Story and photos by Lynn DeBruin

The tiny flashlight was pointed downward as I deftly negotiated the dirt and pebble-strewn path toward the hot springs. But my eyes kept drifting high above the trees, at a mesmerizing sky ablaze with a million stars.

It was so dark – and yet so bright – on this moonless night that skinny-dipping at Strawberry Park Hot Springs wasn’t even a worry. It simply was a matter of where to enter the 103-degree waters and which boulder to drape my clothes over for later retrieval.

Thank goodness I wore a white sweater during the winding, 25-minute drive from the hotel through the pine-and-aspen forest above the ski resort. It’d serve as a distant focal point – my foggy lighthouse so to speak – to maintain one’s bearings in the natural pools while my body melted under a nighttime canvas painted with the Big Dipper, Milky Way and no less than six shooting stars.

There are many beautiful places in the world, but few rank as perfect as this idyllic spot high in the northern Rockies, where clothing optional and no children allowed after dark is part of the allure.

Then again, to many, Steamboat Springs already is paradise.

There is the ski resort, with its hundreds of ski-in/ski-out slope-side rooms, its iconic director of skiing, former Olympian Billy Kidd, and of course the famous champagne powder that often falls by the foot on the 165 trails of Mt. Werner.

But unlike Vail, Copper Mountain or Keystone to the south, there also is a real town, 10 minutes away from the slopes, with a historic downtown, rustic as well as fine dining, and even an old-fashioned candy store where everything from Pez dispensers to sugar straws and suckers fill the shelves.

“It’s a town first and foremost,” said former Austin resident Jonathan Hieb, co-owner of Sweet Pea Café on the Yampa River in downtown Steamboat Springs. He called the town, with its 10,000 or so permanent residents, a small community, where everyone has everyone else’s back.

“It’s like-minded people – outdoorsy, healthy, who love good food – and we just happen to have this amazing hill to ski on as an added bonus.”

Hieb’s café used to be a former roadside fruit stand that has been converted to a market and health-conscious restaurant that serves up as much local produce as possible.

“This has been a vision of mine for seven years,” said Hieb, who once franchised Chili’s restaurants in Austin and hated every minute of it. He finally could afford to buy the property when the economy slowed, prices dropped and developers with big plans called wanting to sell. Now he has a menu that features a beet salad, with the towel-rubbed veggies marinated overnight in olive oil, orange juice, rock salt and a touch of truffle oil. “It was probably the wrong time to buy, but I just knew the idea I had was going to work,” he said. “I believed in it.”

The Yampa River is a mecca for tubers, kayakers and fishermen. This photo is taken from the back patio of Café Sweet Pea.

Another former Texan, Donna Downing, calls her new home simply paradise. “You spend so much time in the Yampa Valley and then it’s got you, that old Yampa Valley curse,” she said during one of the town’s many festivals. “It has it all. And the people are wonderful.”

Along the river, new and old sit side by side as kayakers and tubers in all shapes and forms float by.

Set on the river, Sun Pies offers cold beers and fried oysters, and a place for the river runners to crawl up the banks and dry off.

Long-timer Kidd, now 66 and 46 years removed from his silver-medal run at the Innsbruck Olympics. reminded me four months earlier of Steamboat’s unofficial motto during one of his free mountaintop ski clinics. “Come for the powder; stay for the summer,” he boasted. He did many decades ago.

So did Hieb, who sold his BMW seven years ago, bought an old, black truck, tossed in his dog and skis and headed toward Jackson Hole, only to pull into Steamboat Springs at 3 a.m. to rest. “I woke up and there was about a foot of fresh snow. I didn’t even know you could ski here,” he said. He never did make it to Wyoming.

Living it up

While the local rugby tournament is called the Cowpie Classic and one can still find horse and human shampoo next to each other in the Safeway, Steamboat Springs isn’t without some hip hot spots. On a recent Friday night, the Ghost Ranch Bar was pulsating to the sounds of Filthy Children, a funky, seven-member Indie brass band with sexy vocals from Jenny Anderson.

Even the crowd was eclectic, with three cowboys in Wranglers having wandered in after a steak dinner and cattle auction. They stood near a young man with an expensive fitted leather jacket and silky red shirt. The rest of the dance floor was littered with dozens of others in shorts and T-shirts. Instead of a cab or shuttle back to the hotel, Ghost Ranch had its own School of Rock-like black van for delivering guests safely home.

Harwig’s Grill offers a wide range of selections from pheasant to ostrich, with a must-see wine cellar below.

Two blocks away, Harwig’s-L’Apogee offered a fancy dining experience, albeit in a relaxed atmosphere. I chose the chevre leek ravioli appetizer with arugula and a pear vinaigrette balsamic glaze, followed by the pheasant breast with summer squash, haricot verts and a warm, cherry vinaigrette.

But there were plenty of other tempting choices, from the lamb sliders and the grilled Turkish-styled octopus to the ostrich entrée – all accompanied by warm asiago cheese bread.

Tip: Before leaving check out the decadent deserts, take a tour of the wine cellar, with its private dining and cork roof, and view the creations displayed on the walls upstairs and down each week by a different local artist.

Tee it up

Haymaker Golf Club might not look like much as you drive by on State Route 40. But the wide undulating fairways are kept in great condition, with trouble to be found in the thigh-high native grass and water hazards. Of course, the west-facing runs of Mt. Werner serve as a fine backdrop.

Rollingstone Ranch offers even more of a challenge. The Sheraton’s resort course winds along the flanks of Mt. Werner, with the scenic Fish Creek flowing through six of the holes and two small lakes placed strategically on Nos. 8 and 9.

Also nearby is Steamboat Golf Club, a 9-hole gem that borders the Yampa River, as well as Catamount, the latter of which you’ll need to know somebody to get on the private Tom Weiskopf design that features a 530-acre lake.

Fishing

Steamboat Lake is only about 20 miles north as the crow flies from downtown, but it takes about 45 minutes to reach by car as it winds along the Elk River, through ranch country and past fields of blue lupine and yellow mule’s ears wildflowers. When the rainbow trout are biting, be ready.

B.G. Brooks hauls in a rainbow trout while fishing from a small motorboat on Steamboat Lake. Earlier that day he’d catch and release a 7-pound cutbow trout.

The novice fisherman that I am, I managed to haul in a 4-pounder one early fall morning. That same day a former colleague scored a trophy fish – an estimated 7 pound cutbow – though he was so worried about getting it back in the water for someone else to enjoy I never got an exact measurement.

Other friends say the Yampa River is good for brown trout and rainbow, while Hahn’s Peak Lake and Pearl Lake (lure only) also are great for catching fresh-water fish.

Lodging

There’s nothing fancy about Steamboat Lake, or its accommodations.

Steamboat Lake Outfitters offer cheap, clean, no frills bunk rooms a few miles away for $89.

B.G. and Patti Brooks relax by campfire outside their small rented cabin near the Steamboat Lake Marina.

Then there’s the tiny cabins by the marina that come equipped with two bunk beds, electric heat, a tiny refrigerator/freezer and outdoor fire pit perfect for grilling fish, warming up turkey stew or toasting marshmallows before easing back in a folding chair to soak in the night sky.

Restrooms/showers are in a nearby building, close enough not to worry about wildlife and with hand-dryers for those days when one’s cameras inexplicably go for a swim.

Hot springs

Strawberry Park is open year round, and each season offers a different experience. There’s nothing like soaking in 103-degree mineral water while champagne powder is falling and mist is rising off the water. In the fall, the surrounding aspen trees offer another unforgettable experience.

Strawberry Park Hot Springs is set amid beautiful aspens, with plenty of room to relax in the natural mineral pools.

In spring and summer, the drive up the windy, washboard (the last two miles) road is less harrowing, and it’s a lot easier to negotiate the steps down to the springs.

What2Bring: A small flashlight will help you find your way in the dark so you don’t end up in the river, or a campground. But be sure not to flash it over the water as guests will heckle unmercifully at the invasion of their privacy. Water socks are a good idea as is an over-the-wrist car key holder, plastic drinking bottles (the signs claim no alcohol or glass), towels, and cash (entry is $10 for adults and they don’t accept credit cards).

Check it out: Massage and Watsu therapists are available from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Prices range from $50 for a half-hour massage to $180 for two hours combining both therapies.

Stay2Play: Rustic cabins are available for rent for $60 a night. The simple, single-room log cabins come with one double futon, and feature gas lighting, heat and gas grill. Guests need to supply their own bedding material, food (in a cooler), flashlights, swimsuits and towels. Two-story rustic cabins are a little more spacious and offer gas fireplaces, with exclusive access to a central bathhouse with hot showers and flush toilets. Cost: $70 for two per night. Extra person: $20 adult, $10 child.

Caboose: The most popular way to go is to rent a renovated train caboose, complete with fireplace, bathroom and shower, full-size futon, linens and stocked kitchenette. Cost: $110 for two per night.

Other choices in Steamboat Springs can be found at Steamboat.com.

Sailing

Visitors can choose between Stagecoach or Steamboat Lakes for their trips, and go for an hour, for a sunset cruise or a full day. Special requests also can be made for larger parties or multiple day use.

