|

Ski Suicide Six for $7.50

 

Peer up at Suicide Six and all you see is a wide trail falling sharply down the peak. When Bunny Bertram was looking for a place to put his ski area in 1936, he reportedly looked down this same hillside, then called Number 6, and said attempting to ski this is suicide.  The name stuck. These days, any decent skier can attempt that same steep slope. Indeed, the mountain and its 23 trails, found on the outskirts of Woodstock, Vermont, are ideally suited for the novice and intermediate skier. To celebrate their 75th anniversary, Suicide Six is offering lift tickets for $7.50 on Mondays. So if you’re planning to spend the weekend at Killington, 20 minutes down the road, spend an extra day in the area and ski Suicide Six.

 

Similar Posts

|

Nova Scotia Week, A Walk Through History in Lunenburg

One hour south of Halifax, the seaside community of Lunenburg is one of only two cities in North America dubbed a UNESCO World Heritage Site (the other being Quebec City). What UNESCO found fascinating was the fact that Lunenburg was a perfectly planned British colonial settlement, a 48-block grid designed in London and plopped down on the coast of Nova Scotia in 1753. They were also obviously impressed with the preservation because Lunenburg remains one of the most charming towns on the Atlantic coast. The British were successful in recruiting some 1400-plus people to Lunenburg, mostly of German and Swiss descendant, including the ancestors of my Lunenburg Walking Tours guide, Ashlee Feener, an 8th-generation descendent. We started our hour-long stroll through town at the highest point in Lunenburg, the former site of the citadel and now home to the castle-like Lunenburg Academy.  No longer a public school, the Second Empire structure built in 1895 is now an international music academy attracting students from across the globe, the first hint that this storied fishing community has transformed into a cultural destination. 

 
Those first descendants thought they were coming to Canada to farm but their shovels and ploughs soon hit rock. They looked to the sea and by the late 1800s, Lunenburg had become the fishing capital of Canada, with large schooners heading to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and often returning after a summer with 100,000 to 300,000 pounds of cod. Ashlee led us down York Street to view a Victorian home with a Widow’s Watch, a cupola with bay windows that overlooked the sea, where a ship captain’s wife could hopefully her husband returning home. Next door was one of the oldest homes in Lunenburg, a gabled one-bedroom Cape Cod-style home currently on the market for $287,000. On Fox Street, the red Georgian-style Lennox Inn was built in 1791 and is the oldest continuously operating inn in North America. Another highlight of the tour was the stunning St. John’s Anglican Church, one of five churches in town. Walk inside to see the ribbed wooden roof that could only be built by shipbuilders who knew their way around the ribs of a hull. We walked past the multi-colored façade and gingerbread trim of the Mariner King Inn, where I’m happily spending the night. Our tour ended on the docks next to the recently resorted schooner, Bluenose II, Nova Scotia’s ambassador of the sea, a fitting tribute to Lunenburg’s past. 
 
The ebullient Ashlee and her business partner, Shelah Allen, a mere 7th-generation descendent also offer haunted tours of Lunenburg and its many scary-looking Victorian homes at night. Go on either tour and you’ll be happy I sent you. 
 
|

The Fall and Rise of the Travel Agent

If you still can’t understand why travel agents are becoming increasingly popular in this do-it-yourself world, let me try and explain. In the past 72 hours, Lisa and I rescheduled numerous flights long before our clients arrived at the airport to find out they were cancelled due to Winter Storm Jonas. Thanks to our friends at Cox & Kings, we rushed an Indian visa to a client just in time for her flight. When a pipe broke at a high-end beachfront villa in the Turks & Caicos and our client received a measly fruit basket for his woes, we called the director of sales at the property and got his room comped. We upped a travel insurance policy to cover all costs when a client who booked a 5-week trip to Australia we designed suddenly blew out his knee. Lastly, we cancelled an upcoming trip to Colombia when a client read a story in The New York Times on how the Zika virus was not only causing birth defects, but was linked to the dreadful Guillain-Barre syndrome. 

