On your next outing, choose these rentable get-abouts for the whole family.

By China Williams

Instead of carting the family around in a car to see the sights on your next vacation, skip the traditional get-abouts and cover ground with these curious contraptions that provide amusement no matter how far you travel.

Rent a Funcycle in Cannon Beach, Oregon

Pedal power gets a playful makeover with these recumbent tricycles, perfectly suited for cruising Cannon Beach's nine-mile stretch of packed sand. The trikes come in all sizes: minis for the toddlers and stretches for tall grownups.

Two locally owned companies, Family Fun Cycles (503-436-2247) and Mike's Bike Shop rent recumbents and cruisers for around $12 per hour.

Wait, you've never heard of Cannon Beach? It's one of Oregon's most adorable beach towns, and the humpbacked figure of Haystack Rock had a cameo appearance in the movie "The Goonies" — a favorite for parents who were once kids themselves back in the dark ages of the 1980s. Plus, Cannon Beach is an easy daytrip from Portland, Ore., only 69 miles away.

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We've partnered with the world-renowned travel publisher, Lonely Planet, to bring you the Progressive Driving Destinations Podcast series, which provides useful, innovative and easily accessible travel information.

Today, we're discussing regional preferences in pie. As in pizza pie and flaky dessert pie.

Food Fight - Total Time: 5:16

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This week we're taking a culinary tour through Southern California. Along the way, we'll sample some of the best ethnic cuisine the Left Coast has to offer, beginning with Danish meatballs in Solvang and ending with taste-bud-popping genuine Italian gelato in San Diego.

Southern California is perhaps the world's greatest culinary melting pot. Whether your passion is burrowing into burritos or scarfing Pad Thai to Elvis music, So-Cal's all that and a bag of chips – here's just a sampler platter. Loosen that seat belt. SoCal is known for foods from Latin America and Asia, but we begin our journey with old-world comfort food in Solvang, which bills itself as the Danish capital of America. No trip to this quaint red-painted timber-built town is complete without æbelskiver (apple fritters) at Solvang Restaurant; they're so popular that there's a special takeout window. Bit o' Denmark serves a classic smorgasbord (Danish buffet) of over two dozen items in Solvang's oldest building (1911); don't miss the frikadeller (Danish meatballs).

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By Greg Benchwick

Cotton-candy dreams still run free in America. This is, after all, the land that brought you massive wooden roller coasters like Cedar Point's Blue Streak and Coney Island's Cyclone. From steel, sweat, and even a few screams, the U.S. created the juggernauting amusement parks that bring us together every summer to explore the best jaw-dropping adrenaline rushes the world has to offer.

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Road trips are as popular as ever, and we've partnered with world-renowned travel publisher Lonely Planet to bring you some of the best driving trips in the United States. Each trip focuses around a specific theme, locale or passion.

This week's trip takes you on a NASCAR pilgrimage to experience the thrill of stock car racing for yourself.

Whether you spend your Saturday afternoons glued to the television watching NASCAR races, or have just seen "Talladega Nights" enough times to want in on the action, the only way to fully appreciate stock car racing is to experience it up close and in person.

The area around Charlotte, N.C., is the undisputed capital of NASCAR, and it's where the majority of teams, owners, governing bodies and fans are based. Start your trip just north in Concord, where you can experience the thrill firsthand at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

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