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Auto Slash Slashes Car Rental Prices

This past Saturday in San Diego, I used a relatively new car rental website, AutoSlash, to find an incredibly affordable car for the day. What I like about this website is that they go out and find the discount coupons and codes to automatically reduce your price, instead of you spending hours scouring your email for the latest deals. This being car rentals, where you don’t even need to put a credit card down to make a reservation, AutoSlash will find the best deals available until the moment you arrive at the car rental facility. Thus, you can switch at the last minute to find the best savings. Give it a shot and tell me what you think.
 

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National Park Service Announces Free Days for 2011

If you’re planning to hit one of America’s National Parks in 2011, you might save yourself some cash if you visit during one of their free dates during the year. Staring with the upcoming Martin Luther King weekend (January 15-17), other free days at the Parks include National Park Week (April 16-24), the first day of summer (June 21), National Public Lands Day (September 24), and the weekend of Veterans Day (November 11-13). Many park concessions will also offer discounts on fee free days, saving visitors money on food, lodging, tours, and souvenirs.
 

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Run the Alps Offers New Slate of Trips This Summer

Doug Mayer, founder of Run the Alps, one of the premier running outfitters in the world, sent me his list of 2019 trips this week. These sell out quickly, with many returning guests, so if there’s a trip you like, don’t wait too long to book. In Chamonix, France, even the Mayor is an ultrarunner. The famed alpine town at the base of Mont Blanc is also the world epicenter of trail running. Join Run the Alps for a week of running here (June 24-31), which includes a stop at breathtaking Courmayeur, Italy, and the chance to take part in the Cross du Mont Blanc, one of the oldest trail races in the Alps. Their itinerary running the iconic Berner Oberland route still has openings July 21-27. In Zermatt and Grindelwald, Run the Alps has revised their itineraries to fit a variety of trail running abilities. They’ve also secured entries into the Eiger and Ultraks trail race series, with races including distances of 10, 30, 50 and 101 km, if you’d like to take part in an Alps trail race. Who wouldn’t want to run with the Matterhorn as your backdrop? 
 
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Celebrate Labor Day Weekend at Vermont’s Wilburton Inn

Last time I stayed at the Wilburton Inn, I tried to belly dance, sang children’s songs in a big singalong, and learned about the history of conflict resolution from ancient Greek times to the present. No, Manchester’s Wilburton Inn is not your typical New England inn. Come here for a stay and you leave as part of the multi-talented Levis family. This is especially true on Labor Day Weekend, when the whole family joins in the festivities. It all starts with a Celebration of the Arts cocktail party on Friday night, September 1st, when southern Vermont’s leading artists schmooze with the patrons and the public. On Saturday morning, innkeeper and psychiatrist Dr. Albert Levis discusses how creativity is the best way to resolve conflicts as he takes you on a tour of sculptures on the Inn grounds. Things start to heat up that evening when Melissa Levis turns her year of 50 blind dates into a naughty cabaret with songs of love in the age of Tinder in "The Innkeeper’s Daughter." Brother Oliver Levis and his wife Bonnie, founders of Earth Sky Time Community Farm, host the 3rd annual Moonshine Music Festival on Sunday, September 2 at 6pm. Billy Wylder and Rootbrew perform, while organic pizza washed down with artisanal cocktails are served. The Boston Globe said it best when it noted: "This family is all inn."

 
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My Favorite Lobster-in-the-Rough Joint in Maine

Talk about lobster rolls in Maine and you enter into a territorial catfight where everyone seems to choose their local favorite. I happen to love the affordable rolls at Quoddy Bay Lobster in Eastport, topped with a full claw, the chockful of meat served in a bun at Red’s Eats in Wiscasset, and sitting at the pier at Beal’s, just outside Acadia National Park. But if you ask those same foodies where to find the best lobster roll with a view, the majority of Mainers will point you to the Lobster Shack in Cape Elizabeth. Not far from where Winslow Homer set up shop on Prouts Neck, the picnic tables overlook that same boulder-strewn coastline Homer loved to paint. Order your food at the window of the rustic shack, wait for your number to be called, and grab a spot with vistas of Casco Bay, framed by two lighthouses. One of those lighthouses is the picturesque Portland Head Light, a favorite subject of artist Edward Hopper. For more information on the Lobster Shack, see the story I wrote for The Boston Globe.
 

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Top 5 Eco-Resorts in Central America, La Loma Jungle Lodge, Isla Bastimentos, Panama

Increasingly, the small eco-retreat design that made such an imprint in Costa Rica has slipped farther south into Panama. On an archipelago in the northeastern part of the country, a short boat ride from the town of Bocas del Toro, is a four-cabana lodge socked in the middle of the verdant jungle and surrounded by a working cocoa plantation. All of the cabins at La Loma Jungle Lodge were created from fallen trees and inspired by the architecture of the local Ngobe Indians. The employees are also local, including your guide through the rainforest and beach to see sloths, armadillos, small crocs called caimans, and the graceful blue morph butterfly. At dinner, lobster and conch will not be served, as the owners try to use only sustainably harvested fish like yellow jack. Rates start at $100 per person a night, including three meals, the boat ride over from Bocas town, and some of the excursions. 

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A Stop at the Stave on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail

We left our tour of the Wild Turkey distillery and drove on backcountry roads past the rolling hills of bluegrass and horse farms of rural Kentucky to reach The Stave, a new stylish roadhouse restaurant and bar recommended to me by a friend in nearby Lexington. The owner, Rebecca, has designed many restaurants in the region. One step inside the cozy interior and it’s hard not be charmed by both the look and the folks working here. The Stave made its debut in September just down the road from the Woodford Reserve distillery, a National Historic Landmark, and the impressive circa-1887 Castle & Key distillery that just reopened this year making vodka, gin, and eventually bourbon. Rebecca has hired a skilled chef at the helm, Jon Sanning. Start with warm black-eyed pea fritters with tangy sweet onion relish and cucumber salad, or the deviled eggs dusted with paprika and served on pickled greens. Then get ready for their version of the Louisville Hot Brown, this time served on corn bread instead of the typical white bread. Delicious! Wash it all down with sweet ice tea or an impressive roster of bourbons to sample. A fun stop for authentic Kentucky cooking in bourbon country. 

 

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