In 1999 Kerri and I stopped at a small non-touristy village north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We were looking for lunch and noticed a restaurant with a lot of tables and chairs on the beach with a great view of the bay. So, we grabbed a table away from the other diners to enjoy a good Mexican lunch and...

“Aren’t you afraid of being kidnapped?” asked my co-worker? It would have been a reasonable question if I had stated that we were going to some war torn country with atrocities graphically displayed on the nightly news like some reality TV show. But I did not expect to hear that question after...

Choosing between having our 6-year old daughter learn about the Costa Rican rainforest by watching episodes of Dora the Explorer on TV, or to experience it in person was an easy one. Let’s go to Costa Rica! With our airline tickets purchased, various lodgings and a 4-wheel drive rental car reserved,...

I originally submitted this to Budget Travel magazine for their True Stories section, but they never published it. One of the great things about having your own website is that you can publish whatever you want without having it approved by the editor. So, here it is… Last year when we took a family...