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Lovin Our Lattes at Blue Bottle Coffee

Our first morning in San Francisco, we wandered over to the Ferry Building to sample the wares at the Saturday Farmers Market. Jake downed a delicious pork banh mi, Melanie found yummy blueberry muffin, and Lisa scooped up homemade yogurt at a booth. I stood on a long line at the Blue Bottle Coffee stand hoping it was worth the wait. One sip of my strong latte and I instantly understood the fuss. This is the real deal. When I found out that my lodging for the last two nights, Hotel Zetta, was only a 2-minute walk from the Blue Bottle Coffee at Mint Plaza, Lisa and I went both mornings and yes, once again stood in line to order. Paired with yogurt and fresh fruit or oatmeal, it was a great way to start the day. Looking at their website, I noticed that Blue Bottle has locations around Manhattan and Brooklyn, including a stand on the High Line, so waiting on line for another latte is in my future. 
 
Next week, I’m excited to blog live from Lake George—a locale I know well, having sailed on this majestic lake since I was born in nearby Schenectady. Stay tuned for my blogs and you can follow me on Twitter @ActiveTravels. 
 

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ActiveTravels Update

In September 1990, I quit my job as a broker in Manhattan and booked a flight with Air New Zealand, stopping at 12 different locales in the South Pacific on the way to my final destination, Sydney. When I returned from that 4-month jaunt, I would write my first article, “Learning to Scuba Dive in the Cook Islands.” Since that time, I have been fortunate to make my living primarily as a travel writer, penning more than 1000 articles for over 50 publications. To celebrate my 20th anniversary in this business, I’ll be updating the Go Play! Section of ActiveTravels by adding many of these articles to the website. Simply click on a geographical region, say California, and you’ll find a slew of updated content from backpacking to surfing to snacking, listed under each category. I’ll also include the name of the magazine, newspaper, or website where the story was originally printed. Think of this as a resource guide to your world of adventure.

As always, thanks for checking in! If there’s any travel subject you’d like me to discuss, simply ask. If you’re planning a trip to some glorious part of the world and need recommendations on activities or lodging, simply ask. Since I’ve started this blog over a year ago, I haven’t made a dime from advertising or commissions from the places I recommend. This way, I remain unbiased and can give you the wholehearted truth about each destination. So don’t only use Go Play! as a resource. Go straight to the source and ask me any question you might have.
 

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Top 5 Adventures in Florida, Biking the Shark Valley Loop, Everglades National Park

If you happen to be in Miami and crave an authentic outdoor experience away from the trendy restaurants and clubs in South Beach, take an hour-long drive on the Tamiami Trail (Route 41) to Shark Valley Visitor Center in Everglades National Park. Try to get here on the early side (before 11 am), because the parking lot fills up quick, and bring water and sandwiches for lunch. Then rent a bike and head out on the 15-mile paved Shark Valley route. Far from the deafening noise of a propeller boat, a tourist magnet in these parts, you get to bike at your own pace along canals teeming with alligators, turtles, and an extraordinary amount of large birds. It took my family of four almost an hour to bike one mile because we had to stop every 50 yards to get a photo of that gator basking in the sun next to the bike trail. Don’t worry. They could care less about you and no one’s ever been attacked on the route. Usually near the alligator was an anhinga drying its wings on a branch, and wood storks and white whooping cranes standing tall in the shallow water. There was every type of heron imaginable, from the stocky black-crowned night heron to the long-legged great blue heron. Another highlight was the pink roseate spoonbills resting in the dense sagebrush along the canal. Stop midway at the observation deck to get a good overview of the Everglades topography, a mix of sinuous waterways and tall swaying grass. This is also a good spot to have that sandwich or snack you brought before heading back. 

