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November Newsletter Now Available at ActiveTravels.com

The increasingly popular getaway of Belize, our favorite outfitters for family safaris in Africa, a river cruise on the Danube with Uniworld, and a romantic retreat at Rabbit Hill Inn in Vermont are some of the topics we discuss in our latest issue. Have a look! Also note that if you join ActiveTravels during the Holiday Season, we are donating $10 of your $60 annual membership to Heifer International. You could help give the gift of a water buffalo to a deserving community. 

 
I’ll be off next week, back the week of December 2nd with my favorite après-ski bars in North America. Have a Happy Thanksgiving! 
 

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Rafting the Classic North American Rivers—The Colorado River Through the Grand Canyon

Most folks make the mistake of driving to Grand Canyon, take a peek down at the mile-deep canyon and then leave. To truly appreciate the Grand Canyon, you need to spend some time at the bottom of that hole, rafting on the Colorado River. Whitewater enthusiasts take two weeks off to do the entire canyon run via paddles. If you don’t have that luxury of time, grab one of the six or seven-day motored trips that speed up when the river gets too mellow. That doesn’t happen often because this portion of the Colorado is an adrenalin-pumping Class IV run with some Class V rapids thrown in for good measure. Realize that the water on the river in the Grand Canyon is dam released and ice cold. To get excited for the journey, read The Exploration of the Colorado River and its Canyons by John Wesley Powell. 

 
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Caribbean Getaways, Munich Hotels, and Away Luggage Featured in Our September Newsletter

This is the time of year when ActiveTravels is busy booking warm weather destinations for clients who want to escape the cold this coming winter. So it’s no surprise that we focus on the Caribbean as our main feature in the September newsletter. Oktoberfest has also arrived, a good time to discuss favorite Munich hotels. We also describe Lisa’s latest luggage, Away, where you can charge your phone directly to the carry-on. She’ll put it to good use as we leave for Italy today. We’ll be checking out Florence, the Amalfi Coast, and ending in Rome. The highlight is biking with good friends on a 6-day bike ride in Puglia with DuVine Cycling. We’ll be even more well-versed in all things Italy upon our return, so we can better help you on your forthcoming trips there. Amy is also out of the office as she is taking an exciting cruise circumnavigating Newfoundland with Adventure Canada. We’ll all be back on October 17th. Until then, enjoy Autumn and keep active! 

 
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Italy, Turkey, Lake George, and Favorite All-Inclusive Resorts in our August Newsletter

In this month’s ActiveTravels newsletter, we describe our recent trip with the family to Istanbul and Cappadocia, an outfitter our clients love in Italy, some of our favorite all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean, a Quick Escape to my boyhood stomping ground, Bolton Landing, New York, on the shores of Lake George, and how Award Wallet can save all your airline mileage onto one nice app. 
 
Off to Ithaca to drop our son off at college. I’ll be back with a new entry on Tuesday. Enjoy this last glorious month of summer and Happy Travels!
 
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Nomads Tours Designs New Itinerary to Mongolia’s Gobi Desert

Our go-to tour operator in Mongolia, Nomads Tours, has just designed a fascinating weeklong trip to Mongolia that includes stays at the Shangri-La in Ulaanbaatar and the intriguing Three Camel Lodge in the Gobi Desert. The owner of Three Camel, Jalsa Urubshurow, grew up in a Mongolian community in New Jersey, before becoming very wealthy in the construction industry. Urubshurow returned in 2002 to create his dream property, backed by the 14,000-foot Altai Mountains and near the fossil-rich Flaming Cliffs. Guests sleep in "gers," Mongolian round felt tents, adorned with hand-painted interiors and locally crafted furniture. Spend the day riding on camels to the sand dunes and then meet local nomadic herders at dinner that evening. In Ulaanbaatar, you’ll visit the city’s largest market, Naran Tuul (also known as Black Market), and visit monks at the Gandan Khiid Buddhist Monastery, one of the few monasteries to survive the communist regime that lasted until 1990. Pricing starts at $4199 per person, including lodging, all meals, guides, and round-trip domestic air. Please contact ActiveTravels if interested. 

 
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Spending a Night in Volcano, Hawaii

On the outskirts of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Volcano is a chilled (and at night, chilly) town of around 2500 people. Most travelers zip by here to spend a day in the park before heading back to their resort in Kona, Kohala, or Hilo. But if you spend at least a night like our family did, you’ll soon realize you that this part of the Big Island has its own distinct allure. We stayed at Volcano Village Lodge, which had the feel of a Costa Rican eco-lodge nestled deep in the forest. The spacious lodge with high ceilings, full kitchen, and front porch came with a full breakfast in the morning. Another nice perk is the hot tub which comes in handy when the temperatures cool at night (close to 4,000 feet elevation). 
 
A 5-minute drive from Volcano Village Lodge is the entrance and Visitors Center of the park. We met a wonderful park ranger who told us exactly what to do that afternoon and evening. We drove to the Kilauea Iki Overlook and took a short hike along the rim of the crater in a rainforest to the Thurston Lava Tube, a well-known tunnel created from the flow of lava. Then we had dinner at a ridiculously good, though expensive Thai restaurant in town simply called Thai Thai Restaurant. When the tour buses left, we returned to the national park at night to the Jaggar Museum parking lot. We walked over to the overlook to see the expansive Kilauea Caldera glowing a vibrant red at night. Definitely worth a night’s stay in Volcano! 
 
 (Photo by Lisa Leavitt)
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Nova Scotia Week, An Exceptional Day on the Eastern Shores of Cape Breton

My perfect day starts with hiking shoes and ends with a pair of water shoes. Yesterday morning began with a hike on Middle Head, a sliver of a peninsula jutting out into the sea. Even if you’re not staying at the Keltic Lodge, where the trailhead is located, take this hour-long round-trip hike, part of Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Across the waters to your right are the towering bluffs of Cape Stormy, an apt name for this ominous spit of land. Perched atop your own headland, the cliffs of Middle Head plunge straight down to a boulder-strewn coastline. Waves crash against the rocks, spewing foam into the air. As I reached the tip of the peninsula, where numerous signs were posted warning folks to avoid getting too close to the edge, a bald eagle flew overhead. 

 
In the afternoon, I sea kayaked with Mary-Claire, a guide from North River Kayak Tours. We paddled on the North River past cormorants standing atop the wooden posts of a long retired wharf. The river leads to the wide-open waters of St. Ann’s Bay, surrounded by short summits on all sides. We stopped at a rocky beach for a snack of banana bread and chocolate chai, and then wandered over to see a waterfall. On the return paddle, we spotted a kingfisher and what I thought was a blue heron in flight. As it flew over our heads, we realized that this massive bird was no heron, but a peregrine falcon. Let me revise that lead sentence. My perfect day starts with a bald eagle and ends with a peregrine falcon. 
 

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