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Summer Travel: American Girl Fun and All-American Flower Display

If you have an American Girl fan in your home you might consider heading to Cincinnati’s Museum Center at Union Terminal this weekend. That’s where hundreds of tween admirers of the American Girl franchise (from dolls to clothes, books to movies) will be gathering today and tomorrow.

“Kit’s World Tour” serves as the kick-off to next weekend’s nationwide release of the new big screen feature “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl.” The film is based on the books about a 10-year-old budding journalist in Depression-era Cincinnati.

Admission to the event is $10 per person and includes Kit-related activities such as climbing into a treehouse like the ones Kit and pal Ruthie dream of building, making a “Waste Not, Want Not” journal, and playing cub reporter by solving a historical Cincinnati crime.

For a bit more your American Girl fan can take part in a separate “Kit’s Friends Social” (cost is $40 for museum members and $50 for non-members), which includes entertainment, prizes and lunch with a newspaper editor.

ALL-AMERICAN FLOWER DISPLAY

It is known as one of America’s most popular flowers and now several hotels in the Naples, Florida area are bracing for hundreds of blossom lovers to converge on Florida’s Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary beginning this week to catch a sight of the rare ghost orchid.

The elusive flower was discovered in the sanctuary last year and area lodgings are now trying to cash in on the craze by offering a slew of special promotions. Sixteen area hotels are offering ghost orchid rates from $59 to $299 with some covering the cost of sanctuary admission (valued at $10).

You might recall that the rare flower was the subject of the best seller The Orchid Thief and its movie spin-off, Adaptation, which featured the fascinating world of orchid enthusiasts. There are believed to be only about 1,000 ghost orchids in southwest Florida, but few are easily accessible, and their whereabouts are kept under wraps to protect them from poachers.

That’s why the blossoms at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary are so special. The specimens housed there are within 100 feet of a public walkway. What’s more, last year the sanctuary’s plant produced an unprecedented 12 flowers in a single blooming. Experts say the blooms typically last three weeks so if you want to see the rare flower now is the time to visit.

Related Articles:

The Ultimate Travel Destination for Little Girls

Mother-Daughter Vacations

American Girl Place – New York, NY

This entry was posted in Seasonal Travel and tagged , , , , by Michele Cheplic. Bookmark the permalink.

About Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism. She spent the next ten years as a television anchor and reporter at various stations throughout the country (from the CBS affiliate in Honolulu to the NBC affiliate in Green Bay). She has won numerous honors including an Emmy Award and multiple Edward R. Murrow awards honoring outstanding achievements in broadcast journalism. In addition, she has received awards from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association for her reports on air travel and the Wisconsin Education Association Council for her stories on education. Michele has since left television to concentrate on being a mom and freelance writer.