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Italy, Turkey, Lake George, and Favorite All-Inclusive Resorts in our August Newsletter

In this month’s ActiveTravels newsletter, we describe our recent trip with the family to Istanbul and Cappadocia, an outfitter our clients love in Italy, some of our favorite all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean, a Quick Escape to my boyhood stomping ground, Bolton Landing, New York, on the shores of Lake George, and how Award Wallet can save all your airline mileage onto one nice app. 
 
Off to Ithaca to drop our son off at college. I’ll be back with a new entry on Tuesday. Enjoy this last glorious month of summer and Happy Travels!
 

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Be Active This Presidents’ Day Weekend

Looking out my 3rd-floor office window, it’s a winter wonderland from another fresh coating of snow, the 4th snowfall in the past two weeks. We haven’t seen this much snow in two years. So take advantage of this latest deluge to get outdoors and invigorated this weekend. Mass Audubon is hosting numerous events across the state this weekend and next week for February school vacation, including guided snowshoe treks at Broadmoor, Pleasant Valley, North Hill Marsh, and Broad Meadow Brook Wildlife Sanctuaries. Ski New Hampshire is reporting 2 to 4 feet of snow across ski areas this past week. Sunday River and Sugarloaf in Maine are experiencing record February snowfall, over 5 feet since the beginning of the month. Trapp Family Lodge, the premier cross-county skiing (and now craft beer drinking) venue in Stowe is offering a 20% off sale through today. Liftopia is offering discounts across the country this week, including 25% off lift tickets at Stowe and 25% off a 2-day ticket at Snowbird in Utah. So get out there and start making snow angels. 

I’ll be back next week with my favorite family adventures over February break. 
 
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Try Geocaching

Geocachers savor the opportunity to get lost in the woods, but never get too disoriented because they always carry a Garmin GPS system that will direct them to the exact spot they need to find. The sport is a modern-day treasure hunt where you locate objects in a film canister, coffee can, or other containers hidden by geocachers. After carefully camouflaging the prize under a tree or squeezed into a rock, the person hiding the cache sends the coordinates to the website, geocaching.com, and folks start their search. The sport originated outside of Portland, Oregon, in 2000 when a man posted that first cache on a website, but it has its roots in orienteering and letterboxing. For families, geocaching is a great way to go on a hike and find treasure. Inside every cache is some sort of trinket, from a marble to a toy car to a sticker. The best part about the sport is not merely checking off another cache, but finding sites that no guide book has ever described, spots locals have cherished for decades and are now happy to introduce to strangers. They include hidden waterfalls, caves with hieroglyphics, and lonely mountain peaks with no other people.

I’m off researching a story on beaches in New England. I’ll be back next Wednesday. Have a great weekend and keep active!
 

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Driving Cape Town’s Wine Route

We could have rented a car to visit the vineyards of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, an hour’s drive from Cape Town, but the thought of driving on the left-hand-side of the road while downing glasses of wine did not thrill me. It was a wise move to hire a driver, especially when we realized that the drive is exquisitely beautiful with vineyards rolling to the base of jagged mountain peaks, dotted with the distinctive white Cape Dutch style architecture. Our driver, Malcolm Frye, picked us up in his comfy VW Van and off we went to Stellenbosch. Malcolm delved into the complex and often tragic history of South Africa while stopping at four very different wineries he had selected. He was a wonderful companion for the day, full of anecdotes from a very full life in southern Africa (ask him about his military stint in Angola and about his son, a pilot for Cathay Pacific). I’d highly recommend him for drives to the Wine Region, Cape Point, Hermanus, and the Garden Route.

Our first stop, Meerlust, is a sixth-generation Dutch farm estate known for its award-winning Rubicon wine. Next up was the more commercial Spier Wine Farm, where we tasted a very good chenin blanc. The opulent Delaire Graff Estate is owned by the diamond dealer, Laurence Graff, and is now a Relais and Chateau property housing mega-sized portraits and sculptures by South African artist Lionel Smit and a diamond store that will make you weep with envy. Thankfully, the vista of the breathtaking mountain pass was free. My favorite winery, Delheim, was where we had lunch. Lost in the vineyards at the base of a mountain, Delheim was the antithesis of Delaire Graff, simple, authentic, one of the first wineries to open in Stellenbosch over 50 years ago. We dined on wild mushroom lasagna and lamb shank, so tender it fell off the bone, washed down with a wild fermented chenin blanc. 
 
