Crescent Beach makes top 20

Block Island’s Crescent Beach is one of the “The 20 Best Beaches in America,” according to Men’s Journal, on newsstands now. It was chosen under the “family beach” category and described as “a stretch of sand (that) suits young families so well that the locals call it Baby Beach. Here toddlers wade in shallow tide pools, discovering mussels, crabs, and sand dollars while their parents recover on the crowdless sands.”

Lady Liberty’s crown reopens

After nearly eight years, the Park Service on July 4 finally reopened the Statue of Liberty’s crown, which had been closed to visitors since 9/11.

But don’t imagine you can just climb right up there anytime soon: As of Friday, it was all booked up through Labor Day.

Due to the cramped area involved, visits to the crown are limited to groups of 10 at a time, with about three groups ascending per hour or around 240 visitors per day. Reservations, made through the National Park Service’s ferry concessionaire, Statue Cruises, for up to one year in advance, began being taken June 13 and by now the entire summer is sold out.

Crown tickets are an additional $3 and must be combined with reserved ferry tickets, which are $12 per adult. There is a maximum of four tickets per reservation. Call (877) 523-9849 or visit www.statuecruises.com for information and reservations.

Story hour at Plimoth Plantation

Visitors to Plimoth Plantation will find two new programs: a weekly story hour for children and a reenactment of what a religious service would have been like in the 17th-century Colony.

The story hour is held Fridays at 2 p.m. at the living history attraction’s Family Discovery Station. Guests will hear entertaining children’s tales from the Colony, with art and play components.

The other program is designed in part to dispel a myth that the Pilgrims believed in religious freedom. Religious practices in the Colony were mandated by its founders.

“Today the separation of church and state is part of the American experience, but 400 years ago religion was integral to all aspects of life in Colonial New England,” said Ellie Donovan, Plimoth Plantation’s acting executive director.

Visitors can take part in the service and can ask questions. The program is offered Thursdays and Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. through August.

Take a comic along in Central Park

Comics Whoopi Goldberg and Jerry Seinfeld are among the celebrities featured in new free audio tours of Central Park.

Signs posted throughout the park will provide a phone number and a code that visitors and locals can dial to hear the tours from the Central Park Conservancy.

Alec Baldwin, Kevin Bacon and Isabella Rossellini are featured also.

Some celebs share personal memories along with the bits of history.

Spoiler alert! Whoopi learned to skate at Wollman Rink.

Details at centralpark

nyc.org.

Web site can plan your next stop

Looking for fun things to do when you travel?

Check out a new Web site called nextstop.com where users offer up ideas for interesting places and activities, from obscure cafes to major landmarks.

Some nextstop members recommend things they encounter in their travels, while others are locals suggesting favorite places from their hometowns and neighborhoods.

Many users create mini-guides with evocative titles such as “Man Up Texas BBQ: Eating our way through Texas’ BBQ joints” and “I miss Pasadena, won’t you go there for me?”

You can browse recommendations on a map, by city, by topic or keyword, or by following a member of the Web site whose posts you enjoy. The site also suggests other members with similar tastes for you to check out, and makes it easy to share nextstop posts on Facebook, Twitter and blogs.

But it’s just as much fun to create your own guide as it is to browse through others. You come up with a theme for your guide, name a place related to that theme, and a selection of images appears for you to choose from. Pick a photo, then write a quick, short caption or review. Add a few more items and your guide is complete.

Nextstop was developed by Carl Sjogreen, who was part of the team that worked on Google Calendar, and Adrian Graham, part of the team that worked on Picasa.

Walking tour vacations

Before you leave for your next vacation, do an online search for podcast walking tours of your destination. You’d be surprised how many of them there are out there: A Harvey Milk-themed tour of San Francisco’s Castro district (at insidestories.typepad.com), Texas Tourism’s guide to five Texas cities (.traveltex.com), Rick Steves’ tours of Parisian and Italian favorites (ricksteves.com) and even a shopping tour of Los Angeles (downtownlawalks.com). Just don’t forget your iPod or MP3 player charger!