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Montreal Celebrates 375th Anniversary With 175 Events in 2017

Canada will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Confederation in 2017 so I’m sure to post many more blogs on the yearlong festivities. First up is Montreal, which is also celebrating its 375th anniversary next year. To commemorate the occasion, they are hosting over 175 events, including a nightly multi-media show set on the St. Lawrence this summer. If it’s anything like the multi-media event I witnessed in Quebec City to celebrate their 400th birthday, it will be one of the best events you’ll see in 2017. Other highlights include the mesmerizing “Walk of the Giants” from France’s Royal de Luxe street theater company, the premiere of a new opera based on Pink Floyd’s The Wall, and an exhibition at Montreal’s Museum of Contemporary Art inspired by the songwriting of Leonard Cohen. If you need a place to hang your hat, consider Hotel William Gray, a new luxury hotel that opened in July overlooking the Place Jacques-Cartier. 

 

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Celebrating Our 4th Anniversary at ActiveTravels Thanks to You!

In 1990, I left my job as an insurance broker in Manhattan, booked an open-ended ticket to the South Pacific, New Zealand, and Australia, and wrote my first travel story, “Dining with the Descendants of Cannibals on a Fijian Island” for the Miami Herald. It would prove to be start of a career where I would write more than 1500 stories (over 300 articles for the Boston Globe alone) and visit over 90 countries. Then the recession hit. I lost more than half my editors in 2008-2009 as magazines folded and newspapers either eliminated or greatly reduced their travel sections. Wanting to utilize my travel expertise, I convinced Lisa to join me in a business venture and become an accredited travel agent. 

 
Close family and friends scoffed at the idea, as if I just announced that I was becoming a blacksmith. After all, wasn’t it President Obama who suggested in a town hall meeting that travel agents were becoming obsolete? How could they possibly prosper against big-pocket online travel agencies (OTAs) like Expedia, Priceline, Travelocity, and Orbitz? There was just no need for them anymore, or was there? Since we opened ActiveTravels 4 years ago this month, without benefit of advertising dollars or a marketing department, there has been a steady stream of traffic. In fact, we just hired another assistant, Jainy, so you might be hearing from her. 
 
We want to sincerely thank you for trusting us with your travels! Enjoy the long weekend! While relaxing on your chaise lounge chair, please check out our latest newsletter. We cover Alaskan cruises, divulge our favorite resorts in the Turks & Caicos, and introduce you to one of our beloved Italian outfitters. 
 
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New in New Hampshire Skiing

Like Vermont, New Hampshire has also received a good amount of early season snow, over 3 feet in some ski areas. Loon Mountain and Mount Sunapee is now under new ownership. Loon was purchased by Boyne Resorts while Mount Sunapee is now owned by Vail Resorts. Over at Bretton Woods, they’re busy building the first 8-person gondola in the state. Waterville Valley has added a 12,000 square foot expansion to the Base Lodge, which will allow for better views and more elbow room this season. Also at Waterville Valley, the expansion at Green Peak is now complete, with a total of 10 new trails, including Wayne Wong Way, which features the steepest pitch at the resort. Lastly, as reported here before, the new Glen House Hotel opened in the Fall of 2018 and now provides trailside lodging at Great Glen Trails. So get out there and carve that perfect turn! 
 
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Top 5 Bike Rides in America During Fall Foliage, Asheville, North Carolina

If you think fall foliage is only relegated to the northeast, you haven’t been to Asheville, North Carolina in late October and early November. Leaves on the dogwoods, sweetgums, mountain ash, red maples, poplars, and birches all change color. Locals avoid biking on the famed Blue Ridge Parkway this time of year, unless you like weaving in and out of the leaf peeper congestion. The folks at Liberty Bicycles will provide bikes and steer you away from the traffic, leading you to nearby Burnsville for a favorite local ride. Park your car at an old gas station on Highway 19 just past the turn off to Highway 19E. Then head west on 19 and get ready for a great rural ride, North Carolina-style. On this 37-mile loop, you’ll bike alongside the Cane and North Toe Rivers and over suspension bridges past old tobacco farms, country stores, and small churches. Except for one steep hill in the beginning, the ride is relatively flat. Be on the lookout for deer, and if you do the loop on Sunday, make sure to bag a lunch in Asheville, because most stores are closed.  

