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Skiing and Luging Le Massif

With a height at the summit of only 2,645 feet, you would think Le Massif would be a pretty mellow mountain. And you’d be wrong. With the largest vertical drop east of the Canadian Rockies, more than half of the 53 trails are black diamond or expert.  That still leaves more than enough trails for beginners and intermediates to savor the expansive view of the St. Lawrence River that stands in front of you. Start the morning with a nice blue groomer like La Petite-Riviere, and at mid-mountain switch to the green L’ancienne, which snakes through the trees to the edge of the ski area. The vista from here is amazing. You can see the town of Baie-Saint-Paul and the snowcapped mountains in the background. Out to sea are the icy waters of the St. Lawrence and the island across from Baie-Saint-Paul, L’isle aux-Coudres. More experienced skiers should take advantage of the morning sun to head to the southern slope and sample steeper blacks like La Fenomene. Only the truly gifted should attempt the triple black diamond La Charlevoix. That’s where the Canadian national ski team comes to practice their downhill and slalom runs.
 
Le Massif also offers guests the rare chance to go rodeling or luging down a 7.5-kilometer trail on the northern face of the mountain. The exhilarating two-hour trip starts with a snowcat ride to the top of the trail, where you’re handed a small sled. Then you start cruising downhill, curving around banks, and sweeping over hills, all with that same glorious view of the St. Lawrence. I took the luge tour yesterday and it was a blast! You use your feet to brake and turn, stopping to walk uphill over streams and to take a break for a drink at a warming hut. The actual time on your sled is probably around 45 minutes, which went far too quickly. On that gondola ride back to the top, you’ll have the urge to sign up for the next luge tour and do it all over again. 
 

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Nova Scotia Week Bonus: Kayaking Lobster Bay with Lobster Bake at Argyler Lodge

 

My last day in Nova Scotia was downright dreamy. Clouds and the early morning mist were swept away by blue skies by the time I arrived at the 6-bedroom Argyler Lodge. What a glorious locale! A mere 25 minute drive from where the Nova Star ferry arrives in Nova Scotia at Yarmouth, the Argyler sits on the shores of the vast Lobster Bay with spectacular views of the sea and islands. My sea kayaking guide, Matt Delong, soon arrived with two kayaks for us to explore the wide open water. Matt spent 5 years paddling in BC before returning back to his native Nova Scotia to take the fortunate few to treasured spots like this one. We spent the next three hours paddling a loop around the numerous islands—Nanny, Camp, Birch, Bonds, Potato, Gordons—viewing 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. 

 
3 hours later, we returned to shore where Chef Jonathan 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, Luckett’s L’acadie Blanc 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. A perfect ending to a perfect week of travel around Nova Scotia. 
 
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A Perfect Night in Portland, Maine in the Heart of Winter

To celebrate my wife’s birthday, we just spent a blissful night at Portland, Maine’s Pomegranate Inn and a sublime dinner at Fore Street. While the weather outside was frightful, we were cozy inside the Pomegranate Inn, warm near the fireplace. Few innkeepers can juggle modern art with 200-year-old antiques as skillfully as the Pomegranate Inn’s original owner, Isabel Smiles. Her eclectic tastes runs the gamut from faux marble columns and colorful mosaics in the living room to brightly painted walls created by local artists in the bedrooms. In fact, works of art cover the entire staircase and walls of the house, and remarkably, they all seem to fit together. It was hard to leave our room and face the blustery cold, but we didn’t want to miss Fore Street, the James Beard-award winning restaurant housed in a former wartime storage area. In the open-air kitchen, chefs busily sauté dishes on three long tables. Wood grilling local meats and seafood is Fore Street’s forte. We start with roasted Blue Hill bay mussels with chunks of pistachios. For our entrées, we shared Maine scallops, just off the boat, and tender arctic char. Happy birthday, Lis! 

 
 
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A Visit to Berlin with Kensington Tours

Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches 

In January, I joined by husband Josh on a business trip to Berlin. The CEOs of the 12 largest natural history museums in the world were gathering to discuss museum trends and approaches to some of the most pressing environmental problems today. We stayed near the Museum für Naturkunde, and I explored the City with my tour guide Nadav, supplied by our colleagues at Kensington Tours.
 
