South Carolina is an amazing place to discover the great outdoors. Many plants, insects and animals adapted to unusual environments and conditions here and thrived. Dolphins For example, near the mouth of the Kiawah River, where it runs into the Atlantic Ocean by Captain Sam’s Spit on Kiawah Island, visitors can watch a fascinating behavior as pods of dolphins work together
Discover Historic Texas at Millard’s Crossing
On a beautiful spring day I visit homes, a church, school and land office all from the 19th and early 20th centuries and all original to East Texas. The buildings, and symbols of local history, were dismantled and reconstructed on a plot of land in Nacogdoches and collectively named Millard’s Crossing Historic Village. The village is named for the railroad
Essaouira, Morocco is a seaside treasure
After two weeks in major cities, the Atlas Mountains and Sahara Desert my Exodus Travels’ Moroccan tour arrives in Essaouira on the Atlantic; a charming seaside city. Our bus pulls up to the curb just across from the beach that is nearly deserted. Here, two men with carts unload our luggage and we follow them into a maze of narrow
Museum chronicles Texas oil boom
Before me in muted light is a life-size muddy street with a traffic jam. Going one way is a mule-drawn wagon and going the other way are two cars. The street is impassable because of its width and the axle-deep mud. Welcome to East Texas during the oil boom. The lobby reminds me of other museums; an old car, antique
Kasbah Ait Benhaddou – Another chapter in Moroccan History
What do Game of Thrones, Gladiator, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade have in common? They were filmed, in part, in the foothills of Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains’ southern slopes. Kasbah Ait Benhaddou, dating to the 17th century, is the setting for many of these television and movie productions. Every day the Kasbah is also host to a steady
5 Nonstop Family-Friendly Destinations from Raleigh- Durham International Airport
By Marilyn Jones If you want your family to travel by air but dread connecting flights, you’re in luck. Raleigh‑Durham International Airport offers a wide range of nonstop flights to vacation destinations like Cancun, Paris, London, Montego Bay, Toronto, Montreal and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Want to stay in the U.S.? There are dozens of child‑friendly nonstop destinations
30 years on, Natchitoches still a popular destination for ‘Steel Magnolias’ fans
By Marilyn Jones NATCHITOCHES, La. — At the corner of Pine and Cypress streets is a small memorial park dedicated to Susan Harling Robinson, whose name may not mean anything to you, but the film her story inspired almost certainly will. The play and beloved movie “Steel Magnolias” was written by her brother, Robert Harling, about her life and death
Nashville’s latest attraction
It is 26 degrees outside. A frigid wind is blowing in from Canada, but I’m floating along the lazy river in SoundWaves, the first upscale indoor/outdoor resort water attraction in the nation. Gaylord Opryland Resort has always offered its guests lots to do from the impressive atriums filled with plants, flowers and a meandering indoor “river” to live music, dining,
“Abandoned Italy” Chronicles forgotten beauty
I often drive by deserted houses, factories and businesses and think about what they must have been like when they were brand new and their owners were full of hope for their families and their livelihoods. I wonder what I might find if I stopped and trudged through overgrown lawns, past no trespassing signs and enter these buildings. Would I
Travel: Taking Tours of Savannah
Bringing history to life BY MARILYN JONES 0 Centuries-old homes line the streets of Savannah. PHOTO COURTESY OF MARILYN JONES The Pirates’ House, serving meals and beverages to seafarers since 1753 — including pirates —is one of Old Savannah Tours’ hop-on-and-off stops. Characters from pop culture and Savannah’s storied past visit passengers at several locations along the tour route, including The