When the illustrious TVR's English founder, Trevor Wilkerson, derived TVR from his own name, TreVoR, it attracted my racing friend to drive one of these racing coupes.

Just eight miles south of historic downtown Charleston, SC lies Folly Beach, an island steeped rich in American history from the existence of indigenous Native American tribes to the protection of Charleston during the civil war.

In all, 7,000 terra cotta figures were buried, row upon row, facing east toward a pass in the mountains through which enemies might be expected to attack.

You don't have to be a psychic to figure out that Christmas is approaching in Colonial Williamsburg, nor do you have to be a floral designer to appreciate the tasteful natural holiday arrangements that deck the doors and windows throughout this superbly restored 18th century town.

Texas Ranch Life, a complex of working ranches in the vicinity of Chappell Hill, provides everything from trail rides to chuckwagon meals to a chance to participate in a longhorn cattle drive.

It didn't take us very long to understand New Mexico's state moniker, Land of Enchantment (it appears on the state's license plates), during our visit to three of the state's best destinations: Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos.

Mobile, Alabama's elegant old Battle House Hotel hides a world-class full European spa and sauna.

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Several years ago, I had enjoyed serving on a program in the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, and this past summer I agreed to lead three consecutive one-week teams of "servant learners" to Browning, Montana, in the heart of the Blackfeet Nation. I was looking forward to working with and learning from the Blackfeet people.

At the beach without a cloud in the sky and hot, I found myself forgoing the popular Atlantic beaches of Rehoboth, Dewey, Bethany, and Fenwick Island of Delaware in lieu of sipping a 300 year-old sample of local shipwreck rum offered by the gracious owner of a modest second floor maritime and artifact museum displaying once molten gold fingers poured by local buccaneers of the 18th century.

Bay St. Louis, a charming little town on the storm-wracked Mississippi Gulf Coast, is becoming an arts destination for travelers seeking a respite from the casino-glitz ambiance of Biloxi. Four years after Hurricane Katrina, the town's shops, galleries and cafes are open for business.

In 1995 I had the pleasure of leading a Global Volunteers team to the village of Tan Hiep, located in the Mekong Delta area, some two hours south of Ho Chi Minh City. There we worked at the local high school teaching conversational English, and also helped build a security fence at a local kindergarten. While we were there, on July 11 1995, the U.S. government announced the re-establishment of its diplomatic relations with Vietnam.

Last year, Ontario Tourism launched its 540-mile (870-kilometer) Georgian Bay Coastal Route. This driving tour wraps around lighthouses, multi-billion year-old rocks, and some of the planet's most mesmerizing land and seascapes.

It was this late winter battle, in what is now Greensboro, NC that weakened Cornwallis's troops to the point that the final major ground battle of the war was able to take place in Yorktown in October. The defeat at Yorktown and the previous defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga, New York during two battles on September 19 and October 7, 1777 prompted the British government to negotiate an end to what we Americans refer to as the Revolutionary War.

My sister and I recently decided that it was time to make our semi-annual trip from North Carolina to Baltimore to visit our 85-year-old Dominican great-grandmother.

The beach resorts of Southern Delaware have long been a popular summertime destination for many, but what we discovered during a recent trip to the area is that in addition to the relaxing beaches of Bethany Beach and Fenwick Island or the bustling beaches of Rehoboth and Dewey Beach, Southern Delaware's coastal towns have a wealth of other attractions and activities that make Delaware's southern coast a great year-round destination.

This was my third trip to London, but by far my most enjoyable because I took my daughter along with me. The vacation was a break for my daughter from her daily routine of caring for her husband and two small children. For me, it was a chance to spend some quality time with her.

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People in the United States are not as familiar with the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage as in Europe where I'm Off Then has sold more than 3 million copies in its original German.

By the end of the 60s and early 70s, cruising in the Caribbean was relatively new. Old, refitted ships made short treks south of Florida to unfamiliar lands at very low cost. Short cruises of 186 miles were offered as 3-day cruises to Nassau for a mere $59; 4-day cruises $69. Two of the ships were the Yarmouth and Yarmouth Castle.

The former army depot about 10 miles southwest of Seneca Falls, New York is home to the world's largest white deer herd. This unique herd of an estimated 200 to 300 white, white-tailed deer roams freely within the protected property of the former Seneca Army Depot.

Kilts. They swing from the hips, pleats dropping to just above or below the knee. In Seattle, they are likely to be Utilikilts, a wash-and-wear kilt made from cotton duck.

This rabid baseball town will soon host the 2009 Major League All-Star Baseball game on July 14, 2009 at Busch Stadium.

From boutique 118-room lodgings to a super-sized hotel in mid-Manhattan, the Big Apple, recession or not, is inviting guests to stay in grand style in renovated and refurbished hotels.

Hawaii's Plantation Village Museum is nestled in the low rolling hills of Waipahu, fifteen miles northwest of bustling downtown Honolulu. Slumbering peacefully in the shadow of the pale slender smokestack of the now expired Oahu Sugar Mill, the museum village transports visitors back in time—a time not too distant—a time when "sugar was king" in Hawaii.

For the last ten years, I've promised my Georgian friend Lali that I would visit. She had lived in the U.S. for twenty years, become a U.S. citizen, and then almost ten years ago moved back to where her roots and heart are: Tbilisi, Georgia.

Weary of the queues at Disney World, Epcot Center, and the like?

Why not treat yourself and family to more back to basics places?

An hour southwest of bustling Orlando is Polk County, Florida.

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Bistro Bijoux, a restaurant and wine boutique, brings a touch of the south of France to the beaches of northwest Florida. Located in the Village of Baytowne Wharf at the 2400-acre Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort, the award-winning Bistro is an intimate oasis serving coastal cuisine with a New Orleans flair.

