Books by Janice McDonald

Rediscover the simple pleasures of a day trip with Day Trips from Atlanta. This guide is packed with hundreds of exciting things for locals and vacationers to do, see, and discover within a two-hour drive of the Atlanta metro area.

It seems unlikely that a place as far off the beaten track as Aiken, South Carolina, would become the preferred wintering location for the denizens of New York society. But from the late 1800s, the most recognized names in America--the Vanderbilts, the Whitneys, and even the Roosevelts--began coming to this charming Southern city to escape the cold, relax among the oaks, and play. And play they did, establishing Aiken as an international polo capital and a premier place to ride, hunt, and golf. Aiken has so much history beyond the folks known as the winter colonists. Legends of the area's restorative powers date back to Native Americans. Aiken also boasts an amazing number of records, including the destination for the world's longest railroad in 1833 and the second-oldest 18-hole golf course in the United States, the Palmetto Golf Club, built in 1892.

For almost a century, the heart of Myrtle Beach was defined by a place simply called "the Pavilion." From the original structure built in 1908, the Pavilion was the center of the resort town's growing tourism industry. It was a destination point for anyone coming to the Grand Strand. Here you could stroll the Boardwalk, play arcade games, make faces in fun mirrors, ride rides, dance the Carolina Shag, or sit on a bench and watch everyone else do all of the above. The Pavilion underwent several incarnations. The first ones were wooden and vulnerable, but the final was concrete and seemingly indestructible, standing for nearly 60 years. Hardly an architectural marvel, what the Pavilion lacked in grandeur, it made up for in pure old-fashioned fun. The beloved structure and its rides fell prey to economics and a wrecking ball in 2006.