I spend a lot of time at the theme parks throughout Central Florida. I've sweated it out in 100-degree temperatures to ride popular roller coasters and battled crowds to see the return of beloved parades and shows after the coronavirus pandemic caused them to be canceled. The theme park life is fun, but stressful at times. But there's a place where my family has never experienced a stressful day — Volcano Bay, the South Seas-themed water park located at Universal Orlando Resort.

I took horseback riding lessons in elementary school for about two weeks. I stopped going because the horses made me more than a little nervous. Years later, my husband attempted to take me on a romantic horseback ride through the West Virginia mountains. It did not end well. So when I learned that a few hours from my home, in Ocala, Fla., there was a fully horse-themed hotel located on the grounds of a giant equestrian sporting venue, I wondered: Could spending a weekend immersed in the horse girl life at The Equestrian make me less nervous about horses?

Move over, fondue, there's a new cheese in town and it comes with its own grill. Raclette, a cheese made to be melted and scraped over food, hails from countries like France and Switzerland and has a slightly pungent aroma and a salty, slightly nutty flavor. It gives a melted Swiss vibe in its appearance, and has a flavor similar to Gruyere.

At his acclaimed, Michelin-starred restaurant, Le Bernardin, chef Eric Ripert serves up seafood delicacies like scallops, lobster and octopus. But something the French chef will never add to his menu is brains.

"I basically eat everything except for brains," Ripert tells Yahoo Life. "I do not like brains.

In the weeks leading up to my first voyage aboard the Margaritaville at Sea cruise line, I was lost in research. Unlike its competitors, sailing on the Margaritaville Paradise seems downright cheap. Many sailings on the line's booking calendar start at around $100 per guest, leaving this frequent cruiser questioning what I was getting myself into.

As a journalist who writes about theme parks, I spend a lot of time at Universal Orlando Resort. As other Orlando theme parks have continued to raise prices without much benefit to guests, Universal has become a favorite hangout for my family of four. But on my birthday this year, I asked my clan to experience something completely new together: A private VIP tour of Universal Studios Florida and Universal's Islands of Adventure.

On Next Level Chef, Gordon Ramsay encourages culinary hopefuls to cook great food that will save them from elimination and get them one step closer to winning the reality cooking competition. But his gentle demeanor and calm way of explaining cooking techniques is vastly different from the Ramsay Hell's Kitchen fans are used to seeing on their televisions.

I had no idea what to expect when I packed my bag for a day at Silver Dollar City (SDC), a theme park located in the Ozark Mountain Region of Branson, Mo. Before walking through the park gates, I knew only a few things: the park is set in the 1880s, it's known for its food — like barbecue and cinnamon bread — and a friend who had previously visited described the overall experience as a "fever dream" ... in the best possible way.

As anyone who's visited Florida can tell you, the temperatures stay pretty hot in the Sunshine State, especially in the spring and summer months. So Walt Disney World Resort's (WDW) team of horticulture specialists have quite a task during the EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival — an event celebrating all things that bloom and blossom, which runs from early March through early July.

On How I Met Your Father, Hilary Duff spends time with friends at Manhattan bars and trendy dinner parties. But in real life, the 35-year-old mom of three says she's become "a short-order chef" in her own kitchen.

"It's tough. Some days are tougher than others,” she tells Yahoo Life of cooking for Luca, 10; Banks, 4; and Mae, 1.

Gumbo is the state cuisine of Louisiana, so on a recent trip to New Orleans, trying as many gumbo recipes as possible was at the top of my must-do list. The flavorful soup, made from meat or shellfish (sometimes both), a thickener and the "holy trinity" — celery, bell peppers and onions — is typically served with a scoop of rice. A steaming bowl of gumbo is a delightful way to start a meal in NOLA, but the most spectacular version I tried was chef Eric Cook's recipe, served up at his restaurant, Gris-Gris.

As the fourth of 12 children, Dolly Parton spent lots of time watching her mother cook, but it's a recipe from her dad that she often uses to start her 9 to 5. "When we were growing up," she recalls, "sometimes when Momma was sick or having a baby, Daddy would help with the cooking."

Parton still makes her dad's milk gravy (a white gravy made with flour and milk and typically served with sausage and biscuits) for breakfast "at least once a week," she tells Yahoo Life. "My daddy was left-handed, so when he would make that gravy, he would call it 'left-handed gravy,' so we loved Daddy's left-handed gravy."