 Ways to Explore the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail, CO

    On a recent visit to Vail, Colorado, we spent a wonderful morning at the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens and enjoyed our visit so much, we decided to devote a full post to the gardens. The Betty Ford Alpine Gardens is considered the highest (8,200 feet above sea level!) botanical garden in the world. The word alpine means “above treeline” and the gardens are organized by regions, including the Eastern Himalayas, Patagonia, and Scottish Highlands. Vail’s higher evaluation and cool, dry climate make it possible to grow alpine plants from around the world. The complex, located inside the Ford Park, includes 19 gardens with well marked walking paths and plenty of signage to explain the name and origin of each plant, flowers, bush, and tree. Betty Ford, wife of US President Gerald Ford (who is the namesake of the adjacent amphitheater and park) “gave her name” to the center in 1988. Today, the gardens are one of the most popular attractions in Vail Valley and for good reason.

3 Comments

  1. Amazing you’ve gotten so many wonderful places and written so eloquently and interestingly about them. Congratulations on your third year! So many have enjoyed and use the wealth of information you’ve given them. Thank you again

  2. Amazing you’ve gotten so many wonderful places and written so eloquently and interestingly about them. Congratulations on your third year! So many have enjoyed and use the wealth of information you’ve given them. Thank you again

  3. Amazing you’ve gotten so many wonderful places and written so eloquently and interestingly about them. Congratulations on your third year! So many have enjoyed and use the wealth of information you’ve given them. Thank you again

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *