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Memorable Spring Bike Rides, The Westport Ramble, Massachusetts

South of New Bedford lies countryside so fertile, you’ll feel like you’re in Vermont.  Stretching from Dartmouth, Massachusetts, to Little Compton, Rhode Island, the area is known as the Heritage Farm Coast. It has the sunniest and most temperate climate in New England and thus the longest growing season. Vast dairy farms, cornfields, even vineyards, border the Westport River as it washes into the Atlantic. Add the dunes of Horseneck Beach and you have the perfect country and coast ride, especially in the spring before the beach traffic starts to arrive. 

 
Turn left out of the Westport Middle School parking lot onto Old Country Road to start this 21-mile loop (give yourself at least two hours). A right turn onto Pine Hill Road heads downhill, but the route is relatively flat for most of the ride. Within a mile, you’re lost in acres of farmland. Historic Cape Cod shingled houses and barns are bordered by old stone walls. Continue on lightly traveled Old Pine Road to see cornfields edging towards the horizon. A mile later, turn right onto Hix Bridge Road and then left a half-mile beyond that onto Horseneck Road. The Westport River appears on your right, a strip of dark blue snaking through the green pasture. 
 
Around the halfway mark, the ocean starts to appear on your left and the area becomes more developed.  A good choice for lunch is the Bayside, known for their cod wraps and lobster rolls. Veer right on East Beach Road for expansive views of the ocean. Another right onto Route 88 leads to the sweeping beach and dunes of Horseneck Beach State Reservation. After crossing a small bridge which rewards you with views of the harbor and its numerous fishing boats, turn right onto Drift Road. This leads to Old County Road, where you turn left to return to your car. 
 
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Memorable Spring Bike Rides, The Perimeter of Manhattan

Many riders have biked the 6-mile loop around Central Park, but to really appreciate Manhattan, you have to bike with the skyscrapers at your side around the perimeter of the island on the 32-mile Greenway. Thankfully, most of the loop is on bike trails, with the only detours on city streets from 35th to 59th Street around the United Nations and 130th to 155 Streets, both on the East Side. The West Side is a straight shot down on bike trails from Inwood Hill Park, under the GW Bridge, into Riverside Park, past the the USS Intrepid, and then around the World Financial Center, with the Statue of Liberty in view. Grab a Bike NYC map from any bike rental shop or Visitors Center and do this memorable day trip. 

 
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Memorable Spring Bike Rides, Vancouver’s Stanley Park

The 9 km ride around the Seawall of Stanley Park can be done in less than an hour. Yet, by the time you stop at the world-class aquarium, see the selection of totem poles, and dine on sablefish (a tender and rich Northwestern whitefish) at the classic Teahouse for lunch, the day is over. Riding under towering Douglas firs and along the rocky shoreline, you’ll also stop numerous times to take pictures of the bay. On our last ride around Stanley Park, my family spent a good chunk of time being entertained by the sea otters at the Vancouver Aquarium. Less than 15 minutes later, we were watching river otters in the wild dining on crabs along the Seawall. Another unexpected find in a city of unexpected finds, the reason why I return to Vancouver as often as I can. 

 
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Memorable Spring Bike Rides, Giverny, France

Not surprising, my two favorite seasons for biking are spring and fall. I’m gearing up for a charity ride this Sunday by taking a ride past the farms and estates of Dover and Sherborn this morning, the first sunny day we’ve had in Boston in more than a week. So it’s a good opportunity to reminisce about my favorite spring rides over the years. First up, biking to Giverny.

