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Backpacking the Fundy Footpath in New Brunswick

One of my favorite Canadian adventures was an assignment I had for Backpacker magazine and later, The Boston Globe, to backpack the Long Range Traverse in Newfoundland’s Gros Morne National Park. Led by Bob Hicks, owner of Gros Morne Adventures, the 4-day trek took us to spine-tingling vistas of landlocked fjords and atop snowcapped peaks where the caribou and moose far outnumber other backpackers. An equally impressive backpacking excursion is along one of the last stretches of wilderness on the Atlantic Seaboard in New Brunswick. Overlooking the Bay of Fundy, the Fundy Footpath is a moderate to strenuous 24-mile trek that crosses a river, skirts the beach, and goes up and down a dozen or so ravines, rewarding backpackers with breathtaking views of the rugged shoreline. Camping at primitive sites, moose, caribou, and bald eagle are common sightings. 
 

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Ski Lake Louise, Alberta

It was 1892 when a young employee for the Canadian Pacific Railroad came upon a gem of a lake in the Canadian Rockies that sat beneath a towering glacier. He would write in his journal: “As God is my judge, I never in all my explorations saw such a matchless scene.” Taking his recommendation, Canadian Pacific would build a one-story log cabin that would serve as a hotel for guests who savored the outdoors. By 1912, word spread about this majestic spot in the mountains, enticing more than 50,000 people to reach the shores of Lake Louise. It was time for Canadian Pacific to build a grand chateau with blue roofs and turrets, and furnished with the finest craftsmanship of the Edwardian era.  A place that royalty, heads of state, and celebrities could hobnob in comfort. Today, the 513-room Chateau Lake Louise is run by Fairmont Hotels and is still considered the premiere address in the Canadian Rockies. In winter, the chateau stays open so you can take a horse-drawn sleigh ride over the lake, cross-country ski in shaded forest below the peaks, or downhill ski at one of Canada’s largest ski areas at Lake Louise. Then return to the grand lobby where the fireplace is always roaring to warm you up.
 

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Ogunquit’s Cliff House Receives a Total Makeover

With a 3-mile stretch of beach, a Cliff Walk that introduces you to the rugged Maine coastline, James Beard-award winning chefs, and one of the finest summer theaters in New England, it’s not surprising that I named Ogunquit as my top Beach Town in this Yankee Magazine story. The one missing link, however, is that they never had a top-end resort. At the iconic Cliff House resort, originally opened in 1872, rooms felt old and service was lacking. Thankfully, that’s all about to change. Destination Hotels, the brand behind such properties as Stowe Mountain Lodge, L’Auberge Del Mar, and the Vail Cascade Resort, has taken over the Cliff House and poured millions into renovations. Rooms and pool area have been entirely redone. When it reopens this May, Ogunquit will finally have the world-class resort it deserves. 
 
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New Direct Flight Routes Across America

I wrote earlier this year about the exciting new direct flight from New York’s JFK Airport to Nairobi, Kenya on Kenya Airways, opening up East Africa to safari lovers. As of Monday, you can now fly LAX direct to the African continent and the country of Togo on Ethiopian Airlines. Southwest will soon launch direct flights from the West Coast cities of San Diego, San Jose, Oakland, and Sacramento to Hawaii. Boston’s new direct flight to Hawaii on Hawaiian Air will debut April 4, 2019. Boston will also be debuting direct flights to Lisbon and Edinburgh on Delta next May, along with a new Norwegian Air flight to Madrid and direct flight to Seoul on Korean Air. If you’re flying out of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, expect new service to Athens, Lisbon, and Quebec City next summer. Out of JFK starting July 27, 2019, the low-cost carrier, LEVEL, will be flying direct to Barcelona. Newark already has a new direct flight to Singapore on Singapore Airlines and will be unveiling flights to Naples and Prague on United, and Nice on La Compagnie next May and June. Wherever you want to fly in 2019, ActiveTravels will find the easiest route possible. 

 
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See You Again in 2020!