A sculler’s oars make cat eyes in a small lake just south of Steamboat Springs.

For more information, contact Steamboat central reservations at 1-877-783-2628.

Fall foliage

Steamboat is known for its champagne powder and perfect summers, but fall is also a great time to visit as well. It is less crowded, the fish are still biting and there’s great weather for hiking, fishing, golfing or biking. There’s also some great drives for the leaf peepers.

Fall is a perfect time to visit Steamboat Lake, where aspens flash their golden hue in the rustic countryside.

1. Rabbit Ears Pass gets its name from the granite outcroppings that are visible on a mountain in the Park Range. Though the area gets a considerable amount of snow in winter, it is ablaze with wildflowers in spring and offers great fall views, especially on the east side as it approaches Muddy Pass Lake.

2. Steamboat Lake. The drive along County Road 129 cuts through open meadows, and follows the Elk River past majestic Hahn’s Peak to the small lake, just 20 miles (as the crow flies) south of the Wyoming border.

3. Flat Tops Trail. The 82-mile scenic byway tour from Meeker to Yampa (south and west of Steamboat Springs) traverses the scenic upper White River valley and crosses Ripple Creek and Dunckley passes. Almost the entire drive is lined with aspens and there are many scenic lookouts to pull off, making it one of the best for taking in Colorado’s fall colors.

Be warned. The only downside to Steamboat is a problem plaguing much of the Colorado Rockies. Beetle kill. The Lodgepole Pines have been devastated, with as many as 90 percent of the mature trees infested and dying. Park officials estimate they cut down 10,000 dead trees near Steamboat and Hahn’s Lake. Younger trees and other species, however, are unaffected so there’s still plenty of green to see.
For more information on everything about the parks, visit http://parks.state.co.us/Parks/SteamboatLake/Pages/SteamboatLakeHome.aspx.

Story and photos by Lynn DeBruin

After more than a week on the road, I quickly realize the most profound statements during my trip have come from a barely-20 year-old busboy standing on the water’s edge at the Sunnyside Lodge.

“Tahoe will suck you in,” he said emphatically, recalling how his father came for one day and stayed 30 years. “And,” he playfully added, “you will get dirty.”

He was talking about the miles of biking and hiking trails, the mountaineering, fishing and kayaking, not to mention downhill and cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in the winter. Indeed, the Tahoe area is a gold mine for outdoor enthusiasts.

Job’s Peak serves as a spectacular backdrop on the Lakes Course at Genoa Lakes.

And that’s not counting the 144 holes of golf I played in six days in the High Sierras, where snow-capped peaks, ponderosa-lined fairways and even the occasional wild turkey had me mesmerized.

Along the way, I took a step back in history as I drove up Donner Pass and through Truckee – a former lumber/ice-harvesting railroad stop that now boasts world-class food, digs and an entrepreneurial spirit.

Better yet, while in search of gas, I’d stumble upon my favorite area of all, the tiny town of Graeagle (pronounced gray•eagle) just an hour from Reno. After visiting the town’s website (www.graeagle.com) I learned why they left the “Y” out and after exploring the town, there’s little question why I couldn’t resist the resort retirement community dubbed the hidden gem of the Sierras.

Ex-Marine Tracey Corgan began sporting a Mohawk long before he moved to the Mohawk Valley. But the Elko, Nev. native calls Graeagle home. “The whole town is run by women,” he says. “It is a good thing. They make very good decisions.”

The people were as warm as this sun-splashed Sunday, with Stars and Stripes decorating every red-painted building in town as well as the scarf Marcie Sheehy had draped around her neck.

“We’re very proud of our little town,” said Sheehy, a volunteer who helped make the Taste of Mohawk a huge success that day, with red wine washing down Mediterranean pizza, spinach-artichoke-and-asiago bruschetta, pulled pork sliders and assorted other goodies.

I had been scheduled to fly home that afternoon, but decided the town with no stoplight or crime was worth a closer look.

What I’d find were people like Ken McMaster, who owns The Gold Rush jewelry shop with wife, Debbie. I had met Ken playing golf a few days earlier at Whitehawk Ranch just a few miles away, but now I was on his turf, studying the works of 124 different artists in his little gallery. Like me stumbling onto Graeagle, he had stumbled into the jewelry business while working his grandfather’s gold-mining claim in Northern California.

“I was showing people at a nearby resort the gold we had found and they said, ‘Those two match. Can you make earrings?’” he recalled. Before he knew it, he and his wife were taking jewelry-making classes. Now his signature item is teardrop-shaped earrings in sterling silver, with placer gold nuggets inlaid in the lower half.

Like his shop, he’d prove a wealth of information rivaling any tourist bureau. He told me about the Western Pacific railroad museum in nearby Portola, where one can even pay to be conductor for a day. And there was Plumas-Eureka State Park in Johnsville, where miners in the late 1800s eager for some winter fun strapped on wooden planks while riding an ore cart up the mountain – thus creating what some believe to be the first-ever ski lift in America. And of course, there was Gold Lake and the Lakes Basin just seven miles to the south, where crystal-clear blue lakes pop up seemingly around every bend in the road amid pines dressed up in bright green moss. Not to be forgotten is the legend of Snowshoe Thompson, the father of California skiing who delivered mail to the High Sierras on skis from 1856 to 1876,

Graeagle itself began as a lumber mill town, with the present-day red houses having been sawn in half so they could be transported on railway flatcars and wagons to the site. The California Fruit Exchange eventually took over the facilities to make boxes to transport the fresh produce back east.

When modernization shut down the mills, Harvey West bought the entire property, and his family preserved the town and its historic charm. Today it is a haven for day-trippers from Reno and the Sacramento Valley, not to mention second-home owners and retirees.

The drive down Route 49 through the Lakes Basin region south of Graeagle is made even more picture-perfect with the moss-covered pines that line both sides of the road.

Graeagle’s elevation (4,460 ft) ensures the snow melts off the roads pretty quickly in winter. And while summer can be a short season, it provides a perfect home base for fisherman, campers and bike enthusiasts.

“It’s undeveloped, just like it used to be,” said Kim Salisbury, owner of a boutique shop called the Briar Patch. She spoke of old-fashioned fireworks displays, Sunday parades and community events that bring everyone together.

As I walked across the two-lane road, drawn to more buildings fronting an open meadow where horses grazed, I’d meet Zoe LeBarron Wolf, who incorporated a cruise tour agency into her high-end consignment shop.

“We’re having a lot of fun,” said Wolf, who recently married her high school sweetheart after nearly five decades apart. She was selling everything from a never-used wedding gown to English china and Oleg Cassini dresses, and reveling in her renewed romance.

Chef Patrick Kenny is a Culinary Institute of America graduate who left the Tahoe area to open Victoria Rosa restaurant in Cromberg, Calif., on Route 89. His first summer he brought in a friend whose Italian grandmother’s old-world recipes were a hit. When the economy went south, he shifted more to pizzas, with everything done from scratch. His minestrone is made almost completely from his own vegetable garden.

Down the street, Jennifer Armstrong was testing her new Fisher road bike, while Graeagle bike shop manager Will Norton gushed about the mountain bike mecca that routinely is written up in Decline magazine. It only figures to get better as an effort is under way to cover the area with trails that link Graeagle to Calpine, past epic mountains, fields of lupine and rushing rivers in the heart of the Mohawk Valley.

On this day, I’d try to take in as much as I could, even stopping at a Frostee ice cream parlor to charge my camera batteries for the trek back to Tahoe. But the crisp, clean air, stunning scenery and serenity had me vowing to return someday soon – complete with a pair of teardrop gold-and-silver earrings and shoes made to endure a little dirt.

Truckee

A  room at the Cedar Sport Hotel.

The rumbling railroad is a reminder of what put this town on the map nearly 150 years ago. But step inside one of its hip restaurants or chic lodges, and it’s hard to believe you’re not in San Francisco. In the past 10 years, acclaimed Bay Area and Tahoe chefs have made this once drive-thru destination a second home.

Dragonfly chef Billy McCullough brings an Asian-Fusion flare to this upstairs retreat on Donner Pass Road, with items ranging from Togarashi spiced calamari to a grilled prawn noodle bowl sure to knock your socks off.

At Moody’s, award-winning executive chef Mark Estee combines the finest local farmers, ranchers and fish mongers have to offer. But Moody’s is more than a place to savor Ahi 4 Ways, roasted organic beets or the specialty Big Ass Pork Platter. Some of the country’s most influential jazz acts have stepped on stage, while artists from Paul McCartney on down have made the lounge a stop on their way across Northern California and the Sierra Nevadas.

The Drunken Monkey is another place to savor specialty sushi to sake, with gomoku noodles, tempura-battered calamari and a rich and creamy almond tofu cheesecake all tempting the taste buds.

“Tahoe was where everybody was going, but in the last 10 years, Truckee has become a destination unto itself,” said Lynn Saunders, Truckee-Donner Chamber CEO.  “It has that authentic mountain-town charm… a historic downtown that’s charming and quaint, fine dining and gorgeous scenery all around.”

