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Bike the Burke-Gilman Trail, Seattle

Known as the BG, this 14-mile (one-way) trail is the top destination for cyclists in a city that’s pegged by biking magazines as the best metropolitan area to ride in the nation. Skirting the blue waters of Lake Washington, the BG slices through residential neighborhoods just outside of downtown. At its northern end, you can hook up with the Sammamish River Trail that leads to the wide-open horse pastures of Redmond. But many bikers never make it that far, happy to stop for lunch at the Redhook Brewery in Woodinville.

 

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Luxury Resort Openings in the Fall

Having just returned from Virtuoso Travel Week, Lisa will update you on the resorts she found most intriguing from her 386 meetings in our September newsletter. This includes one Phuket property that offers unlimited spa treatments. Also in our January newsletter, we always report on the hotels we’re most excited to see open or reopen. I’m sure the Ritz in Paris, closed since 2012, will lead that list now that it will finally reopen next spring. But I just wanted to keep you updated on a handful of upscale lodgings opening later this year that are already starting to garner excitement in the travel world. 
 
Leading the list is the new Aman resort, Amanera, in the Dominican Republic. Overlooking the north coast’s Playa Grande Beach, the 25 casitas are surrounded by 2,000 acres of virtually untouched jungle and a nearby mountain range. It will also be the first Aman Resort to feature a golf course, this one designed by Robert Trent Jones. Another opening creating a lot of buzz is Faena Miami, opening in November on a six-block span across mid-Miami Beach. Baz Luhrmann, director of Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby, has been tapped to the lead the design team. So this will be the place to be during Art Basel. Finally, another Ritz-Carlton Reserve resort, Mandapa, will open later this month on the island of Bali. The third in the brand’s ultra-exclusive collection, suites at this Ubud property start at 1,000 square feet and and keep growing to 2 and 3-bedroom villas with private pools overlooking the rice terraces and rainforest. 
 
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Our Day at Sequoia National Park

Guest Post by Amy Perry Basseches 
Photo by Sophie Perry Basseches
 
Last month, my 19 year old daughter Sophie and I set out on a road trip from Claremont, California to Seattle, Washington. I’ve always loved the western part of the US, and was therefore very excited for our first stop: Sequoia National Park (established in September 1890), and King’s Canyon National Park. We entered Sequoia at the Ash Mountain Entrance (the start of Generals Highway) and proceeded to drive through the amazing sequoia forest. The trees are 1800 to 2500 years old, if you can imagine that. We toured the Giant Forest Museum and hiked up the 400 steps of Moro Rock’s granite dome. In one of those moments where “mistakes while traveling can turn into the best experiences,” we turned the wrong way on one of the national park roads and ended up seeing a whole other side of Sequoia that we hadn’t intended. Which was great until the road ended at Zumwalt Meadow with everything closed because it was early in the season. It was getting dark, we had no cell service, and our gas was running low. We turned around and fortunately made our way to our motel in Squaw Valley, (entirely different from Lake Tahoe’s Squaw Valley), where we were greeted by a sign announcing the neighboring town’s 41st Annual Turkey Testicle Festival in June.
 
I’ve always been a big "tree hugger."
 
 
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Overnight Dogsled Trips with Mahoosuc Guide Service

Still don’t have plans for New Year’s Eve? Consider a 2 or 3-night getaway with Mahoosuc Guide Service to Umbagog Lake and the Mahoosuc Mountain region of Maine. You’ll have the rare chance to get lost in the wilderness without the masses during winter, breathing in the scent of pines in relative quietude, listening only to the pitter-patter of dogs’ legs running through the snow. Better yet, you get to cuddle with a team of soft-furred huskies. Mahoosuc Guide Service in Newry, Maine, made its debut 27 years ago and I’ve had the pleasure over the years to go on a dogsledding trip with them in winter and a paddling jaunt in the fall. So I can highly recommend them! Maine Registered Guides Polly Mahoney and her husband Kevin Slater lead overnight trips to Umbagog Lake on the New Hampshire border. Cost for the overnight tours start at $625 per person, including food, camping, winterized tents, and requisite doggies.  

