Top family beach resorts

More beach resorts are offering pools with water slides, no-cost children’s programs and other amenities that make them attractive, affordable alternatives for families looking for one-stop vacations, according to Parents magazine.

The magazine evaluated more than 200 beach resorts in the U.S. and the Caribbean, based on room rates and other costs, quality of children’s programs, variety of family activities, pool and beach area and other factors.

The May issue of Parents lists the 10 resorts the magazine deemed to best meet those criteria.

“Our winners are practically rolling out the red carpet for families on a tight budget,” said Sally Lee, editor in chief of Parents. “Great kids’ programs and perks are no longer exclusive to resorts with high price tags.”

The resorts that made Parents’ list offer seven-night vacations, May-September, for prices ranging from $129 a night to $500 a night (for an all-inclusive with meals and activities covered), with most falling under $250 nightly.

The resorts are Sheraton Grand Bahama Island Our Lucaya, Bahamas; Club Med Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; South Seas Island Resort, Captiva Island, Fla.; Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas; Disney’s Vero Beach Resort in Florida; Beaches Negril Resort and Spa, Jamaica; Hilton Hawaiian Village, Honolulu, Hawaii; Ocean Edge Resort & Spa, Brewster, Mass.; Loew’s Coronado Bay Beach Resort & Spa, San Diego; and Rio Mar Beach Golf Resort Casino & Spa, in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.

Details at http://www.parentsmag.com.

Myrtle Beach's 100-km Grand Strand offers a rockin' good time for your next family vacation

Myrtle Beach -- known to many as 'America's Beach Playground' -- is one of the most popular family vacation destinations in the U.S.

Famous for its 'Grand Strand' -- a 100-km strip of white sandy beach with nary a cloud, a boat or an island dotting the horizon to disrupt the view -- it's not hard to see why.

Boasting 14-million annual visitors, a wealth of history, a never-ending amount of things to see and do, Southern hospitality and cuisine that can't be beat can be found any way you turn along the beautiful South Carolina coastline.

One of the main reasons for Canadians to trek south of the border to Myrtle in the month of March is the CanAm Days festival -- an annual week-long celebration hosted by Myrtle Beach to honour the area's annual crop of northern visitors. The ones they so fondly refer to as 'our Canadian snowbirds' in that unmistakable thick and slow Southern twang.

Myrtle Beach's nearest neighbour is a town by the name of Conway -- a 17th-century settlement nestled on the Waccamaw River, littered with Civil War reminders and remnants of its rich colonial history.

Quaint and quiet, the streets of Conway are lined with alternating American and Canadian flags during CanAm days and it doesn't take long to track down a few fellow-Canucks, such as Bob Jarrett and Mel Beatty from Ontario -- big grins on their faces, telling tale after tale of the many things that keep them coming back to Myrtle Beach year after year.

Brookgreen Gardens and the Huntington Sculpture Gardens Tour will truly take your breath away. And with a $12 admission that's good for seven days, you'll have time to see all the sculpture, horticulture and history you could dream of.

Considered one of the seven wonders of South Carolina, four former rice plantations have been combined to create the Huntington Sculpture Gardens. Opened to the public in 1932, the gardens now house more than 1,200 sculptures that stretch as far as the eye can see. There's also the Lowcountry History and Wildlife Preserve. And, most remarkable of all, the Lowcountry Trail and Ricefield Overlook -- a boardwalk stroll that will leave you standing in the exact spot where, a mere 200 years ago, thousands of enslaved Africans worked the rice fields.

For another history lesson on the controversial pre-Civil War South, visitors can take a walk through Litchfield Plantation. Established in 1750, Litchfield was one of the largest and most prosperous rice plantations in the 'Low Country' of South Carolina.

The old plantation house built in 1750 still remains, but is now a charming country inn resort offering Southern hospitality at its finest.

If a beachfront hotel on the strip is more your thing, the Anderson Ocean Club is a reasonably priced, full-service, five-star family hotel in the heart of the Grand Strand, with rooms ranging from studio-size to three-bedroom.

For the discerning business traveller looking for luxury tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Myrtle Beach, the Marina Inn at Grande Dunes is an unexpected gem.

Set adjacent to the picturesque Intracoastal Waterway, the rooms at Marina Inn go from the modest-yet-magnificent Mediterranean Club Suites to four-bedroom luxury, with stunning views of the water and surrounding golf courses.

Though the golfing in Myrtle Beach is world renowned, the links aren't the only place for the big kids to go out and play.

