A little bit of this and that is how we came to be. Plaid and Checks seemed right to start our blog.

We are Parry Eckman & Chris Barsy-Eckman and travel has always been a favorite hobby. We started this journey with Chris winning our honeymoon on a radio show contest and continued great travel opportunities with me working for United Airlines (nearly free tickets!) and we haven't stopped traveling. Before we had kids, our international travel included England/Wales/Scotland and Germany/Switzerland/Austria and domestically, we flew United all around the country. Luckily, the boys both have the travel bug, so we have had some great family road trips. We loved them all. Yes, we had our fair share of cranky, complaining, I can't take it anymore, moments but they were nothing compared to incredible moments in national parks or standing below the World’s Largest Cow (38 feet high, 50 feet long, six tons!) We focused on visiting national parks and "World's Largest" roadside attractions.   Eventually we came to the realization we had visited nearly all 50 states, with the exclusion of Alaska and Hawaii. We asked our boys which one they wanted to visit, and they chose Alaska. Then in 2017 Chris and I completed all 50 with a trip to Hawaii. The boys are both at 49, way ahead of us when we were their age.  

We are at a new starting point of retiring, traveling, and having an abundance of great life adventures.
 
Only a medium at the World’s Largest Ice Cream Cone stand!