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Backroads Unveils New Trips in 2016

Backroads, a perennial favorite outfitter of our clients, just announced their list of trips for 2016. They include 27 new biking trips, 41 new multisport adventures, and 21 new walking & hiking trips. Active river cruising continues to be extremely popular and next year Backroads is rolling out cruises to more locations in Europe. Families can join the fun on new active river cruises designed just for them. In 2016 Backroads will launch new river cruise trips along the Danube, Rhine, Seine and Portugal’s Douro. Additionally, an entire ship just for Backroads guests sets sail on a Danube Full Ship Celebration River Cruise Bike Tour in September 2016. Family Breakaway trips have also proven to be a huge hit for families with older teens and college-age. To meet increasing demand, Backroads is tripling the options for families in the coming year, launching new Family Breakaway Trips to England, the Basque Region of France & Spain, Croatia & Montenegro, Alaska, the Canadian Rockies, Argentina’s Lake District, Peru, Patagonia, and New Zealand, as well as a Rhine River Cruise. These trips join an already-popular roster of Family Breakaway trips in Tuscany, the Dalmatian Coast, Hawaii and Costa Rica.

I’m off to Indiana with my daughter, Melanie. I’ll be back next Monday. In the meantime, get outdoors and keep active! 

 

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Sampling Exceptional Wine at Niagara on the Lake

I knew the Niagara biking would be stellar and any performance at the Shaw Festival a treat, but to be honest, I wasn’t very excited to try the Ontario wines. Blame it on the annual Canada dinner in Boston each May when Ontario Tourism would bring the sweetest Icewine they could find for us journalists to sample. I admit, I was ignorant and thankfully this past week received a phenomenal education from Ontario wine expert, Erin Henderson. As co-founder of The Wine Sisters with her sister, Courtney, these two professional sommeliers introduce the world to the finest Ontario wines through corporate dinners in Toronto and private tours of the wine region. 

 
Yesterday in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Erin introduced me to two pioneers of the Ontario wine region, Chateau des Charmes and Peller Estates. Both wineries were instrumental in wisely ripping up the Concord grapes that were growing in the region for almost 200 years, better suited for jelly, and replacing them with vinifera from Burgundy, Bordeaux, and the Mosel. More than 30 years later, these vineyards are producing not only world-class Rieslings and Chardonnays, but Cab Francs and Bordeaux blends that have serious nose and body. Since it was International Chardonnay Day yesterday, I’ll discuss Niagara’s whites, which are cool, crisp, often dry, like biting into a green apple off the branch. They were not nearly as cloying as some of the oaky warm-weather variety. Tawse and Stratus Wines both made a chardonnay that could compete with the best of Burgundy. Hidden Bench and Cave Spring Cellars make a Riesling Germans would spew expletives of joy over. Peller has a 2010 Cab Franc that’s a steal at $40 a bottle, with hints of plum and pepper. They also make an Icewine from Riesling that has the perfect balance of sweetness and acidity. I had it with my blue cheese appetizer for lunch, surprisingly not with dessert. 
 
Ontario wines have been hiding in obscurity for far too long. I’d happily purchase a bottle at a dinner in Boston, New York, or Chicago if I could find them on the wine menu. Unfortunately, few of these beauties have international distribution. So you’re just going to have to follow in my footsteps and cross the border to see firsthand why I’m so excited. With lake winds keeping mildew and mold off the vines and the Niagara escarpment sheltering the vineyards from early frost and providing much needed limestone terroir, the unique microclimate has created a Burgundy of the West. I’m happy to be witness to this explosion of good taste.
 
Thanks to Butterfield and Robinson, The Wine Sisters, and Ontario Tourism for a great week. Have a relaxing Memorial Day Weekend. I’ll be back on Monday. 
 
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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 5 Eco-Resorts in Central America, La Loma Jungle Lodge, Isla Bastimentos, Panama

Increasingly, the small eco-retreat design that made such an imprint in Costa Rica has slipped farther south into Panama. On an archipelago in the northeastern part of the country, a short boat ride from the town of Bocas del Toro, is a four-cabana lodge socked in the middle of the verdant jungle and surrounded by a working cocoa plantation. All of the cabins at La Loma Jungle Lodge were created from fallen trees and inspired by the architecture of the local Ngobe Indians. The employees are also local, including your guide through the rainforest and beach to see sloths, armadillos, small crocs called caimans, and the graceful blue morph butterfly. At dinner, lobster and conch will not be served, as the owners try to use only sustainably harvested fish like yellow jack. Rates start at $100 per person a night, including three meals, the boat ride over from Bocas town, and some of the excursions. 