We live in a world rocked with climate change, terrorism, a massive refugee crisis, and mosquito-borne illnesses. The question shouldn’t be why you need a travel agent, but why wouldn’t you need a travel agent who always has your back when you leave home in this volatile world? If you’re still not convinced, please read my story in the Boston University School of Hospitality Magazine. Then do yourself a favor and join ActiveTravels. 

 
|

A Memorable Tapas Crawl in Madrid

We met Marcy Forman, co-owner of Valesa Cultural Services, one of our preferred ground operators for clients headed to Spain, at the lobby of our hotel, Gran Hotel Inglés. Marcy has lived in Madrid for over 20 years and one of her favorite things to do is bring friends on an authentic Madrid tapas crawl. We started at Casa Toni, known for its crispy lamb tripe, an older specialty that’s hard to find in town these days. After downing the tender meat, we strolled around the corner to my favorite stop of the night, Casa del Abuelo, known for their tasty garlic shrimp. The dish comes out sizzling with a hefty chunk of bread, and is best paired with a short glass of sweet wine. Then it was off to La Campana, known for its fried calamari served in a large bun, bocadillo style. Next stop, the splashy Mercado de San Miguel, Madrid’s main public market, serving everything your heart desires, from acorn-fed Iberian ham to razor clams to fried croquettes, all washed down with sangria or cerveza. Our final stop was Chocolateria San Gines, in operation since 1894 and known for only one item, fresh out of the oven churros. Order a half-dozen, thin or fat, and it’s served with a steaming hot coffee cup of chocolate that many customers drink after dipping the churros. Sublime! We had so much fun with Marcy that we took our daughter, Melanie, on the exact same tour the next night. 

 
|

Hong Kong Week-Climbing Up Victoria Peak

The concierge we dealt with at the Intercontinental was exceptional, not only providing us with authentic Chinese restaurants to visit, but finding a sports bar to watch the New England Patriots playoff game. We wandered over to an Irish pub called Delaney’s at 8 am, only to find the place packed with American expats. Three hours later, we wandered out of there elated after a stirring victory onto the busy streets of Kowloon, a bit of a culture shock. We took the historic Star Ferry over to the Hong Kong section of the city after making an essential stop at the ferry terminal to talk to someone at the Hong Kong Tourism Board Visitors Center. They provided a walking map to hike up to the top of Victoria Peak. Seemed easy enough, but we had no idea how steep the trail is. On a series of switchbacks on a narrow concrete path that starts to the left of the Victoria Peak tram, we snaked up the hillside past the tall apartment buildings and residential neighborhoods. Close to the top, we spotted a pair of wild boar nibbling at the scrub, which seemed apropos since the Chinese New Year is celebrating the Year of the Pig. We would later learn that the wild boars are overrunning the island and becoming a bit of a problem. One hour later, we made it to the top of the funicular to a viewpoint that offered a spectacular vista of the city skyline, surrounding waters, and neighboring islands below. We then celebrated our achievement over pizza and German beer at a place called Wildfire, before happily taking the funicular back down. 

 
|

Excellent Meal at The Whip in Stowe

Unlike many New England ski areas, where all amenities are found on a road leading to the mountain resulting in the look of a strip mall, Stowe grew up around a 240-year-old Vermont village. The charm of skiing Stowe is that you can leave the mountain behind and stroll down Main Street (Route 100) past the requisite white steeple atop Stowe Community Church or go inside Shaw’s General Store, open since 1895, to purchase a flannel shirt. Then there’s the Green Mountain Inn, a former stagecoach stop that’s been in operation since 1833. Thankfully, the chef at their restaurant, The Whip, is relatively new and straight outta Texas. Man, can he cook meat! I ordered the veal cheeks, braised like brisket, and so tender and moist it cut like butter. Jake ordered a gorgonzola-topped filet mignon, also tender and tasty. We topped it off with their signature dessert, sac d’ bon bon, a tower of chocolate mousse that we devoured almost instantaneously. One of the best meals I’ve had in Stowe in a long time. 
 
|

The Return of the High-Speed CAT Between Portland and Nova Scotia

Last June, I was fortunate to spend six days in Nova Scotia with my sister, Fawn. We took the Nova Star Ferry from Portland, Maine for the 11-hour crossing. The Nova Star ended its service last October and it was just announced last week that the much faster twin-hulled CAT would return, cutting time in half. The service will begin on June 15 and will depart Portland daily at 2:30 pm, arriving in Yarmouth at 9 pm. The ferry will depart from Yarmouth the next morning at 8 am, arriving back in Portland at 1:30 pm. The CAT will be able to carry some 700 passengers and 280 cars. I’ve been to Nova Scotia 3 times in the past 5 years, traveling from Yarmouth in the south all the way to Cape Breton in the north. It’s one of my favorite places to be in Canada, combining stunning scenery with incredibly fresh seafood and live foot-stomping music. I’m happy to design an itinerary of my favorite lodgings, restaurants, and activities for anyone who wants to take advantage of the current rate of exchange, US$1 to CAN$1.30. 

 

Leave a Reply