Reintroducing Ourselves - Our story and why I do what I do

I write like everyone knows me on a first name basis, even if they don't, and some people have just stumbled upon 2TravelDads randomly. Today I'm sharing our story of building our family and more...

Each week when I sit down to send my newsletter and share what’s happening in life, it becomes more difficult as our country spirals out of control. Today I wanted to share a little about us, a little about the reality of life right now, a bit about Pride and a fun summer trip plan for anyone unsure what they’d like to do or see for their vacay. Life is really serious and intense right now, so if you’re able to squirrel away some peace with your family during it, do it. I share travel during a time like this because it’s a form of self preservation and it keeps us all interacting with others outside of our daily lives. While everything seems like doomsday (which it is) traveling can be valuable and meaningful.

Thank you for reading and tuning in with us through the years. Even when times are hard I still love getting to write about travel and getting to share our stories. It keeps me sane and hopefully brings others encouragement and a temporary distraction.

Before we dive into everything I want to share this week, here’s what’s new across the blogs. It was a slow writing week because of a sick kid and life happening around us, but I did get to do some writing that I really enjoyed.

2TravelDads.com - Two weeks ago we took a trip to Houston and it was packed with fun activities, a baseball game, seeing In the Heights on stage and watching 250k bats do their nightly migration. I’ve put it all together into a great, easy weekend plan for Houston. And PS, visiting Houston is NOT the Texas you might have stereotyped in your mind. Give it a read… And in case you missed our Orlando Weekend Trip guide…

MyAlohaTrip.com - I’ve been working on a bunch about Kona Coffee culture and history, but haven’t been able to publish it yet, so this week that’ll be up. I did get to publish a great article about birdwatching in the Cloud Forest of the Big Island of Hawai’i, which felt great to write about. I love hiking and birds, so getting to specifically write about that sort of thing makes me happy.

TheKeysExplored.com - Writing about the Florida Keys is always funny because there are so many types of travelers who visit and you get such a spread of activities, from party boats to history-seeking geeks like me. I did a lot of updating articles on the site and just got to publish one new piece: Visiting the Truman Little White House in Key West.

MyAlaskaTrip.com - My focus this week for our Alaska site was mostly doing research for some upcoming trips we have, but I did get to put together a round up of my favorite lodges in AK from the Kenai to Fairbanks and a couple other random spots. Hopefully I’ll get to add onto this with a few more by the end of summer… We’ll see!

Reintroducing us w/ a life update

If you don’t know us or know who it is that sends out this weekly note, let me introduce us. We’re the Taylor Family of St Augustine, FL. We’re a blue dot in a blue blob in a red mess in a severely gerrymandered state. We were in the process of moving here before COVID and then had to continue with it, arriving in Florida in April of 2020. It was a weird time. We moved here with a camper and got settled with none of our possessions for 6 weeks. When we pulled into our neighborhood, the beaches were closed, we had to wash our groceries as they came into our house, and the kids were getting ready to start school online.

Fast forward 5+ years and the world is very different. We have a great community that we love with good friends. We moved to a new house that doesn’t flood in hurricanes (OMG, flooding twice in one month was awful), and we have three cats now. A year ago we lost our best guy, Bijoux, and have since welcomed Rocky, Pistachio and Bruce. The kids are growing up really fast (duh) with Oliver starting 9th and Elliott starting 5th grades in August.

Watching your kids get older and balancing that with the changing world is tricky. I don’t love it and wish we could just pause in a good moment where we’re not on the edge of our seats with what’s happening in our country and state, but that’s just not the case. This year has brought lots of unexpected conversations to our dinner table about topics I wish we didn’t have to educate the kids on. We’ve had to talk about racism, immigration, classism, homophobia, cultism, transitional life topics, and the birds and the bees. Really, having a teen and pre-teen in a pre-apocalyptic world is exhausting, but I’d like to think that we’re handling it as best as we can and that our kids are going to come out on the other side as good, empathetic people that don’t sit idly by while the world chews up the people around them. Wish us luck.

