Blue Star Museums: California

Just in time for the start of summer, the Blue Star Museum initiative offers free admission to active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day, May 30, 2011, through Labor Day, September 5, 2011.

The Blue Star Museums initiative is a partnership among Blue Star Families, the National Endowment for the Arts, and more than 1,000 museums across America.  Our map below shows the California museums that are participating.

Rubber Meets The Road: IndyCar & NASCAR

The Indianapolis 500 is coming up soon, which is one of the premier auto races of the year.  The Indy 500 is also celebrating it's 100th year, which AmericanProfile magazine talks about in "The Indy 500 at 100".

The other popular auto racing series is presented by NASCAR, which runs three racing series (Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and Camping World Trucks).

Where do they race?  Check out our map to see all the tracks.  Hurry up though, since the 2011 season has already started.

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The Coolest And Biggest Urban Parks

Cities have a lot of advantages, but not necessarily a lot of green space.  Finding a place to get lost in nature can be important, both if you live in the city or if you are just visiting.

To help you "get away from it all" in the city, we've mapped two lists:

Travel + Leisure - America's Coolest City Parks (12 parks)
Wikipedia - Urban Parks by Size (10 of the biggest)

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Northern California Activities: Spotlight on Kijubi

Every trip starts the same way:
Where are you going, and what do you want to do?

There are plenty of websites that help you find a place to go and how to get there (here's our list), but what can you do when you're there?  Sure you can find lots of attractions to visit, but what about something outside of the box?  That's where companies like Kijubi come in.

Kijubi is an experience marketplace, where you can find activities and experiences that don't fit in a box, but they can fit into your budget.

Although Kijubi helps you find things to do around the world, we'll focus on Northern California this time.  What could you be doing?  Use our map to find out.

Mothers Day Things To Do

It's Mothers Day soon, and do you know what you plan to do?

To give you some ideas, we've collected a few of our previous articles & maps to help you out:

• America's Most Romantic Restaurants
• Sunset - 50 Romantic, Beach and Hideaway Places To Stay At
• Hotels For Business, Pleasure And Weird
• Best Resorts in the Caribbean
• 2010 Top 100 Chinese Restaurants
• Unique Spas in North America
• Sunset - Top 10 Hideaways by the Sea
• Travel + Leisure - America's Best Coastal Hotels

And if you'll be taking the kids with you (you know, the ones that make a mother a mother), or want some sweets for your sweetie, then consider these:

• 15 Places Your Kids Should See Before 15
• America's Best Hot Chocolate
• Where Is The Best Pie In America?
• America's Best Donuts - Where Are They?

Let us know what was the most interesting.