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Climb Longs Peak, Colorado

Despite its forbidding East face and a summit of strewn boulders, Rocky Mountain National Park’s highest peak is climbed by hundreds in the summer months. Spend at least one night at 7,000 to 8,000 feet to adjust to the elevation and then begin this 15-mile round-trip (10 to 15 hours) hike in the wee morning hours. Starting at the East Longs Peak trailhead (9400 feet and a 90-minute drive from Denver), the first six miles is a moderate ascent through a forest of sub-alpine fir, Engelmann spruce, and what the Germans call krummholz (crooked timber). At aptly named Boulder Field (12,760 feet), the path steepens as you begin the Keyhole Route to the top. Here, the above-treeline ledges resemble a cliffside stairway, albeit without handrail. The final “Homestretch” is a scramble atop rocks as the Continental Divide and all the glorious splendor of the Rockies spread out on a carpet of green before you. Try to get off the 14,225-foot summit by noon, when summer thunderstorms often begin its daily light show on the exposed rock. Colorado Mountain School offers guided hikes up the mountain.  
 
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Climb Mount Shasta, California

When a five-year-old sketches a perfect triangular cone of a mountain, they come pretty damn close to drawing Mount Shasta. Standing 14,162 feet tall, this snow-clad Northern Californian beauty (a 4-hour drive from Sacramento) can be seen from a 100-mile radius.  To reach its prominent summit, however, is no easy task.  Even in the summer months, you’ll need crampons and an ice ax.  These can be rented locally or you can opt to go with Shasta Mountain Guides who will teach you how to best trudge in snow as they accompany you on the trail. The 6.1-mile, 6,000 vertical feet climb starts at a stone building the Sierra Club calls Horse Camp. You might wish you were on a horse as the South face trail rises sharply past the frozen shores of 10,000-foot high Lake Helen to the icy slopes of the 13,000-foot high Red Banks. This is where your ice ax comes in handy since Red Banks has a good 35-degree grade. Reach the summit and you’ll be treated with views of 10,457-foot Lassen Peak, the Three Sisters in Oregon and the other volcanic peaks that make up the Cascade chain. Give yourself 13 hours for the uphill climb and a mere 1-2 hours for the descent, where you simply slide down on your ass.  The French have a lyrical name for this exhilarating downhill journey, glissade.  
 
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Climb Mount Moriah, Nevada

A four-hour drive from Salt Lake City, Great Basin National Park is a little-known gem where mountains over 13,000 feet rise dramatically from the desert floor. Wheeler Peak (13,063 feet) is the highest mountain in the park, but if you want diversity of terrain, local rangers suggest trekking the 11-mile Hendrys Creek Trail to the summit of 12,067-foot Mt. Moriah. The 5,000-foot vertical climb takes you through thickets of pinon pine and vast glades of aspen forest. At 11,000 feet, you reach the Table, Moriah’s rolling sky-high plateau. On the Table’s rim are stands of twisted bristlecone pines, which, at 3,000 to 4,000 years old, are the oldest type of tree on the planet. From here, it’s just a scramble up rocks to the summit. If visibility is good, you can look across an uninterrupted carpet of sagebrush for a good 100 miles.

 
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Climb Katahdin

The sweltering days of summer is when my mind wanders to the lofty peaks of North America. Unless you like climbing with ice axe and crampons, this is the best time to bag a peak. This week, I’ll be discussing some of my favorite climbs in the States. First stop, mighty Mount Katahdin at Baxter State Park, Maine. 

 
Katahdin is a fitting end to the Appalachian Trail in the north. Reaching the mass of rock atop the 5,267 foot summit is a challenge to the most experienced climber, even the AT thru-hiker who spent the last six months racking up more than 2,100 miles. Yet, it’s somewhat of a disappointment that the AT ascends Katahdin from the Hunt Trail, the easiest (if there’s such a thing) and least spectacular path to the peak. For an unparalleled mountainous ascent in the northeast, you should opt for the Knife Edge. Like the name implies, this three to foot wide granite sidewalk sharply drops off more than 1,500 feet on either side.  
 
The best way to reach the Knife Edge is the Helen Taylor Trail from the Roaring Brook Campground.  All the ascents are a struggle. You start at about 1,500 feet and don’t stop climbing until you run out of mountain. When the Helen Taylor trail hits Pamola Peak, a little over three miles into the climb, bear left to find the Knife Edge.  First you’ll ascend South Peak, then Baxter Peak, the actual summit of Katahdin. Rest those spaghetti legs and take in the exquisite vistas of northern Maine—Chesuncook Lake, the West Branch of the Penobscot River, Big and Little Spencer Mountains, and all the peaks that form massive Katahdin.
 