How We Built Our Family

Since we have had so many new people join our newsletter since January, I wanted to share a little about how our family came to be. People used to be really awful about asking highly personal and inappropriate questions about it, but that’s gotten better and we have an easy way to share our story that is plain and simple, understandable and relatable.

Before we became parents, a friend had casually asked us if we ever wanted to have kids, which we’d never talked about. Like, that wasn’t even an option for us so why would we have discussed it? But we did then discuss it and started figuring out all the legal stuff and what that would mean for us. Ultimately, our friend carried each of our kids for us through traditional surrogacy and it was very cut and dry. Just like in the olden days (or now) when a couple wants to have children but cannot for one reason or another, a surrogate who has the ability to grow a human in their body can step in and do that. What an incredible gift to share your body, your biology with another family to bless them with children. She was amazing and the process was really very simple.

Being an LGBTQ Parent TODAY

Over the years we’ve had horrible questions asked of us and horrible things said to us, about being gay dads, but it hasn’t made us ever question our ability as or right to be parents. Our kids are biologically ours and it’s incredible to see what characteristics come though from us in each of them. People ask, then and now, “oh, who’s the father?” Um, we both are and any more information than that isn’t your business.

What makes being LGBTQ parents more difficult today than when we first started our parenting journey isn’t navigating the teen years or dealing with kids wanting a cell phone, but it’s protecting our family from the vitriol of ignorant people. No matter the progress for the LGBTQ community around the world, there will still be those who either don’t understand that their religious beliefs are NOT the majority OR the correct, empathetic example of love, or that people are just so full of bigotry for other reasons that they feel the need to lash out, publicly or online. Filtering that and armoring our kids to be strong is the challenge now, as people feel more empowered to be awful without consequences.

Current State: WTH. But we all said this was going to happen

Unless you’ve pulled a Rip Van Winkle this weekend you know that America is literally under attack. Like actual troop vs Americans. That’s right, the Felon ordered 2000 National Guard troops to LA this morning to to protect the people who are actually snatching people off the street. The US Government is legit not looking out for the best interests of its citizens, those who are here legally, those actively following the process to be here legally, the actual greater good, or anyone that has both compassion and an active brain.

This week I’m heading to Chicago to meet with all kinds of USA destinations to talk about different projects and stories for our websites. Usually this event includes tons of international journalists as well, but with everything happening here, I can’t imagine that many people internationally feel comfortable promoting travel to the USA. I know a few friends from outside the USA will be here for the event, and I’m curious to hear from them how our national spiral is being portrayed, or even if any of them are going to be able to create any content that promotes US tourism. I can’t imagine…

NOTE: Saturday June 14th (my travel day to Chicago) is the day for all the organized protests across the USA. If you’re able to make it to one, please do. There is strength in numbers and being a part of a community that’s speaking out is a great way to make your voice heard!

PRIDE Update: Active Reversal of Progress

PRIDE month (as it's soon to no longer be called as of this week’s stupid flow of statements from the WH) is very different for everybody. I know that I'm a downer about it all, because where it used to feel exciting and hopeful (the concept of being able to exist without a barrage of awfulness) today it's different. The government actively working against minority peoples, both within the LGBTQ community and outside of it, and regular people being emboldened to be hateful (or just ignorant) really makes it hard to be excited to about anything.

Both the Department of Education and the Office of Civil Rights have issued statement, either about no longer recognizing Pride Month or actively reversing progressive policies and legal changes put in place during the Biden administration. That last part specifically targets trans youth, who already have a delicate and difficult existence. If there’s one thing that the White House has made clear, they want to snuff out the hope of anyone who’s different.

