Sea Kayak the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
South of Anchorage, the shores of the Kenai Peninsula are glacial-carved inlets where 4,000 foot peaks plummet into the waters below. Katchemak and Tutka Bays stretch more than ten miles into the forested interior, protected from the nasty glaciers and swells of the Gulf of Alaska. Sea otters, sea lions, porpoises, eagles, and seals use these relatively calm waters as a safe haven, and now sea kayakers are following their lead. Through the second week of September, True North Kayak Adventures out of Homer organizes three-day adventures into this fjord-like setting. You’ll spend your days paddling under 400-foot waterfalls or hiking up one of the small peaks to get an eagle’s vantage point of the landscape. At night, you’ll camp on Yukon Island and feast on freshly caught salmon. Trips start at $495 per person, including guides, food, and tents.
I’ll be leaving today on a two-week trip to the Canadian Rockies, starting with a weeklong family adventure jaunt with my friends at Austin-Lehman Adventures. We’ll spend two additional nights in Jasper at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, before taking an overnight train on VIA Rail into Vancouver. After spending three nights in the city, we’ll take a ferry over to Salt Spring Island, a personal favorite of Seattle-based writer and BC travel guru, Eric Lucas. I’ll be back on August 8th with an update on western Canada. Enjoy these two weeks, and, as always, keep active!
Great news out of the French side of St. Martin, where 
Best known for their properties in Laguna Beach and Deer Valley, the hotel brand Montage also runs the vast 
Lisa and I recently had the pleasure of meeting Megumi Gordon, granddaughter of 
2016 marks the completion of the massive Panama Canal expansion project that will usher in a new chapter for Panama and cap off the celebration of the Panama Canal’s 100th birthday. 
n 1974, a team of Mexican government computer analysts picked a long sliver of land on the Atlantic shoreline as the country’s next Acapulco. The powdery white sands and turquoise waters, separated from the mainland by a lagoon were ripe for development. Sheraton, Hilton, and Marriott swiftly built their hotels, soon joined by upscale Ritz-Carlton and the flashy Le Meridien, and Americans took the bait wholeheartedly. Today, Cancun is the number one tourist destination in Mexico. Sadly, however, the Mexicans catered far too much to their northern neighbors. With a Hard Rock Café, Planet Hollywood, Rainforest Café, Outback Steak House, and a McDonald’s or shopping mall on every other block, the 14-mile-long Zona Hotelera (Hotel Zone) looks much more like Miami Beach than any Mexican village. In fact, the Cancun version of the Miami Herald arrives at your hotel doorstep each morning. Roads are often flooded and prices for dinner are exorbitant in a country known for its affordability. 
This is the time of year that many publications like The New York Times and Travel & Leisure come out with their top travel destinations in the upcoming year. Lonely Planet has just published their