I was recently snorkeling with a trucker in the Keys. When he heard I was a travel writer, he asked what my favorite state was. “Based on cruising?” I asked. He nodded. “Oregon,” I said. “Mine too,” he answered, and this is a guy who’s spent his entire life driving back and forth across the States. I’ve been fortunate to go on two phenomenal driving trips of Oregon with my brother, Jim. We first spent a week driving along the Oregon coast, dreaming of buying a second home in Yachats. This June, we returned to drive the interior. To be honest, every one of those days on that weeklong trip could easily make my Top 5 list of the year, from touring Hood River’s “Fruit Loop” with our friend Kirby Neumann-Rea to rafting the Imperial River to hiking along the rim of Crater Lake to biking around the campus of the University of Oregon. All was bliss.
Yet, it’s hard to top drinking the latest batch of wine with one of your favorite winemakers, Steve Doerner at
Cristom Vineyards, and then have dinner that evening in Portland at Vitaly Paley’s latest restaurant,
Imperial. Jim and I both purchased a case of wine at Cristom, including sweet-talking Doerner to include six bottles of our beloved “Jessie Vineyard,” the last of which we just drank over New Year’s. Then we hightailed it from Salem to Portland for dinner at the James Beard-award winning chef’s new space on the ground floor of Hotel Lucia. We started with a simple plate of just-out-of-the-ocean Kumamoto and Tillamook Bay oysters, dipped in horseradish for spice. Perfection. Stan’s Charcuterie Plate, a sampling of pate, liver, and sausages, would make a Francophile weep with joy. In fact, Jim, just back from the Cannes Film Festival, said it was better than any of the pates he had in France.
Oregon, we took far too long to return between trips. Jim and I won’t make that mistake again.
My only experience with the Boston Harbor Islands was visiting the Civil War-era fort on Georges Island and walking the trails of Spectacle Island, mostly formed from the dirt unearthed during Boston’s Big Dig. Last Thursday, however, I spent the night on Grape Island, one of the four islands in the harbor that offers camping. Only a stone’s throw from the mainland and the town of Hingham, you feel a world away on this 50-acre forested outpost. We kayaked around neighboring Slate Island with a ranger, ran into a 10-point buck and several doe, watched the sun set over the Boston skyline, and built a bonfire on the beach. There were only 10 sites on the island, and people in the know booked the sites months in advance at ReserveAmerica.com. It’s primitive camping with no running water available, but it’s great to be out on the water for a night or two, smelling the salty air and seeing Boston from a different viewpoint. 
Guest Post and Photos by Amy Perry Basseches
I would heartily recommend adding 3 to 4 days in Quito to any Galapagos itinerary to experience the highlands region of Ecuador. A special thanks to my Quito guide Daniel Muscarel from 
With its stunning seascape, sheltered coves, and vast array of sealife and birdlife, Nova Scotia is blessed with some of the best sea kayaking imaginable. I had the good fortune to sea kayak in Cape Breton on my last trip and will be kayaking Lobster Bay from 
Even as New England ski areas make it more and more enticing to venture their way, adding an array of exciting activities like tubing and ziplining, many of us want to avoid the crowds. We savor the opportunity to get lost in the wilderness, breathing in the scent of pines in relative quietude. Add a sport that will wipe away the worries of the world and you’ll quickly remember why we treasure New England. This week, I’m going to discuss 5 ways to get lost in the New England wilderness this winter. 
That afternoon, we signed up for a zodiac tour with