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The January Newsletter Now Available at ActiveTravels.com

Looking for travel ideas in 2013, then check out our January newsletter. In this month’s issue, we discuss the long list of outdoor adventures found on the Big Island of Hawaii, recommend three eco-resorts in the Caribbean, divulge our favorite ground operator in Italy, and suggest a quick winter getaway in New England at the Mount Washington Hotel. As always, we’re here to talk about winter, spring, or summer travel. So if anything comes to mind, email me at steve@activetravels.com. 
 
Enjoy the three-day weekend. I’ll be back on Tuesday with my favorite National Parks to visit during the winter. In the meantime, get outdoors this weekend and be active. 
 

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Memorable Spring Bike Rides, Biking to Giverny

Next week, I’ll be blogging live from Ontario’s wine country, Niagara-on-the-Lake, on a bike trip organized by Butterfield and Robinson. To get me in the mood, I’m going to devote this week to my favorite spring rides over the years. First up, biking to Giverny.

 
Those of you with a love of art history know Giverny as the home of Claude Monet. Less than an hour by train from Paris, you can make the pilgrimage to Monet’s home and his spectacular Japanese water garden inundated with day lilies, the inspiration for many of the works that hang on the walls of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and other impressive collections of Impressionism around the globe. Fat Tire Bike Tours escorts riders from Paris’ St. Lazare train station to the quaint village of Vernon. Once you arrive, you head to an outdoor market to stock up on picnic food–soft, creamy Reblochon cheese, slices of yummy Rosette de Lyon sausage, duck liver pate, warm baguettes from the neighborhood boulangerie, juicy strawberries and apricots, and a bottle of wine to wash it down. 
 
After passing out bikes, our guide Andrew led us to the banks of the Seine River where we watched a family of swans swim as we dug into our goodies. Then we were off on an easy bike trail that connects Vernon with Giverny. We entered the picturesque hamlet and were soon walking over that Japanese bridge seen in many of Monet’s works. The whole trip took about 8 hours and cost 75 Euros per biker, a perfect day trip from Paris. 
 
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Stocking Stuffer No. 4: Deer Valley and Stowe Lodging

Judging from the trips we’ve already booked this upcoming Holiday season to Aspen, Park City, Whistler, and Zermatt, our clients love to ski. They even own property at several ski areas and are now renting out to others. In Deer Valley, you can stay at a 5-bedroom townhouse that sleeps 10 comfortably for as little as $395 a night. A free shuttle on neighboring Deer Valley Drive takes you just up the road to the ski resort or a 10-minute ride into Park City. It’s a great location to ski all three mountains, Deer Valley, Park City, and the Canyons. The townhouse also features a long dining room table, two living rooms, a hot tub, and great views of the mountains. At Stowe, the 4-bedroom Ridgerunner is a mile from Mountain Road which leads to Stowe. The 3-story house features a state-of-the-art kitchen, dining room table built for 20, game room, large outdoor deck with fireplace, hot tub, and wonderful views of Mount Mansfield. 

 
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New Brunswick Week—Bathed in Tranquility on the Bay of Fundy

Some of my favorite articles have been written on ferries. I remember writing “Eating My Way through Vancouver” on a ferry to BC’s Salt Spring Island. So I took advantage of the 90-minute ferry from Blacks Harbour to Grand Manan to sit upstairs on the outdoor deck, peer at the large wake, and look back at the mainland with computer in hand. Surrounded by the calm waters of the Bay of Fundy, all my daily stresses just seemed to melt away with the hot midday sun. Every now and then we would pass another anonymous island, a rocky outcropping rimmed with a crown of firs. Far too quickly, we reached Grand Manan and I was driving up to my home for the next two nights, the Inn at Whale Cove Cottages. 
 
I dined on a creamy mushroom soup, almond crusted salmon, and an absurdly good sour cherry pie all created by the talented chef and owner of Whale Cove, Laura Buckley. I was lucky to sit next to a large group, mostly New Yorkers, who return to Grand Manan year after year for the past 30 years. They recommended I climb back in my car after dinner and drive to the end of Whistle Road past the lighthouse to a spot locals simply call “The Whistle.” Wow, what a tip! Perched on a bluff overlooking the rocky shoreline, I spotted kids scouring the boulders for that nutritious New Brunswick seaweed treat, dulse. To my left, cliffs plummeted to the shores below, and directly in front of me was the great expanse of sea leading to FDR’s former summer home, Campobello Island, and the Maine towns of Lubec and Eastport. Within moments of arriving, I spotted seals in the water and shortly thereafter, the graceful arc and fin of the minke whale. The sun was setting, the whales were slicing the water, local old-timers were handing me Moose Light beers. My first night on Grand Manan and I understand the magical allure. 
 
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Top 5 Travel Days of 2015, Sea Kayaking Lobster Bay, Nova Scotia

This past June, I took the Portland ferry to Nova Scotia with my sister, Fawn. This would be my fifth trip to the province and I wanted to focus on the southern half of Nova Scotia, south of Halifax. Over a week, we would stop in the charming seaside community of Lunenburg, one of only two cities in North America chosen as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, go clamming on Digby Flats, oyster farming at Eel Lake, stand-up paddleboard at the White Point Beach Resort, and spend a night at a quintessential Canadian property deep in the woods, Trout Point Lodge. But as I wrote in my original blog, the last day in Nova Scotia was downright dreamy.

 
A mere 30 minutes from where the Portland ferry arrives in Yarmouth is the 6-bedroom Argyler Lodge. The small inn sits on the shores of the vast Lobster Bay with spectacular views of the sea and islands. I would spend the rest of the afternoon exploring the wide open water with my sea kayaking guide, Matt Delong. Paddling a loop around the numerous islands—Nanny, Camp, Birch, Bonds, Potato, Gordons—we spotted ospreys in their nest, a loon plunging into the water, and cormorants drying their wings on their rocks. The most spectacular part of the whole adventure was the fact that there was not one boat in this mammoth-sized bay. Not even another kayaker. Lobster fishermen finish the season in late May so their traps and boats were long gone by the time we arrived in mid-June. 
 
3 hours later, we returned to shore where Chef Jonathan, owner of the inn, was already busy boiling water over an open fire for our night’s lobster bake. A picnic table was set for my sister and I, Nova Scotian wine on ice. Jonathan soon dumped everything into the pot including corn, potatoes, clams, mussels, and lobsters. The sun set behinds Gordons Island as we roasted marshmallows for our s’mores. Then the bright night sky lit up with stars. Yes, dreamy and memorable. 
 
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Top 5 Wildlife Viewing Experiences, Phillip Island, Australia

There’s nothing quite as magical as watching over 1,000 wild and cute Little Penguins emerge from the water after a day of feeding as the sun sets over Phillip Island, just south of Melbourne. The children wait not-so-patiently on the shores, squawking their heads off and wanting to eat. Then, right around dusk, the mom and dad penguins can start to be seen atop the waves and soon are waddling on the shore. How they find their young in this nightly chaos is miraculous. But they do and they regurgitate their food into the mouths of the hungry children for a nightly meal to remember.
 

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Destinations to Visit in 2015—Argentina

This tip comes from my buddy Richard, a photographer whose work accompanied my first travel stories on New York for the Washington Post and Toronto Globe and Mail. He now loves in Buenos Aires. “In case you don’t know, we have two rates for exchanging dollars. The official/legal rate is around 8.5 pesos to the dollar, versus the "blue rate" which changes everyday but was around 14.20 pesos per dollar a few days ago. So to make the most of your money you want to bring a lot of US $100 bills and change them in the blue rate places. If you purchase restaurants and lodging on a credit card, you get the 8.5 rate plus fees and such.” Translation: Argentina is about a 40% discount if you use American dollars when you travel there. Flights are expensive, especially this time of year, but if you can somehow use miles, you’ll have an affordable vacation in one of the dreamiest destinations on the globe. 

 

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