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Bikers and Farmers Unite at the Farm to Fork Fondo

When former professional cyclist Tyler Wren wanted to create an event that combines his love of biking with farming and exquisite scenery, he was inspired by the Italian “fondos,” celebratory rides where locals and farmers bike first, feast afterwards. He pulled it off last year in Vermont to great success. In the summer of 2017, Wren is offering a full slate of Farm to Fork Fondos, including stops in the Hudson River Valley, Vermont, Finger Lakes, the Berkshires, Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and the Maine coast. These one-day rambles are geared to the public, not professional bikers. Wren creates loops of 8-10, 25-35, 45-50, and 75-100 miles based on your abilities, escorted and with police presence to cut off road traffic. Simply choose your ride and get ready to stop at local farms along the way for a feast of fresh produce. Most of the proceeds go to local charities. You can even sign up for dinners the night before where farmers talk about the satisfaction and challenges of their livelihood. But you better sign up soon because Outside Magazine just wrote about the Farm to Fork Fondo in the April issue. So I expect these rides to sell out quickly. 

 

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Quebec’s Winter Carnival

I just finished a story on winter carnivals in North America. One of the finest is in Quebec City, where for 17 days, the party never stops. More than one million people descend upon the fortified city to cheer on the competition in Le Grande Virée, a dogsled race that cruises through the heart of the historic Old City, or watch paddlers sprint across the turgid waters of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The French-flavored festivities continue with tours of the Ice Palace, a giant medieval castle constructed of pure crystalline water, parades, snow sculpture contests, inner tube sled rides, dancing to live music, and late night jaunts to heated tents to sample the potent drink called Caribou, made of whiskey, red wine, and maple syrup. One swig of this and you might be running naked through the snowfields.

While in Quebec City, spend a memorable night 30 minutes outside of town at North America’s only ice hotel, Hotel de Glace. 32 new rooms are created each year out of 12,000 tons of snow and 400 tons of ice, along with an Absolut ice bar, Jacuzzis, and a dance club. Bring those long johns. Temperature inside is a mere 27 degrees Fahrenheit.  
 

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Luxury Resort Openings in the Fall

Having just returned from Virtuoso Travel Week, Lisa will update you on the resorts she found most intriguing from her 386 meetings in our September newsletter. This includes one Phuket property that offers unlimited spa treatments. Also in our January newsletter, we always report on the hotels we’re most excited to see open or reopen. I’m sure the Ritz in Paris, closed since 2012, will lead that list now that it will finally reopen next spring. But I just wanted to keep you updated on a handful of upscale lodgings opening later this year that are already starting to garner excitement in the travel world. 
 
Leading the list is the new Aman resort, Amanera, in the Dominican Republic. Overlooking the north coast’s Playa Grande Beach, the 25 casitas are surrounded by 2,000 acres of virtually untouched jungle and a nearby mountain range. It will also be the first Aman Resort to feature a golf course, this one designed by Robert Trent Jones. Another opening creating a lot of buzz is Faena Miami, opening in November on a six-block span across mid-Miami Beach. Baz Luhrmann, director of Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby, has been tapped to the lead the design team. So this will be the place to be during Art Basel. Finally, another Ritz-Carlton Reserve resort, Mandapa, will open later this month on the island of Bali. The third in the brand’s ultra-exclusive collection, suites at this Ubud property start at 1,000 square feet and and keep growing to 2 and 3-bedroom villas with private pools overlooking the rice terraces and rainforest. 
 
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Raft or Kayak Vermont’s West River

Vermont’s best whitewater run can be a zoo during the two days a year (the end of April and September) when the Army Corp of Engineers release the waters of the Ball Mountain Dam. The rest of the year, it can get a little dry, but it’s still a scenic run though the Green Mountain with far less congestion. The river used to host national kayaking championship races. The upper reaches are runnable only by experienced paddlers with solid Class III skills, yet the stream widens and slows down as you head towards the Connecticut River, allowing novice kayakers to do their thing. Good swimming holes and fishing are found at various points all along the West, including Jamaica State Park, about 2.5 miles down the river from the dam. Zoar Outdoor offers trips on the West River for rafters. Cost ranges from $88 to $100. 

 
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Top 5 Paddling Spots, Boundary Waters, Ely, Minnesota

Maybe it’s the 1,000,000-plus acres of seemingly endless wilderness—a whopping 1200 miles of canoeable waters through countless lakes, rivers, and ponds—that gets paddlers all dreamy-eyed over Minnesota’s northern frontier, the Boundary Waters. 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. Fish for smallmouth bass as you canoe from Mudro to Crooked Lake in early June, or wait for fall foliage in late September and you can paddle when moose are in heat. They also offer canoes and maps for self-guided trips. 
 

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Memorable Spring Bike Rides, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Early Sunday morning and the only traffic on the 11-mile Crater Rim Trail was our little core of a dozen bikers. We rounded another bend and caught our first eye-widening view of Halema’uma’u Crater. Once home to a lake of lava in the 1920s, steam was now gushing forth over the large pit’s walls, permeating the air with the smell of sulfur. A trail of vapor shrouded the blackened basalt rock to give the lunarlike landscape an even more mysterious look. Halfway through our circular route, the harsh terrain was suddenly gone, replaced by a vivid green canopy of banana and tree ferns. A cool mist enveloped this tropical rain forest, polishing the long leaves with a layer of gloss and giving the chorus of birds something to sing about.  
 
Home to two of the most active volcanoes in the world, one would expect Hawaii’s southernmost island to be an angry land of deadened rock and rivers of red. Yet, I would soon realize that this ever-expanding island has a myriad of moods—the gentle rolling hills of Waimea, the inviting sand of the Kohala Coast, the almost impenetrable jungle-like interior of the Hamakua Coast, the enormity of two mountains that are nearly 14,000 feet, and yes, even a rain forest on the backside of a volcano.  
 
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Norway, ActiveTravels Group Trips, and More in our June/July Newsletter

With the low-cost carrier, Norwegian Air, expanding across North America, it should come as no surprise that Norway has experienced a surge in travelers these past two years. Who wouldn’t want to be whisked away to this stunning land of fjords, colorful and charming UNESCO World Heritage cities like Bergen, and a history that dates back to the time of Vikings? We recently went to an all-day seminar in Boston with a dozen representatives from across Norway and describe the trips that sound the most exciting in our summer newsletter. We’re also excited to announce a slate of group trips in 2019, including a cruise to Alaska with renowned travel writer, Fran Golden; a wine cruise to Bordeaux on AmaWaterways with Vinodivino, owners of 4 wine stores in the Boston region; and a Bike n’ Brew Weekend at Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont, with one ride led by avid biker Sam von Trapp. Have a look and, if interested in any of these trips, please contact ActiveTravels. 
 

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