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Bald Eagles Return to Litchfield Hills, Connecticut

This is the time of year when bald eagles make their annual pilgrimage to the Shepaug Dam on the Housatonic River in Southbury, Connecticut. When their fishing grounds freeze over further north, these majestic birds head to the dam, where the turbulent waters prevent freezing and push fish to the surface for easy pickings. Everyone is invited to view these graceful creatures whose wingspans often reach 7 feet at the Eagle Observation Area near the Shepaug Housatonic Hydroelectric Station. An organized eagle watch takes place every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 9 am to 1 pm through March 12. Admission is free but space is limited and reservations are required. In addition to eagle viewing, Connecticut Audubon will host a birds of prey show on Saturdays throughout the viewing season. 

 

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The Trustees of Reservations Week, Sampling Southeast Massachusetts Properties

Turkey Hill Lane is an apt name for the road that leads to Weir River Farm in Hingham. On the drive there yesterday morning, I spotted at least a half-dozen wild turkeys. It would prove to be an auspicious start to a glorious day of seeing a small sample of TTOR’s reserves and farms in the southeastern part of the state. Hingham is best known as home to one of the Trustees’ most popular sites, World’s End, a drumlin that juts out onto a peninsula rewarding walkers and bikers with wonderful views of Boston Harbor. Weir River Farm is best known by local school kids for its community farm and 4-H programs. Everyone else will want to take the Thayer Trail, a narrow path on fallen pine needles that leads far away from the South Shore traffic into a tranquil forest full of flowering bushes. 

 
Continuing south, within 5 miles of the Sagamore Bridge to Cape Cod is the Lyman Reserve in Bourne. Like Weir River Farm, it would be wise to download the Google Map to get here or you’ll never find the place. From the parking lot, you have the choice of two trails—one that leads to the shores of Buttermilk Bay and the Cape Cod Canal, the second meanders near a marsh through a thicket of pine to Red Brook. I took the latter trail and was rewarded with views of yellow warblers, great blue herons, and green winged teals.
 
Heading to Westport Town Farm on one of the most bucolic stretches of road in the state, I passed kayakers and stand-up paddleboarders cruising down the Westport River. The wooden clapboard 1824 house at Westport Town Farm is a welcoming introduction to this pastoral property perched on a hill overlooking the river. Still a working farm, the Trustees donate produce to area hunger relief agencies and hold a weekly Farmers Market on Saturdays in summer. I took a grassy trail past the barnyard onto pasture that slopes down to the edge of the water. All I could hear was the cacophony of birdsong.
 
My final stop of the day, Slocum’s River Reserve in Dartmouth, was formerly known as Island View Farm. Tall silos stand across Horseneck Road from the parking lot and you still walk through a farmer’s backyard along centuries-old stone walls to get to the pasture and woods that lead to Slocum’s River. As I made my way close to the shores, I could smell the salty air and see the canoe launch. Next time, I’ll make a note to return with a kayak. 
 
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Exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains near Charlottesville

Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches 
 
At ActiveTravels, we often assist clients who seek to add "fun" to the slog of college visits with offspring. We recommend activities to do and great restaurants to try, and, of course, we arrange good hotels to rest your weary feet. Several years ago, when my daughter Sophie and I were trekking across NY State on a spring break college tour, we spent time at the Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, and ate at the award-winning Revelry in Rochester. Today, I have a chance to tell you about Charlottesville, Virginia, for those of you who may tour the University of Virginia. 
 
In late June, my sister and I drove our 90-year-old mother from New York City to Charlottesville to visit her 89-year-old sister (who relocated there recently). We had a narrow window for the trip before my mother traveled to Vermont with a friend for a long-scheduled series of classical music concerts, and before my aunt left for yet another scuba diving expedition in the Cayman Islands. Nothing slows these women down! 
 
Once in Charlottesville, we enjoyed two main adventures. First, we spent a lovely several hours at Pippin Hill Farm and Vineyards, just outside of town. I read about it ahead of time: "The picturesque vineyards and Winery Tasting Room are pure magic. But the real highlight is top-notch lunch cuisine on the veranda – with a bountiful cheese plate and big deck chairs, the setup is straight out of a magazine." Sounded right up our alley! We indulged while overlooking the green, very lush hills and fields, tasted several wines (our favorite was their Viognier), and ate delicious salads and smoked fish. "Farm-to-table" is a familiar expression these days; now, there’s "vineyard-to-table," too. There are many wineries within ½ hour of Charlottesville, including one owned by Dave Matthews. 
 
The next day, we set out to explore Shenandoah National Park, established in 1935. The scenic Skyline Drive is a prominent feature of the Park, and we drove it to the highest point, where we stopped for lunch at Skyland Resort (originally called Stony Man Camp, built in 1895). The origins of this beautiful Park are not completely benign, however. Hundreds of "mountain people" were moved off their land by the government after it was deemed by so-called "experts" that they were "steeped in ignorance, wrapped in self-satisfaction and complacency, possessed of little or no ambition." Segregation also reared its ugly head when the park debuted. We viewed a very interesting exhibit on segregated picnic areas within Shenandoah National Park. All sites in the Park, except one, were "whites only," and this lasted through the 1940s. 
 
Sadly, we missed the vibrant theater scene in Charlottesville (my cousin Dan is almost always in a show: this summer, he’s in "Harvey," with the professional Heritage Theatre Festival). If you are passing through Charlottesville, that’s another big plus. Monticello (Jefferson) and Montpelier (Madison), historic Presidential homes, are nearby. Let ActiveTravels know if you are headed to Charlottesville, or, really, to any college town, and we can help design a Dream Day Itinerary!
 
