Month: April 2008

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Uncategorized

Photo of the Week: Baja, California on bikes

A Baja, California cactus dwarfs the Vogel family bikers (courtesy Nancy Sathre-Vogel)(This is a guest photo by Family Travel reader Nancy Sathre-Vogel from Family on Bikes. I’m traveling in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley and Chicago this week.)

Look at the bottom of that huge cactus down in Baja, California — that’s part of the Vogel family.

Their triple bike is dwarfed by the size of that plant, isn’t it?

Says Mom Nancy:

“This photo was taken in Baja, California as we cycled the length of the peninsula with our 8-year-old twin boys. My husband and twins rode a bicycle build for three – an enormous bike – which was totally dwarfed by the majestic cardon cactus of the area.

Now we are getting ready to take off to ride our bikes from Alaska to Argentina – YIPPEE!!! Six more weeks til we hit the road!

Dreaming of dropping out of society to travel with your kids? Follow along as we do exactly that! www.familyonbikes.org“

Follow the Vogel family adventures on their blog as well – anyone up for sending them care packages? 🙂

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Uncategorized

What’s fun for kids in Michigan?

Yes, it's in Michigan - atop the Sleeping Bear Dunes (courtesy michael and anna at Flickr CC)An article of mine was just posted over at Education.com about must-sees in Michigan for family fun.

You’re invited to take a look (and please leave a comment there if I missed anything.)

There are all sorts of interesting places and events throughout the state, which is divided into the mitten-shaped Lower Peninsula and the more remote Upper Peninsula.

Here’s a sample:

  • Celebrate cherries – The western side of the Michigan Lower Peninsula harvests about 250 million pounds of cherries each year, so they celebrate with the National Cherry Festival every July in Traverse City. You can also tour cherry orchards on Leelanau Peninsula or find unique cherry products at Michigan’s American Spoon Foods or Cherry Republic.
  • Motown Historical Museum – Right here in Motor City (Detroit) is a museum dedicated to the groundbreaking musical artists of the Motown Record Corporation; names like Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Marvin Gaye and the Jackson 5. Founder Berry Gordy envisioned a “hit factory” just like the Lincoln-Mercury assembly line where he worked, and his dream is a linchpin of Detroit and Michigan’s legacy.
  • The Soo Locks – Sault Ste. Marie is the oldest city in Michigan and home to one of the most important maritime trade transit points in the world, the “Soo Locks” that move tons of shipping between Lake Superior and the rest of the Lakes. Ask at the Locks Visitor Center about boat tours.

For 15 other things to do with kids in Michigan, take a look at the Education.com article.

Many thanks to those who contributed from Twitter; folks like Queen of Spain, ScrapNancy, Tim Walker, Marina Feygelman, DeafMom, SoulTravelers3 and Elizabeth at Table4Five.

Categories
Texas USA

SeaWorld San Antonio: 20 years of splashing fun

SeaWorld San Antonio vintage ad poster from 1988 (Scarborough photo)The aquatically-themed SeaWorld San Antonio opened its doors in April 1988, and in April 2008 my son and I had a special invitation to visit the park and enjoy some of the 20th anniversary celebrations.

The public activities were held at the marine life park’s main entrance. Haley Scarnato, San Antonio’s American Idol finalist, performed the national anthem and local military personnel also participated — the Alamo City has a strong military presence because of nearby Fort Sam Houston, Lackland and Randolph Air Force bases and the Brooks medical center.

We joined the behind-the-scenes corporate celebration; a luncheon during which previous park managers were brought back to share stories with current employees (there have been more than 36 million park visitors since the 1988 opening day, so there were lots of stories.)

Having an eight-year-old boy sit still for that was a bit of a challenge, but he was happily distracted by the special 4,000 pound black and white custom Shamu cake made just for the occasion — “one whale of a cake.”

The baking and decorating effort was spearheaded by SeaWorld pastry chef David Rodriguez and took 10 gallons of vegetable oil, 800 egg yolks and nine hours to apply all of the black and white icing over the chocolate/buttercream/brownie cake combo.

One of the SeaWorld sea lions, Clyde, also made a short appearance at the corporate luncheon, so my son (aka Mr. Wiggles) had plenty of good distractions between cake and Clyde.

