For Immediate Release, April 2011

Charleston Explorers Club Launch

ADVENTURES AHOY!
NEW CHARLESTON EXPLORERS CLUB CREATES
FUN-FILLED INTERACTIVE FAMILY VACATIONS

With school winding down and summer quickly approaching, families across the country begin making plans to spend quality time together away from home. Parents are often faced with the time-intensive task of planning a fun-filled family vacation that incorporates entertaining and engaging activities. Luckily, the Charleston Area CVB has launched its new Charleston Explorers Club to aid parents in creative trip planning by offering itinerary ideas that will spark children’s imaginations and fulfill their appetites for adventure. The program presents a fun resource for mapping out vacations filled with excitement and discovery at dozens of participating attractions throughout the destination.

To begin their adventure with the Charleston Explorers Club, families must become “explorers” by obtaining a keepsake passport from any Charleston Area visitor center. With passport in hand, families can embark on a journey through the Charleston area—scout attractions, collect souvenir stamps and log secret codes to win a variety of prizes. From marveling at a mysterious merchant vessel to feeling the splashes of water and gusts of wind at a 4-D aquarium theater, families have their choice from a range of interactive attractions and activities. Every participating attraction has a signature emblematic passport stamp, which explorers can redeem for prizes as they work toward the coveted “Ultimate Charleston Explorer” title – bestowed upon those who progress up the ranks from deckhand to admiral. Experiences for explorers are easily tailored to each family’s personality as the program categorizes activities by themes including adventure, encounter, imagine or unplug, as well as through age with the “engage by age” listings.

A comprehensive list of Charleston Explorers Club participating activities and sites can be found at www.charlestonfamilyfun.com. Below is a sampling:

• Charles Towne Landing
Adventure is berthed at this historic park on the S.S. Adventure, the reproduction 17th century merchant vessel docked at the birthplace of the Carolina colony. Families can also tour the natural habitat zoo for a chance to see incredible wildlife or recreate an Indiana Jones moment at the park’s in-progress archeology dig.

• Fort Moultrie
This colonial military bastion is perched on the tip of Sullivan’s Island, adjacent to the shipping channel where pirates, swashbucklers and military heroes once tread. Kids can examine historic cannons or discover writings by once-stationed writer Edgar Allen Poe at the interpretive center.

• South Carolina Aquarium
At this underwater world of imagination for curious guppies, families explore the state’s distinct maritime zones, from mountain streams to the gulfstream. Visitors can check out life-sized, aquatic-themed play structures or even come face-to-face with a sea turtle nearly the size of a Volkswagen Beetle.

• Charleston Museum
This is the first museum in America and a virtual treasure chest of cultural artifacts, including guns, buttons, bones and a mummy. Curiosities hidden in the museum can be uncovered through a challenging and exciting scavenger hunt.

• Middleton Place
Families are invited to step back in time and envision life on a bustling plantation with the visit to the stableyards, where pottery, weaving, blacksmithing, candle-dipping and open fire cooking methods are demonstrated. Kids will delight at the sight of guinea hogs and water buffalo, or can read the handwritten letters exhibited in Beyond the Fields, a richly illustrated collection of rare images, archeological artifacts and historical documents.

• Heyward Washington House
A historic home once owned by a patriot leader, signer of the Declaration of Independence and artillery officer with the South Carolina militia during the American Revolution and was also used as a private hotel for President George Washington during his weeklong visit in 1791.

• Charleston County Parks and Recreation
Campgrounds and cottages, a climbing wall and nature camps – the county’s family of parks offers twelve diverse locations, each with its own outdoor recreation opportunities. At three beautiful beachfront parks, families can cast a line into the Atlantic Ocean from the end of the second longest pier on the east coast or paddle a kayak through habitats popular with rare wildlife, including American Alligators, Swallow-tailed Kites and Bald Eagles.

The mission of the Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau is to unify and lead the local travel industry in marketing the Charleston area as an individual, meeting, incentive and group destination to both the domestic and international markets. For more information, visit explorecharleston.com

###

[email protected]