It seems like yesterday that I was writing a story for Men’s Journal on the best trips to take over the new millennium. Now it’s 20 years later! This year has been a banner year for ActiveTravels, reaching long-term goals on both sales and membership. It’s a privilege to write about my journeys all these years and to send clients to the countries and states that excite me the most. 2020 marks the 30th year of being in the travel industry and there’s no way I’d still be here without your support, especially post-2008 recession, when publications folded and half my editors found other lines of work. I’ve been blogging ever since and I’m excited to report that next year, this blog will finally be updated as we make important changes to the ActiveTravels website. Thank you for your support and please stay tuned. 

We’re off to the outskirts of Playa del Carmen to get some much-needed R&R with the family. Have a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year! We’ll be returning the week of January 6th with our Top Dream Days of Travel in 2019. 
 
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San Antonio Week—The Emerging Pearl Neighborhood

Even before the Pearl Brewery shut its doors in 2000, this section of San Antonio, a 20-minute walk from downtown, was a dead zone in the city. Then Kit Goldsbury, owner of Silver Ventures, came along and bought the whole tamale in 2001 with a vision in mind. He wanted to transform the entire brewery into a working neighborhood with a focus on local culture, food, and education. He personally sought out clientele for his 22-acre mixed-use property. In 2005, the Culinary Institute of America arrived to do a lecture series and five years later, opened its third campus. With an emphasis on Latin American cuisine, CIA San Antonio has 75 students currently enrolled and will open its first student-run restaurant, NAO, in May. They’ll join three of the city’s favorite restaurants. Sandbar and Il Sogno Osteria, with James Beard-nominated chef Andrew Weissman at the helm, and the upscale Mexican fare found at Johnny Hernandez’s La Gloria. Shops include the Twig bookstore, one of the few independent bookstores in the city, and the Mexican-accented dishes, glassware, textiles, and cooking wares found at Melissa Guerra. Saturday mornings, the place is hopping as the farmer’s market comes to the neighborhood.
 
This is only the start. When I went there yesterday, there was so much construction going on, I thought I was in Beijing. Avenue A will be home to a row of 300 new residences, already being bought by young professionals and boomers moving back to the city. Just behind the condos, in the original 19th-century brewhouse, a 140-room boutique hotel will emerge in 2014. Across from NAO is another CIA restaurant, the Boiler House, housed in the former red-brick boiler room of the brewery, and come November, a farm-to-table restaurant and wine bar. Nearby is a cocktail bar set to open within the month called The Bluebox Bar. And two brothers are planning to open a barbecue and beer joint called Granary in August in the former 19th-century home of the brewery’s chief coppersmith. Easily accessible from downtown via the extended Museum Reach of the River Walk, this area of San Antonio is on the verge of making Kit Goldsbury’s vision come to life. 
 
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Seeing Bald Eagles at Umbagog Lake, New Hampshire

Spring is here and the birds are starting to chirp outside my bedroom window. Soon I’ll be grabbing my binoculars as the yellow warblers make their April and May pilgrimage back north. To celebrate the reawakening of nature, I’m going to devote this week to my favorite bird watching sites in New England.

Nothing quite prepared my wife and me for the extraordinary pair of bald eagles we found nesting on a dead oak tree on Umbagog Lake one spring day. Loons were lounging on the glass waters, their call (the sound of laughter) echoed atop the spruce and fir trees, as we paddled in the calm waters. This vast 7,850-acre lake, whose shores lie half in New Hampshire and half in Maine, is a National Wildlife Area, primarily due to the sight we were about to see. We glided to our right where we found a large nest perched atop the highest branch of a leafless tree. As we drew closer, we spotted the mother guarding her home, her pointed beak sticking out through the maze of twigs. The sight of her mate standing on the branch below was mesmerizing. His white head was cocked in a royal pose, his eyes aware of everything around him, hence the nickname “eagle eye.” We skirted the island for a long time, fascinated by the awesome spectacle, before canoeing back to the put-in.
 

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