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<title>Home and Away Magazine Travel Blog.</title>
<description>Home and Away Magazine Travel Blog.</description>
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<title><![CDATA[Kansas City Weekend Getaway]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Staycations and traveling close to home are still the rage given the tight economy, however, that doesnt mean you have to sacrifice quality, learning something new or relaxation.For as many trips as I have made to Kansas City, it was fun to be able to visit a brand new place on a recent visitThe American Jazz and Negro Baseball Museum. Being a music fan, I spent the bulk of my time on the jazz ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Michigan Avenue, Here We Come]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Statistics show 24 percent of American women have taken a girlfriend-getaway vacation in the last three years. In fact, the girlfriend-getaway market represents 4 percent of all U.S. travel spendingalmost $200 million a year.Well, the girls in my family dont mind being part of such statistics, and of course, we must do our part in bringing this economy back on track. So, it is with this noble ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Surprise Party]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Birthdays are always a good reason to celebrate someone you love. And a 50th birthday is a great milestone in a friends life. Planning for a surprise birthday trip for my friend Bill began in February. It was decided that the trip would be at the end of April in Scottsdale, Ariz. There were about 10 of us who agreed to help coordinate the trip, and plans were set.Our group of 11 arrived on a ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[A Grand Tour of Iowa]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In August, readers of HomeAndAwayMagazine.com will enjoy reading Laurie Brekkes Eating on the Run column titled Iowa Blue Cheese, Steaks and Whiskey, a culinary journey through her home state. I, too, am a native of the Hawkeye State, and reading Brekkes column reminded me of a vacation I took with my parents through Iowa several years ago. I dont remember the year, just that it was ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Purse Purgatory]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Last fall I had the opportunity to travel with a group of friends to New York. I hadnt been there in more than 10 years so was looking forward to a return visit. I love the busy streets, the interesting people and the fact that I can shop, eat or drink into the wee hours of morning. I seem to always have an interesting experience when I visit, and this trip didnt disappoint.  I had a great time ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Par for the Course]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My cousin, a friend and I were on our way to hike in Colorados Rocky Mountain National Park when we stopped to play a round of golf at a cool course in Gothenburg, Neb. Called Wild Horse, the course hugs the topography and uses the regions grasslands in mimicking layouts found on the British Isles. This links-style approach to course design, unlike its American counterpart, doesnt employ much ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Stress-free Holiday]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I am the planner in my travel world. Any time there is a trip to be taken, I am the one making the reservations, booking the flight, mapping out the directions and generally taking care of getting things lined up. I feel better when I know that everything has been done and that I (and whoever else is going with me) will have a place to stay and a way to get there. Of course, when you are the one to ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Gone Hunting]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[It was a Tuesday night, and my boyfriend, Jim, and I had returned to Phoenix in the afternoon after touring northern Arizona for five days. We were ready to relax and soak up the sun as it was not that warm in the northern part of the state. We were staying with friends, and the entertainment for the evening was to go hunting. I was handed a rubber hammer and was at a complete loss as to how this ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Planning a Vacation Is Part of the Fun]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My wife and I are going on a vacation next week. We plan to see a section of California that we have not visited before.  We are probably not unlike many people who are taking vacations in the next few months. Ive read research that says people are looking for bargains and value when they travel. We will be flying Southwest Airlines for a few reasons: Its rates were very competitive, the times ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[New Mexico: Be Enchanted  ]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[New Mexicos new logo be enchanted shows a return to its long-held cultural identity. It will be a welcomed message by most AAA members, as many of us are lured toward history and culture rather than aliens (as used in past New Mexico advertising campaigns).My recent stay at the Buffalo Thunder Golf Resort & Spa just north of Santa Fe was truly enchanting. It reminded me of the Hyatt Regency ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Meltdown in Missouri]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Several years ago, my husband, daughter and I took a trip to St. Louis. It was in the middle of summer and blazing hot. We planned to visit attractions our daughter, Laura, who was 5 at the time, would enjoy. One day we scheduled two stopsSt. Louis Childrens Museum, which is also known as The Magic House, and the St. Louis Arch. We have never been early risers, and that day, we took our ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Bean Town Beauts]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Ever since I was a boy, Ive been fascinated by history. So much so, in fact, I can comfortably call myself a full-blown dork. Anyway, two of my American history highlights have always been the Battle of Bunker Hill and the USS Constitution.I was intrigued by Bunker Hill from the moment I learned about it in grade school. I think it was the fact that we stood toe-to-toe with the British ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Dream Getaway]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I havent gone on a personal vacation in about three years. For my job at Home & Away, I get to travel across the country (and a couple times, the world), so its not like I dont get out of the office. Ive taken days off around the holidays, to visit friends or just to rest, but I havent gone on a trip to somewhere Ive chosen to visit in too long. When I think about what I would want ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Shopping To-go]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[When Im at home, I shop like a man. I figure out what I need before leaving; then, at the mall or shop or grocery, I park as close as I can to the entrance of the destination, go in, purchase what Ive already decided to purchase and get out. I dont like crowds and I dont like dilly-dallyingat least, as I said, when Im at home.When Im traveling, my efficient shopping plan gets tossed out ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Travel Doesnt Wait]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Granted, these days some Americans are being evicted from their homes, are unemployed or are mired in credit-card debt; however, for those who are lucky enough to be employed and who have lived pretty conservatively on a cash-in-cash-out basis, pack your bags.It had been eight years since I was in Europe, and in 2009, I was able to go twice: in the spring to Spain and in the fall on a multicountry ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[For My Own Good]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Earlier this week, my family and I were hoofing it through Denver International Airport to catch our flight when my son casually asked me how people who work for the Transportation Security Administration get their jobs, what qualifications must they have. Moments earlier, we had made our way through the security process, unscathed by the hurry-scurry procedure but nevertheless sweaty and a bit unnerved. ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[More Than a Place to Rest Your Head]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Often when going to a destination like Universal Orlando Resort, the hotel is an afterthought. Upon arriving, its merely a place to store suitcases while pursuing more important taskslike getting in line for all those amazing rides.During my first visit to the Florida theme park this month, I had the pleasure of staying for three nights at the AAA Four Diamond-rated Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Broncos or Bust]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Last fall, with his eighth birthday approaching, my son, Zach, announced to me and my husband that all he wanted for his birthday was to fly five or six of his friends to a Denver Broncos game (apparently he thought we had recently won the lottery). Zach is a huge Broncos fan, though Im not sure why. My husband and I lived in Denver for two years but it was before Zachs timemaybe he just feels ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Yonder on the Chattahoochee]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Last summer, I took a couple days off work to travel to visit my friend Craig in Atlanta. I was eager to see this bamboo forest he had told me about within the Atlanta city limits, so we headed there almost straight away. The bamboo forest is on the banks of the Chattahoochee River in a wooded area. Craig, his boyfriend, David, and I hiked down the trail to the banks of the river. Feeling adventurous, ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Skiing for Dummies]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[For some reason I thought itd be fun to try skiing for the first time at the advanced age of 30. It looked fun, Im athletic and Id be going to Colorado with three cousins and three friends. Alas, looks were deceiving.I knew I was in trouble right away during an all-day ski school at Keystone because learning to snowplow (for the uninitiated: stopping by forcing the pointy ends of your skis ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Fun Times in Kansas City]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Its always nice when an evening with nothing planned turns out to be unexpectedly fun. So many times, we make huge elaborate plans and end up being disappointed when things dont live up to excessive expectations. When you have no expectations and you happen upon an evening that thoroughly entertains, its like a gift from the universe.Recently on a trip to Kansas City, Mo., my boyfriend and ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Winter Is Not My Friend]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Omaha, Neb., is breaking all kinds of records this winter of 2010. Weve had nearly 3 feet of snow so far. We havent seen most of the ground in more than two months. The schools ran out of snow days and the city out of snow-removal money ages ago. Ive driven to work in the dark on slick streets and minus-15-degree weather more than once. The potholes are beyond Mammoth Crater size. Well, OK, that ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Racing on the Autobahn]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Danica Patrick, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon do it all the time. They drive race cars and can go as fast as they like. You and I usually cant do that, but most of us would like to if given the chance. When I worked for the pharmaceutical company Bayer, my travels took me to Germany many times, where I had that opportunity.  Before you tackle the autobahn, you should learn some of the rules of ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[New York ... A City That Never Sleeps]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[It seems sacrilegious to go to New York just for an overnight, but often thats what happens with work trips and personal schedules. However, on a recent visit, I was determined to soak up as much of the city as possible in the time given to me.The flight in and out went without a hitch, and in this day and age, thats miraculous. My one evening was spent having a good meal and seeing Billy ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Where Is the Beach?