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Broome or Bust

While traveling in Bali years ago, my brother and I met a couple from Broome, a town of 15,000 on Australia’s remote northwestern coast. They went on and on about the exquisite white beaches, rarely a soul in sight, the turquoise waters, and the local pearl farms. In fact, they made it sound so enchanting that Jim and I have a running joke that some day we’ll meet in Broome. Of course, we haven’t because it’s halfway around the world from Boston and New York, but we can still dream. You can choose to stay right on the beach in Broome at Pinctada Cable Beach Resort and Spa. Or better yet, spend three nights in Broome, and then take an 8-day cruise along the Kimberly coast to visit waterfalls, red gorges, and wilderness islands that few have seen. The Kimberly Quest II takes 18 fortunate guests on their upscale cruises along the Kimberly coast. Finish with a weekend sailing and dining in Perth and you have the West Coast of Australia covered. Some day… 
 

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5 Favorite Travel Days in 2013, A Birthday Bash at the Basin Harbor Club, Vermont

Every time I visit Vermont, I wonder why I take the extra time and effort to go anywhere else. This was especially true last August when I went with my wife’s family to the Basin Harbor Club to celebrate a momentous birthday for my mother-in-law, Fran. Talk about an ideal location. Basin Harbor Club rests on the shores of mighty Lake Champlain, backed by the Adirondack Mountains on the New York side of the lake. On the Vermont side, you’re smack dab in the middle of that fertile breadbasket known as Addison Valley, one of my favorite places in North America for road biking. 
 
Waking up on my own birthday, my wife and I took off on the enticing network of roads that branch off from the Basin Harbor Club. We biked onto Basin Harbor Road, turning right on Jersey Street, the smell of manure wafting in the air as we passed numerous dairy farms. Soon we arrived at the Panton General Store and looked across the valley at the ridge of peaks that form the backbone of the Green Mountains. Then we headed along Arnold Bay Road to get exquisite vistas of Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks. Everywhere you look is another spectacular view. 
 
After biking, we returned to the Basin Harbor Club to sea kayak and swim with the family, relaxing on the beach with a Switchback Ale in hand between outings. That night we danced to a band at the dining room playing “Orange Colored Sky” and other Nat King Cole standards. Not a bad way to top off a perfect day. 
 
 
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Raft the Middle Fork of the Salmon River with Tim Cahill and Michael Shapiro

One of the original rivers in the 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and a centerpiece of Idaho’s 2.2 million acre River of No Return Wilderness, the Salmon River deserves its reputation as one of the premier whitewater runs in North America. Especially the Middle Fork which boasts more than a hundred rapids in as many miles. What this means is a rip-roaring ride through narrow canyon walls, with glimpses of bighorn sheep and Rocky Mountain elk on the shores and eagles and ospreys flying overhead. Once you reach land, you can hike up side canyons, soak in natural hot springs, fish to your heart’s content, or use the time to gather your thoughts and write down your notes. The Middle Fork, after all, is great fodder for a travel story. And lucky for you, you’ll be traveling with two of the finest travel writers in the business, Michael Shapiro and Tim Cahill. I had the good fortune to travel with Shapiro to Kenya last November and he made my life easy, always asking that poignant question before I had the chance. He’s also incredibly sociable without the slightest hint of pretension. Cahill is known for his uproarious romps in such books as Jaguars Ripped My Flesh and Pecked to Death by Ducks. Together, they will be teaching the craft of storytelling to aspiring writers on a five-day jaunt down the Middle Fork August 17-21. Cost is $1895 per person, including guides, food, and one finished manuscript (which you’ll hopefully sell and recoup some of that cost).
 

(Photo by Woods Wheatcroft)

Adventures in Las Cruces Week—Hiking at Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument

After peering up at the 9,000-foot high Organ Mountains all week, it was great to finally see it up close. Brenda Gallegos from the Friends of Organ Mountains was my guide for the morning as we first made our way to the trailhead for the 3-mile (round-trip) Bar Canyon trail that leads to the junction of two canyons, Bar and Soledad. Brenda just finished her master’s thesis on the southwestern quail, spending 3 years in west Texas doing research. We climbed a rocky path past numerous sotol plants—yucca-like with a large stem shooting out of the center almost as tall as a saguaro. A peaceful stillness enveloped us as we looked up at the jagged peaks. Soon we were inside a canyon passing prickly pear and cholla cacti. We stopped to see a waterfall trickle down the wall of rock next to level ground that was probably used for sacred ceremonies at one point in time. On our return trip, a red-tailed hawk flew overhead as we looked down at Las Cruces in the valley below. As an encore, Brenda took me on the Dripping Springs Trail to visit La Cuevo, a cave where a hermit once lived in the mid-1800s. About to leave the park, a covey of silver blue scaled quail flew overhead, much to the delight of Brenda. “That made my day,” she said. 

It’s been a wonderful week in Las Cruces, and to be perfectly honest, I hate to leave. I want to thank Chris Faivre at Visit Las Cruces and Peggy Bendel for designing the perfect itinerary. I’ll be back on Monday with my favorite restaurant picks in Las Cruces. In the meantime, I have a high school reunion to attend in Schenectady, New York. Have a great weekend! 
 
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Costa Rica, Ziplining Above the Rainforest Canopy Outside of Quepos

Each year around my birthday, I try to do something a little crazy. Just my way of celebrating another year of survival and reconfirming that yes, I’m very much alive. Often this adventure has something to do with confronting my fear of heights. Last year, I went rock climbing for the first time in the Canadian Rockies. This year, on my fourth trip to Costa Rica, having more than ample opportunity to zipline above the rainforest canopy, I finally agreed to go. Having the chance to cruise with my family was the extra push I needed. We drove through the palm oil plantations high up in the hills above Quepos on the central Costa Rican coast. The company we chose, MidWorld, were extremely professional, especially when attaching our harnesses and carabineers. Then we drove a little bit higher and it was time to bite the bullet. I was worried that my stomach would drop, like on a rollercoaster ride, a dreaded feeling I’d rather not have. Instead, it was just a smooth quick cruise on a cable just above the canopy of green. There were a total of ten platforms and two rappels down from the trees. Walking from one platform to the next, we spotted a toucan and a green and yellow poison dart frog. By the third or fourth zipline, I started to become so comfortable with the sport that I turned upside down. Then I tried to right myself, but my core needs a bit more Pilates before I can pull off that move. So I spent the entire zipline upside down, watching the blur of forest whiz by. I think I earned my chocolate raspberry birthday cake tonight. 

 
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Ski Suicide Six for $7.50

 

Peer up at Suicide Six and all you see is a wide trail falling sharply down the peak. When Bunny Bertram was looking for a place to put his ski area in 1936, he reportedly looked down this same hillside, then called Number 6, and said attempting to ski this is suicide.  The name stuck. These days, any decent skier can attempt that same steep slope. Indeed, the mountain and its 23 trails, found on the outskirts of Woodstock, Vermont, are ideally suited for the novice and intermediate skier. To celebrate their 75th anniversary, Suicide Six is offering lift tickets for $7.50 on Mondays. So if you’re planning to spend the weekend at Killington, 20 minutes down the road, spend an extra day in the area and ski Suicide Six.

 

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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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