Malcolm dropped us off at our lodging for the night, La Residence, located in the hillside outside of Franschhoek. If I die and go to heaven, I want it to look exactly like La Residence. This is as close to a bucolic paradise as I’ve found. Our room overlooked a pond where a black swan swam. Peacocks were found on the branches of a tree nestled on the shore. Beyond the pond were springboks running, and surrounding our spacious suite was a valley of tightly woven vineyards ringed by mountains. The town of Franschhoek was also a gem, lined with restaurants and boutique artisanal shops. We were there on a Saturday morning, when the local Farmer’s Market was in full swing. We made the mistake of having Malcolm pick us up after only one night in Franschhoek. Next time, I’ll book La Residence for at least two, if not three nights, to relax and savor the scenery and wines. 
 
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Stowe Mountain Lodge Continues to Evolve and Impress

One of the main reasons I gave Stowe top billing in this month’s Yankee Magazine cover story on New England’s top winter towns is due to the creation of Stowe Mountain Lodge. The most sybaritic ski-in/ski-out resort in New England, the 312-room Stowe Mountain Lodge has the feel of a ski lodge in Jackson Hole, especially when you enter the lobby with its towering two-story high ceiling. The resort uses indigenous wares everywhere you look, so there’s real Vermont birch twisting around the columns and Lake Champlain marble on stairs leading to the après-ski bar, Hourglass. They have been on a serious building spree since their inception, creating 36 holes of golf, a stylish spa with heated outdoor pool in winter that rewards you with views of the mountain you just conquered, and the Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center. 
 
Having just spent the weekend with the family at the resort, I was excited to see the latest changes. A skating rink has opened behind the property near a branch of the popular Burlington creperie, Skinny Pancake. Behind the skating rink, construction workers were hard at work atop a new building that when complete in March will feature a climbing wall and recreation center for kids, along with 19 new condominiums (all sold out). Next door is another new wooden building with large stone chimney in the center that will soon transform into a wine bar. On Saturday afternoon after a day of skiing, kids were making s’mores around fire pits outside as adults swigged their Switchback Ales at the Hourglass bar. The place was a buzz of excitement as a world class ski-in/ski-out resort should be. 
 
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A Wonderful Week at the Iberostar Grand Hotel Rose Hall

To celebrate our daughter’s graduation from high school in June, we spent a week at an all-inclusive property in Jamaica. We chose the Iberostar Grand Hotel Rose Hall, an adults-only property only a 20-minute drive from the international airport in Montego Bay. I’ve written extensively about the all-inclusive experience in the Caribbean and Mexico, having stayed at over 30 properties, but this is easily one of the finest. Rooms were spacious, with sunken tub, a fridge stocked with Red Stripe, and a large balcony where you could watch the magical sunset each evening over the expanse of beach and ocean. Connected to two other Iberostar resorts, the beach was long enough to stroll. Granted, we were there in the off-season, but there were more than enough chaise lounge chairs on the beach, with or without umbrellas. The ocean water was heavenly, just the right temperature, which was probably the reason we all got too much sun. All the restaurants surpassed my expectations, serving freshly caught red snapper, shrimp, and copious amounts of jerk chicken. Drinks were plentiful and there was waiter service on the beach, a nice plus (try the Jamaican Smile). We loved the entertainment crew, especially Hashtag and Renee, who were always there with a game to play or story to tell about Jamaica. But most of all I relaxed, reading two books on the beach. What a treat! 

 
I plan on relaxing with my extended family (18 in all) at the Silver Bay YMCA on Lake George the next 4 days. I’ll be back on July 13th. In the meantime, keep active.  
 
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Escape to Israel this Winter

Israel’s national airline, El Al, just announced a great deal this winter. Depart New York, Boston, Miami or LA from November 25-February 21 and they’ll offer a direct flight to Tel Aviv and 6 nights at any Dan Panorama property for as low as $1329 per person. ActiveTravels works with great ground operators in Israel who can help arrange transfers and guides to any part of the country, from a day trip to two of my favorite cities, Safed and Akko, to hiking Masada and floating in the Dead Sea. Jerusalem reaches an average high of 60 degrees in December, while Tel Aviv can often top 70 degrees. So it’s a still comfortable time of year to visit Israel. 

 

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