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Several years ago, some friends and I were led to believe that Naples, Italy, was a quaint Italian city with cafes that overlook beaches, cobblestoned streets and romantic atmosphere. In some ways thats true. The streets are narrow and crisscrossed with residents washing hung out to dry. Naples is home to some significant pieces of Renaissance art and lies in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, the volcano ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Dancing With Dolphins]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[While on a short cruise in the Bahamas a few years ago, my 15-year-old daughter and I had the chance to stop off in Nassau for some shopping and to connect with the company, Dolphin Encounters, which provides opportunities to interact with dolphins. The experience included a short boat ride to the stunning Blue Lagoon Island, an orientation on ocean ecology and conservation, and a lesson on dolphins, ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Experience Columbus: A Guided Tour ]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Site selection for Home & Aways annual sales and editorial meeting began in October 2009. Our boss contacted several convention and visitors bureaus in order to hear from a variety of venues and destinations. The CVB who best replied to our requests was Experience Columbus. The CVB was able to put together a tour of seven hotels and two venues for evening activities. Day one started with ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[One for the Road]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[While making our plans for a Christmas trip to visit my wifes family in Minnesota, we wondered what to do with our three cats. Normally, my sister watches them without complaint, but we were feeling guilty because watching the cats requires multiple visits to our house.Thats because Fiona, our runty shelter cat, has to be fed in intervals. Among the instructions we received when adopting her ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[No More Pain in the Neck]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[They say a change of scenery can make a huge difference in a persons state of mind. Getting away from the same old routine, the same old sights and sounds can do wonders to recharge a persons batteries. However, I discovered that a short trip can cure physical ailments as well. Last November I took a four-day business trip to Albuquerque, N.M., which admittedly was a lot more pleasure than business. ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Change of Mind]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In the November/December issue, we ran an article about dream vacations. Titled Nine for '09, the story featured nine staff members choice of location theyd love to see but never have. Mine was a simple New England trip in the fall. However, as I worked on the January/February issue, I decided to change my destination. Designing ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Island Hopping in Greece]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[On a cruise through the Mediterranean, my husband and I stopped at four islands in Greece. Although it's difficult to pick a favorite, I think mine was Santorini. The black-sand beaches against the whitewashed buildings that seemed to anchor the steep cliffs plunging into the crystal deep-blue sea were breathtaking. Shopping along a cobbled path perched high above the water in the small northern ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Feliz Navidad]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Traveling during the holidays is rarely funoverbooked flights and weather delays seem to be more common than St. Nick appearances at the mall. But when the trip lets you step outside your normal holiday routines and stresses, it can be the ideal Christmas gift to yourself.I had the opportunity some years back to visit San Antonio during the citys annual holiday traditions known as Fiesta de ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Harry Potter: The Exhibition]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[On a fall visit to Boston, my friend Liz and I were given tickets to the Museum of Sciences opening of Harry Potter: The Exhibition, a traveling exhibition that will be in Boston until Feb. 21 before moving on to Toronto. It features costumes and props from the films. We found a couple college students to tag along with us, one of whom I coached in lacrosse when she was in high school. The ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Da Bears]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My boyfriend, Jim, and I headed to the Chicago area for Halloween weekend. There were two items on our agenda. Jims brother coaches high school football at St. Francis, and his team had made the playoffs. I also wanted to stop in and see my sister and her family. Little did I know Jim was working on a third itemtickets to the Bears game on Sunday.Friday evening, we went to dinner with my sister ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Parlez-vous Francais]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In the Omaha Public School system, kids arent introduced to foreign languages until middle school. In seventh grade, I was thrown into the standard tri-language coursecovering French, German and Spanishalong with all the other kids, and given the opportunity to test foreign words and pick my favorite.I settled on German, and from eighth grade through my senior year conjugated verbs and secretly ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CaliforniaFind us There]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[California is always a favorite vacation spot for my husband and me. When he mentioned he was racing in the Baja 1000 and would be flying into and out of San Diego, trip plans started to commence. We decided to stay at the new bayfront Hilton. It was gorgeous and within walking distance of the Gaslamp Quarter. We didnt have a set agenda each day but did want to visit specific areas of San Diego. ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Washed Away]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I should have known it wasnt a good sign. My husband, Ken, and I had scheduled a much-needed weeks getaway to Cancun, Mexico, in mid-December, before the Christmas-vacationing families hit town. We booked an all-inclusive that had gotten good reviews; packed sneakers, bathing suits and books; and intended to spend most of the time there relaxing, drinking tequila and being alone. Wed scheduled ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The Price Is Right]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Have you ever wanted to see how a TV show is taped? Three of my Arizona relatives and I decided we wanted to see how it is done. We chose the longtime game show The Price is Right. Once we decided on a date, it was a simple matter to write in for tickets to the show. Soon they were in our hands.The four of us left Phoenix the day before the taping, flew into Burbank, Calif., and picked ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[New to the Family]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My 10-year-old son, Griffin, sat panicked in one of his grandparents family-room chairs.I cant do it, he said, wide-eyed and frantic.Youd think hed been asked to eat some green beans, the vilest food hes ever tasted. Or been asked to kiss a girl, the vilest creature hes ever encountered. Nope, it was worse. His mom was trying to place into his arms his 2-month-old cousin, Grace. ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[A Run Through the Airport]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I recently had the opportunity to travel to one of my favorite places on earthNapa Valley and Sonoma, Calif. While that area is one of my absolute favorite places to spend time, the process of getting there from Omaha, Neb., is definitely on the list of my least favorite activities. This trip proved to be no exception.In order to maximize the time available to us in wine country, we chose a ridiculously ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Say What?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Im going to have to blame my mother for this. After all, its her fault Im short. And thats where it all really began.I was on assignment for the magazine in Europe, and my husband, Ken, was with me. We were taking a Uniworld Rhine River cruise and having a grand time. By the time we got to Speyer, Germany, on our fourth day, I was looking for a slower pace, something a little different, something ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Rocky Mountain High]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Years ago, I was scheduled for a meeting in Kalispell, Mont. I decided to take my two boys along on the trip so they could enjoy Montana. This was my first visit to the state, and I could see on the map that Glacier National Park was close. What I didnt realize was how beautiful and rugged it would be. As always, I didnt allow enough time to see everything we wanted. It is a trip that should be ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Venice, A Must See ]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Venice is definitely a place you need to see in person. I remember feeling this way about the Swiss Alps and the Grand Canyon the first time I saw them. It seems as if no pictures do it justice.  When my husband and I landed in Venice, the smells in the airport made me nauseous; the restroom was dirty; and the dogs sniffing all the suitcases didnt help. I thought, here we go again, as my visit ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Now Is the Time to Travel]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[If you have the time and some money to do so, now is absolutely the best time I have ever seen to take a vacation. If you have the desire to see somewhere new or experience something youve never done before, now is the time to do it.Cruises are very affordable and offer a great deal because food and room costs are included. Airfares are relatively cheap if you take the time to shop around and ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[A Cold Ride]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[It was Saturday morning. Jim and I were headed off to an annual poker ride that benefits injured iron workers of MC-21 Inc., Metallic Composites for the 21st Century. The ride went from restaurant to restaurant in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, with poker pit stops at each place. Unfortunately, the forecast was partly cloudy with a high of 59 degreesnot very warm to be riding on the back of a ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[New Look at Michigans Southern Tip]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[This summer, my family got a taste of the beach without leaving the Midwest. On a vacation to see family in northern Indiana, we took a quick day trip to Michigan. The first exit after we crossed the state line offered a quaint city, a world-famous hamburger and a long stretch of beach.The first city we encountered was the charming New Buffalo. We drove by brightly painted buildings leading to ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Ghost Hunters]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[During our summer trip to San Diego, my family and I visited the Whaley House Museum, which is located in Old Town San Diego, a state historic park filled with restaurants, museums and shops. Construction on the Whaley House began in 1856, and through the years, it played an important role in early San Diego history. But I have to admit, part of the reason we wanted to visit was because of the rumors ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[From Vacation to Staycation]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My family and I recently took a vacation. We originally had plans to go camping for five days and rent a cabin at Ponca State Park in Nebraska or Lake Okoboji in Iowa. The thought of taking our two young children (a 9-month-old and a 3-year-old) hours away from home was a little daunting, so we thought better. Instead of traveling all that way and spending a lot of money on a vacation that may have ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Multicultural Toronto]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Some years back, an assignment for the magazine took me to Toronto, Canadamy first foray north of the border. The feature piece was to be about Torontos most visited attractions.  