Best Romantic Beach Getaways in the Southeast: Luxury Resorts Worth Leaving the Kids Home For
If you’ve spent any time around here, you already know I spend a ridiculous amount of time talking about beaches we can drive to from Atlanta. Usually I’m looking at them through the lens of a family trip. Where can Coop snorkel? Is there enough to do? Is the beach nice? Can we get there without spending an entire day traveling? But Heath and I celebrate our 14th anniversary next month, and this time I’m looking for something completely different. I don’t want the cooler, beach toys or a condo with a kitchen so I can somehow find myself making breakfast on vacation. I want someone to hand me a…
Best Waterfall Hikes Near Atlanta: Georgia Trails Worth Getting Your Feet Wet For
There are approximately 400 million “best waterfall hikes in Georgia” lists on the internet, so I wasn’t particularly interested in making another one based on trails somebody else said were pretty. These are waterfall hikes we’ve actually hiked. Long before our family vacations started leaning heavily toward the beach, Heath and I were hikers. We’re talking thousands of miles on trails, weekends planned around where we could hike next and several Colorado 14ers under our boots. When Coop came along, we didn’t stop. We strapped him into a carrier when he was barely four months old and kept going. Now he’s nine, carries himself and occasionally even carries his own…
Fall Trips From Atlanta: Getting Back to Our Mountain Roots
If you’ve spent any time on this blog, you could easily assume I’m a beach girl. There are certainly enough beach posts around here to make a pretty convincing case. The truth is, I’m a mountain girl through and through. Before we had Coop, Heath and I spent thousands of miles on hiking trails. When we lived in Colorado, we were gone almost every weekend. We hiked 14ers, explored trails all over the state and basically planned our free time around where we could hike next. Some couples had brunch plans on Saturday mornings. We were usually somewhere on the side of a mountain. Then we had a baby, and…
Where to Find the Clearest Water Within Driving Distance of Atlanta
If you’ve spent any time around here, you already know I have a slight beach obsession. Okay, maybe more than slight. I have written about beaches close to Atlanta, quiet Florida beach towns, hidden beaches, 30A, Sarasota, Key West and probably enough sand at this point that Google has figured out exactly where my happy place is. But there is one thing I will absolutely drive a little farther for: clear water. You know the kind. The water where you can stand waist deep and still see your feet. Where the kids can put on a mask and spend an hour looking for fish. Where the Gulf turns from pale…
Best Fall Mountain Getaways in Georgia & North Carolina: Festivals, Waterfalls and Small-Town Charm
There is a point every summer in Georgia when I am just done. Done with the humidity, done with sweating while walking from the house to the car, and definitely done with getting into a vehicle that feels like it has been preheating at 425 degrees. Then we get that first cool morning and suddenly I want coffee on a porch, a cabin in the mountains and absolutely nowhere I have to be. After our recent weekend in Ellijay, I may have entered my mountain era. We rented a cabin right on the river, hiked 7.3 miles, watched lightning bugs at night and basically let our nine year old and…
Georgia’s Hidden Islands: A Different Kind of Beach Vacation
It hit me after our weekend in Ellijay that Georgia really is spoiled. One weekend we’re hiking seven miles through the mountains, watching lightning bugs dance through the trees after dark. A few hours in the opposite direction, we’re hopping on a ferry to an island with wild horses, untouched beaches, and hardly another soul in sight. We really don’t have to travel far to find somewhere that feels completely different. I’ve written a lot about beaches over the past year because, let’s be honest, I love them. Give me soft sand, salty air, and a sunset over the water, and I’m one happy mama. But lately I’ve realized I’m…
Secret Beaches Within 8 Hours of Atlanta (That Most People Skip)
Everybody knows Destin. Everybody knows Panama City Beach. And if you’ve ever tried to visit either one during summer, you know exactly why I started looking elsewhere. Don’t get me wrong—there’s a reason those beaches are popular. They’re beautiful. But over the years, I’ve realized my favorite beach memories haven’t happened at the places with the biggest crowds. They’ve happened where my son could spend hours chasing ghost crabs instead of waiting in line for ice cream, where my dogs could nap on the porch after a long walk, and where the loudest sound was usually the waves rolling onto shore. Living in Atlanta gives us an incredible advantage. Within…
Georgia’s Mountain Towns: The Perfect Escape When You Need a Break From the Beach
If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you know I love a good beach trip. Give me white sand, a colorful sunset, and the sound of waves rolling in, and I’m perfectly content. Living in Georgia means we’re lucky enough to have some incredible beach destinations within driving distance, and I certainly take advantage of that whenever I can. But every once in a while, I need a completely different kind of getaway. This past weekend, we packed up the car, loaded the dogs, and headed north to Ellijay for a few days in the mountains. Our cabin sat right on the river, and within about an…
Relaxed Florida Beach Towns That Still Feel Like Old Florida
Somewhere along the way, beach vacations started feeling a little… exhausting. Packed beaches. Two hour dinner waits. Traffic backed up for miles. Resort fees that cost more than groceries for a week. Somewhere between the rooftop DJs and influencer photo lines, a lot of us started craving something slower again. That is exactly why our family keeps gravitating toward the quieter beach towns lately. Not boring. Not sleepy in a bad way. Just slower. The kind of places where kids still ride bikes, you can actually hear the ocean, and dinner does not require a six week reservation window. If your idea of the perfect summer trip sounds more like…
Is Seaside, Florida Worth the Hype? A Mom’s Guide to 30A in 2026
If you have spent any time looking into Florida beach vacations, chances are Seaside has popped up more than once. Between the pastel cottages, bike-lined streets, white sand beaches, and those perfectly curated little corners that seem made for Instagram, it is hard to ignore. It almost feels too picture-perfect, which makes sense considering Seaside was one of the filming locations for The Truman Show. But let’s be honest. Pretty pictures only tell part of the story. The real question is whether Seaside, Florida is actually worth the hype, especially if you are traveling with kids, carrying beach bags, and trying to balance “relaxing” with keeping everyone entertained. After looking…
