5 Questions with RON BURNS

PARIS — Scrapings from the bottoms of 2,500-year-old pottery containers have shed new light on the origins of French winemaking.

My son Gideon (age nine) assures me that he will be a good father someday, but will that be an empty accomplishment? In another 20 years or so will there even be a Father's Day?

Prescott; Tucson; Williams

PHILADELPHIA — The City of Brotherly Love is perhaps best known for its Colonial roots but locals will tell you there's much more to explore in this city of 1.5 million people. Options abound for travelers looking for free things to do in and around the historic district and beyond — and they don't all involve tri-corner hats and Betsy Ross' flag.

Dads may not get all the press and hoopla moms get, but they are equally worth celebrating. Arizona Science Center provides a way to do just that with “Dad-ology Day” on Sunday, June 16.

Aspiring paleontologists can spend a night with dinosaurs at the Arizona Museum of Natural History’s “Roar and Snore with a Dinosaur” event on June 21.

The Children’s Museum of Phoenix is turning 5 years old, and it’s throwing a party.

Tempe History Museum’s popular summer program is hosting hands-on activities, crafts and games. This week's theme is Ancient Artifacts, featuring archaeology-related fun from the Archaeological Research Institute at ASU.

Finding air-conditioned summer entertainment can be tricky in the Valley of the Sun. It got a bit easier when Arizona’s newest cultural attraction — Butterfly Wonderland — opened last month in Scottsdale.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Myrtle Beach, this year celebrating the 75th anniversary of its incorporation, is the heart of South Carolina's $16.5 billion tourism industry. Myrtle Beach is in the center of a 60-mile (100-kilometer) reach of beaches that attracts more than 14 million visitors a year to dozens of golf courses, hundreds of restaurants and tens of thousands of hotel, motel and other rental units. There's shopping at hundreds of stores and nine live entertainment theaters with almost 12,000 seats. But there's a lot to do for free. Here are five suggestions:

Watch the big-screen adaptation of Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," starring Gregory Peck and Robert Duvall, at Phoenix Art Museum's First Friday "Banned Books on Film" movie screening.

LAS VEGAS — The junked signs that attracted throngs to old Las Vegas have for years gathered dust in a neon boneyard just a few miles from the sleek mega-casinos on the Strip.

NEW YORK — The round, white, paper light shades sold at Ikea for $5 are a familiar item in contemporary interior design. But these inexpensive lanterns are knockoffs of light sculptures created by the renowned artist Isamu Noguchi in the early 1950s.

Goodbye, awkward dates and ugly dresses; the Children’s Museum of Phoenix prom is all about having fun with friends.