Last Day in Telluride — One eye on the weather
DAY FIVE AAH. I’m face down with soft music playing at the Golden Door Spa at the Peak’s Resort in Telluride as the massage therapist works magic on my aching muscles (after four days of skiing )
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Day 4 – Visiting a ghost town
DAY FOUR — I’m standing in a ghost town—in the snow in the middle of the forest. Who says all there is to do on a winter trip to a ski resort is ski or snowboard?
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DAY 3 — Spread your tentacles in Telluride
Sixteen year-old Max Walker-Silverman, a Telluride native has a message for visiting teens: “Get out of the mountain village and spread our tentacles and you will find a cool historical town.”
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Day 2 — On to Telluride
We drive from Silverton about two hours across a mountain pass to another world at Telluride Ski Resort, where we check in to a luxe condo–so luxe I can’t even figure out the lights or the shower (do I want rain shower, multi jets…?) at The Peaks Resort
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Destinations | Families & Groups | Food and Dining | Lodging | Parks & Outdoors | Snow Vacations | Travel Diaries
Five Days in Silverton and Telluride, Colorado
Some people do make their dreams come true. “It’s a lot of hard work and a lot of fun and you just have to learn to roll with the punches when there is an obstacle in your path,” says Aaron Brill, the 38-year-old owner and founder, with his 37 year-old wife Jenny, of Silverton Mountain Resort in Colorado (www.silverton.com) that is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. This isn’t any ski resort. For one thing, there is only one lift and no bathrooms–just an outhouse.
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A Caribbean Resort That Works for Generations
Welcome to Beaches Resort in Turks and Caicos — the family resort of the Sandals brand — where the littlest vacation goers like Milo Greenspan rule. Milo may only be four but he drove his family’s vacation decision — straight from Chicago to this resort. “He’s been asking for the last two years to come to Elmo’s Beach,” explained his mom Catherine. “And if he’s happy, I’m happy.”
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TURKS AND CAICOS – Last day
The bride and groom say their vows in front of the sea under a canopy billowing in the wind, their guests sitting in front of them on white-covered chairs. There’s no one else on the beach.
It couldn’t be more romantic or beautiful. I’m watching from my balcony of my room at the Gansevoort on Turks and Caicos, where the wedding couple and their 80 guests have been ensconced for the last few days.
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TURKS AND CAICOS – Day three
We’re stretched out on the white sand beach staring at the turquoise water. We didn’t have to fight for beach chairs and though I’m told the Gansevoort Turks & Caicos (www.gansevoorttc.com) is sold out this weekend courtesy of a wedding. It is only 91 rooms. Neither the beach nor the drop-dead gorgeous pool (have you ever seen cushioned lounges that rest in a few inches of water?) are crowded.
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Turks and Caicos — Day Two
Milo Greenspon may only be four but he drove his family’s vacation decision—straight from Chicago to Beaches Resort in Turks and Caicos.
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St. Lucia — Last Day
We sit on the deck overlooking the ocean, palm trees and St Lucia’s most famous site–The Pitons, the two tall lava cones that differentiate this Caribbean island. We’ve stopped at Jalousie Plantation, spread over a 192 acres on what was once a working sugar plantation just outside the town of Soufriere in between Pitons. We are staring right at the mountain—right next to us!
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St. Lucia — Day Three
It’s not even 10 am and already they are handing out the rum punch! We’re on a catamaran courtesy of Carnival Sailing that will take us from the north part of the island where we are staying at The Landings resort to the town of Soufriere (which translates to “sulfur in the air,” we’re told). Along the way we have spectacular views pf St Lucia’s claim to fame — Petit Piton and Gros Piton.
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St. Lucia — Day Two
Tangerines, star fruit, breadfruit, wild watercress. We’re not perusing a menu in St Lucia. We’re touring a local farm owned by The Richards family for more than 40 years. Isaac Alphonse, the purchasing manager for The Landings, the 120-plus unit new resort where we are staying
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St. Lucia, November 2009 — Day One
There’s something to be said for direct flights to out of the way places. We are taking Jet Blue’s new nonstop service from JFK to St. Lucia, a small island near Martinique and Barbados. But instead of taking all day with connections in Miami or San Juan, we arrive in a little more than four hours. Nice!
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Scoring a Holiday Deal That Won’t Bust the Budget
I’m perched in a wooden treehouse lazing on a cushy double mattress atop a white sand beach along Mexico’s Riviera Maya. Overlooking the turquoise Caribbean Sea, I’m about as far away from holiday hoopla and craziness as I can get when the beach butler comes by to see if I need anything.
