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San Antonio Week—It’s Fiesta Time

In 1891, the city of San Antonio held a single parade to honor Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and the other heroes of the Alamo and the battle of San Jacinto. Fiesta has since grown to an 11-day event in late April that features live music, art fairs, and a slew of parades including The Texas Cavaliers River Parade, which I’m headed to tonight. As soon as my flight landed yesterday in San Antonio, I took a taxi to Market Square, the largest mercado north of Mexico to take in the festivities with the crowds. There were bands playing, churros and funnel cakes cooking, and a frenzied crowd dancing and drinking margaritas and cervezas under the hot sun. I made my way to Mi Tierra, a beloved Mexican restaurant on the square since 1941. The line was an hour long, but since I was traveling solo, the woman at the desk told me to try and get a seat at the back counter. I found the last seat next to the mariachi band on break and ordered enchiladas with a sweet and spicy mole sauce. One bite and I was happy to be back in town. 

 
I’ll be blogging, tweeting, YouTubing, and Facebooking all week from San Antonio, introducing readers to everything happening in the city. So stick around and we’ll have a fiesta together! 
 

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Visiting Grand Canyon National Park in Winter

At the mile-deep Grand Canyon, it’s not uncommon to start in down parkas at the South Rim (7,000 feet) and, two hours later, meet hikers in shorts and tank tops. Indeed, temperatures can be 20 degrees warmer on the shores of the Colorado River. The warmest winter corridor to the bottom is the route from Bright Angel to South Kaibab.  Hike down the steeper 7-mile Kaibab Trail and then loop back on the far gentler 9.5-mile Bright Angel Trail. You’ll find that the canyon’s colors look even more dramatic as winter’s sun casts long shadows. All campgrounds on the South Rim stay open year-round while the much colder and snowier North Rim (1,000 feet higher than the South Rim) requires a backcountry use permit and is inaccessible to cars. 
 
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The Maasai Open Their Own Resort

The Maasai are best known for their mud huts. So it might come as a surprise that these tall warriors of southern Kenya have recently entered the hotel business. They have formed a joint partnership with a private safari company, Nairobi-based Art of Adventures, to open Shompole Game Reserve. Shompole is nestled on 35,000 acres of conservation land near the Nguruman Escarpment in southeastern Kenya. The resort only has six mega-sized guest rooms, which comes with private plunge pool and a sprawling lounge area. The main activity at Shompole is game drives, where guests travel through the bush in open-air Land Rovers accompanied by a Maasai tracker. The more adventurous can also go on game walks, sunset trips to Lake Natron to see the flamingos, or evening picnics in the bush.
 

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Acadia National Park Week: Hiking Acadia Mountain

Acadia National Park turns 100 in 2016. So if you need a good excuse to get here, their centennial should do the trick. But why wait? September and October, when the crowds are gone along with the black flies and mosquitoes is an ideal time to experience this breathtaking mix of mountains and sea. I always tell my friends in the Boston area to wake up early and try to leave by 7:30 am so you can arrive just in time for lunch. Grab your National Park vehicle pass at the Thompson Island Visitors Center and continue south on Route 102 bypassing the far better known Bar Harbor for now and heading straight for the quintessential Maine coastal village of Southwest Harbor. Turn left on Clark Point Road and drive to the end to reach one of my favorite lobster-in-the-rough joints in the state, Beal’s Lobster Pier. 

The food was just as good as I remember yesterday when my buddy Jeff and I entered the joint. My lobster roll was chockful of fresh meat from a lobster that was probably sitting in a trap that morning. Jeff ordered the blackened haddock and the fish was just as moist. Both dishes were accompanied by tasty cole slaw and chips, both made in house. We sat outdoors on picnic tables overlooking the water and enjoyed our meal. 
 
Energized from our food, it was time to play in arguably my favorite outdoor playground in the northeast. One of the best introductions to the astounding beauty of this park is a short climb up Acadia Mountain. This area of the park is also known as the Quiet Side, since it’s on the island’s far less popular western side. The trail weaves slowly through a forest of birches and pines before crossing a fire road and continuing straight up a rocky path. Here, the quick ascent to the peak begins. A series of flat ledges overlook Echo Lake—each plateau offering a slightly better view than the last.  
 
When we reach the top, the vista becomes a glorious panorama, a wonderful reward for a climb that’s not more than 45 minutes. Fishing boats and yachts were anchored in Southwest Harbor, the Cranberry Islands looked more like green peas in the distance. We followed the blue dashes and continued down the rock stairs to the easternmost point of Acadia’s peak for another mind-blowing view. Norumbega Mountain practically plunges into Somes Sound creating the only true fjord on the Eastern seaboard. Resting on a bare summit overlooking this majestic sight, I started to realize why so many people are drawn to Acadia. Everything is on a human scale. Mountains and forest, oceans and fjords are all within grasp on this compact island. Everything seems manageable, even climbing a mountain after a hearty lunch. The intense bond between nature and nature lover grows even stronger when you find yourself sitting on a bare summit on a cloudless September day all by your lonesome.
 