In my downtime, I explored the city on foot, wandering along its waterfront, taking in the vast, urban shopping mecca of Eaton Centre and meandering the citys eclectic neighborhoodsmy favorite, downtowns Kensington ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Have Friends, Will Travel]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Through the years, friends of mine have lived all over the country, allowing me to be an opportunistic traveler. For them, its a less glamorous way to attract acquaintances in the manner lottery winners do. For me, its a way to find a free tour guide and many times, free lodging. One such opportunity was when a long-time buddy was stationed in Pensacola, Fla., with the Navy. This buddy was a ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[About Honest Abe]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Last week, I attended a meeting of travel and tourism researchers in Louisville, Ky. One of the speakers from Kentucky Tourism said the organization had spent quite a bit on promoting that Abe Lincoln was born in Kentucky not Illinois as most people think. I checked online and found that Abraham Lincoln was indeed born in Hodgenville, Ky., on Feb. 12, 1809. His parents were Thomas Lincoln, a carpenter, ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Spooky Sleepover]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I love a scary story. Not a scary moviea scary story. Its got to have ghosts, and its got to be realor at least based in reality. Give me a creepy asylum, terrifying cemetery or ghost-hunters guide to a spooky historical home. Ill take them all, maybe because I have a morbid curiosity about the afterlife or maybe just because I like a good yarn.And I have to say, theres no eerier ghost ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Exploring Wyoming]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A few years ago, I took over the Wyoming sales territory for Home & Away. I had already visited a majority of the state but never had the opportunity to visit western Wyoming, including Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. This past year, I decided it was time to make a sales trip to that part of the state; I made sure to plan the trip for July so my husband, 11-year-old daughter and ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Ozark Surprises]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I am very proud of my travels from coast to coast. Some of my adventures include months in Salem, Ore., powering through torrential downpours every day for three weeks, and a bitter cold winter in Brainerd, Minn., watching the locals ice fish and enjoying the balmy, 15-degree highs. California was just as I imagined: beautiful, sunny days and great Mexican food. Ive gone gambling in St. George, Utah, ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Branson, Rich in Entertainment]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I travel to Branson once or twice a year for work and sometimes again for pleasure. Whenever Im in town, I make a point to take in as many shows as possible. Some have labeled me an entertainment junky.But Branson entertainment is far from junk. My musician friends all agree some of the most talented players are in Branson. My husband says its country. After 20 years, he has softened that ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[A Marry-cation]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[When my boyfriend and I got engaged, we knew we wanted to hold a destination wedding. We got engaged in December 2007 and married in May 2008.Our wedding planning started when we agreed upon a destination. California was our location of choice. The great weather and direct flights from Omaha, Neb., on ExpressJet made our decision easy. The next thing to select was our location. We previewed different ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Gone Fishing]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Patience is a virtue I lack. This is one thing that makes me a poor fisher. Last May, I went to Glacier National Park in Montana with my dad for a story for the Web site. It had been a dream of my fathers to visit Glacier: Its one of the largest parks in the National Park System, yet one of the least visited. Getting to the park isnt cheap. Its in the far northwest corner of Montana on the ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Fun at Brant Lake ]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[For years, my and my husbands dream was to purchase a lake home. We drove around to various lakes in South Dakota and looked online for a couple of years for a place that would suit our retirement needs. Our son said, Youll never buy anything. I dont know why you keep looking. Maybe that was what prompted us to make our dreams become reality. After a few negotiations, a South Dakota home ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[That First Step is a Lulu]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My husband, Ken, is supportive, loving and infinitely patientand he will go anywhere I suggest without hesitation. He also has two phobiasan inability to sit at a restaurant table without his back to the wall (I call it his Wild Bill Hickok syndrome) and a real fear of heights.Consequently, when he accompanied me on a magazine assignment to Coeur dAlene, Idaho, I understandably expected him ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[On Tour]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I grew up in the 80s, with hair bands and attending many concerts throughout the years. Recently, my friend Mary and I went to see Rod Stewart in Kansas City, Mo., to reminisce. The weather was perfect, so we hung out in the new Power and Light District and had a drink or two before the concert. According to the information we had, there wasnt suppose to be an opening act. We are not fond of ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Joys of Traveling]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[While Ive had many bad experiences that develop into stories I tell my co-workers, I still enjoy traveling. I like visiting new places, meeting new people, seeing new things and experiencing different cultures in the places I visit.Last week I visited Annapolis, Md., for the first time. I had a direct flight from Omaha, Neb., to Reagan National Airport, which I thought was in Washington. Reagan ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Beating the Weather Gods]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I have horrible luck with weather while traveling. I grew up in Minnesota, and most of my family is still there. Ever since I first moved from the state to go to college (many, many years ago), whenever I try to plan a trip back that involves outdoor activities, it undoubtedly rains or becomes unseasonably cold. I have spent many July days huddled in a thick jacket trying to enjoy some outdoor activity. ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Summer Road Trip]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I struggled again this year on the decision to drive from Omaha, Neb., to North Carolina or to fly.With gas prices down this year compared to earlier years, it seemed financially doable to drive, plus it would be a more relaxing vacation, on which I could have more control of my schedule.My first stop was AAA fuel cost calculator: ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Generational Getaway]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My granddaughter Emma finally got her wish to travel with me to Arizona for a travel show, at which magazine reps and vendors sponsor booths in order to talk to travel associates who gather throughout the state for their annual conference.Emma, a sophisticated 10-year-old, has always been interested in the travel business and loves to dine out and try new food. I suspected this would be a fun ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Southern Exposure]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[While working in Corinth, Miss., for the publications produced in our offices, I was able to sightsee during the day because the printing was being done in the evenings.This area of the country is known for its many Civil War battles, so I chose to venture to Shiloh, site of a major battle. This turned into one of those days on which I wished I had paid closer attention in history class. I think ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[A Fresh Stop in K.C.]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The air is filled with the scent of fresh fruit, herbs and flowers. The aisles, crowded with people choosing the best just-picked vegetables and newly baked breads from local Missouri and Kansas vendors. But this farmers market (held every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday) is just one of the many things to enjoy at the Historic City Market in Kansas City, Mo.Located in the River Market District ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[And They Called It Puppy Love]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Everyone has one. Its those childhood icons we elevate to hero status or have designs on being like some day. For most of us, its likely an athlete or celebrity. When I was growing up, I loved Donny Osmond. I loved his variety show with his sister, Marie. I played his records over and over again and learned every word to Puppy Love. He was dreamy, and someday I was going to meet him. Fast ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Looks Like We Made It]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The last time I wrote in this space, I recounted The Long Road to Nowhere. My son, John, and I were scheduled to spend a December weekend in Virginias Colonial Williamsburg, but one delay, cancellation and missed flight after another kept us from reaching our destination. We ended up spending two-and-one-half days at five ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[On the Road]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[As Ive blogged about previously, I was given the incredible opportunity to go to Africa for a photo safari for a magazine story (coming out in November). I asked my father if he would go with me. We trekked to an isolated part of Botswana for a majority of the trip, where we got glimpses of, and had some close encounters with, ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[New Places and Seeing New Things]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Yes, I'll admit it. I'm a travel junkie. Most of my travel the last few years has been because of my job. But I don't go to the same places every week or month, and I do get to see something new from time to time. We are only half way through 2009, and I've already added several places and new things to my list this year. For example a couple of weeks ago, I flew into Cleveland for a conference. ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Favorite Street]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I dont even know the official name of my favorite street in the world. I know it starts out as River Road in far north Omaha, Neb., but it keeps going, losing its status as a city street while it cuts north through farmland and Missouri River bottomland.Its grown up over the years, going from gravel to pavement and seeing driveways reaching for it from secluded homes on adjacent bluffs. But ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Pachyderms on Parade]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I recently got the chance to travel across the globe to Africa for a photographic safari. My trip-of-a-lifetime went to Victoria Falls in Zambia and on to the Okavango Delta in Botswana. Of all the highlights, seeing African elephants was my favorite. The most exciting of my groups many elephant sightings happened the second day of our land safari on the Linyanti River. Our guide had pulled up ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Theres Nothing Like Being There]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I became fascinated with football generally and Nebraska Cornhusker football specifically by the time I was in third grade. Throughout the succeeding decades, I did everything I could to nurture that fascination. By the time I was an adult, my friends and I had made a tradition of attending a Husker away game every fall.In 1997, that game was to be the Nov. 8 tilt with the Missouri Tigers. It ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[No Place Like Home]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I think, as a parent, we put a great deal of pressure on ourselves to take our children on fabulous vacations. After taking my kids on a few of what I would consider fabulous vacations, I have learned that sometimes it is the simplest things they take pleasure in, and usually its something you could have done back home in your own state, city or even your own backyard.One of the perks of my job ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Gone Fishing]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In 2003, while vacationing with my family in Cabo San Lucas, we decided to go deep sea fishing. Once on the boat, my mother and I immediately turned green and spent most of the trip in the lower galley. I have been on boats and bodies of water of all sizes and never had been sea sick before.Recently while in Key West, Fla., I decided to give deep sea fishing another try. My brother had been in ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Take Me Out To the Ballgame]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[For many years I had a relative who lived in a city northwest of Chicago. Every year we made a trip into Chicago to see the Cubs play. It always was something I looked forward to in the summer. We didnt care where our tickets placed us as long as we were there.   Usually we planned that I would get into town the day before the game. However, one year circumstances prevented me from coming in ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Houston: Religion, Rangers, Rockets and Playboy]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My wife and I took a trip to the Houston area. It was our first time visiting the hot and humid Gulf Coast.We visited friends and discovered first-hand how "everything's bigger in Texas" when we attended church with them. This church is larger than most small colleges; its called The Campus. The chapel seats 4,500 people, and there are two off-site locations with video feeds of all the ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Savannah Nuptials]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[When I read Lindsay Bakers resent article, Surrender Yourself to Savannah, I had to smile. Two years ago, I found myself in Savannah, Ga., for my sisters wedding. While my reasons for visiting were different, I received the same friendly vibe from the locals and left with the same peaceful serenity. One of my favorite things ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Last One Out, Turn Off the Lights]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Id never been to Ohio before, and it was a good tripeven though the weather had been less than cooperative. I went to see Miami Countys barn quilts and had arrived in rain, tromped through ditches to take photos in the rain and had my biplane ride at Troys WACO field rained out. So, somehow it seemed appropriate that rain would delay me from getting home, too.Miami County is just north of ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[What Annoys You Most About Flying?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Our magazine recently did a survey of people who had come to HomeAndAwayMagazine.com and gave them a list of potential responses to that question. Here are the responses about peoples pet peeves:Someone talking to you when you want to take a nap or be left alone  6 percent. This can be especially annoying if you got up really early and are on a long flight. Ive seen people make ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Get Your Shots]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I remember my first night in Thailand. One of the first people I met asked me over dinner if I had gotten all my shots, specifically a shot for bird flu. Panic struck, I had not obtained any extra immunizations prior to my jaunt in Thailand. And what was this bird flu he was speaking of? Not to worry, I suffered from nothing greater than a cold. (And there was no vaccine available to protect against ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Wine Sharing]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[As Ive mentioned in previous blogs, the Napa and Sonoma areas of California have long been a favorite travel destination for my family. One of the greatest parts about visiting the wineries in this beautiful area is the people you meet along the way. Through the years, we have collected many great stories from our adventures ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The Grand Old Days of Air Travel ]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I worked in and flew out of Kansas City when Eastern Airlines had a hub there. During one of its promotional programs, I was notified that I had completed 75 flight segments and would be eligible for an award. The award appeared to be a complete package to Hawaii for two, including air, hotel and a car for a week.My first thought was that there had to be a catch. There was. The awards were actually ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Snake in the Grass]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I think every kid who has ever visited South Dakotas Black Hills region has been thereif not for the alligator show than to get a glimpse of hundreds of creepy crawlies that inhabit the place. Founded more than 70 years ago by local boy Earl Brockelsby, South Dakotas Reptile Gardens attracts families today. So it was last summer that this self-professed snake-hater found herself wandering through ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[A Friend in Need]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The beauty of trains is, in part, in the seating.On a plane, passengers are seated facing the same directionits less unnerving than the seating on a train, which is at various points in each car face-to-face. You have no secrets on trains; someone will see you eating that Au Bon Pain pastry or reading your favorite Henry James, and you have to let them make their judgments. I did, at least, ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Hat Trick: Hockey, Shopping and Legos]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[During Valentines Day weekend my boyfriend, Ben, son, Brodi, and I went to St. Paul, Minn., for a National Hockey League game. Ben is a HUGE Ottawa Senators fan, and they were in town to play the Minnesota Wild. Ben was very excited for the game, as were Brodi and I, but we were more excited to visit the Mall of America. I had been there once before, but that was more than 10 years ago. Brodi was ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Road Warrior]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The term road warrior takes on new meaning after almost every business trip.  This particular trip began in Omaha on a Monday at noon and ended two-and-a-half days, nine flights and seven states later. I was in the office early to get some work done before leaving on a trip that would have me home by 6:30 Wednesday evening. Driving to the airport in Omaha, Neb., actually takes you through a ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The Real Gems of Seville]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My husband and I made a trip to Spain this month to use a timeshare exchange in Malaga. We decided to spend two days in Seville where he presented at the European Dental Conference.   While Malaga's beautiful and romantic LaCosta Club overlooked the Mediterranean, we discovered a nice surprise at the Hotel Corregidor in Seville.The conference hotel, a five-star, modern property, offered a reduced ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The Long Road to Nowhere]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I had received an assignment from my editor to cover the holiday events at Colonial Williamsburg, Virginias living history museum dedicated to re-creating life in America during, obviously, the Colonial period. The folks in Colonial Williamsburgs media relations department graciously invited my 10-year-old son, John, to come as well.Our flight schedule was simple enough: Depart Omaha, Neb., ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Ride to Key West]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[This year my escape from the winter was to Florida. Joining me were Mary, Brian and Don. We flew into West Palm Beach, but Mary and Brian decided to stay in West Palm Beach to hang out at the pool and relax, while Don and I headed to the Florida Keys with a final destination of Key West.The morning after our arrival in West Palm Beach, Don and I went to the Harley-Davidson of Palm Beach to pick ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Alaska A La Carte]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[For many people, seeing Alaska is at the top of their travel dream list. Its ruggedness and remoteness are what intrigue so manyincluding me. Ive had the opportunity to visit our nations 49th state a few times while on assignment for Home & Away. Each time Ive come back with incredible images etched in my memorymammoth grizzlies foraging in a meadow, humpback whales breaching in the ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Rocky Mountain Bovine]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In Colorado for my then-wifes family reunion, we decided to add to our stay by arriving a few days early to enjoy the mountain scenery. We had traveled with my wifes sister and her husbandtwo people we loved spending time with.My brother-in-law had never been to the top of Pikes Peak, so we gladly rode to the summit aboard the cog railroad (something my wife and I had done on our honeymoon ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Colorados Many Sizes]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[As a former resident of Colorado, let me offer this advice to Rocky Mountain travelers: Dont let the large overshadow the small. Its easy to get stuck looking up. The 14,000-foot giants are glorious no matter what season you encounter them, but if you dont remember to look down, you might miss the best the state has to offer.One weekend in early September exemplifies this perfectly. From our ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Gals Getaway to Sunny Arizona]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I recently went on a fabulous trip to Phoenix and Scottsdale, Ariz., with six of my girlfriends. As I have written before on my blogs, there is nothing better than gal getaways, and this one was one of the best. Warm weather, great food, shopping, a spa day and girlfriends (one of whom was turning 40), what ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[My Lack of Spanish Nearly Cost Me a Luxury Suite]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My last trip to Venezuela was long before the days of Hugo Chavez. I was visiting two manufacturing plants for business, one in Caracas and another on the island of Curaao, right off the Venezuelan coast.The airport at Caracas is right on the ocean, and you have to climb 2,500 to 3,000 feet into the mountains to get to the city. With a population of nearly 4.3 million and a sprawling greater ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Flight Delay Play-by-play]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Wednesday, Feb. 4, 5:45 p.m. - I'm sitting in the Orlando airport at gate 76. My plane was scheduled to leave about an hour ago. It was a full flight. We were on the plane and ready for an on-time departure. But as the flight attendants were arming the doors for departure, something went wrong with one of the rear doors. If you have ever seen a life raft open when someone pulls a cord, you ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Not So Savvy Traveler]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[When I first started to travel, I thought I was savvy. I started my traveling career while living in the Kansas City, Mo., area. At that time I traveled mostly on Eastern and Continental Airlines. At the time, both were separate airlines. I had an account with each airline and racked up some frequent flier miles. I was pleasantly surprised when the two merged and all my miles went into a single account. ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Return to Puerto Vallarta]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Three years ago my sister invited me to her timeshare in Mexico, and weve been going back every year. This year I invited my siblings to join me at the Mayan Regency in Nuevo Vallarta, a $20 cab ride away from downtown Puerto Vallarta and about 10 minutes from the airport. This was my third trip to the area, and I continue to be pleasantly surprised.The water is blue, the sun warm, the sand fine ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[On the Half Shell]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My first experience with raw oysters happened almost 10 years ago. The Leonattis had a family reunion in Corpus Christi, Texas. We went birding and to the beach. One night we ate at a Cajun restaurant that was just about on the bayou. This was the sort of establishment that had paper for a table cloth so the servers could toss the food out onto it, encouraging a free for all. The victuals were so ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Vegetarian Roundup ]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Six years ago, I ate my last piece of meat. I dont remember what it was--most likely a Wendys cheeseburger or something equally as unimpressive, but really, it doesnt matter to me. I have never regretted my decision to go vegetarian (though yeah, a Nebraska girl through-and-through, sometimes I miss a good steak).Traveling as a vegetarian is not as tough as I thought it would be, thanks in ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Laid-back at Ten Mile]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[This past July, I took my fourth trip to Ten Mile Lake in Hackensack, Minn. Along for the ride were my son, Brodi; my boyfriend, Ben; and our dog, Maible.I look forward to this trip every time I go. Ben's mother and father have a cabin there, and it is always nice to get away and go see them. It's about an eight-hour drive, but because we had Maible this year, we had to make a few more stops.The ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[American Made]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[On a recent ski trip to Steamboat Springs, Colo., my husband and I faced a decision with national economic and global environmental implications: Should we drive our Ford Ranger pickup with four-wheel-drive capability or choose the Toyota Camry with better fuel efficiency? After consulting the weather forecasts multiple times, we voted for the American-made pickup.Our trip began with clear weather ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Branson Breakaway]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The weekend before Thanksgiving, my husband and I made a hasty decision to make a seven-hour trip to Branson, Mo., to see the Andy Williams Christmas Show and some shows in Silver Dollar City. We only had the weekend, so it was a quick trip.Because we ordered our tickets online, we entered the theater Saturday morning to get tickets ahead of showtime and browse the gift shop. Of course, ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Meet Me in Mesa Verde]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My husband and I decided we would leave Disney World to the parents and take our grandchildren on trips to discover the historical sites and natural wonders of this country.Andrew, one of our 14 grandchildren younger than 10, joined us on a trek across Colorado to see the cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park. He was the most excited about spending evenings by a campfire just like American ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[To Grandmothers House We Go]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[When I was a child, traveling meant heading for the North Dakota farm where my mother grew up. I thought it was the most glorious place in the world. Summertime just felt different there. The wide-open spaces. The animals. The cousins.And, of course, Grandma.She was a tiny thing, not even 5 feet tall. If she weighed 100 pounds, Id have to see the proof to believe it. But, man, she was a fireball. ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Flight Patterns]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I learned a valuable lesson whilst backpacking around Europe when I was 20: travelinternational travel in particularrequires flexibility. Once you embrace this lesson, everything becomes simpler.Recently, my group20 volunteer high school students and leadersarrived early at the airport in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, ready for our departing flight back home. Imagine our surprise when the ticket ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Visiting London in December]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In February 2003, British Airways promoted a $295 airfare for flights from Phoenix to London. A relative and I got reservations for a trip in December, made our hotel arrangements (with complimentary full breakfast) through AAA Nebraskas travel agency, exchanged a few British pounds and were off.We left Phoenix on Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m. The 10-hour flight did seem 10 hours long because I was never ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Traveling in Tough Economic Times]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I dont think my family is any different than most families. We are all reading the same things in the newspapers and hearing things on the radio and TV about people losing jobs, higher unemployment rates, declining home values, and until recently, higher energy and fuel costs. Most of us tend to deal with the difficulties the same waywe work on reducing our spending and paying off any debt we have. ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[JFK Remembered]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Even though his life was cut short more than 40 years ago by an assassins bullet, our nations 35th president, John F. Kennedy, remains one of historys most fascinating people. Last February, my husband and three children accompanied me on an assignment to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. While there, we spent part of a day exploring the Sixth Floor Museum, a remarkable museum housed in the former ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Ups and Downs in Europe]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[It has been eight years since I was in Europe, and as I prepare for a spring trip to Spain, I was reflecting on my dozen other trips to the continent during the past 30 years. I feel fortunate to have made the first trip in my 20s, and I always have encouraged young people to get there in any way possible. No matter how transcendent a Eurpoean adventure may be, returning home is a wonderful thing. ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[This We'll Defend]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Wednesday, Dec. 3, my sister and I left Omaha, Neb., at 5 a.m. to pick up my boyfriend, Matt, from Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. He is in the Nebraska Army National Guard and had been gone for five months at basic training and then Advanced Individual Training for the military police. It had been a long road for both of us, and we were ready for it to come to an end.As my sister and I left Omaha, it ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Thats Like Finding a Needle in a Haystack]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[This year I traveled for the first time to a place that required me to use a passport. My bright and shiny new passport ... on its maiden voyage. I spent four fantastic days with friends in Torontothe New York City of Canadaa metropolis with more than 5 million residents. On the morning of my departure home, while I was getting my bags packed and ready, a flash of pure anxiety rushed over me ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Shaking in My (Ski) Boots]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I was 25 years old and had never skied. My husband, Eric, and I went with our friends Debbie and Bryce to Winter Park, Colo., where Debbies aunt and uncle had a cabin. We drove across Nebraska one Friday evening in March for a long weekend of shushing down the slopes.I definitely needed lessons at Winter Parks ski school, and my husband was nice enough to take them with me even though he had ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Traveling in Town]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Neb., welcomes a rare exhibition of works by Diego Rivera, marking the first time this exhibit has left Mexico. The collection of 36 works of art, known affectionately as The Deigos, is on loan from the Museum of Art of the State of Veracruz and showing in Omaha from Oct. 25Jan. 18, 2009. This particular collection of paintings is considered to be a national treasure ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Into the Wild, Brown Yonder]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I dont remember Indiana Jones ever encountering this specific problem. But somehow, it seemed a fitting end to one of the best rides of my life.I was on a trip to southeastern Utah to research ways to stay cool in an area not really known for a temperate climate in August. One of those ways was to go to a lodge 10,000 feet up a mountain. Problem was, my group of four (one tourism director, Kathy, ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Over Field and Dale]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Your friends and family probably have sent you those get-to-know-your-friend quizzes in a forwarded e-mail. Usually on the quiz you list three places you have been or three places you would like to go. My friends' and family's answers are usually the same: the beach, New York City, Europe, Mexico, etc. I have yet to see "Lake Itasca, Minn." as an answer. The lake is a scenic little spot in northwest ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Running the Canyon Rim]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I have friends that have wanted me to visit them in Arizona for years. After the subject came up in one of our phone conversations again, I asked how far they lived from the Grand Canyon. Since they were less than three hours away, we decided that if hiking to the bottom was our goal, the trip was on.After doing some research I found out that hiking to the bottom of the canyon and out in the same ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Crossing Missouri]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge is a 3,000 foot suspension bridge across the Missouri River between Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Omaha, Neb. The project started in October 2006 and opened to the public Sept. 28, 2008. My good friend Debi lives only a couple blocks away from the bridge on the Iowa side. We walked over to the site several times during the building of the bridge, watching its progress, ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[A Stray Thought]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[After school ended last spring, my family headed out on a road trip with my sisters family. The trip to Washington had been planned for more than a year, and the details had been taken care of for months. We had a great time visiting Abraham Lincoln sites, Gettysburg, Hersheypark in Pennsylvania and Marylands Fort McHenry on the way. Washington was memorable, as well.If that were all there were ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Christmas in Denmark]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In December 2006, I had a wonderful opportunity to spend 10 days in Denmark with my family right before the holidays. My youngest stepbrother, Matt, had decided to complete his final quarter of dental school abroad and had chosen to study in Denmark. He went over to begin school in late summer and already had a few months under his belt when my mom, stepfather and I headed over to meet him and see ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Right Place, Right Time]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[If you are from the Midwest, you will probably agree with me that last years winter seemed to drag on forever. In the midst of all the snow and cold, I was dreaming of how awesome a weekend getaway to somewhere warm would be. However, I had no plans of any such vacation in the books.I had just started to date Jason, who