 
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Meeting the Buddha of Bourbon at Wild Turkey Distillery

We toured 5 distilleries during our time in Kentucky Bourbon Country. We really enjoyed our visit to Bardstown Bourbon Company, the tasting at Heaven Hill (where we purchased coveted Old Fitzgerald 14-year-old bottles to bring home) and doing the hard hat tour at the 1930s industrial complex still in use at Buffalo Trace. Yet, it was hard to top our visit to Wild Turkey in the serene bluegrass country outside Lawrenceburg. One look at those rickhouses blackened on the outside from evaporation and you can sense the history. In fact, a distillery has been operating at this same site since 1869. We had a wonderful guide, Edwina, who showed us the whole process of making bourbon, from seeing the mash bills and fermentation tanks to walking inside one of those old rickhouses and eyeing all those barrels stacked to the ceiling. Wild Turkey currently has 7 to 8 million barrels aging, forming the largest distillery on one site in Kentucky. Outside, the rolling hills led to a bridge over the Kentucky River and the countryside was aflame in late fall foliage. 

Then we were back at the newly revamped Visitors Center tasting the wares and meeting the Buddha of Bourbon, 84-year-old Master Distiller Jimmy Russell, who’s been working at Wild Turkey the past 64 years. "When I started here, bourbon was a southern gentlemen’s drink. Now just as many women are buying a bottle as men," says Jimmy. He also notes that Wild Turkey is the top selling bourbon in Japan and Australia, helping to create the current surge in popularity. We talked for another 15 minutes before getting Jimmy to sign a bottle of Russell’s Reserve 10 year. Definitely a highlight of our trip. If you want to try and catch Jimmy, head to the Visitors Center on Sunday afternoons after he and his wife go to church. He just might be sitting at that table at the entrance. 
 
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Maine Windjammer Week, Specialty Cruises

Aboard an historic schooner sailing the Penobscot Bay islands of Maine’s mid-coast, modernity slows to a more languid pace. Cruising amidst the anonymous pine-topped islands, stopping at the occasional seaside village, you can’t help but relax aboard these yachts of yesteryear. Help hoist the sails, read a good thick book, or partake in an increasingly popular activity aboard a windjammer, photography. Lately, these schooners have been offering specialty cruises that cater to one particular passion.

If you’ve followed me on Twitter @ActiveTravels all week, you’ve learned about some of the specialty cruises. I’ll also be writing an upcoming article for The Boston Globe on the subject. Here is a small sampling of this summer’s offerings. For a full listing, visit the Maine Windjammer Association:

 
• Angelique will offer a 3-day cruise in late May that will allow guests to see newly born seal pups. 
• The Isaac H. Evans will night sail during a full moon and the Perseid Meteor Shower with an astronomer on board. 
• The Victory Chimes features an Irish Music Cruise in mid-August. Schooner sailing and foot-stomping fiddling go together like lobster and butter. 
• Captain Barry King aboard the schooner Mary Day is a passionate brewer of beer. You’ll sample Maine’s best microbrews on this mid-June cruise.
• The American Eagle will once again feature professional photographer, Greg Gettens, on their 4-night cruise in June to share his photography tips. 
• Stephen Taber is ideally suited to offer wine tasting cruises throughout the summer. Captain Noah Barnes wife, Jane, worked in the wine industry for many years.
• Captains Doug and Linda Lee of the Heritage share their wealth of knowledge about Maine’s people, islands, and seafaring history on their two Maritime History cruises this summer. 
• Lovers of lighthouses should book the 6-night Lighthouse Cruise on the Lewis R. French. You’ll get close up views of 15-20 historic lighthouses. 
 
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My Favorite Lobster-in-the-Rough Joint in Maine

Talk about lobster rolls in Maine and you enter into a territorial catfight where everyone seems to choose their local favorite. I happen to love the affordable rolls at Quoddy Bay Lobster in Eastport, topped with a full claw, the chockful of meat served in a bun at Red’s Eats in Wiscasset, and sitting at the pier at Beal’s, just outside Acadia National Park. But if you ask those same foodies where to find the best lobster roll with a view, the majority of Mainers will point you to the Lobster Shack in Cape Elizabeth. Not far from where Winslow Homer set up shop on Prouts Neck, the picnic tables overlook that same boulder-strewn coastline Homer loved to paint. Order your food at the window of the rustic shack, wait for your number to be called, and grab a spot with vistas of Casco Bay, framed by two lighthouses. One of those lighthouses is the picturesque Portland Head Light, a favorite subject of artist Edward Hopper. For more information on the Lobster Shack, see the story I wrote for The Boston Globe.
 

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