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Going by the numbers, America is gaga about ballroom dancing. The nonprofit USA Dance, Inc., reports a 35 percent spike in the number of people taking lessons and attending ballroom [...]

In her book, Angel on my Shoulder, Natalie Cole tells the story of her parents move to a posh, all-white suburb of Los Angeles in 1947. Residents promptly informed Nat [...]

Singer-songwriter Paul Anka remembers the first check he received after his recording of 'Diana' soared to the top of the pop charts. The amount was $300, modest even by 1957 [...]

Meredith Vieira's alarm clock, strategically placed on husband Richard's side of the bed, blasts forth at 2:30 a.m. She allows herself thirty minutes of extra doze time before reluctantly padding [...]

Watch a segment or two of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and you quickly pick up on the show's winning formula. A bus rolls into town carrying a team of skilled [...]

An online poll recently ranked country music icon Reba McEntire somewhere between June Cleaver and Angelina Jolie on a list of America's favorite celebrity moms. Add this honor to her […]

Dr. Mehmet Oz admits that he tinkers with the rules to favor participants in the Oz Family Olympics. With only four athletes vying for honors, he includes each competitor's sport […]

Judith Sheindlin jokes that as one of a handful of women in her 1965 New York Law School class, she felt 'as welcome as a skunk at a lawn party.' [...]

Who could have guessed that an impromptu sing-along would launch a million-dollar business, ignite a passion for southern gospel music, and rekindle the careers of the pioneers who sing it [...]

What's the weather forecast for tonight?' someone asks Paul, the burly passerby who has just rescued us, but not our rented van, from a snowbank on the wrong side of [...]

What better way to shape up for 1997 than to steal away to a sunny spot for a crash course in exercise and nutrition. Over bowls of steamy oatmeal and [...]

Call it a movement, an awakening, a revival, or a phenomenon. Whatever the handle, 'We've got a tiger by the tail, and it's pulling us ... we're not pulling it,' [...]

No one knows marvin Finn's age: mid-70s perhaps, but he's not telling. As one of Kentucky' most renowned folk artists, h lives in a Louisville public housing project and turns [...]

Annette Funicello wants no pity as she assumes an active role in the .fight against the disease that counts her among its victims--multiple sclerosis. When Annette Funicello was nudged by [...]

For too long, French Canada has been touted as the next best thing to you-know-where. Can't make it to Paris this year? Consider Quebec, goes the advice. Then the advantages [...]

The qualifying rules- are simple enough: if you can walk a half mile or swim a single lap, you can make the team. All others are invited to get in [...]

Two characteristics set radio talk show host Diane Rehm apart from her on-air colleagues. First, there's her voice. Diagnosed a decade ago with an incurable disorder called spasmodic dysphonia, she [...]

We've seen her as Mary Poppins, descending from the heavens, feet pointed out, with one hand gripping a serviceable black umbrella. We've watched her as Maria, arms outstretched, filling the [...]

Tony Bennett credits the late Duke Ellington with giving him a piece of advice that has kept him on the pop charts for 60 years. Ellington, who turned down an [...]

Thou shalt not commit adultery.' This sizzling sentence is not intended to take the joy out of our sex lives, but to put more pride and pleasure into our sexual [...]

Suzanne Sowers is no 'dumb blonde,' although she played one on TV. Forever linked with Chrissy Snow, the ditzy character she portrayed in 88 episodes of the sitcom Three's Company, […]

Depending on your age, your favorite Sally Field role might date back to 1965 and 'Gidget,' the teenage surfer whose antics always landed her in hot water. A gidget, fans [...]

When Jomi Trotter had her right knee replaced three years ago, she emerged from surgery with a locked leg that was as painful as it was clumsy, The doctor urged [...]

Fresh from its 'millennium makeover,' this intimate vacation retreat is a Caribbean never-never land that you'll never never want to leave. A high-powered business executive once arrived on the Caribbean's [...]

Cozy B&Bs dot the coast of Northern California and offer rooms with spectacular views, fireplaces, and in some cases, lodgings for Fido. Four hours north of San Francisco is an [...]

Learning is a blast at this sprawling oceanfront science lab for students of all ages. Good news: 'Recess' is just an hour away. Turn back the calendar to December 21, [...]

By 5:00 a.m., Phyllis Schartner's strawberry fields in rural Thorndike, Maine, are teeming with 300 basket-wielding visitors. Hers is a you-pick-'em farm, and novice 'farmhands' line up early for the [...]

America's presidential libraries have always delivered painless lessons in history; but now they're offering a class in fitness. Usually, reporters come along looking for news, and most of the time [...]

Rent a car on the tiny Caribbean island of Nevis and get ready to get lost. Streets aren't marked, houses aren't numbered, and no traffic lights exist. Ask directions in [...]

Attending dedication-week activities at the Disney Institute near Orlando last spring, a Detroit engineer decided to shed his buttondown demeanor and get goofy. He and his wife signed up for [...]

'The only time not to visit San Antonio,' confides a longtime resident, 'is the first week in January, when the city drains the horseshoe bend of the River Walk as [...]

Mackinac Island residents are accustomed to tourists vowing to move heaven and earth to retire to their remote little piece of paradise. But when a Lansing couple recently announced that [...]

In a business dominated by the young, this 65-year-old smoothie stays on top the competition by watching his weight, curbing his tongue, and keeping two jumps ahead of the trends. [...]

Class meets crass on this tiny two-by-four-mile island at the southernmost point of the United States. Harry was just wild about it, and Hemingway thought the sun also rose and [...]

Despite its emphasis on youth, Park City, Utah, has a soft spot for seniors. Not all athletes who bike up the bluffs or schuss down the slopes are blond, tanned, [...]

Long after the snow melted last spring, 210 residents of Trysil, Norway, clamped on a single pair of skis and trekked two miles across the city they boast is 'the [...]

Olympic fever may have made Spain the hot destination this summer, but after fans lifted their victory toasts of sangria, many headed toward the Costa del Sol, crossed the dusty [...]

Seville-the city that launched Columbus-is about to be discovered, as Expo '92 prepares a tribute to the past and peek at the future. When Desert Shield erupted into Desert Storm [...]

ANGEL SCARE After collecting 14 rejection slips from 14 publishers, most factory-workers-turned-novelists would pack in their typewriters and retreat to the assembly line. But not Frank Peretti. When a small [...]

New attractions blend down-home country with uptown culture and offer enough variety to keep visitors entertained without leaving the city's center. The vertical windows that wrap around Nashville's new Country [...]

Christian books have exploded onto national best-seller lists, thanks to an obscure hero named Jabez and a series of novels that describe the 'end times' to enraptured readers. At a [...]

The 'Arlington alternative' puts you next door to Washington's patriotic attractions, including a trendy new (shhhh) spies tour of the capital city. Francis Gary Powers, Jr., admits that it was [...]

With his 33rd book ready for publication, Robert Schuller celebrates two golden anniversaries: 50 years of ministry and 50 years of marriage. When Rev. Robert Schuller and his wife, Arvella, [...]

Enjoy the ocean on a deeper level in this picturesque Connecticut village that is as magical as its name. Weekend visitors and year-round residents agree that Mystic, Connecticut, is as [...]

Lift the anchor, hoist the sails, swab the deck! Or, just kick back and enjoy the cruise adventure of a lifetime. The 22 passengers arrive by airport limousine, in sport [...]

Sample the 'little apple' and discover a year-round destination rich in history and teeming with activity. There's more to New York than Broadway. Lured by the slogan that 'Ithaca is [...]

In the wake of the Columbine High School tragedy, America's famed evangelist senses a spiritual revival among young people. On New Year's Eve 50 years ago, Billy Graham launched a [...]

Talk radio's quick-witted Dr. Laura took seven years to publish an answer to her young son's question. Now her response has launched a series of best-selling children's books. America's top [...]

