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West Street Hotel Opens in Bar Harbor, Maine

Still need a quick getaway to finish off the summer in style. A new boutique hotel has just opened on the waterfront in Bar Harbor, the gateway to Acadia National Park. Called the West Street Hotel, the property features balconies with ocean view, a rooftop pool, iPod docking station to crank out the tunes, large flat screen television, and wireless internet. Best part is that you’re within easy walking distance to many of the restaurants in town. The hotel is offering an introductory rate of $199 a night through August. Just use the promo code SUMMER when reserving a room. 
 
I’m off on a camping trip to the Boston Harbor Islands. I’ll be back on Monday. Keep active!
 
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Winslow Homer’s Studio Will Open to the Public in September

Winslow Homer’s still-standing studio on Prouts Neck, Maine will finally open to the public next month. It has been closed for renovations since 2006, when the Portland Museum of Art acquired the studio where Homer lived and painted many of his masterpieces from 1883 until his death. Several years ago, I wrote an article for Yankee Magazine about Homer’s years in Prouts Neck. You can reserve tickets to the studio through the Portland Museum of Art. To further celebrate the opening, the Portland Museum of Art will display 35 major oils and watercolors painted during Homer’s time at Prouts Neck in a show titled Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and Maine. The exhibition will run from September 22 to December 30, 2012. Stay at one of my favorite stopovers in southern Maine, the Inn by the Sea in Cape Elizabeth, a 15-minute drive from both Portland and Prouts Neck. The Inn by the Sea is featuring a "Seascapes Package" to coincide with the exhibition and studio opening. For $632, you receive two nights in a one-bedroom suite, two rum cocktails named for the artist, two tickets to the Weatherbeaten exhibition, a catalogue from the show, and full breakfast for two each morning. They can also help to arrange tours of the studio, which cost an additional $55 per person. 
 
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Legroom on Airlines is Shrinking

If you’re feeling a little snug in that airline seat lately, realize that airlines are reducing legroom in economy seating as another egregious way to boost profits. In a story in yesterday’s Boston Globe, it was reported that Southwest has recently reduced legroom to add one additional row of seats. Other airlines simply want you to have an uncomfortable flight so you’ll spend more money on their premium economy seats, with extra legroom. Spirit is the worst in the industry, with a mere 28 inches between rows. Contrast that to JetBlue, whose airlines are often in the 32-33 inch range. The industry standard is now 31 inches between rows, down from 32 inches a decade ago. It’s only going to get worse until the government passes a passenger’s bill of rights that includes minimum legroom. Otherwise, economy class passengers might be hanging from the ceiling like moths in a cocoon.

 
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The Hmong Women: Lessons in Sales, Sapa, Vietnam

Guest Blog and Photo by Frances F. Denny

  
Sapa, in the mountains of Northwest Vietnam, draws native Vietnamese and foreign travellers alike to its cool temperatures and pristine landscapes.  The many so-called “hill tribes” native to the region, like the H’mong and Red Zhao, have adapted to the surge of visitors like savvy capitalists. 
 
In their traditional garb of indigo-dyed hemp and neon embroidery, the H’mong women are striking in appearance. As you arrive in town, they quickly engage visitors in workable English.  "Where are you from?" and "How long you stay?"  They answer all of your questions with ease and humor. The attention and seeming authenticity of the conversation is flattering. However, as soon as they’ve established a rapport, the H’mong women begin unpacking the baskets strapped to their backs, and display hand-woven pillowcases, purses, and blankets. You might buy a trinket from one of the girls as they follow you around town, and the others will frown and say, "You promise to buy from me, too?" The items for sale are pretty, but ubiquitous.  Offloading as many of these items as possible to any customer is the goal. 
 
A trek into Sapa’s valley of terraced rice paddies will inevitably be attended by three or four H’mong girls, hopping nimbly over mud puddles and stones, as visitors scramble and splosh.  The women chat about families, their work, their cuisine.  In a few hours, your guide will declare lunch, at which the point the baskets are opened and the wares arrayed again.  The implication is, "I trekked with you, now you buy from me."  
 
