Trip Ideas By Activity
There are so many ways to vacation with your children.
City explorations, museum sleepovers, condo-style rentals, road trips, mountain and lake cabins, beaches, cruises, and all-inclusive vacations stretch budgets. Resorts run the gamut from moderate to pricey. Staying midweek or during shoulder season saves money.
Dream trips—African safaris, Galapagos treks, polar bear watches—deliver the thrill of wildlife encounters but at a hefty price. Farmstays, state and national parks, and hikes through Costa Rican rain forests let you enjoy animal encounters at a fraction of the cost.
Time travel fascinates kids. At living history parks, march with the militia and meet pioneers. In Europe, tour centuries-old castles, climb atop medieval walls, and stroll streets laced with 18th-century buildings. Go back millions of years to the dinosaur era. Satisfy your kids’ curiosity by going on a dinosaur dig, walking in dinosaur footprints, and ogling fossils of these fierce critters in museums.
Build sandcastles at the beach, canoe and fish at a lake, get tossed, twirled, and dropped on rollercoasters at an amusement, ski downhill, or snowshoe through snowy woods.
Stay overnight, for a few days, or a week. Plan carefully, allow for spontaneity, know that things will go awry, and maintain your sense of humor. Have fun.
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Candyce H. Stapen2022-12-05 10:01:502022-12-05 10:03:12The Ultimate Bermuda Food Guide
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Candyce H. Stapen2022-11-24 08:11:372022-11-29 08:27:3413 Best Places to Go Snorkeling in St. CroixActivities
Trip Ideas Sorted By Activity
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The Ultimate Virgin Islands Food Guide
Celebrity Cruises||by Candyce H. StapenCategories: Caribbean, Bahamas & Bermuda Destinations, Featured News, RestaurantsBy trying the food of the Virgin Islands, you taste the region’s history. Enslaved Africans cooked fungi, made rations of saltfish palatable, and turned dasheen, or taro leaves, into filling soups.
Indian workers brought roti, a flat bread filled with curries, and the Danish red grout pudding is still beloved in the USVI.
In the Virgin Islands, locals have long lived by fishing. Try freshly caught spiny lobster, conch, wahoo, mahi mahi, and red snapper.
Here are 17 Virgin Island foods to enjoy.
A Multigenerational Adventure in Costa Rica
Epoch Times | Creators Syndicate||by Candyce H. StapenCategories: Central & South America Destinations, Featured News, MultigenerationalHe stared at me determinedly, curling his fingers around the railing as I sipped my early morning coffee on the balcony. As soon as I jumped into my room to grab my camera, he pounced on the outdoor table, stuffing my leftover waffle into his mouth and then ripping open sugar packets and sucking in the sweet powder. When I returned, the spider monkey grabbed a jam-streaked plate before scampering down the building’s support posts. Good morning, Costa Rica!
My extended family and I chose Costa Rica for a beach and wildlife vacation, and that’s what we got. At all-inclusive Dreams Las Mareas, El Jobo Beach, Guanacaste Province, spider monkeys greeted us every morning. The country, a mecca for wildlife lovers and eco-adventurers, protects nearly 28% of its land as national parks, refuges and reserves for hundreds of species of mammals, birds and reptiles.
James, 5 1/2 years old, and Charlotte, 4, giggled at the monkeys. The complimentary room service made it easy to get out the door for a 7:45 a.m. drive to Canas Castilla, 45 minutes away. While Ann, my daughter, and her husband, Michael, savored beach time alone, my husband, David, and I took the children on a No Limit Adventures outing.
Beyond Canas Castilla’s “Bienvenido” sign, green and blue hummingbirds flitted from bush to bush, sipping nectar from red flowers, and the Sapoa River flowed in the background. In 1997 Agatha and Guido Sutter relocated from Switzerland, purchasing 130 acres along the river to live a simpler life closer to nature. Allowing much of their land to return to tropical dry forest, the Sutters built six guest cottages and a small campground, and they also welcomed day hikers.
Danilo, our driver-guide, and Jenny, a student naturalist, led our private hike along the river. Lana, the Sutters’ friendly German Shepherd, joined us. So that we could easily spot the wildlife, Jenny circled a laser around — not at — the critters.
