On the Go with Amy

Will Europe be on sale this summer?

2012-01-26T19:51:00.000-08:00

With Europe in the midst of a major financial crisis, will U.S. travelers heading across the pond find incredible deals?

Yes, possibly in a few countries. Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain—the worst hit countries should—have some deals. USA Today reports:

...travel agents are seeing potential bargains in these countries in everything from airfares, hotels and restaurants, to in-country transportation and visits to key tourist sites.
The agents also regard these four nations as potentially cheaper to visit this summer than three other top tourist European destinations: Britain, France and Italy.

But while you might find great rates on hotels in these countries, you probably won't score bargain prices on flights to get you there. Airfares are on the rise and this trend is expected to continue through the summer.

Awesome news for air travelers!

2012-01-24T17:52:00.000-08:00

This is a good day for air travelers. According to the SFGate:

Airline passengers gain new rights this week including the ability to hold a reservation without payment — or cancel one with a full refund — within 24 hours of making the reservation, as long as it’s made at least a week before the departure date.

Some airlines were doing this voluntarily but now it’s a requirement. It’s one of several new regulations the U.S. Department of Transportation announced in April 2011 that take effect today.

Best Western Wakulla Inn, Crawfordville, Fl.

2012-01-22T17:15:00.000-08:00

The Best Western Plus Wakulla Inn isn't close to any typical Florida attractions--no amusement parks with thrill rides, no beaches lined with colorful umbrellas, no sparkling shopping malls with ritzy stores. It seems to sit in the middle of nowhere--and that's what makes it so appealing. It's located in a place where you can connect with a wilder, more natural Florida.

The hotel is actually in the middle of northern Florida's pristine Forgotten Coast, about 30 minutes outside Tallahassee. It's in an area where the vegetation grows thick, Spanish moss hangs from the trees, and alligators hang out in the marshy rivers.

The main draw to this area is Wakulla Springs State Park, the world's largest fresh water springs. Over 600,000 gallons of 70-degree water a minute flow through the three acre pool a minute. On a guided boat tour, you can explore the springs and take in the wildlife, including manatee, alligators, and all sorts of birds.

Back at the hotel you can enjoy clean, comfortable rooms and an outdoor swimming pool. Hot breakfast is included with the room.

Spring break: Have you made plans?

2012-01-20T10:48:00.000-08:00

My kids' spring break is just around the corner. We're planning a road trip through Washington state, visiting an aunt and uncle on Puget Sound and my son's best friend who recently moved to Seattle. We hope to check out the Museum of Flight and get at least one sunny day on the beach.

If you're still looking for something to do with your kids over Spring Break, here are three ideas:

Naples, Fl. This luxurious beach resort, two hours west of Miami, sits on the Gulf of Mexico. It's ritzy and glitzy and known as a vacation spot for wealthy Midwesterners. The waterfront is lined with over-the-top mansions and beach-goers wear fine linen cover ups and flip-flops studded with gems.

This is the perfect spot if you want to laze on the beach all day while your kids splash around and build sand castles. The sand is soft and sugary and the pale green waters as warm as a bathtub.

The Strand, the main drag, is loaded with shops and restaurants; we liked Bella Mia Amore for thin-crust blistery pizza and off the main drag Inka's Kitchen for outstanding Peruvian cuisine.

Bed down at the Best Western Naples Inn & Suites, surrounded by a jungle of palm trees, ferns, and hibiscus. Skinny pathways wind through the vegetation and lead to the two pretty swimming pools and hot tubs. Plus, kids have a blast hitting around balls at the miniature golf course.

Hannibal, Mo.
In this small port town 120 miles north of St. Louis, you can step back in time and explore the life of great American Mark Twin. At the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum, you'll learn that Twain moved here when he was 4-years-old. His childhood and the town and the river it sits on served as inspiration for both Huck Finn and the Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

You'll also want explore the caves that are mentioned in many of Twain's books, hop aboard the Mark Twin Mississippi Riverboat, and play a round of miniature golf at Sawyer's Creek fun park. (For more things to do, go to visithannibal.com)

Hungry? The tower of onion rings and a frosty mug of homemade root beer at the Mark Twain Dinette across from museum will fill you up. Also, fried chicken, juicy burgers, and spicy chili.

The Best Western Plus On the River sites in the heart of town and you can walk to all the museums and restaurants. At the end of the day, kids will enjoy jumping into the swimming pool.

Santa Monica, Calif.
If you're looking for some Southern California sun, this beachy town makes a great homebase. It's close to all the attractions from Disneyland to Hollywood. But there's also plenty to do right here. Head for the Santa Monica Pier where you can ride the Ferris wheel and eat corn dogs (look for the original Hot Dog on a Stick). Or you just might want to park yourself on the white, sandy beach.

Need a place to stay? The Best Western Plus Gateway Hotel Santa Monica offers great value and clean, comfortable rooms in a town where you can easily find hotel rooms for $1000 a night.

Majorca: Favorite photos from our trip

2012-01-06T19:07:00.000-08:00

Our family finished 2011 with a week in Majorca, a mountainous, rugged island just an hour's flight from Madrid. On foot and by car, we explored this place known for its medieval villages, olive trees, and shockingly beautiful landscape. With our two kids, ages 7 and 8, we hiked to the top of Massanella, the island's highest peak; dined at an extraordinary tapas restaurant in mountain village of Deia; and stood in awe as we gazed up at La Palma's massive 800-year-old Gothic cathedral.

"How long did it take to build it, Mommy," my son asked.

"Oh, only 400 years."

Here are some photos from our trip.

Eureka! I found the Camper shoes factory outlet in Mallorca!

2012-01-06T17:42:00.000-08:00

I bought this pair of shoes at a boutique in Paris's trendy Marais district 15 years ago. They're now tattered and torn, but I still love their cherry-red color and the wavy strap across the top. Even now when I wear this old pair of shoes people say, "Wow! Those are so cute!"

At the time, I'd never heard of Campers, a shoe brand based in Mallorca, Spain. But after buying this pair I fell in love with the brand that produced comfortable, stylish, and sometimes even quirky shoes. They've become known for their "Twins" line of mismatched shoes. One pair might have half a broken heart pictured on the top, while another would featured the other half of the heart. I have some Campers boots with one zipping straight up to the top, while the other has a funky zipper that spirals around the boot.

I've always wondered whether their was an outlet store in Mallorca and on our recent trip to this Spanish island I was able to find out....

Hooray! Yes! There is a Camper factory outlet! It's in the industrial town of Inca in the center of the island (directions). The outlets like a mega-size Campers store, as usually the brand has tiny little stores in malls and downtown centers. There were hundreds of shoes and dozens in my size and all discounted. If you bought two, which I did, you got 20 percent off.

I was quite excited about my new shoes!

Yay! Campers! (Okay....I realize this is getting a bit lame....)
We weren't able to find a pair of Campers for my daughter at the main outlet. She's a bit picky. So we scoped out the island's second outlet at Festivalpark in Marratxi, which is close to Inca. There she found a cute gray pair with a little heal and bows.

The most beautiful airport in the world

2012-01-05T06:28:00.000-08:00

On our way from London to Mallorca, we had a three-hour layover at Madrid's Barajas International Airport. The building is covered in a glistening sea of undulating steel held into the air by colorfully painted supporting struts. It's absolutely spectacular. Even better, the place is filled with little cafes serving tapas, sangria, and frosty bottles of Mahou Negra.

East London: It's scruffy, but so cool

2011-12-23T12:00:00.000-08:00

After lunch at Brick Lane, we explore East London. This area was once known as London's poorest and dreariest, but now tech start-ups and media companies and artists and chefs are taking advantage of the low rents and moving into warehouse and factory spaces that have been abandoned for decades. Art galleries, restaurants and boutiques are popping up, and there's a thriving night life scene.

A few places to check out:

Spitalfields Market: This covered market is a very cool place to shop and filled with independent retailers.

Columbia Road Flower Market: On Sunday the street is transformed into oasis of foliage and flowers. Everything from bedding plants to 10 foot banana trees are up for grabs.

Rochelle Canteen: Housed in a former bike shed, this place is lunch only. Fresh, delicious British fare: boiled ham with parsley sauce, spinach soup with poached egg, and lamps toungue, turnips, and bacon.

London's Brick Lane: Where the streets smell of smells of cumin, cardamom and turmeric

2011-12-23T07:58:00.000-08:00

Brick Lane is indeed paved in bricks, and the street gets its name from the area's former brick and tile manufacturers that supplied building materials to the city center.

But this long, narrow alley is better known as an immigrant street. French Huguenots, Eastern European Jews, South Asians, and most notably Bangladeshis have all settled here.

In fact, Brick Lane is lined with dozens of little curry houses, their windows all covered in big signs with messages reading: "Best Indian restaurants." And then their are men standing at the doors inviting passersby to come in for lunch. "Best Indian food!" they all say.

It's hard to know who to believe, so we turn to National Geographic Traveler for a recommendation. Bengal Village is where we end up for a late lunch. The inside of clean, modern, white-table-cloth restaurants smells of cumin and turmeric. The chicken curry is sweet and spicy and our kids quickly slurp up their mango lassies.

"Pip, pip, cheerio! It's me calling from London!"

2011-12-20T07:18:00.000-08:00

While London's beloved red phone booths have been disappearing since the 1990s due to the rise of the mobile phone, you can still spot some around the city. We found one in front of the Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington.These iconic telephone boxes as they call them in Britain were first designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and introduced to the streets in 1926. By the end of the 1930s, there were some 20,000 booths throughout the UK. Today, only 2,000 remain and they're all protected heritage sites. British Telecom has a program that allows people to adopt a phone booth and pay for its upkeep. People rarely use the phones these days but they certainly make great photo opps!

London: Our favorite photos

2011-12-12T19:48:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos from our week in London over the holidays.

Do you put holiday gifts in your suitcase or open them before leaving?

2011-12-07T13:20:00.000-08:00

Growing up, I went to Hawaii to visit my grandfather every Christmas. He was an artist and used the money from selling his work to pay for the entire family to spend the holidays in the tropics.

My parents always lugged all the gifts in a big suitcase. All the wrapped presents from the cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends were put on the plane.

Yes, I guess it was nice to have a big pile of gifts to unwrap on Christmas morning, but really? What were they thinking? What a hassle?

We didn't bring presents on our trip to Europe this holiday. We opened everything before we left. We actually staggered it out over a week, opening something every day.

We did pack Santa gifts—a small cheap digital camera—for each child because we knew it would be expensive to do the shopping in London. But besides those two little boxes, our bags were gift free.

Getting out the door for the holidays

2011-12-06T09:38:00.000-08:00

I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to throw a holiday caroling party two days before we were scheduled to leave for London. It started with my daughter telling me that she wanted to sing holiday carols. I invited a few of her school friends, and then a couple neighbors. The party grew to some 40 people. No problem. We'd just get a honey-baked ham and some rolls.

The party was great—but our house was a mess the next day. The floor was covered in crumbs and mulled wine stains. Dishes were piled high next to the sink. I spent all of Saturday washing wine glasses when I should have been packing.

And then there were two other holiday parties to attend the next night...Let's just say I was scrambling on Sunday morning to pack for our two-and-a-half-week trip.

At noon my phone rang. The cab was outside. What else should I stuff in the bag? Oh, tooth brushes.

My husband called out, "Did you get the camera?"

I grabbed the camera and zipped up the suitcases. We were ready. We were walking out the door.

And then my 8-year-old daughter asked, "Mommy, do you have the passports?"

I didn't have them!

How to survive a red eye with kids

2011-11-28T19:06:00.000-08:00

Over Thanksgiving we took a red eye with our kids. Crazy? You might think so, but actually the six-hour trek between San Francisco and Charleston, S.C. went smoother than I ever imagined. We arrived at our cousins’ front doorstep early Thanksgiving morning we were relatively rested—at least there weren’t any meltdowns at the dinner table. (And we saved about $1,200 by taking the red eye.)

Here’s what we did:

Put kids to bed at home before the flight. Our plane took off at 11 p.m. We didn’t need to leave for the airport until 9 p.m ., so I put my kids, ages 7 and 8, to bed at home at 6:30 p.m. My 7-year-old son fell asleep immediately and got in a good two-hour powernap. My 8-year-old daughter only got about an hour, but every little bit counts.

Pack pillows and blankets. I stuffed our carry-ons with two snuggly blankets and my daughter brought her favorite Pillow Pet. These came in handy at the airport, where my kids set up beds on a row of chairs and got in another hour of sleep.

Sleep on the plane. Unfortunately, our flight wasn’t nonstop. We had a four-hour trip to Chicago and then another two hours to Charleston. The kids slept on both flights. We stuck them in window seats so they’d have a place to rest their heads. I took half a sleeping pill (ask your doctor) to make sure I got some rest as well.

By the time we arrived in Chicago, my son had slept about eight hours, not the full 10 hours that he really needs, but not bad for a red eye. My daughter only slept about six or seven hours.

Photo: uptill1.com

Tips for smooth and easy Thanksgiving travel

2011-11-21T09:28:00.000-08:00

I'm at the stage where I'm wondering why I ever thought traveling to South Carolina for Thanksgiving was a good idea.

My friends are all talking about staying at home and relaxing and our family is gearing up for a red eye flight the night before Thanksgiving. What was I thinking? A nonstop red eye with two young children?

Well, actually, when I was making the reservations it made a lot of sense because the red eye cost half as much as the flights leaving at more reasonable times.

No matter, we're traveling over Thanksgiving and once our bags are packed and we're in our car headed for the airport I'll be thrilled that we're going to see family who we love and enjoy.

Here are a few things that I'm doing to make sure our travels are smooth:

Reserving airport parking. Over the summer, we arrived at our favorite parking garage near the airport to learn that all the cheap spots were taken. We were stuck paying for premium parking, something we don't need because our car is a beater. It's wise to reserve ahead during peak travel times.

Checking in online. It's so much easier to check in 24 hours in advance online. We're traveling with carry-ons only so we won't even have to face the madness at the ticket counter. Also, by checking in online, you can make sure that you have seat assignments and pay for any checked bags.

Leaving presents unwrapped. We'll be traveling with presents for the cousins--and these will be unwrapped as recommended by airport security.

Photo: theairlineguys.blogspot.com

Best Western: Earn double rewards after two separate stays

2011-11-08T11:21:00.000-08:00

Are you a member of Best Western Rewards? There's still time to take advantage of the fall promotion. You'll earn double rewards after two separate stays. Even better, you'll get triple points if you stay at the different types of Best Western branded hotels (Best Western, Plus, or Premier). This offer is good through November 12. Get all the details.

Thanksgiving travel: Can you take a pumpkin pie through airport security?

2011-11-08T11:02:00.000-08:00

The good news is that yes, you can take a pumpkin pie, well actually any pie, through airport security.

The bad news is that you can't take any of these items through according to the Transportation Security Administration:

* Creamy dips and spreads (cheeses, peanut butter, etc.)
* Gift baskets with food items (salsa, jams and salad dressings)
* Gravy
* Jams
* Jellies
* Maple syrup
* Oils and vinegars
* Salad dressing
* Salsa
* Sauces
* Soups
* Wine, liquor and beer

Top 12 family destinations for 2012

2011-10-18T10:24:00.000-07:00

From the sparkling sands and crystal clear blue waters of Fort Walton, Fl., (pictured), to a small little forested island off the coast of Washington state, these destinations are sure to offer families fun and adventure in 2012.

Here's a rundown of my top 12 family destinations for 2012. Please add your suggestions in the comments.

1) Bainbridge, Wash.
A short 35 minute ferry ride from Seattle, Bainbridge Island offers family the beauty and culture of the Pacific Northwest in a quiet waterfront setting. Nestled among forested hills and quiet harbors, the BEST WESTERN PLUS Bainbridge Island Suites is tucked in the Washington State wilderness, but is still convenient to many free local attractions, including walking along the beautiful Bloedel Reserve or biking through one of the surrounding state parks.

2) Bloomington, Minn.
Home to the Mall of America, Bloomington is the ideal destination during stormy winter months when it can be most difficult to find ways to keep kids entertained. Escape the rain and snow with a trip to Nickelodeon Universe, the country’s largest indoor amusement park. Budget-savvy families can take advantage of online coupon sites, like Groupon and Living Social, to maximize retail and local attraction deals. For free entertainment, BEST WESTERN PLUS Bloomington Hotel offers two indoor pools and a water playland for guests of all ages.

3) Clayton, N.M.
As the first town on the Santa Fe Trail, Clayton has a variety of free outdoor recreational and learning activities. See more than 500 real dinosaur tracks and fossils along the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Trail and get a rare chance to walk inside an actual volcano crater at Capulin Volcano National Park. The BEST WESTERN Kokopelli Lodge offers guests Southwestern hospitality with easy access to outdoor adventures, including hiking, swimming, fishing, golf, archery and tennis.