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Tanzania, Greek Isles, Canada, Morocco and More in Our April Newsletter

I was fortunate to visit Tanzania for two weeks in March and I report on my experience in this month’s newsletter. With the weather finally warming up, we also turn our attention to favorite hotels on the Greek islands, a reputable tour operator we love in Morocco, and the upcoming Daffodil and Food and Wine festivals on Nantucket. Finally, with the dollar strong once again around the globe, it’s a good time to not only consider Europe, but Canada. $10 US dollars is now worth $12.22 Canadian as of yesterday. So this is the summer to travel! Talking about Canada, I’ll be with all my buddies at Canada Media Marketplace next week in New York to hear what’s happening across the country. I’ll return the week of May 3rd with my 5 Favorite Places to Go In Canada This Summer. Stay tuned and keep active! 

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Sustainable Food at Craigie on Main

Last Wednesday, I was invited to a “Road Less Traveled” dinner at Craigie on Main, one of my favorite restaurants in the Boston area, just over the Charles River in Cambridge. Chef and owner Tony Maws was focusing on sustainability in food, using all parts of the animal so as not to make waste. While this is already being practiced around the globe, especially in countries that can’t afford to throw away precious meat, it’s only slowly gaining traction in America. We started with a tasty trio of crostini that included monkfish liver, lobster roe, and my personal favorite, the white cod milt, otherwise known as cod sperm. Maws, a James Beard-award finalist, could make a telephone book taste good. But as the night progressed, I found the texture of certain body parts to either be agreeable or disagreeable. The duck’s heart, placed on a skewer, was a tantalizing treat along with the pig’s head taco, where half a head was placed on a platter and you dug out the tender meat to roll into the soft tortillas. The duck’s testicle I found too chewy and the lamb’s brain had the consistency of hard string cheese. Then there was cock’s combs, the gelatinous top of a rooster that I feel no need to order again.

Maws is not only a master of using the whole animal, but makes a habit of using the best local and organic produce, fish, and meats that are available during that particular time of year, the reason why I find myself returning to his restaurant as often as possible. Local food and culture is an important part of sustainable travel and are topics I’m going to delve into further as ActiveTravels branches out this year to not only cater to Active Bodies, but Active Minds. This week, I’m going to focus on some of my favorite restaurants around the world.
 

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Free Travel Advice to All Military Personnel on Leave

Over the years, I’ve given travel advice to friends, family, neighbors, editors, strangers, you name it. Once people know you’re a travel writer, the questions quickly follow. And believe me, I’m happy to point folks in the right direction. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be writing this blog. But I was stunned and delighted to get the following email:

Hello Steve, hope you don’t mind me contacting you. I am a US Army soldier currently serving in Iraq, and hope to be home in 2 months after being gone for 8. I would love to take my very hard working wife (also active duty US Army) and 3 young daughters (7,4,2) on a warm beach vacation somewhat near our suburban Maryland home. I read your great review, and the only caveat is that my wife has a security clearance that makes it difficult to plan travel out of the US on short notice. I was thinking the US VI or possibly Puerto Rico and wondered what you thought. We have taken one cruise, Disney out of Canaveral and absolutely loved it. We all love water and beaches, so thought that something all-inclusive in a warm destination that didn’t require passports would be ideal. We lived in Hawaii for 3 years before the children, and even though my wife thinks the 12 hour flight is doable, I think something in our local area w/ less flight time would be better. Thanks so much.

To which I responded:

Thanks for being in touch!  I’m happy to be of assistance. I would scratch Hawaii–too far a trek for the 2 and 4-year old. And let’s be real. Do you really want to go to Hawaii with the kids? I love St. John in the USVI. See if you can a good rate at the Westin, www.westinresortstjohn.com. Do you know of any military discounts at hotels? That might help. Disney Cruises are always a safe bet for your kids. So is Royal Caribbean. But make sure your wife can get off at the Caribbean islands. Otherwise it’s not worth it. Also, don’t blow off Florida. If you’re thinking about taking your vacation in April, Florida is warm that time of year. I love Sanibel Island, outside of Fort Myers. Another favorite trip when our kids were your age was San Diego. You can hit Legoland, the San Diego Zoo, maybe even cruise up to Anaheim to go to Disneyland, and hit the beaches in Coronado and Pacific Beach.

He liked my San Diego idea and I was happy to help. So much so that I’m offering free travel advice to any military personnel going on leave!
 

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