Travelsmartplanet

The Daytona Beach Drive–In Church – Back in 1953 when this was still the Neptune Drive-In Theater, The First Christian Church organized the first drive-in service.

Buying the property in 1957, they now welcome everyone – tourists, the physically challenged, families with kids or those looking for a unique way to worship (honking your horn = clapping).

Services typically last for about 55 minutes and they offer hot coffee and Krispy Kreme donuts before and after each service in Friendship Hall.

Perfect for those going to swim on Sunday (don’t need to wear your Sunday best!) – just stay in the car, tune in on your radio, and at the end Rev. Robert Kemp-Baird will shake your hand through the window – then you can zip across the street to the beach.

Location: Daytona Beach Drive In Christian Church, 3140 South Atlantic Avenue
Daytona Beach Shores, FL 32118
Hours: Sun 8:30 & 10
Tel: 386-767-8761
driveinchurch.net
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions: DaytonaBeach.com

Monster Jam® brings high-octane entertainment to fans around the country, offering a most action-packed live event on four wheels.

Celebrating 25 years of adrenaline-fueled family amusement, Monster Jam combines spontaneous entertainment with the ultimate off-road, motorsport competition.   World-class drivers compete in front of capacity crowds in both monster truck racing and freestyle competitions.

Monster Jam features some of the most recognizable trucks around including Grave Digger®, Max-DTM, El Toro Loco® and Monster Mutt®, Bad News Travels Fast, Aftershock,  Krazy Train and Mechanical Mischief.

These Monster Jam scenes leave you on the edge of your seat, with competitors performing jaw-dropping displays of gravity-defying feats,  thrilling fans with freestyle, racing, donuts, wheelies and exhilarating action.

For the ultimate Monster Jam® motorsports experience, consider the Pit Party which provides unprecedented access to the Monster Jam trucks and drivers – you can meet the drivers, get their autographs, take photos and see the trucks up close. Pit Passes are sold separately in addition to your admission ticket and is available for the Saturday, February 4th 1 pm performance only.

To buy tickets: ticketmaster.com/venueartist/114999/1542376?brand=florencecc&camefrom=cfc_florence_website_MonsterJam17

photo credit: Feld Entertainment

Location: Florence Civic Center, 3300 West Radio Dr., Florence, SC 29501
Dates & Times: Friday, Feb 3rd: 7pm, Sat, Feb 4th: 1 pm & 7pm
Tel: 843-679-9417
florenceciviccenter.com
monsterjam.com
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions: visitflo.com

Why not get away with your family to Almonte, ON, just west of Ottawa . The very first reason is that Ed Atwell of Healthy Food Technologies (hft) has figured out how to make low-fat donuts that are scrumptious. He “tricks” the donuts by frying them (in zero trans fat oil) for 1/2 the time and then baking them at the same temperature. Watch the video to see him explain the process he invented.

Now take a walk around the corner and pick up your to-go-with coffee at fair trade high quality Equator Coffee Roasters. They roast the beans right there, having bought them from small-scale farming communities and paid the farmers well. Do not  miss the Oh-so-Canadian maple-flavored latte. It’s worth driving there just for that! Kids can enjoy the hot chocolate.

Next you can pick up snacks for the car or yummies to take home at Dandelion Foods co-op before a 45 min. drive to Wheelers Pancake House and Maple Sugar Camp. D
andelion Foods co-op sells whole, local and organic foods and some for specialty diets. Here you can buy the famous Hummingbird chocolate bars favored by Prime Minister Trudeau. Note the PB & Joy (with peanut butter) and the spicy Mayan.  Please bring back the Empire Cheese caramelized onion cheddar cheese for me.

For lunch and fun, at Wheelers Pancake House you can visit the Maple Museum and the Chainsaw & Logging museum and the kids can have fun in the playground. Handy men and women will be mesmerized by Mark Wheeler’s dad Vernon’s collection of hundreds of chainsaws. Everyone will enjoy his “largest collection of pure maple syrup artifacts” which help explain the history of the maple sugar industry. From First Nations wooden spigots to the plastic lines of today, syrup pour-ers, molds, pails, and everything else related to this sweet topic, it’s all here at this 38-year family business. Don’t forget to leave room for the freshly made pancakes and delicious syrup right from their trees.

