The Endless Beach

Location	Gasparilla Island, Florida
Type	Seaside, village
Distance	14 miles, walking and biking, plus strolls to good food
Highlights	Beaches, shells, great food, jumping manta rays, and family time
Duration	Three days, two nights, or keep walking 'round and 'round.
Difficulty	E

Ever walked on a beach and wanted to keep on walking? No turning around to retrace your steps? On an island, you can do it.  And on Florida’s pristine Gasparilla Island, you can do it on gorgeous white sand, stop to snorkel in crystal clear gulf waters, sort through 

obscenely big piles of shells for prime specimens, watch marine biologists document sea turtle nests, and catch glimpses of leaping manta rays, dolphins, and giant tarpon.  Once you make it to the island’s town of Boca Grande, you can shop at hip boutiques, eat real cuisine, not to mention home-made ice cream, and stay in a roomy ol’ downtown inn.

Exodus to "Little Egypt"

Day 1	Chicago to Carbondale, via Amtrak
Day 2	Carbondale to Golconda
Day 3	Golconda to Paducah, KY
Day 4	Paducah, to Cairo & back to Chicago

Most people think of the Land of Lincoln as Chicago plus pancake-flat prairie, but Southern Illinois is completely different. Just a trainride from Chicago, (with bikes on board) is a loop that reveals the area's unique history and culture.

A Dad, A Daugter, and the Slopes of Summer

Location	Mt. Hood, Oregon
Type	Mountain
Distance	All depends on how many times you want to walk up and down the snowfield!
Highlights	Mid-summer skiing, fantastic WPA Lodge.
Duration	As long as you want to make it.
Difficulty	Downhill=3, Uphill=5

Father Junipero Serra designed the California Missions to be “A day’s walk apart.” That's about 800 miles of walking- most of them are 30-40 miles apart. That said, for a weekend, there’s a great route you can walk or bike from Mission Santa Barbara to Mission San Buenaventura in Ventura, stopping at inns or B&B’s (or the Four Seasons!) along the way. Biking, you can do it in a day.  Below are almost all the resources you might need to figure out your own adventure.

View Mission Trail Detail, Santa Barbara to Ventura in a larger map

Look for Me by the Sea

Location	Massachusetts
Type	Great Base Lodge
Distance	Walker's Choice: 10 plus miles of trails
Duration	Weekend
Difficulty	Moderate
Highlights	Sun, Sand, Marsh, Food, Drink, Life. Bill Sargent plumbed his big toe into the wet sand and pulled out a Moon Snail, round and glistening. All morning long that toe had been a snail-seeking missile, unerringly locating the strangely lovely mollusks hidden well below the tide line on Crane Beach in Ipswich, MA.

Bill Sargent, a naturalist, author, and consultant to the NOVA Science series, had agreed to take a nature walk with me at low tide on an early fall morning. In a few hours I received a better education than in any biology textbook. For example, did you know that the Horseshoe Crab has nine eyes, including in its tail?