Hop on a 2-hour direct flight from Boston to Richmond and drive less than an hour to reach historic Williamsburg. Best known as a Colonial outpost and neighbor to Jamestown, America’s first permanent settlement, Williamsburg now attracts music lovers, foodies, and active travelers. Local Bruce Hornsby is bringing back Funhouse Fest, the 2-day music festival that gathers award-winning artists on the lawn of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, June 22-23. Outdoor lovers can rent bikes and hit the Colonial Parkway. This two-lane road transports you back to an earlier time connecting Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown over 23 miles. Most of the ride is flat and offers vistas of water and woods, of marshes and herons. For an alternative, check out the Historic Jamestown Bike Trail, a 5-mile loop on Island Drive that features 11 interpretive stops including a panoramic view of the James River, archaeological excavation sites, and the nests of bald eagles. Bay County Kayaking offers a range of guided 2 to 3-hour kayak eco tours including trips to Queen’s Creek, a tidal creek that empties into the York River, where you might see otter, muskrat, crabs, and deer. You’ll hear from your guide about its rich history in the Revolutionary and Civil wars.
Crabs, oysters, shrimp, clams, mussels and a variety of fish, all pulled from local waters, make Williamsburg a seafood hot spot. Waypoint Seafood and Grill celebrates the Chesapeake Bay, featuring York River Oysters, local jumbo lump crabmeat, a fried oyster salad, and market fish of the day. Take a short drive along a country road out of town to Café Provencal, on the grounds of The Williamsburg Winery. The French-inspired cooking features local ingredients in an elegant yet relaxed setting, like a raw plate with marinated amberjack, seared scallops, soft shell crabs in season and roasted black bass. Be sure to ask
ActiveTravels about our hotel pick in the area, including the
Williamsburg Inn and the Kingsmill Resort.
On my last day in Quebec, I took a tour of the only ice hotel in North America. Now in its 13th incarnation, the Hotel de Glace features 44 rooms and suites, a chapel that hosts around 20 weddings each winter, and a bar with incredible acoustics that was blasting a Led Zeppelin tune when I strolled in. It took more than 50 people some 4 to 6 weeks to build the structure, which opened on January 5 and will close on March 24th. Rooms are unheated. You warm up in an outdoor Jacuzzi and then go straight under the blankets for the night. I blew off that option, choosing instead to have a drink of vodka and cider served in an ice flute. Then I took a taxi back to the warm confines of my Hilton room. 
Ten years in the making, the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands (less than an hour drive from Amsterdam) has just unveiled a public market that will set the standard for design of food markets for years to come. On the base floor of a horseshoe-shaped tunnel, close to 100 food stalls will sell their mix of local cheeses, meats, produce, and flowers at the 
All New Englanders who are avid travelers should rejoice that 
Great news out of Boston where 
We covered a lot of ground in our weeklong jaunt with