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Bike Boston

Last summer, Boston followed in the footsteps of Montreal and Denver and initiated a bike-sharing program. The Hubway features 600 bikes in 61 stations throughout the city. You pay a yearly or daily membership fee and the cost of rental for the ride (trips shorter than 30 minutes are free) and bike from one station to any of the other stations. Alta Bicycle Share, the company that designed the bike-sharing program in Washington, DC, and Melbourne, Australia, was hired to oversee the Boston network. It was such a huge hit last summer that the Hubway reopened last week with plans to expand to neighboring Cambridge, Brookline, and Somerville. Sure, there were naysayers at first who said Boston drivers wouldn’t share the roads with bikers. But that’s an absurd excuse, because now they’ll just have to get use to us two-wheelers! 
 
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Great Freedom Adventures Offers New Biking Trip to Martha’s Vineyard and Block Island

Ever since I wrote my first book, Outside Magazine’s Adventure Guide to New England, I’ve admired local outfitters who specialize in one sport and one region of the world. After all, who knows his neck of the woods better than the guy who lives there? These outfitters can’t afford a big splashy catalogue or a PR firm in New York or London to represent them, so you have to dig a little deeper to find companies like Great Freedom Adventures out of New England. What you’ll get in return are itineraries that direct you to the top locales in the area. Take, for example, Great Freedom Adventures’ new 6-day bike trip called the Islands and Seacoast Biking Tour. It seems intuitive to combine New England’s most majestic islands, Martha’s Vineyard and Rhode Island’s Block Island together in one summer bike trip, but I’ve never seen that done before. They also have guests staying one night in Newport and one night in Little Compton, Rhode Island, a real gem where I often bike on a day trip to Boston. The $2695 price includes all lodging, transportation, most meals, bike rentals, and guides.

 
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Introducing Manhattan’s Low Line Park

One of my favorite topics to write about the last couple years is how urban designers and landscape architects have recently created parks from contaminated settings, landfills, abandoned manufacturing plants, and no longer viable space such as an elevated train track on the lower West Side of Manhattan, now the popular High Line Park. Former brownfields like a 9-acre parcel of land on Puget Sound, once dotted with UNOCAL’s oil tanks, is now home to Seattle’s Olympic Sculpture Park. Landschaftspark in Duisburg-Nord, Germany, is a former coal and steel plant that now features a high ropes course. 

 
Time to add the Delancey Underground project, nicknamed the Low Line, into the mix. James Ramsey and Dan Barasch have already garnered public and political support to take a vacated trolley terminal in the Lower East Side of Manhattan and create a subterranean park. The rectangular space, about three blocks long, was the site where trolleys would turn around to cross the Williamsburg Bridge. Since 1948, it has laid dormant. Ramsey and Barasch not only want to take advantage of this wasted space, but use fiber optics to stimulate natural light and photosynthesis, where trees and plants can thrive. The pair has already started collecting funds on Kick Starter, if you’d like to support the project. 
 
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Travel to Wineries, Breweries, and Distilleries on the Upswing

 As I write this, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade is happening nearby in South Boston and I’m already starting to feel thirsty. Well, it’s good to know my thirst for alcohol can be quenched through travels. Over the past year, visits to wineries, breweries, and distilleries across North America have seen a surge in traffic. We’re not simply talking about biking through Napa and Sonoma, which has been popular for some time. In 2011, more than 450,000 people visited the Maker’s Mark and the other five distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. In fact, the Kentucky Distillers’ Association reports an annual increase of 10 to 12 percent a year. The Finger Lakes region in New York has experienced an exponential growth in tourism thanks to its award-winning Riesling. Many visitors to Denver will make a side trip to Fort Collins to try the craft beer from five local microbreweries, including the exceptional brew made by Odell and New Belgium. Just thinking about Odell’s 90 Shilling, an incredibly smooth amber ale, and I’m ready to book my next trip to Colorado. 

 
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Revel Set to Open Memorial Day Weekend in Atlantic City

While resort development has certainly slowed due to the global recession, with many projects shelved these past two years, 2012 proves to be a banner year for the unveiling of new properties. Billion-dollar mega-resorts, ultra-chic honeymoon hotspots, and boutique hotels in downtown centers will all open their doors to the public this year. In some instances cost has not been spared. Take, for example, the $2.4 billion Revel, set to open on 1,000 feet of Atlantic City boardwalk on May 25th after 4 years of construction. Built to delight all Boardwalk Empire fans and folks who like their casinos to display Vegas-style flair, Revel will occupy more than enough space to entertain guests for a weekend of gaming. The 47-story tower will house 12 restaurants, 6 pools, a 5800-seat theater, close to four dozen retail stores and one massive casino. The roster of celebrity chefs include Iron Chef winners Jose Garces and Marc Forgione. 