I spent the first morning of spring inside a snowglobe.

It felt that way as fat flakes swirled around skyscrapers outside the windows of the quiet Sky Lounge on the 39th floor of the New Yorker Hotel. The snowfall gave way to a crisp long weekend of vigorous, soul-satisfying re-visitations. Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, art from world masterworks to freshly erupted manifestos to amusing visual jabs at celebrities and common citizenry.

I do not consider myself a world traveler although I have been to the majority of our 50 states (I still have the southern Gulf states to visit), taken many fishing trips and tours to Canada, several excursions to Mexico, a few cruises and scuba diving excursions among the Caribbean Islands, about a dozen trips to Europe in both summer and winter and an adventure into the jungles of northern South America on a Jeep tour. But high on my list of impressive experiences have been my two trips to Jackson Hole and to the Teton and Yellowstone National Parks in winter.

This year we finally decided to take that trip to Costa Rica that we had thought about for many years. We were constantly hearing what a great destination the 'rich coast' was, and some friends had recently traveled there and raved about the tour company they used. Costa Rica has become a very popular destination in the past ten years; and after our trip with Caravan Tours, we understand why.

"We moved here because of the views," says Cindy Hoffman, as we watch the sunrise over the Sandia Mountains. They loom beyond her Albuquerque lawn in sharp contrast to the molehills that surrounded her previous homestead in suburban Maryland.

For more than a quarter of a century, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation has hosted Military Through the Ages at Jamestown Settlement in James City County. This popular annual event chronicles centuries of military history from Medieval to Modern times.

Amidst the highest concentration of natural scenic wonders in the United States sits 4,000 acre Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort. Zion National Park is just next door; Bryce, 75 minutes away; Grand Canyon 120 minutes; Lake Powell, 105 minutes; Cedar Breaks National Monument, 55 minutes; Grand Staircase National Monument, 30 minutes; Pipe Spring National Monument, 45 minutes.

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Food and Wine festivals can cover a gamut of venues and participants, at one in a Midwestern state the city police were a heavy presence almost guarding vendors from roving gangs. Others I've attended gave health department officials heart failure and a lot of ticket holder's stomach issues.

Now that Merriam-Webster, the dictionary people over in Springfield, Massachussetts says it's OK, and have updated their new dictionary versions to include "ginormous" along with some 99 other new words, we can now say that our experience visiting Chattanooga and local environs was just that: "Ginormous." This an adjective out of gigantic and enormous. Why? Well read on and we'll tell you why.

We sailed out of Venice the previous week and stopped off in Croatia, Greece, Italy and Spain while aboard Holland America's Zuiderdam. Our last Mediterranean stop was Funchal---on the island of Madeira, just off the coast of Portugal, 'the pearl of the Atlantic'---that the Brits hail as a favorite for holidays. It didn't take long to find this out for ourselves.

Venice is sinking while the sea is rising, many say, so catch Venice while you can. There's no other city like it!

We booked a room at the splendid, yet curious, Hotel Monaco & Grand Canal and had one day there before we boarded Holland America's Zuiderdam, for a cruise out the Grand Canal and an overnight journey to Dubrovnik, Croatia. During our short visit, we had two goals: check out the food and photograph lots of gondolas, hopefully some gondola traffic jams.

"One if by land, two if by sea." These words are an important part of our American history. They refer to the lanterns placed in Boston's Old North Church steeple in 1775. The number of lanterns glowing in the steeple indicated whether the British were traveling by land or by sea. If you live in the Middle Atlantic States you do not need to travel all the way to Boston to have land and sea adventures and a great taste of history. I recently spent time in another historic city where the terms by land or by sea came to mind. Visitors have the option of entering Annapolis, Maryland by land or by sea. Although there were no lanterns signaling our method of travel, we entered Annapolis by sea.

Thomas Jonathan Jackson stayed at the historic Buckhorn Inn less than a decade before he became Confederate hero General Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson and long before the former stagecoach stop became known as the Buckhorn Inn.

The Empire Builder #28 was scheduled to leave Portland, Oregon December 19, 2008 at 4:45 PM. Friends had offered to drive me to Union Station, saving me the $25.00 cab fare. During the final hour of packing and readying the apartment, they called to see if I had checked to see if the train was running on time. A newbie to train riding and Portland, I hadn't even thought of that.

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The variety of winter weather patterns here in Pennsylvania remind me of the weather events we experienced during our ski trip to Big Sky, Montana. Cold days and evening snowstorms in the mountains, an hour northwest of Yellowstone National Park, finally changed to clear skies and more moderate temperatures toward the end of our vacation.

Stay at 'Bill' Marriott's favorite hotel and catch great games at cheap prices. Get close and personal with the players in the Phoenix, Arizona's Cactus League spring training exhibition held annually during the month of March (February 25 through April 2, 2009). Baseball fans might choose from 7 different games on a day, all within a 35 mile driving radius. Twelve teams come to the Phoenix area: Chicago Cubs; Chicago White Sox; Kansas City Royals; Milwaukee Brewers; Cleveland Indians; Los Angeles Dodgers; Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim; Oakland Athletics; San Francisco Giants; San Diego Padres; Texas Rangers; Seattle Mariners. And in 2010, the Cincinnati Reds move here from Florida's Grapefruit League.

September 17, 2008, Constitution Day, marked a "Restoration Celebration" for Montpelier, the lifelong home of James Madison, Father of the Constitution, architect of the Bill of Rights, and fourth president of the United States. At Montpelier Madison exhaustively read, researched and analyzed past democracies, devising in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains an innovative plan to unite thirteen distinct states into one union.