While some artists are struggling to stay afloat in a down economy (forming co-ops to display their wares along the shops in the Brickelltown region), other merchants are reinventing themselves. Jessica Solberg recently combined her Riverstone home store with Kathleen McLennen’s Painted Cottage, a high-end consignment shop – displaying pewter wedding gifts next to a mannequin adorned with a Christian Dior coat and Gucci bag.

“It’s thinking outside the box,” said McLennen. “It works. We’ve flourished when others have faded.”

Indeed, a few dozen Truckee shops have closed in the past three years, but Saunders reiterated one merchant’s refrain. “One thing you can say about Truckee is not only is it a tight-knit community, but we’re strong,” Saunders said. “We’re resilient. You kind of have to be to live in this environment with the winters we have and all. We’re survivors, absolutely.”

If You Go

Where2Stay

The Cedar Sport Hotel
10918 Brockway Road
Truckee, CA 96161
Tel: 530.582.5655
www.cedarhousesporthotel.com

Just minutes from downtown Truckee, it fuses innovative architecture with the best of contemporary design, creating 42 rooms and suites in a hip European style. The merlot and camel color scheme is relaxing, as is the luxurious European bedding system with individual down comforters.
Rates range from $150 to $330.

The Ritz Carlton Highlands north of Lake Tahoe may have opened in a difficult economy, but it’s still the ultimate in relaxation, with its leather furniture, gas fireplaces, balconies and mid-mountain setting.

The Ritz Carlton
13031 Ritz Carlton Highlands Ct
Truckee, CA
Tel: 530.562.8900
www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/LakeTahoe/Default.htm

This is the ultimate in relaxation with its setting mid-mountain at the Northstar-at-Tahoe ski resort and just minutes from the beaches of North Lake Tahoe. The 170-room hotel has ski-in/ski-out accommodations, a premier spa and a two-night golf package (starting at $449 per night) that includes rounds at both Old Greenwood and Gray’s Crossing.

Sunnyside Lodge
1850 W Lake Blvd
Tahoe City, CA 96146
Tel: 530.583.7200
www.sunnysidetahoe.com

There’s a reason this lakeside resort in Tahoe City bears this name, what with its roof-top sun deck and sun-splashed patio-bar just steps from the clear blue waters of Lake Tahoe.

With a little haggling, I was offered a two-night stay for $300, including $60 food/beverage credit, full breakfast, afternoon snack and half-bottle of sparkling wine – with a balcony and partial lake view.

Lake Tahoe Vacation Rentals – Find the perfect rental on TripAdvisor.

Where2Eat

Dragonfly
10118 Donner Pass Road
Truckee, CA 96161-0353
Tel: 530.587.0557
www.dragonflycuisine.com

Drunken Monkey Sushi
11253 Brockway road
Truckee, CA 96161
Tel: 530.582.9755
www.drunkenmonkeysushi.com

Moody’s
10007 Bridge Street
Truckee, CA 96161-0273
Tel: 530.587.8688
www.moodysbistro.com

What2Do

Scenic Drive
The roads around Lake Tahoe can get crowded, especially in summer with so much construction. But the drive from Graeagle to Truckee is serene and postcard perfect.

A dog goes for an early-summer swim on Salmon Lake, which was covered with ice just a day or so earlier.

South of Graeagle take the Gold Lake Highway, which straddles the Pacific Crest Trail and cuts through the Lakes Basin Recreational Area, with more than 30 alpine lakes and streams in a 10-mile radius. Down the highway, a carpet of green moss grows skyward on the stately pines, leaving me scrambling out of snow banks to take in the intense colors.

I stopped at Gold Lake, then Goose Lake and finally Salmon Lake, where a man was treating his dog to a swim now that the ice has finally melted.

The only thing prettier is seeing a colt working out his fresh legs in the late afternoon sun near Sierraville.

Lagoon and Spa
Squaw Valley Ski Resort looks deserted in the summer, but ride a cable car to the 8,200-foot summit and indulge in the lagoon and spa. The free-form lagoon features 25-yard lap lanes and two islands landscaped with waterfalls and native boulders. Cable car ride and swim passes are $32.
www.squaw.com/swimming-lagoon-and-spa

Unwind on the water

Lake Tahoe is best known for its beautiful clear water, which is 99 percent pure.

One can sail, water-ski or jet-ski on the lake, but to combine the best of a workout and relaxation, try renting a kayak. On a quiet Monday, I paddled from Homewood High and Dry Marina (Tel: 530.583.7417) on the west shore until I could see Heavenly Ski Resort on the south shore. In between, the crystal-clear water seemed to change color four times, from teal to forest green then aquamarine and finally cobalt blue.

Gambling abounds
Reno, Carson City and Stateline, Nev., all offer plenty of casino action, as do Crystal Bay and Incline Village on Tahoe’s north shore.

GOLF
There are 18 courses on the High Sierra trail, from Reno/Sparks in the northeast, Edgewood Tahoe to the south and Plumas Pines resort to the north in Graeagle, Calif.

Edgewood gets the most publicity because it serves as host to the American Century Classic with its celebrity players and Party by the Lake as dozens of boats dock alongside the famed 17th hole.

On the south shore of Lake Tahoe, it rates a 10 in beauty, with mountain backdrops, lake views and tree-lined fairways. But don’t forget lunch. Order the freshly seared ahi tacos from Brooks Bar and Deck, and stop for a banana chocolate malt at the turn, a decadent dessert-drink that will power you through the back nine.
www.edgewoodtahoe.com

The 16th green at Coyote Moon in the right foreground gives way to a view of the 17th fairway and green, across the pond. The 17th hole rates as the second-hardest hole on the course. If the length doesn’t take your breath away on this 472-yard par 4, the spectacular mountain scenery will.

Coyote Moon rates as one of the finest mountain courses in the country. It sits on 250 acres, amid towering pines, boulder outcroppings, and the beautiful Trout Creek in Truckee, Calif. – just 15 minutes from the north shore of Lake Tahoe. Just be prepared for any condition – even through the course of one round. On this late-June day, it was barely into the 50s when we teed off, with cool rain giving way to sunshine by the back nine. Two days earlier it was 71 and sunny and five days before that it snowed a foot.
www.coyotemoongolf.com

Genoa Lakes Golf Club is south of Carson City, with breath-taking reflections of 10,633-foot Job’s Peak on its Lakes Course. Lush wetlands and the winding Carson River bring water into play on 14 holes of this links-style layout.
www.genoalakes.com/golf

Whitehawk Ranch Golf Club may be one of the best courses you’ve never heard of. About an hour north of Truckee, on CA-89 North, the 6,983-yard layout is sculpted into the Mohawk Valley, cutting through pine, cedar, fir and aspen, and open meadows sprouting native grasses and colorful wildflowers. Pro Van Batchelder certainly fits into the countryside, with his cream-colored Stetson and wide-wale brown corduroys.
www.golfwhitehawk.com

Other courses worth noting in the area include Old Greenwood, Timilick Tahoe, Incline Village, and Plumas Pines. For information on all of the courses, go to www.GolfTheHighSierra.com or call 877-332-4465.

Cycling
Lake Tahoe and the surrounding area are a mecca for cyclists and mountain bikers from spring to early fall. Two events that draw thousands of participants are the most beautiful and most popular rides in the country.

The first bills itself as America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride and is held every year on the first Sunday in June. The course offers several distances, the longest, a 100 mile-century that takes the rider around the perimeter of Lake Tahoe (72 miles) and includes mountain climbs along the way between 800 and 1,300 vertical feet, with a 28-mile roundtrip spur to Truckee. The climb up Spooner Mountain is the longest at about 8 miles.
www.bikethewest.com/AMBBR.html

The second is the Downieville Classic, held every July, and is the longest and most demanding downhill mountain bike race in the nation, dropping more than 5,000 vertical feet in 17 miles from Packer Saddle to Downieville, a California town that derives its revenue from fishing, gold mining and mountain biking. After a record snowfall, officials this year are warning competitors to be wary of fast-moving water crossings and snowdrifts. Volunteers hope to eventually make the area the best for riding in California. For the less daring, there are plenty of milder trails, from Graeagle to the shores of Lake Tahoe.
www.downievilleclassic.com

By Hope S. Philbrick

If you fight traffic as part of your daily commute, it may be difficult to imagine that a driving vacation could be stress-free, relaxing, and, yes, even fun. But New Mexico offers all that with its spectacular vistas, spacious roads and natural vibe.

“New Mexico is full of open space,” says Steve Lewis, public relations for the Santa Fe Convention & Visitors Bureau. “We’re a big state without too many people.”

In fact, the population of just under two million people share 121,599 square miles—an average of more than half a square mile per person. (Compare that to  New York where each person gets only 0.0024 square mile.) On the road, space offers an unobstructed line of sight to the horizon that facilitates the drive – in New Mexico expect to merge, pass, elude tailgaters and even pull over to snap photos without any hassle.

Open roads are just one reason to visit the nation’s fifth-largest state (after Alaska, Texas, California and Montana). Distinctive art and architecture, food products and cuisine, history and cultural traditions, shops and spas, natural settings and climates from desert to alpine are big attractions that captivate all senses. An intoxicating scent of roasting chiles lingers in the dry air. Mineral hot spring pools beckon to soothe exhausted muscles. Spicy salsas tantalize taste buds. At several festivals and events, Native American dancers twirl in festive costume to traditional rhythms.

Bike riding with Sandia Mountains in the background. Credit: ©www.itsatrip.org

Whether your goal is to take photographs, relax at a spa, learn about Native American culture, savor Southwestern flavors, shop for turquoise jewelry and black pottery, experience hot air ballooning or llama trekking, or just break away from routine, there’s no shortage of entertainment options.

Whatever your itinerary, getting from Point A to Point B is no mere chore. As if painted, roadside scenes boast a range of hues, from dusty peach to burnt burgundy, sage to lime to pine, sand to charcoal, lavender to cobalt. Mesas, buttes, valleys, canyons, gorges and rock formations beg to be photographed, explored.

Located in the central and north central regions of the state, the cities of Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos offer convenient access to several of New Mexico’s Scenic Byways. Whether you choose just one city as a base or plan a route that incorporates more than one of these worthy destinations, buckle up and enjoy the drive.

Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Musuem. Credit: ©www.itsatrip.org

Albuquerque

If you’ll fly into New Mexico, odds are your journey will begin in the mile-high city of Albuquerque. Serving as a hub for Southwest Airlines, the Albuquerque International Sunport welcomes more than six million travelers each year. The airport is simple to navigate, offers complimentary Wi-Fi, and boasts one of the most well-organized and convenient car rental service centers I’ve yet to encounter. I waited less than five minutes before hopping onto a free shuttle outside baggage claim to the centralized service center that houses eight different car rental companies. After completing the paperwork for my reservation, the service agent informed me that it’s illegal to use a cell phone while driving in New Mexico and suggested I avoid speeding (especially on Indian Reservation property) in order to avoid a ticket, then handed me a set of keys and a map. The whole process from stepping off the plane to pulling out of the airport took less than a half hour.

While it is one of the nation’s oldest cities, Albuquerque is today a vibrant, dynamic city where people live, work and play.

Brick walkways and adobe architecture in Albuquerque’s Historic Old Town. Credit: ©www.itsatrip.org

A Native American dancer at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque. Credit: Hope S. Philbrick

New Mexico’s largest city offers much to explore. Old Town Plaza, the city’s most historic neighborhood, houses craft galleries, museums and restaurants and is frequently a site of festivals. The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center is not only the best place to learn about New Mexico’s 19 Native American Pueblos, it’s also a great place to eat with an on-site restaurant serving Native American and Southwestern cuisine.

The Nob Hill neighborhood, with its hip boutiques, casual restaurants and live music venues, is a locals’ favorite. Five different museums within walking distance of Old Town Plaza showcase art, history, science and culture. Restaurants, wineries and breweries throughout the city offer a range of taste experiences to help educate your palate. With more than 300 days of sunshine annually and very low humidity, Albuquerque is a haven for outdoor adventures such as hiking, biking or riding horseback through the foothills or along mountain ridges.

Petroglyph National Monument near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Credit: Hope S. Philbrick

Several memorable day trips are located within an hour or so of Albuquerque. To the west, climb among ancient lava flows and see some of the 24,000 centuries-old native carvings on the rocks at the Petroglyph National Monument. Almost as amazing as the rock carvings themselves is the degree to which this park provides ready access to them—truly, even if you can’t or don’t want to scale up the rocky trail there’s much to see.

Sandia Peak Tram. Credit:©www.itsatrip.org

To the north, drive part of the Jémez Mountain Scenic Trail to Coronado National Monument to view the Kuaua Pueblo ruins alongside the picturesque Rio Grande (the nation’s fourth-longest river). To the east, ride the world’s longest single-span aerial tramway up the rugged Sandia Mountains in the Cibola National Forest. The 2.7-mile ride offers heart-pounding thrills above dramatic views of otherwise-inaccessible terrain.

Between Albuquerque and Santa Fe lies The Turquoise Trail National Scenic Byway. The 65-mile route can be completed in about two to four hours, depending on how often and how long you stop to explore curiosities. (If driven as a round trip, allow four to eight hours.) The Turquoise Trail begins in the Cibola National Forest, heads north through Sandia Crest, winds through the quaint towns of Golden, Madrid, and Cerrillos and then ends in the San Marcos/Lone Butte Area. In addition to road signs and architecture that carries a distinctive “Old West” charm, the route boasts amazing views, former mining towns, hiking and biking trails, golf and skiing (season permitting), museums, horseback riding, and an array of art galleries and boutiques. Encompassing portions of historic Route 66, makes this drive feel like you’re connecting with legends.

Santa Fe

Creativity hangs in the Santa Fe air, a favorite city of artists, art collectors, discerning foodies, vacationers and retirees.

There’s much to see and do in Santa Fe, which celebrates its 400th Anniversary in 2010. Shopping for artwork tops the To-Do lists of most visitors to the City Different (Santa Fe’s popular nickname), which is home to over 200 art retail outlets and host of a series of art markets throughout the year. Canyon Road is lined with high-end art galleries that showcase paintings, sculpture, pottery, textiles, leather and more. The downtown Plaza’s shops and two shopping arcades deal primarily in jewelry, native crafts and clothing. Museums near the Plaza include the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, New Mexico History Museum and Museum of Contemporary Native Arts.

The Railyard District, Santa Fe’s newest art district and community gathering spot, is home to SITE Santa Fe Contemporary Arts Museum, the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market, a park and more. Museum Hill boasts the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, The Museum of International Folk Art and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. Artistry continues onto the plates of Santa Fe, as talented chefs deliver abundant culinary options.

Bandelier National Monument overlook. Credit: Hope S. Philbrick

About 45 miles outside of Santa Fe is Bandelier National Monument. Allow at least an hour each way for this not-to-miss day trip (more time if you favor frequent stops). Named for the anthropologist and historian who declared the place “the grandest thing I ever saw,” Bandelier National Monument offers a glimpse at ancestral Pueblo life via ruins, cliff dwellings and Talus houses. The 33,750-acre park offers numerous breathtaking scenic views and 70 miles of hiking trails.

Cliff dwellings in Bandelier National Monument. Credit: Hope S. Philbrick

Some of the cliff dwellings in Bandelier National Monument are open for exploration. Credit: Hope S. Philbrick

Interpretative signs provide meaningful education along self-guided tour routes. The 1.2-mile Main Loop in Frijoles Canyon is a relatively easy walk that passes through the ruins and then alternately climbs stone steps and meanders footpaths alongside tall cliffs. At three different points it’s possible to climb wooden ladders into cliff dwellings for a unique perspective.

Two drive route options stretch between Santa Fe and Taos: the Rio Grande route and the High Road to Taos. Both options offer scenic views with interesting geological formations. But to maximize your enjoyment of these views—so that the best vistas stretch ahead in the windshield rather than appear in the review mirror—I recommend taking the Rio Grande from Santa Fe to Taos and the High Road in the other direction (which retains the name “High Road to Taos” even when traveling from Taos to Santa Fe).

Taos

Taos is both an escape and a place to find yourself with a vibe that blends tradition and modernity, nature and kitsch, community and remoteness.

Taos’ historic plaza is surrounded by restaurants and retail shops that carry arts, crafts and local products. Among the five museums in Taos is La Hacienda de Los Martinez and Harwood Museum of Art University of New Mexico. The No. 1 must-see attraction is Taos Pueblo, the largest existing multi-storied Pueblo structure in the United States, a UNESCO World Heritage site listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Taos Pueblo has been continuously inhabited for centuries. Many shops are located throughout, with vendors selling both traditional and contemporary artworks such as pottery, painting, photographs, T-shirts, drums, beadwork, jewelry and leather goods. Traditional foods and entertainment are also available upon occasion. San Geronimo Church (built in 1850) is a Registered National Historic Landmark in Taos Pueblo; photography inside is prohibited, but it’s a sight to remember.

An 85-mile loop north of Taos, the Enchanted Circle passes through alpine mountains (which were blanketed with a fresh coat of snow during my visit), valleys, mesas and national forest. Atop the 13,161-foot Wheeler Peak, peer down at the trout-rich lakes in the valley below. Ski (in season) at any of four ski areas. Prefer to relax? Drive through the Carson National Forest to Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs and while away the hours basking in waters ranging from 80 to 109 degrees Fahrenheit in any number of the 10 different pools naturally augmented with minerals: lithium, arsenic, iron and soda. (Upgrade to a private pool to experience the ultimate in relaxation.) En route be sure to stop to admire the Rio Grande Gorge, a vista that’s arguably one of the world’s best free forms of entertainment.

The Rio Grande Gorge near Taos. Credit: Hope S. Philbrick

It may be possible to drive The High Road to Taos from Taos to Santa Fe in a couple of hours, but allow at least double that time to ensure you have sufficient time to stop to enjoy the abundant photo ops and explore whatever piques your interest along the way such as the village of Chimayó, home of one of New Mexico’s most renowned peppers and the center of Spanish weaving tradition for over 250 years.