A 4,000 pound custom Shamu cake for SeaWorld San Antonio’s 20th anniversary (Scarborough photo)

Once the adult activities were over, we enjoyed the rest of the day going on get-wet rides like Rio Loco and Texas Splashdown. I love rollercoasters, so was ready for the Journey to Atlantis and Steel Eel, but my son declared “no way!” Sure; just a few more years and he’ll be like his sister, going on the scariest rides first thing and then doing them over and over.

Our favorite up-close animal interaction was with the penguins. Visitors to the Penguin Encounter can get on a moving sidewalk and look through the glass walls at the cavorting penguins swimming underwater and waddling around their habitat. There is a raised platform where you can also just sit and watch, but no, we rode the sidewalk about 5 times.

Make time for the animal encounters with trainers and the feeding times, so the kids can learn more about their favorite sharks, sea lions, birds, etc. You can pick up a schedule of these events when you enter the park.

We wrapped up the day with Shamu at the “Believe” show. As you can see at the end of the short video below, I moved way back and up in the stands for the whale-tail-splash event, but Mr. Wiggles commandeered a front-row seat and got himself totally drenched. The orcas were truly spectacular; even though part of me squirms a bit when it comes to trained animals for human enjoyment, I could not deny being grateful for a chance to see a killer whale up close.

Someday maybe we can see them in the wild.

The park had a huge playscape area for younger kids, with a Shamu Express kiddie ride and a restaurant nearby overlooking a small harbor (where there’s also a waterski show several times a day.)

To the left of the main entrance is a small water park, so you could combine rides, animals and a water park in one visit. For more info, here’s an interactive park map. Wherever it says “prepare to be soaked,” believe it. There are lockers to stow your gear, or bring a waterproof camera, pack and/or rain parka.

Ask about AAA and military discounts for park admission and vacation packages. If you live close by and want to visit this or other Anheuser-Busch theme parks more than once, a season pass may make more sense for saving you money.

As always with theme parks, if your budget allows I recommend looking into special programs and guided tours including Dine with Shamu (pretty reasonably priced and kids under 3 are free) or even SeaWorld camps, for a more educational park experience.

To add value to your park pass purchase, also note that there may be special musical programs included in the cost of your ticket: in May 2008, SeaWorld San Antonio features Viva La Musica, a celebration of Latin food and music, plus Christian and country music artists later in the year.

As a nascent geek, I’ve also been interested in SeaWorld’s use of Web 2.0/social media in a recent campaign to open their Journey to Atlantis ride — see Shel Israel’s post and video about this experiment with Internet marketing that turned out well for the park.

For my RSS/feed readers, here is the URL of the YouTube video below.

See you at SeaWorld!

Categories
Product Reviews Tips

Just the thing for a traveling baby

America Travel Changing Mat (courtesy Uncommon Goods)One of my favorite catalogs and Web sites is Brooklyn, NY-based Uncommon Goods; they always have the most interesting items, many hand-crafted.

In the current budget climate, I try to avoid temptation and not even open the catalog, but in a TGIF moment of weakness yesterday I decided to browse.

I wish that I’d had the exceptionally cool America Travel baby changing mat for my kids when they were still in diapers.

“Featuring an adorable print of the 50 states and a unique soak-proof lining inside (so that nothing leaks through onto clothing or surfaces) this lightweight yet durable mat will make perfect traveling companions for your little one.”

There’s a matching bib and burp cloth as well.

As for me, I’ll take the cotton Geography Dish Towels, so I can dream of travel while cleaning up kitchen messes.

Categories
Photos USA

Photo of the Week: Gateway Arch

View from my hotel room of the Gateway Arch, St. Louis, Missouri (Scarborough photo)This was the view from my hotel room in downtown St. Louis, Missouri during a summer Midwest road trip.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn at the Arch — I’m a big fan of Hampton Inns because the staff is always friendly, especially to families, and the breakfasts are great.

The Gateway Arch is also called the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, in honor of President Thomas Jefferson’s involvement in the expansion of US boundaries to the West (through the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition.)

