Social Distancing is the Name of the Game for Austin Adventures

horseback riding in MontanaThis week, we’re reaching out to some of our favorite outfitters to see what they’re promoting this summer and fall. Having taken the family on an Austin Adventures trip to the Canadian Rockies, we know firsthand that Dan Austin is the King of Social Distancing. He’s been creating adventures in the outdoors away from the masses for decades. Dan tells us that 60 percent of his bookings are still moving forward this summer. Popular in both 2020 and 2021 are what he calls “single stays,” trips out West with just one base camp hotel. Examples include the private suites and cabins at the Rustic Inn in Jackson Hole and Chilko Lake Lodge in British Columbia.

Due to the popularity of private family trips, Austin Adventures has just partnered with the Lodges at Eagles Nest, an executive mountain community in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Together, they’ve launched Eagle’s Nest Home Stays, a first-class base camp that includes guided group tours and outdoor recreational programming. Perched at 5,000 feet with 360-degree views, the Eagles Nest community is five miles from Banner Elk, in the heart of the adventure capital of North Carolina. Activities within the secluded community include hiking, cycling, horseback riding, disc golf, a ropes course, ATV and motorcycle trails, private fishing, a wine and cigar bar, and more. Off-site, travelers can raft Tennessee’s famous Watuga River, or explore nearby Banner Elk.

Guests interested in booking a stay at the Lodges at Eagles Nest through Austin Adventures have a variety of options, ranging from renting an executive mountain retreat with no additional services to experiencing a customized, all-inclusive stay with activity and service add-ons. “We can get you a full-time adventure guide, a personal chef, a private driver, you name it,” Austin said.

Lastly, Austin Adventures has also partnered with Collective Retreats to offer all-inclusive Glamping Based Adventures. For late summer and fall of 2020 Austin is working with properties in Colorado, Texas, and the Governors Island property just outside of New York City. In 2021, Collective Retreats will be adding Montana (just outside Yellowstone) and Napa Valley, CA.

ActiveTravels is here to help you travel during these difficult times. Whether it’s regional, domestic, or international travel you crave, we’ll get you there the safest possible way.

 

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Give Your Grandchild a Gift that Will Last a Lifetime

Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches 

 
In March, my family will hold a 90th birthday party for my mother. Her intellectual curiosity about the world remains unchanged from the time in the late 1980s when she and my father dreamed up the idea of a “10-year old trip.” They would take each grandchild to a destination of the young grandchild’s choosing (within reason!) once they turned 10. In the mid 1990s, they took my nephew Alex rafting on the Rogue River in Oregon, then my niece Sarah to Costa Rica, where my father was involved with the local environmental group Organization for Tropical Studies. After my father died, my mother continued the tradition, taking my nephew Ben to Machu Picchu and the Galapagos, my nephew Jason to Alaska, my son Jake to the Peruvian Amazon, and my daughter Sophie to Belize (both to the Mayan ruins in the Cayo District and to the reefs on the coast). 
 
These trips, I’m proud to say, seem ideal for ActiveTravels members. I would strongly encourage anyone reading this blog who may have an interest in multi-generational travel to consider something along similar lines. ActiveTravels would love to help you find the right destination and make the arrangements. I am confident that these many journeys had a tremendous impact on both the grandparents and the grandchildren in my family, often exposing the child to adventures they would not have had otherwise and to special bonds with Grandma and Pop-Pop. For several of these grandchildren, a love of the outdoors, or of exploring the world culturally, remains at the forefront of their lives. As my son Jake wrote in a postcard, recently unearthed, to a friend back in Brookline: "In my trip to the Amazon, I’ve fallen in quicksand, eaten a piranha, been skooled in ‘football’ by the locals, seen a capybara, been blessed by a shaman, and been 65 feet up in the trees on a rope bridge. How are you?"
 
Phote of Jake and My Mom in the Peruvian Amazon Summer 2006 
 
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Family Adventure in the Canadian Rockies with Austin-Lehman

As an adventure travel writer, I’ve been paid to bike around the Big Island of Hawaii, sea kayak the Fijian islands, dive the Great Barrier Reef, and paddle the Allagash River during a memorable foliage. Then I had my first child and the canoes, skies, and other outdoor paraphernalia started to collect dust in the basement of my suburban Boston home. Going stir crazy one summer day, I called my dad who gave me the sage advice to integrate family into my work. The next thing I know I’m going up and down the hills of Vermont with my toddler on the back of my bike. Like many parents, I began to realize that I don’t have to give up my passion simply because I have little ones. It was time to introduce my kids to the real me. Now I travel with Jake, 14, and Melanie, 12, as much as possible without getting scolded by their teachers. And they’re the ones teaching me a thing or two about every sport they try. 

