Outdoor Adventures

As an intrepid Mommy Poppins blogger, I am always on the lookout for cool new ways to experience New York City with my eight-year-old son. While we're certainly up for exploring neighborhoods on our own, when I heard about the do-it-yourself mobile tours offered by Stray Boots, I thought they sounded like fun.

A Stray Boots outing is equal parts walking tour and scavenger hunt. You just download the app on your smartphone, head to the starting location and go. But the entire route isn't given to you up front: At each stop, you need to complete challenges and answer questions in order to progress to the next destination. Along the way, the app shares historical tidbits and facts about the places you visit and the surrounding area.

Stray Boots started in NYC and now offers tours in multiple cities all over the country. For our first one, my son and I and two of his friends decided on the Chinatown and Little Italy tour. While Stray Boots tours aren't specifically aimed at families, we had a great time. Best of all, even though we'd all been to Chinatown and Little Italy before, during the tour we got to see the neighborhoods in an entirely new way.

While we've written plenty of posts about downhill skiing with NYC kids, we've never covered cross-country skiing. Also known as Nordic skiing, cross-country skiing is a great winter sport for families. Children as young as five can ski alone, and parents can tow tots in a sled or carry them in a backpack while on the trails. You can't do that while swooshing down a mountain!

Cross-country skiing is a fun way for active kids to burn off energy in the colder months and spend time outside. While you use most of the same equipment that you'd need for a day on the slopes—skis, boots, bindings, poles, goggles, helmets and warm clothing—cross-country skiing is nowhere near as dangerous or as expensive as downhill skiing. You won't be at risk for slamming into a tree at full speed, and trail passes usually cost about $20 per person.

After a good snowfall in New York City, you can cross-country ski just about anywhere. I've seen people doing it in parks and even right down the middle of Fifth Avenue before the snow plows cleared the street. But if you're looking to go cross-country skiing in a more scenic (and less bumpy) environment, there are tri-state area destinations that offer many miles of well-groomed trails, as well as amenities like warm lodges where you can sit back, relax, sip on hot cocoa and enjoy a family meal.

Unlike traditional ski resorts, most cross-country trails aren't in the business of making their own snow. So you're going to have to wait for the white stuff before you can get out there. Once that happens, here are six spots where families can enjoy cross-country skiing, most less than a two-hour drive from New York City.