The challenge of New Mexico’s scenic drives is not road navigation: It’s sorting through hundreds of photos once back home.

If You Go

KnowB4YouGo

Adapting to high altitude can take several days. You may find that you run out of breath easily, so don’t overdo it with strenuous activity at the outset of your stay. Drink extra water to stay hydrated.

Gourd artist demonstration at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque. Credit: ©www.itsatrip.org

ALBUQUERQUE

Where2Stay

Hotel Albuquerque
800 Rio Grande Blvd. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104
505.843.6300
http://hhandr.com/albuquerque.php?src=gl_albuquerque

Rates from $115. Located an easy walk from the Historic Old Town Plaza and the museum district.

What2Do

American International Rattlesnake Museum
202 San Felipe St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104
505.242.6569
www.rattlesnakes.com

Located in Old Town, this museum boasts the world’s largest collection of rattlesnakes.

Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum
9201 Balloon Museum Drive NE
Albuquerque, NM 87113
505.768.6020
www.cabq.gov/balloon

Exhibits celebrate hot air ballooning history, technology, festivals and pilot accomplishments. Hands-on activities include a virtual balloon pilot experience.

Casa Rondeña Winery
733 Chavez Rd. NW
Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, NM 87107
505.344.5911
www.casarondena.com

Tasty wines and spectacular grounds are two reasons to visit.

Coronado State Monument
485 Kuaua Rd.
Bernalillo, NM 87004
505.867.5351
www.nmmonuments.org/inst.php?inst=4

Exhibits include an earthen pueblo excavated in the 1930s, prehistoric and historic Indian and Spanish colonial artifacts.

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
2401 12th St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104
505.843.7270
www.indianpueblo.org

Exhibits, demonstrations and performances celebrate the history, culture and traditions of 19 Native American Pueblos.

New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science
1801 Mountain Rd.
Albuquerque, NM 87104
505.841.2800
www.nmnaturalhistory.org

From a wooly mammoth skeleton to a simulated active volcano and a Planetarium, the exhibits at this museum seek to explain the world and universe, past and present.

Old Town Plaza
Visitors Center: 303 Romero NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104
www.AlbuquerqueOldTown.com

The city’s “cultural heart” is surrounded by boutiques, galleries, restaurants and museums.

Petroglyph National Monument
6001 Unser Blvd. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87120
505.899.0205
www.nps.gov/petr/

These volcanic rocks were carved with an estimated 24,000 different images centuries ago.

Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway
#10 Tramway Loop NE
Albuquerque, NM 87122
505.856.7325
www.sandiapeak.com

The world’s longest aerial tramway travels 2.7 miles above deep canyons and rocky terrain. The view at the 10,400-foot peak encompasses up to 11,000 square miles.

Turquoise Museum
2107 Central Ave. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104
505.247.8650
www.turquoisemuseum.com

A stop here to learn about turquoise before shopping means you’ll make jewelry purchases with informed confidence.

Turquoise Trail National Scenic Byway
www.turquoisetrail.org

Encompassing a historic 15,000-square-mile area in the heart of central New Mexico, this route combines scenic views, historic stops, outdoor adventure opportunities and Southwestern art galleries and boutiques.

Where2Eat

Chama River Brewing Co.
4939 Pan American W Freeway NE
Albuquerque, NM 87109
505.342.1800
www.chamariverbrewery.com

Upscale microbrewery boasts some of the tastiest sips and bites in town.

El Pinto Authentic New Mexican Restaurant
10500 4th St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87114
505.898.1771
www.elpinto.com

Recently rated as runner-up to the best restaurant in New Mexico, El Pinto specializes in traditional recipes and flame-roasted chiles.

Flying Star Café
3416 Central Ave. SE*
Albuquerque, NM 87106
505.255.6633
www.flyingstarcafe.com

While ordering at the counter, don’t overlook the value-priced daily specials. *This fast-casual chain boasts multiple locations.

Pueblo Harvest Café
2401 12th St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104
505.843.7270
www.indianpueblo.org/visit/cafe.html

The only restaurant in Albuquerque owned by Native Americans, the menu boasts traditional native dishes plus contemporary creations that utilize traditional ingredients in innovative ways.

St. Clair Winery & Bistro
901 Rio Grande Blvd. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104
505.243.9916
www.stclairvineyards.com

Diverse wine selections and an eclectic menu are served inside this comfortable bistro.

4MoreInfo

Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau
505.842.9918 or 800.284.2282
www.itsatrip.org

SANTA FE

Where2Stay

Inn on the Alameda
303 East Alameda
Santa Fe, NM 87501
888.984.2121
www.innonthealameda.com

Rates from $125/night. Located three blocks from the Historic Plaza and one block from Canyon Road art district.

What2Do

Bandelier National Monument
Los Alamos, NM 87544
505.672.3861
www.nps.gov/band/index.htm

The Main Loop trail is the most popular and offers ladder access into some historic cliff dwellings.

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
217 Johnson St.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.946.1000
www.okeeffemuseum.org

The only museum in the world dedicated to an internationally known American woman artist.

Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
108 Cathedral Place
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.983.8900
www.iaiamuseum.org

Showcases Native art.

New Mexico History Museum
113 Lincoln Ave.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.476.5200
www.nmhistorymuseum.org

Exhibits state history from the early history of indigenous people, Spanish colonization and the Mexican Period.

Rio Grande Gorge Visitor Center
575.751.4899

Santa Fe School of Cooking
505.983.4511
www.santafeschoolofcooking.com

Learn secrets of New Mexican cooking and purchase ingredients to recreate the flavors at home.

Where2Eat

The Anasazi Restaurant & Bar
113 Washington Ave.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.988.3030
www.innoftheanasazi.com
The atmosphere as well as the food preparations by Executive Chef Oliver Ridgeway are elegant yet rustic.

Las Fuentes Restaurant & Bar
1297 Bishop’s Lodge Rd.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.983.6377
www.bishopslodge.com
Executive Chef Carmen Rodriguez describes his creations as “Nuevo Rancho,” showcasing flavors that are natural to the New Mexican environment with French and Spanish influences.

The Burrito Co. Café
111 Washington Ave.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.982.4453
http://theburritocompanycafe.com/
Serves fresh, authentic Mexican food in a casual setting.

Café Pasqual’s
121 Don Gaspar
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.983.9340
www.pasquals.com
This award-winning café has attracted fans for 31 years.

Galisteo Bistro
227 Galisteo St.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.982.3700
www.galisteobistro.com
Chef/Owner Robert Chickering says that he “believes in minimal processing and creating flavor layers.” His upscale menu features local organic fare seasoned to perfection.

La Boca
72 W. Marcy St.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.982.3433
www.labocasf.com
Chef James Campbell Caruso, a James Beard Award nominee for Best Chef Southwest, says that his menu at La Boca “features a lot of bold flavors with Spanish and Moroccan influences.”

Mucho Gusto Mexican Restaurant
839 Paseo de Peralta
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.955.8402
Excellent Mexican fare at prices that are more than fair. I still daydream about the blue corn enchiladas with shrimp and green chile sauce.

Restaurant Martin
526 Galisteo St.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.820.0919
www.restaurantmartinsantafe.com
Chef Martín Rios serves innovative, finely crafted dishes that catapult New Mexican food traditions to creative heights.

Santacafé
231 Washington Ave.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.984.1788
www.santacafe.com
This favorite among locals since 1983 serves unique dishes with Southwestern flair.

4MoreInfo

Santa Fe Convention & Visitors Bureau
800.777.2489
www.santafe.org

TAOS

Where2Stay

Historic Taos Inn
125 Paseo Del Pueblo Norte
Taos, NM 87571
575.758.2233
www.taosinn.com
Rates from $75/night. The Inn is comprised of several adobe houses dating from the 1800s, updated with modern conveniences.

Hotel La Fonda de Taos
108 S. Plaza
Taos, NM 87571
800.833.2211
www.lafondataos.com
Rates from $119/night. The only hotel on Taos Plaza. Recently renovated.

What2Do

Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Resort & Spa
50 Los Baños Drive
Ojo Caliente, NM 87549
www.ojocalientesprings.com
Relax in mineral pools, steam, sauna and mud pools. Rates from $16/day. Spa services, private pools, restaurant, overnight accommodations and more also available.

Taos Pueblo
Taos, NM 87571
575.758.1028
www.taospueblo.com
The only living Native American community designated as both a World Heritage Site and a National Historic Landmark. Adult admission $10/person; students $5; children age 10 and younger are free. Camera fees from $5. Familiarize yourself with guest regulations before entering.

Museum Association of Taos
www.TaosMuseums.org
Offers a combination admission ticket good at all five Taos museums. Valid for a year from purchase, it’s available at all the museums as well as the Taos Visitor Center for $25, a 40% savings.

Where2Eat

Doc Martin’s Restaurant
125 Paseo Del Pueblo Norte
Taos, NM 87571
575.758.2233
www.taosinn.com/restaurant.html
Local, seasonal ingredients transformed into award-winning Southwestern cuisine at this legendary dining establishment.

