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5 Winter Escapes, Group Travel, and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail in ActiveTravels December Newsletter

These next two weeks, we have clients traveling to all corners of the globe from South Africa to Argentina to Australia. But if you’re looking for something a bit closer, where you can relax on a beach with a good thick book and soak up that sunshine, consider our 5 choices for a quick winter escape in the December ActiveTravels newsletter. Please also read about my recent trip to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and how, more and more, we’re booking families and groups of friends on private trips with active travel outfitters like Backroads and DuVine. 

 
We’ll be back on January 3rd. Wishing you all a very Happy, Healthy, and Active New Year! 
 

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Ecuador, So Much More Than the Galapagos! Great Activities Within an Hour of Quito

Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches

To reinforce yesterday’s recommendation to add at least 3 or 4 days to a Galapagos trip in the highlands region of Ecuador, here are three wonderful activities I did just outside of Quito. 
 
Definitely don’t miss the ½ hour side-trip to the base of the Teleferico Gondola. The view, as you ascend the east side of the Pichincha Volcano to lookout point Cruz Loma, reveals a unique landscape of the city and the opportunity to travel more than 8,000 feet in less than 20 minutes. Once there, you can spend a few hours or a few days! Options abound: hiking to the summit of Pichincha, camping, horseback riding, mountain biking, rock climbing, and even paragliding. Of course, you could just sit with a picnic and take in the vista, including the world’s highest Catholic Church. I loved swinging on the giant swing.
 
Another lovely place for outdoor activity is the Pululahua Geobotanical Reserve, less than an hour’s drive from downtown Quito. Lush green farmland has developed in the crater of the inactive volcano, the only such agricultural area in the world (growing maize, beans, potatoes, vegetables, alfalfa, and more, for 500 years). Side note: In Ecuador, there are 18 varieties of bananas, 137 varieties of corn, and 300 varieties of potatoes! From the top of Pululahua, you can take it in, or, if so inclined, hike down. Horseback riding, hiking, birding, and mountain biking are the most popular activities inside the volcano trails. There’s even an ecolodge using renewable energy inside the 2500 year-old crater.
 
And, of course, you can’t go to Ecuador without straddling the equator. There are not one, but two competing equator sites close to Quito. Most people apparently know that Mitad del Mundo’s equator line is a bit off. Intiñan Solar Museum has its own marker, which is closer to the right spot. It’s hard to know if either is 100% accurate, but locals claim that Intiñan is more "real." They are only a few hundred yards from one another, so you can easily see both sites. Interestingly, science experiments like the Coriolis effect (where water swirls down a drain clockwise on one side of the equator, and counter-clockwise on the other) work at both.
 
Tomorrow, Otavalo, South America’s most famous market, where indigenous locals come from the surrounding villages to sell their colorful handicrafts and produce. 
 
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Bike the Illinois Prairie Path, Chicago

Once home to the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin electric railroad, this former line would still be collecting dust if it wasn’t for a forward-thinking teacher who pictured it as a gateway for recreation. Now the 62-mile trail in suburban Chicago is one of the longest paved trails in the rail-to-trail network. Snaking through Cook, DuPage and Kane Counties, the most scenic stretch is the 14-mile Elgin Spur. Heading southeast from Elgin to Wheaton, the trail snakes through forest, wetlands and an equestrian center.

I’ll be heading to Chicago next week to bike part of this trail and along the lakefront. I’ll be back on July 5th. Have a great July 4th Weekend!
 

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Back at the Track

I honestly didn’t spend much time at the Saratoga Race Course growing up in nearby Schenectady. My dad had a sailboat docked north of Bolton Landing on Lake George and that’s where we would spend much of the summer. But since I’ve been getting together with high school buddies annually these past 7 years, a day at the track has always been a day that I really look forward to. This year, I arrived around noon and parked behind the stables (free parking off Exit 14 on the Northway), a good parking area if you’re headed north to Lake George like we were. Then I strolled over to the front gate, purchased a pink sheet, which gives insider info on the horses and jockeys, and grabbed a burger and fries at Shake Shack. The first race is 1 pm and the track is a beauty, the oldest track in America and named by Sports Illustrated as one of the Top 10 Sports Venues of the 20th Century. My friend, Bob, usually finds us a table in the Clubhouse to watch the races, where we have great views of the horses rounding the track. I walk up to place my $2 and $5 bets and usually lose, with or without the pink sheet, but still have a blast rooting for my horses. This year, I left on a winning note, betting on Flowers to Lisa to win the 8th race. It easily cruised to victory at 5:1 odds, no doubt spurred on by my wife, Lisa, my lucky charm. 
 
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New York’s High Line Park Receives $20 Million Gift to Expand

Since its debut the summer of 2009, High Line Park has become a huge success. Attracting more than 3 million annual visitors to the Chelsea section of Manhattan, the aboveground park built on a former elevated railroad line, has led to more than $2 billion in planned or new development in the neighborhood. All it takes is one stroll on the mile-long walkway to understand the magical allure of being above the streets of Manhattan. The pathway heads north from Gansevoort to 30th Streets. With the announcement last week that Barry Diller, chairman of IAC and Expedia, and his wife, designer, Diane von Furstenberg, have donated an additional $20 million to the park, Friends of the High Line hope to expand the park another half mile to 12th Avenue and 34th Street, close to the Hudson River. Diller and his wife are no strangers to the High Line, having donated close to $15 million prior to their latest gift, the single largest donation ever made to a New York City park. It’s exciting news that the park will finally curve its way to the railway’s rightful endpoint.
 

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My Top 5 Adventures in 2009, Climbing Masada, Israel

This past January, almost exactly a year ago, my family spent several weeks in Israel. On our final day, we drove south of Jerusalem past Bedouin villages into the rolling hills of the Judean desert. This is where you find the mountain fortress, Masada, known as the site where the Israelites committed mass suicide rather than serve as slaves to the Romans in 73 A.D. Climbing Masada is a rite of passage for most people heading to the country. Fortunately it was January, so the heat wasn’t too bad as my daughter Melanie counted all 865 steps to the summit. As a reward for the hike, we brought the kids for a swim in the Dead Sea, the lowest point on Earth. It was late in the day, the waters were rough, and we forgot our towels. No one seemed to care as we floated in the salty sea, staring at the mountainous ridges of Jordan on the opposite shores. See the full story in The Boston Globe.
 

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Good News from Conde Nast Traveler, Men’s Journal

While I was in San Antonio last week, Lisa and I were approached by Conde Nast Traveler to design a detailed itinerary along the New England coast for families. The finished column will appear in the summer issue and will include 3 of our favorite upscale lodgings, Castle Hill Inn in Newport, Chatham Bars Inn on Cape Cod, and Inn by the Sea in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Another piece of good news, Men’s Journal asked me to be their resident travel expert. I will be writing a column a week for their website and magazine. I’ll be sure to link many of the stories to my blog here, in addition to all the content I already write for The Boston Globe, FamilyVacationCritic, Yankee, Everett Potter’s Travel Report, and others. So be sure to check back! 
 

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