George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas
Located on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, the George W Bush Presidential Center opened in May 2013 and offers many hands on opportunities to learn about American (and world!) history at the start of the 21st century, Bush’s presidency. The museum is designed around four principles that President and Mrs. Bush valued: freedom, responsibility, opportunity, and compassion. The archives include over 70 million pages of documents and 4 million photographs. Individuals may make appointments for research room access.
Year in Review: Highlights of 2018
2018 was an exciting, adventure filled year for my family. We started a bit early by purchasing a new 2018 Chevy Equinox, and to date-exactly 54 weeks later- we have over 26,000 miles on the odometer. We’ve been as far west as Texas, as far south as Florida, and as far north as Maine. We’re explored over a dozen states, over twenty National Parks Service locations, over two dozen museums, two baseball parks (that brings our total count to 24 out of the 30 MLB parks), and created countless memories.
Dutchess County, New York
Dutchess County, located in southeastern New York, spans from Fishkill and Beacon to Rhinebeck and Red Hook covering (in total) thirty cities, towns, and villages. There are literally hundreds of ways to explore the area, but I thought I would share twelve ways families can enjoy all that Dutchess County has to offer together. The county borders western Connecticut and is about 90 minutes from Manhattan. Driving from the north end of Red Hook south to Beacon takes less than an hour, so you won’t spend days in the car exploring the area.
Start your planning by checking out DutchessTourism.com, which is a well organized, well informed network of suggestions for eating, staying, and exploring the county. They have a section dedicated to family fun and even have itineraries broken up in one, three, and five day stays (in additional to organizing suggestions for shopping, craft beer, spa, LGBT and other themed trips).
FDR Presidential Library, Museum, and NHS, Hyde Park, New York
We just returned from a wonderful trip to Dutchess County, New York. Less than two hours from Manhattan, Dutchess County is filled with hundreds of ways to learn about American history, agriculture, and the arts. Check out dutchesstourism.com for advice, suggestions, itineraries, and maps. I’ll have a full write up of our travels in two weeks.
Whenever we travel, we always check our National Parks Passport and our Presidential Library Passport to see if there are any locations near our destination. We hit a double when we found The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum and the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site, both located on the same property in Hyde Park, New York. We love the National Park Service (read about why here) and our son is quickly becoming a presidential scholar, so we had to spend the morning exploring the complex. America’s first presidential library and museum was designed by FDR himself and opened to the public in 1941. The museum has over 400 collections, including 51,00 volumes and 150,000 photographs, negatives and audiovisual items, as well as plenty of research and meeting spaces.
Ten Ways to Beat the Heat with Kids in Little Rock, Arkansas
On a recent trip out west, we stopped in Little Rock, Arkansas for the weekend. I knew Little Rock is known for being the home of America’s 42nd President, Bill Clinton and I knew I’d want to stop at the Clinton Center and Park to explore the museum and earn a stamp in my Presidential Libraries passport.
Yet, as I read through LittleRock.com to search for other things to do, I quickly discovered that Little Rock is a very family friendly city and my list of “must visit” spots quickly grew! I was warned that Little Rock gets hot in the summer; Indeed, on the weekend we visited, it rose to almost one hundred degrees each day. However, the heat did not interfere too much with our plans- there are so many family friendly things to do inside (many of them are FREE!) that we could beat the heat and still have a lot of fun exploring the city. We found Little Rock to be very pedestrian friendly (drivers actual stop for people waiting in a cross walk!) and easy to walk from place to place. We walked to almost all of the following places from our hotel, but you could also take a Rock Region Metro Streetcar, which kids might enjoy. I am already planning another visit to Little Rock; it looks like they have just as many activities for year round fun!