Walking San Diego's Wild Side

Food is an essential part of my nine-year-old daughter's day. When Melanie blurts, "I'm hungry," that's my cue to find sustenance immediately or face her tear-filled wrath. Yielding to her hunger pangs at SeaWorld San Diego, I had a plate of chicken fingers in front of her in almost record time. But then, as San Diego's famous son, Dr. Seuss, might say, something wonderful and truly amazing happened. Melanie was not stuffing her face. In fact, her eyes were the size of doughnuts as she stared in awe at an orca whale doing a backflip, not more than ten feet from where we were sitting.

Dude, Giddy Up

My kids were two, five, and 11 the first time my gang packed up boots and headed to a dude ranch. We arrived at Paradise Guest Ranch in Buffalo, Wyoming, and fell in love with the place, the people, and the horses. By week's end we had discovered something else wonderful, too—each other. A ranch vacation does more to bring families together than any other vacation I know. It's the antidote to our fast-paced world in which everything is digital and our kids are permanently connected by cords and wires to an array of electronic devices.

I waited until we were almost at Paradise Guest Ranch to mention that our cabin would have no TV, news met with sullen disbelief and insistence by my older daughter that this was going to be the worst week of her life.

It wasn't. And she was the first one out of the car when we went back the following year.

Lush Dominica

People flock to the Caribbean to sift their toes in the pearly white sands. But in Dominica, the attraction is not the relatively few beaches, but a verdant mountainous interior ripe with every tropical fruit and vegetable imaginable, a place so inundated with water that around every bend is another raging waterfall, serene swimming hole, or hidden hot spring in which to soothe your weary body after a day in the outdoors. Indeed, this island has become an affordable haven for families who yearns to hike through jungle-like forest, scuba dive and snorkel on living reefs, and sea kayak in sheltered coves with little, if any, boat traffic. Sure, you can still lounge with a good book, but it won't be on an overdeveloped strip of sand. You'll be high up in the hills on some small eco-resort balcony sipping fresh passion-fruit juice and listening to the waves of the Atlantic crash onto the rocky shores below.

Trip of a Lifetime: Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

Think of the Great Barrier Reef as the world's ultimate underwater safari. One teeming with more exotic fish and sea life than your local aquarium will ever know, including sharks, dolphins, six of the seven species of sea turtles known to man, and a mind-boggling 2,000 types of fish (with new varieties found every year). Many of these fish are neon-colored, floating against a backdrop of blue, pink, and yellow coral to produce a kaleidoscopic world that rivals even the most explosive of Jackson Pollock's drip paintings.

The Great Barrier runs closest to the mainland near Cairns, located in Australia's northeastern state of Queensland and about two hours by plane from Sydney. Close to a million people each year make the pilgrimage here. Once in town, many visitors choose to spend their time on Green and Fitzroy islands, two islands that are not technically on the "Big Reef." However, less than an hour by boat from the city wharf in Cairns, the snorkeling off these two islands can be just as good as the Great Barrier. Outfitters run half- and full-day trips in glass-bottom boats so you can witness this mesmerizing underwater world without ever getting wet.

Don't Overlook Belize

It would take you weeks to drive down to Belize from the United States, so it's good to know that this small Central American country, tucked away between Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala, is only a two-hour flight from Miami. But frankly, it doesn't matter how you travel to this off-the-beaten-track Caribbean destination: just get here.

Belize has rainforests, the longest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere, and a remarkable collection of Maya ruins, still largely unrestored. Head to San Ignacio to explore the Mountain Pine Ridge on horseback or canoe along the wild Macal River. You'll swim under waterfalls and very likely spot toucans. Also be sure to visit the Maya ruins of Caracol with a guide. Kids will be amazed at the sight of the Sky Palace, which reaches 140 feet high.