Once a visitor is marked, every departure from a hotel activates the sales force whose faces soon become familiar.  Every detail gleaned from earlier sales forays will be remembered by all: the visitor’s name and itinerary, the number of sisters in the family; the mother who might like a pair of silver earrings. Exactly what price their friend sold a belt an hour earlier will also be known. They frown and pout upon hearing, "No, thank you." A smile appears when they are asked if a purchase will end all the attention. This is the dance, too and the H’mong are expert hagglers. They know a potential buyer must be worn down; that guilt can drive a purchase as much as fatigue; that a tourist will pay 500,000 Dong for some peace. When the sale is done, the H’mong women tie a woven bracelet to their customer’s wrist, and the selling stops – though it is hard not to wonder if the gift is also marking you a sucker to the rest of the tribe.
 
The H’mong women would excel in any MBA program. They identify their customer, make a personal connection, offer something free – but of value (trekking guidance; cultural information) – for the chance to solicit, leveraging their ethnic authenticity with modern psychology.  It is a cold visitor who does not succumb to such marketing.  It’s the price of admission to Sapa.
 
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Costa Rica Highlights, Ending Each Trip at Finca Rosa Blanca

On my last two trips to Costa Rica, I wisely spent the final night at Finca Rosa Blanca. High above the urban buzz of San Jose, Costa Rica, yet only a 25-minute drive from the international airport, Finca Rosa Blanca is a tranquil retreat nestled in the countryside of Heredia. Watch the colorful turquoise-browed motmots play in the centuries-old fig trees as you sip the inn’s organic-grown coffee. Then talk to the owners about everything they do to make the place sustainable. They are one of the few properties to receive five stars, the highest ranking from the country’s green tourism commission, and are asked to train other innkeepers on their environmentally-friendly practices. Local artisans, including painters, cast iron welders, and a local senior citizen center provide the artwork in the suites. The vegetables found in the restaurant’s innovative fare are grown organically in a greenhouse. Large solar panels create the heat in the pool and, instead of chlorine, they use an ionized system that keeps the water clean and clear. The inn also uses some of their profits to help fund the local high school. I love the mix of art, tasty food, and lush environs. It’s the perfect place to spend your final day in the country. 

 
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Costa Rica, Ziplining Above the Rainforest Canopy Outside of Quepos

Each year around my birthday, I try to do something a little crazy. Just my way of celebrating another year of survival and reconfirming that yes, I’m very much alive. Often this adventure has something to do with confronting my fear of heights. Last year, I went rock climbing for the first time in the Canadian Rockies. This year, on my fourth trip to Costa Rica, having more than ample opportunity to zipline above the rainforest canopy, I finally agreed to go. Having the chance to cruise with my family was the extra push I needed. We drove through the palm oil plantations high up in the hills above Quepos on the central Costa Rican coast. The company we chose, MidWorld, were extremely professional, especially when attaching our harnesses and carabineers. Then we drove a little bit higher and it was time to bite the bullet. I was worried that my stomach would drop, like on a rollercoaster ride, a dreaded feeling I’d rather not have. Instead, it was just a smooth quick cruise on a cable just above the canopy of green. There were a total of ten platforms and two rappels down from the trees. Walking from one platform to the next, we spotted a toucan and a green and yellow poison dart frog. By the third or fourth zipline, I started to become so comfortable with the sport that I turned upside down. Then I tried to right myself, but my core needs a bit more Pilates before I can pull off that move. So I spent the entire zipline upside down, watching the blur of forest whiz by. I think I earned my chocolate raspberry birthday cake tonight. 