A green basilisk lizard perched on a tree branch before sprinting over the river’s surface, demonstrating its seeming ability to walk on water. Black-headed vultures flew past, and a fat green lizard balanced in a fig tree. Tall palms, sura, wild cashew and spiny cedar trees lined the path. On our nearly 1.6-mile route we crossed a shallow part of the river by stepping on stones, the kids carefully supported by Danilo and Jenny.
When we returned to Canas Castilla’s central area, a worker enthusiastically led us to a sloth nestled in a cecropia tree. As we watched, the furry critter reached his arm ever so slowly over his head, a moment that’s rare to spot. The tropical forest and its creatures enchanted us.
Back at Dreams for lunch, we grabbed cooked-to-order hamburgers and chips to eat beachside. An ocean lover, I seek resorts with good beaches and relatively calm water. Some mornings we swam and built sandcastles with the kids. Even though Dreams offers an Explorers Club for ages 3 to 12, we liked spending time with James and Charlotte. In the afternoon, we repositioned to the pool to swim and play catch.
At Dreams, as with many all-inclusives, there’s a line for restaurants. Since dinner started at 6 p.m., we learned to arrive around 5:30 p.m. to make the first seating. Otherwise, the tables didn’t open up again until around 7:30 p.m., too late for young children. Since service is leisurely, bordering on slow, we brought plenty of activity books for the kids to work on between courses. Our favorite restaurants included El Patio for Mexican fare and Himitsu for Pan-Asian.
Another outing organized by No Limit Adventures took us to El Viejo Wetlands, a 5,000-acre wildlife refuge that borders Palo Verde National Park. Our two-hour drive stretched to 2.5 after we hit traffic in La Cruz. Andrey, our guide, kept the kids interested with tales of the area’s reptiles, birds, monkeys and sloths. Feeding us granola bars and chips also helped.
At the wetlands we slowly cruised the Tempisque River in a roofed, open-sided boat. Within minutes, Miguel, our captain and spotter, found wildlife. Andrey told us about the great blue herons at the water’s edge and the snowy egrets lacing fallen tree branches and showed us that the dark spots on a nearby tree trunk were long-nosed bats.
Soon we came upon Tuerto, a croc named for his missing eye. We watched the 15-footer swim parallel to our boat, heading to a sandy riverbank. Juvenile howler monkeys inched to the edge of their leafy branches to eye us. Wildlife-loving James and Charlotte excitedly chatted about our finds. The tour came with lunch at the hacienda’s restaurant, prettily landscaped with flowers and cacti and shaded by kapok and mahogany trees. Despite the long day, we appreciated seeing the wetlands and the wildlife.
Dreams Las Mareas Costa Rica, an upmarket all-inclusive resort with a lush tropical setting and a 44,000 square-foot waterscape, enabled us to combine beach time with exploring. As for the spider monkeys, they taught us to bring our dishes into the room after we finished breakfast.
When You Go
Visit Costa Rica; www.visitcostarica.com
Dreams Las Mareas Costa Rica: www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/costa-rica/dreams-las-mareas/drelm
Canas Castilla: www.canas-castilla.com/cms/
Hacienda El Viejo Wetlands: www.elviejowetlands.com
No Limit Adventures: www.nolimitadventurescr.com
Candyce H. Stapen is a writer at www.greatfamilyvacations.com. Follow her on Instagram @family trips @candycestapen Twitter @family trips (Candyce H. Stapen), www.facebook.com/FamilyiTrips/ and at www.hennyskids.org, her non-profit that brings solar-powered computers and training to rural schools in Africa. COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS.COM
When Is the Best Time to Go to The Bahamas?
Celebrity Cruises||by Candyce H. StapenCategories: A Port Day, Caribbean, Bahamas & Bermuda Destinations, Cruises & ResortsThe best time to visit The Bahamas, an archipelago of more than 700 islands that stretches 760 miles across the western Atlantic Ocean, is winter or spring.
On Grand Bahama, New Providence, where Nassau is situated, and other northwestern islands, expect comfortable but cooler winter temperatures.
From mid-December through February, temperatures are pleasant, and rainfall remains relatively low. Even though temperatures and rainfall increase slightly in March and April, those months are also good times to visit The Bahamas.
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