Hands-on learning to be had in this list

NEW YORK CORNING, N.Y. CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Parents magazine conducted a survey of the more than 150 science centers in the U.S. and discovered that about a third of them have galleries designed for kids 6 and under.

The magazine's September issue also listed the country's 10 best science centers, with an emphasis on those catering to younger children with hands-on exhibits and family-friendly experiments.

They are the Center Of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio; the Exploratorium in San Francisco; the Museum of Science in Boston; Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, N.J.; the St. Louis Science Center in St. Louis; the New York Hall of Science in Flushing, Queens; the California Science Center in Los Angeles; the Sci-Port Discovery Center in Shreveport, La.; the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia; and the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore.

Parents magazine also identified 15 runners-up, including Discovery Place in Charlotte and Sci-Works in Winston-Salem.

The other runners-up are Discovery Science Center, Santa Ana, Calif.; Detroit Science Center, Detroit; Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh; the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center, Mobile, Ala.; the Louisville Science Center, Louisville, Ky.; Pacific Science Center, Seattle; Wonderlab Museum of Science, Health & Technology, Bloomington, Ind.; Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago; The Children's Museum of Science and Technology, Troy, N.Y.; Science City at Union Station, in Kansas City, Mo.; Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley, Calif.; Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, Vt.; and Discovery Science Place, Tyler, Texas.

Finger Lakes wine trail celebrates 25 years

The Cayuga Wine Trail in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York is celebrating 25 years this month.

The trail started in 1983 with five wineries. Today the trail consists of 16 family-owned wineries and is part of Finger Lakes Wine Country, the largest producer of New York wines. The wineries are hosting several events to mark the harvest season.

Knapp Vineyards is hosting a harvest dinner with regional food and wine, Sept. 13, www.knappwine.com, while the Cobblestone Farm Winery has a grape-stomping festival, Sept. 13-14, www.cobblestonefarmwinery.com

Lucas Vineyards has a German Festival, with music, polka contest and German food, Sept. 14, www.lucasvineyards.com.

Buttonwood Grove Winery hosts a fall festival with a band and tastings, Sept. 20, www.buttonwoodgrove.com, and Montezuma Winery has an old-fashioned hoedown with fiddlers and food, Sept. 20, www.montezumawinery.com.

More events are scheduled at other wineries.

Details at www.cayugawinetrail.com (click on "trail events").

S.C. Tourism launches mobile Web sites

If you're heading for a South Carolina getaway, there's a new way to get information while you are on the way.

The state Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism has launched two new Web sites for people with smart phones and handheld devices.

The sites provide information about events, lodging, shopping, dining and state parks but without all the maps, photos and graphics of the department's main Web sites.

The department says the sites allow travelers to easily access the information they need in a way that's easy to use while they are on the road.

The new sites are at www.DiscoverSouthCarolina.mobi and www.SouthCarolinaParks.mobi.