 
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The Linehouse is the Latest Addition to Stowe Mountain Lodge

Travel writers adore properties like Stowe Mountain Lodge, the wonderful upscale resort at the base of Stowe Mountain. I started writing about this hotel in 2006, two years before it even opened. There was such a buzz that even then you knew it was going to be the best ski-in/ski-out resort in the northeast. It seems like every year since its opening in 2008, I’ve been back to report on some update as Stowe Mountain Lodge continues to expand, be it a new spa, theater, or indoor climbing wall. This week, I was back in town to pen a story on the exceptional craft brew and cocktail scene in Stowe. On Monday, I had the good fortune to meet master mixologist Dan Hatheway, who tends bar at the Linehouse, an invitation-only speakeasy found just outside the premises (sorry, I’ve been sworn to secrecy to not tell the exact whereabouts). Inside the cozy space of stained Vermont maple wood and lined pickle jars, we sat at the bar as Dan placed retro glassware (from Vermont estate sales) in front of us. Soon he was breaking out an eyedropper to place the bitters atop my rum-saturated Smugglers Barrel and firing up the rye in a devilishly good concoction of bourbon and blended scotch he coined the Kashki. The presentation of all his drinks were drop dead gorgeous, especially the drink he made, Lisa, the aptly named Fancy Lady. Needless to say, if you get an invite to the Linehouse, run, don’t walk. 

 
Photo by Lisa Leavitt 
 
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Apres-Ski Dining Favorites in New England

For my latest Liftopia blog, I was asked to divulge my favorite après-ski dining choices in New England. After a day of hitting the slopes, I’m not content with a beer and a hot tub. No, my body craves a good meal. I’ve made it a habit to find the finest places in town to dine. They run the gamut from casual pizza joints to innovative continental cuisine.

 
At the base of Stowe, Stowe Mountain Lodge went overboard to use as much indigenous wares as possible, so there’s real Vermont birch twisting around the columns and the marble on stairs leading to the bar comes from Lake Champlain. The resort also prides itself on using local produce. At Solstice Restaurant, expect Vermont-based artisanal cheeses, microbrewed ales, and locally farmed vegetables and meats. 
 
For skiers heading to Okemo, a favorite in Ludlow is DJ’s. You have to love a place that still features a salad bar in this day and age, included in the price of an entrée. Grab a booth and get ready to dig into the chicken marsala, salmon, and ravioli dishes. Best yet, they have my favorite Vermont ale on tap, Switchback. 
 
For a town with a year-round population hovering around 1300, there are a surprising number of good dinner options at Loon. Start at the mother and son run Gypsy Café on Main Street. The eclectic menu features Indian-style chicken samosas, Middle Eastern lamb loin dipped in the best hummus this side of Tel Aviv, Mexican fajitas, and a spicy Thai red curry duck. Wash it down with one of their strong margaritas and you’ll understand why the place feels so festive. 
 
Started in 1998, the Flatbread Company now owns ten pizzerias from Maui to Whistler. Yet, it’s their locale in North Conway, near Cranmore Ski Area, that has the Granite State all abuzz. Maybe it’s the Zen-like ambiance with all those Tibetan designs and the massive wood-fired clay oven plopped down in the center of the room. But I happen to think it’s the Coevolution, topped with roasted red peppers, red onions, olives, goat cheese, garlic, and mozzarella. Much of the produce is from local organic farms and you can taste the difference.
 
In Bethel, Maine, you can usually find me at Sud’s Pub after a day of skiing Sunday River, downing one of the 29 beers on tap. Located inside the Sudbury Inn, start with the hot Sudbury wings or a cup of tasty clam chowder. Then choose between the burgers, pizzas, or entrees like grilled sirloin tips or blackened salmon. Happy dining! 
 
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A Visit to Bardstown, the Heart of Kentucky Bourbon Country

Drive south of Louisville and within 45 minutes, you’ll pass the Jim Beam distillery, a signal that you made it to Kentucky Bourbon Country. More than 1 million visitors stopped at Kentucky bourbon distilleries in 2017, a number that has risen exponentially in the past 2 to 3 years thanks to the surging popularity of bourbon around the world. And perhaps no place is more emblematic of the current love of bourbon than my first stop, the Bardstown Bourbon Company. Friends in Louisville had recommended the recently opened restaurant, Bottle & Bond Kitchen and Bar, and they were right, the sweet potato gnocchi, shrimp and grits, and brisket sandwich were all mouth-watering delicious. But one lunch with David Mandell, CEO of Bardstown Bourbon Company, and I realized this facility is a whole lot more than a restaurant. Mandell had made his money in vodka before having a vision in 2013 to create one of the largest bourbon distilleries in the state. Opened in September 2016, he now collaborates with 22 renowned brands to craft custom bourbon and whiskey in his production facility, already filled to capacity over the next 5 years. Mandell didn’t stop there. He created a Culinary Institute of America-like environment where student from around the world can return home and become ambassadors of bourbon. Then he debuted Bottle & Bond Kitchen, the first restaurant at a distillery on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, featuring more than 400 vintage American whiskeys at their Whiskey Library (curated by acclaimed whiskey writer Fred Minnick). Mandell’s still not finished. He’s hoping to build a first-class hotel, a luxury property needed to attract international visitors to this sleepy town. It’s wonderful to witness a dream come to fruition on such a mega-scale. 

 

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