From E.D. Hill and her family – We are shocked more people don’t go to Block Island and that it isn’t at the top of every family travel guide. We stayed at the only resort on the island, Champlin’s. It was terrific. Clean, large rooms. Don’t pay extra for a room with a view because you’re never in the room anyway. They had a terrific playground, pool, beach, watersports, restaurant, snack bar and one of the two movie theaters on the island. If you prefer to rent a home you need to plan ahead. They book up very quickly. Casual is the best way to descirbe the island. They don’t recommend bringing cars since there is only one gas station. If you do bring a car make car ferry reservations early. The vast majority of people bike, walk or use mopeds to get around. Rentals are easy and relatively inexpensive. Think Bermuda in America minus the long shorts and men wearing knee high socks and you’ve got the picture of Block Island. The fast ferry from either New London, CT or Galilee, RI is about a half hour. Fins has the freshest seafood. Skip Aldo’s pizza unless you like it doughy. Do not skip the dessert at Aldo’s! Yum. Candy and home made ice cream shops are plentiful. You can get weekly licenses for shelling. Nothing tastes better than freshly made clam chowder! We have visited Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket several times and think Block Island is the way they used to be 50 years ago. A lovely slice of old fashioned America.
E.D. Hill survived this and you can too! Five kids and the dog in a car for days. That may sound like your worst nightmare but it became one of our best family “vacations”. It was actually intended to be the way we got to the vacation but it turned out being the favorite part. Airfares were so high that we decided to drive from Connecticut to Texas. We rented a minivan. I recommend the Town and Country Flex fuel which got 21 mpg. We hit 11 states and numerous sites including the World’s Largest Guitar, Dollywood, Appomattox, Vicksburg, and more. Sadly, we missed the gravesite of Shorty the Squirrel. (www.roadsideamerica.com has the strangest sites listed) We did not let the kids bring any electronic device which meant…..they had to talk, play cards or play board games. Shockingly, they came through it alive!! In fact, the kids loved it so much they want to do it again. They say the drive to the vacation was the best part!
First off I have to admit that Ft. Worth is my home town. I moved there when I was 10 and my mother still lives there. Recently we have discovered a different side of the city because of our children. I hope to express what I think are some of the best parts of Ft Worth for both children and adults.
Fishing, Waterskiing, Biking, Birding and more. This is a relatively inexpensive destination.
I suggest two sections of Minnesota. First, the Brainerd Lakes area. You fly into Minneapolis and have the option of flying (Northwest) to Brainerd or making the 3 hour drive. There are plenty of Dairy Queens on the way. North of Brainerd you will find two large chains of lakes; the Gull Chain and the Whitefish Chain. There are numerous interconnected lakes that you can boat between on these chains. Fishing for bass, walleye, northern and worm-dunking for sunnies is excellent on both chains.
If you ever want to visit Fiji get there as quickly as you can. It is changing fast and the traditional tribal chief system is almost titular only on the main islands already. Read More