One reason that the ellegant Willcox hotel in Aiken, S.C., is so great for you and your kids is that you can bring your puppie - and your horse. As beautiful as any hotel you've been to, the 112-yeaqr-old Willcox is very pet friendly. You'll often see guests coming and going with their dogs - because this is very much horse country and horsepeople all have dogs. The Willcox borders on Hitchcock Woods, at 2,100 acres the largest urban forest in America, whose purpose is horseback riding. The hotel will help you arrange nearby stabling so you can go straight to your morning ride in a giant park made just for that - and where you'll meet lots of great people doing the same thing. Like to fox hunt? There are five hunts in the Aiken area and The Aiken Hounds have been based in Hitchcock Woods since 1914. They hunt on Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings from Thanksgiving through April. Every kind of sport horse trains in Aiken. It has been home to four Kentucky Derby winners and hundreds of major thoroughbred stake winners. The Aiken Training Track is just a good walk or a very short drive from The Willcox. There you can watch the thoroughbreds train any morning from fall through spring and even let the kids pet them at their stables. Even better for most kids, the hotel can arrange carriage and pony rides for your family. Polo is very big here with over 50 fields in the area and storied Whitney Field within walking distance of The Willcox. Built in 1882, Whitney Field is the longest serving polo field in America. You'll also find show jumping, dressage, eventing (at Olympic level) driving (carriages), lots of trail riding and about a dozen other disciplines. And kids love both The Willcox, http://thewillcox.com/, and the town. If you can picture ellegant and casual at the same time, that's the way The Willcox and the whole town are. Aiken made its name in the early part of the 20th century as a playground for the social register (Vanderbilts, Astors, Whitneys, even Fred Astair and Winston Churchill), but this was the place they let their hair down and got away from the formal balls of Newport and the Hamptons. It's still like that here, only you don't have to be a blue blood for you and your kids to live like you are. Call Tina (McCArthy, the GM) at (803) 648-1898, to start a vacation that your kids will beg you to return to next year.