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My 5 Favorite Fall Adventures in North America, Canoeing the Boundary Waters, Ely, Minnesota

My preferred place to be in September is inside a canoe, paddling the tranquil rivers and lakes of the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota, Wabakimi Wilderness in western Ontario, the Adirondacks in upstate New York, and the Maine woods. Those nasty mosquitoes and black flies are gone, foliage color is already starting to appear, and moose are lining the shores in heat, more talkative than Bullwinkle. So grab a paddle and find your own placid retreat. It’s no surprise that paddlers get all dreamy-eyed over Minnesota’s northern frontier, the Boundary Waters, home to a whopping 1200 miles of canoeable waters through countless lakes, rivers, and ponds. You can go days without seeing another person, replaced instead by moose, whitetail deer, black bears, beavers, otters, and those laughing loons. Wilderness Outfitters has been taking people away from civilization since 1912, offering canoe rentals and maps for self-guided trips and leading organized trips.  

 
I’ll be in Iceland next week for the annual Society of American Travel Writers convention. I’m proud to be on the board of the SATW Foundation’s Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition. In the past 30 years, the SATW Foundation has handed out more than 2,100 awards and over $420,000 in recognition of outstanding travel journalism. If interested in submitting stories, books, or blogs for the 2015 competition, please contact me. 
 
I’ll be back on September 22nd with updates from Iceland. In the meantime, enjoy the glorious September weather and keep active. 
 

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Best Coastal Towns, My Latest Story for Yankee Magazine

Depending on your passion, be it art, adventure, dining on fresh seafood, or simply catching rays on your own spit of sand, I guarantee there’s a locale on the New England Coast that caters to your interest. Not surprisingly, the islands of Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and Block Island figure prominently in this round-up of Best Coastal Towns, along with the top two picks from my Top 25 Beach Towns cover story, Ogunquit and Provincetown. A bit off the radar are the towns of Madison, Connecticut, and Brewster, Massachusetts. Have a look and tell me if you agree.

 
Please tune in next week when AT travel consultant, Amy Perry Basseches, describes her recent trip to Sequoia, Yosemite, Sacramento, Portland, and Seattle. Have a great weekend! 
 
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Tobago Jazz Experience, April 18-26

As I shovel the 2 feet of snow out of my driveway this morning, my thoughts turn to Tobago. Best known as a beachcombing and birdwatching paradise, the island is also known for it music festivals. One of the best is the annual jazz festival in April, where Caribbean performers pair up with big name singers. Already confirmed for this April are Jill Scott, Jennifer Hudson, and Kool & the Gang. A full schedule should be available shortly. If you need recommendations on places to stay nearby, give us a call. 

 

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The Lowdown on Extra Virgin Olive Oil

With concerns over mislabeling and outright fraud, extra virgin olive oil isn’t looking so virginal these days. Even New York Times is getting in on the joke with a recent slide show suggesting that “Made in Italy” EVOO is actually made from Spanish, Portuguese, and Tunisian olives. So when I heard that Italian wine and olive oil expert, Bill Marsano, was going to be in Boston to talk about the controversy, I jumped at the opportunity to question him. Last Thursday, Marsano spoke at the Seaport Hotel’s spanking new Action Kitchen as part of the Flavor Your Life Campaign, which seeks to promote the benefits of cooking with EVOO. 

 
Yes, Marsano, said there are many blended extra virgin olive oils on the market that are not nearly as healthy as a singular farm or village hand pressing its own olives. He mentioned a fortified village in Tuscany, Volpaia, whose olive oil is high on his list, along with most olive oil coming out of the region of Puglia on the Italian boot. But he noted you don’t have to pay an exorbitant amount for genuine Italian EVOO. Marsano showed me a bottle of Belluci Premium, found at Costco, where on the back of the bottle is a QR code. Scan the code with a smart phone and you can trace each bottle back to its origin and the Italian olive grove it came from.
 
Marsano also gave us several important tips. Never buy pomace extra virgin olive oil, produced with the help of a large amount of chemicals. Also your olive oil has a shelf life of about 4 months once opened and always store in a shaded spot away from heat. You cannot detect rancid oil from smell. Rancid oil has a nutty taste. Good olive oil has a silky smooth texture with a bit of spice at the end. Hope this helps the next time you hit the grocery store. 
 