 
Those of you with a love of art history know Giverny as the home of Claude Monet. Less than an hour by train from Paris, you can make the pilgrimage to Monet’s home and his spectacular Japanese water garden inundated with day lilies, the inspiration for many of the works that hang on the walls of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and other impressive collections of Impressionism around the globe. Fat Tire Bike Tours escorts riders from Paris’ St. Lazare train station to the quaint village of Vernon. Once you arrive, you head to an outdoor market to stock up on picnic food–soft, creamy Reblochon cheese, slices of yummy Rosette de Lyon sausage, duck liver pate, warm baguettes from the neighborhood boulangerie, juicy strawberries and apricots, and a bottle of wine to wash it down. After passing out bikes, our guide Andrew led us to the banks of the Seine River where we watched a family of swans swim as we dug into our goodies. Then we were off on an easy bike trail that connects Vernon with Giverny. We entered the picturesque hamlet and were soon walking over that Japanese bridge seen in many of Monet’s works. The whole trip took about 8 hours and cost 99 Euros per biker, a perfect day trip from Paris. 
 
 
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The Taconic Introduces Adult Summer Camps

The latest addition to Kimpton Hotels in New England, the Taconic in Manchester, Vermont, has just announced an adults-only summer camp that takes full advantage of its locale. Offered during two sessions, June 23-26 and August 25-28, adults can participate in such activities as a guided hike in the Battenkill Valley, kayaking and tubing down the Battenkill River, a glassblowing class at Manchester Hot Glass, kite-making and flying at the Southern Vermont Arts Center, afternoon escapes to secret swimming holes in the area, a picnic lunch at Hildene, the Lincoln Family Home, and yoga on Taconic’s expansive lawn. Since this is an adults-oriented summer camp, also expect s’mores, scotch, and sing-alongs by the campfire. Your camp counselor will even deliver bugle wake-up calls and “lights out” warnings. The cost to attend Camp Taconic is $1,400 for one person or $2,100 per couple, which includes accommodations for 3 nights and all meals and activities.

 
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Visit a Massachusetts Cheesemaker This Summer

According to the Massachusetts Cheese Guild, there are now 22 artisanal cheesemakers across the across the Commonwealth. Some, like Dave Smith at Smith’s Country Cheese in Winchendon, have been in business since 1985, creating Gouda wheels from his Holstein herd. Eric and Ann Starbard at Crystal Brook Farm in Sterling milk 60 goats to make their award-winning chevre. Berkshire Cheese in Dalton is another pioneer in the state, producing raw cow’s milk blue cheese since 1998. Order a map from the Massachusetts Cheese Guild, call a cheesemaker in the morning to see if production is scheduled that day, and then bring the family to see how the cheese is made and to hopefully hug a cow or two. You won’t regret it. 

 
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The Trustees Turns 125

In 1891, Boston landscape architect Charles Eliot received the go-ahead from the Legislature to establish The Trustees of Reservations “for the purposes of acquiring, holding, maintaining and opening to the public . . . beautiful and historic places . . . within the Commonwealth.” Today, the nonprofit conservation organization maintains over 100 sites in Massachusetts and has a yearly membership of more than 125,000 people. Crane Beach and Naumkeag, the recently renovated Stockbridge estate, are two of the crown jewels in the Trustees’ collection. But there are many more unheralded gems. The week of May 16th I’m going to divulge my 5 favorite Trustees sites not to be missed. This will lead up to the statewide anniversary launch on May 21st and “Home Sweet Home” Historic Open House Day. The Great House on the Crane Estate in Ipswich, the Old Manse in Concord, and seven other historic homes will be open to the public for free. An exhibition, From the Sea to the Mountains: The Trustees 125th Anniversary, recently reviewed in The Boston Globe, will be at the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center (NBLMC) at the Boston Public Library through August 28, 2016. Naumkeag will host a garden party on Saturday, July 23rd. And you’ll catch us at the Crane Estate on August 6th to catch Megan Hilty and the Boston Pops Orchestra perform at one of the most majestic spots in the state, the Grand Allée, overlooking the Atlantic. Do yourself a favor and check out at least one new Trustees site this summer. You’ll thank me! 
 
