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Newly Renovated Ten Acres Lodge Offers Affordable Lodging in Stowe
Perched on a quiet hillside just down the road from Trapp Family Lodge, Ten Acres Lodge always had a fabulous spot in Stowe. Now they have a passionate owner to match their stellar locale. Linda Hunter has quickly made a name for herself in town, opening a bistro that’s winning kudos from locals like Vermont PR maven, Emily Bradbury. Now Hunter has her sites set on the rooms, renovating tired interiors into stylish and comfortable getaways. She’s having a soft opening right now. Tell her I sent you.
Fitness Rooms Available at the TRYP New York City Hotel
My Favorite Hummus in Israel
All it takes is one dinner at Dallal in the Neve Tzedak section of Tel Aviv to understand the exceptional quality of food in Israel. Dine on grilled calamari, hot focaccia bread that’s used to scoop up the babaganoosh, and entrees of red snapper and osso bucco, all washed down with the country’s fabulous lemonade, spiced with fresh mint leaves. At Mehane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem, merchants shout out their wares, selling freshly baked challah, chocolate rugelach, dates, figs, pomegranates, the sweet sticky Middle Eastern snack, halvah, nuts, and a bevy of colorful spices. Yet, if you want to taste the best hummus in the country, a creamy concoction of mashed chick peas scooped out with warm pita, then follow the taxi drivers to Abu Hassan in Tel Aviv’s old section of Jaffa. Plop yourself down on one of the plastic chairs and the dishes of hummus soon arrive, some topped with fool, a blend of fava beans. To spice it up, ask for the hot chile sauce. This is the place I dream about when forced to eat falafel with hummus in Boston.
Favorite Fall Drives, Highway 385, Rapid City, South Dakota
The fall foliage road trip was designed with places like South Dakota in mind. Venture to Rapid City and you’ll have the chance to cruise with relatively little traffic up and down the pine forests and granite passes of the Black Hills. Highway 385 will lead you to Vanocker Canyon and Spearfish Canyon National Scenic Byway, home to waterfalls and golden aspens. Also in the Black Hills is the 68-mile Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway (a 4-hour drive) that winds through six rock tunnels, past towering pinnacles and over pine-clad peaks, only to arrive at the most famous sculpture in the country, Mount Rushmore. As if that wasn’t enough incentive, the annual fall round-up of bison takes place tomorrow, September 25th at nearby Custer State Park. Watch the cowboys and cowgirls drive the herd of some 1,300 buffalo, some of whom will be sold at auction in November.
Tanzania Plans to Build a Highway Through the Serengeti
Here are some words of wisdom to the current Tanzanian president, Jakaya Kikwete, who just announced plans to build a highway that will slice right through the southern part of the Serengeti. “Build it and they won’t come,” as in the hundreds of thousands of Europeans and American travelers who make the trek to Tanzania each year to go on safari. Slated to be built in 2012, the 260-mile highway will connect Arusha, near Mount Kilimanjaro, with Musoma on Lake Victoria. The idiotic move will not only disrupt one of the world’s great migrations of some 1.2 million wildebeests traveling north into Kenya’s Masai Mara, but will be an easy way in and out for poachers. Make the wise move, President Kikwete, and find an alternative route.
Adventures in Ecuador: Quito’s La Ronda Street
From Quito’s new international airport, it’s over an hour drive to the heart of the city (a $28 taxi fee). The Andean metropolis stands at an elevation over 9300 feet, ringed by volcanic ridges. It’s a sprawling city that fills up the valley, but once you reach its core, you’ll find impressive colonial squares and Spanish churches dating from the 1500s. We stayed on the oldest street in the city, La Ronda, that dates from Incan times in the late 1400s. It’s a narrow winding street lined with restaurants, cafes, and music clubs that once attracted the city’s noteworthy writers, poets, and musicians. Today, locals fill up the street on weekends to dine and listen to music. We stayed at a wonderful property smack dab in the middle of the street called La Casona de La Ronda. Rooms were spacious, designed with contemporary Ecuadorean art, overlooking an inner courtyard. Outside, La Ronda Street was a festive scene while inside this tranquil retreat welcomed us every time we flew back into Quito on our travels. 