Cool critters

The BRV-1 speaker from Braven is quite a little tough guy. Encased in a lightweight but rugged rubber “skin,” the chunky palm-size speaker is both shock- and water-resistant, just raring to be splashed or dropped in the wilds while blasting your music or cellphone conversations. The speaker works via Bluetooth (pairing is simple), or any 3.5mm headphone jack (an audio cable is included). The built-in battery, which charges via an included USB to micro-USB cable (blue LED lights show battery level), can charge cellphones and MP3 players that draw up to 1 amp. (Most tablets require more power and can’t be charged by the BRV-1, though it works fine as a speaker for them). The 6-watt speaker charges fully in about three hours, and provides up to 12 hours of play time. Recessed rubber buttons control power, volume and pairing, and can be used to skip forward and backward through music tracks and turn the BRV-1 into a clear speakerphone via the built-in microphone. When the going gets really wet, a screw-on rubber cap seals off the ports, but then you’re strictly in Bluetooth mode.

Hot hotels

Following the Pope’s footsteps

SeaWorld Orlando’s new Empire of the Penguin, which has its grand opening Friday, is a fun family ride that tilts and twirls gently through an artist’s impressionistic re-creation of Antarctica and ends up in an icy penguin habitat where a visitor could easily watch the antics of the real thing for hours -- if only it weren’t a bone-chilling 30 degrees.

The American Queen Steamboat Co., which launched steamboat cruises on the Mississippi River last spring, has bought a second riverboat that will sail the rivers of the Pacific Northwest starting in April 2014. The company, named for its Mississippi River paddle wheeler, announced Tuesday it had purchased the former Empress of the North and will rename it the American Empress.

Always improving its lines of luggage for the adventurous, Eagle Creek has fine-tuned its new Afar Backpack to be all business and a pleasure. About the dimensions of a standard wheel-aboard bag (12.5 inches by 20.5 inches by 8.5 inches deep), the Afar weighs in at a mere 1 pound, 11 ounces. It is equipped with a slew of great features: well-padded contoured shoulder straps, a tuck away padded hip belt, adjustable sternum straps, external compression straps and a sturdy top grab handle. A padded breathable mesh back panel makes for comfy cushioning. The back panel cleverly incorporates a zippered padded compartment for a laptop (up to 17 inches) that doesn’t broadcast your precious cargo to would-be thieves. The spacious main zippered compartment is blessedly unstructured, three roomy external mesh pouches are great for jackets, water bottles, snacks and maps, and a very well-designed zippered front organizer pocket has pouches and elastic slots for a cell phone, camera, sunglasses, pens and other essentials. Double-lock zippers, hidden slip pockets for documents, and reflective accents for nighttime visibility are smart security elements. Available in a dreamy slate blue, sunny ochre and basic black.

Take the tour

Riding the Jet Star roller coaster as a girl vacationing at the Jersey shore, Nicole Jones said there was always that one breath-catching moment when the passenger cars swerved toward the ocean, as if threatening to dump riders into the surf.

Legoland’s new attraction, The World of Chima, in which animal tribes war over an energy source called Chi, will open July 3, the park announced Tuesday.

Hundreds of bicyclists are pedaling triumphantly through the Netherlands’ national museum in Amsterdam, signaling the end of more than a decade of efforts by cyclists to ensure a passageway that runs under and through the Rijksmuseum would remain open to bike traffic.

For those of us whose packing includes a just-in-case stash of dining utensils, here’s an excellent alternative to raiding the kitchen drawers or making due with those awful plastic knife, fork and spoon sets you get at carry-out places. Zelco offers, instead, Mangia! — a lightweight stainless steel flatware set made to be mobile. The fork and spoon nest together inside a slot in the knife handle. A sturdy plastic snap-on cover holds the combo firmly in place, and keeps the business end of the utensils clean in transport and storage (only the knife handle is left exposed), so the utensils can always be kept clean and accounted for. The sets are available with white, green, black or red plastic covers. Why not get a different color for each member of your traveling group? Mangia! is available in single sets of three nestling utensils or, at a bit of a discount, as a pack of six sets. They’re great picnic provisions to keep in the car — or to distribute to friends and family on the same or different journeys. Mangia means “eat” in Italian, of course, and now you can, anywhere.

You know you love them

Big wheels