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Top 5 Travels of 2010, Biking Along the Canals in Hertfordshire, England

Instead of rushing straight from London to Heathrow Airport this summer, my family and I wisely chose to spend one day in the countryside at a hotel in Hertfordshire, less than an hour’s drive from the city. Called The Grove, the resort was once the country estate of the Earls of Clarendon. Today, it’s best known for its golf course, which Tiger Woods called one of the finest in the country. It’s also a family favorite. Walk inside a walled-in garden and you’ll find a heated outdoor pool, beach volleyball, and the oh-so civilized sports of croquet and lawn tennis. Yet, nothing quite compared to renting bikes and finding a path along a serpentine canal that formed the perimeter of the property. Shaded by thick trees and rolling under centuries-old bridges, you were immediately transported to another time. Narrowboats were slowly navigating through the locks past the local anglers and lounging swans, adding to the allure. Afterwards, we headed back to Grove for our last fish and chips before the trans-Atlantic flight home.
 

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Writing Esoterica

I was guest lecturing at Emerson College in Boston last night when a student asked me how I take notes when I’m out there in the wild, backpacking, canoeing, mountain biking, etc..? It’s actually a very good question. I used to carry a microcassette recorder until I went on a backpacking trip through the Mojave Desert for Men’s Journal magazine. On day three of that trek, I reached down for my recorder and saw that the tape had melted in the sweltering heat. I never liked transcribing notes upon my return, so I switched to writing in a CVS-bought notepad that fits easily into the one of the four pockets on my canvas shorts. That also has its problems. It sometimes gets wet from rain, water, or sweat and I can’t read my notes. Other times I simply lose  the notebook. When I returned from a biking trip to Prince Edward Island for Canadian Geographic, I couldn’t find my notebook anywhere. After freaking out, I wrote the story from memory and called the people I interviewed to confirm their quotes were correct. The magazine loved the piece. It just goes to show you that your memory works far better than you can possibly imagine. In fact, I still remember the waves of nausea I felt the first night of that Mojave Desert trek after hiking 15 miles in the heat and carrying a 50-pound pack. Freeze-dried noodles was not exactly my idea of comfort food, but my body craved carbs so I ate every last morsel.
 

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Miami Transformed

Vertical gardens barricade the Perez Art Museum, providing much needed shade and heat absorption during Miami’s sweltering summers. The massive windows that line the exterior of the building are the largest hurricane resistant windows in the world. It’s as if current-day architects took a good look at the storied Vizcaya estate that edges the water in the southern part of the city and learned how a century of wear-and-tear transformed Tuscan idealism into tropical overgrowth. 
 
The arrival of the Perez Art Museum not only signals a shift in sustainability but also has put downtown Miami back on the map. Three decades after Miami Vice turned this city core into a bloody graveyard at night, museums, hotels, high-rise condominiums, and James Beard-nominated restaurants have arrived on the scene to lure the Miami Beach and Coral Gables crowd back to urbanity. Miami’s Design District and the surprising success of developer Tony Goldman’s vision of a graffiti-saturated Wynwood Walls helped build the foundation for a Miami resurrection. The Perez Art Museum pays homage to the local contemporary art scene by offering exhibitions on design, minimalist art, geometric abstraction, and works by artists of Latin descent. Yet, this is merely the forefront of the recent surge of development. In fact, everywhere you look along the shores of Biscayne Bay are tall cranes and construction.
 
My entire story on the gentrification of downtown Miami can be found in the latest issue of Everett Potter’s Travel Report. 
 
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ActiveTravels January Newsletter, Best of The New Travel in 2019

We look forward to bringing you the ActiveTravels January Newsletter each year because it gives us a chance to discover what’s new in the world of travel. If it wows us, then it passes the test and we’re excited to share it with you. Please have a look to see our roundup of the latest and greatest hotels, resorts, cruises, adventures and restaurants to debut in 2019. 

We’re off to Hong Kong and Bangkok tonight for the next two weeks. We had to leave two days early to avoid the winter storm and snow headed to Boston. We’ll be back on February 4th with the highlights from Amy’s recent trip to Thailand and Laos. Thanks, as always, for checking in! 
 