4) Fort Walton Beach, Fla.
Forgo the crowds and cost of Miami and find beach solace in family- and budget-friendly Fort Walton Beach. With sparkling sands and crystal blue water, Fort Walton Beach visitors can break from fun in the sun with visits to the Air Force Armament Museum and Indian Temple Mound Museum to see more than 6,000 ancient Native American artifacts. Located along the beachfront, the BEST WESTERN Fort Walton Beachfront hotel is centrally located near seasonal festivals, snorkeling and playing in the sand.

5) Fredericksburg, Va.
Cross off visiting America’s most historic monuments from the family bucket list with a trip to Fredericksburg, located just an hour outside of Washington, D.C. Take the family on a spooky historical journey with a Ghosts of Fredericksburg walk and visit Ferry Farm, George Washington’s boyhood home, which offers dozens of seasonal activities. The BEST WESTERN Fredericksburg hotel is located near fun family activities like canoeing down the Rappahannock River or taking a horse-drawn carriage tour of historic sites.

6) Helena, Mont.
Take a nostalgic trip to Helena’s famous Parrot Candy Store, featuring more than 130 mouthwatering types of candy and an old fashioned soda shop for a price reminiscent of the “good ol’ days.” Or give kids a hands-on science lesson at Exploration Works, which offers free admission on select days. The BEST WESTERN PREMIER Helena Great Northern Hotel is also steps away from the world-famous Great Northern Carousel.

7) Houston, Texas
They say everything is bigger in Texas, but the cost of some of Houston’s best attractions is anything but. From the Downtown Landry’s Aquarium to the Space Center Houston, where visitors can watch astronauts and engineers in training, Houston is the ideal setting for families looking to have big fun without a big price tag. Located in the heart of downtown and within walking distance to more than a dozen kid-centric attractions, BEST WESTERN PLUS Downtown Suites is the perfect hotel for budget-conscious families seeking to discover everything that Houston has to offer.

8) Manchester, N.H.
The largest city in New Hampshire, Manchester is a bustling urban center in quiet New England. Children under 18-years-old can experience fine art by Pablo Picasso and Georgia O’Keefe for free at the famed Currier Museum of Art or enjoy tractor and pony rides at Charmingfare Farm. Close to the White Mountain Region ski area and Hampton Beach, The BEST WESTERN PLUS Executive Court Inn & Conference Center is a picturesque and affordable New England winter or summer getaway for the entire family.

9) Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada
Beloved by thousands of visitors and inhabitants alike for the unparalleled variety of its climate and landscape, the Okanagan Valley has something for everyone. For a special wildlife-viewing experience Vaseux Lake Provincial Park, hit the ski trails at Silver Star, Big White, or Apex, or step back into the Okangan’s history on the fully restored S.S. Sicamous Steam Paddlewheeeler. If you want to reduce your carbon footprint in style, visit the BEST WESTERN PLUS Kelowna Hotel & Suites, Okanagan Valley’s award-winning “green” hotel.

10) Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
The birthplace of French America, Quebec is one of the world's most beautiful cities with the district of Old Quebec City recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Treasure. Home to the world’s largest winter carnival each February, the Quebec Winter Carnival, where a $13 (CAD) ticket buys access to all 17 days of the event. Quebec also hosts the Quebec City Summer Festival in July.BEST WESTERN Hotel L'Aristocrate is less than 15 minutes from the celebrated Battlefields Park, which hosts the winter carnival and summer festival each year.

11) Salt Lake City, Utah
With its gorgeous setting between the Wasatch Mountains and Great Salt Lake, Salt Lake City is a prime destination for outdoorsy families looking for affordable skiing, hiking and biking. Take a break from the outdoor adventures and visit the new, state–of-the-art Utah Museum of Natural History opening in late 2011. BEST WESTERN PLUS Cotton Tree Inn is close to the Lagoon Amusement Park and the Energy Solutions Arena with kid-friendly concerts and fairs.

12) San Simeon, Calif.
Home to the famed Hearst Castle, San Simeon offers beauty and tranquility along California’s stunning Central Coast. As you wind your way down scenic Highway 1, take the chance to watch elephant seals at Piedras Blancas. Located just three miles from Hearst Castle, the BEST WESTERN PLUS Cavalier Oceanfront Resort is San Simeon's only oceanfront hotel and is a short drive to neighboring Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo.

New Orleans' best cocktail: Pimm's Cup

2011-10-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

Forget the Hurricane, an obnoxious, overrated concoction responsible for a lot of New Orleans' drunken madness. Instead try a Pimm's Cup, a fizzy, citrusy and all-around refreshing cocktail that's available in just about every NOLA bar.

The key ingredient is Pimm's No. 1, a gin-based English appertif containing quinine and a secret mixture of herbs (supposedly only six people know the recipe). Next something bubbly such as Ginger ale, 7-Up or sparkling lemonade. And then a slice of cucumber and sometimes strawberry and mint.

A farmers son named James Pimm first produced Pimm's No. 1 back in 1823. Pimm owned an oyster bar in London and he served the drink as an aid to digestion. Somehow the drink made it's way to New Orleans in the 1840s.

The bartenders at the historic Napoleon House make the best Pimm's Cup around. Grab a stool at the bar or gather around a table in the patio out back and order up this NOLA favorite.

Photo: tumblr.com/tagged/napoleon+house

Where the locals eat in New Orleans

2011-10-11T19:11:00.000-07:00

I visited New Orleans with two foodies. These are the sort of women who can talk for hours about micro greens, meat brines, and pie crust recipes for hours.

On our first day we had lunch in the French Quarter at the touristy Acme Oyster House. The food was quickly declared salty and overpriced. We switched our focus to those places where locals eat and took a close look at the recommendations from a friend who lived in New Orleans for years. Over the next three days I ate some of the best food I've ever tasted in my life.

Here's where we ate:

Sylvain: Pan-fried pork shoulder comes with creamy grits. Buttermilk-fried chicken breast is accompanied by homemade pickles. Crispy duck confit is served with black-eyed peas. This is down-home food made with the best ingredients and served in a historic carriage house lit only by flickering candles. You might not expect to find a place like this in the French Quarter but it's right there on a quiet stretch of Chartres Street.

Lilette: This tiny restaurant tucked inside a former 1880s corner drugstore has the casual elegance of a French bistro with white tablecloths and black-and-white tiled floors. You could easily go here in nice jeans but you'll feel more comfortable if you dress up a little. Chef John Harris has earned all sorts of awards and glowing magazine reviews for his French-Italian menu. We sampled many dishes but our favorite was a delicate hearts of palm salad and a rich toasts piled with wild mushrooms and drizzled with white truffle oil.

Le Petit Grocerie: The food here's a little fussy. Exquisite little bites, beautifully assembled and displayed, on big white plates. But everything we tasted at brunch was delicious and flavorful. The fried green tomatoes, creamy burrata cheese, and country ham made for a brilliant combination. The buttery grits topped with sauteed shrimp and shitaki mushrooms melted in your mouth.

Cochon: Among locals and food snobs, this large, airy Warehouse District restaurant is the hottest spot in New Orleans. It's bustling and busy and downright noisy, and the food is great. As the name suggests, the menu focuses on pork and Chef Link gives it a local twist by mixing in Cajun flavors. Try the smoked ham hock served with red beans and the pork ribs accompanied by tangle watermelon pickles. And be sure to order the mushroom salad tossed with leafy herbs and deep-fried beef jerky (photo above). Yes, we were hesitant to order it but it ended up being the most delicious and unusual thing we ate on our entire trip.

What are your favorite local spots in New Orleans?

A Best Western grows in New Orleans' Garden District

2011-10-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

The beauty of the Best Western Plus St. Charles is its quiet location away from the drunken madness of the beloved yet touristy French quarter. On a leafy avenue lined with century-old mansions, this hotel sits in the Garden District. Yards overflow with camellia bushes, ginger blooms, and jasmine vines, and streets move through tunnels of crepe myrtles and oaks.

You can easily walk to Magazine Street lined with antique stores, vintage boutiques, coffee houses, and divey restaurants dishing up jambalaya and grits. Be sure to stop by Tee-Eva's for crawfish pie and pralines. You'll also want to step inside Lili Vintage where a well-edited selection of cocktail dresses dating back to the 1930s hang on the racks.

Lafayette Cemetery is about a 10 minutes walk from the hotel. It's small but packed with over 1,000 family tombs, many of them above-ground and some dating back as far as 1833. The most famous cemetery residents are fictional. Anne Rice’s vampire Lestat has a fake tomb here. Consider joining a guide and taking a Save Our Cemeteries Tour.

Want to head downtown? Easy. Hop on the charming street car that takes you right downtown. You'll want the St. Charles Line and bring along $1.25 to pay your way.

And after you've explored the city you'll certainly want to return to your room, which is guaranteed to be clean and tidy. In the morning, a hot breakfast with fresh waffles and fruit is included in the price of your room.

Witchy destinations

2011-10-02T14:11:00.000-07:00

Move over vampires...here come the witches!
Just in time for Halloween here are three destinations where you can find your inner witch.

1) Salem, Mass.--This 400-year-old town is best known for the 1692 witch trials where women accused of practicing black magic were tragically hanged. The Salem Witch Museum is the main attraction. In a former church, watch a spooky performance where life-size figures, lighting, and narration re-create the trials of many years past. You can also catch a reenactment of a trial at the Witch Dungeon and the Witch's Cottage. For a bite to eat try the roast beef sandwich or French onion soup at the Witch's Brew Cafe.

2) New York, N.Y.--No rich witch history in the Big Apple, but you can get your fix on Broadway by catching a performance of "Wicked." The Emmy Award-winning musical is based on a book telling the story of what was going on in Oz before Dorothy arrived. Also, stop by the Fat Witch Bakery in Chelsea where you'll find wickedly delicious brownies. The Java Witch with cappuccino chips is a favorite.

3) New Orleans--Steamy streets and Gothic buildings have long made this city the setting for scary tales. Learn about its history of voodoo and witchcraft on a walking tour guided by a practicing witch, and step inside Esoterica, selling witchcraft supplies. Cap off a night on the town at Marie Laveau's Voodoo Lounge, a tiny spot named after New Orleans famous voodoo witch whose crypt in New Orleans is supposedly the second most visited grave in the U.S. after Elvis's.

Get lost in a corn maze

2011-10-01T21:43:00.000-07:00

Scary movies and haunted houses—they're overrated. At least that's how you'll probably feel when you're lost in the middle of a gigantic corn maze. It's the ultimate Halloween thrill. These labyrinths cut into fields of corn are cropping up all over the country and there's probably one within driving distance of your home. To find one near you log onto the Corn Maize Directory or The Maize.

Places where you can pick your own apples

2011-09-30T20:39:00.000-07:00

The best apple I ever ate was pulled off a tree at Kiyokawa Family Orchards in Oregon's Hood River Valley. I remember that piece of fruit well. Is was a rose-colored Honey Crisp with a dense, juicy flesh that was the perfect balance of sweet and tart. I actually picked that apple myself at the Kiyokawa "pick your own" orchard. The beautiful setting amidst an orchard spreading across a valley overlooked by snowy Mount Hood only made the apple more delicious.

On a clear, cool fall day my kids and I filled a bucket with apples, and ate nearly half of our harvest on our drive back to Portland. We didn't even have enough leftovers for pie!

Across the country you'll find orchards where you can pull apples right off the tree. Here's a list of places to help you find a pick-your-own orchard:

About.com: Apple picking in New England

All About Apples: Online resource for Apple Varieties, Orchards, and Health

Apple Hill Growers Association, California

Massachusetts Department of Agriculture: Pick-Your-Own Apple Orchards

Mommy Poppins: Apple Picking Orchards in New York and New Jersey

New York Apple Country

Ohio Apples

Pick Your Own: Online database of pick-you-own orchards

Time Out New York Kids: Pick your own apples and pumpkins in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut

USA Today: 10 Great Places to Pick Your Own Apples

Virginia Apples: Guide to Pick Your Own

Photo: Courtesty Hilltop Orchards

TSA relaxes rules for screening kids

2011-09-13T16:39:00.000-07:00

Good news for traveling families: Today, the TSA announced that it's relaxing rules for screening children.

The organization is beginning to pilot programs that don't require children under 12 to take off their shoes or endure thorough pat-downs, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano shared before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

"There will always be some unpredictability built into the system, and there will always be random checks even for groups that we are looking at differently such as children under the age of 12. But I think the travelling public will begin to see some of these changes really in the coming months," Napolitano said.

Last year the TSA made headlines when a father videotaped his 3-year-old daughter screaming and kicking as she was inspected by officials at the airport in Chattanooga, Tenn. Months later a man tweeted a photo (above) of TSA officials feeling a baby's diaper at Kansas City International Airport. After the incidents, the TSA said that it would consider changing its policies around children.

Where to eat in New Orleans?

2011-09-11T20:48:00.001-07:00

This fall I'm going to New Orleans with two girlfriends for a long weekend. Eating will be the focus of the trip and we're immersed in coming up with an itinerary outlining where we'll have morning coffee, where we'll go for po' boys at lunch, and where we'll splurge one night on a special dinner.

Here's a look at some of the places we're considering and we're looking to add more:

Fancy restaurants
Restaurant August (fancy, probably the best food in the city)
Cochon (assuming no vegetarians among you)

Old-world restaurants
Arnaud's
Galatoire's
Antoinne's
Bayona
Stella!

Casual dinners
Bacchanal
Jaques-Imo's

Po Boys
Mahoney's
Guys

Breakfast
Brennan's

Coffee
Cafe du Monde

Music
Maple Leaf Bar
Rock n Bowl

Best Westerns along the California Coast

2011-08-28T22:33:00.000-07:00

After our recent getaway in San Diego our family drove up the California Coast to Los Angeles and then Santa Barbara. Along the way, we noticed several Best Westerns sitting right on the coast, overlooking the sparkling Pacific Ocean.

Here are a few of those:

BEST WESTERN PLUS The Inn at Marina del Rey is a swanky boutique-style hotel that's minutes from Venice Beach.

From the harbor side rooms at BEST WESTERN PLUS Sunrise Hotel at Redondo Beach Marina you can fall asleep to the sound of the waves crashing and the sailboats rocking.

BEST WESTERN PLUS Blue Sea Lodge sits right on a sandy beach in San Diego.

BEST WESTERN Encinitas Inn & Suites at Moonlight Beach sits perched on a cliff above the ocean in Encinitas.

BEST WESTERN PLUS Inn by the Sea is two blocks from the beach in the pretty little village of La Jolla.

BEST WESTERN PLUS Beach View Lodge offers rooms with balconies overlooking the Pacific (photo above).

Best Western Plus Inn of Ventura

2011-08-22T06:45:00.000-07:00

This groovy hotel sits in the heart of old town Ventura, just a few blocks from the sparkling Pacific Ocean. The fashionable lobby is filled with mid-century modern furnishings (pictured left). The same sleek design is carried out in the rooms where beds are topped with soft down comforters and stylish quilts.

You might want to dive into the swimming pool and don't miss the free breakfast with blueberry muffins, guava juice and crispy waffles.
Rates are reasonable and our family was thrilled to pay for our night with Best Western Rewards Points. More on the Best Western Plus Inn of Ventura.

Splurging on wetsuits in San Diego

2011-08-13T04:45:00.000-07:00

Hotels rooms under $100, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, cheap flights with long layovers and strange departure times. I'm used to seeking out deals when traveling. Our family can only afford to travel on the cheap.

And so when we went to San Diego with some friends for a beach getaway, I was hesitant to splurge on wetsuit rentals. Two-hundred and fifty dollars to rent wetsuits for a family of four for five days—ouch! It pained me to spend that kind of money, especially since the rest of the trip was already pushing us to the edge financially. But our friends kept saying that the water is cold and you won't enjoy yourselves without a wetsuit.

We caved, and it was some of the best money I've ever spent.

We spent hours riding the waves on boogie boards in Solana Beach. It's the first time my kids have ever really liked being in the ocean. And now my son (pictured left) wants to become a surfer.

Yes, it's true, kids can fingerpaint in the car!

2011-08-11T22:24:00.000-07:00

Finger-painting seems like the worst activity possible for kids riding in the backseat on a road trip. Talk about messy! But with Crayola's new Color Wonder Fingerpaint it's possible. The paints are clear and don't stain fabric but when you rub them with your fingers across the special paper colors magically appear. We tested the product out over the summer and the kids were busy for at least an hour. You just need to give them a few napkins to clean the stuff off their fingers. The pictures are a little wet at first and so we dried those on the dashboard.

Find Crayola Color Wonder Fingerpaint and Coloring Book for $8.70 on Amazon.

