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Sunset at the Palms: Getting One's Goat in Jamaica
I was delighted when my husband and I received Betty's invitation for a picnic lunch at the Sunset in the Palms Resort in Negril, Jamaica. The setting was lush, the food and wine enticing. Conversation, though, was a tad strained. Betty was there with her kids, and it was hard for her to attend to them and focus on her guests at the same time. ...Read more
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San Diego's Eclectic Museums Celebrate the City's Cultures
This time of the year is the perfect time to visit San Diego -- and not just for the sublime weather, beaches, award-winning craft breweries (there are more than 150) and world-class attractions that include the San Diego Zoo. Winter is also a perfect time to browse through the city's many museums.
While I'm here for the mainstay museums of ...Read more
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Smith Island Is Quaint, Quiet and Filled With Character
By Victor Block
Talk about hometown pride! When I asked a grizzled waterman who lives on Smith Island, Maryland, if he would like to accompany me to one of the other nearby villages, he replied, "Nope, I've been there."
While the twinkle in his eyes suggested he wasn't serious about the reason for his decision, the fact is that ...Read more
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Trains Large and Small Delight Railroad Buffs
By Victor Block
Trains chug through a town where children are enjoying swings and seesaws in a playground, musicians in a bandstand are playing their instruments and a dog chases a mailman who is making his rounds. Other workers are sawing logs, a fire truck is responding to a call for assistance and hot-air balloons are hovering over ...Read more
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St. Augustine: America’s Oldest City Blends History and Charm
Tucked along Florida’s northeastern coast, St. Augustine is often overshadowed by the state’s bigger tourist hubs. Yet, with its centuries-old Spanish architecture, cobblestone streets and coastal charm, America’s oldest city offers a one-of-a-kind travel experience.
Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, St. ...Read more
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Wherever You Want to Go, Try Queens
By Victor Block
Not hungry enough for a sit-down breakfast, I munched on momos (Tibetan dumplings) purchased from a snack truck decorated with a sign that touted "Himalayan Fresh Food." Lunch was a hurried affair at a five-table eatery where the menu special is yak meat washed down by salty yak milk tea.
For dinner, I chose a small ...Read more
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A Wintertime Visit to Quartzsite
By Bonnie and Bill Neely
The new year began with us heading toward the strange place we had heard lots about from other RVers who live in the North most of the year. Winter is the peak time for human snowbirds to migrate to the warm desert at Quartzsite, Arizona. This is a little town of about 500 people, but somehow they cope with about...Read more
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Nature Hits a High Note in Naples, Florida
By Victor Block
One morning I take a sightseeing drive through a neighborhood of palatial mansions with three- and four-car garages that house Cadillacs, Mercedes and other top-of-the-line automobiles. That afternoon I enjoy a thrilling airboat ride through mangrove swamps, where I spot alligators and an aviary-worth variety of birds, ...Read more
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Modern Speakeasies Recall a Rowdy Past
By Victor Block
"The Little Rascals" was a series of movie shorts that ran from 1922 to 1938, then was repackaged as a television show. When a casual eatery named Spanky's, which echoed the "speakeasy" days of Prohibition (1920-13), opened in Naples, Florida, in 1984, "Spanky" McFarland -- one of the Little Rascals -- sued for unapproved...Read more
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Celebrate Black History Month by Remembering Past Heroes
By Victor Block
In 1693 the king of Spain issued a decree stating that anyone who moved from a Protestant colony in the New World to a Catholic settlement must be accepted and protected. At the time, the population of St. Augustine, Florida, included about 100 Black people who enjoyed rights equal to their European neighbors.
Men from ...Read more
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Archaeology Adds Another Dimension to Travel
By Victor Block
A new exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science is attracting both city residents and visitors interested in seeing one of the most exciting paleontologists' finds in recent years. This is the partial skeleton of a juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex, a dinosaur which experts tell us lived about 67 million years ago and ...Read more
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Travel the World in the United States
By Victor Block
Erik and Ingrid Olson were excited to be exploring their family's Norwegian heritage. They were visiting a late-19th-century village and checking out log homes, a Lutheran church, a one-room schoolhouse and other traditional structures. A museum added to their immersion in local lore with collections of documents, history...Read more
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One Perfect Day at the Kennedy Space Center
By Bonnie and Bill Neely
On a recent trip to the Kennedy Space Center we arrived just after sunrise even though the park wouldn't open until 9. We wanted to make sure we could get it all in by closing time at 5 p.m., and there was already a long line. We picked up a daily schedule as we passed through the entrance, which enabled us to ...Read more
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Explore Anegada in the British Virgin Islands
By Victor Block
It had been two decades since my wife, Fyllis, and I visited the British Virgin Islands. On that visit we checked out the inviting beaches, visited historic and nature-made sites, and oohed and aahed at the magnificent scenery.
During our recent return trip there, we relived those experiences. We also enjoyed others that...Read more
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One Reason to Visit the British Virgin Islands: The Anegada Lobster Festival
By Fyllis Hockman
Most travelers who have heard of the British Virgin Islands are familiar with Tortola and maybe even Jost Van Dyke and Virgin Gorda. Almost no one, however, has ever heard of Anegada. Which is a shame because it has so much to recommend it.
For starters, it has multiple beautiful beaches with soft white sand and azure ...Read more
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South Carolina's Grand Strand Lives Up to Its Name
By Victor Block
Some visitors to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, take time to drop by museums that house a wide variety of exhibits. One displays more than 150 cars and trucks, another holds vintage pinball machines that are available to play and the Rice Museum depicts the story of when the area was the growing center of that grain for a ...Read more
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Small Towns With Big Claims to Fame
By Victor Block
In the 16th century, people in Germany had a tradition of marking Candlemas (Feb. 2) as "Badger Day." If that animal emerged from a den and saw its shadow, it meant a forecast of more weeks of winter weather.
Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants to the United States, most of whom were actually German, brought that tradition ...Read more
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World-Class Wandering in Winnipeg
By Lesley Frederikson
After landing in Winnipeg for a weekend visit and settling into our downtown hotel, my husband and I were hungry and ready to explore. Fortunately, we had unwittingly booked into a historic area that had plenty to offer.
The Forks sits at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in the heart of the city and...Read more
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Awaiting the Ice in Churchill, Manitoba
By Lesley Frederikson
The sound of 32 adults holding their collective breaths in the frigid air of the Arctic tundra can be thick with anticipation, and that is how our first polar bear encounter began. A curious adult had spotted us from its resting spot on an icy pond and after sniffing the air carefully decided to meander our way to ...Read more
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Winter Family Fun Off the Slopes
By Candyce H. Stapen
How did we learn to love winter? By dogsledding, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and exploring snow-blanketed national parks. Such off-the-slopes activities enabled my family and me to enjoy the snow and the cold without downhill skiing. Although my kids can gleefully maneuver black-diamond mountain trails, I fall ...Read more