There are many things to thrill the kids on a visit to the nation’s oldest continual settlement including ancient reptiles, life-life wax replicas of their favorite movie heroes and the unique opportunity to play ghost hunter.

At one time every schoolchild in America knew that the oldest city in this country was St. Augustine, Fla., despite the fact that Pensacola, on the other end of the Florida panhandle, had been established first. (It was briefly wiped out by a hurricane). St. Augustine still enjoys its notoriety and is yet another hot tourist destination for many on the way to Orlando. In fact, kids especially can enjoy St. Augustine on its own terms and may even leave Florida with stronger memories of its attractions than those further south.

The St. Augustine Alligator Farm is clearly a prime destination spot for those traveling with kids. What kid doesn’t enjoy the sight of these enormous and dangerous prehistoric reptiles? The park provides daily shows and tours and includes more wildlife than just the gators; some children may be even more impressed by the exotic birds.

Potter’s Wax Museum is like hopping into a time travel machine with your kids in more ways than one. Compared to contemporary motion simulation rides and virtual reality experiences, a collection of wax figures is decidedly low tech and will doubtlessly bring back memories from your own childhood. With so few wax museums in operation anymore, many kids today have never had the chance to enjoy the strangely disorienting sensation of looking at such creepily life-like wax figures. St. Augustine’s Potter’s Wax Museum is filled with historical personages and celebrities that both you and the kids will instantly recognize.

The one must-see stop on your trip to St. Augustine that is almost guaranteed to leave your kids breathless is the Ripley Ghost Train Adventure. This incredibly popular attraction gives your family the chance to live the adventures you’ve watched unfold on the Sci-Fi Channel series Ghost Hunters.

Before you board the Victorian-style train you are handed the tools of a certified ghost hunter, including those really nifty electromagnetic field detectors used by the real life ghost hunters on the show. The climax of the Ripley Ghost Train Adventure is a half-hour tour through the appropriately named Castle Warden, a massive and exquisitely detailed recreation of a Moorish castle that became home to the very first Ripley’s Believe or Not Museum. Tour operators make no guarantee that you will actually see any supernatural entities, but plenty of those who’ve taken the trip have claimed to see things that could not be explained.

With freezing temperatures and strong winds, Mount Washington is suitable only for top-notch climbers.

Though the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy calls a towel the most useful item to carry in your pack, when attempting to climb to the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, you really should have a snow shovel. As the “Home of the World’s Worst Weather,” the summit is one of the most dangerous places to reach during the winter months (between October and May).

Arguably one of the toughest climbs in the continental United States, Mount Washington rises 6,288 feet above sea level, but the height isn’t the biggest issue here. With an average annual snowfall of 256 inches and an average temperature of 26.5 degrees Fahrenheit, if the hypothermia doesn’t get you during a climb, an avalanche could possibly bury you or one of your companions.

Falling ice can also be a big problem when attempting to reach the summit. Recent climbing advisories have reported frozen chunks the size of automobiles, which have smashed into rocks and turned them into dangerous flying missiles.

Suffice it to say, only the most experienced climbers should even think about climbing to the top of Mount Washington. The extreme cold combined with the high altitude and gale-force winds can sap the strength from even the most seasoned veteran, so make sure never to climb alone. Avalanches are typically a big problem during the winter months, so make sure to pack a good snow shovel and an avalanche beacon.

Despite the dangerous climate, the summit is home to the Mount Washington Observatory, which has monitored weather conditions and conducted scientific research since 1932. If climbing isn’t an option, you can reach the summit by driving up the auto road or riding the cog railway between May and October. Even in the summer months, the weather can take a nasty turn, so it’s always a good idea to check the conditions before heading out.

No matter how you attempt to reach the top, Mount Washington is one heck of a climb.

Sources:
http://home.earthlink.net/~ellozy/washington.html
Mount Washington Information: http://www.mountwashington.com/
Mount Washington Observatory: http://www.mountwashington.org/about/visitor/
The Cog Railway: http://www.thecog.com/
Mount Washington Auto Road: http://www.mountwashingtonautoroad.com/

Increasing the miles you run should be done gradually and here’s why.

If you’ve been running for a while, are finding the miles you run to be an easy workout and think it’s time to increase the distance you run, what’s a safe way to do it? For some people, they’ll just add a few miles a week and think that will work for them. Several injuries later, they’ll be surprised when it doesn’t. Sure, you could add extra miles every day without thinking it through and you might be lucky and not get injured. But, do you really want to take that chance? Follow these few simple tips though and you might not have to.

The big secret to injury-free mileage increase is to take it slow. Don’t add too many miles a week to the distance you run. It might look easy to add three or four miles extra on every run. Chances are it will end up more difficult than you thought, you’ll have a nasty accident and you’ll spend the rest of the running season sitting on the sidelines instead of running that big race.

Adding just one mile per run during the first week will prevent this from happening. If you add one mile extra for every run you do in a week, by the end of the week you’ll have added an extra four to six miles (I recommend one day of rest). Once you’ve run a week like this, make sure you do at least a month at that same level before you increase your distance again. If you try to increase your mileage per day too soon, you could end up right back where you started or worse.

Also remember, if you’re training for a marathon, build up to it slowly using the same plan. Don’t start out at five miles per run, be up to fifteen miles on week two, and then at full marathon distance by the end of the month. As crazy as it sounds, some runners do try to do this. Most of them however don’t actually end up running a marathon. They end up burned out or nursing a pulled muscle or other injury and wishing they’d taken it slower.

Remember, running longer distances requires smart planning and follow through. Only then can you be sure that you’re taking the best possible care of your body and also running smart. A smart runner is a healthy runner. Runners who forget this do so to their detriment.