'Helena Independent Record' covers On the Go with Amy

2011-08-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

Thank you to the Helena Independent Record for reporting on my budget road trip through Montana. Below is an excerpt from the story. You can find the full feature here.

Amy Graff has traveled around the world, but nothing had quite prepared her for Montana.

“I just have to say, I fell in love with your state,” said the San Francisco Chronicle columnist and blogger. “I was blown away.”

Graff, a former senior editor at VIA magazine, spent more than a week with her family of four traveling through some of the most majestic sites in the Treasure State for a section of her blog “On the go with Amy,” (onthegowithamy.blogspot.com) sponsored by Best Western Hotels. The goal of the journey: to have fun and enjoy the sights while surviving on a budget of about $200 per day.

What Graff found in the nine-day trip were timeless bits of history, gorgeous scenes of nature and generous locals that made for memories more vivid than the photos collected on her website.

“I couldn’t get over how amazing it is there,” she said. “Why didn’t I know about this?”

Perhaps it’s because this immense state with a small population takes pride in being the “Last Best Place,” the one kept secret from much of the world but still willing to open its arms to the wandering visitor.

Montana road trip: Slide show

2011-07-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

Our family spent nine days driving through Montana's vast spaces and epic scenery. Here are some photos from our trip.

Montana road trip: We made it!

2011-07-25T07:33:00.000-07:00

We did it! Our family drove across Montana, zigzagging up and down the state to hit some of the best spots from the Big Hole Valley to Yellowstone.

We covered some 800 miles, ate nearly a dozen bowls of chili between all for of us, and hiked, canoed, and fished in the state's prettiest areas.

We never saw a moose, but we did stick to our budget of under $200 a day. It was close--so darn close. There were times when we couldn't resist experiences--such as a bluegrass music festival in Livingston that cost $30 for us all to get in. And then there was the irresistible Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman. We spent $29 (with the AAA discount) to see one of the world's best collections of dinosaur bones. It was worth it.

Best Western's summer promotion really saved us. We're members of the rewards program and registered for the promotion. If you stay three separate times, you get a free night. You can sign up for the promotion here.

How else did we cut costs?

Here's a quick rundown:

1) We left the SUV at home. We cruised Montana in an economy compact car (Nissan Sentra) that got 35 miles to the gallon. We spent under $100 on gas. If we had taken an SUV, we would have spent about a third more on gas.

2) We lightened our load. We packed light--bringing only a few changes of clothes and doing wash along the way. Carrying 100 pounds in the trunk reduces a typical car's fuel efficiency by 1 to 2 percent. If you do have cargo to haul, use the trunk instead of a roof rack or carrier, as using these can decrease mileage by as much as 5 percent.

3) We drank water only. No iced tea, no apple juice, no beers, no way! At restaurants we were allowed to order water only (with a few exceptions—we had to sample Montana beer at Summer Fest in Livingston).

4) We split entrées. We always started by ordering one entree for two adults and one children's meal for two kids. If we ate everything and were still hungry, we ordered more. We never wasted food.

5) We carried refillable water bottles. A family of four can easily spend $20 a day buying water in plastic bottles. We purchased eco-friendly Klean Kanteens, which don't leach chemicals, toxins, or funky flavors. We refilled them at hotels, restaurants, and public restrooms.

6) We found free and cheap fun. We walked to the top of Mount Sentinel in Missoula—a fun, free activity. We road the carousel in Helena—only $1.50. We caught some free live music at Music on Main in Bozeman. We discovered fun, off-the-beaten-path things to do on the Montana Get Lost website.

7) We went for hotel freebies. We bedded down at Best Westerns that offer great value: free breakfast, Wi-Fi, and parking.

8) We dove into the hotel pool. Who needs amusement parks and shopping malls, when you can hang out at the pool, where you don't have to pay admission or buy anything. Ninety percent of Best Western properties have swimming pools.

9) We loaded our iPhone with apps. We used CheapGas to pinpoint the lowest priced gas stations and AAA Discounts to alert us of money-saving opportunities. You can download both applications for free on iTunes.

Montana road trip: Billings

2011-07-23T07:33:00.000-07:00

We spent our last full day in Montana driving through Yellowstone. We just hadn't gotten enough the day before and my husband desperately wanted to see the Lower and Upper Yosemite Falls. Due to heavy snow falls the rivers were higher than normal and the falls were dumping remarkable amounts of water. The water would fall down the face of the cliff, hit the river, and then bounce back up. The power of the water was tremendous.
We drove to Billings over Beartooth Pass. These mountains have some of the highest elevations in the lower 48, and this summer they're dusted in more snow than usual. At the top of the pass, people were sledding and throwing snowballs.

We passed through the town of Red Loge, an old mining town that's been gussied up with hanging flower basket, cute boutiques, and restaurants with outdoor patios shaded by colorful umbrellas. An American flag hangs from the front of every storefront and it feels like the Fourth of July on the day we drive down the main drag.

Billings
From Red Lodge, we charged onto Billings, finally arriving at nightfall. Unlike western Montana, the east lacks mountains and trees, but the barren plains are still spectacular, especially on a summer evening when the sky is turning pink.

We stop by Terry Park where sprays of water shoot up from the ground, showering the kids running around in swim suits. The cool water is welcome in this town that gets hot in the summer.
For dinner, we head for Montana Avenue, the old part of town where a passenger train once stopped back when Buffalo Bill Cody hung around these parts. During the 1930's, 32 trains a day stopped in Billings. Then in the 1970s, the trains came to a halt and the neighborhood turned into a ghost town. But more recently locals have embraced the area and it's now the best place for a beer or a steak, or to shop for a pair of boots or a sundress. And there are trains still passing through, though these don't carry passengers.
We had dinner at the Rex, where a chef from Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show once cooked behind the stove. My husband and I shared smoked chicken and the kids were happy with their hamburgers. The steaks looked good but they're way out of our budget.

Montana road trip: Livingston

2011-07-22T07:29:00.000-07:00

In Montana, towns with red-brick buildings dating back to the 1800s and a few guys walking around in cowboy hats are a dime a dozen. Or so we learned on our road trip through this state filled with vast spaces and spectacular scenery and western towns.
But Livingston is in a class of it's own. The western spirit runs deeper here as the downtown is still rough and tumble and set seemingly in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by majestic mountains, sitting right on a rushing river. There's no suburban sprawl here. No chi-chi restaurants. Just a downtown with a few dark bars and stores where you can pick up a pair of Wranglers and the surrounding neighborhoods of trees and bungalows.
We arrive in the evening after a day in Yellowstone. As we drive down the leafy streets, we notice that there aren't any people around. It's eerily empty. And then we drive by one road and notice tons of cars parked. We've stumbled upon Summer Fest, an annual weekend of barbecue and bluegrass. We decide to ignore our tight budget and pay $30 for all of us to get in. It's well worth it. Locals are kicking up their heels to the sounds of a banjo and noshing on barbecue. We stick around for three hours, until after the sun goes down.

Best Western Plus Livingston Inn and Suites It's easy to feel right at home at this Best Western, just a few blocks from downtown. The chairs in the lobby are comfy. There's a hot pot of coffee sitting on the counter. And a teddy bear, which my children enjoyed cuddling, sits on the fireplace hearth.

Breakfast is free and the indoor swimming pool is heated.

The signs of Livingston
I fell in love with the old neon signs on the buildings in downtown Livingston. Here are a few photos of my favorites.

Montana road trip: Yellowstone

2011-07-21T07:28:00.000-07:00

I'm from California where Yosemite is our go-to national park, and Half Dome and the valley surrounding it are beautiful. But it's really just a drop in the bucket compared to Yellowstone. The park is massive, covering over 2 million square acres, and stretching into Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. It could actually be its own state and is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined. And it's beauty is overwhelming. I knew that it would be spectacular but I wasn't prepared for it to take my breath away.

Here are a few highlights from our day in Yellowstone:

Fly-fishing
As we drove into the park from Bozeman, we followed the Gallatin river. My husband loves to fly-fish and he brought his rod so we stopped several times along the way. The river is higher than usual this year so the fishing wasn't good but this wasn't about catching a fish. It was about getting out on the river.

Elk
A lone Elk grazing in a meadow was our first wildlife spotting in the park. We were so excited we started screaming. My husband pulled the car to the side of the road, and the kids and I got out and watched in wonderment. The animal was so peaceful--completely oblivious to us. She gave us quite a show as she walked across the river.

Elk are the most abundant large mammal found in Yellowstone; paleontological evidence confirms their continuous presence for at least 1,000 years. More than 30,000 elk from 7-8 different herds summer in Yellowstone and you're guaranteed to see one on a visit.

Later, we saw a coyote, an osprey, and lots of bison.

Old Faithful
It's the most most famous attraction in the park. We had to see it and so we followed the traffic that was inching down the road into a giant parking lot, a sea of RVs. We lucked out because we arrived at 2 p.m., and the sign in the visitor center said Old Faithful was tentatively scheduled to blow at 2:28 p.m.
Hundreds, no thousands of people, were gathered around Old Faithful's steamy hole. Everyone had their cameras and iPhones ready to get the shot. A few splashes of boiling water gurgled out. There were gasps all around. "Is she going to erupt?" And one of the splashes grew into a tall spray that got taller and taller.

It only lasted about two minutes. Reports from people around us who had seen the eruption before told us that this was a shorter show than usual and the spray wasn't quite as tall as it usually gets. But we didn't mind. We had seen Old Faithful.

Mammoth Hot Springs
As you walk through these steamy limestone terraces, you feel as if you're on the moon—or some other planet. The springs are different from the other thermal areas in the park. These travertine formations grow faster than sinter formations because limestone is soft. As the hot water bubbles to the surface, the limestone dissolves, covering the area in white chalky stuff.

To read the complete Montana road trip series, click here. To join conversations about the road trip, check out the On the Go with Amy Facebook page. If you want up-to-the-minute updates, follow @onthegowithamy on Twitter.

Montana road trip: Bozeman

2011-07-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

We spend the sixth day of our trip exploring Bozeman. Here are the highlights:

1) Best Western Plus GranTree Inn This hotel is right off the freeway and only a couple minutes from downtown. The staff are friendly and helpful and the rooms comfortable and clean. And the indoor pool is heated—and super fun. At least that's what my kids would tell you. They spent the entire morning making up synchronized swimming dances in the pool.

2) Sola CafeThis cafe, across from the Museum of the Rockies, is the place to eat lunch on a sunny afternoon. The patio is spacious and filled with several tables—and the food's good, too. Everything here is made from scratch with Montana grown fruits and vegetables. At the counter, you can choose from an array salads, soups, and panini sandwiches. We try a Yellowstone salad made with grass-fed steak and a vegetarian chili served with corn bread.

3) Museum of the Rockies A stegosaurus skull the size of a Ford Fiesta. A frog that glides through the air. Indian arrowheads and weapons. There's so much cool stuff in this museum.

We start in the hands-on kids' area that teaches little ones about Yellowstone. You get to fish for salmon in a stream, identify flowers, camp out in a tent, and even watch Old Faithful blow.

My kids are also intrigued by a special exhibit on frogs, where we learn all about the nearly extinct Golden Frogs of Costa Rica and try to find camouflaged frogs that look exactly like leaves hidden in a large tank.

But our most favorite part of the museum is the dinosaur hall where you'll find the world's largest Tyrannosaurus rex skull in the world and most complete collection of stegosaurus specimens. The kids even get to touch a real dinosaur bone.

The dinosaur program here is overseen by paleontologist Jack Horner, who was the inspiration for the Jurassic Park character, Dr. Alan Grant.

4) Living History FarmThe Tinsley House is part of the Museum of the Rockies and offers the chance to step back in time to 1890 and experience the daily life of homesteaders. Volunteers wear long dresses and bonnets and on the day we visit, they're knitting and baking bread in the kitchen. My daughter was excited about learning how to use a loom.

To read the complete Montana road trip series, click here. To join conversations about the road trip, check out the On the Go with Amy Facebook page. If you want up-to-the-minute updates, follow @onthegowithamy on Twitter.

Montana road trip: Helena to Bozeman

2011-07-18T07:22:00.000-07:00

After a few fast-paced days packed with driving and sightseeing we decide to spend a lazy morning at our hotel, the Best Western Premier Helena Great Northern. Our room is spacious and comfortable and its large curved windows look over the town. We take an hour to work and read. When you're traveling, sometimes you have to slow down.

Later the kids splash around in the heated indoor pool. We grab lunch at the nearby Bagel Company and the kids take one last spin on the Great Northern Carousel, just a block from the hotel.

At 1 p.m., we hit the road and drive to Bozeman.

It’s a stormy day and only a two-hour drive so we decide to plow forward and skip stops along the way. But we're actually forced to stop about halfway through the drive when the rain starts falling so hard we can't see through the windshield. And then hail, the size of small pebbles, starts pelting down onto the car. The freeway comes to a stop. Wow! We're stunned. We've never seen weather like this. And then it stops...and we drive on.

BozemanWe roll into Montana's fourth-largest town (pop. 37,000) in the evening, and head right for Main Street.

Art galleries, coffee houses, fly-fishing shops, and even wine bars line the main drag of this Old West town. This is a place where you can pick up a Stetson cowboy hat, and then buy a bottle of French wine. It's chic and stylish but still has that Montana cowboy charm.

On this night, Main Street is blocked off to traffic and food booths, serving everything from kettle corn to wood-fired pizza, have taken over. There's a huge row of bleachers and a stage in the middle of it all. We learn that we've stumbled upon Music on Main, when live bands perform outside on Thursday nights.

The Garage: Soup Shack and Mesquite Grill It's still an hour before the music starts so we grab dinner at The Garage, a casual spot dishing up burgers, salads, and homemade soups in a former garage. The car theme is carried throughout with license plates serving as the covers for the menus, and all sorts of car parts—from hubcaps to bumpers—hanging from the walls. The kids order mac and cheese, and I try the barbecue chicken salad. The prices are reasonable and the food fresh.

Music on Main By the time we're done with dinner at 8 p.m., the sun is still shining and a country western band has started to play. There's a fiddler and a guy on banjo and a lead singer belting out the Beatles' "Octopuses Garden" to a bluegrass rhythm. The entire town seems to be gathered outside and many are dancing wildly.
We stay until the end, and on the way back to the car my son spots some horses. The owner asks if he'd like to ride bareback and before I know it my son's on top of a horse and smiling big. "I need a cowboy hat," he tells me.

Best Western Premier Helena Great Northern

2011-07-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

The Best Western Premier Great Northern is a first-class hotel right in the heart of little ol' Helena (Montana's state capital; pop. 28,000). If an important person--say the President--were coming to town, this is where I'd tell him to stay. He'd fit right in wearing a suit—and a cowboy hat.

As soon as you walk through the door, you're greeted by a friendly hello. The staff at the front desk are professional and willing to bend over backwards to make you comfortable. They're also full of information about the town: where to bring kids, where to eat, what to do.

The lobby is large and divided into cozy sitting areas with comfy chairs and couches upholstered in rich earthy hued fabrics. In one corner, there's a business center with computers where you can check email and print documents for free. Some cafe tables are perfect for small business meetings, or sharing a snack with your kids.

The decor throughout the hotel is stylish and sophisticated yet it includes tasteful touches of Montana's Old West spirit. Artsy collages featuring images of the old railroad that once passed through the town are hung throughout the hotel, and there's a fabulous bronze elk sculpture in the lobby.

We absolutely love our room on the third floor. Large curved windows look over the town. The beds are comfy and topped with fluffy comforters. The room is immaculate, well-appointed, and seems like the sort of place you'd find in the best part of town in the big city. It's certainly a room fit for a President.

Montana road trip: Helena

2011-07-15T19:26:00.000-07:00

We wake up early and drive directly from Dillon to Helena. Montana's capital is lively little town (pop. 28,000) with lots of history. We decide to dig right into its storied past and spend the day touring historical sights. Here’s what we did:

1) The Parrot Confectionary, Helena

My kids' eyes get as big as saucers when they walk inside this old-fashioned soda fountain. As soon as you pass through door, there's a colorful display of hand-dipped candies.

But we can't have candy yet. We must eat lunch first. We park ourselves in one of the booths and order four bowls of chili.
This old-fashioned soda fountain looks just like it did in 1935 when it first opened in this location (it first opened in a different spot in 1910). There's a big red Formica counter with stools that spin around, and then several wooden booths. The lunch menu is simple: hot dogs and chili.
A friendly teenage boy carries the steaming bowls filled with huge chunks of steak to our table. There's a basket of Saltine crackers to go with it. We all devour our chili without saying a word. After her last bight, my daughter says, "Can we have some candy?"
It's hard to choose from the dozens of offerings: Turkish delight, raspberry creams, chocolate peanut butter fudge, almond butter toffee. We all decide on "Parrots," which are the same thing as a Turtle with chocolate, soft caramel and toasted pecans.