This coming summer, we’re already booked on a six-day multisport trip with Austin-Lehman Adventures in the Canadian Rockies. ALA is known for their guided family trips to the most stunning locales across the globe, from Costa Rica to Alaska, Africa, and yes, the Canadian Rockies. In the Banff, Jasper, and Lake Louise region, we’ll trek with crampons across the Athabasca Glacier, whitewater raft down the Kananaskis River, and bike through the tall cedars and pines on the Evans Thomas path. Another highlight is the 64-mile drive through the peaks and deep swaths of forest on Icefields Parkway. Elk, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, maybe even a bear or cougar can be seen as you make your way to the largest ice cap in the Canadian Rockies, the Columbia Icefield, on the boundary of Banff and Jasper National Parks. At night, we’ll be staying at Baker Creek Chalets, along a quiet stream smack dab in the center of the snowcapped summits.

As we begin to plan our summer vacations, I want to take the time this week to describe some of my favorite trips offered by outfitters.
 

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Tulum, Mexico, No Longer a Sleepy Seaside Town

The southernmost town on the 80-mile strip of sand referred to as the Riviera Maya, Tulum has always been a perfect getaway from Cancun to see the Mayan ruins. Only well-traveled European backpackers would consider spending the night in one of the bungalows on the beach. Lately, however, a small sampling of all-inclusive resorts have opened in this sleepy seaside town. It’s ideally suited for young American families on their first international trip. Children learn about the historical significance of the Mayans by touring the impressive ruins. Then they can snorkel at Xel-Ha and go for a dip in one of the natural swimming holes called cenotes. Plus, those same white pearly sands that cater to the Spring Break crowd in Cancun can be found on Riviera Maya in a more serene setting that families find attractive.

I’ll be headed to the Yucatan all next week and most likely won’t have the time to blog. I know I’ve been traveling quite a bit this past month and missed many a blog, but stay with me. I have great travel advice, film footage, and photos from Kenya that I’ll be sharing upon my return on December 6th.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Make sure to work off that turkey by doing something active.  And, as always, thanks for checking in!

 

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The Ocean Edge Resort Takes Advantage of its Waterfront Setting

With six pools, a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, tennis courts, and bike paths that connect easily to the 22-mile long Cape Cod Rail Trail, the Ocean Edge Resort offers its guests more than enough outdoor activity. Yet, I’m most excited about the resort’s latest partnership with Cape Cod Museum of Natural History to go on naturalist-led walks on the mud flats of Bay Pines Beach. Throughout the summer, you’ll explore Cape Cod Bay at low tide, searching for clams, crabs, sea cucumbers, and other marine life. The beachcombing is appropriate for ages 5 and up and they don’t need to dress up like SpongeBob. Though it might help find other critters.
 

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Vermont Winter Retreat for Adventurous Women

Vermont Outdoors Woman has begun registration for its Annual Winter Doe Camp at the Hulbert Outdoor Center, March 1-3, 2013. Winter Doe Camp is a women’s weekend retreat for outdoor skill development, adventure, health, and just plain fun. Participants can camp out or stay in heated cabins at night, enjoy great meals and play in the snow all day. Spend the weekend learning winter outdoors skills while staying near the shores of Lake Morey in Fairlee. Classes such as dogsledding, fire making, traditional winter camping, survival, camp fire cooking, cross country skiing, orienteering, ice fishing, nature studies, pond hockey, nordic skating, and tai chi, will be offered. The minimum age is 15 and minors must be accompanied by an adult. Cost for the all inclusive weekend program is $290. 

 
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Quebec’s Winter Carnival

I just finished a story on winter carnivals in North America. One of the finest is in Quebec City, where for 17 days, the party never stops. More than one million people descend upon the fortified city to cheer on the competition in Le Grande Virée, a dogsled race that cruises through the heart of the historic Old City, or watch paddlers sprint across the turgid waters of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The French-flavored festivities continue with tours of the Ice Palace, a giant medieval castle constructed of pure crystalline water, parades, snow sculpture contests, inner tube sled rides, dancing to live music, and late night jaunts to heated tents to sample the potent drink called Caribou, made of whiskey, red wine, and maple syrup. One swig of this and you might be running naked through the snowfields.

While in Quebec City, spend a memorable night 30 minutes outside of town at North America’s only ice hotel, Hotel de Glace. 32 new rooms are created each year out of 12,000 tons of snow and 400 tons of ice, along with an Absolut ice bar, Jacuzzis, and a dance club. Bring those long johns. Temperature inside is a mere 27 degrees Fahrenheit.  
 

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