Family Vacation 2026 - France

Our big family adventure for 2026 was a trip to France - Normany, Brittany, the Loire Valley and Paris. This trip has been a dream of mine for several years and I was finally able to convince Lee that we should go. While I'm starting to think that nothing will top our Alaska trip, we had a pretty incredible time on this trip. Over 14 days, we visited four different regions of France, saw countless historical monuments and churches, ate incredible food, and walked - a lot! Some of our favorite memories are below but if you want to see our entire trip, click here for our travel blog to see each and every adventure. 

Palace of Versailles

Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles.

Gardens of Versailles

Honfleur

Deauville

Normandy American Cemetery

Omaha Beach

The Headlands

Pointe-du-Hoc

Le Mont-St-Michel

Chateau d'Angers

Apocalypse Tapestry

Hunting dog demonstration

Chateau d'Azay-de-Rideau

Loire River

Le Clos de la Mesierie

Eiffel Tower

Notre Dame Cathedral

Arc de Triomphe

Musee d'Orsay

Spring Hikes

While we didn't get in a ton of hiking this spring, we did manage few nice ones.

Wadsworth State Park after a big storm.

Wadsworth State Park - Big Falls

Daniel Schwartzkopf Nature Preserve

Connecticut River

Spring hike in Potsdam, New York means snow.

Arizona

After dropping off Elizabeth in New Mexico, Lee headed to Arizona to spend time with his brother and his family. In addition to quality family time, Mike played tour guide, taking Lee within yards of the Mexican border, as well as introducing him to hiking in the southwest. Despite a too close for comfort encounter with a rattlesnake, Lee really enjoyed the time he spent out there and is looking forward to future trips.