The lady behind the counter asks, "Do you want a tour of the back?"

My daughter practically screams, "Yes."

In the back we're escorted into a tiny refrigerated room where a woman who has worked at the Parrot for 30 years is hand-dipping chocolates. The time and effort that goes into each piece of candy is remarkable. These bon-bons are truly made with love. We all get a sample, and then another. "That's my favorite place in Montana," my daughter said, as we were leaving The Parrot.

2) Great Northern Carousel, Helena The kids take a spin on this modern carousel featuring Montana wildlife. My daughter hops on a bison and my son a big-horned sheep. There's a dispenser hanging from the wall feeding out little rings that you can grab and then throw into the mouth of a clown. My kids arms aren't long enough to reach a ring, but they keep trying. The rings make the carousel all the more fun for older kids.

3) Montana State Capitol, Helena
Montana's Capitol dates back to 1902 and in 2002 it was restored to its original look. The interior of this neoclassical building is absolutely stunning with stained glass, historical murals, and a barrel vaulted ceiling over the grand stairway. Free guided tours leave on the hour, with the first leaving at 9 a.m. and the last at 2 p.m. My kids ages 6 and 8 seem to find the tour interesting, and they like the stories that our guide tells about the murals of Indians, miners, and Lewis and Clark.

4) Last Chance Train Tours, Helena
The best way to see the town and pick up some history is on board this one-hour train tour. The guides know everything about the state's history but they don't bore you. They keep it fun by cracking lots of jokes. "That's what you call a 'Montana rode-eo'" our guide said when the train went over a big bump in the road.

Here are a few of the places we passed on the tour:

Opulent mansion district featuring homes of Helena's mining millionaires

St. Helena Gothic Cathedral with dramatic 230-foot spires

The Old Fire Tower, built in 1876. One of the few remaining in the U.S.

5) Toi’s Thai, Helena
The food coming out of this amazing little Thai restaurant is what you’d expect to be served at the home of a family living in Thailand. The flavors are intense and the coconut curry chicken that we savor is rich and lemony and far tastier than anything I’ve eaten at the Thai restaurants where I live in the metropolitan city of San Francisco. In the middle of our meal, Toi comes out of the kitchen and says hello to diners. There are only about six or eight tables. It's truly like eating in someone's home.

To read the complete Montana road trip series, click here. To join conversations about the road trip, check out the On the Go with Amy Facebook page. If you want up-to-the-minute updates, follow @onthegowithamy on Twitter.

Montana road trip: Hamilton to Dillon

2011-07-14T21:11:00.000-07:00

We wake up early on our third day in Montana because we have a packed itinerary. Our plan is to continue our drive through the Bitterroot Valley along Highway 93, and then drive over Chief Joseph Pass, crossing the Continental Divide. We'll then cut through the Big Hole Valley along Highway 43, before hopping onto 278, which will take us to Dillon, where we will spend the night.

Here are a few highlights from our day:

1) Blodgett Canyon, Hamilton
Hamilton locals refer to the box canyon just outside of town as a little Yosemite. And as we walk the Canyon Creek Trail, which follows a rushing river, we understand why. Granite peaks loom overhead. Not Half Dome, but still impressive.

2) Spice of Life Eclectic Café, Hamilton
This funky café housed in a 1909 historic building was initially a bank, then a rollicking bar, and now it's one of the best places in town for lunch and dinner. The menu is eclectic, as you'd expect, and you'll find a bit of Caribbean, Thai, Japanese, and Italian cuisine. My husband and I split a Jamaican jerk chicken salad and a bowl of black bean chili. The kids opt for a fruit plate off the children's menu.

3) Sassy Sewing Company, Hamilton
After lunch, we stroll down Main Street. My daughter spots this store selling handmade doll clothes for Barbies and American Girl Dolls. Susan Raye White is the amazing woman behind this shop and she sews at least one new dress a day. She shows us a wedding dress that’s a copy of the Kate Middleton gown. She plans to have it on display at the county fair. My daughter uses her spending money to buy a few things.

4) Lake Como, outside Darby
This pretty little mountain lake framed by snowy peaks has a soft, sandy beach that’s a popular swimming spot with locals. There’s also a hike that takes you around the lake and past a waterfall. Since we spent the morning hiking we opt for an afternoon swim.

5) Big Bear Taxidermy, Darby
Animal trophies are a dime a dozen in Montana and hang in restaurants, saloons, hotels, even the airport. But when you walk into this tiny storefront where the walls are covered in moose, deer, and bear heads, you feel the power of these beautiful animals. Dozens of deep, brown eyes are staring right at you, and it’s a rather arresting feeling.
I ask the taxidermist about a stuffed mountain lion that appears humongous. “Are mountain lions really that big?”

“Well, that’s an especially huge lion,” he tells me.

6) Big Hole National Battlefield
Over 125 years ago U.S. soldiers sneaked up on a Nez Perce tribe camped next to the Big Hole River. Gun shots were fired and almost 90 Nez Perce, mainly innocent women and children, were killed. Thirty soldiers and volunteers also died in the brutal battle. This National Battlefield was created to honor those who died.

In the visitor center, exhibits and a movie tell the story of the battle. The video brings my daughter to tears and she insists that we hike down to the battlefield where tipis made from sticks honor the Nez Perce.

7) Bannack State ParkFrom the Battlefield we drive through the Big Hole Valley, a broad stretch of land with jagged peaks marching along either side. We stop at the ghost town of Bannack.
Bannack was founded in 1862 when John White discovered gold on Grasshopper Creek. As news of the gold strike spread many prospectors and businessmen rushed to Bannack hoping to strike it rich. In 1864, Bannack was named as the first Territorial Capital of Montana. For years it was hopping, but the population started dwindling in the 30s and 40s and then completely disappeared in the 50s. What remains is a row of some sixty buildings, and you can step inside most of them.

8) Dillon
We roll into this little town at about 8 p.m. We'd read that it was named one of "America's Prettiest Towns" in Forbes magazine in 2010, but unfortunately we're unable to explore since it's so late. We drive around and notice the beautiful University of Montana Western campus. We drive by a Patagonia outlet (random place to find one) and downtown's main drag of red-brick buildings, and then grab dinner at Papa T's. Video games line one wall of the restaurant and the kids have fun playing PacMan (only 25 cents!). And then we fill up on pizza, piled high with fresh veggies.

To read the complete Montana road trip series, click here. To join conversations about the road trip, check out the On the Go with Amy Facebook page. If you want up-to-the-minute updates, follow @onthegowithamy on Twitter.

Montana road trip: Flathead Lake and Hamilton

2011-07-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

On the second day of our road trip we drive an hour from Missoula to Flathead Lake and then we opt to take the scenic route on our drive to the Bitterroot Valley. Here are a few highlights from the day:

1) Mission Mountain Range

We're driving through rural countryside (lots of hay bales) outside Missoula on our way to Flathead Lake, and then, Bam! Jagged, snow-topped mountains are staring us in the face. I'm so startled and excited that I scream. My husband points out that the mountains are spectacular because there aren't any foothills. They shoot right up from the valley floor. This is the moment when I fall in love with Montana and its mountains.

2) Flathead Lake
Who knew? This is the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi. It’s only slightly larger than California's better-known Lake Tahoe but it seems twice as big as it’s long and skinny. When my 5-year-old son first spots the massive expanse of water he screams, “Look! The Ocean!”
We want to get out on the lake and so we rent a canoe for an hour, which costs us $25. This is a splurge since we’re on such a tight budget.

3) Lake City Bakery & Eatery, Polson
We break for lunch at a homey café in downtown Polson. Marilyn Humphrey has owned this local favorite for 41 years and her son wakes up every morning at 3 a.m. to make the doughnuts served at breakfast and hamburger and hot dog buns used at lunch. Soups and stews are a speciality and we settle on bowls of $5 chili loaded with onions and cheese. The beans are perfectly firm, the broth spicy, and the meat moist.

4) Cherries, Flathead Lake
Montana gets way too cold for cherries, right? Not on the east shore of Flathead Lake, which enjoys a surprisingly temperate climate. We stop at the first cherry stand and soon my kids’ mouths and cheeks are covered in red stains. But we spot dozens more stands as we drive around the lake. The orchards, which extend clear down to the lake edge, are absolutely breathtaking set against the deep blue waters.

5) Highway 83
Our plan is to stay the night in the Bitterroot Valley and so we must drive back to Missoula, and then drive for another hour to Hamilton. Rather than take the fast and smooth highways, we opt for the longer scenic route because a guy in a gas station tells me that we’ll probably come across moose, something I’ve always wanted to see in the wild.

Highway 93 stretches for 91 miles between the town of Big Fork on Flathead Lake and Montana Highway 200. It passes through a sparsely populated region with forested valleys and pretty lakes. We never spot any big-antlered animals but we do see more breathtaking mountains, the scenic Swan Lake, and the Morley Canoe Shop with gorgeous hand-carved boats on display.

6) Ice Cream Place, Seeley Lake
The highlight of our stop in Seeley Lake was a spot serving up old-fashioned soft serve. I skip the cone and opt for a huckleberry shake instead. Huckleberries have a blueberry flavor but their flavor is more intense.

7) Hamilton
This former timber town sits in the heart of the lush Bitterroot Valley, an hour outside Missoula. We arrive in the evening and check into the Best Western Hamilton Inn. The retro motel-style property is just blocks from downtown's shopping strip filled with Old West charm. You expect to see cowboys walking down the street and in fact there are a few men sporting hats but there are also a lot of 20-somethings in hiking boots. Hamilton has become a hub for outdoor enthusiasts who enjoy everything from skiing to mountain-biking.

8) Hamilton rabbits
In downtown Hamilton on Main Street, we spot a rabbit hopping across the street. It’s black and white—doesn’t look like the typical wild rabbit. We figure that someone’s pet has escaped and so we follow it. And then a local tells us that there are rabbits all over town. “They’re our town pets. We all enjoy them!”

*To read the complete Montana road trip series, click here. To join conversations about the road trip, check out the On the Go with Amy Facebook page. If you want up-to-the-minute updates, follow @onthegowithamy on Twitter.

Thank you, Missoula!

2011-07-13T18:44:00.000-07:00

Our family enjoyed our stay in Missoula. The Big Dipper ice cream, the hike up to Mount Sentinel, and the walk along the river were all memorable. We also had fun sharing travel tips on KECI-TV/NBC. Here's a link to the segment that will be up and running for a few days.

Best Western Plus Grant Creek Inn, Missoula

2011-07-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

Let me count the ways our family loved the Best Western Plus Grant Creek Inn in Missoula

The front-desk staff is friendly. Two lovely ladies checked us in to our room. They directed us to the amazing local hike to the top of Mount Sentinel.
The swimming pool is huge. My kids had a ball splashing around in the heated indoor pool--while mom and dad relaxed in the hot tub.
The rooms are clean, light, spacious and airy. We loved our room filled with windows overlooking the Missoula mountains. The furnishings were tasteful and beds comfy.
Breakfast was delicious. The impressive spread included sliced strawberries, kiwi, and cantaloupe as well as fluffy pancakes. Yum!

The Best Western Plus Grant Creek Inn is only one freeway exit from Downtown Missoula. Its tucked against a grassy field that was dotted with wildflowers during our stay.

Montana road trip: Missoula

2011-07-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

Our Montana road trip starts in Missoula, Montana's second-largest city located in the western part of the state. We instantly fall for this laid-back college town with leafy tree-lined streets and spend an afternoon exploring its riverfront park and downtown.

These are the highlights from our day in Missoula:

1) Missoula Airport
As soon as you step inside this airport, you feel as if you've arrived at a wild, untamed place. Giant animal trophies hanging from the wall great arriving passengers. Men wearing cowboy hats and holding fly-rods sit around waiting for their planes. A 10-foot stuffed brown bear stands on his black legs inside a glass case. Across the way, a stuffed turkey looks so real you practically hear a gobble. This is what I expected Montana to be like, though I never thought its outdoorsy charm would be so strongly present at the airport. I instantly fall in love with Montana before even stepping outside.

2) Clark Fork River
This snaking river cuts right through downtown Missoula and its collection of redbrick buildings. We walk along the riverfront, stopping to ride the lovingly restored carousel, exploring the giant castle-like playground at Dragon Hollow, and watching the kayakers play in the waves.

3) The Staggering Ox
The sandwiches dished up at this popular spot in a strip mall are like nothing else. Fresh fixings are stuffed inside cylinder-shaped loaves of bread that have been hollowed out--it's sort of like a sandwich in a bread cup. It works brilliantly because the kitchen crew whips up all sorts of homemade sauces--spicy horseradish blue cheese, yogurt dill, ranch--and these cup-like loaves hold in all the yummy goo. I was quite happy with my salami sandwich dressed in a vinegarette.

4) Mount Sentinel
From downtown you can see this mountain. It's hard to miss because there's a giant white M on the side of it. As soon as I notice the switchback trail leading up to the M, I know that we must do the hike. We're told the best time to head up is in the evening when it cools off so we take this advice and park at the trail head after dinner.

A plaque at the trail head says that forestry students cut the switchbacks in the early 1900s and in 1909 students build the first M with white-washed rocks. Finally, in 1968 a 125-foot-long concrete M was installed.

The views from the M are breathtaking—and as you get higher more and more mountains pop into view and you realize that Missoula sits in the heart of the Rocky Mountains.

5) Big Dipper Ice Cream Fresh, homemade ice cream—including the state favorite, Huckleberry.

Montana road trip: Rules of the road

2011-07-10T20:48:00.000-07:00

Our Montana Road Trip adventure has official started! Again, we're a family of four traveling 600 miles through the state of Montana.

Before heading out, we established some guidelines:

Travel on a budget. We have about $1,600 to cover the cost of lodging, food, hotel, and entertainment for 9 days; this comes to $175 a day. We're not including the cost of driving a car or our plane flights or airport related expenses.
Act like a local. Read local papers, listen to local radio, talk to local people. (We'll be referring to the GetLostMT.com website with over 800 stories about places to eat, stay, and play in Montana, written by the ultimate experts: local Montanans and others who have been there.)
Avoid franchised restaurants. Eat where the locals eat. Go to farmers' markets. Picnic.
Travel off the beaten path. Stay off the interstate whenever possible and take the scenic route.
Appreciate our surroundings. Learn all that we can about Montana by stopping at museums, reading interpretive signs, talking with experts.
Keep the kids entertained--without the help of a DVD player. Sing songs, play games, look out the window, and bond as a family. We've downloaded dozens of Books on Tape onto the iPhone—thanks to the San Francisco Public Library.
Stop every two hours. We've designed an itinerary with short driving days. Some days we're only driving an hour. But on those longer hauls, we promise to pull over and let the kids run around.
Eat all the huckleberry shakes we possibly can. The weather is supposed to be hot and we plan to cool off with berry shakes.
Swim. We're staying at Best Westerns along the way and they all have swimming pools. We also hope to splash around in a mountain lake and get our toes in rushing river.
Have fun. Relax. Move slowly. Stop to smell the roses.

You're welcome to nit-pick at our budget and the way we approach our trip. I'm sure some of you would do things differently. But even better, feel free to offer up ideas for places we should visit along our route and tips on how to travel on a budget.

*To read the complete Montana road trip series, click here. To join conversations about the road trip, check out the On the Go with Amy Facebook page. If you want up-to-the-minute updates, follow @onthegowithamy on Twitter.

Montana road trip

2011-07-10T16:02:00.000-07:00

My husband and I have decided to drive through the state of Montana with our two kids--ages 6 and 8--this summer. Our plan is to fly into Missoula, dip down into the Bitterroot Valley, swoop up to Helena, spend a couple days in Bozeman and Yellowstone, and then finish up in Billings.

We'll spend seven nights, eight days, covering 600 miles, and along the way we hope to climb tall mountains, plunge into cool lakes, catch a fish, drink a huckleberry shake, and take in Big Sky country's majestic scenery (and my 8-year-old daughter hopes that we won't be seeing any grizzly bears).

Photo: Flickr / Sebastian Bergmann

Want to avoid getting stuck in traffic this 4th? There's an app for that

2011-06-27T09:36:00.000-07:00

Our family will spend the Fourth of July with some friends in Lake Tahoe. This means we'll be driving Highway 80 from San Francisco to Sacramento and then on into the mountains. This 200-mile stretch is notorious for traffic and a trip that's supposed to be only four hours can easily turn into six, seven, nine, even 10 hours. I'm not kidding. It gets that bad.

We're hoping to avoid the traffic and so our plan is to leave Thursday night after 7 p.m. We'll return on the morning of the Fourth, skipping holiday activities on the lake and fireworks. We feel it's worth leaving early to avoid the traffic jams.