Designed by famous Finnish architect Eero Saarinen, the Arch was built in 1965 to commemorate St. Louis’ role as the “gateway to the West;” the city was one of the last major jumping-off points for pioneer travelers.

Finding this photo reminds me that I never wrote up a proper post about our brief stop in St. Louis — look for that in the near future!

Related posts:

Categories
Latin America Philosophy

Family Travel and Rolf Potts on taking kids to Ecuador

Rolf Potts in Burma’s Mergui Archipelago (courtesy Rolf Potts)The excellent travel website World Hum has a regular column called “Ask Rolf,” by talented travel writer Rolf Potts.

Haven’t heard of him?

Browse the Stories or Essays section of his Web site, or see how he makes an ancient French version of tennis into something interesting.

He’s also the guy who convinced me to visit his stomping grounds, the Flint Hills in Kansas, which was one of the highlights of a Midwest road trip with my teen daughter.

Rolf graciously invited me to assist him with his most recent column; answering a Dad who wants to take his 9-year-old daughter to Ecuador, and is wondering if it’s safe to do so. The trip is a precursor to a possible round-the-world trip with his entire family.

In addition to my tips (how to plan a family trip, quit carrying all that stuff, remember to eat) Rolf has some great input on Ecuador from a guy who just spent two months there with his kids. He gives specific advice about places like Quito, Otavalo and the Galapagos. Down in the comments are more good ideas, including some from regular Family Travel reader Debbie over at Delicious Baby.

Not all of my input could fit into Rolf’s column (there’s a surprise!) so here are the other two family travel tips from me:

  • Little legs are shorter than yours. Just because you can walk forever in your trusty Rockports or Tevas does not mean that the Stride Rite group agrees with you. “But, they have so much energy, they’ll be fine.” No, you will end up carrying them. Pace yourselves, literally and figuratively. Use a child carrier backpack rather than a stroller; it leaves your hands free, escalators and stairs are no problem and your child can see the view instead of looking at people’s knees at stroller level.
  • Travel through your own backyard. I cannot tell you how many people I know who aren’t aware of the fun family things that are within a two-hour drive of their home. Buy a guidebook for your hometown and your home state, and then go do some or all of the items suggested. Don’t be the New Yorker who never makes it to the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island.

Thanks very much to Rolf and World Hum for including my input. If you have any experience with family travel in Ecuador, please leave them the comments section of Rolf’s column.

Categories
USA

Family-friendly music festivals

The Instrument Petting Zoo at Symphony in the Flint Hills, Kansas (courtesy Kansas City Symphony)Do you miss going to concerts now that you’re a parent?

Do you like outdoor music festivals, but can’t imagine taking your kids to one?

Did you think that your mosh pit days at Lollapalooza were over?

Well, they probably are, at least for awhile — sorry. 🙂

It is possible to take the kids to hear live music, with some reasonable precautions and a lot of patience.

An outdoor event also gives toddlers room to roam, with rotating musical offerings to prevent the inevitable boredom.

I have a recent article up on Education.com about family-friendly music festivals in the U.S.

Highlighted events include:

All of these festivals, plus a couple of others listed in the article, have music for children in one form or another — kid’s music stages, children’s musicians, kids participation activities, etc.

Obviously, parental judgment is key to success here.

Most festivals are outdoors in fairly warm weather, with all those discomforts that seem so minor when you’re an adult and so major when you’re the parent of a hot, bug-bitten toddler. Plan to attend just one day of a multi-day festival, and leave without pouting if you have to (I mean the parents pouting, not the kids.)

Festivals are a fun way to introduce your child to live music, but don’t expect to catch many of the adult offerings yourself; little ones don’t sit still very long and they will not stand for hours in huge crowds just to catch a glimpse of Radiohead or some other headliner that you’re dying to see.

You don’t want your kids to disrupt the other concert-goers. This is normally not a problem at children’s stages (everyone’s wiggling and chattering) but stay well to the back just in case.

My husband and I took a five year-old to the Newport Folk Festival and the Newport Jazz Festival. The Folk Festival was great, so I think we were overly emboldened to strap on jazz. Lesson — enjoy the victories and don’t push your luck.

As they get older, it obviously gets a lot easier to attend festivals, but start them young with an event or two.

My five year-old grew into a teen piano, clarinet and guitar player who recently went to a Switchfoot concert here in Austin at La Zona Rosa. No parents, just a friend.

Pretty soon she’ll be bugging me for a South by Southwest (SXSW) wristband if I’m not careful.

Update 21 April 2008: Speaking of SXSW, my Austin-based comadre Graceful Parenting decided to take an infant to one of the free outdoor concerts that are offered during South by Southwest, and she wrote about it at SXSW for infants.

Categories
Europe

Springtime at Keukenhof Gardens

A gentle touch at the Keukenhof Gardens, the Netherlands (Scarborough photo)For those of us above the Equator, spring has sprung and the flowers are a’blooming.

One of the most lovely places in the world to admire the colors of spring is the expansive Keukenhof Gardens, where 4.5 million tulips (100 varieties) are only a part of the natural wonders on display.

It is located in Lisse, just outside Amsterdam in the Netherlands between Amsterdam and Den Haag (The Hague.)

In 2008 they are open from 20 March to 18 May, 8 am to 7:30 pm daily.

There are acres and acres of beautifully-landscaped and designed flower gardens to wander through, plus a sculpture park called Art Keukenhof.

My family and I were awestruck by the gorgeous colors and creative arrangements; certain sections were planted to look like rivers of colors flowing into each other.

My daughter hams it up at Keukenhof Gardens, the Netherlands (Scarborough photo)

The main theme for 2008 is China, so there are special gardens and outdoor rooms inspired by this theme.

There is an orchid display in the Beatrix Pavilion — I’m not a big gardener by any means, but the kids and I were fascinated by the elaborate arrangements and stunning pinks and purples.

I’ve never seen that many orchids in one place.

For children:

“We have a large playground with jungle gyms, an animal paddock, a maze and a giant chess board. There is also a Bollebozen route….”

Ask at the entrance for the booklet with the Bollebozen special exploration route for children.

The Keukenhof is a terrific way to welcome in the season.

Related posts:

Categories
Blog

Good People Day: Guy Kawasaki and Alltop

Guy Kawasaki (courtesy Scott Beale/Laughing Squid on flickr’s Creative Commons.)I’m one of the least jump-on-a-bandwagon people that you’ll ever find.

My kids get SO TIRED of me saying, “I do not care what anybody else does….”

But today is my birthday, thank you very much, and I’m gonna bust out of my normal mode and be more lemming-like, because I like Gary Vaynerchuk and I like Guy Kawasaki.

I like Gary Vaynerchuk because he’s a psycho, super-enthusiastic video blogger who runs a wine store in New Jersey and does the fab Wine Library TV net video show, demystifying and sharing his love for wine.

Gary has personally declared today, 3 April 2008, as Good People Day and he made one of his manic videos that explains why.

The gist of it is that there are all sorts of great Web 2.0/social media/online whatever-you-want-to-call-them folks out there who should be celebrated. He wants to celebrate them.

So I will, with a different person than others might expect.

Gary Vaynerchuk in action, wine included (courtesy William Couch at flickr CC)

I like Guy Kawasaki, so I’m taking Good People Day as an opportunity to thank him for his new project, Alltop.

Does your Mom or Dad ask, “How do you find the good stuff online amongst all those millions of bloggers?” Does anyone that you know ask that?

Me, too. Heck, I even ask it, and I do this stuff for a living.

One of the answers is intelligent human vetting of the online offerings out there, and that’s where the Alltop team comes in.

“It is ‘two guys and a gal’ in a garage—or more accurately, one guy in a home office (Will Mayall), one gal on a kitchen table (Kathryn Henkens), and one Guy in United 2B (Guy Kawasaki).”

They’ve pulled together a whole bunch of RSS feeds (Really Simple Syndication; blog subscriptions automatically updated, if you will) and aggregated all those info streams, across a bunch of topic areas, into one place called Alltop.

When they put together the Travel Channel for Alltop, they were kind enough to include this blog, Family Travel, and the other blog I co-author, Perceptive Travel.

So, yeah, I’m a little enamored of these Good People right now.

