Janice Brown,

Founder and Editorial Director

This is such an exciting time of the year. Trees and flowers are in full bloom, warm evenings have become the norm, and school is coming to a close.

Many people use New Year’s Eve to start anew, declaring resolutions and counting the years that have passed. For me, it’s Memorial Day. This holiday weekend seems to scream “game on” to summer. Days are longer, beaches and parks adopt their extended hours, and outdoor patios are bustling. This is the time I feel most alive and connected to my community. After a long winter of driving through snow and running from building to building in heavy clothes, nothing is more freeing than bare feet.

Having three kids, two dogs, two cats, and a fish translates into an unusually full plate. But in the summer, it is bursting at the seams, overflowing with scheduled relaxation! We spend long weekends at the beach house, travel in an RV for a week, and organize as many outings and picnics as we can squeeze in. Everything, even packing up a family of five, seems easier in the summer.

Our pets love it too. Storm windows turn into screens, and rolling around in the warm green grass and swimming are part of the routine once again. And while we are not adventurous enough to have our furry family members join us in the RV (there is barely room for the two-legged members of our family), they do benefit from our weekends away from the city, and spend hours fetching Kongs and tennis balls in the water.

Getting away with your pet is the perfect opportunity to slow down, and this issue offers some amazing destinations for the entire clan, four-footed included. And the best part about taking your pets along? They won’t ask, “Are we there yet?” every five minutes.

Safe travels-

Jason A. Heidemann,

Executive Editor

Here’s a little secret about my obsession with cats. When I was 21, I did the “backpack through Europe on my parents’ dime” thing and ended up spending a couple of days in Amsterdam. Unlike my rowdy college counterparts, I didn’t visit any hash bars, nor did I spend any time gawking my way through the red light district. On the other hand, it’s not like I was there to brush up on culture. I skipped both the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh Museum.

Aside from whiling away endless afternoons eating, drinking, and people watching along the canals, the only actual attraction worthy of guidebook mention I managed to visit was de Poezenboot. De Poezenboot is a floating sanctuary for cats located in the heart of the city’s canal belt and has become a world-famous tourist attraction. It currently houses more than 70 stray and unwanted felines and is a testament to Dutch compassion.

Thirteen years later (almost to the day!) I’m returning to Amsterdam once again, this time with my parents—also cat lovers—in tow. I am hoping that in the short time we’re there that we’ll manage a visit to the Singel Canal, home to de Poezenboot. I can’t help but wonder if any of the kittens or young cats living in the sanctuary back in 1995 are still there. I hope not. I’d like to think they all found loving homes.

But that’s just the tip of the animal-centric iceberg. Amsterdam is just the layover city for a 10-day African safari my parents and I will be experiencing in Tanzania (hey, if we’re going to create a Travel issue, then I need to put my money where my mouth is, right?). None of us have ever been to Africa, and suffice it to say we are chomping at the bit to spend time touring the country’s famous national parks. Elephants, hippos, giraffes, lions, wildebeests, cheetahs, and monkeys are among the dozens of wild animals we are likely to see, and I can hardly believe the trip is just days away from happening.

I look forward to sharing the highlights of this journey with you. Enjoy our annual Travel issue.