Top-of-the-line rollercoasters, state-of-the-art attractions and interactive amusements are all found at Hard Rock Park. It's the world's first rock'n'roll theme park and the first new major attraction to be built in the U.S. in nearly a decade.

The 20th Annual Run to the Sun Car Show is another must-see pit-stop on the CanAm Days schedule, featuring more than 2,500 cars and trucks and attracting more than 80,000 visitors every year, with muscle cars and street rods bearing plates from as far away as Saskatchewan.

And don't forget The Carolina Opry's presentation of Calvin Gilmore's Good Vibrations Show. The song and dance montage of music from the '60s, '70s and '80s is family entertainment at its finest.

And if you think the kids won't dig it, ask them how they feel about the famous foursome of teen heartthrobs known as All That, who tap-danced their way to the top in 2006 on NBC's hit show America's Got Talent.

Whatever your pleasure, rest assured Myrtle Beach is not just for retirees and golfers. With an uninterrupted beach longer than California's, weather far more reliable than in Florida, and a plane trip that's just a skip over the border from Canada, Myrtle Beach is the perfect getaway destination for vacationing travellers of all ages.

Y'all should see for yourself now, y'hear?

The quiet side of Hawaii

There's a lot you might expect from a family vacation in Hawaii -- sandy beaches, swaying palms, steel guitars, a surfer or two. But seclusion? Hawaii's hot beaches can be heavily populated -- unless your family heads for Molokai.

This minuscule island is far from the madding crowds of Maui and only a puddle jump by air from the worldly excitement of Oahu. Settled long ago by leprosy sufferers who were banished to Molokai beaches then promptly nearly forgotten, the island has avoided mass development in the century since.

The leper colony is long gone. But in its wake, Molokai's inland terrain, which is dry and desert-like, has proven more attractive to ranchers and pineapple growers than tourists. These days the island is well kept and well guarded by locals fiercely holding fast to old Hawaiian traditions. Many say this Pacific isle conveys how Maui, Kauai and Oahu were 50 years ago, before they were discovered by resort developers.

FRIENDLY ISLE

Known as "the friendly isle," it is said Molokai (MO-lo-kye-EEE) is home to an "aloha spirit." Indeed, the few locals that you meet on this sparsely populated place are calm and welcoming. They drive slowly, amble through the aisles in the grocery store and take time to enjoy their own scenic views.

While the other isles of Hawaii are friendly, their citizens move at a more mainland pace. Which is exactly why Molokai is ideal for family travel. Besides taking in the sea, the palms and that consistently warm breeze, there's nothing much to do on Molokai except enjoy one another's company.

The island is the fifth largest in the Hawaiian archipelago. It's about 60 km long and approximately 16 km wide, with a seemingly small 40-km expanse between Molokai and Oahu. On our first night there we watched the sun set prettily behind Oahu's Waikiki Beach, which lies due west across the channel.

Much of Molokai's terrain is ranchlike -- similar to Australia's Outback or inland California. It is dry, treeless, hot, brown and sparse -- the antithesis of what you'd expect from a lush Hawaiian island. Cowboys have worked its land for years, especially on Molokai's western half.

This dry land is in stark contrast to the island's edges where, close to the sea, the terrain livens up. There's plenty of green, lots of palms, an ultra-blue sea and steady rolling waves that will lull you to sleep. As you travel east along the single highway that extends across the island, Molokai's terrain becomes more verdant. Molokai's eastern end is significantly more beachy and lush.

Among Molokai's family friendly fun are activities that are, like the island, low key. Kids love horseback riding along Molokai's rugged trials or cycling along its only road, which enjoys little vehicular traffic.

The island is so small, from the road and trail there's always a fabulous view of the sea. Molokai is home to Hawaii's only barrier reef -- ideal for snorkelling. Molokai's sea cliffs are among the highest and most dramatic in the world. Your kids will recall the spectacular views from the movie Jurassic Park III.

Sea kayaking is popular. And while Molokai isn't a Mecca for Hawaiian surfing, its smallish waves are decent enough to learn on. The island is also the birthplace of the hula dance.

Lodging and nightlife on Molokai is different than the hotel fare you find on Maui. There are no large hotel chains and few fancy restaurants.

UK to test new face recognition system at airports this summer

LONDON - British border officials say they plan to test a new facial recognition system at airports this summer to see if it can boost security and reduce overcrowding.

The Home Office says details about the scope of the program will be released in the coming months before it is put into operation.

Iris scanners are already in use at many UK airports for travellers who register for the program.

The British newspaper The Guardian said Friday that travellers with British or European passports with embedded biometric data can use the new system.

Unmanned security gates with computers will be set up to scan each person's face to determine if it matches passport data.

