Girl About the World

While in Belize recently, I participated in a program called the Toledo Ecotourism Association (TEA), which was founded in 1990 to encourage visitors to make it to the Maya, Garifuna, and Kekchi villages of southern Belize, well off the typical beaten path for travelers.

I plan to write more on my experience later (which was definitely worthwhile), but for now, I’ll give you a little tour into the village guesthouses, which is something I couldn’t find any information on before I left. I’m told that all the villages have the same guesthouse, and there are currently six villages participating in the program for overnight stays: San Jose, Santa Elena, San Antonio, Laguna, Medina Bank, and San Miguel. I was in San Jose. (Fair warning that I’m apparently a horrible videographer — this was my first attempt at it. I’ll work on it for the future!)

Inside a TEA Guesthouse from Haley Shapley on Vimeo.

Kids gather around a touchpool at Georgia Aquarium.

I’ve written quite a bit about Atlanta before — like my search for the adorable newsman Anderson Cooper and my obsession with a fish that looks exactly like a grandpa — and this time, I’ve tackled the family-friendly attractions in the city for The Family Groove.

There’s tons to do in Atlanta with kids of all ages. You might want to start downtown, where the Georgia Aquarium (the world’s largest) and the World of Coca-Cola sit as two behemoth attractions within sight of each other. But that’s just the beginning of this friendly Southern city’s sights for small fries. For more suggestions on where to eat, play, and sleep in the area, check out the story here.

Location: Portsmouth, New Hampshire

(for a full-size version, click any photo)

My sister wasted no time turning the backseat of the rental car into her own personal garbage can.

A few years ago, my family decided to resurrect the family vacation, even though we’re all grown up now. Once a year, the four of us — my mom, dad, sister, and I — set off somewhere together, which is always a good recipe for hijinks ensuing. This was the first year, however, that we really threw it back to old times and did a classic road trip, our vacation of choice when I was growing up.

Quickly, the joys of car traveling with my whole family returned to me — my mom’s sense of direction failed at nearly every turn; my dad pushed his seat all the way back to ensure I had no leg room; and in no time, my sister had turned the backseat we shared into a veritable garbage dump. She also thought it was funny to stick a Goldfish cracker in my mouth while I was sleeping, which made for a confusing and unpleasant sensation in my mouth when I woke up. When I tried to return the favor, my mom threw a fit, claiming that my sister would choke to death and forbidding me from doing it (she had, my sister confirmed when she woke up, wholeheartedly supported her attempts to mess with me).

Ahh, the memories. It’s all those little annoyances that help make road trips what they are. (At least, that’s what I told myself when my parents insisted on taking a route that was clearly marked as closed, then became shocked 20 minutes later when the road was blocked off and we had to turn around.)

If you’re road-tripping it with a car full of adults like we were, well, you’re on your own, but if you’ve got young’uns in tow, check out my story for The Family Groove on the top tips from parents for family road adventures. It’ll help make your vacation as smooth as possible. But don’t worry — there will still be spilled crayons, inconveniently needed bathroom breaks, and a chorus of “are we there yets?” No road trip would be complete without a few bumps, and that’s half the fun.

One of the buildings shown in the movie "Hocus Pocus"

A little snippet of what it’s like traveling with my family:

On the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 a week ago, I stood with my family on a street corner in Salem, Massachusetts. As we waited for the light to change, a young woman approached us.

“Are you from around here?” she asked.

“No, we’re from Washington state,” my stepdad replied.

We chatted a bit about that, and she then explained that down the street, a memorial was soon taking place and that we should consider attending.

“In 10 minutes, you said?” my stepdad asked.

“Yes,” she confirmed, clearly thinking we’d start walking with her.

“Well, we’re gonna go see the Hocus Pocus house right now,” he replied, beaming widely as he remembered the 1993 cult classic. He loves how dumb the Sanderson sisters are.

“Thanks for letting us know!” the rest of us said, as we parted ways. Once she was out of earshot, I started in: “The Hocus Pocus house?!” I spat out.

“Yeah, why would we want to go to some funeral?” he asked.

“It’s the anniversary of Sept. 11 — that’s what the memorial’s for,” I patiently explained, as my mom and sister couldn’t contain their laughter in the background.

“Oh, I thought she kind of looked at me funny when I said we were going to the Hocus Pocus house,” he replied, pronouncing it as “Hocust Pocust” and drawing out the syllables the way he always does.

“Thanks a lot,” I said. “Now we’re that family.”

Photo courtesy of Schlitterbahn Waterparks

Growing up in the Northwest, there weren’t a lot of opportunities to go to water parks — the best we have is Wild Waves in Federal Way, which I enjoyed well enough when I was younger, but it really doesn’t compare to others across the country. If I had lived in New Braunfels or Denver or Orlando or Wisconsin Dells, you can bet I would’ve had a season pass to the parks there, which feature all the lazy rivers, uphill water coasters, speed slides, wave pools, dump buckets, and fountains a water-loving kid (and her parents) could ask for.

Want to beat the heat this summer at a cool water park? Check out my story in June’s issue of The Family Groove on four great water parks for kids.

My friend Allie curiously scans "Please YoursELF: Sex with the Icelandic Invisibles."

A few weeks ago, I wrote about some travel books I have on my shelf. Interestingly enough, this post is about one that’s not on my shelf (and I think it’s safe to say never will be): Please YoursELF. I’m reminded of this rather rare read because I heard about it while in Iceland with my friend Allie last summer, and I attended Allie’s wedding last week. When she caught wind of it, she went on a mission to find it, and we scoured a few stores before discovering the proverbial pot of the gold at the end of the rainbow.

Please YoursELF is a guide to, well, getting it on with hidden people (a sizable percentage of people in Iceland believe in elves, gnomes, and other hidden people, and the majority believe you can’t rule out their existence). It was written by Hallgerður Hallgrímsdóttir, whom The Reykjavík Grapevine describes as “the leading authority on the mystic art of elf sex.” How one gets such a prestigious designation, I don’t know, but Hallgerður claims to have been enjoying these otherworldly encounters for some time. Limber and light, elves are ideal partners for a few reasons, she says. For starters, they have no sexually transmitted diseases, and you can’t get pregnant by an elf or impregnate an elverine (a female elf, of course) unless you both want to.

As you can see from the photo, Allie enjoyed perusing through this guide, but now that she’s a taken woman, I fear she’ll never get to put the tips she learned to good use. But if you’re headed for Iceland and find mere mortal romance to be a bit boring, now you know where to turn to learn about diversifying your repertoire.