How Kids Grow Up to be Dinosaur Hunters
They may study long-ago creatures some call “mythical,” but paleontologists today are anything but dinosaurs. Instead, at the Jurassic Mile excavation site in Wyoming, we met dynamic and multi-talented scientists searching for a deeper understanding of our planet and its history. The...
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Aw Shucks! Autumn Adventures In A Corn Maze
We think visiting a farm -- one with a huge corn maze the kids can puzzle on -- is a great autumn family getaway and, according to the directory at Corn Mazes America, there are approximately 800 to choose from in the U.S. this season. If you can also pick apples, sit on a hay bale, buy some local produce, and bring home a big pumpkin at half the price it sells for in your home town, it's a value getaway...
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A Cultural Immersion in Barbados
In summer, the annual May to August Crop Over cultural festival draws lots of visitors to Barbados in what is traditionally the low season. This year, Crop Over celebrates its bicenntial with big news: superstar Rihanna will be returning to her native island to perform at Grand Kadooment Day, the festival's finale on August 5, 2019. You may not get a ticket to Rihanna up close, but...
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Polar Bear Capital Of The World
If you want to see polar bears without the frigid temperatures, Churchill, Manitoba Canada is the place families can experience the tundra without the arctic chill. Here, July temperatures average a warm high of 61°F or 16°C -- great summer weather for viewing the wildlife that make the town of Churchill an ideal eco-adventure destination. With human settlements dating...
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Sargassum Seaweed Attacking Our Beaches
According to recent media accounts, an influx of the disruptive and hated-by-brides seaweed known as sargassum has washed up around the Caribbean and Atlantic beaches for summer 2019. I first lived through it in 2015 on a trip to Mexico's east coast, embedded with the troops fighting the onslaught of seaweed. It came back with force in the summer of 2018 (1,000 square miles of seaweed)...
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51 Great Family Summer Vacation Ideas
Two-thirds of leisure travelers plan to take vacations this summer, according to AAA Travel, with good reason. Summer is the traditional time for families to reconnect. Parents and grandparents strive to recreate favorite childhood memories and make new ones together with the youngest generation. Each year, we present 51 great summer vacation ideas in collaboration with our partners at
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5 Green Hotels that Lure Families
If you're into responsible tourism - and who isn't these days? - check into ecolodges and green hotels in the Caribbean, Central and South America and even in the US, where families can have fun while learning about the environment. While it's easy to maintain environmentally friendly practices at home, eco-conscious citizens usually find this task daunting when they're on a family vacation....
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Peak Moments from Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro
“I’m going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and plant trees with Jane Goodall!” “A bucket list trip?” people would ask. For the record I hate the word bucket list about as much as I despise the phrase 24/7. So pedestrian. No, my husband and I were invited by a guy who use to babysit our kids on Christmas Eve so we could go to church. Jeff Bonaldi grew up and told me he left Citi Bank...
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Swimming with Whale Sharks Makes the Hit List
Well it wasn't on my Life's Greatest Hits list but with a birthday coming up and a son graduating from college I couldn't resist the opportunity to swim with whale sharks on a recent press trip to Cancun. Really? "Swim with whale sharks" was what it said on the itinerary for the day following a "Swim with Dolphins" excursion. Sounded equally harmless. And PR people...
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Petit St. Vincent: A Luxurious Digital Detox
If your family is ripe for a digital detox, consider an escape to Petit St. Vincent, a vacation paradise so perfect you won’t miss checking your e-mail. In today’s high-tech world, elementary school kids have smart phones and savvy toddlers cruise the web with ease. Stepping away from the Internet, television and cell phones, even just for a few hours, seems impossible. But...
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