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Cape Ann’s Emerson Inn to Reopen on May 13th

In the 1850s, Rockport, Massachusetts businessman William Norwood turned his popular tavern into The Pigeon Cove Inn. One of the inn’s most celebrated guests was none other than the “Sage of Concord,” poet, essayist, and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. So it’s no surprise that the property is now called the Emerson Inn. Acquired last year by the family-run Migis Hotel Group, best known as owners of Migis Lodge on Sebago Lake, Maine, the Emerson Inn will reopen after a significant renovation. An hour’s drive north of Boston, the oceanfront inn offers 36 rooms with private balconies and sweeping views of the Atlantic—all within walking distance to the restaurants, shops, and galleries of the charming town of Rockport. As a nod to its past, the inn’s restaurant will now be called the Pigeon Cove Tavern and will feature locally caught seafood, produce and meats from nearby farms. 

 
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Bike Into the Maine Canvas

The rugged and raw beauty of Maine has been a lure to many of America’s foremost landscape artists. Man versus the chaotic forces of nature, particularly fishermen struggling against powerful nor’easters, kept Winslow Homer busy on the boulder-strewn shores of Prouts Neck for more than two decades. Robert Henri, Edward Hopper, George Bellows, and Rockwell Kent all painted Monhegan Island’s 160-foot cliffs, meadows, and quaint fishing communities in their own distinctive styles like the bold black and white woodcuts by Kent. Monhegan is also a favorite subject of Jamie Wyeth, whose father Andrew Wyeth and grandfather N.C. Wyeth all summered on the Maine coast. Indeed, Andrew met his wife and her best friend Christina Olson in Maine. Olson is the woman lying down in the tall grass of Wyeth’s iconic painting, Christina’s World. 

 
Summer Feet Cycling is taking full advantage of Maine’s stunning scenery and rich art history to present two guided weeklong trips this summer. Not only will you visit Prouts Neck, Monhegan Island, and the Olson House, but you’ll stop at 7 art museums in the state, including two of my favorites, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland. Cost is $2,595 per person and includes 6 nights lodging at iconic properties like The Black Point Inn in Prouts Neck, The Island Inn on Monhegan Island, and the Inns at Blackberry Common in Camden. Most meals, bike, and guides with van are all part of the package. 
 
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Biking with Wayne Curtis in New Orleans

Wayne Curtis is best known as author of “And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails” (Crown, 2006) and as cocktail columnist for Atlantic Monthly. But my friendship with Wayne goes back at least a decade prior when we were both moaning about the egregious book contracts Frommer’s publisher forced upon us. Thankfully, the travel guidebook days are far behind us. I caught up with Wayne in 2008, when he had just moved to New Orleans. He brought my brother Jim and me to his favorite bars and bartenders and it resulted in this story for The Boston Globe. But I know that Wayne has a passion beyond cocktails, including architecture, urban renewal, jazz, and biking. All figured prominently in a 5-hour tour he designed for my family on our trip to Nola earlier this month.

 
We rented bikes at Michael’s on Frenchman Street and off we went to our first stop, Crescent Park, a brand new green space that hugs the Mississippi River for over a mile. Then we biked the streets of Bywater, one of the hottest neighborhoods in the city especially for young hipsters, where Wayne pointed out a massive church that will soon open as a hotel. We pedaled through Louis Armstrong Park in the Tremé neighborhood and soon we were on the latest bike trail in town, the 2.6-mile Lafitte Greenway. We stopped at Parkway for the requisite roast beef and shrimp poor boys before biking through the Tulane campus, glorious Audubon Park and its exquisite moss-covered Spainish oak trees, and past the homes of Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, and Archie Manning in the Garden District. A quick ride through the crowds in the French Quarter and we arrived back at our bike rental store 15 miles later. A perfect ride, especially since we ended with a set of live music and a beer across the street at The Spotted Cat. 
 
The ride was such a worthy introduction to Nola that I persuaded Wayne to offer the exact loop to clients of ActiveTravels. If you’re feeling a little less ambitious, he will also do the same nightly bar round-up as described in the Boston Globe piece and include his favorite jazz joints. Don’t miss out on seeing the authentic New Orleans on these jaunts with Wayne.