I was also interested in finding out if there are any apps for the iPhone that can help track traffic. It seems the best available is SigAlert. The app is tied into the state highway patrols' data and offers the most-up-to-date traffic maps available through any app.

I checked out the list of maps available for California and sure enough, they've got our trip entirely covered with maps for San Francisco, Sacramento, and Davis/Yolo, El Dorado, and Placer Counties.

You can easily zoom in and out of the maps and the app will give you estimated travel times for your selected route.

We won't necessarily gain any time on our trip by checking SigAlert and then finding out that there's a major jam ahead in Sacramento. But it will help us determine when to stop and grab dinner--and if that traffic becomes unbearable bad during our drive on Thursday, maybe we'll just pull over and stay the night in a Best Western and then hit the road early Friday morning. Who wants to sit in traffic when you have two little kids in the car?

TSA to perform fewer child pat downs

2011-06-27T07:34:00.001-07:00

The Transportation Security Administration has been under fire for performing pat downs on children.

There was a national outcry when a YouTube video of a 6-year-old getting a pat down went viral. And then a parent took video footage with the hands of a TSA official all over a baby.

The TSA now says it will be giving fewer pat downs though they'll need to continue to use the procedure in some instances, according to the Associated Press.

Summer bargin destinations 2011

2011-06-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

USA Today has put together a roundup of five affordable destinations for this summer. New York City, Houston, Costa Rica, Reno, and Fort Myers, Fl., all make up the list.

New York makes the cut because this city is full with new hotels, which keeps rates down. Houston is in it's of-season in summer as its baking hot so you're bound to find deals. Also, it's now the largest hub of the largest airline in the world: United-Continental so you're bound to score cheap plane tickets in and out of this Texas city.

Why Fort Myers? Continental just announced mid-July airfare sales and hotels are slashing rates. And Costa Rica is on the list because the Central America country is in the midst of its wet seaon--yet this can also be a beautiful time to visit. Usually the rain only falls in the morning. Finally, Reno is a deal thanks to new airline service and affordable hotel rooms.

Read the full USA Today article

Free entrance day in National Parks

2011-06-19T23:06:00.000-07:00

More than 100 national parks that typically charge an entrance fee will let travelers in for free on June 21, the official first day of summer.

Florida's Everglades, California's Yosemite, Colorado's Mesa Verde, Oregon's Crater Lake, Utah's Arches, Washington's Olympic and Wyoming's Yellowstone are among those waiving entrance fees.

More info

Earn a free night with Best Western!

2011-06-19T22:59:00.000-07:00

Stay three separate times between June 19 and August 14, 2011, at any Best Western hotel, and earn a free night voucher.

Register here

BBC: Babies vs. business travellers

2011-06-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

This from BBC's Passport blog:

The problem with babies and business travellers is that neither really wants to be on the plane in the first place. And both are prone to tantrums.

Babies are aboard because their parents want them there. Business travellers are there because their bosses or clients want them to be.
The tension between the two groups reaches a fever pitch in the summer, when business travellers have to start sharing their space with throngs of vacationers. That’s when you’ll hear business travellers whining (like babies) about needing special “family” sections on planes, banishing children from business class or reserving certain flights for “adults only”. They express their frustration in-flight by banging noisily on their laptop keyboards, talking loudly with colleagues, or by drinking too much and then laughing out loud (or crying) at movies on their new iPads.
Since most babies can’t talk yet, they don’t really have a say in the matter. But they communicate their dislike of the grouchy old business traveller in other ways — by kicking their seatbacks, shrieking nonstop for hours or smelling up their space with a leaky diaper or vomit.
“I find that most babies are well behaved on flights,” said Amy Graff, Best Western’s family travel expert. “Unfortunately, it’s the ones who misbehave that give others a bad reputation.” With two kids of her own, Graff recommends that when business travellers see well-behaved babies, they should point it out to the parents with a compliment.
In any case, as peak summer travel season approaches, it’s inevitable that the two groups will meet again. And it is the business traveller that needs to take the high road and be the mature one in the relationship. So here is your advice for dealing with:
The crying baby
With a shrill squeal only a mother could love, the crying baby is by far the most frequently noticed type of travelling baby. Business travellers can put up with occasional wails during takeoff or landing, but their blood pressure rises and eyebrows arch when the baby shrieks throughout the flight, especially if it is overnight. To avoid going over the edge and throwing a tantrum, business travellers should pack earplugs or invest in a good pair of noise cancelling headsets, and don’t glare at the parents of a crying baby. “The glares from other travellers make the parents feel more stressed. And then the babies pick up on the stress of their parents and cry even more,” Graff said.
Read the full post
Photo: Flickr

Ask Amy: Where should I eat during a two-day visit to Paris?

2011-06-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

Question: My wife and I are going to be traveling to Europe for a little over a week at the end of August. We need some help in planning our Paris trip though. We only have two days there and want to make the most of it. We know the big landmarks and will be visiting those but was looking for your expertise in finding a nice hotel for a reasonable price ($100-150 per night) as well as the must hit restaurants. We want to experience the best food and local eateries that Paris has during our short visit.

Have you been to Paris and can you offer any advice?

Answer: Yes! I've been to Paris. In fact, my daughter is named Paris!

I recommend visiting BestWestern.com to find well-priced accommodations. The world's largest hotel family has about three dozen properties in the City of Light. The Grand Hotel De L'Univers in the prestigious Saint German Des Pres, the Quartier Latin Pantheon near Notre Dame Cathedral, the France Europe in the trendy Marais district, and the Ronceray Opera, among several others, are in your price range.

Here are a few restaurant recommendations:

Bistrot Victoires: Classic rustic French cafe near the Louvre. Affordable. Casual. Try the steak and chips and the creme brule.

Chez Georges: 1920s-style bistro. Lively atmosphere. Order the rib roast served with a rich potato gratin.

Rino: Hip spot in the Bastille for dinner. Modern European food.

Mi-Va-Mi: In the heart of the Jewish quarter, try falafel and spit-fired schwarma.

Berthillon: You'll have to line up for a scoop but it's worth the wait at this tiny ice cream shop on Ile Saint Louis.

Top 5 Ways to Avoid the Crowds in National Parks

2011-06-01T22:02:00.000-07:00

Summer is here. Schools are out and families are getting ready to take off on vacation. This means our nation's national parks will start to fill up. These parks, from Yellowstone to Yosemite, allow kids to get up-close with nature and offer great value for families. But they can also become overwhelmingly crowded. For some tips on ways to avoid the crowds, we checked in with award-winning travel writer and photographer, James Kaiser.

1. Get an Early Start
Sunrise is a breathtaking experience in any national park. But most park visitors, snug in their sleeping bags or in a comfy lodge, sleep right through it. Wake up early and you'll be treated to incredible views without the crowds, even at the most popular viewpoints. And don't forget to pack your camera. Sunrise bathes the parks in soft, beautiful light—perfect for taking gorgeous landscape photos.

2. Go for a Hike
Sad but true: Most national park visitors never venture farther than 100 yards away from their cars. Of course, if you're looking to avoid the crowds this statistic is great news. Go for a hike and the crowds will start to thin out immediately. Choose a challenging trail and you'll really get away from the masses. As a general rule, crowds diminish exponentially for every step you take away from the pavement. And remember: hiking trails often lead to the most spectacular viewpoints.

3. Avoid the Hotspots
Most national parks are famous for a specific spot—Yosemite Valley in Yosemite, Old Faithful in Yellowstone, Mather Point in Grand Canyon. But take Robert Frost's advice and choose the road less traveled. It really will make all the difference. Follow the herds and you'll find more herds. Do a little pre-trip research and you'll discover that some of the most beautiful places in any national park are often some of the least well-known.This is where a good guidebook can really come in handy. Plan your trip ahead of time and you'll know exactly where to go—and where not to go—as soon as you arrive.

4. Take Advantage of the Night.
After a long day of exploring and sightseeing, most visitors are eager to head to bed. But nighttime is when Nature puts on one of her finest shows. Most parks are located in remote areas free of light and air pollution, which means clear skies perfect for stargazing. To help visitors enjoy the night sky, many parks offer free astronomy programs. Still need convincing? This year Memorial Day falls within a few days of the new moon, which means dark skies perfect for viewing distant constellations.

5. Pack a Picnic Lunch
Most national park visitors leave themselves to the mercy of park restaurants, which are swamped with crowds on big weekends. The result? Long lines for tables, bathrooms and parking spaces. The solution? Pack a picnic lunch. In addition to saving hours of time and frustration, a picnic lunch will probably be tastier, healthier and cheaper. Best of all: you can enjoy it at a beautiful viewpoint while everyone else is waiting in line!

Photo: Yosemite County Tourism Office

A new website for road-trippers

2011-06-01T21:55:00.000-07:00

Planning to hit the road this summer? Check out the new All American Road Trip site, sponsored by Valero gas station. The snazzy new site with a sleek design offers detailed rout maps for class trips, ranging from a journey along Route 66 to a drive along the Great River Road, tracing the full length of the Mississippi River. You can also build your own road trip.

The sites spits out itineraries that direct you to major cities, national parks, and points of interest, including the locations of Valero stations and convenience stores along the way. You can also check out Yelp reviews for suggestions on local stops.

Sorry! American Airlines is no longer gate checking big strollers!

2011-05-23T21:42:00.000-07:00

Parents, the party is over...American Airlines will no longer gate check certain strollers beginning June 1, 2011.

Large joggers and non-collapsibles will now have to be checked at the ticket counter. So if you've got a little one in tow and want to roll them right up to the gate, you'll have to bring a collapsible or umbrella-style stroller that weighs under 20 pounds.

Thankfully there's no charge for checking strollers.

American isn't the first to slap families with this rule. United has a similar policy. But Delta, Alaska, and Southwest allow all strollers to be checked at the gate.

Photo: Teeny Manolo

New website magically puts together road-trip itineraries

2011-05-22T22:27:00.000-07:00

So you want to go on a family road trip this summer. You're thinking Florida. You have two kids who will want to spend some time at an amusement park and you also hope to squeeze in a few days of hiking and getting out in nature. You'd like to stay a few nights in a hotel and then move onto the next locaion. You have seven days and a budget of $3500.

You could spend hours online doing research and planning, or you could simply let a new website called YourTour know what you want and then presto, it spits out an itinerary that includes recommended attractions, accommodations, and precise driving directions between destinations.

The site is brand-new and currently only puts together itineraries for Florida, Andorra, Spain, and France (where Best Western Hotels have partnered with Your Tour). But stay tuned because the site will be adding new destinations soon. Visit, yourtour.com.

Tips and tricks for saving on gas this summer

2011-05-16T09:48:00.001-07:00

My family will be hitting the road this summer. We've mapped out a week-long trip through Montana that takes us from Missoula, down into the Bitterroot Valley, up to Helena, back down to Bozeman and then onto Billings. We'll be covering about 700 miles.

We hope to make this a budget trip--limiting ourselves to only $150 a day. Sound tight? Yes, especially with gas prices expected to go through the roof this summer.

How will we ever manage to meet our budget goal and keep our gas prices low? We'll follow many of the tips and tricks offered up in a recent New York Times article, "13 Ways to Save on Gas this Summer."

Here's a look at a few of the tips.

GET A GAS APP There are dozens of apps that help users find cheap gas while on the road. GasBuddy.com, offers one of the more comprehensive for iPhone and Android users, with a clean design and estimated drive times to gas stations in your vicinity. Just tap “Find Gas Near Me” or search by city or ZIP code for a list of gas stations sorted by price. You can click Midgrade, Premium or Diesel for those prices. Selecting Map View displays the stations on a map. Another option is AAA’s free TripTik Mobile app for the iPhone, which allows users to search prices for their preferred grade of gasoline.

STAY OUT OF TRAFFIC Google Maps, which comes preinstalled on many smartphones or is available for download, offers an at-a-glance display of road conditions in major cities to help you find the best route around congestion so you don’t burn up extra fuel in stop-and-go traffic. Color-coded lines correspond to the intensity of traffic: green for no traffic jams, yellow for medium congestion, red for heavy congestion, and red-and-black for stop-and-go. Google Maps Navigation, offered through Google Maps for Android, has recently been updated to offer alternate routes to avoid tie-ups.

PAY LESS FOR YOUR RENTAL CAR A cheaper rental will help offset the cost of gas. Check out the booking site Autoslash.com, which searches the Web for discount coupons on car rentals and applies them after you book. It then continually checks for lower rates and coupons up until your trip date, and automatically applies any discounts it finds. Willing to gamble? Consider Web sites like Priceline.com and Hotwire.com, which offer deep discounts to travelers willing to be locked into a preset price before learning what company they’ll be renting from.

For all 13 tips

Do you feel guilty about leaving the kids behind?

2011-05-15T09:34:00.000-07:00

Two years ago my husband and I left our kids--ages 4 and 6 at the time--with the grandparents and hopped on a plane for Barcelona. We stayed out until 2 a.m. every night and slept in until 2 p.m. We walked miles upon miles, exploring the Spanish city, and we spent hours in museums. Most importantly, we reconnected as a couple, reminiscing about old times over pitchers of sangria.

We were away from our kids for five days and while I missed them, I didn't feel a tinge of guilt. We needed that trip.

Turns out that I'm not alone. According to a recent survey by Orbitz, 71% of women do not feel guilty about taking a summer vacation without their kids. This number was even higher than the men polled, though 67% of men would also take that summer trip kid-free sans guilt.

Have you left your kids behind? Did you feel guilty?

Best Western summer promotion

2011-05-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

To kick the summer travel season into gear, Best Western is introducing a special promotion. Now through June 5, Best Western Rewards members who register for the promotion and stay with Best Western three separate times will earn a $50 USD Best Western Travel Card, which can be used like cash at any of the chain’s 4,000 global hotels until November 1, 2011.

And there's more: Best Western Rewards members who qualify for the promotion and stay with at least two separate descriptor hotels (BEST WESTERN and/or BEST WESTERN PLUS, and/or BEST WESTERN PREMIER), will be automatically entered in the brand’s biggest-ever points giveaway and one of the biggest-ever one-time points prize giveaways by any hotel company: The grand prize is 6.5 million Best Western Rewards points – the equivalent of more than a year of free hotel stays. Five second-place winners will receive a $650 Best Western Travel Card. All who register for the promotion will be entered into a daily drawing for a $65 Best Western Travel Card.

What's your favorite Best Western?

2011-05-06T12:32:00.000-07:00

As the family travel spokesperson for Best Western, I've stayed at dozens of properties all over the country--and most of the time I have my kids in tow.

My children have become so familiar with the brand that they scream out, "Best Western!" every time we pass a hotel while driving.

And on our recent trip to Florida it became apparent that they're becoming hotel connoisseurs. As they were walking from a hotel to the parking lot, I eavesdropped on a conversation in which they were discussing which Best Westerns were their favorites. It was hilarious because they were comparing how many waffle makers various properties had available at breakfast and which hotels had hot tubs and which ones had fast elevators.

Later back at the hotel, I asked them to re-create that conversation and I videotaped it. The end result feels a little forced and my children certainly aren't professional actors but I still think it turned out pretty cute.

Best Western Fort Walton Beachfront: Stylish, swanky, and brightly colored

2011-04-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

Could the decor in the lobby of the Best Western Fort Walton Beach Resort be any cuter? The playful colors--flamingo pink, key lime pie green, ocean blue--recall those days in the 1960s when travelers were just discovering Florida's impossibly white beaches, turquoise waters, and fragrant orange groves.

Cheerful polka dots are everywhere! That's my daughter in the chair--but it could just as easily be famed fashion designer Lily Pulitzer who got her start in Florida as a clothing designer in 1961. Her clothes made with gloriously bright pink, green, and turquoise fabrics would fit right in the lobby at the Beachfront.

Why go in the ocean when you can sit in these gorgeous turquoise blue chairs?

It's a world of color at the Fort Walton Beachfront.

The pool sits right outside the lobby on the beach. Here my son contemplates diving in. He's thrilled when he learns from the friendly woman at the front desk that the pool is indeed heated.

Comfy lounge chairs line the outdoor pool. On a warm sunny day, you just might be tempted to stay here all day.

My daughter tests the water. "It's warm Mom! Come in!"

The Beachfront sits on a white, sugary beach.

Every room facing the Gulf of Mexico has its own private balcony.

A hair cut in Apalachicola, Fl.

2011-04-18T20:18:00.001-07:00

In Apalachicola, Fl., my 6-year-old son announced that he wanted a hair cut. He was hot and sweaty under the Florida sun and wanted a buzz cut.

On the main drag of this history little town that sits on the southern most tip of Florida we found a barber shop. There wasn't even a sign outside but my son spotted the old chair inside.

