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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Disneyland Hotels And Resorts
Three fun family hotels are located within the Disneyland Resort theme park complex in Anaheim, California. Although they may charge more than some local chains, guests receive privileges such as one-hour early admission to both Disneyland and the Disney California Adventure Park (early entry to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is not available at this time); special breakfast opportunities...
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Santa Cruz, California – From Surfing To Redwoods
From playing on the "SC" Boardwalk in summer to apple picking in the fall, some of the best family vacations south of San Francisco happen when you do Santa Cruz with kids. When most people think of excursions from San Francisco, their compass points north toward the wine valleys of Napa, the rocky coast north from Bolinas, the stark hills and pine forests of Sonoma. But turn around, and the first...
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Rome, Italy Hotels
When in Rome, you'd prefer to do as the Romans do, and have a nice villa with extra bedrooms available for your family visit. But Italy's capital can seem unwelcoming if you're trying to find a family-friendly hotel room large enough to lay several sleepy heads. It is expensive and challenging to find accommodations that sleep more than two people; connecting rooms are rare as well. So, here are our...
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Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, An Epic Adventure
Give in to the gravitational pull of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Anaheim's Disneyland, opening today, because there’s just no resisting it. Whether or not you’re a Star Wars fan, whether you side with the Resistance or the First Order, this 14-acre "land" – the largest in Disney’s history – is so immersive that it’s just, well, irresistible. Bright sun or rising moon,...
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The Cowboy Life For Me At Cheyenne Frontier Days
Widely known as "The Daddy of 'em All," the annual Cheyenne Frontier Days is a 10-day summer festival (July 19-28, 2019) that celebrates all things cowboy and Indian. The centerpiece is the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association (PRCA) sanctioned rodeo (the prize purse tops $1 million) where you can watch bronco and bull riding and...
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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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Cruise With Kids Vacations And Family-Friendly Ships
Cruises are hot, and we are seeing families cruise with kids in the Caribbean, Europe, Alaska and far-flung destinations like the Galapagos Islands. Given that the industry’s trade organization, CLIA, projects a whopping 30 million cruise passengers worldwide in 2019, you can count on kids being seen and heard everywhere. Why take a Cruise Vacation Now? Parents love cruising because...
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Rocket Launches and Where to See Them
The Jumbotron was bellowing “T -6, 5, 4...” when suddenly the sky ahead burst into flames. We were on the shore of Banana Creek, about 4 miles from Cape Canaveral’s Launchpad 39A to see the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch a Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. Our NASA host had said, “Watch, don’t listen.” The livestream from SpaceX Mission...
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