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Cape Cod’s Ocean Edge Resort Teams Up With Orvis

Driving along Route 6A in Brewster, it’s hard to miss Boston banker Samuel Nickerson’s century-old mansion. Today, it’s the centerpiece of the sprawling Ocean Edge Resort. Add six pools, the 18-hole Jack Nicklaus redesigned golf course, nine tennis courts, and bike paths that connect easily to the 22-mile Cape Cod Rail Trail, and you understand why Ocean Edge has been a perennial family favorite on the Cape for decades. We love the property because it’s always trying to enhance the experience, not just relying on its lengthy history. Last summer, Ocean Edge introduced a chance to go oystering on the bayside beach with a local oyster farmer. After learning about his line of work, you head back to the outdoor deck overlooking the expanse of water to sample those oysters, washed down with a pale ale brewed for the resort called Bayzo Brew. This summer, Ocean Edge has teamed up with the well-known fly-fishing outfitter and retailer Orvis to offer fishing lessons on one of its ponds. Also opening on July 4th will be a new beach bar. If you haven’t been to Ocean Edge in a while, it might be time for a return visit. 

 

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Maker’s Mark Turns 60

Later this this month, an installation by iconic glass artist Dale Chihuly will be seen on display at the Maker’s Mark distillery in Loretto, Kentucky, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of producing their bourbon. If you’ve never been to Loretto to tour the distillery and drive the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, now would be the time. All of the 1880s buildings on the 650-acre Maker’s Mark property have been restored. The company has also worked with others in the industry to establish a 130-mile driving trail of “bourbon landmarks” through central Kentucky, a mere 45 minute drive from Louisville, to showcase where the drink was developed. The trail takes visitors to Maker’s Mark, Jim Beam, and seven other distilleries, as well as the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History. To sample a variety of the latest stock, head to a local favorite, the bar at the the Kentucky Bourbon Marketplace in Bardstown.

 
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Legoland Opens in Orlando on October 15th

I’m not a big fan of theme parks. I find them overwhelming, with far too many humans waiting at hour-long lines for a 2-minute ride. But I’ve always enjoyed visiting Legoland, just north of San Diego when my kids were younger. It’s a much mellower version of a theme park, catered to the 2 to 8-year-old crowd, even fascinating parents with all the items made out of Legos, from amusement park rides to cities around the world. Now a new Legoland is being unveiled in Orlando on October 15th, making it easier for East Coast families to sample the Legoland experience. The 150-acre park features more than 50 rides, shows, and attractions.
 

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Save Money on Rental Cars

Last week, I took the family to Miami Beach and Marco Island for Presidents Week vacation. Flying into Fort Lauderdale Airport, rental car prices were averaging a ridiculous $750 a week for a mid-sized vehicle. But if you picked up that same car down the road from my hotel in Miami Beach, the price was significantly reduced to a more affordable $300 a week. With a cost of taxi from Fort Lauderdale Airport to Miami Beach being a mere $35, I saved myself over $400 simply by not booking the rental car at the airport. It seems that rental car companies are intentionally jacking the prices at airports, assuming that travelers don’t want to hassle with picking up the car at a downtown location. But if you do the search like I did on the Dollar website, you’ll be happy with the savings of dollars!
 

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Walk the Overland Track, Tasmania

Talk to any Aussie and they’ll tell you that Tasmania is the Australia of yore, an island the size of Ireland that boasts a diverse landscape of creamy sands, endless tracts of lush forest, dramatic sea cliffs battered by Antarctic gales, craggy peaks, and alpine lakes.  One of the best ways to appreciate this wilderness is on the legendary Overland Track, a 40-mile trek that links 5,069-foot Cradle Mountain with the waters of Lake St. Clair.  Now is the time to book for the popular December to April season since the number of backpackers is limited. You can either to choose to tackle the four to six day hike on your own or on a guided trek with naturalists from Cradle Mountain Huts. Spend the nights on a mattress at one of the five cradle huts, then wake up to the call of the native Karrowong bird and get ready to trample over leaves, smelling the sweet scent of sassafras, as you take in the varied landscape of mountain streams, glacial rock, and dark forests.

 
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Rob Barbour Leads Trip to Ethiopia

In March 2015, I had the privilege of traveling with Rob Barbour around northern Tanzania, with stops in Arusha and Arusha National Park, the southern Amboseli plains, Mwiba Wildlife Reserve, Ngorongoro Crater, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Kusini Camp in the southern Serengeti, the Grumeti Wildlife Reserve, and the Lamai section of the northern Serengeti, where the legendary wildebeest migration takes place across the Mara River. Rob not only serves as director of African operations for the safari operator, Epic Private Journeys, but he’s a native Tanzanian who formerly owned his own lodges in Lamai and Ruaha National Park in southern Tanzania. It seems like every restaurant, hotel, and airport stop we made, he ran into an old friend. What was invaluable to me was the wealth of information he shared on taking a safari in Africa, knowledge accumulated over a lifetime. 

 
Now Rob is taking his expertise to Ethiopia, April 15-28, 2018. The 14-day adventure involves a range of accommodation styles and modes of transport, including trekking in the high plateaus of the Simien Mountains and the Bale Mountains. Ethiopia offers a diverse cultural experience from the Coptic Christians and medieval rock hewn churches in the north to the remote tribes of the Omo Valley. The country is also home to incredible wildlife including endangered Ethiopian wolves, Bale monkeys, Geladas and the Walia Ibex. Please contact ActiveTravels for pricing if interested. 
 
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Lapland’s Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort, A Winter Wonderland

It’s not everyday that I get to sit down at my local coffee shop and meet a Laplander of Sami descent. But there I was yesterday with my wife, travel agent Lisa Leavitt, and Ari Siivikko, Marketing Manager of Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort. I receive a slew of media requests to meet people from around the globe when they make their way to Boston, and I usually decline the majority of those requests. I just don’t have the time. But after checking out this unique resort online, I had to meet Ari. The property lies 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle in northern Finland. After an 80-minute flight from Helsinki, you’re picked up by snow shuttle or snowmobile and escorted to the resort. Here, you’ll find upscale log cabins with requisite sauna, snow igloos, and the main reason I took this meeting, glass igloos. See, Kakslautannen is one of the best places in the world to see the Northern Lights. And if you read my story in the Boston Globe on seeing the Northern Lights in northern Maine, you’ll realize that the winter of 2013/2104 is supposed to be a stellar year for solar activity. Within the glass igloo, you simply lie down, preferably with a glass of chilled Finnish vodka, and wait for the kaleidoscopic light show to happen. 

 
Daytime activities are just as enticing. Choose from a wide variety of winter offerings, from cross-country skiing on 150 miles of groomed trails, dogsledding, snowmobiling, horseback riding, ice fishing Sami-style, or taking a reindeer-led snow ride. Snowmobilers and dogsledders also have the opportunity to spend an overnight at a wilderness hut, way out in the forest. Ari mentioned that a typical stay is 3 to 5 nights, with many clientele spending a night or two in Helsinki and then taking a 3-hour train to St. Petersburg to see the Hermitage without the summer cruise crowds. 
 

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