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Win A Two Night Stay and Other Gifts from Burke, Vermont

Speaking to a small group of his constituents in Lyndonville, Vermont, in 1949, Senator George Aiken noted that “this is such beautiful country up here. It ought to be called the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.” The locals took the wise Senator’s advice. The Northeast Kingdom now consists of Essex, Orleans, and Caledonia counties, a large tract of land wedged between the Quebec and New Hampshire borders. In a state known for its rural setting (only Wyoming and Alaska contain fewer people), this is Vermont putting on its finest pastoral dress, with a few holes here and there. Wave after wave of unspoiled hillside form a vast sea of green and small villages and farms spread out in the distance under a few soaring summits. Here, inconspicuous inns and dairy cows have replaced the slick resorts and Morgan horses found in the southern part of the state, and the white steeples are chipped, not freshly painted. 

 
Indeed, it is the most authentic area in Vermont, a region that doesn’t put on any airs about attracting tourists. Well, maybe just a little. Burke, Vermont, in the Northeast Kingdom is offering a two-night giveaway for people who visit their Facebook Page and write what they like about the area. Here are some suggestions: biking on the best mountain biking network in New England, the Kingdom Trails. Staying at a beloved family-friendly B&B, the Wildflower Inn. Climbing Mount Pisgah above the glacially carved Lake Willoughby below. Dining on the fresh produce and innovative entrees at the River Garden Café. Give it a shot!
 

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World’s First Underwater Music Club Opens in the Maldives

I receive on average 300 press releases pertaining to travel each day. Most are deleted instantaneously. Others, I read and file away in my brain. And then there are the press releases that make me want to get on the next plane and check it out immediately. This is one of those. A new resort in the Maldives called NIYAMA has just opened an offshore restaurant and music club. Not just any ole music club, but one below the surface where you’re looking through the circular glass windows to view the manta rays and neon-colored fish. If that doesn’t grab you, then how about a state-of-the-art Bose surround sound system luring the hottest electronica DJs in the world. This month, the Grammy-nominated Poet Name Life will perform at the club, called Subsix, along with Tinie Tempah, fresh off his gig at the closing night ceremonies at the London Summer Olympic Games. In fact, many of the resident DJs are recognized for their work internationally, hosting their own radio shows in the States or spinning at red carpet events such as London Fashion Week. The restaurant upstairs called Edge doesn’t sound so bad either, serving thinly sliced Maldivian reef fish gravlax or grilled Indian Ocean Cuttlefish with avocado. I am so there. 

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Thoreau’s Maine Woods, A New Exhibition at the Harvard Museum of Natural History

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Henry David Thoreau’s “The Maine Woods,” the Harvard Museum of Natural History is showcasing the works of photographer Scot Miller. Miller has traversed the state of Maine for seven years retracing Thoreau’s epic exploration. The exhibition, on view through September 1, 2014, will also feature a snowshoe made for Thoreau by the Penobscot Indians and a beautiful new illustrated edition of Thoreau’s book. As an outdoors writer based in New England, I’ve also spent a good deal of time following in Thoreau’s footsteps. You can see my story in Sierra Magazine on paddling a similar route Thoreau used while writing “The Maine Woods.”

(Photograph by Scot Miller, courtesy of the Harvard Museum of Natural History) 

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See You in 2010!

One of my favorite inns in New England, the Wildflower Inn, is perched atop glorious Darling Hill Road in Lyndonville, Vermont, with expansive views of meadows, mountains, and rivers. I’ve brought the children here a handful of times and we’ve always had an unforgettable stay as we sled, downhill and cross-country skied, took horse-drawn sleigh rides, and pet the sheep, cows, and resident donkeys in the big barn. Now the inn is doing their best to get families outdoors by hosting a season long contest called Project Snowman 2010. Simply build a snowman and send the photo to the inn and you could win a 7-night stay, dining, skiing at nearby Burke Mountain, and more prizes. Owners Jim and Mary O’Reilly hope to get shots of 10,000 snow or sandmen sent from across America.

I’m taking a 2-week hiatus to enjoy time with my family and ski Stowe this upcoming week. Wishing you a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous 2010!
 

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Harvest Your Own Oysters at Cape Cod’s Ocean Edge Resort

Brewster’s Ocean Edge Resort, already one of my favorite properties on the Cape, is only going to get better this summer. The resort is teaming up with locals in the Brewster area for a variety of new activities this summer. Walk along the bayside beach with an oyster farmer who will teach you all about his line of work. Then head back to the outdoor deck overlooking the expanse of water to sample those oysters, washed down with a Cape Cod-brewed pale ale called Bayzo Brew. Bayzo was the word people called drunks back in the day on Dorchester Bay, a nod to the owner’s roots. After your little snack, see if you can find Bob Kroeger on the grounds. Kroeger, a Brewster neighbor, is also Director of the National Croquet Center in West Palm Beach. He’s happy to give you some pointers on your croquet game. 

 
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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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Trillium Beer Garden on Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway Returns Later this Month

My favorite craft brewery in Massachusetts, Trillium, returns the Rose Kennedy Greenway in late May. The beer garden is perfectly situated in front of the Rowes Wharf Arch at the Boston Harbor Hotel. Expect Fort Point Pale Ale, dry double-hopped Melcher Street, and six other beers on tap. Castle Island will also debut their beer garden this summer beneath the Southeast Expressway in a new 8-acre site dubbed Underground at Ink Block. 20 Castle Island beers like the double IPA, Keeper, will be on tap as you check out the street art every Thursday through Sunday. Then there’s Wachusett Brewery, which will be bringing their perfect summertime brew, the Blueberry Ale, to City Hall Plaza daily, serving out of their Airstream trailer. So if you get parched this summer walking the streets of Boston, you’ll have your choice of stellar brew to savor outdoors. 

 

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