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Adirondacks’ Wild Walk, The High Line of the Forest

The Adirondack Extreme Adventure Center was the first place my family ever experienced a treetop obstacle course. Set 10 to 50 feet off the grounds amidst the tall pines and maples you have the chance to climb rope ladders, jump from section to section, walk across suspended bridges, and as a finale, zipline side-by-side. The treetop course is an innovative way to get a workout and a ride at the same time, so everyone in the family is happy. But obviously this type of experience is not accessible to all so I was delighted to hear that the Adirondacks is now home to another adventure that can lead all generations to the treetops. 

 
Last July, the Wild Center at Tupper Lake opened its newest attraction, the Wild Walk. Dubbed the “High Line of the Forest,” Wild Walk gives visitors a chance to walk among the trees on a winding trail of bridges and platforms that lead from ground level to the treetops of the Adirondack forest. The experience includes a four-story twig tree house, swinging bridges, and a full-sized bald eagle’s nest at the highest point, 42 feet in the air. At Feeder Alley, slits in enclosed walls let visitors peer out into the surrounding forest, which is planted with species known to attract birds. The Wild Walk will reopen for the summer on May 27, 2016.
 

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Samoset Unveils New Renovated Rooms and Suites

The crown jewel of Maine’s mid-coast, the 230-acre Samoset Resort in Rockland, has undergone extensive room renovations this winter. All 178 rooms and suites now have a contemporary coastal flair, thanks to the blue and white palette that livens up the décor. Samoset will also debut six new “Family Suites” this month. Each Family Suite will feature a kid’s bunkbed room, separate from the main bedroom, ideally suited for families with tweens and teens. The bunk room features amenities like board and video games and fun, educational books about Maine. The resort also features an 18-hole golf course, outdoor and indoor heated pools, hot tubs, tennis courts, health club, spa, basketball courts, and fire pits. Also nearby is my favorite breakwater to walk in the state and the James Beard-award winning restaurant, Primo. 

 
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Check Your Bank Account Even While Traveling

So there I was lounging on my patio at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge after a week of adventure in the Canadian Rockies. I’ll delve into many of my favorite locales from my trip to Western Canada next week. Any way, I was checking my email when I noticed that Bank of America contacted me, saying my funds were getting low. I had transferred money from my savings to checking account before I left, so I should have had more than enough money for the trip. When I went online at Bank of America, I saw three purchases from Stop & Shop and Exxon made in New York and New Jersey the same time I was hiking, rafting, and rock climbing my way through the Canadian Rockies! Obviously fraudulent, I called Bank of America immediately. They cancelled my Visa debit card and quickly refunded me the money that was taken by Mr. Identity Theft. Since I no longer had use of my ATM card, they also wired me money for the rest of the trip. Morale of story. Even though you’d like to leave your life behind on vacation. Sometimes it’s better to check in now and then to make sure you’re not being taken advantage of.
 

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ActiveTravels.com Named One of the Top 125 Travel Blogs in the World

I was happy to hear this week that ActiveTravels.com was named one of the top 125 travel blogs in the world by the premiere adventure outfitter, Austin-Lehman Adventures. Not only that, but Austin-Lehman is offering two lucky readers from one of the nominated travel blogs a chance to win a trip for two on one of their glamorous getaways. Simply give them your name, email address, and mention ActiveTravels.com as your travel blog of choice. Thanks again for sticking with me these past several years! My brother just purchased a new HD video camera that’s perfect for video blogging, so I plan to talk to you directly in the upcoming months. I also promise to update my Facebook fan page and add more content to Go Play!, your one-stop resource to the great outdoors. Have a great weekend and do something active! I’ll be back next week with Canadian adventures.
 

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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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Top 5 Travels of 2010, Biking to Giverny, France

I can think of no better way to start 2011 than to look back at my year of travels in 2010 and see which experiences surpassed all expectations. Last July, I took the family to Paris. We climbed up the Eiffel Tower, viewed the monumental works of art at the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, and Pompidou museums, shopped in the Marais, celebrated my brother’s birthday with a lavish spread at a friend’s home in the 16th arrondissement, and toured an overlooked museum devoted to French innovation, Musee des Arts et Metiers. The highlight for me, however, was our one day away from Paris on a bike tour to Giverny, the home of Claude Monet. Run by Fat Tire Bike Tours, we took a short train ride to the village of Vernon. As soon as we arrived, we were handed our bikes and visited an outdoor market to stock up on creamy Reblochon cheese, tasty Rosette de Lyon sausage, and hot-out-of-the-oven baguettes from the nearby boulangerie. We had our picnic lunch in a park overlooking swans swimming in the Seine, and then headed out on a bike trail that connects Vernon with Giverny. We entered the picturesque hamlet and were soon walking over that Japanese bridge seen in many of Monet’s works. The whole trip took about 8 hours and cost 65 Euros per biker, a perfect day trip for our family of four.
 

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Maine Week-The Advantage of Using an AMC Guide

On the first morning after breakfast at Gorman Chairback, we met up with our guide, Katie. Katie leads day trips for the AMC’s guests at the three lodges in Maine’s North Woods, Gorman Chairback, Little Lyford, and the recently reopened Medawisla. Not only is she an AMC guide, but she’s a Registered Maine Guide who can take people out in the summer to bag a peak, paddle, or fly-fish, and in winter to cross-country ski and snowshoe. We chose to canoe across 4-mile Long Pond with Katie and it was a wise choice. She shared the Old Town with Lisa, while my son, Jake, and I grabbed the second canoe. We had hopes of seeing a moose but that never panned out. Instead we followed a family of loons, mergansers, and even spotted a bald eagle atop a dead hemlock tree. The waters of Long Pond were like glass that morning, reflecting the surrounding mountains atop the surface. All you could hear was that mesmerizing call of the loon as there no other traffic on the pond. No boats, no canoes, nothing.

Katie was a wealth of information regarding Maine’s North Woods, telling us about the timber industry, people she lives with in nearby Greenville, and the surrounding mountains and lakes which she pointed out on a great map. We stopped for lunch on a deserted beach as she planned the following day for us, a hike to the peak of Third Mountain. The next day we were having lunch atop Third Mountain all by our lonesome looking out at that same body of water we had just paddled. The AMC offers custom-guided adventures in the White Mountains and Maine’s North Woods and it’s a wonderful way to learn far more about these two regions of the Northeast. AMC guides can take groups out for a half day or a full day tour, providing natural history insights and points of interest along the way. The itinerary is based on the ability and desire of the group. 
 

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