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Multisport Trip for Families to Sardinia with Ciclismo Classico

This is the time of year when I receive a flurry of catalogs and press releases from outfitters updating me on their favorite trips for 2012. So this week, I want to describe a handful of those trips that excite me. Ciclismo Classico has branched off to destinations like Norway and New England, but their specialty is still the Italian countryside. Next summer, CC owner Lauren Hefferon is featuring a multisport jaunt to one of her favorite locales, Sardinia, the second largest island in the Mediterranean. Far away from the congestion on the European continent, you’ll bike along the pristine coastline, stopping at underused beaches for a dip. Other highlights include a hike up Capo Spartivento, rewarding young climbers with vistas of the shoreline, a day long boat ride in and out of coves, soccer on the beach, strolling to the markets in small villages, and a grand finale feast at the home of your Sardinian guide, with his mother and brothers grilling sausage. After all, what child doesn’t like Italian food? 

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Visiting Zion National Park in Winter

With winter daytime temperatures in the mid-50s, Zion 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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Top 5 Travel Days of 2015, Hiking and Horseback Riding in the Colorado Rockies

In mid-October, I caught up with Dan Austin, owner of Austin Adventures, and his daughter, Kasey, as they were designing a new itinerary that took in all the mountain splendor and adventure found on the outskirts of Colorado Springs. Their primary focus was to introduce guests to “The Broadmoor Wilderness Experience,” two historic sporting camps high up in the mountains that have been recently renovated by the legendary Broadmoor resort. Standing 9100 feet atop Cheyenne Mountain is the former private retreat of Broadmoor founder, Spencer Penrose, and, as of last summer, home to a mountain lodge called Cloud Camp. In 1923, Penrose acquired a bucolic slice of heaven, ringed by 11,000-foot peaks, which this summer has been transformed into The Ranch of Emerald Valley.

 
One glorious day on this trip, I rose with the sun at Cloud Camp and walked up to the two-story Fire Tower Suite, built with the honeymooner in mind, replete with hot tub and bedroom with 360-degree views. No one was staying in the suite so I grabbed a rocking chair on the deck and watched Pikes Peak bathe in the morning light. After breakfast, Dan and Kasey led us on the 5.5-mile McNeil Trail descending into a forest of ponderosa pine, spruce, fir, and birch trees. Past midpoint, we connect with an old stage road that went straight to The Ranch at Emerald Valley.
 
At lunch, the GM at Emerald Valley mentioned to me that the mayor of Colorado Springs spent a week here with his wife after retiring and did very little but read books on their cabin front porch. Indeed, it’s hard to tear yourself away from the vista of pasture, trout ponds, and towering peaks. Only a 30-minute drive outside of Colorado Springs, you feel lost in the Western wilderness. That afternoon, we took full advantage of the majestic scenery to take a horseback ride on a ridge close to the jagged peak of Mount Vigel. Then I soaked my weary body into a cedar-lined hot tub while snacking on a favorite dessert at the ranch, peach-filled donut holes. This is what I call a dream day. 
 
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Top Music in 2013, Beyond the Obvious

Like I do every year, I listened to every cut on the best songs and album lists from NPR, New York Times, Boston Globe, others. 2013 was another stellar year for music, and I’m not simply talking about the debut of Lorde or the latest release from Vampire Weekend, albums that you’re well aware of. I like to find that rare gem that falls below the radar. Take, for example, this beauty from Brooklyn’s Son Lux, which was released in late October. Yes, I already have tickets to his show at Boston’s ICA on March 21st. I love the sensualized sound of Rhye in “The Fall,” the soulful Billy Holiday-like jazz singing of Cecile Mclorin Salvant in “Womanchild,” the mesmerizing electronica of Rudimental’s “Spoons,” and the highly original “Magical Boy” by DJ Koze. “When I’m climbing lemon trees of feeling…” Robotic, yet hypnotic. Another song I love to play again and again is “Retrograde” by James Blake. Remarkably, he’s up for a Grammy for Best New Artist this coming Sunday. I hope they let him play my favorite, “The Wilhelm Scream.”