was friends with another couple, Scott and Jackie, who frequently escaped ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[On the Road Again]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[All of my travels in recent months have been by airplane to a destination where I have a business-related reason to be. The frustrations with air travel have become more of a norm. You have to make decisions about how to pack and whether to check the bags or carry them on. You have to estimate how much any extra charges might be, where to park at the airport, how early to get there, and whether to ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Wrong Room]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Every year a group of my girlfriends and I take a trip together. This year our venture took eight of us to Kansas City, Mo. We stayed at the Embassy Suites near the Plaza to be close to the shopping (of course) and the new Power and Lights District with its bars, restaurants and nightclubs. After a full day of shopping, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for an evening out on the town. As ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[All About the Apples]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[For most, fall means orange pumpkins, scratchy hay bales and sugary candy corn, but for me fall is about sweet, juicy, just-off-the-tree apples. Every fall my family makes a short pilgrimage south to Nebraska City, Neb., to visit several local apple orchards. Our tradition is to stop first at Kimmel Orchard where warm apple doughnuts and cider make a perfect breakfast. Mornings are bestbefore ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Snow in Summer]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In June of this year, my husband and I took another motorcycle trip. We started by staying the weekend in Shakopee, Minn. Then we headed to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. There were buffalo grazing in the parking lot and across the Badlands. The park ranger warned us that the buffalo do not like motorcycles. ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Small Town Iowa]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Dubuque was only my second trip for work back in May 2007. Our Web editor sent me to the eastern Iowa town to report on the recently opened Mississippi River Museum. This whole travel writing thing was still pretty new, and to be honest, I didnt expect much from Dubuque. I was born in Iowa, but this part of the country isnt exactly lauded as the most scenic spot to visit. Fortunately enough, I have ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA["Long Distance Information..."]]></title>
<description><![CDATA["... give me Memphis, Tennessee." Rock and roll legend Chuck Berry penned those words and put them to music in 1959. Those words were running through my head in the early morning on a cold October day in 2000 as I sat on a plane flying from Omaha, Neb., to that very city.The song was also part of the reason I was making the trip. Berry wrote and recorded Memphis, Tennessee, but countless ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Florida Wildfires]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Several years ago, I went to Florida during the peak of the 1988 wildfires for my nephews wedding. I flew into Orlando, picked up my rental car and got on Interstate 4 heading north for the 35-mile drive to Deland, a city about 15 miles west of Daytona Beach.At the northern edge of the metropolitan Orlando area, I passed the AAA National headquarters. About 10 miles farther north, I noticed all ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Eye of the Beholder]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Perhaps one of the coolest things about being a travel journalist is gaining access to places a person might not otherwise go, whether behind the scenes of a major gallery or (more often) to a hole-in-the-wall gem typically unknown to everyone but a towns locals. And inside said gem, I have to say, something magicalthe moment of the whole tripis practically guaranteed.This summer, during a ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[There and Back Again]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[We all have that trip we will never forget. The one where your luggage never catches up with you, or your flight is overbooked and you never get to where you want to go.  While maybe not the trip to end all trips, this adventure was the worst I can remember in all my international travels.My colleague and I had to fly to Gatwick Airport in England and then take a short car ride to visit one of ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Back to Nature]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[One of my favorite spots to go to when I need a nature break is Hitchcock Nature Center in Honey Creek, Iowa. The county park is nestled in the southern half of the Loess (pronounced "luss") Hills. The setting alone is a wonder, as loess is a deposit of fine, yellowish-gray, clay-like sediment that can be found only in the Midwest and parts of Europe and China. Loess deposits are especially common ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Take Me Out to the Ball Game]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My mom has watched the Chicago Cubs faithfully since I was a child, win or lose; and if I remember correctly, it was mostly losing throughout my childhood. This summer, I acquired four tickets to the Nationals-Cubs game in Chicago through a colleague at work.   I first checked with my sister Kim to see if she and her husband, Dan, wanted like to go. They live in the Chicago area and were quick ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Written Memories]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Ive recently learned that the term blog is actually short for the term Web log. The definition of a blog is that it is a personal online journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs can represent the personality of the author or reflect the purpose of the Web site that hosts the blog.That is exactly what the blog articles are on HomeandAwayMagazine.com: ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[So Near Yet So Far]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[As any parent will tell you, one of the worst feelings in the world is losing track of your child in a strange place. That happened to my husband and me during our 2004 trip to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.We were walking through the visitor center with our 9-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son. It was very crowded, so we had to walk single file toward the counter to purchase water before ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Fly the Balmy Skies]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Oftentimes when I sit down in my airplane seat, I unconsciously reach for the tiny A/C nozzle above me. On my latest flight, it wasnt so unconscious. After broiling inside OHare (heres an idea, lets build airport terminals out of glass, so passengers can wilt during a hot summer day), my wife and I were drooping in seats 13D and 13E of United Flight 159.Seeking comfort, we fiddled with the ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Shopping Hotel Rates]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Recently back from a business trip, I told my co-worker the $200-a-night room may be better than the $100-a-night room, but who can afford it anymore? When did hotels become so expensive?Ive traveled regularly for business and pleasure in the last 25 years and am amazed at how the hotel rates have increased, and people still pay it. Most wages havent kept pace with the cost of living increases, ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Breakdown Missouri]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Most road trip breakdowns seem funny afterward, when youre regaling your friends with your weekend misadventures. The stress and disappointment are just memories, the possible dangers forgotten. However, my latest experience hasnt quite reached joke status.I was looking forward to a Kansas City, Mo., trip with just my husband and 4-year-old daughter. A stress-free weekend of swimming in the ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Revisiting South Dakota]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[During my younger years, I always remembered my parents taking my three brothers and me on a family vacation each year. If the vacations were somewhere fun, we were excited and couldnt wait to go. If they were educational trips, we dreaded it. So when I was planning a trip with my kids, I thought of a place I had gone when I was younger: South Dakota, which I thought would be somewhat educational, ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Wasting Away in Margaritaville]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My husband and I have always been Jimmy Buffett fans, and one of the items that has been on my life checklist was to attend a Jimmy Buffett concert. My husband had seen him before we met and told me how great he was. I was envious and hoped that I would get to experience a live Jimmy Buffett concert someday.In 2006, luck came my way. We met a couple, Pat and Karen, through our kids and discovered ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Rogue River Ride]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I was inspired in part by Features/Copy Editor Karen Eakins' blog on the friendly folks of Miami County, Ohio. Working for Home & Away, we do travel frequently for work to new destinations, sometimes by ourselves. The only thing to prove we were there is the photo on the pier taken with the camera in an outstretched ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Mississippi Motor Tour]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Some years backlong before our country was experiencing record gas pricesour family rented a class-A motor home for a week. Our itinerarytracing the great Mississippi River (well, at least part of it). We started in the Quad Cities of Iowa and IllinoisDavenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, Moline and Rock Island, Ill. We crisscrossed the river several times as we checked out the scenic riverfronts, ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Tips for Air Travel]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I travel quite a bit for business and have learned a number of things over time that help me deal with the airline travel that is such a large part of what I do professionally.At the top of my list is of advice is to expect the worst so you wont be disappointed. Most business travelers have stories about sitting on the tarmac for hours, sitting next to someone who uses all their seat and part ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Hot and Spicy Thailand]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[It seems my blogs often revolve around food. And why not? For me, there's no better way to experience a new place than to sample the local cuisine.The same was true in Thailand, where I spent six months teaching English after graduating from college. There were new tastes and smells everywhere. The Thais have perfected the combination of sweet and spicy by mixing such ingredients as ginger or ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Outlet at the Outlet Mall]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In July 2007, two of my very good friends, Rita and Heather, and I decided we wanted to get out of town for the weekend. We each needed an outlet from our everyday routines and a little road-trip excitement. We decided on a big adventure to Williamsburg, Iowathe home of Tanger Outlets. After a day of shopping, we would backtrack and stay the night in Des Moines.We headed out early in the morning. ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Visiting the Vallartas]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[It was three years ago that I discovered Vallarta, that is Puerto Vallarta and Nuevo Vallarta, communities sprawled along the coast of Banderas Bay, Mexico. My sister Laura was home for my grandmothers funeral and invited me to go for a week with her family to their timeshare. I fell in love.It went from snow in the Midwest to a warm February breeze in Mexico. The ocean was blue, the sand white, ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Ohios Buckeye Beauties]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My late grandmother, Ruby Breshears, lived life to its absolute fullestalways searching out the next adventure, never caring where she was headed, just that she was going somewhere. It is a character trait she passed along to a fair number of her grandchildren, including me. Consequently, the hands-down best part of being an editor at a travel magazine is, of course, the travel.Traveling for ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[A Weekend in Wine Heaven]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[One of my all-time favorite places to visit is wine country in California. Being from a family of wine aficionados, I have spent many vacation days sampling the offerings of Napa and Sonoma. Therefore, it was a perfect fit for my family to celebrate a 10-year wedding anniversary with a weekend of fun in Napa Valley. All together, approximately 25 people came from various parts of the country to attend ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Family Fun in South Dakota]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Our family of approximately 40 decided to meet at a camp located on Lake Herman, S.D., for a family reunion. Camp Lakodia is located in a very picturesque setting with many simple amenities for children and adults, but more especially, it is a camp for the hearing impaired, just 25 minutes from Interstate 29.Upon arriving, we were pleasantly surprised to see that most of cabins and lodges were ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Royal Gorge Runaround]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[After several days of touring and experiencing central Coloradorafting rapids on the Arkansas River, riding all-terrain vehicles through the Rockies, soaking in hot springsour family was returning home via Denver but decided to first detour south for a stop at the Royal Gorge. Having never been there, we assumed it was just a bridge that we would drive overoohing and aahing as we passed. We ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Omaha Goes for the Gold]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[On a recent Monday afternoon, all usual activities were temporarily suspended with an invite to watch the Olympic Swim Trials here in Omaha, courtesy of the Nebraska Department of Travel and Tourism. We (the lucky editors Lindsey and Lainey) jumped at the chance to view the spectacle and headed straight to downtowns Qwest Center, found a not-so-near parking spot and trudged (sweating) to our completely ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Thomas the Tank Engine on a Tank of Gas]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Earlier this year, my husband and I were looking at vacation possibilities for our family.  With the news of rising gas prices, we decided to make a few weekend getaways this year instead of one big vacation. With three kids at different ages and with different interests, we broke it down to a weekend for each child. Our first weekend vacation this year was to Baldwin, Kan., for A Day out With ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[A Taste of Heaven in Italy]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I certainly indulged the semester I spent studying in Spain and during the three weeks I backpacked across Western Europe. Baguettes in France, kebabs in Germany, Nutella, well, everywhere. But when I got to Italy, I made the greatest discovery of all: gelato. I had heard of this Italian dessert before. But in my ignorance, I had thought it was simply Italian ice cream. But let me tell you, it ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Branson Family Reunion ]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Gill clan finally gathered in Branson, Mo., after a year of planning, and everyone seemed to find something to his or her liking. Boating, swimming and golf won out for the outdoor activities, and with 54 theaters and more than 100 shows, there was no lack of indoor entertainment. In fact, there was so much to do, the biggest problem was deciding what to schedule in our six-day stay.More than ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Take Me Out to the Ball Game]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[It was that time of year again. College World Series time. This event is something I look forward to going to each year. For me, its all about soaking up the atmosphere: being with friends, tailgating, grilling, celebrating, meeting new people and catching a game here and there. Can life really get any better on a perfect summer day in June?This year I had great seats to the night game on June ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Universal Studios Character Hunt]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I recently visited Universal Studios and Universals Islands of Adventure in Florida. Since I suffer from motion sickness and really didnt think the staff would be excited about cleaning up after me, I set off to meet the characters instead of acquainting myself with the rides.The first character sightings at Universal Studios were Shrek and Donkey. They take up residence outside the exit of ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Disney in a Day]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[It is never recommendedand some say it cant be donebut my family and I recently proved that you could visit Disney World in a day and have an enjoyable time. I had to be in Sanibel Island, Fla., for a work trip, which coincided with the end of the school year for my 10-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son. I thought it would be a perfect destination for a family vacation. As I was planning ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[This Time ... Definitely Aware]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[If you've read my blog Blissfully Unaware, please disregard any proclamation that traveling over Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado is nerve-racking. My family and I just visited Durango, Colo.; we took that route on the way back and it was nothing to write home about. There are three or four lanes the whole way, and you only ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Alaska: The Trip of a Lifetime]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My husband and I took a 12-day Alaskan cruise in August 2006. Of course the week before we left Alaska was having floods, and we werent sure if we could go everywhere or if we would even get to go at all. We left Omaha at 6 a.m. and flew to Anchorage. It was raining when we got therenot a good sign. When we did get to Fairbanks, it was dry. The sights were outstanding: There were migrating ducks ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The Soul of Seoul]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[One of the advantages of being married to somebody in the military is that I get the opportunity to travel around the country and, now and then, to places outside the U.S.  When my family was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, I was working for the University of Marylands Asian division. While there I had to attend a convocation ceremony in Seoul, South Korea. Reading about the conflict in Korea and ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Why I Still Love CampingSort Of]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[After complaining excessively about camping in my last blog, I feel obliged to share my fondest memory of camping, a memory that stands as the ideal in my mind. Every time I want to go camping I initially recall this trip and forget all the bad ones. (My mom reminds me that this was the one trip during which it did not rain.)I must have been 13 or 14 when my family revisited one of my mothers ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Badland Getaway]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Our first family vacation was spent in South Dakota. We were all very ready to get out of town and go camping in the Black Hills. The children were small, 4 and 1, and very excited about going on their first vacation. The first spectacular sight on our trip was the Badlands. We spent about an hour there taking lots of pictures and exploring. Next we went to find our camping spot at Custer State ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Grounded]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[So, there we were, bumping through thick clouds over eastern Montana in the smallest commercial jet Id ever ridden. There was no restroomI didnt have to go, but it made me ponder the what-ifsand the pilot also loaded our bags. As we dropped in fits toward our destination of Sidney, Mont., the captain suddenly told us we couldnt land because the airport didnt have the instruments necessary to ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Napa Valley Clean Up]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My cousin and I have been spending summer vacations together since we were infants. Our moms loved getting the two families together for traveling adventures. My uncle was in the Air Force, so every two to four years we were guaranteed a new location to visit with new attractions to explore. I look back on those vacations with joy as an almost fairy-tale experience.We share many fond memories ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Ten Hours in Newark, New Jersey]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My daughter, Laura, and I were about to embark on the trip of a lifetime: eight days and seven nights touring Ireland with Adventures by Disney. Our flight was to leave on a Sunday afternoon. We checked the flight status right after lunch and discovered our flight had been postponed until the next morning because of bad weather in Newark, N.J., which was where we were to catch our connecting flight ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Singing the Blue Angel Blues]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Some of todays travel brings frustration and anger, but some brings amazementyou just cant make these things up. My husband and I had been to Myrtle Beach and Charleston, S.C., for a few days of vacation, plus a magazine assignment for me. When we got to the Charleston airport on a Friday around noon to check in for our 1:30 flight home, we were told our 6 p.m. connecting in Chicago had been canceled. ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Savannahs Southern Hospitality]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A couple weeks ago when a friend told me about a trip to Savannah, Ga., I was flooded with good memories of a trip taken almost eight years ago. Funny how some places simply stay with you forever.The trip was prompted by a visit to a theatre friend who had recently moved to Atlanta. I told her I would come see her new house with the provision we take a couple days in Savannah. What prompted that ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Florida Bound Yet Again]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[OK, I know all my blogs have been about Florida. What can I say, I love the Sunshine State!This trip was a little different. We drove from Omaha to Satellite Beach, a 27-hour drive. When I moved back to Omaha 10 years ago, I swore I would never make the drive again. The reason I changed my mind? I had the opportunity to be with my nephews (and brother-in-law and sister) in a mini-van and experience ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Madison County Memories]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My family traveled once (sometimes, if we were lucky, twice) a summer when I was little, an adventure to somewhere within six hours driving distance, usuallyor as long as my dad could stand putting up with me and my sister playing our travel version of Perfection in the backseat. (I distinctly remember his nonplussed reaction the first time one of the games small pieces flew into the back of his ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Singin in the Rain]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[It was one of those glorious Florida days, not a cloud in the sky. It was our family's second day at Walt Disney World and the day we had set aside for the Magic Kingdom. We had mapped out our day, taking each "land" at a time. To make the most of our time in the park we had decided where to lunch, when to take a break, where to get Fast Passes. We were organized and we were set. The morning was ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Welcome to Mexico, Please