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30% Discount on all AMC Maine Lodges in March

First opened as a private sporting camp in 1867, it’s hard to top the locale of Gorman Chairback, located on the shores of Long Pond in the shadows of the Barren-Chairback Range. Reopened a year ago after a major renovation by the Appalachian Mountain Club, Gorman Chairback’s locale gives you the opportunity to snowshoe and cross-country ski deep into Maine’s 100-Mile Wilderness, only to return back to the lodge for a home cooked meal and a seat by the roaring fire. Gorman Chairback is one of three historic Maine lodges run by the AMC that are now offering a 30% discount on rates in March for a two-night stay. The AMC maintains over 80 miles of trails in the region during winter so go out and play. 
 

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Lake George Week, Adventures on Land

Most parents gauge the growth of their children by their height. I gauge the growth of my two kids by how far they can go on a treetop obstacle course called Adirondack Extreme. Located on the hillside outside of Bolton Landing, the course is set 10 to 50 feet off the grounds, amidst the tall pines and maples hidden in the forest. After a brief introductory talk on safety, you hook into harnesses and tackle five different courses, each a bit more challenging than the next. Along the way, you’ll climb rope ladders, walk across suspended bridges, and as a finale, zipline side-by-side. 
 
The waters of Lake George easily seduce, but there’s a slew of activity on the shores of the lake that are also worth checking out. You can climb Prospect, Buck, and Thomas Mountains, and be rewarded with exceptional vistas of the Adirondacks. Yesterday, I took a short hike around the forest and fields at Up Yonda Farm. I strolled past a sugarhouse and small butterfly garden before hiking uphill on a short climb through a mixed forest of birches, maples, and white pine. Eventually, I arrived at a clearing and another glorious view of Lake George.  
 
At night, everyone heads to Lake George Village, packed with T-shirt and fudge shops, video arcades, haunted houses, a requisite water park, and my personal favorite, Goony Golf, a miniature golf course crowded with huge fairy tale characters. My summer is not complete if I don’t get to play one round of Goony Golf. 
 
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Favorite Fall Outings in New England, Visiting Weir Farm, Connecticut

Sort of ironic that the only time I’ve ever been published in National Parks Magazine, the National Parks are closed due to a government shutdown. When congress gets their act together, be sure to visit the 60-acre Weir Farm National Historic Site. This serene pastoral setting in southeastern Connecticut, an hour’s drive from Manhattan, is home to the only national park unit devoted to American painting. Century-old barns and a homestead still stand, stone walls are built around fields of swaying grass, and a large pond is lost in a canopy of tall maples and birches. They would become the fodder for J. Alden Weir’s ambitious body of work. Weir’s early paintings reflect an appreciation for the scenery of rural life—dogs sleeping in the tall grass, his wife Anna sitting on the steps that lead to the house. By the latter half of the 1880s, he began to show an interest in painting landscapes, possibly due to the influence of his friends and fellow painters, Childe Hassam and John Twachtman, who often visited the farm to fish and paint the grounds. These weren’t the grand theatrical landscapes of his American predecessors, Thomas Cole and Frederick Church, but intimate portrayals of pasture, thickets of trees, barns, and meandering stone walls. Have a look and don’t forget the sketchbook. 

 
Photo by Tim Washer/FLICKR
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Hike from Moraine Lake to Consolation Lake, Banff National Park

It was no surprise that the parking lot at Moraine Lake was filled with buses, RVs, and cars stopping to take a look at one of the most majestic sights in the Canadian Rockies. The exquisite turquoise waters of this glacial lake are dwarfed by a crown of thorny peaks. The waters became bluer as the sun rose above the tall Engelmann spruce trees and bounced off the placid lake. What was astonishing is that once we took off on one of the trails from Moraine Lake, we passed few other hikers. According to park rangers, 90 percent of the people who visit Banff don’t go more than 2 kilometers off the main road. That’s exactly why we were going three kilometers to have a picnic at Consolation Lake. We walked atop a carpet of moss shaded by the tall trees. Soon, we made it to the quiet waters of Consolation Lake, backed by a hanging glacier that my son said looked like “a fluffernutter sandwich.” We jumped from boulder to boulder until we were at the edge of the lake and dug into our sandwiches. If this is called Consolation Lake, I’d like to know what the grand prize is!
 

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Bike Cape Cod and the Islands this Summer

Those of you who have followed my writing over the years know I love biking on Cape Cod and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. All three locales are blessed with a network of bike trails that line the coastline, snake through the kettle ponds, or roll atop the dunes of the Province Lands Bike Trail at the tip of Cape Cod (a favorite family outing). So I was delighted to see that Massachusetts-based Great Freedom Adventures will be offering a 6-day guided bike tour to the Cape and Islands this summer. They’ll visit Provincetown, ride along most of the Cape Cod National Seashore to the Rockwellesque village of Chatham, before ferrying over to Nantucket and the Vineyard to bike a good chunk of both islands. Dates are June   14-19, July 12-17, and September 13-18. Cost is $2,595 per person, including all lodging, most meals, guides, and ferry tickets. Also ask about their Maritime Bike and Beer Adventure Tour which visits many microbrews while biking the scenic Cape Ann region of Massachusetts. 

 
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Five Favorite Adventures in the Caribbean, Sailing an America’s Cup Yacht in St. Martin

One of the most unique opportunities in the Caribbean is the chance to race aboard authentic America’s Cup yachts used in the actual competition. In the three-hour sailing fantasy camp called the Sint Maarten 12 Metre Challenge, you have the rare opportunity to step into Dennis Conner’s soft-soled shoes. After an introductory talk about the history of the America’s Cup, four captains choose teams and off you go to your respective boats. The boats include the winning Stars & Stripes yacht which Connor used in the 1987 America’s Cup in Fremantle, Australia; his back-up, Stars & Stripes ’86; and two Canadian yachts, Canada II and True North IV. Once aboard your boat, the captain designates crew assignments. You could be chosen to be a primary grinder (grinding a winch as fast as possible so that the foresail can change direction), timekeeper, or handler of the mainsheet or rope. Simulating the America’s Cup, you sail against one other yacht around a triangular course, about one-tenth the size of the actual race. Afterwards, you’ve earned your rum punch. 

 
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Revolutionary War Battlefield Biking

In May, I wrote a road trip story for Chevrolet’s New Roads Magazine on Revolutionary War sites. I visited Minute Man National Historic Park in Concord, Massachusetts, Saratoga, and Valley Forge. What I realized was that all of these Revolutionary War battlefields offer exceptional biking opportunities. In Saratoga, a friend told me that the 10-mile park loop is part of a popular Sunday ride for bikers in the region. In Valley Forge, the rolling terrain is so ideal for bikers that they offer rentals. The bloody Battle Road from Lexington to Concord, which marked the start of the Revolutionary War on April 19, 1775, is now a great ride through the farmland to historic North Bridge, where local militia first confronted the large British regimen. I was so impressed with the riding at Minute Man National Historic Park that I returned with the family yesterday. We first went inside the Visitors Center where a 30-minute film gives a good overview of the remarkable events that occurred on April 19, 1775, the official start of the Revolutionary War. Battle Road is now an 8-mile ride through the rural countryside past the site where Paul Revere was captured by the British (they took his horse but surprisingly let him go). Extend your ride to swim at nearby Walden Pond like we did. 

 

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