Joseph’s Table
108 S. Plaza
Taos, NM 87571
575.751.4512
www.josephstable.com
Chef Joseph Wrede brings French, Italian and Asian influences to Southwestern ingredients with results that earn raves.

4MoreInfo

Taos Visitor Center
1139 Paseo del Pueblo Sur
Taos, NM 87571
575.758.3873 or 800.348.0696
www.taosvacationguide.com

New Mexico Tourism Department
491 Old Santa Fe Trail
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.827.7400
www.newmexico.org

By Bill Steiden

A vast, open field at a mile’s elevation in North Carolina, bisected by a tumbling river and surrounded by green peaks.

A languid lake filled with the drowned corpses of a great cypress forest in a lonely corner of northwestern Tennessee.

Another lake, like a giant azure eye, winking from its high cauldron at the alpine sky of southern Oregon.

A pulsing, steaming basin amid a mountain range, overlapping the border of Wyoming and Montana.

A beach backed with high dunes overlooking Lake Michigan’s eastern shore.

A sprawling canyon with multicolored walls, an unexpected feature in the flatlands of southwest Georgia.

What do all of these spectacular scenes have in common? Each one has been the site of a natural disaster – and all are places where today, you can pitch a tent and ponder the awesome results of nature’s fury.

Graveyard Fields, North Carolina

Nobody is quite sure what accounts for the dramatic balds of the Blue Ridge, where peaks covered with heath or grass provide vistas rare in these otherwise thickly forested mountains. One theory, however, it that fire plays a role, and Graveyard Fields provides strong evidence of that. A basin at one mile elevation surrounded by even taller, bald peaks, it is the source of the Pigeon River, which flows north, then west to form a natural border for the nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

North Carolina’s Graveyard Fields viewed from the Blue Ridge Parkway. Credit: Tsimmons

Until the early 1920s, the river, descending a series of cascades, was surrounded by trees. But a huge and uncontrolled fire that burned for months left the basin blackened, the stumps of the trees forming the “graveyard’s” headstones. The soil was essentially sterilized, and since then, nothing has grown in it but grass, bushy laurel and, in patches, scrubby trees. Just as the balds offer long-range views, the low-lying vegetation of the valley allows an unusual vantage on the surrounding peaks. High and far from city lights, it offers some of the Southeast’s best stargazing on clear nights, making it a spectacular place, for instance, to watch the annual Perseid meteor shower.

Access is easy from the Blue Ridge Parkway, and you can camp anywhere that pitching a tent isn’t strictly prohibited. There are many sites in the forested fringe of the valley, less than a mile from the parking area. Trails lead from Graveyard Fields to the crown of the Blue Ridge above, including the renowned Shining Rock white quartz formation and the 6,030-foot peak of the famous Cold Mountain, namesake of Charles Frazier’s Odyssean tale of a Confederate deserter’s ill-fated journey to his home in its shadow.

Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee

The earthquake threat to the central United States is little recognized. But the New Madrid fault, centered near the small Mississippi River port of that name in southern Missouri, produced what seismologists say was one of the largest tremors the continent has experienced when it last broke in the winter of 1811-1812. The great river in places was interrupted by temporary waterfalls as the earth heaved upward, and on its east bank in Tennessee, a basin containing a swampy cypress forest collapsed. The river ran backward, filling it to create 18,000-acre Reelfoot Lake. Almost 200 years later, the never-rotting trunks of the ancient cypresses fill the lake, providing shelter for a myriad of game fish. The remaining old-growth trees line the lake’s shallows, forming a swamp on the border of the Midwest not unlike those found in Louisiana.

Few people were around to witness the cataclysm, which occurred when St. Louis, just upstream, was a frontier trading post, and before Memphis to the south was even established. But locals repeat what they say is an Indian legend about how a chief’s abduction of another leader’s wife angered the Great Spirit, who drummed upon the land and opened a watery chasm to swallow the offender.

In the intervening centuries, the lake has become a resort and fishing hot spot. Reelfoot Lake State Park offers two campgrounds, one with a 3,600-foot airstrip, making for a rare fly-in site.

Crater Lake, Oregon

In modern times, the explosive eruption of Mt. St. Helens in Washington State showed the volatility of the Cascade range. Crater Lake is the remnant of another such eruption 7,700 years ago, when the 12,000-foot volcano geologists have dubbed Mt. Mazama blew its top. One hundred times the size of the Mt. St. Helens eruption, it drained a huge magma chamber beneath the mountain, causing the peak to collapse and leaving a caldera that over the eons filled with water.

Aerial view of Oregon’s Crater Lake, Wizard Island and Mount Scott as seen from the west.

That depression is now Crater Lake, filled to a depth of almost 2,000 feet with icy, clear water, fed by the average 533 inches of snow that fall on the 6,000-foot elevation basin from September to June. The caldera rim towers another 1,000-2,000 feet above the lake, providing spectacular views of its indescribably blue waters and Wizard Island, a small volcanic peak poking through the lake’s surface that formed after the initial eruption.

For those wishing to stay a while near this natural wonder, the surrounding Crater Lake National Park offers two sites, the tents-only Lost Campground and the full-service Mazama Village, where there are a lodge and cabins, as well. The Pacific Crest Trail, which passes through the park, has permit-only backcountry sites.

Yellowstone National Park

Only in recent years have scientists pieced together the ominous geologic history of the Yellowstone basin. Its strange geysers and steaming pools amid the chilly mountains have long hinted of its volatility, but it took decades of investigation to determine that it is, in fact, a volcano of unmatched proportions that erupted in the distant past with catastrophic consequences, and could again.

The basin is believed to be a thin spot on a tectonic plate, providing a sort of window through which heat reaches the surface from the Earth’s red-hot mantle below. The geothermal energy radiating through this thin crust powers Yellowstone’s thousands of mud volcanoes, fumaroles, hot springs and geysers. On at least three occasions, the last some 620,000 years ago, the basin was the scene of a prolonged supereruption that ejected many square miles of magma and dust, covering the North American continent with a life-smothering plume.

Today, volcanologists monitor the basin, measuring the changes in its elevations as it heaves with the forces below it. There is no known way to predict when it may erupt again, but the magnitude of its threat means it is under constant study.

The Upper Terraces of Yellowstone’s Mammoth Hot Springs evoke a sense of the prehistoric. Credit: Mila Zinkova

Even before its nature was understood, the area was of such wonder and intrigue that it was preserved as America’s first national park. It attracts upwards of 3 million visitors a year, many of whom likely don’t realize that their sightseeing is something akin to staring down the barrel of a loaded gun.

You can join the throng at any of a dozen campgrounds, seven of which offer sites on a first-come, first-served basis. Backcountry camping for backpackers is available at designated sites by permit only.

The especially hardy (and well-equipped) may want to consider visiting in winter, when the crowds thin and the bubbling brew of volcanism offers an intriguing contrast to the snow-covered landscape.

Grand Haven State Park, Michigan

What is a peaceful bit of sandy lakeshore doing amid this list of places scarred by fire, volcanoes and earthquakes? Reminding us that nature’s destructive impulses take many unanticipated forms.

Most of the time, the eastern shore of Lake Michigan appears languid, with a light chop lapping its beaches. The constant wind has built up towering and scenic dunes. It’s an unexpected seashore scene in the midst of the Midwest.

But the Great Lakes are not the sea, even if they are so wide you can’t see across them. And they have their own behavioral quirks. One of them is the seiche. Were you to turn a fan on full blast and point it at the water’s surface in a filled bathtub, you would see an example of the process in action. The water pushed away from the side nearest the fan would pile up on the other.

Similarly, winds blowing across the lake can send the water sloshing toward the other side. Most of the time, the result is a barely noticeable rise in the lake level along the shoreline. But sometimes, a seiche can take the form of a violent wave.

That’s what happened on July 4, 1929, as 45,000 people gathered at Grand Haven State Park for a holiday event. Out of nowhere, a 20-foot wave broke across the pier, sweeping nine people to their deaths. A girl also drowned after being sucked from a breakwater.

Today, you can pitch a tent or park an RV in the park’s 174-space campsite, just a short walk from the shoreline. But if you take a beach walk, you may want to do as the natives do, and keep an eye on the horizon.

Providence Canyon State Park, near Lumpkin, Georgia

Below the Southeast’s Fall Line, where rivers flowing to the ocean descend from the Piedmont to the coastal plain, the topography is rarely interesting. Providence Canyon is a dramatic exception – the product of a slow-motion disaster in which man had a hand.

The walls of Providence Canyon State Park in Lumpkin, GA look more like they belong in the deserts of the southwestern U.S. Credit: Bill Steiden

Settlers in the 1830s and 1840s stripped the tree cover from the rolling terrain, and took no measures to prevent erosion, oblivious to the fragility of the sand and clay substrate underlying the thin topsoil. By the 1850s, a network of gullies three to five feet deep had formed, and the farmers were forced to abandon large swaths of their land. Those gullies grew exponentially, and today, they are up to 150 feet deep and reminiscent in appearance of the sandstone canyons of the Southwest, their layered walls and pinnacles hued with colors ranging from red to purple and yellow.

