Four days on Mexico’s Riviera Maya (Yes, it’s safe!)
Four days on Mexico’s Riviera Maya (Yes, it’s safe!)
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Returning to a place and time when all did not go well on our family vacation
Family vacations, of course, are a lot about memories. But there’s something to be said for returning to places where things might not have gone as planned and let’s face it, they often don’t on family vacations. Returning gives you an opportunity to measure how much you and your kids have grown and to create new memories.
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Communing with penguins in Patagonia and California
If you can’t get to Patagonia, head to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (www.montereybayaquarium.org) in California where you can meet and greet Magellanic Penguins who were rescued and brought here. Climate change is forcing these creatures to swim farther to find food so they must swim an extra 25 miles or so from their nest for fish. So sad!
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Backyard Vacations | Destinations | Families & Groups | Food and Dining | Parks & Outdoors | Travel Diaries
Putting the lessons we learned about sustainable seafood to the test
After this trip to San Francisco, I don’t think I’ll ever buy or order fish the same way again. On our last morning, we eat breakfast at the Mandarin Oriental. Is the smoked salmon from wild or farmed fish, my daughter asks the waiter. “I’ve never been asked that before,” he admits and goes to find out. Wild salmon, he reports. Reggie nods approvingly.
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Letting the grown-up kids lead the way on vacation
I can’t remember the last time I rode in back. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t leading the way. But in this case, this weekend, I’m following—following the passions of my 25 year old daughter Reggie Yemma and her boyfriend Dan Foldes, who live in San Francisco. All I did was book the hotel
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Backyard Vacations | Destinations | Families & Groups | Parks & Outdoors | Travel Diaries | Volunteer & Service
A visit to the Marine Mammal Center, where they rescue creatures large and small
This is a wonderful place to visit. (Full disclosure—my daughter Reggie is working as an AmeriCorps volunteer here this year). There’s no charge and the work they do is amazing. The windswept day we visited, there were 25 patients (yes this is a full hospital with vets who do detailed blood work, x-rays, ultra sounds and keep copious records that have made this Center respected for the research it has done)
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National Parks are the perfect spots to focus on health and activity
National Park Week is coming up April 16-24 (admission is free!). This year’s focus, Healthy Parks, Healthy People, highlights the connection between human and environmental health and the vital role America’s national parks play in both.
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Learning to make sense of history in Pompeii
We’ve chosen well for our two 14-year-old traveling companions and ourselves. Not only do we hike up to the crater but we’re also treated to lunch and wine tasting (the teens too) at the Cantina del Vesuvia where the grapes on the vines look too perfect to be real. We eat on a covered patio overlooking the vineyards and feast on local foods — salami, cheese, bread and olive oil and the most delicious pasta made with fresh tomatoes grown here at the vineyard. We go for a stroll in the vineyard with owner Maurizio Russo and can’t resist purchasing some of the excellent wine and olive oil.
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San Francisco and environs — a foodie’s paradise
I don’t think there is anything you might want to try that you can’t find in San Francisco. Last night, we sample a restaurant on the Embarcadero, about a block from the restored Ferry Building home to the bustling farmers market selling and explaining their local goods
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Backyard Vacations | Destinations | Families & Groups | Lodging | Travel Diaries | Volunteer & Service
Tinkering at the Exploratorium in San Francisco
I’m at San Francisco’s Exploratorium (www.exploratorium.edu ) which, when it opened in 1969, served as the prototype for museums becoming places for an interactive experience. That continues today as the museum staff work on what the museum will be when it moves to its new digs on Piers 15 and 17 on the Embarcadero in 2013
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Six days learning sustainability in San Francisco and Monterey
Ready to play dress up? If you stay in a kids’ suite at the Hotel Diva (www.hoteldiva.com) on Union Square, your little princess can do just that with sparkly shoes, a pink boa, jewelry and a drawer full of “gowns.” If you have a prince, he can play Wii among other things. Whimsical wall art suggests “Keep calm and eat a cupcake” Or “Keep Calm and Rock On.”
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Backyard Vacations | Destinations | Families & Groups | Parks & Outdoors | Travel Diaries | Volunteer & Service
At the Marine Mammal Center near San Francisco, little miracles happen every day
The 45 member staff and 800-plus volunteers here are responsible for rescuing some 800 animals a year—elephant seals, sea lions, harbor seals and the occasional whale or dolphin. People who spot a stranded or sick animal call (415-289-7325) and the staff mobilizes for a rescue. The center is responsible for 600 miles of Coast all the way from Mendocino south to San Luis Obispo, and since 1975 has rescued over 13,000 marine mammals
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Travel insurance can save your vacation when trouble strikes
/uploadedImages/images_upload/2011_Q1_Uploaded_Images/Travel insurance can save your trip.jpgI hate to tell you this wasn’t the first time I found myself in the ER on a vacation where travel insurance more than paid for itself in out-of-pocket expenses. You might think travel insurance is for those taking a cruise or an exotic vacation, but according to the U.S. Travel Insurance Association, a growing number of families agree with me
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Best Educational Trips for Kids on CNBC
CNBC created a slideshow of Best Educational Trips for Kids, assembled with input from Eileen Ogintz of Taking the Kids.
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Looking For Those Unique Moments in Orlando (As Long as You Can Afford Them!)
For those heading to Orlando this spring break — and millions of parents and kids do (www.visitorlando.com) — there is an ever-growing array of unique VIP adventures to help you get away from the crowds and, hopefully, up the memory quotient. Some are inexpensive, requiring just a little advance planning, but others can cost big bucks, not including park admission, of course.
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Learn origins of food at San Francisco Farmers Market
At a farmer’s market, kids can learn that food in season is more nutritious and tastes better because it is fresh. They can “eat greener” by opting for foods that are local rather than flown or trucked across the country. At the San Francisco farmer’s market, you can taste a kind of pear you’ve never seen or a Quince and ask the farmer how it’s grown.
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The Ice Age has come to Snowmass CO – literally!
One day last fall—Oct 14, 2010 to be precise—a bulldozer operator named Jesse Steele, working on the expansion of the Ziegler Reservoir for the Snowmass Water and Sanitation District, discovered a bone. But not just any bone—an Ice Age mammoth bone. That was just the beginning
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Putting on the Ritz in Ski Country
Well-heeled families are opting for services that offer convenience — even delivery and pickup of ski and snowboarding gear to your hotel room and Black Tie Ski Rentals will even swap them out on the mountain too. Kids rent free till the end of the season and private family lessons are available for about $600 a day. “Parents want to see the kids learning,” explains Sue Way, director of Children’s Programs for the Aspen Skiing Company. They also love the convenience of having the ski instructor meet you at your hotel and tailoring the experience to your family.
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New digs and old favorites on Snowmass Mountain
The restaurant at the luxe new Viceroy at Snowmass is the kind of place where the dinner menu includes exotic entrees over $30 and an extensive wine list. Yet last night nearly every other table was families with kids who likely were dining on organic chicken nuggets ($11), pizza with fresh mozzarella ($10) or cheeseburger ($11)
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First tracks on Aspen Mountain and staying in the Limelight
Though this is a busy week—following President’s Day weekend—there are no lift lines at Aspen Mountain and it feels like on some runs we have the mountain—famous for its glades, bumps and steeps—to ourselves. If you want a day off from skiing, sign on for a two-hour guided snowshoe tour with a naturalist from the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies
