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West Street Hotel Opens in Bar Harbor, Maine

Still need a quick getaway to finish off the summer in style. A new boutique hotel has just opened on the waterfront in Bar Harbor, the gateway to Acadia National Park. Called the West Street Hotel, the property features balconies with ocean view, a rooftop pool, iPod docking station to crank out the tunes, large flat screen television, and wireless internet. Best part is that you’re within easy walking distance to many of the restaurants in town. The hotel is offering an introductory rate of $199 a night through August. Just use the promo code SUMMER when reserving a room. 
 
I’m off on a camping trip to the Boston Harbor Islands. I’ll be back on Monday. Keep active!
 

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Win a Trip to One of America’s National Parks

In celebration of the latest Ken Burns documentary, “America’s Best Idea: The National Parks,” the National Parks Foundation and ARAMARK Parks and Destinations are offering a free three night trip for two, including airfare and lodging, to one of their properties. They include Skyland Resort in Shenandoah National Park, Far View Lodge in Mesa Verde National Park, and Lake Quinault Lodge in Olympic National Park. All you have to do is visit http://thisisyourland.nationalparks.org during the month of February and share at least one memory at any of America’s National Parks and you could be on your way back. Winners are announced in March.
 

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A Toast to Your Adventure on Idaho’s Salmon River

Several weeks ago, I wrote about renowned Boston chef Jody Adams leading a bike trip through northern Italy. Inn-to-inn biking trips lend themselves well to good food and wine. Yet, that doesn’t mean other active travelers can’t imbibe. O.A.R.S., one of the most reputable whitewater rafting outfitters in the country is teaming with Stephen Kautz, president of Ironstone Vineyards in the Sierra foothills, to present award winning wines while rafting down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. Spend the day on an exhilarating blur through Class III and IV rapids, then camp on the shores of this Wild & Scenic River and get ready for a nightly wine tasting paired with gourmet fare. The six-day “Wine on the River” jaunt starts August 27th.
 

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Top 5 Mountain Climbs in the Northeast, Mount Monadnock, New Hampshire

May and June are my favorite times to climb the peaks in New England and upstate New York before the mosquitoes and masses start to arrive in the high peak months of summer. This week, I’m going to divulge my top five mountain climbs. First up, Mount Monadnock.

For many New England children, their first mountain climb is up that broad-shouldered peak Henry David Thoreau called a “sublime mass.” Just over the border of Massachusetts in southern New Hampshire, Monadnock is less than a two-hour drive from Boston. Its accessibility and locale, smack dab in the center of New England, has made it the second most popular mountain ascent in the world (averaging about 130,000 climbers a year). Only Mt. Fuji in Japan has more foot traffic.

Head up the White Dot trail, one of the steepest ascents to the peak, but also one that rewards with you with incredible vistas in a very short time. Above tree-line, the forest recedes to form open ledges covered with low-lying shrubs like mountain cranberry bushes. This gives you ample opportunity to rest and peer down at the Currier and Ives setting below—a soft blanket of treetops, small towns with their requisite white steeples, a smattering of lakes and ponds, and farms that fan out to anonymous ridges. 

Soon you’ll reach the 3,165-foot summit, where Thoreau watched in dismay as his fellow mid-19th century trampers inscribed their names in rock. This didn’t stop him from writing in large letters atop the biggest boulder “H.D.T. Ate Gorp Here, 1860.”  I’m joking, but you can see many other names clearly marked like “T.S. Spaulding, 1853.”

Spend the night at the Monadnock Inn, whose century-old porch is the perfect place to rest those weary legs. 
 

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Legroom on Airlines is Shrinking

If you’re feeling a little snug in that airline seat lately, realize that airlines are reducing legroom in economy seating as another egregious way to boost profits. In a story in yesterday’s Boston Globe, it was reported that Southwest has recently reduced legroom to add one additional row of seats. Other airlines simply want you to have an uncomfortable flight so you’ll spend more money on their premium economy seats, with extra legroom. Spirit is the worst in the industry, with a mere 28 inches between rows. Contrast that to JetBlue, whose airlines are often in the 32-33 inch range. The industry standard is now 31 inches between rows, down from 32 inches a decade ago. It’s only going to get worse until the government passes a passenger’s bill of rights that includes minimum legroom. Otherwise, economy class passengers might be hanging from the ceiling like moths in a cocoon.