Turns out the shop dates back to the early 1900s and Lawrence the barber in the house has been cutting hair there since 1961. When he started, he charged 1.25 for cuts. Now the price is $14, still a great deal.

Lawrence is famous. His shop was once featured in Travel and Leisure magazine.

Florida's Forgotten Coast

2011-04-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

As I drove along Florida's north Gulf coast, I kept thinking, Where is everyone?

The flawless stretch of coastline between Cedar Key and Apalachicola was by far the most beautiful part of the state we'd seen on our trip--yet we seemed to be among only a few travelers.

I guess this makes sense. This less-touristy part of the state has miraculously remained untouched by the eager developers who have built ritzy resorts, glittering shopping centers, and exciting amusement parks up and down Florida's coastlines.

Yet still I could couldn't believe that we hardly saw a single sunbather as we drove by mile after mile of blindingly white beach stretching out into the most beautiful turquoise waters littered with dozens of tiny islands topped with a palm tree or two.

This is where photographers come to get that photo of the impossibly blue water surrounding a tiny island of white sand with only a single palm. I figured those things were done in Photoshop...this was real.

This is the Florida that you didn't think exists. This is what many refer to as the "Forgotten Coast." This is where I fell in love with Florida.

Every mile it seemed we wanted to stop...

In Newport we bought some Tuppelo honey from a man on the side of the road.

In Crawfordville we talked with a man named Kenny who was fishing in a river. He showed the kids where an alligator was lounging in the water

In the small town of Carabelle, we pulled over to chat with a man who was restoring an old pirate ship that looked as if it was being built for the set of Pirates of the Caribbean.

After driving by a couple oyster farms my kids finally convinced me to pull over so they could climb atop a mountain of discarded shells.

We drove through dozens of funky towns with gigantic and old trees strewn with moss. The man at a gas station in one had no teeth and I couldn't hardly understand his thick accent but the twinkle in his eyes welcome to this far corner of our country.

We wanted to stop everywhere but we couldn't. We entirely missed Cedar Key, which is supposed to be like what Key West was like in the 1950s. It's known for its art galleries and shallow waters, perfect for sea kayaking.

We didn't have time for Little St. George Island, where you can go hunting for old Indian pottery.

We never made it to Steinhatchee, the scalloping capital of Florida.

We will return to the crook in Florida's panhandle. We will. We will.

Homosassa Springs State Park, Fl: Where we finally see a manatee

2011-04-13T09:03:00.000-07:00

In the morning I let the kids watch a little TV while I packed up. They were fully engaged in an episode of Dinosaur Train when the screen suddenly went blank and the TV started to beep loudly.

"What happened to our show?" the kids screamed.

A message about a tornado warning appeared on the screen. A tornado just east of Tampa was spotted.

We were in Dunedin, about 30 minutes west of Tampa.

We were safe, right? Who knows? As a Californian, I don't know a thing about tornadoes.

We loaded everything into the car and I checked out. I asked the lady at the front desk about the tornado warning. She didn't know a thing about it. I figured that it must not be a big deal then.

We drove off and said goodbye to the charming village of Dunedin. We were headed north to Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. A ranger in the Everglades told us that this is where we were guaranteed to see a manatee.

It started to rain. Then it started to thunder. Loud roars. We spotted lightning in the distance. My daughter screamed.

I turned on the radio, looking for a local station that would give us weather and traffic reports.

That loud, ear-piercing beeping filled the car. "This is a tornado warning." The tornado had hit Tampa, and was on it's way to Clearwater, traveling at 35 mph. We were about 15 or 20 miles north of Clearwater.

We were moving slowly along US-19, a two-lane highway filled with traffic lights. We came upon a large puddle of water in the middle of the road. Actually it was more like a lake. The cars ahead turned around and so did we. We navigated our way through backstreets to bypass the flood.

By now sheets of rain were falling. I could barely see outside the window. Every five minutes or so, you'd hear a loud roar and then the black clouds would light up.

We stopped at a gas station. Running from the car into the station, we got soaked and looked as if we'd jumped into a swimming pool with our clothes on.

The gas station was filthy and the man behind the counter didn't have any teeth. Another man walked in and he didn't look any friendlier.

"Ummm...should we be concerned about the tornado? We're driving north to Homosassa Springs. Is this safe?"

The man who just walked in gently grabbed my hands. "Let's pray. Dear Lord, please protect this woman and her beautiful children as they drive north....I think you'll be OK."

Thunder struck again. This was loudest roar yet and the windows in the gas station shook and rattled.

We continued our drive north. Another service announcement came on. Tampa was getting hit hard by the tornado--actually now it sounded as if there were several tornadoes.

I called my husband and asked him to check the weather report online. The storm was headed south. Our best bet was to continue north.

Two hours later we reached Homosassa Springs State Park. The thunder storms continued so the park wasn't running it's usual boat tours but we were able to walk through the grounds with our umbrellas. We saw an alligator, stepped inside a center housings all sorts of snakes, and posed outside yet another manatee statue. But where were the manatees?

A small lake sits at the center of the grounds yet we couldn't see a thing.

My kids ran up to a ranger, "Where are the manatees"

"Come with me," she told them.

We walked over to small dock stretching into the lake. She grabbed a wheel barrow filled with lettuce and told the kids to throw it into the water.

"There's one!"

A manatee that looked like a giant baked potato floated over to us. And then another and then another.

Here's a video showing these wonderfully unusual creatures feasting on lettuce.

Best Western Plus Yacht Harbor Inn: A place on the sea in Dunedin, Fl.

2011-04-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

We easily could have stayed for several days at the Best Western Plus Yacht Harbor Inn. We loved everything from the peaceful waterside setting to the colorful artwork in the lobby to the heated outdoor hotel.

This boutique hotel sits at the foot of a small boat harbor overlooking St. Joseph's Sound. You can walk to the shops and restaurants of the small town that seems lost and forgotten among the nearby beach resort towns loaded with high-rise hotels, T-shirt shops, and places to play miniature golf and drive go-karts. The town is quiet, serene, and no building stands taller than a couple stories. It's village-like main drag lined with brick buildings and trees could easily be found in Europe. It seems to be the sort of spot where local Floridans go for a break.

Dunedin was settled by Scotsmen in the 1800s and still holds onto its Scottish roots with shops selling Scottish kilts and every spring the town holds the Highland Games with piping and drumming, dancing, and athletics.

The hotel lobby was recently decorated and features a colorful display of artwork by a local artist.

You can find fish like these in the sound.

Tasteful furnishings in the lobby.

The hotel juts out into the sound that's a playground for birds.

The rooms are bright and cheery.

Every room has a view of the water.

The setting is peaceful and the only noise and activity comes from the flocks of birds perched atop pilings jutting out of the shallow waters. Bald eagles, brown pelicans, wood storks, peregrine falcons, snowy plovers, and blue herons are just a few of the birds who call this area home. You can also spot manatee and loads of fish.

The new hot tub is a great place to relax.

The pool is heated and warm.

Breakfast is included and offered in the adjoining Bon Appetit restaurant. Here my kids are looking for manatees.

We want to see a Manatee!

2011-04-11T09:28:00.000-07:00

Florida loves its manatees. These unusual creatures that look like giant Russet potatoes floating in the water are found in shallow, slow-moving rivers, bays, and estuaries all over the state. Its one of the few places in the world that you can see these rare, endangered species.

Everywhere we went we saw manatee statues and the kids want their picture taken in front of all of them.

We were lucky to finally see a real, living Manatee at the South Florida Museum in Bradenton. In fact, Snooty is one of the state's most famous as he's over 60 years old, the oldest manatee born in captivity.

But we were determined to see one in the wild.

In Naples, we looked into taking a boat tour that promised manatees sightings but we learned that the animals were swimming north in search of cooler waters.

In Bradenton, we were told you could spot them off the Memorial Pier downtown. We stood there for a good 30 minutes. No manatees.

In Dunedin, some people told us they had just seen a manatee off a pier--but he was gone.

And so we hoped that as we traveled north, we'd finally get to see one of these creatures that are often called gentle giants.

It's pouring down rain in Clearwater!

2011-04-11T09:21:00.000-07:00

We inched along in traffic on our way from Bradenton to Clearwater, Fl. The views of the water on the drive were breathtaking yet my kids didn't want to be in the car. They wanted out. I kept reassuring them that we'd get to run around outside once we reached Clearwater Beach, which is known for its long stretch of sand. Yet by the time we arrived it was pouring down rain.

We've found that the weather can change quickly and quite dramatically in Florida. One minute it's beautiful outside and the next dark clouds sweep in and it starts raining.

We sat in the car, looking out at the beach, and we were tempted to go swimming in the downpour, but then we heard a roar of thunder and decided to move onto our next destination, Dunedin, about five miles north.

Best Western Atrea Manatee Hotel: A

2011-04-11T09:14:00.001-07:00

The Best Western Atrea Manatee Hotel is a sparkling, new property in Bradenton, Fl., only an hour south of Tampa and just minutes north of Sarasota. It's a great place to bed down if you want to stay outside of the busy city. Our room was spacious and comfortable and came with a flat-screen TV. My kids especially liked the swimming pool in a tropical setting with palm trees.

Bradenton: Home to Florida's most famous manatee, Snooty

2011-04-11T06:12:00.000-07:00

After looking for shells on Sanibel Island, we drove two hours north to Bradenton. This sprawling suburban town sits right on the Gulf of Mexico, an hour south of Tampa. It's best known for its sparkling white beaches, celebrity residents (Sean Connery!) and orange juice. Tropicana is headquartered here.

Most travelers stop over in Bradenton because it's parked between the artsy resort town of Sarasota and the big city of Tampa. There are two sites worth seeing here--especially if you have kids in tow.

South Florida Museum: Snooty, the oldest manatee born in captivity (1948), steals the show at this museum recounting the history of Florida from prehistoric times to the present. You'll find dinosaur bones, Native American artifacts, and a Spanish courtyard with replicas of 16th-century buildings.

Manatee Village Historical Park: Stroll this collection of old buildings dating back to the 1800s and you can imagine what life was like before the arrival of modern conveniences such as cars and electricity. You'll find a courthouse and church, a one-room schoolhouse, a sugar cane mill, a steam engine, and the ol' Wiggins store. Admission is free.

A day at Tampa Bay's Florida Aquarium

2011-04-03T07:07:00.000-07:00

Over our spring break trip in Florida, we spent so much time driving along the coast, gazing out at pretty pale green ocean. We were ready to take a peak at the creatures who were swimming around in those waters.

Scuba-diving wasn't in the cards with our kids, ages 6 and 8. The Florida Aquarium that sits right in the heart of Tampa Bay on the water was the next best thing. This world-class attraction has brought the wildlife from Florida's sea and river waters indoors. Its tanks are filled with hammer-head sharks, barracudas, alligators, crocodiles, sting rays, sea turtles and a kaleidoscope of brightly colored fish.

My kids especially enjoyed the playful river otters and the touch tank where you can rub your fingers across a shark's back. Here's a video featuring a few highlights from our day.

Five tips for visiting the aquarium
1) Arrive early--or late. This is one of the most popular attractions in Tampa Bay, and it gets unbearably crowded smack in the middle of the day. Arrive right when the doors open or after 2 p.m.
2) Bring your AAA card. You get a discount.
3) Pack a swimsuit and a change of clothes for the kids. The aquarium has an outdoor area where kids can run around in fountains and squirt each other with water blasters.
4) Pack food. Food in the cafeteria is mediocre. You're better off bringing your own lunch.
5) Go to the shows. When you arrive, a ticket taker at the door will hand you a sheet of paper highlighting the day's shows and times. Make sure to attend a few--especially the river otter feeding. The docent talks are entertaining and your kids will learn something.

Souvenirs from the sea: Sanibel Island shells

2011-03-30T20:33:00.001-07:00

If you find a junonia shell on Sanibel Island you make the front page of the local newspaper. You'll also become headline news if you get your hands on a prized lion paw.

Shelling is a serious business on this barrier island on the Gulf of Mexico just offshore of Fort Myers. The island's white, sugary beaches are blanketed in an array of 400 different species of shells: conch, lightning whelks, cockle, scallops, murex, tulips, olives, coquinas. Yet avid seekers are really only looking for the twisted cone shell with giraffe-like spots, the junonia, which is considered a prized find.

This Manhattan-size island is one of the best places in the world for shelling because of its geography. The northern tip swoops northward into the gulf and its beaches catch shells as if it were a fish net. shells and its east-west torque

We head for Bowman's Beach on the north side of the island. At the visitor center, we're told this is one of the island's most secluded beaches but on the day we visit in the midst of spring break it's packed with people walking up and down the beach along the trail of shell debris. Some were in the water holding nets, trying to trap any treasures carried in by the waves. Despite the mad rush, my kids still walk with a robber baron's hoard of shells--although no junonia. Those are rare.

To learn more about shells, we head for the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, where exhibit room features a dizzying array of shells from all over the world: cuban snails that look as if they were painted; cowries the size of a man's fist; bright yellow and purple scallops; a conch that looks like a scorpion; and the world's largest horse conch. The horse conch is the largest shelled mollusk found in the Atlantic Ocean, and it's the Florida State Shell.

We catch a demonstration on how to find shells--something we wish we had done before going shelling. We learn that mornings after storms are the best and the docent tells us about a little girl on the island who recently found junonia. "An adult on the beach found a lion paw that day and tried to convince her to trade but she wouldn't," the docent said.

My daughter wants to head back for Bowman's Beach to find her own junonia but unfortunately, we have a long drive to make that afternoon and must move on.

Best Western Plus Beach Resort: A sweet spot on the water in Fort Myers Beach, Fl.

2011-03-29T19:36:00.000-07:00

The Best Western Plus Beach Resort sits right on the beach, steps from southern Florida's pretty pale green waters. It's the sort of place where you could easily spend a week, walking the sugary white sand beach in the morning, playing a game of shuffle board in the afternoon, and falling asleep every night to the sound of the crashing waves.

Every room has its own private balcony overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, where dolphins frolic in the surf, kite boarders jump over waves, and fiery sunsets turn the water bright orange and red.

The rooms are light and airy, and the beds are comfy and covered with soft white comforters. Many rooms are equipped with small kitchens, and if you're traveling with kids, you can book a two-room suite.

The hotel is located in Fort Myers Beach on the north end of Estero Island; the airport in Fort Myers is only 45 minutes away.

Best Western Naples Inn & Suites

2011-03-29T18:48:00.001-07:00

Florida's Best Western Naples Inn & Suites sits amidst a tropic paradise.

The two-story hotel is surrounded by a jungle of palm trees, ferns, and hibiscus. Skinny pathways wind through the vegetation and lead to the two pretty swimming pools and hot tubs. Breakfast is served outside from a grass-roofed hut. And kids have a blast hitting around balls at the miniature golf course.

You could stay at the hotel all day, or walk three-quarters-of-a-mile to the pristine, white sand beach. Downtown Naples, with its shops and restaurants, is only about two miles from the hotel.

Beach break: Naples, Fl.

2011-03-29T18:32:00.000-07:00

From the Everglades, we drove to Naples, Fl. This luxurious beach resort, two hours west of Miami, sits on the Gulf of Mexico. It's ritzy and glitzy and known as a vacation spot for wealthy Midwesterners. The waterfront is lined with over-the-top mansions and beach-goers wear fine linen cover ups and flip-flops studded with gems.

There's actually a lot to do here--like go to the zoo or the botanical garden or hop on a boat tour that'll take you into the swamps to see manatees. But we did none of that. The sparkling white beach that stretched along the coast for miles was far too tempting; the bathtub warm water in the most beautiful pale green color too inviting. And so we spent nearly an entire day walking the beach and bobbing in the water, and we didn't leave until we saw the sun set.

Everglades National Park: A river of grass

2011-03-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

It's easy to disregard the Everglades. If you drive quickly through this marshy swath of land that stretches across Florida's most southern tip, you'll only see expansive fields of long, wispy grass. After awhile, your children are likely to tell you the scenery outside is boring.

But if you take your time to stop along your drive, walk the boardwalks and bike the trails, you'll find that this massive watershed is crawling with all sorts of critters, big and small.

We drove into the park from Miami along Highway 41, the main road that cuts directly through the park, slicing it in half. For the first several miles, you pass touristy spots advertising air boat rides and the opportunity to see alligators. We drove by those and headed for Everglades National Park and pulled off the road at Shark Valley Visitor Center.

As soon as we drove into the parking lot, we noticed a group of people gathered under a tree, their cameras pointed upward. In a huge nest, a mother owl stood guard over a white fluffy baby that looked like a stuffed animal. "Oh! It's so cute! I want to hug it" my daughter squealed. And that's basically how our day at Shark Valley went. Everywhere we turned we saw wildlife.

Right next to the visitor center, the swampy slough teemed with dopey-looking gar fish floating near the top of the water. An anhinga, a tall wiry black bird, dove into the water and caught one of the fish. After she devoured her meal, she let out a loud shriek. A massive alligator lounging in the water was completely. Oh! And there was another one, and another, and another. When my daughter counted five, she started crawling up me as if I were a tree. "Mommy, I want to go back to the car!"

And then there were the butterflies. The air was thick with them. They fluttered through the air before landing on hot pink thistles that bloomed everywhere, spewing white cotton fluff, spreading their seed. One monarch nearly landed on my daughter's wrist. "Oh Mommy! It's so pretty."

The Everglades stretch 100 miles across southern Florida—a mosaic of saw-grass prairie, cypress swamps, mangrove jungles, tropical hardwood hammock forests, and thousands of tiny islands. Some 700 plant and 300 bird species and the endangered manatee, crocodile, and Florida panther all call this swampy place home. The delicate ecosystem is shrinking and originally ran all the way to Orlando. It's a water-dependent environment and southern Florida is diverting more and more water to land development and farms.

In the visitor center, park ranger Eric Riordan talked about the disappearing habitat and how it's affecting the wildlife. I asked if there were areas where we could see flamingos. As a child, I remember seeing photographs in books of the pink feathered flocks blanketing southern Florida beaches, and I hoped to see something similar. "The Flamingo habitat is gone," Riordan said. "You very rarely see the birds. The Everglades are disappearing. The water is disappearing. That's why we need to fight hard to save this place."

We decided to explore the Everglades on bikes. At Shark Valley, a 15-mile loop trail takes you into the heart of the park, and you can rent bikes and helmets for $7.50 an hour. A tram ride also takes you along the same path.

The path is flat--yet our kids tired out after six miles. It cuts through a slough filled with lily pads the size of frying pans, fuzzy cat tails, red-bellied turtles, and alligators, lots and lots of alligators.

Along the way we passed by at least two dozen. Most sat lifeless in the water yet a few were swimming around--and one jumped right when my daughter was off her bike adjusting her helmet. We asked a ranger if the alligators ever bothered visitors. He said the park had only one incidence when a young boy was riding his bike and fell into the slough directly onto the alligator. The gator clamped down on the boy with his jaws, the mom jumped in the water and scared the animal off. A helicopter swooped in and took the boy to the hospital and he walked away. In other words, you only need to worry if you actually jump on top of an alligator.

At the end of our ride, we passed a mother gator and her 20 little babies. Most gators give birth to 20 to 50 babies yet on average two survive. Most are devoured by the father and older siblings. My son wanted to take one of the babies home, but I made sure that didn't happen. The only thing we took home with us were lots of photographs and you can see those in the slideshow below.

A taste of Cuba in Miami

2011-03-27T19:36:00.000-07:00

In a modest suburban Miami neighborhood with palm-lined streets, Havana Miami dishes up down-home, traditional Cuban food. It's an old-school sort of place with white tablecloths and waiters wearing collared shirts and teal green cumberbunds and bow ties, looking as if they were dressed for an 80s high school prom. Colorful oil paintings depicting the Cuban revolution hang on the walls, and a giant tank filled with tropical fish sits in the center of the dining room.

The menu is staggering with six pages of fine print. About half of the dishes are random selections from around the world--Peruvian ceviche, chicken cordon bleu, Hawaiian ham steak. Ask your waiter to direct you to the Cuban fare: oxtail stew, green plantain soup, Cuban sandwiches.

We ordered the Vaca Frita, a flat pancake of crispy fried beef sprinkled with lime juice (above); and the Carne Asada, tender chunks of beef in a spicy tomato sauce. Each entree came with a side of buttery rice, mashed black beans, and sweet fried plantains. We heard that the flan is delicious but the portions were so generous that we skipped on dessert.

Best Western Premier Miami International Airport: A hip, stylish hotel with quiet rooms

2011-03-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

The stylish Best Western Miami International Airport is just minutes from the airport and 20 minutes from the city. It's one of the hotel group's premier properties with modern decor, plush bedding, and 42-inch screens in all rooms. A hot breakfast, wi-fi, and rides to and from the airport are all complimentary.

The property has a hip, modern vibe--dance music plays in the lobby where a white, wavy panel runs behind the sleek, marble front desk. It offers just the sort of energetic environment that our family needed when we checked in at 1:30 a.m. after a delayed flight.

My kids especially liked the pretty outdoor pool where guests can soak up the Florida sun in comfortable lounge chairs. My husband appreciated the well-equipped fitness center where he got in a quick work-out. And I was just so happy to fall into a comfy bed piled high with soft bedding and get a good night's sleep in a thick-walled hotel with quiet rooms.

The kindness of travelers

2011-03-27T14:21:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Miami was anything but smooth. I knew from the moment that we went through airport security and the TSA agent alerted me that my driver's license was expiring in three days that we faced a difficult day. But I never expected the emergency landing.

We were about an hour into the flight when a flight attendant asked if any doctors were on board. I looked behind me and about 10 rows back a man was convulsing in his seat.

Four men--the doctors who would save the day!--threw open the curtains from business and first class and rushed back to the passenger who was having a seizure. One doctor screamed out, "Get me a medical kid!"

A flight attendant frantically raced to the back holding the kit, the co-pilot trailing behind. The co-pilot talked with one of the doctor's and ran to the front of the aircraft. Minutes later, the pilot made an announcement that we were turning around and landing in Los Angeles. All the passengers seemed to sigh in frustration in unison: "Uhuuuhu...."

And the drama continued: The landing was fast and furious. The plane screeched as it sped down the runway, the brakes not seeming to do their job. We were all thrown forward in our seats, and when the plane finally stopped, flung backward. Turns out the plane was carrying more fuel than recommended because the fuel tanks at the Miami Airport blew up the day before. Re-fueling in Miami was no longer an option so planes had to carry enough fuel for round-trip flights. The pilot wanted our brakes checked.

I don't know how long we were on the ground in Los Angeles but our five-hour flight to Miami turned into an eight hour one--actually not so bad compared to many other horror stories.

It was midnight when we landed. The children were exhausted. My son could barely hold his eyes open. My daughter was whining about being hungry and wanting dinner.

But dinner wasn't in the cards as we faced a long line at Budget Rental Car, and it took an hour to get a car.

We finally pulled up to our hotel, the Best Western Premier Miami International Airport. We relived to finally reach our destination, and all I could think about was falling into bed. We quickly got our keys and loaded our luggage into the elevator when the kids asked, "What are we having for dinner?"

It was late. There was no way we were pilling into the car and finding a restaurant. At this point, sleep was what the kids needed most. Overtired and cranky, my son broke out into tears. "No dinner! We have to eat dinner!"

A cute 20-something was also in the elevator. "I've got some watermelon in my room. What room are you in? I'll bring it by."

I gave him our room number; a mom knows when she can trust someone. Plus, I figured he'd never come by. He'd go back to his room where his girlfriend was probably waiting and forget about my screaming children. But he did find us. He brought the kids two huge slices--and they devoured them as if they hadn't eaten in days. And then they went to bed and were asleep within five minutes.

Has a fellow traveler ever helped you out in a bind?

Is it possible to have fun and learn while on vacation?

2011-03-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

American kids lag in science. A 2009 report put out by the National Center for Education Statistics found that U.S. students trailed behind children in industrialized Asian and European countries such as Canada, Japan and the Czech Republic.

My 8-year-old daughter didn't have a single science lesson during the first half of second grade. Her teacher decided that he didn't have enough time to fit it into the day. That teacher is gone and a new one has stepped in and she has found time for a weekly science lesson. Now my daughter looks forward to Friday afternoons when the kids do things such us make their own musical instruments to learn about vibration and sound.

In fact, it's science that interests my kids most when it comes to learning. They want to know why hot lava spews out of volcanoes, beluga whales like icy cold water, and flowers come in a rainbow of colors. They have hundreds of questions about the world and how it works.

And so we've decided to incorporate some learning into our spring break road-trip along the Gulf of Mexico.

We're starting in Miami, tracing the edge of the Golf to Fort Walton in north Florida. We'll be covering 700 miles in eight days. We plan to focus on marine ecosystems. The kids are only 6 and 8 so our lessons will be simple. They'd like to learn how beach sand is made. They want to know more about the oil spill and how it's being cleaned up. My son wants to see an alligator. I'd like to see a manatee. And my husband, whose job is to restore rivers, is looking forward to visiting Everglades National Park.

Our lesson plan doesn't include drills or dittos or tests or homework--after all, this is meant to be a vacation. But we will take a little more time to talk with park rangers, read interpretive signs, and seek out attractions that offer a fun educational experience over pure amusement--i.e., a state park over a theme park. We hope that the kids will be interested and excited and won't even notice that mom and dad are sneaking in some learning while we're traveling.

What do you think? Is it possible to have fun and learn while on vacation?

A Canary Islands story: Part I

2011-03-20T14:24:00.000-07:00

It was cold, wet and downright dreary in London. The wintry weather made for a charming Christmas, but once the tree was stripped of its ornaments and thrown on the sidewalk and all holiday cheer had disappeared, we were ready for a break from the cold.

We were ready for balmy weather, soft sand, sparkling waters, and palm trees. We were ready to trade the snow boots in for flip-flops, the heavy jackets in for shorts and swim suits.

Where should we go? Italy? No, temps only get as high as 60 degrees in the summer. Barcelona? No, their winters are gray and drizzly. Africa? We have two kids, ages 6 and 7, and weren't ready for something that exotic. How about the Canary Islands? Those Spanish Islands off the coast of Africa, only a four-hour flight from London.

I tracked down cheap flights on Monarch, a charter airline. Only $200 round trip.

We flew out of Gatwick into Tenerife. It was easy to hop on the Gatwick Express train at Victoria Station and we were at the airport within 30 minutes.

Before we knew it, we had left the snow behind and walked out of the Tenerife Airport onto a tropical island where the air smelled of sweet plumeria.

Tenerife is a touristy place--and most travelers are picked up at the airport in big tourist buses.

We decided to do things a little differently and rented a car.

We traced the island's arid eastern coastline built up with resorts, crossed over to the northern coast and by the time night fell and the sea was aglow with the lights of fishing boats, we rolled into Garichico. We quickly got lost in the village's maze of skinny cobblestone streets, before finally stumbling on the Gara Hotel.

The innkeeper Sonia greeted us with hugs and kisses and her warm, friendly spirit that's typical of people in the Canary Islands. Sonia and my kids became fast friends.

The next morning we woke to a blue skies and views of the turquoise see from the Gara Hotel's veranda.

Garichico sits in the fertile lowlands of Tenerife's northwest tip that's known as the island's "best kept secret." Here you won't find big, fancy resorts or crowded beaches. Rather, you'll stumble upon tiny villages, banana orchards, and a circuit of hiking trails that take you in the mountains where you can take in views of turquoise waters.

The best place to make a home base for exploring this area is Garichico, that's known for its churches dating back to the 1500s, restaurants serving freshly grilled fish on outdoor patios, and coastal sea water swimming pools hewn from volcanic rock.

On our first morning we walk the sea water rock pools created naturally by the lava rock formations. The sun is shining, yet the water isn't warm enough for swimming. In summer, we here the pools are filled with people; we decided that we must return then.

We explore the village and the kids have fun running through the alleyways.

We stumble upon the town square with palm trees and a beautiful old bell tower and church dating back to the 1500s.

Hungry, we stop for lunch at Aristides, a Spanish restaurant with an outdoor terrace right next to the square. We order typical Canarian dishes such as small boiled potatoes served with a cilantro sauce, grilled goat cheese, and a squid stew.

When's the best time to go?

2011-03-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

Is Spain too cold in the summer? Is Hawaii more expensive in the winter? When are the rains in Southeast Asia? Travelers often have questions around when's the best time to visit particular destinations.

You could wander the Internet for answers, or you could check out a new comprehensive resource from freeshipping.org that tells you when the high and low seasons are in 70 popular destinations. Here's a sampling of a few of the thoughtful write-ups that shed light on weather and prices.

Bora Bora, French Polynesia
Costly: June to August
Less Expensive: April and May
Summer means hot weather and humid, rainy conditions. The weather is more comfortable in April and May than during the height of summer. The humidity isn't as prevalent, and the summer rains have dissipated. Best of all, as the crowds have not yet arrived, you'll enjoy uncrowded resorts, low season rates and an excellent chance of upgrades.

Ireland
Costly: July and August
Less Expensive: April to June and September to October
The Emerald Isle is known for its rain, so you can expect a certain amount of damp at any time of the year. The weather is likely to be at least as good in May, June and September as in the summer months and hotels are less busy. Spring flowers are at their best in April and May, and October offers a frugal fan's choice of free arts festivals.

Portland, Oregon
Costly: Mid-May to October
Less Expensive: January to March
The Pacific Northwest sees its fair share of rain, but the most popular time to visit is during the summer when braniacs take a break and outdoor festivals are everywhere. Winter is the least expensive time, with fewer crowds and more availability. Second cheapest are the spring and fall shoulder seasons, when the weather is cooler and schools are in session.

For more, see the The Best Time to Go Guide.

Free beer lover's guides to Europe

2011-03-17T08:13:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Cheapflights.com is celebrating the day by offering travels a free beer lover's guide to European destinations.

The guide offers the lowdown on beer in six countries: Austria, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland and Spain.

For example, in Spain you should look for Cerveza Negra, a dark, lightly hopped lager similar to those from Munich, which contains 5.5 percent alcohol. In Austria, you might find Dunkel, a dark, sweet lager weighing containing 5.5 percent alcohol content with hints of spice.

Europe is home to a whopping 2300 plus breweries. These range from long established, internationally known majors to smaller regional producers of specialist brews. Undoubtedly, Europe will have a beer to suit every taste, and not surprisingly, it boasts 9 of the world’s 10 countries with the highest beer consumption per capita.

Photo: YorkBlog

Rising airfares: How to beat them

2011-03-06T23:32:00.000-08:00

Over spring break, our family is traveling across the country to Florida in search of sun. Our plan is to fly into Miami and then trace the edge of the Gulf Coast, finishing our trip in Fort Walton.

When I first started mapping out our trip two months ago, I checked flights from San Francisco to Miami. I remember seeing a $200 flight. When my trip plans were finally confirmed last week and I booked the tickets the cheapest airfare I could find was $430. Ouch!

No doubt, airfares are rising. The experts have been reporting this the past few weeks.

"Last year's super-cheap fares are gone," the WSJ reported.

"Major U.S. airlines are raising fares again, and the only question might be the size of the increase" according to Business Week. "This is the sixth broad fare increase the airlines have tried this year. They want higher fares to cover rising jet fuel prices."

"Delta, United, Continental, US Airways all raise airfares in response to higher oil prices" read the headline in a NY Daily News story.

This is all bad news for travelers--and thankfully the WSJ article offers up some tips on how to track down deals in this changing climate.

--Be flexible. Seaney said he shaved $600 off a spring-break trip by shifting his family's usual travel days of Saturday to Friday to Tuesday to Saturday. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the cheapest days to travel. The most expensive are Fridays and Sundays. Think too about red-eye flights versus prime-time morning or late afternoon. "Definitely there are some flights that have lower fares, but they're not the ones most people want to take," Hobica said.

--Use alternative airports. That doesn't just mean flying out of Midway Airport in Chicago rather than O'Hare or even going an hour plus out of the city to Milwaukee, Wisc., rather than O'Hare but looking even further out. Consider this: Virgin Airlines is offering a round-trip sale from Chicago Midway to Los Angeles for $198 until June 15. But you want to go to San Diego and a round-trip flight from Chicago will set you back some $500. For a family of four, renting a car from L.A. and driving the roughly 120 miles to San Diego could save upwards of $1,000.

--Don't book too early. If you're thinking about a summer trip to Europe, wait until April to start planning in earnest, Seaney said. If you're intent on taking a trip this fall, wait until July, even August to book flights and then plan on going in September or October, one of the slowest travel periods of the year. If flights aren't booked some 80% to 90% ahead of the season, airlines will be forced to cut the fares. "Demand is a fickle thing," Seaney said. "Are there three people behind you willing to pay what you're not willing to pay? That's the question and no one knows the answer except the airlines in real time."

For five more tips read the full WSJ story.

Cyndi Lauper sings in airport to soothe stranded travelers

2011-03-06T23:25:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, famed pop star Cyndi Lauper entertained disgruntled travelers stranded at the Buenos Aires Airport by singing "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and inviting everyone to join in. If only a super star showed up every time there were a delay.

If you were stranded in an airport, which music star would you want to show up and sing a song?

Spring Break: Have you made plans?