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Gurney’s Opens Second Resort in Newport, Rhode Island

Great news out of Newport last week as Gurney’s, the iconic Montauk hotelier, has announced they have taken over the Hyatt Regency property on Goat Island. The sprawling 10-acre waterfront locale is one of the best in town, a short walk from the restaurants and shops, yet far away from the crowds to feel like a seaside resort. Gurney’s Montauk knows how to please families and I expect the same dynamic in Newport, where they plan to expand the pool deck, start a Kids’ Club, and offer daily activities for families. Gurney’s Newport will also be home to a full-service spa, state-of-the-art fitness facility, and indoor pool, good for a dip any time of year. They also plan to add the brand’s signature restaurant Scarpetta, set to make its debut in May. 

 
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Bike the 50-Mile Tour de Picayune

Located in southwestern Florida, Picayune Strand State Forest is best known as the place in the 60s where gullible northerners bought 5 acres of choice Florida real estate only to find out it was mostly swampland. Roads were built and subdivisions created, but few people came. Lately, the paved roads have been removed in a massive restoration project to enhance the proper flow of water in the Everglades. So far, it’s been working with indigenous plants and birdlife returning to this vast acreage. This desolate stretch of the Everglades is where my brother and I went mountain biking in early December with our guide, Wes Wilkins, owner of Everglades Edge. We saw no other humans driving or biking as we headed out on dirt roads, surrounded by swamp waters. In their place were snapping turtles, tall wood storks, and alligators sunning on the banks of the streams. An avid biker, Wilkins also chairs the 50-mile Tour de Picayune, which takes place this year on February 4th. Even if you have no desire to race and win the cherished Durrwalker Cup, you can still sign up at Tour de Picayune to bike 50 miles of dirt roads lost in time, while spotting a wide selection of birdlife. 

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Chef Michael Smith Makes His Triumphant Return to the Inn at Bay Fortune

When I first ventured to the Inn at Bay Fortune on Prince Edward Island’s western shores, I arrived via kayak, courtesy of a four-day inn-to-inn sea kayaking jaunt. I paddled onto the grassy shores and walked across the sloping manicured lawn, getting my first glimpse of this grey-shingled estate and its Repunzel-like towers.  After washing the salt and rust colored sand from my body, I arrived for dinner expecting the usual PEI meal of lobster and mussels. Little did I realize that I was in for a culinary epiphany.
 
The first course was pan roasted oysters in a soothing soup, creamy but not overwhelmingly rich like chowder. Then came a salad of mixed greens where the waiter announced matter-of-factly that “everything is grown on the property, including the edible daisy.” A seared rainbow trout topped with tomato risotto and black olives was followed by the meat course, a roasted leg of lamb, butchered by the farmer down the road. Dessert was a peach, strawberry, and mint compote, made on premises, of course. Before calling for a wheelbarrow to be escorted out of the restaurant—after all, I spent the day paddling 8 miles along the island’s fabled red clay cliffs and the night feasting—I had to first meet this talented chef who shrewdly took advantage of all his homegrown goodies.  
 
Standing tall in the kitchen was Michael Smith, a transplant from Manhattan who was once sous chef at Bouley, one of the few restaurants in the city awarded four stars (extraordinary) by the New York Times. When he left, his peers thought he fell off the map. Little did they know he was venturing to a farming and seafaring mecca.  
 
The gregarious chef pointed to a large map of the island, dotted with more than 60 golden tacks. “These are all the fishermen and farmers around the island that we use to get our supplies,” says Smith, adding “when we don’t grow it ourselves.” Smith would go on to much acclaim, with the success of his Food Network television show “The Inn Chef,” and the release of his best-selling cookbook, “Open Kitchen–A Chef’s Day at the The Inn at Bay Fortune.” But thankfully he never forgot his past. Last year, he purchased the Inn at Bay Fortune and this May, Smith and his wife, Chastity, will launch PEI’s first five-star inn after a complete redesign of its 15 rooms. He has also developed Fireworks, a brick-lined open hearth, grill, and smokehouse. I’d say it’s time for another kayaking trip. 
 

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