Features Leaf Cam Each spring from about April 17 through April 27, the woods behind the house come alive after a long winter's nap. View the day by day springing to life. The Last Cruise Labor Day Monday, 9/6/04. The house is quiet today. Pamela Kane, author, mother, friend, lover, left for her final journey yesterday morning. So So SoBe We decided to “bring on da funk” in South Beach rather than committing ourselves to the prisons that are plastic hotels, the same the world around. Storming the Beaches of Belize Armed only with snorkels, masks, fins, and cameras, my husband and I advanced upon the beaches of Belize and the rivers of Guatemala. Let's Get Leid Our fearless and frugal freelancer visits the 50th state. A Vacation in Ruins Andy came home from work one day and said, "You look crabby … let's go somewhere." The Cruise from Hell Join us on our final "do-it-yourself" cruise of the Chesapeake, the year before I boarded the Meridian for my first cruise ship experience... Playa Del Carmen Situated about 60 kilometers south of Cancun, "Playa" is the center of what's now called the Mexican Riviera... Marco Polo Sailing: February 1998 - En Zed to Oz OZ? No, not the Emerald City... we've left Kansas, Toto... Sea Cloud My husband and I, lifelong small boat sailors, craned our necks and smiled foolishly as what seemed like acres of canvas caught the winds... Singapore ... before boarding Song of Flower we escaped the disapproving looks of our official tour people and grabbed a cab ... Vietnam Saigon, Hue, Hanoi – hardly ideal vacation spots 30 years ago... Amsterdam It was a most unusual sight, even for eclectic, hectic Baltimore. A forest of industrial cranes and small mountains of potash and bituminous surrounded a luxury cruise ship, Holland America's new Amsterdam... Meridian  - A Memoir As we steamed out of New York harbor, champagne flutes in hand, the ship's horn saluted the Statue of Liberty with four long blasts. I fell in love again. This time with 30,000 tons of steel, brass, mahogany and teak.