|

A Good Budget Choice for Toronto

I was in Toronto this May on my way to Niagara-on-the-Lake for a little biking, vino, and theater at the Shaw Festival, I was roaming around the city and found an intimate 6-room B&B called the Baldwin Village Inn. Located on Baldwin Street, a block known for its variety of good ethnic restaurants, and only a 2-block walk to the AGO, you’re in a great locale to check out the city. Rates start at $90 CDN a night, including continental breakfast, and reviews on TripAdvisor are excellent. 
 

Similar Posts

|

Spring Thaw Means It’s Time to Dust Off the Kayaks

It hit 60 degrees in Boston today and tomorrow could break a record with highs in the upper 60s. You know what that means. The spring thaw is almost upon us, the time of year that whitewater enthusiasts hit the rivers for both kayaking and rafting thrills. If you want a good list of rivers to run, check out my article for AMC Outdoors. I divulged coveted paddling routes from Maine to Maryland. Not just rivers for the intrepid, but quietwater paddling on placid pond and lakes for all ages.  

 
|

Member’s Video Wins Second Prize from Backroads Photo/Video Contest

We love it when members post photos from their recent trips on the ActiveTravels Facebook page. Even better when it’s an award-winning video. We sent Sara Jones and her family of five on a Backroads trip to Glacier National Park last August. Upon her return she created a video of the many memories from the adventures shared in that exquisite part of the country. She then submitted the video to Backroads for their annual photo and video contest and learned recently that she won Second Prize! That’s a $4,000 credit towards her next trip with Backroads. Congratulations Sara! 

 
|

Top 5 Travel Experiences of 2012, A Culinary High in Caraquet, New Brunswick

Last May, I was fortunate to drive New Brunswick’s Acadian Coast for an upcoming Boston Globe story. Stretching 110 miles from Shediac to Caraquet, the northeastern coast of New Brunswick boasts the warmest waters north of Virginia, the sand dunes of Kouchibouguac National Park, lonely lighthouses on Miscou Island, and the largest lobster processing facility on the continent. Yet, the real reason folks go out of their way to venture to the Acadian Coast is to experience the French Canadian culture. Stop at any of the small towns and you’ll notice a distinctive joie de vivre, with foot-stomping fiddle music, down-home French cooking accentuating the local seafood catch, and festivals that celebrate the Acadians’ 400-year-old history in the Atlantic Maritimes.
 
Yet, it was one day in Caraquet where I experienced my greatest culinary pleasure of the year. In the morning, oysterman Gaetan Dugas took me out on the waters of Caraquet Bay to show me firsthand why these oysters are a cherished commodity in high demand from chefs around North America. Especially the petites, small oysters that are both succulent and briny. Dugas’ ancestors include a pirate who commandeered a ship against the British in the 1750s, but it’s his father who taught him how to oyster farm and his grandfather who taught him the traditional ways of the local Mi’kmaq people. 
 
Just as bountiful as the sea are the forests surrounding Caraquet, ripe with morels, chanterelles, oyster mushrooms, and other goodies like the foot of the cattail. Local Jean Patenaude made a name for himself scouring the countryside for edibles, bringing home laundry baskets full of wild mushrooms on ideal days in summer. In the afternoon, he took me foraging for morels. 
 
That evening, I assembled the goodies I had collected that day and brought them to chef Karen Mersereau, the mother of gastronomy in Caraquet. Mersereau was a food marketing rep in Toronto when she met Gerard Paulin, the third-generation hotelier of Hotel Paulin, a Victorian-era gem perched on a hill above the water of Caraquet Bay. A dozen years later, the couple are parents of a boy, Jules, and Karen is firmly entrenched at the helm of the hotel’s kitchen. She has wisely aligned herself with both Dugas and Patenaude. 
 
Mersereau took my day’s bounty and created a memorable wild mushroom oyster bisque. To ensure that every spoonful was chockful of meat, she throws in the native palourdes clam, similar to a quahaug. Her bevy of local supplies would make most chefs weep with joy. In addition to oysters and mushrooms, there’s snow crabs, tuna, Atlantic salmon, shrimp, and halibut right off the boat, goat cheese and spring-fed lamb found in nearby farms, and blueberries and cloudberries that grow wild along the coast, perfect for making a sublime pie. At Hotel Paulin, the locavore movement has reached its crescendo.
 
|

Time for a Much Needed Break

Just returned from the Mount Auburn Hospital Travel Clinic to get necessary shots and a malaria pill prescription for an upcoming family trip to the Ecuadorean Amazon and the Galapagos Islands. Before we leave next Sunday, I have two stories to write, itineraries to design for clientele traveling to Scandinavia, Costa Rica, Iceland, and the UK, and two days of R&R with high school buddies at a lake in upstate New York. So I’m taking a break from blogging. I’ll be back the week of August 4th with 5 highlights from our trip to Ecuador. Enjoy the summer!

 

|

The Allure of Cartagena

Cartagena is one of those Spanish Colonial cities that seems to be built with the traveler in mind. Behind the fortress walls are narrow streets, large plazas, 17th-century churches, and row after of charming restaurants, boutique shops, and salsa dance clubs. The fortress reminded me of Old San Juan while the streets of Old Town Cartagena felt similar to the French Quarter of New Orleans. I loved strolling and taking photos of the colorful adobe-like homes and the lush tropical foliage like bougainvillea flowing from the terraces. An added bonus to Cartagena is the long stretch of beach and warm waters to swim. You can choose to stay in the Old Town at the historic Sofitel Cartagena Santa Clara or the smaller boutique property, Movich Cartagena, with its glorious views of the city at night from its rooftop bar and pool. But I wanted to be right on the beach, so instead chose to stay at the Intercontinental Cartagena de Indias in the newer Bocagrande section of the city. I loved waking up to their breakfast buffet (juicy mangoes were in season when I was there in early June) and going to the outdoor terrace to look out over the expanse of water. It was also a joy to return to the hotel after a day of sightseeing (the Old Town is only a 5-minute Uber or Taxi) and sip mojitos in the infinity pool, with those same breathtaking views. The temperatures were much hotter and more humid than Medellin since you’re back at sea level, ideal for a winter or late fall getaway. 

 
|

Sea Kayak with Nat Hab Adventures in Greenland, Antarctica, and the Galapagos

When I was working as a columnist for National Geographic Adventure and researching my first book, Outside Magazine’s Adventure Guide to New England, I would often go on multi-day sea kayaking trips along the Maine coast or around Prince Edward Island. The trend of long distance sea kayaking was becoming popular in the late 90s thanks in large part to one man, Olaf Malver, who was the director of development for Mountain Travel Sobek. While Richard Bangs put the sport of whitewater rafting virgin rivers on the map, Malver explored the world within the cozy confines of a sea kayak. 

I had the good fortune to catch up with Malver over dinner last week in Boston, where he was introducing the wine he produces in the Republic of Georgia to distributors (we’ll talk more about Georgia tomorrow). Olaf mentioned to me that 80% of adventure travelers only visit 20% of the world, leaving behind such gems as the Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific or eastern Greenland, one of the most breathtaking landscapes he has ever witnessed. Now working with Natural Habitat as Chief Exploratory Officer, Olaf brings groups of passionate travelers to remote Greenland each summer. He also organizes trips to the Galapagos Islands, where he promises to get kayakers in secluded coves far away from the cruise ships. He even sea kayaks in Antarctica, where guests have the option to camp on the shores with the penguins before returning to their 60-foot sloop. If any of these trips interest you, please contact ActiveTravels.
 

Leave a Reply