Taking off Travel blog

Looking for some top spots for your family for Spring Break?  But, you are looking for family friendly, great for the kids, but leave the college debauchery in Daytona?  No problem.  We have complied a list that you would be glad to take even your youngest child.

• Wisconsin Dells – If your family loves water parks, then this is the place to go. With over two dozen indoor water parks, Wisconsin Dells is known as the indoor water capital of the world.  On the leading edge of water park technology and attractions, this will be a sure hit for all the little fish in your family!
• Navarre Beach, FL – Still want a nice, relaxing vacation in Florida but away from the party crowd?  Navarre Beach may be the perfect location for you and your family.  Just a few miles from Panama City, you can still enjoy the Gulf of Mexico. Stroll out on the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier, which is the longest pier in the Gulf of Mexico.  There are other family activities nearby like a zip line, river activities and a zoo.  A perfect place to relax in the Florida Sun.
• You have some adventurous, dog loving kids?  In Northern New Hampshire, you can go dogsledding! A the Muddy Paw Sled Dog Kennel, families can ride on a 10 dog team sled complete with mountain bike tires over the trail.  The dogs, all rescued, all love to go sledding.   You and the kids can help harness up the dogs and you are off for your trek!
• Williamsburg, VA - Want to keep the learning wheels going on the kids while on Spring Break?  A trip to Colonial Williamsburg may just be the ticket.  Learn about colonial America, and in the evening let the kids blow off steam at a nearby water park (Great Wolf Lodge).  Everyone is happy.
• One of the most picturesque and awe-inspiring places for this list of top spots for family spring breaks is the Grand Canyon.  Spring is the best time to hike below the rim since it is not as warm, and there will not be any ice or snow along the trails.  With both camping and nearby lodging, it is easy to stay however your family likes.
• Las Cruces, NM - A great place to live the old western life with horse trail rides, lots of natural beauty, hiking, and shopping.  If your family loves adventure seeking, this area has 100s of miles of trails through Organ Mountains, Aguirre Springs and the Dripping Springs/La Cueva areas.  Hike to the top of the mountains for breath taking views.  Let Mom stroll through the shops and end the day with a great meal at one of the over 300 restaurants in the area.
• For some of the best weather, head to San Diego, CA.  Miles of Beaches, a ton of museums, and the world famous San Diego Zoo are all beckoning you to come for a visit.

Wherever you decide to go for Spring Break, if you are flying, let ParkRideFlyUSA.com help you find a great off-airport parking location for your car.  Our network of vendors will help you easily find and reserve parking at all the larger airports in the United States.  For long term, vacation or business parking, you will have a guaranteed parking space at a great rate.  Transportaioin to and from your departure terminal, free luggage assistance, and a safe and secure place to park your car you can’t go wrong with our vendors.

Have a great Spring Break!  Let us know how it went.

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Are you looking to get in touch with the past on your next vacation? Sick of the cities and the crowds and yearning for something a little more tranquil? Then fear not, for here’s a list of some of the most interesting and awe-inspiring remnants of the ancient world.

South African Ancient ‘San’ Rock Art

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When people think of South Africa they think of safaris and fantastic scenery. Many could be unaware of the beautiful and fascinating 500 + rock art paintings or ‘cave paintings’. Here amongst the Drakensberg Mountains, the San Bushmen, of Basarwa have left a legacy of magnificent paintings and markings that are amongst the finest in the world. One of the most superb examples is found at the Game Pass Shelter that depicts an Eland that is in its dying moments. This area is considered a sacred place by many around the world including Zulu healers and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The indigenous paintings are vivid, unique and highly memorable.

Callanish Standing Stones, Lewis, Scotland

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The Khmer City Of Angkor, Cambodia

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Deep in Cambodia’s remarkable interior lies the ancient city of Angkor, a city that was lost until the late 19th century. The city is believed to have been founded around 879 AD to 1191 AD by the Khmer society. The ruins only tell part of the story of numerous ‘beehive’ palaces, homes, public buildings and lanes. There are areas that at not accessible but many are available for visitors. The city is well remembered for the temple scenes in the film Tomb Raider.

The La Venta Stone Heads Huimanguillo, Tabasco, Mexico

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These huge ancient stone head carvings, fashioned around 814 BC are not only marvellous because of their size but that they all are facing one direction: looking out towards the Atlantic Ocean. One of the stone figures reaches an incredible 9ft high and has a flattened top that served as an altar stone. An extraordinary thing is that the ‘Olmec’ stone sculptors created a tube for ‘speaking’ that runs from one ear down to the mouth.

Derinkuyu Nevuehir Province, Turkey

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A multi-level underground city is enormous and part of a group of other underground cities and structures. It plummets down 85m and an incredible 13 levels and was capable of holding several thousand people, belongings and animals. The city is complete with air shafts and water outlets. The engineering was phenomenal and it is thought that each level could be closed off for safety and protection from invaders. On one level is an ancient Church and the tunnels and rooms are thought to have sheltered Christians in Roman times. Tunnels were thought to connect with myriads of sites around the region.