Nadav is an Israeli who moved to Berlin 17 years ago for his PhD studies. All of his grandparents were from Germany. His father’s family went to Palestine in 1928 from the Northeast “poor” district of Berlin, and his mother’s family went in the 1930s, from a “well to do” Southwest district of Berlin. By virtue of having a knowledgeable guide, I definitely saw parts of the city I would not have alone (i.e., not in the guidebooks). 
 
Berlin is not a particularly beautiful city, especially in the middle of winter, but it is a fascinating one. Of course, there is plenty of old German history to absorb, and plenty of modern diverse life, too. There are 12 boroughs or districts in Berlin, each with its own commercial center. During our two days of touring, we crossed these boroughs constantly going from the former West Berlin to East Berlin, without distinction. Our hotel and the Nature Museum are, for example, in the former East Berlin, and Mitte (the middle borough).
 
Most of the buildings you see in Berlin are either new or rebuilt after WWII. The photo above is of Charlottenburg Palace (present day, with “just after WWII” juxtaposed in front), where Obama was hosted for dinner in 2013. Another mix of old and new is The Victory Column (from the 1870s, now 220 feet tall, with several German military wins commemorated one above the other, in layers). Nadav said the column is used today as a symbol of the LGBTQ community in Berlin (on the annual St. Christopher Street Day, when covered by a giant condom). Of course, I also saw the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag building (Parliament), the Ku’damm (Berlin’s answer to the Champs-Elysées), and The Jewish Museum (opened in 2001, reflecting on Jewish history and culture in Germany, designed by Daniel Liebskind, who also designed an expansion at the museum Josh leads in Toronto, the Royal Ontario Museum). If Berlin (or Germany in general) interests you, let ActiveTravels and Kensington Tours assist with your journey.
 
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Louisville’s Remarkable Amount of Parkland

I was in Louisville several weeks ago researching and writing a story for The Washington Post on the emerging neighborhood on East Market Street called NuLu. I dined on tasty southern fare like fried chicken livers doused in a bourbon sauce at Harvest, recently named one of the best new restaurants in America by the James Beard Foundation. I also spent at least three hours looking at old television footage at the Muhammad Ali Center and saw an intense drama at the Humana Festival of New American Plays. Yet, what really impressed me was the all the rolling green parkland and rivers Louisville is blessed with. Louisville has more parkland than Chicago or Denver. In fact the city has more green space than Baltimore, Boston, and
 Pittsburgh combined. And not just any ole park, but 18 parks and 6 parkways designed by the developer of New York’s Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted. With such an abundant wealth of parkland, it didn’t surprise me that so many residents were out biking and jogging on the parkways. 

 
Well, it looks like the rich are only going to get richer, because Louisville is in the midst of adding 4,000 acres of park in the southern and eastern part of the city, along Floyd Fort Creek. Called the Parklands, the city aims to add 100 miles of new trails for hiking, biking, and horseback riding, and a 19-mile canoe trail in the creek. The Parklands will open in phases, beginning in 2013, with the entire system scheduled to be complete by 2015. The Parklands will be part of the Louisville Loop, a 100-mile shared-use path that will encircle the entire city. So far, 25 miles of the loop have been completed. When it’s done, I’ll be due for a return trip. 
 
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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)

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The Skate Girls of Kabul

One of the great benefits of living in Toronto, the 4th largest city in North America (after Mexico City, New York City, and Los Angeles) is its diversity. Over 180 languages and dialects are spoken here, and approximately half of Toronto’s population was born outside of Canada. Everywhere I go locally, I learn something about another part of the world. A small but powerful outdoor show at the Aga Khan Museum is a perfect example. On a warm October afternoon, after visiting a pumpkin festival in Markham, Ontario, we stopped to see the amazing photos of the “Skate Girls of Kabul” installation. These young women are participants in an NGO called Skateistan whose mission is “empowering children and youth through skateboarding and education” in Afghanistan, as well as Cambodia and South Africa. In Kabul, sports are off-limits to most girls, but fortunately the skateboard was perceived as a toy, thus allowing them to participate. And, for both genders, many Skateistan programs require an equal amount of time in the classroom as on a skateboard: being taught to skateboard as a way to get students into full-time education. In 2016, Skateistan hit the 50% female milestone. Props to Skateistan founder, Australian skateboarder Oliver Percovich, and to photographer Jessica Fulford-Dobson. The exhibition is on display until October 29th. 
 
Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches

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