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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Family-Friendly Myrtle Beach Resorts for Every Budget
It’s tough to find a destination with more family-friendly hotels and resorts all in one location than Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Designed to entertain all ages both indoors and out, many Grand Strand resorts feature fun attractions like water parks, lazy rivers, arcades and even bowling alleys, not to mention miles of Atlantic Ocean beach -- adding to the area's appeal for multigenerational...
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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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Fall Festivals Heat Up The Caribbean
Put on your dancing shoes to get your groove on, because the Caribbean’s biggest cultural music festivals are heating up during the Fall season between the months of September and November. From Aruba to the Dominican Republic, Anguilla, Dominica or Jamaica to Mexico and all across the islands, prepare to be blown away by the biggest cultural events of the year. We find that...
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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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Aulani, A Disney Resort And Spa In Hawaii
"Disney Goes Hawaiian" is how this family sees Aulani, the company’s first and already successful venture running a themed beach vacation resort not related to an amusement park. “This is AWESOME!” I crane my neck over the swells to see my 12-year old son Will ride the rolling blue water. Then my husband Bob pops up on his board and holds that Hawaii Five-0 theme song pose,...
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Favorite Clearwater Beach Family Resorts
Clearwater Beach, halfway between St. Petersburg and Tampa, has become so popular that you need to plan ahead to choose the best Clearwater Beach resort for your family. Why? Clearwater delivers a great family beach experience because it’s cheaper than Florida’s East Coast beaches; and it’s on the Gulf of Mexico which is calmer, shallower and therefore, safer for swimmers than the Atlantic....
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3 Great Florida Beach Towns to Celebrate New Year’s Eve
A family vacation to Florida over New Year's can be a low-cost, beachside adventure with hiking, biking and plenty of attractions. The cities and quaint oceanside towns dotting Florida's Gulf Coast are often overlooked for their warmer weather cousins surrounding Miami and the Keys. But there's still plenty to do in the crisp winter air from South Walton to Panama City Beach to Clearwater Beach, before...
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Top Ten Cancun Resorts For Families
Cancun, Mexico means white sand beaches, tropical vistas, luxury resorts, and some of Mexico’s most historic sights, making it one of the hottest spots for a family vacation by the sea. And while Mexico’s Mayan ruins are an essential stop, the top-of-the-line resorts along Cancun’s Zona Hotelera (the Hotel Zone) are almost destinations in themselves. We've been to most...
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