So who says that the ancient world has to be long gone? While the cultures and civilisations that inhabited these lands thousands of years ago might have departed, there are still remnants of that time everywhere, so long as you know where to look. So next time you’re on vacation, why not steer clear of the urban hustle and bustle and get in touch with the past instead.

Article contributed by James Stark. If you’re heading out on vacation but would prefer to keep things modern, check out vacation apartments in New York from www.HouseTrip.com.

The sun is out and many of us are thinking about starting a summer run of hitting the beach. The wonderful thing is, you don’t even have to leave the country to do that. Cancun is great, but we have some fabulous beaches right here in the US. Here are some of our picks.

Rodeo Beach, Marin County, CA

Fun fact: Rodeo Beach is made up of unusual red and green chert grains.

Image: Franco Folini/Flickr Read more »

Waiting area - Babcock Wilderness Adventure, Florida

One of the best tours we did on my recent trip to Florida also proved to be one of the hardest to get to. Remember I told you about the one time we didn’t use Ovi Maps? It was on that trip. We were trying to get to Babcock Wilderness Adventures to do an eco-tour, but although the directions said we should turn off onto State Road 31, that road was nowhere to be seen from the Interstate. We eventually caved in and phoned again, going the long way round. We also missed our lunchtime slot, putting our subsequent planned trip in jeopardy. That’s travel for you!

So when we finally got there, we were feeling tired and frustrated after all the driving. However, the atmosphere soon put us at ease. There were trees everywhere, with little huts we could explore. As we had time to kill before the next tour, we had a look round the shop and checked out the exhibits. One of the most striking of these was Lulu the three horned cow, who had caused quite a sensation in her day, but now exists as a mounted head. Spooky!

Impressive Horns - Babcock Wilderness Eco-Tour, Florida

Exhibits seen, we sat in the shade and waited for our bus to arrive. Titled the tour buggy, it was an old school bus repainted in camouflage colors, and with very little in the way of suspension, if the bouncing around was anything to judge by. Our tour guide was a Floridian who originally hailed from the South and whose singsongy voice talked us through the 90 minute tour.

I really enjoyed riding through the cypress forests,  spotting birds and wildlife, seeing long horned cows that looked like something out of a Western and trying to spot the gators. There was even a panther (safely behind bars) and the chance to stretch our legs on a short walk through the forest.

Baby gator - Babcock Eco-Tour, FL

Since the gators were a little bit shy, our tour guide gave us the chance to stroke a baby alligator on our return. It was hard to tell whether the other members of the tour were enthralled or appalled, but some of us had a go. The gator’s skin was surprisingly smooth and cool to the touch.

Overall, I would say the Babcock Wilderness Eco-Tour is well worth doing. The guides know what they’re talking about (ours was a riot) and the location is beautiful. Highly recommended.

The American Museum of Natural History is somewhere I’ve been meaning to go to for a while, and with my daughter finally at the age  (8) where a visit to a museum could be interesting rather than torture, we decided to go for it on our recent trip to New York.

With 5 floors (there’s an exhibition space on the lower level where all the food outlets are), it’s a lot to cover and on reflection we probably needed more time than we had allocated.

Dinosaurs!

Some mighty big bones!

Once we’d decided on the temporary exhibits we wanted to see (more on those later), we headed straight for the fourth floor fossil halls to check out the dinosaur skeletons. Blown away doesn’t begin to cover our amazement as we saw fossils of all shapes and sizes, together with information panels and touch screens to help us get the most of the information. The evolutionary timelines were fascinating, though in my opinion it was hard to top the grandeur of the T Rex. My second favorite fossils? The majestic mammoths, of course, and not just because I’m a huge fan of Jean Auel’s Earth’s Children series. To top off the dinosaur overload, we headed downstairs to check out the World’s Largest Dinosaurs exhibit and get hands-on with some huge sauropods. Great presentations and interactive stations made this a hit with the whole family. It’s open till January, so there’s still time to visit if you haven’t seen it.

Dioramas – Not My Cup of Tea

We also had a quick look at the dioramas, some of which were great, though the stuffed animals creeped me out a bit. It turned out that my daughter felt the same about the stuffed birds and other animals in the Hall of North American Birds, so we skated on by those to look at primates, reptiles and amphibians. I don’t know why, but I found I could handle the idea of stuffed crocodiles and gators much better. Next, we headed to the food court to choose among the wide range of options and managed to find a seat in a far corner. (Note to self: next time, don’t visit in August!)

Inside the Brain

Lunch over, it was time to head to our next pre-booked exhibit – Brain: The Inside Story. This was a fascinating exhibit with videos and interactive stations covering all aspects of brain function. It started with a bang as we walked through a hall simulating the firing of synapses in the brain, then we saw brain scans, checked out neurons, examined language and saw a presentation showing how the various parts of the brain worked together. It was excellent!

By the time that was over, we’d been at the museum for several hours and had started to run out of steam, so we opted to miss out on the Frogs: A Chorus of Colors exhibit and head home. As you can see, we barely covered a third of what was on offer, but you have to be selective to avoid brain overload. Next time, I’ll get there earlier so I can check out some of the permanent exhibits we missed as well as any new special exhibitions. Having been there, the American Museum of Natural History is firmly on my list of top New York attractions.