Some experts are skeptical about whether the technology is ready for widespread use.

Brazil wants to require approval for all foreigners heading to Amazon

BRASILIA, Brazil - Foreigners who want to visit the Amazon region may soon need permits from Brazil's government.

National Justice Secretary Romeu Tuma told The Associated Press on Friday that the government plans to send Congress a bill to require the permits within months. It is meant to prevent foreign meddling and illegal activity in the world's largest remaining tropical wilderness.

The law reflects long-standing suspicions among conservative politicians and the military that foreigners working to help Indians and save the rain forest are actually spearheading an international attempt to wrest the Amazon and its riches away from Brazil.

Tradition dies as 102-year-old Grand Canyon shop forced to close

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. - At a time when tourists visited the Grand Canyon in stagecoaches, they did their souvenir shopping at a tent set up by a man named John George Verkamp.

It was 1898, before the Grand Canyon was a national park, before there was a National Park Service and before Arizona was even a state. Not many had the means to visit the 1.6-kilometre-deep gorge, so it was mostly just a handful of adventurers, prospectors, the American Indians whose people had lived there for centuries, and the Verkamps.

These days, the Grand Canyon has luxury lodges and cute coffee shops. The only thing it won't have come September is the Verkamps and their store, Verkamp's Curios.

The family's final chapter at the canyon began in 1998, when Congress passed a law that reversed giving preference to established businesses when issuing contracts. A company that had never operated at a given park now could outbid anyone if it had a better proposal - even if the competition had been there for more than a century.

The Verkamps scrambled, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on appraisals, environmental consultants, financial advisers and lawyers - all in an effort to prepare to face off against major corporations that could vie to run the gift shop Verkamp opened in a permanent building on the South Rim in 1906.

When the National Park Service issued the store's final prospectus last July, the family chose to give in to what they call "bureaucratic process fatigue."

"There's just so many hoops to do what you've always been doing," said Susie Verkamp, the 60-year-old granddaughter of John George Verkamp. "It kind of wears you out."

Susie Verkamp said there also was really no one left in the family to run the shop, which has been managed by someone other than a family member since 1995, although the Verkamps have maintained an active involvement.

Park Service spokesman Jeffrey Olson said the 1998 law shows the public that there is no favouritism in issuing contracts to concessioners.

He acknowledged that not everybody is happy with the law but said small businesses shouldn't lose sight of their own advantages.

"If I were a big business going up against somebody who had been in business for generations, I don't know that I would think I had this thing in the bag," he said. "Incumbency, when you talk about political circles, has a lot of weight."

The Park Service turned down three companies that put a bid on taking over the Verkamps' building, saying the Grand Canyon had plenty of gift shops on the South Rim. The agency compensated the Verkamps more than $3.2 million for the building, park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge said.

Park Superintendent Steve Martin said the structure may be used as a visitors' facility or a Grand Canyon history museum, which does not yet exist.

Martin said the Verkamps' story "is part of the settlement of the West and the American dream."

Mike Anderson, a Grand Canyon historian who has written three books about the canyon's history, described the Verkamps as pioneers and their shop as a mainstay of the canyon community.

"John G. Verkamp was there at the onset trying to make a living off Grand Canyon tourism when it was really still in its infant stage," Anderson said.

He said Verkamp's first customers would have primarily been the wealthy who took trains from the East to Williams, where they had to hire a stagecoach to travel the remaining 97 kilometres to the canyon.

The Grand Canyon Railway, built in 1901, made the trip a bit easier, but it wasn't until 1930, when the automobile became affordable for the average American, that the middle class started showing up at Verkamp's in larger numbers, Anderson said.

By 1936, the Depression had taken its toll on Verkamp's other business interests, so he moved his wife and four children to a two-bedroom apartment above the shop.

The Verkamps' chocolate brown, two-storey store hasn't changed much in its 102 years. It still sits about 30 metres from the edge of the Grand Canyon and it still sells hand-selected items from local American Indian artists and regional traders.

Woven Navajo rugs hang from the ceiling, deer and buffalo heads eye customers from the rustic, wooden walls and people warm themselves in front of a giant, crackling fire.

Verkamp ran the store until he died of a stroke in 1944 at the age of 67. Two more generations of his family managed the store until 1995, when the Verkamps hired someone outside the family to take over management duties.

Susie Verkamp and her six brothers and sisters also grew up in the apartment upstairs. The brood learned how to swim in a pool near the edge of the Grand Canyon, and played hide-and-seek, red rover, and kick the can in the nearby woods.

