Pigeon Forge cabin rentals in the Smokey Mountains would be a wonderful place to retreat and get away from the hectic pace of life so many of us live.  Wouldn’t it be nice to get up in the morning, have a cup of coffee, and look out a wall full of windows and gaze at the beautiful mountains.  Or maybe unwind in the “Corner Jacuzzi Tub” in the master suite.  They have two, three, and four bedroom luxury cabins which would make a great place for a family vacation, family reunion, or retreat!

A few years ago, we took my mother-in-law with our family to visit and do some sightseeing in downtown Chicago. My m-i-l had a new car, and she wanted us to go in it. We gladly agreed. There were so many things to do in Chicago. My husband parked the car on a downtown street, put lots of change in the parking meter, and even asked a policeman if it was OK to park there. The policeman said “Yes” and didn’t offer any other information. Well, to make a long story short, when we were through with our sight seeing (and shopping), my husband went to get the car….only it was gone. “Oh, no!” we thought, “Mom’s brand new car has been stolen, plus it has our laptop and the garage door opener in it.” We felt sick. After talking to a policeman, we found out that for two hours during rush hour, the street where we had parked turned into a “No Parking” zone. They had impounded our car! We walked all over downtown trying to find the place where it was impounded, but to no avail. We were exhausted but finally were able to get a taxi. The driver knew where to take us, but it was really a strange way to get there. We had to go down a couple of levels to a lower area that was creepy. (I felt like I was in the “Adventures in Babysitting” movie when they went to downtown Chicago.) Finally, we got the car back after paying over one hundred dollars. That was definitely a crazy vacation!
Trusted Tours & Attractions would be a great way to avoid something like that from happening on a vacation. You can sign up for the Trusted Travels eNewsletter and enter to win an IPOD Nano! Offer ends Monday, March 31st, 2008. The newsletter will give you family vacation ideas, whether it’s Key West Snorkeling or wherever you would like to vacation.

The 5th Annual Dark Sky Festival at Harmony’s Town Square, in Harmony, Florida, is scheduled for Saturday, April 5, 2008 and will start at 7 pm. Started as an event to introduce the public to astronomy and related issues such as promoting the benefits of a night-sky free from the effects of excessive artificial lighting, the festival has become as much a community picnic as well. And the festival was given an Honorable Mention from Sky & Telescope Magazine in their national 2004 Astronomy Day awards. Over 3,500 people are expected to attend the festival this year.

These are some of the fun aspects of the festival:

• Telescopes for viewing the stars
• Playing in the Cosmic Kids Zone
• Viewing nocturnal creatures
• A speaker in the kids zone talking about Myths in the Night
• Meeting astronomers and other scientists
• Speakers talking about light pollution
• Visiting numerous specialty booths
• Performance of the Silver Clouds Orchestra, a local favorite, at 7:00 pm
• A free concert at 8 pm by legendary recording artists, Rare Earth, who will be performing their greatest hits including “Get Ready” and “I Just Want to Celebrate”

The aspects the festival is providing include:

• The value of keeping dark skies to protect wildlife activities
• Encouraging the development of scientific interest in Florida youth
• To educate people about lighting fixtures that can help reduce light pollution by focusing light downward instead of upward into the sky
• Introducing environmentally intelligent lifestyle habits

Press Release:

Get Ready! This Year’s Dark Sky Festival is Out-of-this-World

HARMONY, FL – March 15, 2008 – The 5th Annual Dark Sky Festival at Harmony will be held on Saturday, April 5, 2008. Sponsored by the Harmony Institute, the Kissimmee Convention and Visitors Bureau, several astronomy clubs, the Osceola News Gazette and Florida Travel & Life Magazine, the event will kick off at 7pm in Harmony’s Town Square.

“The Dark Sky Festival is intended to celebrate and promote the benefits of a night-sky free from the effects of excessive artificial lighting,” said Greg Golgowski, Harmony’s Conservation Director and a key member of the Dark Sky Festival Planning Committee. “Poor outdoor lighting not only washes out the splendor of the heavens, but also reduces visibility at night, wastes energy, and disturbs wildlife.”