 
I’m off to Atlantic City today to speak at the New Jersey state tourism conference. I’ll be back on Monday. In the meantime enjoy the weekend, and to all my University of Michigan brethren glued to the NCAA basketball tournament, Go Blue! 
 
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Tour The Set of Downton Abbey

If, like me, you’re going through Downton Abbey withdrawal, now that the second season has finished, you’ll be happy to know that there is a temporary cure. Fans can not only tour Highclere Castle, the estate where the series is filmed, but you can join the property’s owners, the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon, for lunch in their formal dining room and/or high tea. The opportunity is only available to private groups of four or less people and is booked through Noteworthy Events. Unfortunately, Dame Maggie Smith won’t be there holding court. Sorry, you can’t have it all. 

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Cross-Country Skiing to the Sugarhouse at Trapp Family Lodge

I used to hate March in New England, yet another month of harsh winter weather when I’m more than ready for spring. Now I’m excited when March rolls around because this is the time of the year that the Maples thaw, the sap pours, and maple syrup is made. Last March, I brought the family to Trapp Family Lodge and their fabulous network of cross-country trails in the hills above Stowe, Vermont. It was the first day of spring, but you wouldn’t know it at Stowe, with flurries falling and the conditions perfect for cross-country skiing on the groomed trails.

 
We took Sugar Road, where the tall pines and birches stand on the side of the trail like spectators at a marathon. At Picnic Knoll, we headed up the Parizo Trail, cutting our v-shaped wedges into the soft snow. Then we skied downhill on one of my favorite runs, the Old Country Road, before making a turn onto the Russel Knoll Trail and making our way to the Sugarhouse. 
 
When it comes to sugaring, the von Trapps do it the old fashion way, picking up the sap in buckets with a horse-drawn sleigh and delivering it to the sugarhouse to boil off the water and create Vermont’s “liquid gold.” The 1200 taps produce 300 gallons of syrup annually and the season lasts until late April. Every Saturday during the sugaring season, you can cross-country ski, snowshoe, or grab that horse-drawn sleigh to the sugarhouse for a traditional Sugar-on-Snow party. We tasted the freshly made maple syrup while a Trapp employee explained how the process worked. Then we went back outside to pour the hot syrup on the white snow and create a chewy maple taffy, served with donuts and dill pickles. Talk about a sugar high! 
 
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Kudos to Kyle Maynard

I was working out at the gym last Sunday watching SportsCenter on ESPN, when they featured a fascinating profile of quadriplegic Kyle Maynard. Maynard, 25, was born with arms that end at the elbows and legs that end at the knees. But that never stopped him from doing a damn thing, including wrestling in high school. Thus his motto, “No Excuses.” Several months ago, Maynard raised the stakes when he attempted to climb 19,340-foot Mount Kilimanjaro without prosthetics. Joined by injured American veterans Chris Hadsall and Sandra Ambotaite, Maynard was hoping to raise awareness to the alarming statistic that 18 US Veterans commit suicide every day. After ten grueling days of climbing on all fours over boulders, through snowfields, and avoiding rockslides, Maynard and his team made it to the summit on the morning of January 15th. That should motivate you to go outside and do something active this weekend. If not, you can always hire Maynard, a motivational speaker, to inspire you.
 
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Spring Thaw Means It’s Time to Dust Off the Kayaks

It hit 60 degrees in Boston today and tomorrow could break a record with highs in the upper 60s. You know what that means. The spring thaw is almost upon us, the time of year that whitewater enthusiasts hit the rivers for both kayaking and rafting thrills. If you want a good list of rivers to run, check out my article for AMC Outdoors. I divulged coveted paddling routes from Maine to Maryland. Not just rivers for the intrepid, but quietwater paddling on placid pond and lakes for all ages.  

 
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Spring Training Vacations

The Red Sox debuted their new spring training stadium in Fort Myers this week as the baseball season starts up again. Not only does the stadium have its own version of the Green Monster, but the facility can hold up to 11,000 fans. For families who have a passion for our national pastime, spring training is the ideal time to see your favorite players at their pre-season best, willing to sign autographs and meet the fans and not feeling the pressure of a mid-season slump. You can watch players like Derek Jeter take morning batting practice in settings so intimate it feels as if he could just as easily be at your neighborhood ball field. If you’re interested in planning your spring break around spring training, check out my article at FamilyVacationCritic.