But this isn’t solid rock – it’s a mixture of clay and sand that nature is constantly reshaping. As a result, the canyon network continues to expand. Formations can appear and disappear in a season, and collapsed fences on the rim bear witness to the fact that the land is far from being solid rock. Even what appear to be multicolored stones on the canyon floor turn out to be erosion-rounded pieces of the local kaolin clay, easily mashed between thumb and forefinger. As those early settlers learned, nothing here is quite what it seems.

Trails wind through the canyon and along the rim, and a 7-mile backpacking trail leads to six reservable backcountry campsites.

Providence Canyon is a reminder that if there is any rival to nature’s destructiveness, it is man, and that when he unleashes forces with which he is not prepared to cope – for instance, oil and natural gas tapped a mile below the ocean’s surface, where technology does not yet permit easy access in the event something goes awry – he can greatly amplify his own mistakes.

4MoreInfo

Graveyard Fields
Pisgah National Forest
160-A Zillicoa Street
Asheville, NC
Tel: 828.257.4200
www.cs.unca.edu/nfsnc

Reelfoot Lake State Park
2595 State Route 21E
Tiptonville, TN
Tel: 731.253.8003
www.state.tn.us/environment/parks/ReelfootLake

Crater Lake National Park
Crater Lake, OR
Tel: 541.594.3000
www.nps.gov/crla

Yellowstone National Park
Mammoth, WY
Tel: 307.344.7381
www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm

Grand Haven State Park
1001 Harbor Ave
Grand Haven, MI
Tel: 616.847.1309
www.dnr.state.mi.us/parksandtrails/Details.aspx?id=449&type=SPRK

Providence Canyon State Park
8930 Canyon Road
Lumpkin, GA
Tel: 800.864.7275
www.gastateparks.org/net/go/parks.aspx?locationid=20&s=0.0.1.5

Top photo: Yellowstone’s Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest hot spring in the U.S. (approx. 250 by 300 feet), and third largest in the world. This aerial view shows off mats of blazing orange algae and bacteria that are the result of the ratio of chlorophyll to carotenoid molecules the organisms produce. The color can fluctuate from orange, red or yellow in the summer to dark green in the winter.

By Bill Steiden

An old saying has it that love is like wildflowers, often found in the most unlikely places. The truth behind that truism is illustrated by two classic camping spots on opposite sides of the country that, in their respective seasons, reward outdoor lovers with what are among the best flower shows on the planet.

Roan Mountain, Tennessee and North Carolina

Where the crest of the Appalachians forms the state border between Johnson City, Tenn., and Boone, N.C, northeast of Asheville, N.C., a natural phenomenon occurs: mountain balds. For miles along the ridgeline are stretches where the usual tree cover of the eastern mountaintops vanishes and the predominant vegetation is grass and low-lying bushes.

The heart of this section is a collection of five peaks in the Cherokee National Forest collectively known as Roan Mountain. Accessible via the Appalachian Trail from Carvers Gap on Tennessee 143, the craggy prominences provide clear-day views stretching 100 miles, though the fog banks that give the region’s most famous mountains, the Smokies, their name are never far away.

It’s a remarkable place to visit at any time of year, including mid-winter, when cross-country skiers make day treks along well-packed paths. But the vistas take on an added dimension at the end of each spring, when the aforementioned bushes – mainly rhododendrons – bloom in a coordinated display of millions of pinkish-purple blossoms.

The 600-acre stretch, known as the Roan Mountain Rhododendron Garden, generally hits its peak blossoming season in the latter part of June, and is celebrated every year with the Roan Mountain Rhododendron Festival at Tennessee’s nearby Roan Mountain State Park. The gathering features mountain crafts, music and folkways demonstrations.

The park has 107 first-come, first-served family campsites – 20 for tents only — with covered picnic shelters and bath houses with hot showers. There is also a pair of National Forest campgrounds — Dennis Cove and Cardeens Bluff – close to nearby Watauga Lake.

For those up to the challenge, a real treat is to backpack the roughly five miles along the Appalachian Trail from Carvers Gap to the Overmountain Shelter, perhaps the most unique of the hundreds along the Georgia-to-Maine trail. It’s an old dairy barn built at the top of a long cove at an elevation of nearly 5,000 feet. Far more capacious than the usual trail shelters, it also offers long-distance views of the valley below.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California

Photo Courtesy of California State Parks

The Anza –Borrego Desert couldn’t be much different from Roan Mountain. A desert basin in southern California, it receives only slightly more precipitation on an annual basis than Death Valley. But that little bit of moisture makes a big difference.

Every year from February through early April, the 600,000-acre desert in California’s largest state park bursts into brief but spectacular blooms. The blossoms of desert lily, sand verbena, brittlebrush, chuparosa and dozens of other varieties carpet stretches that well before the arrival of summer will be as sere as the surrounding sand and rocks.

The wildflowers are such a draw that the park posts a continually updated map on its Web site throughout the season, showing where the latest blooms are occurring, and maintains a wildflower hotline (760.767.4684).

The park is about a two-hour drive from San Diego, making it an appealing day-trip destination. But there is plenty of camping available, ranging from areas designated for free open camping – some of the only such sites remaining in California — to the developed Palm Canyon campground near park headquarters, with RV and family campsites featuring rough-hewn wood-and-stone shelters.

The network of paved roads in the Anza-Borrego will give you a good overview of the area, but some of the best wildflower vistas, especially late in the season, are accessible only by Jeep trail, so consider renting a four-wheel-drive vehicle if you don’t already own one.

Remember, it’s a desert, so even for a day excursion take plenty of water. And whether your destination is the Anza-Borrego or Roan Mountain, there is one indispensable item for a visit to these natural showplaces: a camera.

4MoreInfo

Roan Mountain State Park
Roan Mountain, Tenn.
423.772.0190
www.state.tn.us/environment/parks/RoanMtn

Cherokee National Forest/Watauga Division
423.735.1500
www.fs.fed.us/r8/cherokee

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
Borrego Springs, Calif.
760 .767.5311
www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=638

Top photo by Harald Köster.

By Hope S. Philbrick

What are couples to do if one partner loves to ski but the other person doesn’t? Of course separate vacations are one option (and, until this year, what Dean and I chose), but Ski Utah has another suggestion: Travel together and while one person enjoys world-class skiing in what’s billed as “the greatest snow on earth” the other person can enjoy various other amenities and activities the region has to offer.

I’ve been married to an avid skier for 15 years, but until this February we never vacationed together at a ski resort. It’s not that I refused to go; it just didn’t seem to make sense to spend the extra money for me since I don’t ski. (When I was six years old I broke my leg in three places running across an icy playground and I’ve never been too eager to replicate the experience.) So Dean went alone. But this year, lured by curiosity and cost-saving “hot deals,” we decided to visit Utah’s ski region together. It’s something we should have done long ago.

In less than an hour it’s possible to drive to any of the 11 different ski resorts located in the Wasatch Mountains surrounding the Salt Lake City International Airport. This makes it easy to make the most of your first day of travel.

Gorgeous Mt. Superior. Courtesy Alta Ski Area

As an example, we departed Atlanta on a 6:30 a.m. non-stop Delta flight and were checked into our room at the Goldminer’s Daughter Lodge in Alta before Noon. (I’d called ahead and requested early check-in; we lucked out and the folks who’d occupied the room the previous night departed early that morning.) After grabbing a quick lunch together in the Saloon, Dean hit the slopes. I went back to the room, plugged in my laptop and then decided against work in favor of a nap. Ahhh, vacation!

For the next two days I accomplished not very much while Dean swooshed down black-diamond runs. It’s been years since I’ve so thoroughly relaxed and in that dreamy state I had an epiphany: Doing nothing is highly underrated. Even if accompanying Dean on ski trips is merely a way to give myself permission to veg out, that alone is reason enough for me to sign up for as many as possible. I heartily recommend downtime as a viable vacation option. But, thinking of you, dear readers, I did eventually motivate myself to get up and explore other options plus a few different resorts, just in case you’re the restless type.

While surrounded by the spectacular vista of snow-covered pine trees, steep mountains and clear blue skies, an overwhelming urge to get outdoors takes hold. (Wear the right gear and you’ll stay surprisingly warm.) Beyond downhill skiing, options include snowboarding, cross-country skiing, tubing or sledding, hiking, snowmobiling, ice skating and even dog sledding.

Vista at the start of the snowshoe trail from Brighton to Solitude. Photo by Hope S. Philbrick

I opted for snowshoeing, and chose a 1.5-mile route from Brighton to Solitude. A worker at the Nordic Center at Solitude Mountain Resort outfitted me with the necessary gear, handed me a map and pointed at a trail outside the door. As a beginner, didn’t I need a lesson? “Just walk,” he said. Sure enough, it’s that easy.

The air was clean and crisp. The only sounds were chirping birds, snow falling from trees and the crunchy-squeak of snow underfoot. I can’t remember ever being so completely alone (though I was comforted in the knowledge that my cell phone did have service if I needed it). I took pictures and stepped at my own pace. It was a great experience.