 

Get A Hefty Dose of Holiday Cheer at Winterlights

Winterlights at the Bradley Estate

The Trustees of Reservtions just announced that a limited number of tickets have been released for Winterlights. Do yourself a favor and grab them now! We went last night and were overjoyed to be out of the house in a safe environment enjoying some semblance of Holiday festivities during this dismal year. Winterlights is located at the circa-1902 Bradley Estate, just off Route 128 in Canton. The 90-acre country estate and Italianate gardens are the perfect backdrop for the more than 150,000 LED lights found on the half-mile one-way route. First stop is the snack shack to grab a hot chocolate or hot cider, and gingerbread cookies from Ginger Betty’s in Quincy, donuts from Phillipston’s Red Apple Farm, and chocolate-covered pretzels from Pinches & Pound in Whitman. Then bundle up and stroll the illuminated grounds of the estate as piped-in Holiday tunes serenade you. This is the second year the Trustees have held Winterlights at the Bradley Estate. The event runs Tuesdays through Sundays 4:30 to 8:30 pm until January 2nd. Some 200 to 240 people are allowed to enter each night, down from the usual 600 to 1,000 people. So snag one of those coveted remaining tickets and you’ll feel like you have the place to yourselves!

(Photos by Lisa Leavitt)

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Cape Ann Winter Birding Weekend

As many bird watchers will tell you, some of the best birding happens in the height of winter. North of Boston, Cape Ann is known for its exciting collection of winter seabirds, including loons, grebes, gannets, sea ducks, and the region’s signature winter bird, the harlequin winter duck. The Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce has teamed up with Mass Audubon to present a Winter Birding Weekend February 4-6, led by local naturalists. There will also be an opportunity to venture out on a wWhale watch boat to spot humpback, fin, and minke whales along with white-sided dolphins, harbor porpoises, and gray seals. The event will be held at the Elks Club at Bass Rocks and costs $25 per person (12 and under free), $45 per person for the boat ride.
 

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A Stop in Naples for Pizza and Caravaggio

On the way down to Amalfi Coast, we stopped for an afternoon in Naples to wait for our friends to arrive at the train station. We left our bags in Left Luggage and walked straight to the pizza joint Elizabeth Gilbert went gaga over in "Eat, Pray, Love," L’antica Pizzeria da Michele Forcella. There’s close to 1000 pizza places in Naples, often referred to as the birthplace of pizza, and Michele Forcella make’s everyone’s Top 10 list, from the Guardian to Yelp. We took a number, waited about 30 minutes with a mix of locals and travelers and then were squeezed into a long table in the last room. You have only two choices, margherita, with a fresh dollop of mozzarella or marinara, tomato sauce only with oregano and garlic. We ordered one of each (Gilbert ordered the double mozzarella in her book) and waited as the pizza come out of the wood-fired oven at breakneck speed. Each of the thin-crust pizzas, which come whole, not sliced, were delicious. But if I went back I’d go with Gilbert’s order. The cheese was so fresh, it made each bite sublime. 

We had a couple hours to kill so we wandered the bustling streets of the city, walking past university students at a college before coming upon a handful of restaurants all with the artist Caravaggio in their names. I turned to Lisa and said there must be something by Caravaggio somewhere around here. Lisa went online and quickly realized that we were standing directly in front of a church, Pio Monte della Misericordia, that was home to one his seminal works, The Seven Works of Mercy (1607). We bought tickets and then went inside to see this impressive painting, one of his largest works. Caravaggio arrived in Naples in 1606, after fleeing Rome when he killed a man in a brawl. Luigi Carafa-Colonna, a nobleman who was a member of this congregation, protected the artist after he fled from Rome and then commissioned Caravaggio to execute what would be one of his great masterpieces. The painting depicts the seven works of corporal mercy to which the activities of Pio Monte were dedicated: give drink to the thirsty, bury the dead, house pilgrims, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, feed the hungry and comfort the sick. In Rome and Florence, we would see Caravaggio’s best works with crowds of other admirers. Here in Naples, we had the place to ourselves. 
 
 
 
 

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