New York Chef Anthony Schulz had never heard of Hocking Hills, Ohio, when he applied for a position at The Inn & Spa at Cedar Falls, a snug retreat in the state's remote and picturesque southern third. Trained at the French Culinary Institute and working on Long Island, he was ready for a change, although he admits, "My knowledge of Ohio was limited to Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati." A phone interview led to an invitation to travel west for the ultimate test--to create a four-course meal for the innkeepers, using whatever he found in the kitchen's larder. Not only did he pass the test, but he also caught the vision. ' [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Grinsfelder's plan is to preserve the delicate balance between the inn's rustic setting and its first-class service. The dining room is housed in an 1840s log cabin, but the art on the walls is original, the food on the tables is elegant, and the wines on the list are diverse. Guests can watch Chef Anthony prepare their North Atlantic flounder stuffed with ricotta and sweet basil knowing that the basil came from the herb garden located atop the inn's roof, safely out of reach of the deer that wander the grounds. Hocking Hills--all 11,000 square acres of it--is a sprawling community of cottage industries in the truest sense of the term. Some 200 innkeepers offer cottages, cabins, and rooms to the thousands of tourists who visit each year. Although summer and fall are considered high season for guests, "winter and early spring are my favorite times," says Grinsfelder, whose mother opened the inn in 1987 to provide a place where city dwellers could retreat to a natural setting. Less than an hour's drive southeast of Columbus, the region is a doable destination for urbanites in need of rejuvenation. "Baby boomers are our largest single group of visitors," says Karen Raymore, a recent transplant from northern Wisconsin and now the executive director of the local tourism association. "People that age--and I'm one of them--like to prove that they can still hike, climb, and zipline." Zipline? The latest craze to hit the area has adventure-seekers locked in harnesses and zipping along a network of cables at speeds up to 50 mph. The thrill begins with a 1.5-mile drive via golf cart through the woods to where a giant oak awaits. Guests climb up to a launch pad and for the next two and a half hours are airborne as they soar from one platform to another, some located as high as 70 feet above ground. The views are incredible (if you dare look down) and include the Hocking River, a waterfall, and dramatic rock and cliff formations. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The same rough terrain that draws zipliners also lures hikers who prefer to enjoy the scenery with their boots planted firmly on the ground. Nearby Hocking Hills State Park is massive, as is the state forest that surrounds it. A series of caves is easily accessible through trails and bridges that were built as public works projects during the Great Depression. The steps are still sturdy and the passages from cave to cave are large and airy, causing one claustrophobic hiker to remark with relief, "It's not like slipping through a birth canal." To generate tourism after the spectacular fall foliage season, park officials schedule events that help fill the inns and cabins during the slow months. A six-mile winter trek draws 3,000 and has been a January tradition since 1965; a "sweethearts hike" commemorates Valentine's Day; and March guests learn the process of turning maple sap into syrup before sitting down for a hardy pancake breakfast. Innkeepers collaborate with local venues to put together "packages" that offer a variety of places to stay, things to do, and restaurants to sample. Working independently, the scores of inns carve out niches that set each one apart from its competition. For example, the Bear's Den Cottages is a "nature and wellness retreat" that focuses on fitness and health. The Inn & Spa at Cedar Falls has a full-service spa that offers mother-daughter getaways and a "desperate housewives package." The Hocking Hills Resort enjoys a reputation as a one-stop wedding destination with an outdoor chapel and an in-house minister. "We're not on Main Street, so we knew we had to be versatile," explains innkeeper Melody Strickland, whose husband, Rand> is certified to officiate at wedding services. Working together, the Stricklands host about 100 weddings each year. Among the most memorable was the formal event they arranged for a New York City couple who were so precise in their plans that they sent recipes for the foods they wanted served at the reception. The pressure was on, but the inn passed the test, recalls Melody. "If we can do that, we can do anything." For more information about Hocking Hills crafts and points of interest, visit our Web site at saturdayeveningpost. com/hockinghills.