For the grand finale, we visited Keith and Elizabeth Adam’s alpacas and llamas at their  Serendipity Farm. For retirement they decided to raise alpacas for the fun of it. The couple exudes their enjoyment of spending their golden years with these elegant, fluffy friends. They’ll chatter about the little quirks of each of the animals as well as the work associated with raising them.

Alpacas produce fiber that is as fine as cashmere, soft, silky and much warmer than sheep’s wool, while also wicking moisture away from the body.
In their little shop you can buy scarves, gloves, purses, as well as fiber felted sheets, alpaca and fiber rovings and handspun yarn.

Leave some time too for the local shops which wind their way along the downtown streets. Yes there’s plenty to do in Lanark County for a low-key interesting getaway weekend. We are not sure how this area attracted so many hippie/free trade/entrepreneurial types who seem to care for the planet. You can feel virtuous spending time and money in this town.

Equator Coffee Roasters, 451-A Ottawa St, Almonte, ON K0A 1A0, Tel: 613-256-5960
www.equator.ca

Dandelion Foods, 541 Ottawa St, Almonte, ON K0A 1A0,  Tel: 1-613-256-4545
www.dandelionfoods.ca

Healthy Food Technologies, 25 Industrial Rd., Almonte ON  Tel: 613-256-9900
(HFT) https://www.facebook.com/HFTinc

Wheelers Pancake House and Maple Sugar Camp, 1001 Highland Line, McDonalds Corners(Lanark Highlands), ON K0G 1M0 Tel: 613-278-2090
www.wheelersmaple.com

Serendipity Farm Alpacas & Llamas,  929 South Lavant Rd, Lanark, ON K0G1K0  Tel: 613-259-3304 or 613-222-6303
www.serendipityalpacas.ca

www.lanarkcounty.ca

The Prince William 5k Turkey Trot and 1 Mile Fun Run is a family friendly and festive celebration of Thanksgiving Day.  The race theme  being: “Trot, Eat, Sleep!” These high energy amusing races highlight Prince William County as a healthy, fun, and active community.

Participants are encouraged to wear their best Thanksgiving themed gear: Pilgrim, Pocahontas, Turkey, Pie, Native American and Colonial. This event will be full of festivities and most importantly tons of fun including music, best costume awards, and a chance to win a Golden Ticket: All runners receive a FRR finish line envelope, the random Golden Ticket awards – “Willy Wonka” style–  featuring a mystery gift.
Top 5 men and women receive Running Store Gift Cards – $100/$75/$50/$25/$25.
100 pumpkin pie Duck Donuts are randomly given to 100 lucky race finishers.

1 Mile Fun Run/Walk: The one mile fun run-walk is a low key non-timed event. The 1 mile race is geared toward the youth, however, runners of all ages and abilities are welcome and beginners are encourage to attend.

Stay Warm! The Freedom Aquatic & Fitness Center has graciously opened its facility so participants and spectators can stay ‘warm’ both pre and post-race. A DJ will play music from 8:00-10:30.

Location: Freedom Aquatics & Fitness Center, 9100 Freedom Center Blvd., Manassas, VA 20110
Date: Sat,  Nov 26, 2016
Time: 8:30 a.m. Prince William Turkey Trot 5K , 9:30 a.m. 1 Mile Run/Walk
funrunracing.com/the-pw-5k-turkey-trot
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions: discoverpwm.com

At Fatz Cafe, the motto on the menu,“Where everybody is a regular”, is true and that’s because they
get addicted to the warm buttery poppy seed rolls (hint of donut taste to us). Locals come for the fried Calabash
chicken, which is marinated in buttermilk and served with honey mustard, and to enjoy the oldies music and photos of
the Florence/PeeDee area in the 60’s and 70’s. 

A popular starter is the fried green tomatoes on cheese grits with remoulade sauce or the shareable hot Cajun firecracker sticks stuffed with spicy shrimp, andouille sausage, onions, peppers, melted cheese in a tomato/basil tortilla. A hit of the meal was the Edisto shrimps and grits made with crumbled bacon in a mushroom burgundy gravy with Parmesan cheese. You could come in for the mahi mahi, spinach salad, ribs, pork chops, burgers or a sirloin steak marinated in hard cider, but you must leave room for the Carolina peach cobbler, which tastes like your gramma made it (vanilla ice cream and walnuts on top).

Location: 2007 W. Lucas, Florence, SC
Tel: 843-413-9186
www.fatzcafe.com
For Regional Accommodations and Attractions: www.visitflo.com
www.drivei95.com