Get your own Santa visit at Sandestin

Get your own Santa visit at Sandestin

If you are staying at the resort, you can arrange to have Santa come to your condo or cottage—gift in hand (he presented me with a soft stuffed lamb complete with a tag that reads “To Eileen from Santa”) and read a holiday story to the kids

Four Days at Sandestin Resort

Four Days at Sandestin Resort

Welcome to Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Destin, FL on the Gulf Coast about halfway between Pensacola and Panama City. You’re just a little more than four hours from Atlanta or Birmingham; five from New Orleans and eight from Dallas.

To the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park

To the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park

We’re riding in a truck on a photo caravan into the heart of the large animal enclosures, which means, as we bump along, we get up close to not only the rhinos (Southern white, as well as greater one-horned) but also the giraffes (try feeding leaves to two giraffes at once!), Springbok, Cape buffalo, ostrich, Defassa Waterbuck, zebras and more.

To Kauai — Now the Adventure Isle

To Kauai — Now the Adventure Isle

We’ve driven to the end of Kuhio Highway on the North Shore of Kauai to Ke’e beach — past some of the most luxuriant plants I’ve ever seen. Spectacular beaches abound here on Kauai, including Lumahai beach where Mitzi Gaynor “washed that man right out of her hair” for the filming of “South Pacific.” There’s also the town of Hanalei of “Puff the Magic Dragon” fame

Are you ready for ghosts and goblins?

Are you ready for ghosts and goblins?

This year, there are thousands of haunted attractions around the country to choose from that offer chills and thrills for most of the fall. Even Broadway is getting in on the act

To Steamboat Springs

To Steamboat Springs

The story goes that in the early 1800s a French trapper heard a noisy hot spring that reminded him of a steamboat. When the railroad was built in 1908, the formations around the spring were changed and the chugging sound was lost. Still, the name stuck.

How to survive and have fun on college tours with your kids

How to survive and have fun on college tours with your kids

Anyone who has ever toured colleges with a high school student — and I was on my third round that Boston weekend — knows that’s no small feat. I’ve driven four hours to have my son refuse to get out of the car because he didn’t like the look of the campus

Meeting Up with Some Ghosts and Goblins

Meeting Up with Some Ghosts and Goblins

Halloween is no longer just about trick or treating in the neighborhood. That’s old school — apparently. Instead, you can take your pick of zoos, museums, theme parks, campgrounds, big cities, small ones — all of which have Halloween doings guaranteed to scare the teens and plenty of benign “spooky” fun for the littlest ghosts and goblins.

Tonight we’re going to watch the flamingos in the sunset!

Tonight we’re going to watch the flamingos in the sunset!

The Atacama region (less than two hours flight from Santiago) is one of the most visited in Chile and it is easy to see why — the spectacular desert landscape, the chance to hike to an ancient village, taste a llama kebob (you’ll see them everywhere here), hike to the top of a volcano at 18,000 feet or to the highest geyser field in the world — El Tatio Geisers at 14,190 feet — and visit unique nature reserves like this.