Serious baseball fans love to head south to take in their favorite teams gearing up for next season during spring-training games. Another option is available even farther south with the Winter League Baseball Season in the Dominican Republic, home to many of the stars and prospective stars of Major League Baseball. The Dominican Winter League regular season runs from October into December, with six teams playing a 50-game schedule. Playoffs extend into January. Teams are made up of Dominican pros and also players from MLB’s minor league teams. Caribbean Dream offers the chance to attend a game at one of the two closest stadiums to Punta Cana. Cost is $400 for two and includes a driver and professional guide and entrance to the ballpark. Additional people can be added to the outing at a higher price, which will bring down the per-person cost. Most games are night games. Info: 844-378-6877, tinyurl.com/mxl4hyp
Learning with Road Scholar
Lifelong learning through travel is the credo of Road Scholar, a not-for-profit organization formerly known as Elderhostel that offers trips around the world for adults. Offerings on the website can be sorted by a variety of criteria, including interests and activity level. Under Intriguing Islands, for instance, you’ll find 20 trips in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada. In British Columbia there’s The Enchanted Wilderness of Coastal British Columbia — Wildlife Viewing. This is a seven-day/six-night trip that includes viewing black and grizzly bears. There are four expert-led lectures and eight field trips. Price is from $1,485 per person double occupancy. Island Adventure: Discover Chincoteague and Assateague Islands explores these popular Virginia islands and the famous Chincoteague wild ponies. The $585 price covers three nights’ lodging, most meals, six expert-led lectures, two field trips and three performances by local entertainers. Find information on all of the islands outings at tinyurl.com/pwzbh5e
Best affordable foodie cities
If you like to travel and you like to eat, you might want to look over the results of a study by WalletHub, which lists what it calls the Best and Worst Foodie Cities for your Wallet. The methodology for the study gives a lot of weight to cost of groceries, which isn’t really relevant to travelers looking for good restaurant grub, but it also considers number of restaurants, prevalence of affordable restaurants, number of food festivals and 14 other criteria. Orlando, Fla., ranks at the top in the overall rankings and Henderson, Nev., at the bottom. Foodie meccas such as Chicago and New York don’t fare all that well, coming in at 126 and 143, respectively. Probably more interesting and useful are individual categories such as Highest/Lowest Number of Restaurants per Capita and Highest/Lowest Number of Craft Breweries and Wineries per Capita. Check it all out at tinyurl.com/lswlbbu