Step This Way]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[This was my wifes and my first trip to Mexico. We had booked an all-inclusive vacation in Nuevo Vallarta. We were looking forward to a week of relaxing on the beach with an occasional excursion. What we didnt know was what it took to get from the plane to our ride to the resort.The first stop was luggage. Not too bad there. Second stop was what I would call the red/green button. Each person ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Mexico Border Patrol]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I worked for a summer as an intern for my churchs youth group. The job description was vague: hang out with junior high and high school kids. Which means the summer was full of unexpected turns that are all pretty funny  looking back.In July, we loaded up a coach bus of high-school-age students and took off for a week-long trip to a camp on sunny South Padre Island, Texas. Most days involved ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Stirred, not Shaken]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Taking a cruise is always a thrill, so when I was assigned in 1992 to do a story for Home & Away on cruising the Mexican Riviera, I jumped at the opportunity. The bonus: I could take my husband with me. It was the first cruise for both of us, the first trip to Mexico for both of us and even the first flight to Los Angeles for both of us.The weather was perfect during a seven-day itinerary ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Touring the Capital Town]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Several years ago I traveled to Washington, D.C., with a couple of friends for a quick sightseeing trip of our nation's capital. Our plane landed at Reagan International Airport around 1 p.m., and by 3 p.m., we had taken a cab to the Hotel Washington, quickly unpacked and walked the short distance to the Ellipse at the south end of the White House grounds.  While we were standing there admiring ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Theres No Place Like Belize]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[This was the second trip to Belize that Mary, Lisa and I had taken. Mary and Lisa had gone zip-lining the second day there. I don't do heights, so I spent the day relaxing at the pool.The tour company taking Mary and Lisa zip-lining happened to be the same one that took us to the Belize Zoo and tubing through caves the previous year. The girls inquired about Ernesto, the tour guide we had last ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Road Trip Road Kill]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Every summer my sisters, mother and I take a vacation together. We are a very close family. This particular trip we were headed to La Crosse, Wis. We had some old family friends who lived there, and we thought, What the heck, let's go there and see them.We met at my mothers house in Ellsworth, Minn. The next morning we took off west on Interstate 90. I was driving my 1999 Taurus. We had ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Why We Dont Go Camping]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[So youre not supposed to let one bad experience ruin something forever. Well with camping, it was more than one bad experience that ruined it for my family.In the 30 years my parents have been married, they can count one camping trip during which it did not rain. For at least a couple nights during each summer vacation, we were marooned in the tent playing cards trying to keep the sleeping bags ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Trouble on the Tarmac]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Who said travel was uncomplicated? It certainly wasn't anyone on the 6 a.m. flight from Omaha, Neb., to Detroit on Northwest Airlines one day last week.The first thrill of the day was my alarm going off at 3:45 a.m. to make sure I was at the airport by 5 a.m. I figured being an hour early would be fine because the flight was so early in the day. Wrong.Security was backed up because of all ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Detour to Disney World]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I found out on a vacation the truth of the saying, If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.My boyfriend and I took a four-day vacation to Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. As many people know, that is not much time to spend at a such a wonderful place. We had planned out which parks to visit, on which days and for how much time.On the second day, we planned to be ready by 7 ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Family Roots]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In my early years I did not care much for genealogy. But after my father died, that changed. When I looked through a family history, I was surprised to see our family could be traced to the early 1600s. Our first American ancestor was Richard Banks, and he had helped settle what would become York, Maine. Richard married three times and sired 22 children, of which only four made it to adulthood. ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Flying the Friendly Skies]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I was not excited for my first flight. I was 21 and headed to sunny San Diego for a not-so-sunny affair: to break up with my boyfriend, who had left landlocked Nebraska for the beach six months earlier.The day of my fated flight, nervous and with a weeks worth of clothing for my weekend out of town, I called all my friends on the way to the airport to make preliminary arrangements for the division ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Kansas Whiteout]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Our route was Interstate 70 from Kansas City, Mo., to Denver in mid-March. Having taken this trip before, my husband and I knew passing towns could be sporadic and the scenery, sparse. Thus, we decided to get a jump start on the nine-hour drive and leave before dawn.The first few hours were as uneventful as one would expect in rural Kansas. Nothing alarming was in the forecast, so when a few snowflakes ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Marlboros and Hot Dogs]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[It's safe to assume most people have experienced the classic road trip. My friends and I used to take them all the time in college. Frequently, those road trips were to Omaha, Neb., to go to restaurants, the mall and a movie theater. Sometimes we'd embark on those road trips after we got off work, which was usually around midnight. That's right, we'd make the two-hour trip from Norfolk, Neb., to Omaha ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Dallas: A Pleasant Surprise]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Ive been through the Dallas airport plenty of times but never visited the state of Texas, except for a business trip 15 years ago to Brownsville. I have always thought of Texas as cowboys and ranchesWestern things I dont find particularly appealing. Even reading about the San Antonio Riverwalk didnt bring Texas to the top of my vacation list.However, like many travel decisions, my trip to ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Old Fashioned Road Trip]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I dont like to stand in line. I dont want someone digging through my luggage holding up my dirty laundry. I dont like waiting either. I like things to be in my control. The list goes on and on, and when I took my vacation this last summer to make my yearly pilgrimage to North Carolina from Omaha, Neb., I drove.I got up and headed down the road. I didnt have to be at the airport two hours ahead ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Pampered in the Penthouse]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Once a year I go on a girls-getaway trip. I would be happy going almost anywhere with my friends, after all, the best part of the trip is being with my girlfriends and away from the responsibilities of motherhood for a few days. Last June my girlfriends and I decided on a beach vacation in Florida. Girlfriends and the Florida sun what could be better? Upon arriving at the beach resort we learned ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Rockin in Memphis]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[You know how passing time in airports goesdodging people, trying not to get run over by the golf carts, sitting in cramped quarters, eating overpriced food. And listening to an awesome singer belt out classic R&B and pop hits.What?That was my reaction, too, when a friend and I sat down for dinner at a barbecue joint in the Memphis airport. As we checked out the menu, Marcus Scott was setting ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Mickey, Mickey Everywhere]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Yet another trip to Disney World. I swear this place keeps me on my toes.This trip took place in May 1997. Keep in mind that in Florida during the spring, it tends to rain everyday around 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon for a short time and then clears. Now having lived in Florida for an entire year one would think that I knew this and would be prepared. Like I said, one would think but apparently ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Blissfully Unaware]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[On a dark, cold night in December 1994, I awoke in the passenger seat of my buddys maroon 1979 Monte Carlo as we were pulling into a Phillips 66. It was about 2 a.m. on a highway in Colorado, as we made our way back to Norfolk, Neb., from a road trip to Las Vegas during my senior year of college. I looked over at Greg  both of his hands were clenching the steering wheel with an unbreakable grip, ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The Happiest Place on Earth?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Picture it, Orlando, February 1997.At the time, I was living in Florida and decided to take a trip from Melbourne to Orlando to see the legendary Disney World. As my friend and I walked through the gates of the park, it was a beautiful day and the temperature was just right. I had no cares or worries. I was just determined to enjoy the day off and take in the rides and atmosphere. That didnt ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Baguette Perfection]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I love food. When I go on vacation, I want to eat  well, I usually want to eat at any time. But I want to eat something I dont normally get. No boxed rice mixes or random combinations of vegetables thrown in with some pasta or a bag of microwave popcorn (which is what I ate last night when I didnt feel like cooking).So when I started a semester studying abroad in Spain by backpacking around ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Golf Club for Men]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I recently discovered that golf is not only a common thread that many men share, its also an easy way to spark up a conversation with a complete stranger on a plane or in an airport. On three separate occasions during my return trip from New York to Omaha I engaged in conversations that were started because of golf. The first was on the flight from New York to Chicago. I was playing a Tiger Woods ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Memorable Motorcycle Trip]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My husband and I see a lot of the U.S. by taking motorcycle trips. One morning, we were leaving Yellowstone National Park when we came upon lots of cars just parked on the highway. A large herd of bison was walking by on the other side of the road. A couple of the big males were just staring at us. We were at a disadvantage  on one side of the road we had large and unpredictable animals and on the ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Breakdown in Missouri]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Ah, the classic American road trip; the stuff of legends and a few B-rated movies, typified by crying children, fast food and lonely, unmarked highways. My attitude has become that of embracing the highways bumps and unexpected turns. So when my friend Sarah asked if I cared if we drove to New Orleans in a non-air conditioned, manual transmission, 93 Ford Aerostar during the last week of July, ...]]></description>
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