 
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Top Dream Days of 2017, Sao Miguel, Azores

Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches 

Steve asked me to write about my top travel Dream Day in 2017. That was a hard choice! I was lucky enough this past year to have had adventures in Colombia; all around the greater Toronto area; on Ontario’s Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, and Lake Simcoe; in Seattle and on Bainbridge Island; in Portland OR and throughout the Columbia River Gorge; in three US National Parks — Sequoia NP, Kings Canyon NP, and Yosemite NP; in Vermont; in Massachusetts; in New York; in Southern California and Sacramento; on Captiva Island, Florida; and at Niagara Falls.
 
But my top travel Dream Day of 2017 occurred in the Azores, on the island of Sao Miguel, the largest of the Azorean nine. For a week last February, I stayed with friends at Quinta Minuvida, a small eco-friendly, historic home turned hotel, run by the husband and wife pair Joao and Rimi. Quinta Minuvida grows and serves local food in the village of Rabo de Peixe, not far from the city of Ponta Delgada, which is a direct flight from Boston and Toronto. Within a five-minute walk are acres and acres of green grazing cows, cornfields, farmland, and old stone walls. 
 
On my Dream Day, we had a simple breakfast of local bread and cheese, with several types of jam made from Quinta Minuvida’s fruit trees, followed by a "community" dual language yoga class, in Portuguese and English. Some of the Azoreans spoke no English, but we all laughed, stretched, balanced, and meditated together. After yoga, my group headed out for a hike, armed with picnic lunches. But, before hiking, Rimi and Joao put a pot of meat and vegetables into the ground, a “cozido nas caldeiras,” where it would cook for six hours via volcano steam (a true geothermal stew) while we were hiking. From the trailhead at Pico do Ferro, we overlooked Lagoa das Furnas (the Furnas volcano crater, filled with water) and the town of Furnas. After a very steep decline, we found mud-bubbling holes in the ground, plus old abandoned houses (fortunes made and lost during Sao Miguel’s orange plantation boom and bust). The next adventure was to a public hot springs called Poca da Dona Beija, in Furnas, for a calming soak. Lastly, we retrieved the cozido from the ground, and proceeded back to Quinta Minuvida to dig in. It was deliciously full of chicken, sausage, pork, beef (like brisket), cabbage, kale, carrots, and taro root (like potato). Azorean and Portuguese wine flowed. 
 
ActiveTravels has sent three different groups to the Azores since my trip. If you are interested, please let us know. Rimi and Joao recommend avoiding July and the first few weeks of August due to the crowds, but, other than that, it’s truly a great destination to explore. 
 
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Kudos to Bruce at Lake Temagami’s Ojibway Family Lodge

We met Bruce at our first family-style dinner at Ojibway and instantly took a liking to his many stories about the lodge and the region. He had been coming to this exact spot since 1951 when he was a 10-year-old overnight camper from outside Detroit. Now living in Virginia Beach, he spends a little over a month each summer in his cabin on an island across from Ojibway to listen to waves lapping ashore, smell the sweet pine, watch the night sky, and explore the lake via canoe or motorboat. While Tanya and Louise are the consummate hosts who run Ojibway, Bruce is the unofficial guide. He said he’d take us on his boat to see some of this immense lake that first night and we thought he was just being friendly. But then he did just that on our last day, as we went out with him to one of his favorite spots in the northern part of the lake. We brought lunch made by the kitchen, drinks, and headed off. 

Bruce couldn’t have picked a more picturesque spot, where large slabs of rock spill off an island into a small inlet that was ideal for swimming. But before we landed, Bruce stopped, turned off the motor, and said, “this is where we stop to breathe, not say a word, and relax for the next 10 minutes or so.” And that’s what we did, listened to the wind whistle through the tall trees, and meditated. Then we went and had lunch, swam in those refreshing waters, and enjoyed a lovely afternoon. I wish every property I visited had a Bruce, someone who knows the land like the back of his hand and is genuinely passionate about sharing his joy of being there. 
 

One Comment

  1. Hi Steve,
    It’s supposed to be a beautiful weekend so enjoy the Harbor Islands. A couple of weeks ago I spent the day on Spectacle Island swam and took an island tour with a NPS ranger. It was great.

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