I have also been personally impressed with the warmth, responsiveness and professionalism that I’ve seen in my own dealings with Guy. Some say that Kawasaki is just a relentless marketer and promoter, which he is; especially about the things he’s interested in and the businesses he’s building. I have no problem with that as long as it comes packaged in a real human with all the attendant foibles, and Guy is quite openly that kind of individual.

I like the way he puts it out there on Twitter and engages everybody. I’m amazed that mere hours after a Houston speaking appearance was announced on Dwight Silverman’s Houston Chronicle TechBlog, the event was sold out.

The Guy must be doing something right. If I sound like a suckup, you’re dead wrong, because remember; “I do not care what anybody else does….” and there’s no one I particularly need to impress these days (since I already married that person almost 20 years ago.)

When you’re 47 years old, you can blog about whomever you like. Now go pick up your socks. 🙂

I’m celebrating Good People Day with Gary and Guy. I encourage you to send Mom, Dad and yourself over to Alltop to see what Guy and his team are doing to make sense of the blogosphere and the Web, then I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments here.

Categories
Tips

Hang out with the otaku: manga and anime conventions

Display at Hong Kong Manga and Anime Convention (Scarborough photo)With comic/manga-based movies like Speed Racer and Dragon Ball on the horizon, I’m seeing an increased interest in the culture surrounding graphic novels and Japanese-style anime movies.

Your older kids who are part of the otaku (manga and anime fanatics) might enjoy traveling to one of the many manga/anime conventions held throughout the year.

Of course, parents are uncool, so although you’ll pay the hotel bill and entrance fee, you’ll probably be expected to disappear from the exhibition floor periodically (with preteens and teens, you must never display an interest in their interests, nor are you allowed to know more about it than they do.)

Manga books are narrative graphic art, with roots in Japan and ever-widening popularity across the rest of the world. Just don’t call them “comics” or you’ll probably get a verbal handslap from the average manga fan. Most parents are familiar with PokĂ©mon, the “starter drug” for manga, if you will. 🙂

Both boys and girls have favorite characters and story lines.

An article from USA Today quotes manga expert Susan Napier at Tufts University and a Barnes and Noble employee:

“‘I have seen groups of girls gathered around the manga shelves at Borders and Barnes & Noble eagerly discussing their favorite manga,’ Tufts’ Napier says. ‘They like it because it fills a niche that American comics don’t: Even though the stories can be fantasy or science fiction, the characters are very human … the narratives are imaginative and engrossing and often more subtly shaded than American plots, which often revolve around simplistic good vs. evil archetypes.’

The genre is especially popular with American girls: ‘Manga offers something they weren’t finding in popular superhero-related comics,’ Barnes & Noble buyer Jim Killen says.'”

Here are some gatherings to consider, whether your kids are serious artists, love to dress up in cosplay to imitate a favorite character, or like my teen just likes to see a wide variety of manga and anime stuff in one spot:

** New York Comic Con has all kinds of graphic characters plus new video games, toys, movies and television. April 18-20, Jacobs Javits Center NYC.

** Anime Central, a major Midwest confab near O’Hare Airport, Chicago IL May 16-18.

** FanimeCon, May 23-26, San Jose CA.

** AnimeNEXT, June 20-22, The Meadowlands, New Jersey.

** Comic-Con 2008, July 24-27, San Diego CA.

** Otakon, August 8-10, Baltimore MD.

** AnimeFest, August 29- September 1, Dallas TX.

For lots more North American events, see this 2008-2009 convention calendar. Wikipedia also has a wide-ranging list of manga/anime conventions.

Manga and anime are a worldwide phenomenon; here is one family’s report from a manga convention in Paris, there are Animania events across Australia this summer, bright summer nights at Finland’s Animecon08 in July, or you can plan to return to the genre roots at the March 2009 Tokyo International Anime Fair.

One more thing to consider; if your kids plan to take a lot of cell phone photos and use the phone to send them to friends, they may not realize that is often an extra cost to your bill.

Even more telephonic fiscal demands are coming; cell phone manga is big in Japan and is expected to be released for downloads here in the US. One more way for everyone to get their manga fix.