As you gloat, proud of your grand accomplishment, just remember that Henry David Thoreau climbed Katahdin without a trail. “It was vast, Titanic, such as man never inhabits. Some part of the beholder, even some vital part, seems to escape through the loose grating of his ribs as he ascends,” Thoreau noted in The Maine Woods.   No doubt, you’ll agree.
 
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Surprising Buffalo

At the turn of last century, Buffalo had more millionaires per capita than any city in America. The combined wealth helped persuade Louis J. Sullivan, Frederick Law Olmsted, and Frank Lloyd Wright to come to town to create skyscrapers, parks, and estates. Then the city fell on hard times. But it seems like Buffalo is having the last laugh. Money is staring to pour in to salvage many of their architectural highlights. 
 
I was in Buffalo this past weekend, on assignment for The Boston Globe, and I had a great stay. Wright’s Darwin Martin House (1905), rivaled only by Fallingwater in scope and mastery among his residences, just completed a 10-year, $50 million renovation. This includes the renovation of a conservatory and carriage house, linked to the main house via a 100-foot long pergola. This was my third tour of a Wright house, include Taliesen West, and was by far the most impressive. 
 
On an open-air bus architectural tour, we also checked out the former Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane, a castle-like assemblage of 14 buildings designed by H.H. Richardson in the late 1800s. The gothic-looking towers have been rebranded the Richardson Olmsted complex and will soon become a boutique hotel and center for architecture. Other noteworthy stops include Louis J. Sullivan’s 13-story 1895 Guaranty Building, the first skyscraper in America, and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, considered one of the finest collections of modern art in the country.
 
The food was exceptional. On the first night we had inspired Polish fare at Bistro Europa, including pierogies and golabki, stuffed cabbage that would make my grandmother proud. The second night, we dined at the spanking new Mike A’s Steakhouse in a downtown building that was dormant the past 40 years. Saved by Buffalo’s favorite son, developer Rocco Termini, the circa-1904 Lafayette Hotel has reclaimed its French Renaissance and Art Deco glamour and is now a boutique hotel with a vintage bar. Dinner was exceptional, probably the best meal I had since dining at the acclaimed Next in Chicago last summer. Mike Andrzejewski is one of the city’s best loved chefs and he finally has a high-end restaurant that matches his talent. One taste of his wagyu beef tartare, spiced with pine nuts, capers, watercress, red onions, olive oil, truffled dijon mustard, and egg yolk, and you realize this dude’s destined for a James Beard Award. 
 
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Travel to the G-Spot, by Steve Cohen

I always equate Steve Cohen with his namesake, Sasha Baron Cohen. His irreverent musings as a travel writer have appeared in countless publications, including Outside, the Islands of yore (my favorite travel publication in the 90s), and The Washington Post. His mishaps as ordinary Joe caught up in some ridiculous travel circumstance always lead to uproarious results. That’s why I’m giddy with excitement to read his first novel, Travel to the G-Spot. Not surprisingly, it’s a fictional memoir of one Danny Gladstone, a 50-year-old travel writer who learns he’s dying and looks back through some of his travel stories to figure out why things have turned out the way they have. One reviewer said “it blows the lid off the sordid and secretive world of travel writing.” Oh yeah, I am so there. I’m taking it with me on my trip to Buffalo today to drop my son off at music camp. I’ll be back next Tuesday. In the meantime, keep laughing. 

 
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In Every Season, Memories of Martha’s Vineyard, by Phyllis Méras

 

By the time I met Phyllis Méras over a decade ago, she already had an illustrious career as travel editor at the New York Times and Providence Journal. That’s not to say that she was retired by any means of the imagination. Over dinner, she would tell me about her travels to Europe or Africa, and her publishing efforts. Her latest book pays homage to her home of Martha’s Vineyard and it is perhaps her most personal work. She talks about how her great-grandfather, a French professor, came to the island in 1890s to teach at the Martha’s Vineyard Summer Institute. As managing editor at the Vineyard Gazette for six years starting in 1967, Méras met many of the island’s most famous residents, including Walter Cronkite, Beverly Sills, James Cagney, and Thomas Hart Benton. Yet, this book, exquisitely illustrated by her late husband, landscape painter Thomas Cocroft, and architect Robert Schwartz, details her walks in Menemsha to find ripe blackberries, paddling the often-overlooked ponds, and watching skunk cabbage rise in early spring. Take time to smell the roses with her in Edgartown and you’ll walk away with a finer appreciation of the island. 

