After spending our first day in Clearwater Beach exploring the beaches and towns, we decided to spend our second day out in nature at Honeymoon Island State Park. A barrier island featuring 4 miles of beaches and a beautiful pine forest with a 2.5 mile nature trail, the park offers ample opportunity for hiking and wildlife spotting. We took an Uber to the park and paid the $8 per vehicle entrance fee before being dropped off at the Rotary Centennial Nature Center. After wandering through the exhibits, we grabbed a map and asked a park ranger for directions to the …

With limited time in Clearwater Beach, we didn’t plan any major activities. We just wanted to relax, spend time together and explore the area a little bit. What better way to explore than on the Jolley Trolley? The Jolley Trolley popped up in a lot of the research we did before the trip and then the concierge at our hotel highly recommended it. The trolley offers a North Beach Route and a South Beach Route, both of which stay local to Clearwater Beach, as well as a Coastal Route, which crosses the causeway, stopping in Dunedin on the way to …

We’ve been going to Hilton Head for over 10 years now and every time we drive on or off the island, we pass the Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge. And every time we go past it, I say that I want to go there. This year we finally did! The small island between Hilton Head and Bluffton is a bird watcher’s paradise, with some 250 species residing there. Thousands of migratory birds stop on the island each year, and there is a rookery for hundreds of ibis, egrets, and herons. The refuge offers hiking, biking, wildlife observation, and fishing. The …

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles North Carolina and Tennessee and is the most visited national park in the US. It is less than 3 hours away from us yet somehow we have never visited! It was definitely high on my reasons for picking Tennessee for our spring break trip. Normally we would find some hiking trails to explore but since we were traveling with my parents, I wanted to find a different way to see the park. Pink Jeep Tours fit the bill exactly! Started as an off-road tour company in Sedona AZ, Pink Jeep Tours now offers …

I have secretly wanted to go to Dollywood for years but knew my husband and boys wouldn’t be super excited about it. So when we were floating around the idea of a Tennessee road trip, I knew I had my opening. I sold it as a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains and subtly tacked on a stop in Dollywood since we would already be in the area. It’s not that my boys need a lot of prodding to go to an amusement park, but unless you are a country music fan or a young kid, Dollywood on the surface …

The Country Music Hall of Fame was established in 1967 but moved to its current location in the heart of Downtown Nashville in 2001. The museum is one of the most iconic buildings in the city, and musical symbolism is heavily featured in its architectural design. From above, the building is shaped like a bass clef. From the street, the front of the building looks like a piano, with the windows emulating the black keys. The left side of the building features a rotunda, with a replica radio tower at its peak. Even the disc-shaped tiers on top of the …

At the hotel brunch on our first morning, my dad overheard another guest come up to one of the staff members and thank him profusely for recommending a tour, saying it was the best tour he had ever been on. Intrigued, my dad went over to ask for more information. The staff member happily repeated his recommendation for the Historic RCA Studio B Tour, agreeing that it is the best tour in Nashville. We immediately got to work researching the tour over breakfast and found out that it is an add-on to the ticket for the Country Music Hall of …