2011-02-22T09:08:00.000-08:00

My kids' spring break is just around the corner. We're planning a road trip through Florida, starting in Miami and tracing the Gulf Coast to Fort Walton. We hope to get in lots of beach time and see a manatee in the wild.

If you're still looking for something to do, USA Today put together a roundup of 10 places, from Paradise Island in the Bahamas to Arizona's Grand Canyon. My favorite pick in their list was San Ignacio, Belize where you can go horseback riding among Mayan ruins.

Where are you going for spring break?

The coolest maps for traveling ever

2011-02-21T09:04:00.000-08:00

Unlike traditional paper maps that can be awkward to deal with, the Crumpled City Map can be easily crammed into your pocket, backpack, purse without having to worry about refolding it along the original creases. It takes 2 seconds to open and close this map.

What's more, the Italian-made maps are printed on special technological material that makes them the lightest and most resistant maps on market, as well as 100 percent waterproof.

The collection includes six cities: New York, London, Rome, Paris, Berlin, Hamburg. Each map provides details about a large part of the city, including streets, monuments, museums, art galleries and much more.

$24, palomarweb.com

How to customize your hotel room

2011-02-15T08:40:00.000-08:00

Are you allergic to smoke? Sensitive to noise? Traveling with a newborn? When you make your hotel reservation, don’t hesitate to speak up. Most hotels happily meet special requests—all you have to do is ask. You’re on vacation after all and a hotel’s job is to keep you happy and comfortable.

Put in a location request. Do you want a quiet room that’s away from the highway, the elevators, or the restaurant? A nonsmoking or pet-free room? Most hotels try to honor location requests. If you’re staying in a tall building, you might ask for a room on the top for better views and light, or something on the bottom for a quick and easy exit—and where you’re likely to get better water pressure in the shower. And you can always ask to see your room before you commit to it.

Call for a kid-friendly situation. Traveling with toddlers? Phone ahead and ask the hotel to remove glass tables and empty the minibar of candy. They might be able to set you up with a crib, kitchenette, or a local babysitter. If you’re on the road with teens, request connecting rooms. You can also ask the hotel to block long distance phone calls and adult TV channels.

Ask for amenities. Forget your toothbrush, razor, shaving cream? All Best Western properties can provide additional toiletries at no charge. They also might have Band-Aids, a sewing kit, a heating pad, a hand-held steamer, umbrellas.

Speak up about special occasions. Celebrating a special anniversary or a birthday? Many hotels will put a bottle of bubbly in the room or direct you to a florist who can deliver a bouquet of roses—especially if you’re a repeat customer or a member of the hotel’s rewards program.

After you’ve enjoyed your stay at the hotel, you might want to make one final request: late checkout.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T08:34:00.000-08:00

Matt Gross is the New York Time's intrepid Frugal Traveler who trots around the globe with his wife and 2-year-old daughter eating and sleeping on the cheap. He's one of my favorite writers, and he's now also blogging for a site called DadWagon. He posted a thoughtful piece today about Valentine's Day. Here's an excerpt:

A couple of weeks ago, an editor over at CafeMom.com asked me for a “male’s opinion” of Valentine’s Day: “a little insider info about what men really think.” She added, “Are you willing? It can be as short or long as you want and we’ll link to your site, your twitter page, and anything else you’ve got going on!”

That sold me, as it would any desperate blogger, so I wrote up this lengthy, schmaltzy, sentimental post and sent it over, and then the site only quoted a single graf of it. Oh well. That means you now get to read it here, and you get to laugh at its utter emotional nakedness. Ha! That Gross, what a wuss. Well, whatever! It’s fucking Valentine’s Day. Anyway, here it is:

Once upon a time, more than a decade ago, I cooked a Valentine’s Day dinner at home in my small studio apartment in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The menu consisted of seared duck breast, sauteed green beans with pink peppercorns, and potatoes cooked in the rendered duck fat with garlic and rosemary. Everything came off perfectly, the duck pink in the middle, the green beans still snappy, the potatoes crusty and rich. My date, Jean, was pleased—or, at least, I assume she was. In any case, she wound up marrying me several years later, and today we have a daughter, Sasha.

Read the full story

Best Western introduces descriptors

2011-02-09T00:33:00.000-08:00

Best Western hotels are individually owned and each property has its own unique flavor. I know because as Best Western's leisure travel spokesperson, I've stayed in a range of properties all over the country, from the sleek President Hotel at Times Square in New York City to the rustic chic Kentwood Lodge in Ketchum, Idaho. The variety is the beauty of the world's biggest hotel family.

Now Best Western is introducing a new "descriptor" program to meet travelers expectations so they can find the right hotel in the Best Western family, at the right price, for any type of trip they are taking. Hotels will be identified as BEST WESTERN, BEST WESTERN PLUS, or BEST WESTERN PREMIER.

"We've built 65 years of goodwill with guests worldwide, and we are constantly evolving to better serve our customers. Descriptors enable better navigation of our large and diverse hotel portfolio, making it easier for business and leisure travelers to know which type of Best Western hotel to book," said David Kong, president and CEO of Best Western International. "This promises a more satisfying experience once they check in."

Here's a look at what you'll find at the three different types of properties:

1) BEST WESTERN

·Typically AAA 2- or 3-diamond rated hotels

·Great value for leisure and business travelers

·Breakfast available at all hotels

·Free local calls

·Free high-speed Internet

·A free-of-charge, publicly accessible computer with Internet access available

2) BEST WESTERN PLUS

·AAA 3-diamond

·Breakfast available at all hotels

·On-site laundry and/or same-day dry cleaning services available

·Predominantly 32-inch flat screen TVs

·Free high speed Internet

·Upgraded bath amenities package

3) BEST WESTERN PREMIER

·AAA 3-diamond or higher

·Personalized services (i.e. concierge, turn down service, etc.)

·In-room safe

·Sundry shop

·Oversize fitness room with upgraded equipment

·Predominantly 42 inch flat screen TVs with HD channels available

·On-site dining offering breakfast & dinner at a minimum (some also serve lunch)

·Free high speed Internet

·Premium linens & terry

·Deluxe bath amenities

From the sunny shores of Florida’s gulf coast to the snowy mountain tops of Colorado, remember that Best Western offers three choices that offer you amenities and services that best fit the travel needs of you and your family.

Packing light when you’re traveling with kids (Yes! It’s possible)

2011-02-09T00:27:00.000-08:00

I remember the first time I traveled alone on a plane with both of my kids. My daughter was a toddler and my son a baby—and somehow I lugged a stroller, two car seats, a portable crib, a backpack carry-on and two rolling suitcases from the departures curb, where a taxi had dropped us off, to the ticket counter.

I attached one of the car seats onto my backpack while I carried my son in a front-carrier on my chest. I pushed the porta-crib and the other car seat in the stroller with one hand, and pulled the suitcase with the other hand. My 2-year-old daughter rolled the second suitcase.

That experience alone taught me to pack light when I’m traveling with my kids. Since then I have never brought a crib on a family vacation—or even more than one suitcase. I’ve learned to cut back on the kid clutter Here’s what you can do to make sure you never end up carrying a heap of stuff through the airport.

· Buy small items at the destination. Diapers, wipes, snacks, baby food—you can purchase these things at your destination, especially if you’re traveling within the United States. Bring what you need on the plane and then hit up a market when you arrive.

· Rent what you can. Baby's Away (babysaway.com) is a baby and child equipment rental service with over 70 U.S. locations from Anaheim, Calif., to Hawaii, to New York City. Just call ahead and they can provide clean, quality equipment (cribs, high chairs, strollers, portable cribs, car seats, and even toys) for a reasonable price.

· Make kids carry their own stuff. Even a 3-year-old can roll a small suitcase. If you make a rule that the children must carry everything they pack, then they’ll be less likely to insist that they need to bring three stuffed animals, 20 books, five packs of gum, six pairs of shoes, and their entire collection of plastic bugs.

· Plan to do some wash. Your children don’t need an outfit—even underwear—for every day. Pack dark-colored and patterned clothing that doesn’t show dirt and wash socks and underwear in the hotel sink. Also, many hotels offer washers and driers for guests to use.

· Make some phone calls before you leave. Many hotels offer portable cribs, but often you must reserve these ahead of time. Also, if you’re renting a car, find out if the agency can provide a complimentary safety seat.

· Opt for lighter items. Always try to bring the lighter version. Instead of the big, bulky stroller push your tot in the small, skinny umbrella one. Instead of bulky hardcover books, toss the paperback ones into your case. Rather than lug a brand-new bottle of baby shampoo, pour some into a small bottle.

Have you heard of the Isles of Scilly?

2011-02-07T08:58:00.000-08:00

Until recently the Isles of Scilly were unknown to the average person. But now thanks to some royal wedding buzz this collection of British islands just 28 miles off the coast of Cornwall are suddenly in the spotlight. Rumor has it that Prince William and Kate Middleton might be honeymooning here, and now the destination's tourism Web site is busier than ever, according to USA Today.

Here's what travelers might want to know about these islands:

One-hundred forty islands make up this little archipelago, but only five are inhabited. The total population being 2,000.
St. Mary's is the largest island and the most popular with tourists.
The islands enjoy a balmy subtropical climate thanks to the Gulf Stream that passes by.
You'll find the most glorious beaches in England here.
Bird-watching, boating, beach-going, hiking, snorkeling, and golfing are all popular activities.
Jude Law has described the Islands as "the best place on earth."

Want to go?

Best Western turns 65, offers spring promotion

2011-02-06T22:18:00.000-08:00

Best Western is 65 years old, and the world's biggest hotel family is offering members of its rewards program several opportunities to stay, earn and win. Here are details:

Register at www.bestwestern.com/spring, stay three separate times during the promotional period, and earn a voucher for a free night toward a future stay.

Vouchers can be redeemed at any of the brand’s 2,200 hotels in the United States, Canada or the Caribbean before June 30, 2011. Pay for the three stays with your Best Western Rewards MasterCard® and earn an additional 1,000 bonus points.

Best Western is also offering guests a special incentive to try its three new brand descriptors during the promotion. Those who qualify for the spring promotion and complete their three stays at at least two separate descriptor hotels will receive an additional onetime bonus of 6,500 Best Western Rewards points.

Each of the first ten Best Western Rewards members who registers for the promotion and stays at a BEST WESTERN, a BEST WESTERN PLUS and a BEST WESTERN PREMIER hotel during the promotion will receive a grand prize of 650,000 Best Western Rewards points.

Every Best Western Rewards member registered for the promotion will be automatically entered into a daily prize drawing. One winner will be drawn each day for the following giveaways:

On days 1 through 32, win 6,500 Best Western Rewards points, which can be redeemed for a $25 gift card to Walmart, Shell, one of the program’s 60 other retail partners, or a Best Western
Travel Card®. On days 33-48, the prize doubles to 13,000 Best Western Rewards points – which can be redeemed for a $50 gift card. On days 49-60, one daily winner will receive 26,000 Best Western Rewards points – equal to a $100 gift card.

The daily winners on days 61 and 62 will be awarded Lifetime Diamond Elite status in Best Western Rewards. Once the status is activated, they will be eligible for a 30 percent points bonus on each stay, room upgrades, check-in /check-out privileges and other special offers. The winners on days 63, 64 and 65 will each receive 260,000 Best Western Rewards points, which can be redeemed for a $1,000 gift card to Macy’s, The Home Depot or another retail partner; or could potentially be worth a month of free hotel nights.

Kids and ski helmets: My how things have changed

2011-01-31T22:09:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, I stepped foot on a downhill ski resort for the first time in over 20 years. Watching the skiers line up for the lift I noticed all sorts of differences. Skis are a lot wider than they once were. Everyone under age 40 snowboards. And kids wear helmets. All of the children, even many adults, were sporting a hard shell.

When I rented my kids ski gear, helmets were included in the cost. I worried that they might find them cumbersome, but they seemed entirely unphased.

According to the Denver Post:

In 2008-09, the National Ski Areas Association counted 39 deaths in 57.4 million skier days in the United States. That annual tally hasn't varied much in any year in the past decade.

Among those '08-09 deaths, 31 skiers were not wearing helmets. That same season, the association counted 44 serious injuries; 32 of those skiers were not wearing helmets.

In a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in February this year, researchers found that skiers' risk of head injury fell by 35 percent with helmet use. The same study found no connection between helmet use and neck injury, a common concern among the dwindling number of helmet opponents.

Even without the threat of laws and fines, helmet use climbs roughly 5 percent every year. Half of all skiers and snowboarders in America wear helmets, up from 25 percent in 2002-03. Helmets are on 90 percent of Colorado's skiers 9 years old and younger...

Do you wear a helmet when you ski?

Kids and ski school: Lessons learned

2011-01-31T21:44:00.000-08:00

As a child, my winter weekends were spent in ski school. My parents would drop me with a group of kids sporting puffy snow suits and a teacher who looked no older than 13, and they'd take off to ski black diamond runs while I struggled on the bunny slopes.

Later in the day, they'd pick me up and take me up an intermediate lift, hoping to watch their little girl race down the hill. Usually, I'd disappoint them, stiffly holding my skis in snowplough position the entire way down, usually taking several falls, and typically ending up in tears. I hated downhill skiing.

And so when my two kids got to be about 4 and 5, I decided that we'd try cross-country skiing instead of downhill. I quickly fell in love with the sport--the quiet, the gently rolling hills, the deserted runs. And I enjoyed skiing along side my family. The kids also enjoyed it, but this year they started asking about downhill. There friends at school were going downhill skiing and they wanted to try it too.

And so last weekend, we drove to California's Bear Valley Ski resort, south of Tahoe, and put them in downhill ski school while my husband and I went cross country skiing.

It had been 20 years since I'd stepped foot in a downhill resort and things have changed.

First of all, you don't just show up on Saturday morning and stick your kids in a ski class. At many resorts the ski school classes fill up weeks in advance and you need to call ahead to book.

Luckily, a friend forewarned me of this and so I called a week ahead, and actually all of the lessons were full. But I called back a day later, and the resort added an additional class.

We made another big mistake by showing up 10 minutes late on the second day of class. We were staying a half-hour from the resort but it started snowing and we had to put on chains. It ended up taking us over an hour to get there. When we showed up, they wouldn't let the kids into the morning class. They bumped us to a later afternoon class. Lesson learned: Show up on time, even better 15 minutes early.

Hooray for Virgin Atlantic!

2011-01-24T00:08:00.000-08:00

A 10-hour flight from San Francisco to London with two kids, ages 6 and 7. Sounds like hell, doesn't it? Not if you're flying Virgin Atlantic.

We recently flew the airline over the holidays and our kids were fully by the airlines trick-out inflight entertainment system. Every passenger gets their own screen and remote as well as a free set of headphones. My kids were able to choose from a dizzying array of movies geared to kids as well as TV shows. My daughter watched Ramona and Beezus, a film based on the series of books by Beverly Cleary, three times in a row. My son watched Handy Manny, Little Einsteains, and Micky Mouse Clubhouse on the Disney Channel.

The kids were also thrilled when the flight attendant handed them mini Virgin backpacks loaded up with hats, snacks, and their very own watch.

Canary Islands, Tenerife slide show

2011-01-23T15:32:00.000-08:00

Our family visited the Spanish Canary Islands this winter. We enjoyed a week of hiking, eating, and beach going on Tenerife. Here's a sampling of our best photos (click on photo below).

My favorite store in London: Cath Kidston

2011-01-13T00:27:00.000-08:00

Many years ago my husband and I were walking the streets of Chelsea in London when we came upon a small shop called Cath Kidston. I was drawn in by some cheerful polka dot fabric in the window. I ended up spending all of my souvenir budget in that store and instantly fell in love with Cath Kidston's retro fabrics that come in the sort of patterns you'd expect to find on a 1950s table cloth.

Cath Kidston is a British designer and at the time she was just getting her start. She later became hugely popular and was even profiled in Vanity Fair. Now, you'll find her shops all over London. In this photo, I'm standing in front of the one on King's Road where I purchased a few dish towels.

The cutest car ever!

2011-01-12T00:20:00.000-08:00

As a child, I always wanted a pink house. And now as an adult, I want a pink car.

In London, I kept noticing this darling little classy car parked on the streets. I spotted several and when I asked my husband, who is a car buff, what we were looking at he was clueless. These cars had a retro look yet they were clearly not old cars.

What were we looking at?

A Nissan Figaro.

Here's the scoop from Wikipedia:

The Nissan Figaro is a small retro car manufactured by Nissan. The car was originally sold only in Japan. Despite this, the Nissan Figaro has become popular with owners in the UK and Ireland, given the popularity of second-hand Japanese import cars. Its appearance has a resemblance to the 1960s Datsun Fairlady models.

On the last day of our trip I spotted a pink Figaro and I decided that it's the car of my dreams!