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Ipswich is the Perfect Overnight from Boston

With one of the finest stretches of coastline in New England, Crane Beach, and an iconic fried clam joint called The Clam Box, Ipswich makes a great overnight from Boston. It’s less than an hour’s drive and you can stay on the Crane Estate and walk the beach before breakfast, when they’ll be nobody there except you. See the story I wrote on Ipswich in yesterday’s Boston Globe. 
 
I have my family coming in for a cousin’s wedding and then I’m off to Detroit next week. I’ll be back June 4th with my five favorite small outfitters I’ve had the pleasure of traveling with. In the meantime, keep active!
 

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Hiking The Narrows, Zion National Park

This week I’m celebrating the upcoming National Park Week, April 19-27, with some of my favorite hikes in America’s National Parks. Remember that all National Parks are free this weekend, April 19 and 20.

Zion’s most impressive hike is in the Narrows, where you walk in the Virgin River through a 1,000-foot-deep-chasm that’s a mere 20-feet wide. Check with a ranger on water levels, but usually a minimum age of 8 is advisable. You’ll need a wet suit and booties because of the cool water temperatures, but that’s a small price to pay to have this monster slot to yourself. With each step, the walls become narrower and narrower, and you quickly became lost in this paradigm of sandstone. Sun peeks through the notch of blue sky above, illuminating the walls in various shades of caramel, rouge, and tan. Water pours down sides of the curved walls to enhance the slick appeal. Amble through as much of the river as you want before turning back.  

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Enjoy Fondue on the Rooftop Bar of Yotel Boston

Celebrate Winter Solstice by dining on fondue in the Seaport at Yotel Boston’s rooftop Sky Lounge. It’s supposed to hit a balmy 60 degrees in Boston tomorrow, but even if it does get a bit nippy, you’ll be under overhead heaters and sharing big thick blankets. The Quattro Formaggio Cheese Fondue combines Gruyere, Blue, Swiss, and Cheddar Cheeses with cherry brandy, white wine, and secret spices. Order a cocktail and then watch the sun set…at 4 pm. 

 
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Adventures in Madeira

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I like to promote small outfitters from each of their respective countries. After all, who knows their region of the world better than a local? That said, I just received an email from Jhonathan Rodrigues, owner of Adventure Kingdom on the island of Madeira. 35 miles long and 13 miles wide, Madeira is best known for its mountainous interior, with Pico Ruivo rising 6100 feet in the center. Cliffs plummet to the sea from towering heights, ravines are cut into rough and hewn terrain to form more than 40 canyons. Indeed, it’s one of the best locales on Earth to go canyoneering. Adventure Kingdom leads guided jaunts to do just that, along with trekking deep into the heart of the island, and, for the less intrepid, walking along the “Levadas,” irrigation channels built hundreds of years ago, now laced with footpaths.

 

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My Favorite Spring Drives

There’s something about spring that makes many of us want to grab our car keys. Maybe it’s that the season’s longer days mean there’s more sunlight to get out and enjoy; maybe it’s that the drab winter landscapes are newly ablaze with color. Maybe it’s just good old-fashioned spring fever, pushing us to get outside, to get out on the road for a new adventure. Executive Travel has just published my favorite spring drives in America, including cruising the Mississippi Delta from Clarksdale to Natchez, driving from Portland to Cannon Beach and the Oregon Coast, and hitting the Blue Ridge Parkway between Asheville and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where fragrant mountain laurel and colorful rhododendrons line the drive this time of year. Enjoy, and as always, if you have any questions about any of these trips, feel free to ask! 

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Riu Palace Peninsula Week—The Activities

Follow my cue and wake up with a morning snorkel to the reef just beyond the beach of the Riu Palace Peninsula. Simply grab a mask, snorkel, and fins from the watersports hut and off you go to see the neon-colored fish. This being Cancun, the ocean beckons and the Riu takes full advantage of its waterfront location with a slew of activity. Certified scuba divers can head via boat 20 minutes to the east to find a live coral reef and two shipwrecks from World War II. Those who want to sail or paddle can easily grab a Hobie catamaran and open kayak from the beach. Yet, this being Cancun, the gateway to the ocean and the Yucatan peninsula, there’s so much more. The Riu can arrange daytrips to snorkel the natural aquarium, Xel-Ha, or the marine park of nearby Isla Mujeros. There’s the opportunity to deep-sea fish on private charters to hook marlin, sailfish, and tuna. You can even rent a small speedboat and cruise the mangroves in the Cancun lagoon. 
 
Then, of course, there are the Mayan ruins on the beach of Tulum, which will be particularly enticing this week as thousands gather to commemorate the Mayan Day of Destruction on December 21st. The well-preserved Tulum ruins, 60 gray-black buildings in all, are perched on a cliff directly above a palm-fringed beach. Archaeologists place the beginnings of Tulum somewhere between 700-1000 A.D., a period when the Mayan civilization had already passed its peak. Don’t miss Tulum’s tallest building, a watchtower fortress overlooking the Caribbean that the Spanish called El Castillo. The staircase to the summit’s temple offers good views of the seas. Then take a refreshing dip in the ocean before the drive back to the Riu Palace Peninsula. 
 
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Hiking in Banff

Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches

I just returned from a fantastic week in the Canadian Rockies with my husband Josh. At ActiveTravels, we often have members wanting the inside scoop for planning an itinerary to Banff, Lake Louise, and Jasper. Josh and I are hikers who like a comfortable bed and excellent food after a day of mountains, so that’s what I’ll be focusing on. 
 
In Banff, we stayed at The Moose Hotel & Suites, Banff Lodging Company’s new 4-star hotel property featuring 174 air-conditioned guests rooms (AC is not common here, but it’s a nice add-on) and a rooftop pool and hot tub. Early in your stay, stroll over to the Banff Visitor Centre (224 Banff Avenue, which is on the super busy and crowded main drag). It’s open 9 am-5 pm year-round, with extended hours in the summer. We picked up trail maps for both the Banff and the Lake Louise areas, and received great recommendations for hikes to suit our preference by talking to the knowledgeable Parks Canada staff. 
 
To get energized for those Banff hikes, head to Tooloulou’s for breakfast. It’s a local hotspot, and there’s often a well-deserved wait. If you give up, next door, Coyote’s, offers a good breakfast as well. We sampled both! After your hikes, reward yourself with a brew and a view at these fun bars: The Maclab Bistro at the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity and the Rundle Lounge at the Banff Springs Hotel. The hotel is a Rocky Mountain Classic built by the Canadian railroads in the 1880s. Definitely worth seeing! 
 
In terms of hikes, I highly recommend the two we did. Visit the Cave and Basin National Historic Site, where the 1883 discovery of a cave full of hot mineral spring waters helped create Canada’s first national park (the site also features an interesting exhibit on internment of Canadian residents during World War I, who then built the Park’s infrastructure). From here, hike up to Sundance Canyon (3 hours round-trip). It was not too crowded, and we had stellar views. The climb starts with a paved trail and soon opens up to a mountain panorama across the Bow River. The next day, for a longer venture, we braved the hordes at Johnston Canyon just outside of town (toward Lake Louise) because we wanted to hike up to the Ink Pots (4 hours round-trip), which requires going past Lower Falls and Upper Falls. You eventually reach an open meadow where warm water bubbles up from deep below the Earth’s surface. 
 
Please contact ActiveTravels for assistance with Banff. We’re happy to help! On to Lake Louise tomorrow. 
 

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