Caption: Vineyard View at Pippin Hill Farm
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Highlights of Chiang Mai

Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches

Midway into our journey from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai (a 4-5 hour drive), we stopped for a breather at the humorously named Cabbages and Condoms, which is, unbeknownst to me, a thriving chain of inns and restaurants in Thailand and the UK  — where all profits support the The Population & Community Development Association (PDA) and its programs in primary health, education, HIV/AIDS, family planning, rural development, and the environment. The restaurant started as a small vegetable stand on PDA office premises where the vegetables, along with condoms and oral contraceptives, were sold to the local residents. Of course, I bought a T shirt. It’s a good cause, and good for a chuckle back home. 
 
Other highlights of my trip to Chiang Mai:
 
I love learning new things, and "Monk Chat" at Wat Suandok was right up my alley, arranged by my guide Oy. I spoke directly to Phra KK, a monk for the past 18 years (since he was 13). Rather than being hokey or awkward, it was genuine and open. Phra KK explained that Monk Chat is a way for monks to give correct information on Thai Buddhism, which was much appreciated. He explained that Buddhism is not a religion per se, but a way of living and of understanding life; there are 227 precepts by which to do so. It is not a centralized belief system based on a god or set of gods. I asked, so, you could be another religion and also a Buddhist? And he said, "Like a Jew Bu? Sure!" He also explained when it is acceptable to break one of the precepts, and what followed was a great digression into when monks take "Western" antibiotics. Ask me sometime.  
 
Again, with Oy at my side, I set out for an Anthony Bourdain-styled breakfast at the Chiang Mai Gate Market early one morning. Over the course of 2 hours, I ate and ate and ate! Bamboo stuffed with coconut and peanut sticky rice. Sticky rice with tea leaf. Rice noodles, broth, pork, and tomatoes.  Water buffalo rind. BBQ pork stick. Banana leaf with coconut cream sticky rice and banana. Sticky rice with catfish. Sticky rice with fried garlic, sugar, and dried fish. Sticky rice with sesame and salt. And, at the end, Thai coffee (made with condensed milk). I didn’t eat the ant egg delicacies (too expensive!), or the grilled frog, but my taste buds and appetite for exploring and eating were sated. 
 
Also great in Chiang Mai:  
  • Really inexpensive foot massage at Anusarn Night Market. 
  • Fun hike among huge Ficus Altissma trees in Doi Suthep-Pui National Park. 
  • Blessing by a monk at Wat Prathat Doi Suthep. 
  • Shopping for packaged food — including fried worm snacks, with Oy to help me shift through options, at Warorot Market, and tasting Lao Khao (moonshine rice whisky). 
  • Giving food to the novice monks near Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep.
  • The Jewish neighborhood, inhabited by around 400-500 ex-pats (mostly from the US, Canada, and Israel). A restaurant gathering spot is Sababa. 
  • Cooking dinner with the Raunkaew-Yanon family, who has lived in their spot for approx. 150 years; they now have 36000 sq meters (almost 9 acres), scattered with homes and gardens. 
 
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Older Women Who Lift Weights See Cognitive Benefits

There’s an interesting story in the latest Archives of Internal Medicine, which I read religiously (just kidding), that talks about a recent Canadian study involving older women. Over the course of a year, The University of British Colombia divided 155 women in the 65 to 75-year old range into three groups—resistance training (lifting weights, using weight machines, or doing squats and lunges) once a week, resistance training twice a week, and a Tai-Chi based balance and tone training twice a week. The results: cognitive scores for the women who went to resistance training twice weekly were up 12.6 percent, once weekly up 10.9 percent, while those who only did Tai Chi fell 0.5 percent. So start pumping the iron!
 

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World’s Best Family Travel Destinations

Yellowstone National Park, London, Paris, Switzerland, Kenya, Tanzania, and Costa Rica all receive a worthy mention in my latest story for Global Traveler on the World’s Best Family Destinations. Thanks to Austin Adventures, Abercrombie & Kent, Backroads, and FanilyVacationCritic for providing the inspiration and the quotes. 

Lisa and I are off to New Jersey tomorrow for a conference with other Virtuoso-affiliated travel agents. Then it’s on to Boca Raton to celebrate Ken Leavitt’s 85th birthday and to see family in Naples and Marco Island. We’ll be back on March 19th. In the meantime, be well and keep active! 
 
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Canadian Rockies/Alaska Combo

Vacations by Rail, the Chicago-based travel company, has just announced a phenomenal 16-day vacation that combines train travel on arguably the best train in North America, Canada’s Rocky Mountaineer, with an Alaskan cruise on Holland America, ending with an Alaskan railroad jaunt from Anchorage to Denali National Park. Coined the Rocky Mountaineer and Alaska by Sea and Land package, board the Rocky Mountaineer and get ready for a soul-stirring train ride through the snowcapped peaks and cobalt blue glacial waters of the Canadian Rockies. You have two days in Vancouver before you board the ms Zaandam for a weeklong cruse on Alaska’s Inside Passage, stopping at Juneau, Skagway, and Glacier Bay before arriving in Anchorage. Spend a day and night in town, before taking your last train on to Denali, home to 20,157-foot Mount McKinley, and your final destination of Fairbanks. 2013 departures are available May 21, June 18, July 16, and August 13 and 27 and prices start at $3,579 per person based on double occupancy.
 

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