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New Legoland Hotel in Carlsbad and Australian Outback Exhibition at San Diego Zoo

Visitors heading to the San Diego region this spring will find major changes at two of the area’s top family-friendly attractions. On April 5, 2013, Legoland California Resort will open the country’s first Legoland Hotel in Carlsbad. The new hotel, next door to the theme park, will feature 250 LEGO-themed guest rooms. Making its debut in May at the San Diego Zoo is the Australian Outback exhibit. Venture through a eucalyptus grove and discover Down Under species like wombats, wallabies, kookaburras, and cockatoos, ending at the largest koala colony outside of Australia. Also at the San Diego Zoo this spring, people can see the adorable new panda cub, Xiao Liwu ("Little Gift"). Born July 29, 2012, the cub is the sixth panda born at the zoo and is on display from 9 a.m. to noon daily.
 

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Biking the 15-mile Shark Valley Loop, Everglades National Park, Florida

If you happen to be in Miami and crave an authentic outdoor experience away from the trendy restaurants and clubs in South Beach, take an hour-long drive on the Tamiami Trail (Route 41) to Shark Valley Visitor Center in Everglades National Park. Try to get here on the early side (before 11 am), because the parking lot fills up quick, and bring water and sandwiches for lunch. Then rent a bike and head out on the 15-mile paved Shark Valley Loop. Far from the deafening noise of a propeller boat, a tourist magnet in these parts, you get to bike at your own pace along canals teeming with alligators, turtles, and an extraordinary amount of large birds. It took my family of four almost an hour to bike one mile because we had to stop every 50 yards to get a photo of that gator basking in the sun next to the bike trail. Don’t worry. They could care less about you and no one’s ever been attacked on the route. Usually near the alligator was an anhinga drying its wings on a branch and wood storks and white whooping cranes standing tall in the shallow water. There was every type of heron imaginable, from the stocky black-crowned night heron to the long-legged great blue heron. Another highlight were the pink roseate spoonbills resting in the dense sagebrush along the canal. Stop midway at the observation deck to get a good overview of the Everglades topography, a mix of sinuous waterways and tall swaying grass. This is also a good spot to have that sandwich or snack you brought before heading back.
 

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Liftopia Offering Discounted Lift Tickets for Super Bowl Sunday

Liftopia should always be your first stop before heading to the mountain. They have deals at over 150 ski resorts in America. Pick the date and ski area you’re headed to and you could get a serious reduction on the price of a lift ticket. This week, Liftopia is offering its biggest sale of the year. You can grab savings of up to 70% off lift tickets at more than 200 ski resorts for Super Bowl Sunday. With the game starting at 6 pm EST, you have plenty of time to hit the slopes before the game. In Vermont, lift tickets at Bolton Valley start at $20, Okemo at $65. New Hampshire’s Ragged Mountain will be offering lift tickets for $48. In Utah, Solitude is offering tickets for $55. In Colorado, ski Copper for $72. The list goes on and on! While you’re on the Liftopia website, check out my blog. 

 
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Louisville’s Remarkable Amount of Parkland

I was in Louisville several weeks ago researching and writing a story for The Washington Post on the emerging neighborhood on East Market Street called NuLu. I dined on tasty southern fare like fried chicken livers doused in a bourbon sauce at Harvest, recently named one of the best new restaurants in America by the James Beard Foundation. I also spent at least three hours looking at old television footage at the Muhammad Ali Center and saw an intense drama at the Humana Festival of New American Plays. Yet, what really impressed me was the all the rolling green parkland and rivers Louisville is blessed with. Louisville has more parkland than Chicago or Denver. In fact the city has more green space than Baltimore, Boston, and
 Pittsburgh combined. And not just any ole park, but 18 parks and 6 parkways designed by the developer of New York’s Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted. With such an abundant wealth of parkland, it didn’t surprise me that so many residents were out biking and jogging on the parkways. 

 
Well, it looks like the rich are only going to get richer, because Louisville is in the midst of adding 4,000 acres of park in the southern and eastern part of the city, along Floyd Fort Creek. Called the Parklands, the city aims to add 100 miles of new trails for hiking, biking, and horseback riding, and a 19-mile canoe trail in the creek. The Parklands will open in phases, beginning in 2013, with the entire system scheduled to be complete by 2015. The Parklands will be part of the Louisville Loop, a 100-mile shared-use path that will encircle the entire city. So far, 25 miles of the loop have been completed. When it’s done, I’ll be due for a return trip. 
 
