Nancy found lots of wonderful surprises on her family vacation to Club Med Sandpiper, come read all about it.

Twenty-five hours after our train left Penn Station and started south through snow-crusted New Jersey factory yards, my husband, my son, and I stumbled like three sleepwalkers into Club Med Sandpiper's courtyard, gratefully inhaling the humid Florida evening breeze. It was a bit like the moment when Dorothy Gale emerges from her black-and-white past into the Technicolor of Munchkinland. There were children everywhere, performing impromptu dances on an outdoor stage, posing for snapshots by the immense pool, spilling out of the dining room to run off dinner among the palm trees. Adults milled about among them, looking serene and amiable. We desperately needed some dinner and some sleep, but this, we agreed, looked promising.

I hadn't expected to like Sandpiper, which, according to Club Med's website, is the resort to visit if you're looking for an "American-style" vacation (I have an American-style life, thank you) in a "country club" setting, and if you want your children to enjoy themselves as much as you do (Sandpiper is one of Club Med's "family resorts", so forget about thatched huts and drunken singles on the beach). Imagining something akin to the stodgy, uptight, homogeneous country clubs that I remember from my childhood, I packed a bathing suit and an antique tennis racquet and, along with my husband and four-year-old son, went bravely off to Florida as yet another snow started to fall in New Jersey. Such are the horrendous tasks that sometimes befall a travel writer.

Fortunately, the people who run Club Med have more imagination than I do. Yes, country club staples like golf and tennis are among the activities available, but, aside from that, Sandpiper could only be compared to a country club where someone has spiked the gin-and-tonics with happy pills and replaced the prissy tennis dresses and dreadful golf pants with tie-dyed tees, batik sarongs, and chic French resort wear.

One of the nicest surprises about Sandpiper was the diversity of the guests. Around the pools, you can close your eyes and listen as French, English, Spanish, Arabic, and other languages intermingle to the point where it sounds as if everyone is speaking one universal, blissed-out tongue (as I recall, I didn't hear much Spanish spoken in the country clubs of my youth). If you're into homogeneity, you'd be better off trying, say, Augusta National.

Our first meal at the resort, which we ate in something of a stupor several minutes after we arrived, gave us our first inkling of the laid-back, international atmosphere of the place. Every dinner at Club Med is prepared around the night's "theme"; that night much of what was offered was Middle Eastern/Moroccan. I'd expected that the food, served buffet-style in a cafeteria-like setting, would be mediocre, occasionally offering vaguely "international" dishes to guests who would be presumed not to know the difference between babaganouj and tiramisu. Here, though, just about everything we tried (and at every meal there is a daunting variety of foods to be tried, including plenty to appeal to a picky four-year-old) was fresh, well-prepared, and seasoned appropriately. Unlimited French table wine and domestic beer are available at lunch and dinner, and Club Med's specialty—chocolate bread—has attained cult status. (For a somewhat more elegant dining atmosphere, ask to be seated on the terrace, where there's a nice breeze from the St. Lucie River, and where it's possible to have a "romantic" dinner even as your toddler plays melodies with her spoon and water glass.)

Although there are some "adults only" areas, Sandpiper is definitely a resort for families (you'll get used to hanging out with toddlers in the bar, where there's a video arcade and a pool table to entertain them while parents spend their drink tickets). There are children's programs for every age group, and children's activities include everything from arts and crafts and science projects to sailing, waterskiing (for older children) and very un-country club-like trapeze lessons. My son had a wonderful time (he's already trying to get us to arrange another Club Med trip, and it's still a struggle to get him to wear anything but the tie-dyed shirt that we made together there).

For adults, activities include much of the above, plus golf and lounging in a decadent way around the pool. Because children can opt to eat lunch and/or dinner with their children's club group, it's possible for parents to occasionally have dinner dates without them. There is an adults-only restaurant, but we never ate there—the terrace was always perfectly pleasant (in general, you can expect to be seated at a large table with other guests—this, for a shy person like me, should have been uncomfortable, but everyone we met was, eerily, pleasant, fun, and completely lacking in stodgy uptightness).

Every so often we made it back to our room, which was large, bright, and airy, with a view of the marina and the river, cool white tile floors, and a walk-in closet almost as big as our living room at home. Renovated about three years ago, all the rooms have either balconies or terraces. Although one would expect otherwise in a place practically overrun with children, the nights were very quiet.

At this point you're probably thinking that I ingested too many happy pills, or that there were problems with the place that I'm deliberately leaving out. O.K., you're right—I did have some complaints. The margaritas served at the bar definitely needed work, and the rice in the maki was often overcooked.

This was, in fact, one of the strangest and most surprising things about Sandpiper—no one that we met had any complaints to speak of. I don't believe that I've ever been on a trip (or in a country club) where someone wasn't griping about the food, the accommodations, or the "help". Here, though, formerly nervous parents gushed about the caring and competence of the children's club counselors, couch potatoes happily recounted their waterskiing and trapeze experiences, and everyone raved about the food.

Some country club.

Club Med Sandpiper is located in Port St. Lucie, Forida, and the nearest airport is at West Palm Beach. For more information, or reservations, go to www.clubmed.com, or call 1-888-WEB- CLUB.