For me for work, this year is weird because usually we have lots of projects and Pride trips and usually it's all very busy, but this year it's been crickets. I looked back at the different LGBTQ focused work we've had and cross checked with who's got anything Pride focused up on social media and it's stark. I found that only a few destinations have a Pride post on Insta or Facebook (and the comments AREN’T being monitored so they’re full of hate speech), even fewer did the annual Pride overhaul of their logos, and even fewer have stepped up their game. I guess it’s good to see whose Pride was performative.

I have to hand it to Missoula (go Glacier Country!!) for adopting the Pride Flag as an official government symbol so that the state's anti-LGBTQ law doesn't apply to them. Actions like this and like Salt Lake City doing something similar are small but important moments of resistance that show a tiny glimmer of good and hope. But it’s not enough to make a dent in what we all think is coming in the near future.

Wisconsin Summer Trip Ideas

Back to more happy stuff…

It may sound weird that I’m planting the thought of doing a trip to Wisconsin this summer (random spot, I know) but we love Wisconsin and have had wonderful fun and inclusive trips all around the state. Madison really does an amazing job at visible inclusivity year round, as does most of Milwaukee. The zone between Madison and Bariboo is a little iffy, with some pretty red areas, but the state parks are great for exploring and I find that outdoorsy activities tend to attract the nature-minded, kind souls, particularly in this more "conservative" area. And then Wisconsin Dells is fun and a solid place to visit.

Continuing up through the state, as you get to Green Bay and Door County, you have a solid mix of both farming communities and arts/tourism driven towns. These are more wonderfully inclusive areas to visit, no matter your family make-up. If you haven’t heard of Door County, WI that I haven’t done my job well. It’s beautiful, and being a peninsula stretching into Lake Michigan, it feels like a nautical destination full of cider and cheese.

Going to Washington Island is so great! I love the people up there and then the rest of Door County too. Sturgeon Bay is a really diverse community and they have so many artist events everyone should feel quite comfortable. While I haven't spent much time in Green Bay or the Dells, so don't have much to share for specific travel recommendations, I really think a road trip from south to north (or reverse) is a good plan for a fun summer or fall vacay. (Here’s a southern WI road trip plan)

My must see list:

• Milwaukee Riverfront District / Third Ward neighborhoods; the Discovery Center is cool (for geeky adults like me) and there is some fun urban kayaking options

• Kenosha is cute and actually kind of fun with its street car, cool cafes, a Smithsonian museum, and three lighthouses

• Lake Geneva!!! I love it here!! Vintage boats, great restaurants and mansions from yesteryear.

• I love Madison, WI and will always encourage people to visit. The city is beautiful and the people are fun, progressive, and love their beer and cheese. And they are great about celebrating Pride in Madison.

• Bariboo is cute, and Circus World is fascinating. Being the former home base for the Ringling Bros Circus, the town is a fun stop with vintage Wisconsin vibes.

• Devils Lake State Park is awesome, as well as the other parks in this region. There’s lots of hiking and kayaking to enjoy.

• Wisconsin Dells is THE Place to go for a waterpark escape!!

• Door County is really fun, so stop into each of the state parks for hiking, lighthouses and nature and then there is a cool kayaking tour to Cave Point that is really neat.

• Take the ferry out to Washington Island where there's a farmers market and cool little shops scattered about, and then the Stavkirke Church is beautiful too.

I’ll put all of this into an easy to use road trip itinerary this week, so stay tuned for a downloadable plan soon!

---

I think that’s all for this week. I hope we can all find some moments of peace and encouragement, that we can take action to do the right thing on behalf of others, and that we can all stay safe and healthy. Thank you for following along and reading the things I share. I appreciate each moment people spend checking out our websites and such; I couldn’t do all this if it wasn’t for YOU!

PS: There won’t be another newsletter until the last weekend of June. Between trips to Chicago and Seattle it’s going to be too busy to site down and write. Stay tuned on social media though, because I’m going to share a lot on Instagram over the next few weeks. Happy travels!