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Fall Foliage Deals in New England

New England Inns & Resorts, a collection of more than 250 inns and hotels in New England, has some fall foliage deals up on their website. Harbour Towne Inn in Boothbay Harbor, Maine is offering a leaf and lobster tour, starting at $149 a night, including a bountiful harvest breakfast. If you prefer mountains to the sea, the Bethel Inn Resort in Bethel, Maine, home to Sunday River, is offering rooms as low as $119 a night, including breakfast. At the Daniel Webster Inn in Sandwich, on Cape Cod, rooms are as low $120 a night (including a 25% discount), champagne and chocolates upon arrival, and a $50 meal credit for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Even exclusive Nantucket is getting in on the deal. If you can wait till late October to hit the island, rates at the Jared Coffin House drop to $125 a night, with a $25 dinner credit.
 

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Tidal Bore Rafting in Nova Scotia

I had drinks last night with a group of hotel owners, restaurateurs, wine makers, boutique chocolate shop purveyors, maple syrup bottlers, and lobster suppliers in town from Nova Scotia. They were going on a culinary tour from Boston to Portland, led by one of my favorite people in the travel biz, Chris Miranda at Redpoint. They were here to hopefully gain inspiration from their cohorts on this side of the border. Not that they need it. I actually think Nova Scotia already has a lot more to offer than Massachusetts like a great public market and an award-winning wine region. They also served as regional ambassadors to Nova Scotia, now that the ferry is once again cruising from Portland, Maine to Nova Scotia this summer. I was asked by Chris to meet them for a drink and talk about the best ways to get press for their respective businesses. 
 
While talking about Nova Scotia, I remembered one of my favorite outings in the province, tidal bore rafting. At high tide standing on a sandbar, we heard the deafening surge of water before we saw the white crest atop the wave. Then we jumped into a motored zodiac before the sandbar completely disappeared with the onslaught of water. 
 
That’s when the excitement begins. The strength of the tide causes the flow of the river to shift directions and create standing waves. At first the waves were small, in the 5 to 7 foot range. Yet, as the water continued to pour in, the standing waves reached heights of 12 to 14 feet. We motored through as the succession of waves swamped the zodiac with the brownish mix of water. Thankfully the zodiac self-bails, so as soon as the water in the raft spilled back into the river, we would motor through another series of towering waves, getting soaked and laughing our asses off on each run. After about 30 minutes, the water reaches its high point and the waves subside. For an encore, we crawled up the soft muddy banks of the river and slid down on our stomachs. I loved every minute of it and ended up penning a story for Men’s Journal. 
 
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The Ludlow Hotel to Open on the Lower East Side in June

After feasting on my favorite pastrami and rye in Manhattan, at Katz’s Deli, or downing the herring and lox at the century-old Russ and Daughters, I’m happy to know that I now have a place to nap nearby at The Ludlow Hotel. The location couldn’t be better for checking out downtown. A stone’s throw from Houston Street and an easy walk to the East Village, Little Italy, and Chinatown, the lodging will open in June and features 184 and 20 suites. Sean MacPherson, Ira Drukier, and Richard Born are the powerhouse trifecta behind the new property. Drukier and Born are responsible for NYC’s successful Pod Hotels, The Greenwich Hotel, and the Mercer Hotel, among many others. MacPherson is co-owner of The Marlton, The Bowery Hotel, The Jane Hotel, and The Maritime Hotel. Don’t miss the chance to stroll though the Lower East Side, where my grandfather, Sam Rieger, worked during the Depression selling shoes on Delancey Street. Take one of the tours at the Tenement Museum, grab a sour dill from the Pickle Guy at the corner of Essex and Grant, and then check out my favorite candy store in the world, Economy Candy (108 Rivington Street). An incredible variety of candy, including favorites from my childhood, like Mike and Ike’s. 
 

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