Climbing the dune at Sleeping Bear with five kids — the legend behind the name, the wind off Lake Michigan and the run back down.

The largest mammoth deposit in North America, bones still lying where they fell — the Hot Springs, South Dakota dig that held five kids longer than any museum.

Two granite monuments in the Black Hills, half an hour apart — how they compare, and how long to allow for each with children.

Devils Tower with five kids — the base trail, the climbers overhead, and the Wyoming monolith Roosevelt made America’s first national monument in 1906.

Little Bighorn with young children — the markers scattered on the hillside, both sides of the story, and why it stays with them.

Idaho’s lava fields with five kids — the caves, the cinder cones and the strangest picnic spot on a cross-country drive.

Lava tube caves you explore on your own in far northern California — flashlights, no timed tickets, and five kids underground at the best cave stop of our trip.

A ranger at the Grand Canyon told us to detour to Canyon de Chelly, so we did — the Arizona canyon most families drive right past, seen with five kids.

300 steps down to 750-year-old Sinagua cliff dwellings — Walnut Canyon’s Island Trail near Flagstaff, walked with five kids and a lot of fruit snacks.

Snow tucked between fields of black basalt at Sunset Crater — the Arizona volcano that erupted in 1085 — on a short, steep trail near Flagstaff with five kids.

‘No services next 100 miles’ — the empty, almost unnatural quiet of Mojave National Preserve, California’s high desert crossed with five kids and a full tank.

A midday stop that still earned a Junior Ranger badge — Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on the Arizona-Mexico border, seen in a few hours with five kids.

There are 63 national parks and 130 national monuments — why the monuments, which any president can designate, are the unsung heroes of America’s public lands.

The fort where the Civil War began — the boat out, the walk around, and talking about division and repair with children.

Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown with five kids — the tradespeople, the reenactments, and which history gets preserved.

Old Sturbridge Village with five kids — an 1830s New England town brought to life, the blacksmith and the mills, and how everyday craft work turned into art.

Retracing the first day of the Revolution with five kids — Lexington Green, the North Bridge and the road between them.