 
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Nichole Bernier’s Debut Novel, The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D.

I’ve had the good fortune to work with talented editors who could tweak your stories seamlessly, only enhancing your voice. I’ve also known editors who were used as staff writers, creating well-crafted stories. But very rarely did I find an editor who could do both jobs well, edit and write. One of the few exceptions was Nichole Bernier, my former editor at Boston Magazine. She was a wonderful editor to work with, sculpting each one of my stories effortlessly. I also looked forward to reading her intriguing work. So it comes as no surprise that Nichole’s debut novel was just released by Crown Books. Actually, when you consider she’s now a mother of five, it’s a marvel that she had time to pen one paragraph, let alone a book The Washington Post recently praised: “Why do we keep secrets from those we love most? Is it possible for mothers and fathers to have it all — work and family? Bernier’s excellent storytelling skills will keep you pondering long after the final page.”
 
Please join me as I plan to hear Nichole read from her book tonight at Brookline Booksmith at 7 pm. Or look at her home page for a list of readings this summer across the country, including Chicago, San Fran, and New York. Here’s a blurb about the novel:
 
Summer vacation with her family was supposed to be a restorative time for Kate, who’d lost her close friend Elizabeth in a plane crash. But when she inherits a trunk of Elizabeth’s journals, they reveal a woman far different than the cheerful wife and mother Kate thought she knew. The complicated portrait of Elizabeth — her upbringing, her marriage, and journey to motherhood — makes Kate question not just their friendship, but her own deepest beliefs about loyalty and honesty at a moment of uncertainty in her own marriage. When an unfamiliar man’s name appears in the pages, Kate realizes the extent of what she didn’t know about her friend — including where she was really going when she died.
 
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Lovely Linekin Bay

I’ve been writing about New England since 1994, even authoring a book titled New England Seacoast Adventures, so it’s rare when I find out about a classic resort on the New England coast I’ve never visited. But that was exactly the case this past weekend when I brought my family to Linekin Bay Resort on the Maine coast. Linekin Bay might be a five-minute drive from the tourist hub of Boothbay Harbor, but once you arrive, it feels a world away. A former girls camp when it opened over a century ago, you spend the night in lodges with grand stone chimneys and cabins perched on a bluff overlooking the ocean water. In the morning, you wake up to lobster boats pulling up their traps and then wander over to the main lodge for a breakfast of wild blueberry crepes, French toast topped with strawberries, eggs benedict, and hot-out-of-the-oven scones. All meals are included in the price, including the Tuesday lobster bake that’s held on the outdoor deck with live music. Other nights, the food is surprisingly good and includes swordfish, hangar steak, and roasted chicken. 

 
The main draw of Linekin Bay is its fleet of Rhodes 19 sailboats. With a southerly wind averaging ten knots, this bay was meant for sailing. I went out with one of the instructors and cruised around Cabbage Island, peering at seals lounging on rocks and osprey flying overhead. As we tacked towards the mouth of the bay, you could see the Burnt Island lighthouse and a three-masted schooner sailing along the horizon. Another morning, I went sea kayaking with the family and did the loop around the island. The resort will also offer stand-up paddleboarding this summer. And don’t miss the opportunity to walk with Rupert, a man who’s dedicated most of his life to land conservation in the region and is more than happy to show you his favorite routes. If you want to drop out of the rat race and spend much-needed quality time with loved ones, this is the place. The reason why families return summer after summer. 
 
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Sea Kayaking the Bay of Fundy

On my last day in New Brunswick, I headed an hour drive southwest of Moncton to Fundy National Park. The Bay of Fundy is home to the highest recorded tides in the world, often in excess of 40 feet, so I’ve always wanted to check out the current on a sea kayak. In Alma, I met up with Fresh Air Adventures for a half-day jaunt along the rugged coast. We had to paddle against the winds on the way out to open water, looking at Nova Scotia across the bay. The big of body of water was quiet, no fishermen, no other sea kayakers, as we made our way along the shoreline. Tall spruce and firs stood tall atop the craggy rock. When we stopped at a deserted beach, we spotted deer. After a snack, we cruised with the current, practically surfing atop the waves back to town. Even with the strong current, the long sea kayaks were sturdy and I never felt like I was going to go for a dip in the frigid waters. For an encore, we stopped at Hopewell Rocks on the drive back to Moncton. The iconic image of the Bay of Fundy, the tall rocks are carved by the perennial surf and are always evolving. Often referred to as “flowerpot rocks,” many of the formations have trees sprouting out of the top, thus resembling flowerpots. We can check this one off the bucket list.