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PIGEON FORGE, Day four
Check out the lights! Four million–really–blue and green and clear ones on trees and buildings. Welcome to Dollywood. Of course it is named for star Dolly Parton who grew up in a two room cabin not far from here, pigeon forge, TN—you can even see a replica of the cabin where she grew up with 11 brothers and sisters and it seems one bed.
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PIGEON FORGE – Day Three
I haven’t stopped eating—corn fritters made from corn meal milled at the historic Old Mill that is on the National Register of Historic Places–continuously operating for 170 years. I started the day at The Log Cabin with country ham and fresh biscuits.
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PIGEON FORGE – Day Two
Trivia question: What is the most visited National Park? (Hint: It isn’t Yellowstone, Yosemite or the Grand Canyon) It’s Great Smoky National Park—more than 550,000 acres that straddle Tennessee and North Carolina that attracts more than 9 MILLION visitors a year.
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PIGEON FORGE, Tennessee – Day one
The Living room is beautifully decked out for the holidays with greenery, wreaths and a tree in all its glory. On the mantel in my bedroom, Santa shares space with golden elk and garland festooned with bright red holiday balls and ribbon. Even the lamp is tied with a big red and gold holiday bow and there’s a poinsettia (albeit a silk one) in the bathroom.
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Sailing Home from Bermuda
Life is too short to waste a minute, I think. We say goodbye to Bermuda and Hamilton’s Town Hall (click image to enlarge) DAY 5—I wake up on board Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas
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High Tea at the Hamilton Fairmont Hotel
We learn it is the only place—and the place—for a traditional English Tea. In the 1840s, Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford, wanted a snack for tea and thinly sliced bread and butter.
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To San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences, the Greenest Museum in the Country
In the year since it has re opened, the Cal Academy has emerged as the city’s top cultural tourist attraction, drawing more visitors than Alcatraz Kids get up close and personal with specimens at the Academy of Sciences
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Beach Vacations | Cruises & All-Inclusive | Destinations | Families & Groups | Lodging | Travel Diaries
The rain stops in Bermuda
Not sunny, but not raining. Just 66,000 people live on this pristine island—actually a series of about 360 small coral island, which is part of the British Commonwealth. Yes, we see businessmen wearing Bermuda shorts, knee-high socks, and shirts and ties to work. Hedges are manicured and lawns mowed. Houses are painted a rainbow of colors—bright orange, green and blue, pastel pinks and yellows.
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A cruise to Bermuda with old family friends
The cruise was long planned and then a week before tragedy stuck…
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To Yosemite National Park
I smile remembering two other kids about the same age who were equally proud of themselves for making it to the top of Vernal Fall, also their first “big hike” in Yosemite.
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Backyard Vacations | Destinations | Families & Groups | Food and Dining | Parks & Outdoors | Travel Diaries
A visit to California wine country
We drive to Healdsburg, a small picturesque town where, around the Plaza Park square, are tasting rooms, restaurants, antique shops, and more. My 23 year old daughter Reggie is excited because she scores a cast iron frying pan for $15. I’m excited because it is a perfect sunny fall day and I’m spending it with my husband and daughter.
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A quick trip to Yosemite National Park
DAY 4 — Five year old Rivers Klopson is turning cartwheels on the rocks next to Yosemite’s famous Vernal Falls. It’s sunny and everyone sitting…
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To the historic ships in SF where Reggie works
Here’s the chance to give your kids a lesson — without them even realizing it — in San Francisco’s seafaring past and the people who made their lives sailing in and out of San Francisco Bay, hauling lumber, canned fruit and more. Five vessels — the Alma, Balclutha, Eureka, Hercules and C.A. Thayer are designated National Historic Landmarks.
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Learning About African-American History at Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg explores the lives and complexities of free and enslaved blacks during the Revolutionary Era, highlighting personal and unified contributions, sacrifices and decisions made by 19th-century blacks in securing their freedom
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At the Cal Academy of Sciences
We’re at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco which in the year since it has reopened has emerged as San Francisco’s top cultural tourist attraction, drawing more visitors than even Alcatraz.
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Visting San Francisco with my grown up daughter
The Hotel San Francisco atop Nob Hill was getting ready for its grand opening when the city suffered its devastating earthquake April 18, 1906. The hotel survived and a year later, opened, celebrating the city’s renewal. The hotel has hosted celebrities and presidents. Tony Bennett first sang “I Left My Heart in San Francisco “here.
