PhillyMama – Lisa McElroy

PhillyMama (aka Lisa McElroy) is a law professor and freelance writer (I know, weird combo, right?).  She lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with her husband, her two tween daughters, and her three wirehaired wiener dogs.  When she’s not blogging about the Supreme Court for SCOTUSblog or about family travel for SuiteTrip, she writes for Family Travel Network,Parenting magazine, Family Getaways by Travel Age West, EverydayHealth, and many other outlets.  She is also the author of eleven books for children.

Best Family Adventure: A trip to the Galapagos with my 11 year-old, thanks to Ecoventura and AdventureSmith.  Oh, and maybe a week-long Chilean whitewater rafting expedition with my husband – wet and grimy is the ultimate in romance.

Worst Family Mishap: Getting stuck in the Chilean earthquake after the whitewater rafting trip.  Hint:  If you need to get out of an earthquake stricken country, ride the bus for however many hours it takes.  Fifteen hours on unpaved roads, anyone?  (And don’t forget the wet and grimy part – yes, escaping devastation was still romantic).

Never Travels Without: My Kindle.  I’m a voracious reader, and the Kindle stores all of my reading material.  It’s great for the beach, the hotel room, the plane . . .  no more carry-on full of paperbacks!

Always Forgets to Pack: Chargers for Kindle, Blackberry, Nintendo DS, GPS, laptop, iPod, camera . . . and that’s only the start.