Sweet Saturdays at Garfield Park Conservatory

Sweetness really does grow on trees and you’ll learn exactly how during the annual Sweet Saturdays event at Chicago’s Garfield Park Conservatory. Visitors get to sample facts, flavors and fun as they discover the origins of sweet treats like vanilla, ginger and chocolate. Get ready to sniff and snack for hours as you move around the conservatory’s maze of plants and flowers. Read More »

A st. Kitts monkey perched on my shoulder

The eastern Caribbean island of St. Kitts offers lots of activities from volcano scaling to beach combing but the top of my list is monkey watching.  There are about 40,000 Kittitians living on St. Kitts.  There are 60,000 Vervet monkeys scampering around the island. Do the math.  The monkeys greatly outnumber humans so your chances of seeing and interacting with these amusing creatures are very good. Read More »

Two species of gibbons at the Gibbon Conservation Center

First of all, what are Gibbons?  No, they’re not a BeeGees cover band, and you don’t actually have to sing with them if you don’t want to.  Gibbons are tree-dwelling apes native to rainforests, which according to gibbon activists, are being destroyed at the rate of 32 acres per day.  Luckily, somehow there is a gibbon sanctuary in the dry mountains north of Los Angeles! Read More »

Tews Chest, the world's only authentic pirate chest

If you think that Johnny Depp is the last word on pirates, get thee to  the St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum immediately.  Not only does the Pirates of The Caribbean franchise lightly skim the surface of real pirate history, it doesn’t even begin to explore the rich history that this country’s oldest city boasts.  Set to open in early November in historic downtown St.Augustine, Fl, the museum features the only authentic pirate chest in the world, Captain Kidd’s last journal,  actual pieces of Blackbeard’s gold and a host of other nefarious pirate artifacts. Read More »