Glens Falls is the ideal place to raise a vegan family.

I’ll back up and start at the beginning. I celebrated my 36^th birthday earlier this month by taking a long weekend and getting out of town. It’s been a while since we gave ourselves all a break from the day-to-day, and the more kids I have, the less I feel like celebrating myself.

The search started with things to do — beaches, campgrounds, museums, parks. Had to be no more than a few hours away because: Three kids. And we wanted to go someplace new. Additional criteria: If we’re going to drive a few hours, it’d be nice to eat somewhere with options for us vegans outside of a veggie burger or salad and fries.

We thought about going all-in as vegan tourists, visiting a farm sanctuary or vegan B&B in Watkins Glen or Woodstock, New York — but we’ll wait until the kids are older. We opted for mainstream, fun & cheap. Our Six Flags Great Escape season passes get us free admission to Six Flags New England in Agawam, Massachusetts.

We built the rest of the trip around that, staying in Springfield and visiting the Springfield Museums, which includes The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum, the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden, the Springfield Science Museum and others.

We ate at Pizza D’Action in Agawam, which offered an excellent vegan menu, and we ordered garlic bread, salad, pizza, eggplant lasagna, and spaghetti with sausage. We also hit up Spinners in Albany on the way home. Home runs, both places. More options than I could eat. Loved it.

The kids loved the hotel pool at the Holiday Inn Express perhaps best of all, after we wore them out dragging them around to all of the fun attractions. Meltdowns were had, by each of us, and often. But we ate well, and we saw a giant T-rex, went on a roller coaster, rode a seven hump Wump, enjoyed the kids’ first planetarium show, splashed around in a giant wave pool, and rode the teacup ride.

Coming home felt good, too. We’ve splurged and in the last week have had a fried egg, bagel and cream cheese and sweet potatoes with horseradish from Fresh ADK Marketplace, vegan turmeric latté from Rock Hill Bakehouse Café, and tofu breakfast burritos from Samantha’s Café and Catering. We’ve enjoyed options at Take A Bite including burritos from Raul’s, cookies and smoothies from Juicin’ Jar, and cupcakes from Samantha’s. We’re excited about the menu at the Birch Bark Eatery, a vegan/vegetarian delicatessen opening soon in Queensbury.

We have so much for children to do, with three museums and a calendar full of events. Mondays we go to City Band in City Park, Wednesdays we go to Take A Bite, the Downtown Glens Falls food festival, Fridays we go to Art in the Public Eye’s Outdoor Cinema in City Park, and Saturdays we go to the Glens Falls Farmer’s Market. There’s always, dare I say it, too much going on.

If I didn’t live here, this would definitely be a place I’d want to come on vacation. But this weekend, we might just stay home and do nothing. We’re pooped.