Verkamp said people always ask her if she and her family take the Grand Canyon for granted, considering it was their backyard.

"On the contrary," she said. "We have a certain intimacy with the canyon and love that couldn't be further from taking it for granted," Verkamp said from her home in El Prado, N.M., where she's lived since 1989. "It gives you kind of a unique perspective on life. We always had an understanding that the human species is a very small part of the big picture."

LeAnn Koler of Cleveland recently fulfilled a lifelong dream to visit the Grand Canyon and stopped by Verkamp's to do some souvenir shopping.

"It's kind of sad to see a family-run business go," Koler said after buying a turquoise ring, silver earrings and a shot glass for her collection. "It's nice to go to a store that's not a chain like Wal-Mart. You'd rather give a family your business than a chain."

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If You Go . . .

Verkamp's curios: http://www.verkamps.com/ or 888-817-0806. This is the final summer for the 102-year-old store on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It will close in September.

Grand Canyon National Park: http://www.nps.gov/grca/ or 928-638-7888.

Canada and Mexico drive increase in tourists visiting United State

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. - When Steve Meissner of Berlin bought a 1956 butter yellow Cadillac online, he could have simply had it shipped from Arizona to Germany.

Instead, he flew to the U.S. with a buddy, hopped in the Caddy and began a road trip that included the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Zion national parks in Utah, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.

"This is adventure. This is cruising," Meissner said recently as he shopped at a roadside stand on the popular south rim of the Grand Canyon. "Driving west with a '56 Cadillac - that's a dream."

Like an increasing number of foreign travellers to the U.S., Meissner couldn't resist taking advantage of the weak U.S. dollar and gas prices here.

"Our euro is so up, and gas is dirt cheap," said the 45-year-old wedding photographer, who shipped the car to Germany after his adventure. "We pay $8 a gallon in Germany, so we enjoy pumping gas at three bucks a gallon."

International visitors to the United States increased to more than 56.7 million people in 2007, an 11.1 per cent increase over the previous year, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Visitors from Canada, Mexico, England, Japan and Germany top the list.

Although international visitors in the U.S. are up overall, the Washington, D.C.-based Travel Industry Association points out that the numbers are being driven by Canadians and Mexicans. Commerce Department figures show numbers of overseas visitors are still about two million below those prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

"With the dollar at an all-time low, this is a phenomenal bargain," said Travel Industry Association president and CEO Roger Dow. "We're not realizing the numbers we should. We certainly have a long way to go."

Grand Canyon National Park officials don't track visitors' nationalities but say they've noticed a sharp increase in international tourists in the past year or so and estimate that they now make up about 40 per cent of all visitors to the massive gorge.

"Every other group is speaking a different language," Grand Canyon Superintendent Steve Martin said. "You have Brits, people from Australia and New Zealand and India and a number of Asian countries and Hispanics. It's just incredible."

Martin said domestic visitation to the Grand Canyon likely is staying constant. Overall visitation to the Grand Canyon increased to more than 4.4 million tourists in 2007, a 3.1 per cent increase from the previous year.

That reflects more visitors going to national parks across the country. The national park system recorded more than 275 million tourists last year, a one per cent increase over 2006.

The large, iconic national parks in the West, including the Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone, and Yosemite parks, saw some of the largest increases.

Park Service spokesman Jeffrey Olson said it's difficult to explain the trends but attributed some of the increases at the iconic parks to pent-up visitation.

"People just love those Western parks," he said. "Maybe they hadn't been to see Yosemite for three, four or five years or so, and the guy just says, 'Marge, we have to go to Yosemite this year,' and they do."

Olson also suspects foreign travellers are boosting the numbers.

"The Canadian dollar is much stronger, the euro is much stronger, and that translates into good travel deals in the United States for Europeans and Canadians," he said. "If people overseas had postponed a trip the United States for a couple years or so, the strong euro was probably a nice incentive to make that trip."

John and Christine Rickard from England's Isle of Wight recently took advantage of the U.S. economy, taking a three-week trip to the Western United States that included stops in the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Las Vegas and San Diego.

"You're really feeling the pinch at the moment," Christine Rickard, 66, said with a wink at one of the Grand Canyon's stunning overlooks.

"We just had a cup of hot chocolate and it was half of what we would have paid in England," John Rickard, 68, said. "It's very worthwhile coming here in the present circumstances."

Tom Sargent, manager at the Desert View General Store on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, isn't complaining.

"We're really happy to have the foreign visitors," he said. "Without them, we'd be up a creek."

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On the Net: Grand Canyon National Park: http://www.nps.gov/grca/

National Park Service: http://www.nps.gov/