Author: Eileen Gilligan

How much do you know about Auburn? The city, which calls itself “History’s Hometown,” sits around 40 minutes’ drive from Syracuse on Owasco Lake in Cayuga County, and it turns out one day is not enough to try all the possibilities Auburn holds from museums to playing to restaurants. I’m looking forward to going back, rain or shine, summer and winter. Start your trip with a dip into the past. Auburn is lucky to be the last home of Harriet Tubman, famous escaped slave and slave rescuer. She eventually settled in Auburn and founded the Tubman Home for the Aged.…

Ever since a friend’s family went to Ottawa to skate on the canal one winter, I’ve wanted to go. This is the year. Real outdoor skating, ice sculptures, museums, toboggan hills, hot chocolate and yummy pastry beaver tails; This is how Canadians embrace snowfall. They celebrate it. That’s easier to do when you return to a warm room, and the hot tub and pool are located in the same hotel. Two friends had recommended the Brookstreet Spa Hotel, which features salt water pools – even a separate kiddie pool – and a full-service spa, just three hours from the Syracuse…

How far would you drive your kids to visit a good park? As long as the kids can stand it? Trick question. How about 25 minutes from Syracuse to Baldwinsville, where three parks with woods and a river view will call children to spend time outdoors? And then you can head to the local cafés or diner for an indoor treat. Fall is a beautiful time to visit the town of Baldwinsville. Many may think of Beaver Lake Nature Center as the main draw to B’ville, as the locals call it, but other parks await your kids closer to the…

Niagara Falls has much to offer, even in fall! We run down what to do and where to go to make the most of a family weekend at the horseshoe.

I can’t believe how many times I’ve driven through Cazenovia, usually on my way to Critz Farms at Halloween time, and not stopped to check out the other gems of this fair town. It turns out the public library houses a real mummy and the art park offers more than a hundred acres to explore and visit works of art. And, of course, there’s the lake. Good thing I finally pulled the car over. Consider taking the kids to Cazenovia for a close-to-home day trip. Start at the library, located right on Albany Street, the main thoroughfare in town. There’s…

If you’re looking for a new spot to take the kids on a summer day trip, consider Oswego, our own port city, just an hour from Syracuse on Lake Ontario. Combined with a special event like a historic re-enactment at Fort Ontario or just for fun, a visit to Oswego can be designed by mixing and matching hanging out at the lake, touring an old Navy boat, bicycling through town or stopping for ice cream (OK, that’s a must-do). I had no idea a fort could be fun until my two kids begged to climb up the side walls of…

While Disney World has been laid out to give families a fun and happy vacation—filled with rides, shows, characters and more—devoting a bit of time to thoughtful planning can help make your adventure go more smoothly and cost less money. Before booking anything, one needs to decide how many days and how much money the family has to spend, and what your vacation priorities are for this trip to Orlando, Fla. For example, my family, especially my husband, likes to have a good meal, so we make a reservation at a choice restaurant months in advance. My sister’s family is…

Most Central New York parents know about the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester. But the Flower City offers much more for children and parents to explore after a mere 70-minute drive from Syracuse. Most of the following fun spots in Rochester can entertain children of all ages for many hours, but I like to split them up into half-day adventures or two-for-one road trips. Syracuse has its own science museum and zoo, but it’s fun to check out new ones. The Rochester Museum and Science Center is located just a few blocks from the Strong Museum, which makes…

Babies make many lasting contributions to our lives: greater empathy for others, a greater reservoir of love, more laugh lines. But pregnancy and childbirth also leave lasting marks on women’s bodies, and it’s not always easy to accept these changes. I asked several mothers about what they experienced once they had babies and how well they adjusted. “I didn’t know anything about (the changes)—until I got pregnant—and then all my girlfriends who had had babies told me,” says Lisa Glidden, a mother of two in Oswego. With more than 3.9 million babies born in the United States in 2012, one…

The Big Apple. New York City. It’s so big and imposing and filled with possibilities. It’s hard to winnow down what to do and where to go. Yet we are so close, many parents feel the desire to take their kids for a visit. Here are some ideas for how parents and their children of all ages have tackled the Big Apple and returned wanting to go back for more. An important disclaimer: You can’t do it all. New York is one of the greatest cities in the world and a weekend there will not do it justice. So just…