 
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Costa Rica Highlights, Tirimbina Rainforest

A mere 40 minutes north of Poas Volcano and you’ll reach the Sarapiqui Region of Costa Rica, another part of Costa Rica that’s mistakenly overlooked. Along the banks of the Sarapiqui River, you’ll find pockets of rainforest rich with birdlife and researchers studying the wildlife. On my last visit to the region, I stayed at La Selva Biological Station to pen a story on birdwatching while feasting my eyes on a variety of toucans and monkeys. This visit, I brought the kids to Tirimbina Rainforest to go on a chocolate tour, where we tasted heavenly chocolate straight from the cocoa pod. It was my son’s 16th birthday and the creamy chocolate sure beat any birthday cake I could have bought in town. On the way over to the cocoa pods, we crossed the longest canopy bridge in the country and spotted our first furry sloth resting under a large leaf of a tree. 

 
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Costa Rica Highlights, El Silencio and Bajos del Toro

Once travelers touch down in San Jose, they’re often in a rush to drive to Arenal Volcano or Monteverde and the Cloud Forest. That’s unfortunate, because you’re missing one of my favorite parts of the country, the farmland on the backside of Poas Volcano, only an hour’s drive from the airport. 5,000 feet high, also considered part of the Cloud Forest, this is as green and cool as the country gets. The verdant terrain features some of the best waterfalls in the country, plummeting down to rarely seen lakes. At Peace Lodge and El Silencio, we walked by ourselves to a series of waterfalls, all more dramatic than the next. El Silencio is located in the farming community of Bajos del Toro. One afternoon, we went horseback riding up the hillside, stopped to milk cows and meet the locals, then wandered back through town to our room. The view from our deck was a stunning flank of the volcano, surrounded by the lush foliage. Adding to the allure are the multitude of hummingbirds found in this part of the country. 

 
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Costa Rica Highlights, The Exquisite Arenas del Mar

I’m just back from over two weeks in Costa Rica with the family. Even though the summer is the wet season in Costa Rica, the weather was perfect, usually raining at night to enhance our sleep. And the country is incredibly lush this time of year. This week, I want to discuss the highlights of the trip so you can put it on your checklist when planning your own jaunt.

 
First up is a property just outside the rainforest of Manuel Antonio National Park, Arenas del Mar. Built into the cliffs overlooking the Pacific, five minutes from the entrance to the national park, this boutique resort has everything you dream about in a Costa Rica vacation. It’s where the verdant foliage of the rainforest meets the beach. The spacious suites, all with balconies overlooking the expanse of ocean, are socked into the forest. So you wake up looking at white-faced monkeys and those slow-moving sloths climbing the vines and trees. Golf carts drive you up the hillside to have breakfast of fresh papaya, mango, and pineapple, with baked goods, high overlooking the neighboring islands. Then the carts bring you back to your rooms, where you can walk down to the private beach or swim in the pool. With so much rain, the high tides were incredibly dramatic when we were there. The pounding surf slammed against the rocky outcroppings, with foam spewing into the air. Add guided hikes into Manuel Antonio with the hotel’s knowledgeable naturalist, Ercel, and nearby ziplining in the mountainside with the professional staff at MidWorld and you understand why this was my family’s favorite of six stops on the trip. 
 
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Climb Mount Craig, North Carolina

The Black Mountains encompass North Carolina’s highest peaks, including Mt. Mitchell (6,684 feet) and Mt. Craig (6,645 feet), the two tallest summits east of the Mississippi River. On the 12-mile (one-way) Black Mountain Crest Trail (a 2 ½-hour drive from Charlotte), Craig is just one of a half-dozen peaks over 6,000 feet climbers get to bag.  Leave the Mt. Mitchell State Park through a forest of hemlock, spruce, and pine, and within a mile, you’ll be atop Craig. This is the start of a magical ridge walk among ferns, blackberry bushes, moosewood, spruce, and fir as you climb up and down the serrated crest of the Blacks. Small gaps separate the peaks, where surging streams come tumbling down the dense vegetation. It’s best to take this path with a buddy and leave a second car at Bowlen’s Creek, the trail’s end.  
 
I’m off to Costa Rica, back August 9th. Enjoy the heart of the summer and keep climbing!