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Idaho’s First Whitewater Park Opens This Month

For those of you headed to Idaho this summer to brave the rip-roaring rapids of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River or Hell’s Canyon on Snake River, you might want to get a little warm-up at the new Kelly’s Whitewater Park. Located an hour and half drive north of Boise on State Highway 55, the park is open to all kayakers, canoeists, rafters, and tubers, regardless of experience. Beginner and advanced areas of the park are divided by a man-made island, so simply choose your level of wave action and go play. The park is open to the public for free and a kayak school will help novices master the tough rapids to get them over to the expert section. The park is located in Cascade on the North Fork of the Payette River. 
 

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Five Teen-Worthy Adventures

Once the kids hit their teen years, it’s almost impossible to convince them to go on another family trip that doesn’t include a posse of their friends. To make your offer as appealing as possible, you have to up the ante with a tantalizing mix of adventure and food. The finest family adventure trips escort you into a world of active travel you would probably never attempt on your own. Go beyond your comfort zone and try something new together as a family and the memories will last a lifetime. The five destinations in my latest story for Men’s Journal all feature a bevy of outdoor activity in awe-inspiring settings, including our trip to Switzerland in July. 
 
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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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Self-Guided Inn-to-Inn Bike Trips in New England

For riders looking for a little inn-to-inn action this summer, it’s never been cheaper to bike in New England. Two outfitters, Bike the Whites in New Hampshire, and Country Inns Along the Trail in Vermont, are offering three days of riding for as low as $379 per person. What does that money get you? Detailed maps depending on you ability, from 20 to 80 miles a day, emergency roadside assistance, two nights lodging, two dinners, two breakfasts, and transport of your luggage from one inn to the next. Country Inns has rides in several of my favorite spots in Vermont, including Addison along Lake Champlain, where you spend the night at the Barsen House Inn. See the story I wrote on biking with Country Inns Along the Trail for The Boston Globe. 

 
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Kudos to Kyle Maynard

I was working out at the gym last Sunday watching SportsCenter on ESPN, when they featured a fascinating profile of quadriplegic Kyle Maynard. Maynard, 25, was born with arms that end at the elbows and legs that end at the knees. But that never stopped him from doing a damn thing, including wrestling in high school. Thus his motto, “No Excuses.” Several months ago, Maynard raised the stakes when he attempted to climb 19,340-foot Mount Kilimanjaro without prosthetics. Joined by injured American veterans Chris Hadsall and Sandra Ambotaite, Maynard was hoping to raise awareness to the alarming statistic that 18 US Veterans commit suicide every day. After ten grueling days of climbing on all fours over boulders, through snowfields, and avoiding rockslides, Maynard and his team made it to the summit on the morning of January 15th. That should motivate you to go outside and do something active this weekend. If not, you can always hire Maynard, a motivational speaker, to inspire you.
 
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Now’s the Time to Visit Zion National Park




With winter daytime temperatures in the mid-50s, Utah’s Zion National Park is a coveted off-season secret with hikers. The red and amber canyon walls that form a tower of massive rock is usually blanketed by snow at higher elevations (7,000 to 9,000 feet). Down at the 4,000-foot high Park Headquarters, however, all you’ll need is a decent pair of boots. Flurries rarely make it to these lower heights. A good warm-up near headquarters is the 2-mile round-trip Watchman Trail. Climbing to a plateau near the base of a twisted monolith, the trail offers views of lower Zion Canyon, the Towers of the Virgin, and West Temple formations. Far more impressive is a hike in the Narrows where you walk in the Virgin River through a 1,000-foot-deep-chasm that’s a mere 20 feet wide. You’ll need a wet suit and booties because of the cool water temperatures, but that’s a small price to pay to have this monster slot to yourself. If you have your heart set on cross-country skiing, head to the rarely visited Kolob section of Zion. Pinnacles project out of the high mesa floor that, at 7,000 feet, is covered with snow.  


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Portland’s Copper Goddess

Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches

While we had fun in our midway stop of Sacramento, enjoying wonderful coffee at Pachamama, a great breakfast at Orphan and a tour of the memorable California State House, it was Portland we loved. Drinks at Angel Face and at 23 Hoyt, dinners at Harvest at the Bindery and at the Mediterranean Exploration Company, pie at Random Order Coffee House and Bakery, brunches at Kenny and Zuke’s and JAM, and, of course, lots and lots of books at Powell’s Books. We also spent a long time downtown at the Lan Su Chinese Garden, with its tea house, and had massages at the nearby Fei Long Spa. But the unique highlight today was the Portlandia statue (Portland’s very own Greek goddess). Portlandia is the second-largest of its type in the United States, after the Statue of Liberty. Our local friends insisted we stop and stare. You can read Tom Wolfe’s humorous 1986 Newsweek Magazine piece here.
 

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