Favorite Travel Days 2011, Biking Along the Chicago Lakefront and Dining at Next
Chicagoans take full advantage of the warm weather to hit the shoreline of Lake Michigan and celebrate summer with a slew of festivals. This was certainly true in late June, when my wife and I arrived in city to grab a slice of Lou Malnati’s pizza at the big food festival, Taste of Chicago, and then wandered over to Navy Pier to rent bikes. Instead of heading north to Oak Street Beach, we pedaled south along Lake Michigan, passing Shedd Aquarium and the Soldiers Field. When we turned around, we had a glorious vista of the Chicago skyline, the City of Broad Shoulders gleaming under the cloudless sky. That night we dined at Next, the latest dining option from James Beard-award winning chef, Grant Achatz. Achatz changes the menu every three months and we were fortunate enough to dine on a prix-fixe menu that featured the specialties of Paris, 1906. Even more revolutionary is that the clientele at Next pay for their meal, drinks, tip, and tax in advance, like buying tickets for the theater or a concert. Demand is so great that ticket scalping for a table at Next had already become prevalent by the time we arrived. One taste of Achatz’s innovative fare and you understand the allure.
Climbing the broad-shouldered peak Henry David Thoreau called a “sublime mass,” Mt. Monadnock, is a rite of passage for many New England children. Just over the border of Massachusetts in southern New Hampshire, Monadnock is less than a two-hour drive from Boston. Its accessibility and locale, smack dab in the center of New England, has made it one of the two most popular mountain ascents in the world going toe-to-toe with Japan’s Mount Fuji. Late April, early May, when the black flies have yet to arrive and the snow is gone, is the ideal time to bag this 3,165-foot peak. Head up the White Dot trail, one of the steepest ascents, but also one that rewards with you with incredible vistas in a very short time. Above treeline, the forest recedes to form open ledges covered with low-lying shrubs like mountain cranberry bushes. This gives you ample opportunity to rest and peer down at the soft blanket of treetops, small towns with their requisite white steeples, a smattering of lakes and ponds, and farms that fan out to anonymous ridges. Soon you’ll reach the summit, where Thoreau watched in dismay as his fellow mid-19th century trampers inscribed their names in rock. You can still spot names like “T.S. Spaulding, 1853” clearly etched in the stone. Hopefully you bagged a lunch so you can sit back, relax, and savor the views. 
Summer is the best time of year to book flights to warm-weather destinations this coming winter. This is especially true if you’re forced to travel during school vacations. Hesitate to book your flight and you’ll be stuck on bad connections that cost a fortune. We’re here to help with flights and suggestions. In the 
One of the highlights of my travels in 2018 (which I very well might discuss in my upcoming 5 Dream Days of 2018 blogs) was the weekend we spent this summer at 
Home to vivid street art and a bounty of sculptures and paintings by Botero, Colombia’s only public transit system (including cable cars), and a burgeoning dining scene, Medellin has transformed from Pablo Escobar’s former hangout to one of the safest and most vibrant destinations in South America. It doesn’t hurt that this city of 4 million people sits in a valley surrounded by mountains at an altitude close to a mile high, offering sublime temperatures in the 70s and 80s degree Fahrenheit year-round. This lends itself well to outdoor cafes and bars, the ideal place to start your night out on the town. To see the rest of my story on Medellin in the latest issue of Global Traveler,