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The Dutch Culture of Curacao

Curacao, along with Bonaire, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, and Saba, are all considered part of the Netherlands Antilles. The Dutch came to power on Curacao in 1634 and to this day, Dutch remains the language of instruction in schools and is widely spoken in government and business. Over 2,000 makambas (the name coined for native Dutch people) have made the island their permanent home.

Stroll along the narrow streets of Willemstad, the capital of Curacao, and you’ll find exquisite 17th and 18th-century Dutch colonial buildings not found anywhere outside of the Netherlands. The steep pitched gable roofline is typical of Dutch urban architecture, but the bright bold palette painted on the walls of the buildings is undeniably Caribbean. First stop in town is Fort Nassau, a restored Dutch seafood restaurant created from the ruins of an 18th-century fortress and is now a favorite dining spot of Queen Beatrix and Crown Prince Claus of the Netherlands. Dine on fresh red snapper and grouper on a hilltop overlooking Willemstad with panoramic views of the ocean. Then head onward to New Amsterdam, a favorite store in Willemstad known for its hand-embroidered tablecloths and other Dutch novelties. Last, but certainly not least, make sure to pop into any of the grocery stores in town to grab Dutch chocolates and a wheel of very old Gouda. The latest resort to make its debut on the island is Hyatt Regency Curacao Golf Resort, Spa, and Marina. The hotel features a Pete Dye-designed golf course, private beach, spa, multiple pools, and 350 rooms offering water views.

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Visit Boston’s MFA

Over the past decade, pundits have criticized Malcolm Rogers, the Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for sending priceless Monets to the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas and staging questionable exhibitions like the display of Ralph Lauren’s sports cars, as a veiled attempt to raise money for the museum’s expansion. The launch of Rogers’ monumental endeavor, the $504 million Art of the Americas Wing in November 2010 has silenced most critics and cements Rogers’ legacy. Foster + Partners designed a 4-story building with adjoining pavilions on either side to house the 53 new galleries. Walk into the soaring glass-enclosed courtyard, where trees and holly bushes have been planted just outside its windows to mirror Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace. Then journey through three millennia of North, South, and Central American works, from pre-Colombian gold on the Court Level to the paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe on the top floor. Highlights include the galleries devoted to the works of John Singer Sargent and John Singleton Copley, and the Roswell Gleason parlor and dining room, two mid-19th century period rooms taken intact from a house in nearby Dorchester and never displayed to the public before.
 

St. Lucia Week: Jungle Biking at Anse Chastanet

There’s a reason why Anse Chastanet is consistently rated one of the top resorts in the Caribbean by Travel & Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler. The view of those twin volcanic peaks, the Pitons, from the balcony of my room is jaw-dropping. The way the jagged ridges rise from the sea to a height over 2,000 feet reminds me of a South Pacific isle more than the Caribbean. It’s so dramatic that I’m having a hard time focusing on this blog while peering over at this breathtaking sight. Anse Chastanet, perched on a hillside, is also known for its pristine beach and sheltered bay, one of the best spots on the island for snorkeling. But the reason I’ve come to Anse Chastanet is to mountain bike. 
 
Next door to Anse Chastanet is Anse Mamin, a former 18th century plantation and sugar mill. The 500-acre ruins are now home to more than 8 miles of mountain biking. I met my guide Tyson next to one of the ruins, a former storage facility for molasses that now houses Cannondales and off we went on the Riverside Trail. Within moments we were riding over fallen leaves of almond, tall African tulip, and calabash trees on a soft singletrack trail next to a river. Deep in the jungle we crossed over a bridge onto the Agua Dulce trail, which translates to “Sweet Water.” The trail was sweet as we cruised downhill sweeping over some rocks and roots to make it to the first reservoir ever built on Saint Lucia.
 
We jumped off our bikes as Tyson grabbed ripe guava from a tree, sliced it in half and we sucked it down. Who needs Gatorade when you have an island that grows 67 types of mangoes? He then picked a golden apple, a cross between a tart apple and a pear, and a succulent pink grapefruit. Then we passed more stone walls, remains of a building that used to boil down the molasses. You can still see the cast iron pots made in the UK. Within an hour we were back at the beginning covered in sweat from the 100% humidity. This is when Tyson gave me the option to tackle more of the singletracks on my own. How could I say no? I warmed up with a quick little run on the Banja Loop and then tackled the more challenging French Wall loop, which led me to the Bamboo Rocks loop. None were too technical. French Wall had some easy switchbacks and a nice downhill run. But anyone who’s mountain biked before will love the opportunity to bike on a former sugar plantation in the Caribbean. Then sit back on your porch, rum drink in hand, and soak up as much of those Pitons as possible. 
 

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