Visitors to historic downtown Charleston can get the most out of their stay by taking a range of interesting city tours.

(SouthernLiving.com) — We went on 19 tours — that’s a lot of Charleston — and then worked up this list of the five best ways to explore historic downtown.

Palmetto Carriage Works

Who it’s for: First-time visitors who want a 101 overview of downtown Charleston — or anyone looking for a refresher course.

Why we picked it: After we tried every carriage company in town, Palmetto stood out for its guides’ wit and historic accuracy.

Southern Living tip: Palmetto offers free downtown parking.

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CHEYENNE, Wyo.

A grizzly bear clan famous for its frequent roadside appearances in Grand Teton National Park is keeping park rangers especially busy this summer tending to tourist critter jams.

The cubs are cute – no question about that – but a female grizzly with cubs happens to be one of the most dangerous animals in North America. And this Grand Teton clan has a history: One attacked a hiker; another was shot and killed by a hunter.

Biologists speculate the unusually camera-friendly behavior by Grizzly No. 399 and her daughter, No. 610, might serve to keep at bay adult male grizzlies, which sometimes kill cubs not their own.

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(Sunset) — The West’s top national monuments: Build a great vacation around a spectacular island, forest, cliff dwelling, canyon, fossil bed, tower or volcano.

1) Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico

Bandelier has been entrancing people for nearly 1,000 years — from when the Ancestral Pueblo people first began building homes in the cliffs of Frijoles Canyon.

They’re easily seen on the monument’s Main Loop Trail; more ruins can be glimpsed in Tsankawi Canyon to the north.

But archeology isn’t the only reason to come here — the monument is stunningly beautiful, with dramatic mesas and broad views across Northern New Mexico.

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Because I’m flying out tonight on a short, 4-day trip to Europe , I decided to buy one of those new chip-and-PIN Visa credit cards recently created by the Travelex organization . And because I didn’t have the time to order one online , I went on Friday afternoon to one of those Travelex outlets staffed by live human beings on Time Square in New York.

I was treated with full courtesy and competence by the people who manned the Travelex office, who quickly provided me with a card pre-loaded with $500 worth of Euros. I have no complaint against them. But I have a few cautionary words about the Travelex card itself. Read more…

Small meetings are often overlooked when it comes to calculating return on investment, says Catherine Chetwynd – but at what cost?

While nearly 80% of procurement professionals dealing with meetings put cost reduction and return on investment (ROI) at the top of their agenda, the 2011 Grass Roots Meeting Industry Report  also reveals that nearly one fifth (17.94 per cent) of respondents’ companies do not calculate ROI on meetings spend. And Grass Roots believes the real figure is probably double this. Acco

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