Hawaii with Kids

We’ve scoured the web and polled expert family travelers on their top beaches for families. Read on for our top picks to visit in 2015.

Can you imagine traveling 10,000 miles just to give birth? Gray whales do it every year. After spending the summer in the Arctic, the whales embark on an epic migration as they travel from Alaska’s Bering Sea to Baja California’s breeding lagoons. As they skirt the North American coastline, us humans hop on boats, kayaks, and peer over cliff’s edge in hopes of catching a glimpse of these peaceful creatures on their incredible journey. We bring our kids with hope that they will join us in collective awe and respect for nature, learning more in two hours on that boat than they could during a week’s worth of science classes. Plus, it’s fun! Ready to go whale watching with kids but don’t know where to start? Trekaroo to the rescue!

I am not sure what day it was. Somehow the splashing of water, the warm sunshine on my back, and the sweet laughter and giggles of my children blended together in a haze of vacation happiness that had me doubting that reality actually existed outside the bubble of our tropical paradise.

My son was diagnosed with autism about five years ago. The doctor who delivered the news expected my husband and I to give into our emotions and fall apart. Instead, we booked a trip. Then we booked another and another and another.

There are few places on the planet more isolated or biologically diverse than the Hawaiian Islands. The islands were built by volcanic activity and the very volcanoes that formed the islands still dominate the landscape.