Well...maybe it was a culture thing...maybe Judie would have gotten into less trouble in the Catskill Mountains of New York, otherwise know as the Borscht Belt, where some great Jewish performers...like Sid Caesar and Jackie Mason made their start. Then again...the times, they ARE a changin'.

by Marty Goldensohn

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In the Catskills

Why do so few vacationers choose the Catskills for vacation nowadays?

"Most of them go to Florida, now a lot of them are going to Las Vegas, another place for the Jews to go. I was in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago and I thought I was in Miami Beach."

Air travel all but killed the Catskills. So did air conditioning, television, Atlantic City casinos, assimilation, and prosperity. Today people aren't exactly jealous when they hear you're booked at Cutcher's or the Raleigh, so to compete, Catskill resort owners are refurbishing and reaching out to new audiences. Last Hanukkah season the sprawling 2500-room kosher Concord Hotel, which is in bankruptcy but still full of life, featured The Nutcracker on ice. Christmas headlining at the Concord. What next?

Staying close to home we decided to go deeper inside our own country in search of interesting places to hang our hats. How deep you ask? Well... is an underwater hotel deep enough for you?

by Tanya Ott

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Underwater Hotel

The lodge is essentially three interconnected 8- by 20-foot cylinders. The center cylinder, the wet room, stores the scuba gear and houses a bathroom and hot shower. There's a video camera that's monitored from topside for safety reasons, but it's not uncommon for guests to accidentally toss a towel over the lens, then sneak out for a midnight scuba skinny dip. On one side of the wet room are the bedrooms, complete with large picture windows, sort of a 'reverse aquarium', where fish and other creatures can keep an eye on the human guests. Oh yeah, there are also occasionally nighttime scuba divers, who like to peek inside the hotel - not exactly as private as 30-feet under might imply. On the other side of the wet room is the commons area where you can microwave a bag of popcorn and watch a movie on the VCR. Anyone for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea?