Family Vacations

Iron Maiden torture chamber at Ripley's Believe It or Not! I loved the Ripley’s Believe  It or Not! cartoon as a kid.  Learning about  Robert Ripley’s weird and wacky discoveries around the world was always intriguing.  So there was no way I’d pass up the strip of Ripley’s attractions…

Many have said the Biblical Garden of Eden may be found at the source of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, though you don't have to travel that far, because the Gulf Coast of Alabama is waiting for you now! With white sandy beaches and a constantly shining sun will bring smiles to the faces of the…

Local Wild Life at the Fair While amusement parks and beaches provide great entertainment for your kids, entertainment is only one of the reasons to travel with children.  Travel is also a great way to introduce your kids to other parts of the world and how other people live.  My mother used to…

Entrance of the Du Sable Museum Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood has gained lots of visibility as the home of President Barak Obama but he’s not the only exciting aspect of the area.  This  stately south side neighborhood is also home to the DuSable Museum of African American History. …

Dress your dog in holiday festivewear for the 1.2k Santa Sled Run. The 12K’s of Christmas celebrates the “health, fitness, and joy of Christmas.” This Christmas run is being held in the town of Gilbert, Arizona on December 12th at the Freestone District Park. Every registered runner…

A dragster at Firebird International Raceway. My husband is a huge fan of the drags. I’d never attended a drag race myself, before I met him. As a matter of fact, on one of our first dates we attended a “Jets vs. Funny Cars” event at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, AZ. Jet…

Orlando Makes Kids Smile! Building on the recently ended 67 Days of Smiles promotion, the Orlando/Orange County Convention&Visitors Bureau is offering kids between the ages of 13 and 18 to win an Orlando vacation. This time Orlando CVB is teaming up with the Florida Film Festival and KIDS FIRST!…

Is Your Vacation Safe From Swine Flu? It’s not just schools that are thinking about the spread of Swine Flu. Travelers all over the world are talking about how safe their vacation plans are with the widespread H1N1 virus on the loose.  Theme parks are of particular concern for families as they…

Swirling Hurricane at Margaritaville You don’t have to be a Jimmy Buffett fan to be captured by the zaniness of Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Personally, I’ve never been a fan of Jimmy’s pseudo-tropical, off kilter tunes but I forgot all that as I nibbled jerk…

Stylin' girls at the mall. There are twenty-five days until Black Friday, my friends! Time to get your gameplan together! Black Friday, that traditional chaotic Christmas shopping day that qualifies as a quasi-holiday all on its own, is the Friday after Thanksgiving in the U.S. every year. This…

November 2nd marks the last and 67th Day of Smiles for Kyle and Stacey, two lucky travelers who’ve experienced just about everything Orlando, Florida has to offer – all on someone else’s dime. Last spring, the Orlando Convention & Visitor’s Bureau announced their 67 Days of Smiles contest…

A painting featured during ArtCrawl Harlem Soho and Chelsea may grab all the attention when it comes to New York’s art scene but Harlem boasts a vibrant array of galleries and museums, minus the crowds.   Artcrawl Harlem rounds up some of these art discoveries with a three and half- hour…

Me and my husband at Lewis Falls - Yellowstone National Park, August 2009. My husband and I visited Yellowstone National Park earlier this year. We tend to over-prepare for any vacation we partake of, and the road trip that took us on a round-trip total of 3,026 miles was a fine example of…

Orlando Family Vacations Orlando, Florida is well known as a family vacation destination.  However, one of the common misconceptions I hear from families is that they have to wait until the kids are “old enough to appreciate it” before they can invest in a family trip to the theme park…

The Sam Adams tent at the Big Pour in 2008. The Big Pour, a beer festival hosted by Draft Magazine, is this weekend in Scottsdale, Arizona. From the official site: “The Big Pour is the ultimate beer lover’s adventure with hundreds of craft beers from breweries across the globe, seminars,…