As with the past four Dark Sky Festivals, attendees will be able to enjoy viewing the night skies through a variety of telescopes. There also be lots of music and food, numerous specialty booths, an educational zone with presentations from astronomers and other scientists, nocturnal creatures, a Cosmic Kids Zone and so much more.”

Local favorite, the Silver Clouds Orchestra, will start the entertainment portion of the evening at 7:00pm. This will be followed by a free concert by legendary recording artists, Rare Earth.

Rare Earth will take to Harmony’s outdoor amphitheatre stage at 8:00pm for a live concert chock full of their greatest hits including “Get Ready” and “I Just Want to Celebrate.”

“We are ecstatic to have Rare Earth performing at this year’s Festival,” said Shad Tome, president of Harmony Development Group. “We are encouraging everyone to wear comfortable shoes because Rare Earth is known for getting the whole audience up and dancing.”

The festival will be emceed by Magic 107.7’s afternoon drive on-air personality and program director Ken Payne.

The Festival is open to the general public. Over 3,500 people are expected to attend the event this year. The event will conclude around 11:00pm.

This date was selected because it falls on the heels of National Dark Sky week (March 29 – April 4); where people in the United States are encouraged to turn out their unnecessary outdoor lights in order to temporarily reduce light pollution.

For more information, please visit www.DarkSkyFestival.com or call 407-891-8358.

I was looking at South Carolina land for sale and saw some beautiful forested property with tall trees in the Keystone Preserve Near Charleston in Berkeley County. I’m not talking about your average tall trees but trees that are really tall. There’s something impressive about the beauty of them. How nice it would be to have a cabin nestled away in the forest where one could retreat to every now and then. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a vacation home like that

When we went to Hawaii during the month of June several years ago, my husband did a lot of searching and found the best hotel deals for us. We stayed in some really nice hotels and resorts for the price of a nice motel room here. I was impressed how much money he saved us! If you’re going on a trip, it really is worth the time to research prices.  You get the most for your money that way!

For more than 19 years, Outer Banks has been a reliable source of vacation rentals.  They have been featured in the Washingtonian magazine and have had more than 6500 customers this year alone.  They represent only the finest rental beach homes and have rentals in Corolla, Duck, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, Nags Head & Southern Shores where you can enjoy the beach and relax.  Sounds like a great place to retreat and get away from the stresses of this busy world.

There is so much to see and do in Florida. We went on vacation to Orlando two different summers. Each summer we went to Disney World and Universal Studios. One summer we rented a car and drove to the east coast and visited the Kennedy Space Center and several of the beaches along the east coast. Then we drove to the west coast and went to a couple of beaches along there. If you are going to Florida, you might consider an Orlando rental home.

When we’ve gone on vacations, we have never stayed in a condo but some friends of ours have. When they went skiing, they rented a condo with another family so they could share the expenses. They have done that several times and really enjoyed it. If you are planning on vacationing somewhere and renting a condo, you might want to check out Condo Hotels. They link renters with owners and also buyers with sellers.

One of our favorite places to visit on a vacation is Colorado because of the beautiful mountains. When we travel, we like to get a discount on lodging wherever we are.  There are other places that have mountains that are pretty places to visit.   There are mountains not far from Las Vegas, though most people think only of going to see the shows, etc. If you happen to be going to Las Vegas, check out hotels Las Vegas for the lowest price on hotels possible.

The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame is a beautiful museum dedicated to the women of the American West, and in fact, it is the only museum in the world dedicated to honoring those women who were really courageous and had trail blazing spirits that wouldn’t quit. The museum is actually famous and is known nationally for its educational exhibits, library, and photographs.  It’s a great resource to people all over the country and probably in other parts of the world as well. Our family enjoyed learning about the West and these extraordinary women through neat exhibits and hands-on experiences. Make sure you allow enough time when you go because you don’t want to miss any part of it.    Bring the whole family because it’s great for kids of all ages.

We had been hearing about this museum, finally got to visit it a while back ,and really enjoyed it.  I imagine Lori, who blogs about being the wife of a cowboy at A Cowboy’s Wife, would really enjoy it, too!