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My Favorite Pizza Joint in America

Deep dish pizza is eaten with knife and fork, but contrary to what many folks think, it is not a thick crust pizza. Dough is patted high up the side of a deep dish pizza pan, with ingredients placed in reverse order to a regular pizza. Mozzarella cheese comes first, followed by additional toppings like sausage, pepperoni, or mushrooms, all doused with chunks of fresh plum tomato sauce.  In Chicago, Lou Malnati’s has perfected the art of pizza making. The crust has just enough butter to make it flaky but not soggy. The sausage is a dense layer of meat. The chunky tomatoes in the sauce are both sweet and zesty.  Lou got his start in the business working with his dad in Chicago’s first deep dish pizzeria in the 1940s, before opening his restaurant in a northern suburb, Lincolnwood, in 1971. Getting a table at Lou Malnati’s can try your patience, so follow the advice of the wise Fran Leavitt, my mother-in-law, who happens to be a native Lincolnwooder. Call in advance and ask how long a wait, putting your name down on the list. Then order your pizza and salads on the phone, so when you finally do show up, 10 minutes prior to your approximate wait time, your pizza will already be cooking in the oven.
 

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Climbing the Via Ferrata at Palissades De Charlevoix

Just when I thought I had my fill of adventure in the Saguenay/Charlevoix region—biking, hiking, stand-up paddleboarding, sea kayaking, and whitewater rafting—I topped it all with this morning’s activity. Charlevoix is home to one of the few Via Ferratas in the world outside of the famous Dolomites. Using cables affixed to an 1187-foot rock face, we attached our carabiners and used iron rungs on the steep sections to clamber up the rock wall at Palissades De Charlevoix. Following our relaxed guide, Vincent, (me, not so relaxed), we slowly and carefully made it to the top of the steep cliff. We stopped to pick wild blueberries and to peer down at a sinuous creek below where we spotted a beaver swimming next to his oversized dam. The real excitement starts at the top when we crossed a suspension bridge made of wobbly planks high above the canyon floor. Then Vincent says to me, “now it’s time to rappel down.” I looked down the 230-foot rock ledge and panicked. But Vincent slowly got me to lean off the ledge and believe in the equipment. I descended, kicking off the smooth face of the wall, and quickly found myself at the bottom, heart racing but proud of my accomplishment. That’s one climb I won’t soon forget. 
 
To top it off, we went whalewatching on a zodiac that afternoon from Baie-Saint-Catherine with Croisières AML. Near the mouth of the Saguenay Fjord, the St. Lawrence feels vast here, like an ocean. We zipped out to the heart of the river on the speedy raft and soon were watching the second largest mammal in the world, the fin whale blowing its spout and surfacing the water with its long arching back. Suddenly we heard a huge splash and the naturalist got very excited pointing to a minke whale that was completely out of the water breaching. He noted that the whales breach to wash off all parasites and to communicate to the other whales. Or simply to perform for us. He would breach 3 or 4 times, flipping out of the water like a flying fish. We then cruised over to a colony of gray seals before making our way into the fjord to see a tall waterfalls called the Caribou Falls. At the corner of my eye, I caught a splash of white and soon we were following a pod of beluga whales, jumping in and out of the water like dolphins. That’s what I call a dream day. 
 
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Natchez to Celebrate its 300th Birthday in 2016

Head south on Highway 61 through the rolling green farmland of the Delta and you’ll find the zig-zag shaped trenches Union and Confederate troops dug during the Civil War’s bloody Siege of Vicksburg, now a National Military Park. Another hour of driving and you’ll reach that gem on the Mississippi River, Natchez. During its heyday prior to the Civil War, when cotton was king, Natchez had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the country. They built palatial estates that were largely spared during the Civil War due to its proximity to Vicksburg. The Union soldiers that survived that battle and made it to Natchez burned the cotton fields but left the homes intact. More than 150 of these structures still stand, including many that are still in private hands.

 
To celebrate its 300th birthday, Natchez is throwing a yearlong party in 2016. One of the best ways to see this queen of antebellum architecture is during the Spring Pilgrimage, held March 5 to April 5. Guides dressed in period costume bring visitors on morning and afternoon tours of these historic homes. Be sure to visit Longwood, a six-story octagonal-shaped house that was never finished due to the Civil War. Many of the original furnishings are on display including crates sent to the owner’s wife, Julia Nutt.  
 
If you spend the night at the Monmouth Plantation, you won’t have to dress in costume to feel like the regal owner of a southern plantation. Mint juleps are served in a frosty silver cup promptly at 6:30 in the Quitman Study. Then everyone retires to the dining room, an ornate parlor adorned with long chandeliers and portraits of General John Quitman, who called Monmouth home in the 1820s. The distinctly southern menu features crawfish chowder with just a hint of Tabasco, and lump crab cakes, also spiced, this time with a jalapeno hollandaise dip. Entrees include a mustard-crusted rack of lamb in a tangy tomato-based demi glace. The highlight of this sybaritic retreat, however, are the meticulously landscaped grounds, shaded by centuries-old oaks and their thick dress of Spanish moss, and bursting with the colorful azaleas that come to life in the spring. Monmouth is a peaceful oasis to whisk away an afternoon or two in the Old South with a good long book like Gone With the Wind.
 

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