 
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Sail Newport With Your Own Captain

With the America’s Cup currently being held in San Francisco, celebrate its origins by taking a sail on Narragansett Bay in Newport. September is a glorious time to sail the bay, with the waters still relatively warm and boat traffic reduced to a minimum. Home to the smoky sou’wester, a prevailing wind with average speeds in the 10 to 20 knot range, Narragansett Bay deserves its reputation as one of the finest cruising grounds in the northeast. Yet, you don’t have to be an America’s Cup sailor to sample the sport. At Sightsailing, located at Newport’s Bowen’s Wharf, Captain Ed Early skippers the 34-foot O’Day called Starlight. A former instructor for Offshore Sailing School, Early has been sailing for over 30 years. He’ll guide you past Fort Adams, Hammersmith Farm, where JFK and Jackie O held their wedding reception, and Clingstone, a good name for the house that clings precariously to the rocks. Sweet talk Early and he might even let you take the wheel. Starlight can accommodate 2 to 6 guests. Cost is $270 for a private 2-hour sail, $495 for a 4-hour sail. 

 
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Head to Puglia, the Heel of the Italian Boot

Tuscany has been hyped ad nauseum, leaving the rest of Italy open to folks who prefer not to follow the masses. This is especially true in September, when most of the backpackers have left the country with guidebooks in tow and the Italians return from their August vacation. One of my favorite parts of the country is in the southeast, Puglia, known as Giardano d’Italia, the Garden of Italy. With its rich soil, the region is known for its bounty of fruits, vegetables, and wines. Couples can bike through olive groves, picnic on the Adriatic shores, visit the Roman ruins of Egnazia, and spend an afternoon hiking through the beehive-like buildings of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Alberobello. Spend your nights at Masseria Torre Coccaro in Savelletri, where acres of olive groves and gardens surround a 14th-century watchtower. 

 
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Montreal Knows How to Party, Even in the Heart of Winter

Last winter, Montreal unveiled the continent’s first Snow Village at Parc Jean-Drapeau. This was no miniature dollhouse or a series of ice sculptures. No. The Snow Village included a 30-room ice hotel, an outdoor spa, ice bar, ice restaurant, ice chapel for marriages, a maze, slides, and much more. The show’s promoters first encountered the Snow Village concept in Finland and wanted to recreate the idea in North America. Entering its second season, Snow Village Canada will feature a New York theme in 2013, so expect to see the Empire State Building carved out of ice. If you visit in January, you’ll have the additional bonus of checking out Igloofest, a winter outdoor electronic dance celebration drawing up to 10,000 people a night over 3 weekends. 

 
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San Antonio Week—The Emerging Pearl Neighborhood

Even before the Pearl Brewery shut its doors in 2000, this section of San Antonio, a 20-minute walk from downtown, was a dead zone in the city. Then Kit Goldsbury, owner of Silver Ventures, came along and bought the whole tamale in 2001 with a vision in mind. He wanted to transform the entire brewery into a working neighborhood with a focus on local culture, food, and education. He personally sought out clientele for his 22-acre mixed-use property. In 2005, the Culinary Institute of America arrived to do a lecture series and five years later, opened its third campus. With an emphasis on Latin American cuisine, CIA San Antonio has 75 students currently enrolled and will open its first student-run restaurant, NAO, in May. They’ll join three of the city’s favorite restaurants. Sandbar and Il Sogno Osteria, with James Beard-nominated chef Andrew Weissman at the helm, and the upscale Mexican fare found at Johnny Hernandez’s La Gloria. Shops include the Twig bookstore, one of the few independent bookstores in the city, and the Mexican-accented dishes, glassware, textiles, and cooking wares found at Melissa Guerra. Saturday mornings, the place is hopping as the farmer’s market comes to the neighborhood.
 
This is only the start. When I went there yesterday, there was so much construction going on, I thought I was in Beijing. Avenue A will be home to a row of 300 new residences, already being bought by young professionals and boomers moving back to the city. Just behind the condos, in the original 19th-century brewhouse, a 140-room boutique hotel will emerge in 2014. Across from NAO is another CIA restaurant, the Boiler House, housed in the former red-brick boiler room of the brewery, and come November, a farm-to-table restaurant and wine bar. Nearby is a cocktail bar set to open within the month called The Bluebox Bar. And two brothers are planning to open a barbecue and beer joint called Granary in August in the former 19th-century home of the brewery’s chief coppersmith. Easily accessible from downtown via the extended Museum Reach of the River Walk, this area of San Antonio is on the verge of making Kit Goldsbury’s vision come to life. 
 

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