Another day I wandered along the quaint Main Street of Park City, which boasts dozens of interesting boutiques and restaurants and thus provides a compelling daytime excursion for the non-skier. The new Park City Museum boasts several well-executed, diverse exhibits to showcase the city’s frontier days, law enforcement history, silver mining industry, transition into a ski town, role in theater (this is home of the annual Sundance Film Festival, after all), saloons and more. The high-tech display of past criminals is unforgettable and the wall model of a mine will certainly ramp up your appreciation of ore.

It’s possible to ski-in/ski-out of the High West Distillery & Saloon, so you could potentially meet your skiing spouse there for lunch or après ski dinner and cocktails. Or just head there on your own for an insightful behind-the-scenes tour of Utah’s first distillery since Prohibition. High West is housed in two buildings (a livery stable and a Victorian house) that date from Park City’s mining period and are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

At Utah Olympic Park it’s free to peruse the Alf Engen Ski Museum and 2002 Eccles Olympic Winter Games museum. Exhibits about avalanches and the unique composition of Utah snow are especially interesting. Most days it’s possible to watch national and international competitions (and aspiring youths) train at the facility. Guided tours are also available. For $200, daredevils can also experience riding in the 4-person “Comet” bobsled down the Olympic track reaching speeds up to 80 mph. Billed as “the most intense minute of your life,” you’ll gain new appreciation for the sport.

Also fast-paced, the Alpine Coaster at Park City Mountain Resort is like a one-car roller coaster. What’s unique is the ability to control the speed of your individual toboggan-like car. The slow ride up the course provides an opportunity to enjoy the scenery; on the ride down apply the brake or go as fast as possible. The 4,000-foot long course is comprised of graceful curves, switchback bends and moderate hills.

Skiers get a lift at The Canyons in Park City, Utah. Photo by Hope S. Philbrick

When I first agreed to this ski trip, I envisioned sitting in the resort hot tub and basking in the luxury of a day at the spa. It’s certainly possible to realize this dream at most of Utah’s ski resorts. At The Canyons Grand Summit Spa & Health Club the hot stone massage is a wonderful treatment choice. It left me feeling thoroughly de-stressed and energized. Arriving early provided time to savor the sauna, steam room and heated indoor/outdoor pool.

Of course, one option for any non-skier while visiting a ski resort is to take ski lessons. All the Utah ski resorts that we visited offered ski lessons for individuals and groups. This trip, I specifically avoided that option in favor of researching non-ski activities. But after several days spent watching skiers thoroughly enjoy themselves, I may be persuaded to take a few ski lessons on my next visit to Utah’s ski region.

One Skier’s Perspective of Two Ski Resorts: Alta & Deer Valley

The tagline for Ski Utah is “the greatest snow on earth.” That’s quite a boast. Since I don’t ski and thus can’t vouch for the honesty of that claim, I asked my husband for his opinion. Dean has skied around the world, from Minnesota to Austria, Colorado to Vermont and beyond. His take: “Skiing in Utah is awesome.”

Dean ends a run at Deer Valley in Park City, Utah. Photo by Hope S. Philbrick

“Alta has a good mix of runs,” says Dean. “The way it’s laid out, skiers of different skill levels could ride the lift together then ski down on separate runs and meet up at the bottom. Alta is one of only three ski resorts in the world that does not allow snowboarding, so it’s a more pure way to experience the way ski resorts used to be. The intermediate group ski lesson that I took was great. Skiing is very technical so no matter your skill level taking a lesson is helpful; the instructors evaluate what you’re doing, break it down and give you something to work on. I could feel myself getting more efficient in my turns. I especially liked the examples the instructor used, such as ‘Ski like the snow: If it’s powder, ski soft. If it’s icy, be aggressive.’”

He goes on to say, “I’m not surprised Deer Valley has been rated the No. 1 ski resort in the world by Ski Magazine for three years in a row. The groomed runs were amazing. Coincidentally, it’s another resort that doesn’t allow snowboarding. It happened that I started skiing just when a free mountain guide tour was getting ready to start, so I joined the group. I thought it was really fun to ski down with a guide and get a history lesson about the resort and Park City.”

There are 13 different ski resorts in Utah; visit www.SkiUtah.com for a complete comparison with details on average snowfall, vertical drop, skiable acres, number of runs, lift price and more.

If You Go

Where2Stay

Opt for a ski lodge for the most convenient access to skiing:

Goldminer’s Daughter Lodge
Alta
800.453.4573
www.skigmd.com

Just 25 miles from Salt Lake City, this ski-in/ski-out lodging option is located in the heart of the Alta ski area in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. Pleasantly rustic, it’s ideal for skiers and anyone who wants to enjoy the winter wonder of a national mountain park. Rates from $140/night include breakfast and dinner.

The Escala Lodges
The Canyons, Park City
866.604.4171
www.thecanyons.com/escalahome

This ski-in/ski-out property is located in the Resort Village of Utah’s largest ski and summer resort. It’s new and ultra-luxurious. With easy access to downtown Park City via free bus service, this resort blends pampering and convenience. Rates at Escala start at $185/night during spring/summer, $500/night before Dec. 24 and $700/night during winter. The Canyons boasts several other lodging options as well, including Sundial Lodge where rates start at $119/night spring/summer, $256/night before Dec. 24 and $294/night during winter. Special packages are often available.

Opt for a Salt Lake City hotel to mix downtown shopping, dining and sightseeing with skiing, or if you’d prefer to rent a car and visit a different ski resort each day:

Hotel Monaco
Salt Lake City
801.595.0000
www.monaco-saltlakecity.com

Eye-popping décor and top-notch service make this a hotel to remember. Rates from $129/night.

Sheraton
Salt Lake City
801.401.2000
www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/search/hotel_detail.html?propertyID=1327

This hotel recently underwent a $14 million renovation, so rooms are cozy and attractive. Rates from $89/night.

What2Do (Beyond Skiing)

Alpine Coaster at the Park City Mountain Resort
435.649.8111
www.parkcitymountain.com/winter/activities/alpine_coaster

The Canyons Grand Summit Spa & Health Club
435.615.8035
www.thecanyons.com/health_club.html

Nordic Center at Solitude Mountain Resort
801.536-.774
www.skisolitude.com/winter/nordic_center.php

Park City Museum
435.649.7457
www.parkcityhistory.org

Utah Olympic Park
435.658.4200
www.olyparks.com

Where2Eat

Alpine House
The Canyon’s Resort Village in Park City
435.615.4828
www.thecanyons.com/dining.html?dinid=10451

The menu bills the upscale fare as “small bites,” but the servings might be considered small only by those famished after a day spent skiing.

Eating Establishment
Park City
435.649.8284
www.theeatingestablishment.net

Breakfast may be a skier’s most important meal, but the food here will inspire even a non-skier to jump out of bed.

The Thanksgiving Sandwich with sweet potato fries at High West Distillery & Saloon in Park City, Utah. Photo by Hope S. Philbrick

High West Distillery & Saloon
Park City
435.649.8300
www.highwest.com

Relax and refuel with hearty fare like the Thanksgiving Sandwich and tasty cocktails featuring spirits distilled on-site.

Log Haven
Salt Lake City (20 minutes from downtown)
801.272.8255
www.log-haven.com

Consistently awarded “Most Romantic Restaurant” by various Utah publications, the ambiance, upscale service and food quality are the definition of destination dining.

Pago
Salt Lake City
801.532.0777
www.pagoslc.com

Farm-to-table neighborhood dining at its delicious best.

Talisker on Main
Park City
435.658.5479
www.taliskeronmain.com

Exceptional surroundings, service and cuisine. Opt for the elk whenever it’s available and don’t skip dessert unless you’re aching to deprive yourself of something truly special.

Top of the Lodge
Goldminer’s Daughter Lodge in Alta
801.742.2300
www.skigmd.com/restaurants

Enjoy tasty fare in pleasant surroundings. Don’t miss the carrot and ginger soup when it’s available.

How2Save

Park City resorts (Deer Valley, Park City Mountain Resort and The Canyons) offer a free half-day lift ticket to guests who fly into Salt Lake City on day of arrival. Ask for details when booking your reservation.

Ski ‘N See offers discounts on rentals and lift tickets to most Utah resorts. The store has several locations throughout the Wasatch Front.
www.skinsee.com

4MoreInfo

Ski Utah
Check out their “Hot Deals”, too.
www.skiutah.com

Top photo: The Supreme Lift at Alta. Courtesy of Alta Ski Area.

Story and photos by Lynn DeBruin

The run was named FIS, but as I slid down it, headfirst on my back, my first thoughts were F%$# I’m Screwed.

While I would joke about renaming that bumped-up, black-diamond run on Aspen Mountain, not five minutes later I tackled it cleanly – a testament that an innovative program aimed at curing the terminally intermediate skier really works – if I slowed down and listened.

Granted, before I went to Aspen in January for a specialty four-day Bumps for Boomers clinic, I thought I could ski like the wind, flying down steep blue runs and even black ones at the best resorts the West had to offer. But mention a bump run, even a modest one, and I’d hightail it even faster in the opposite direction. That four-letter word, bump, to me translated to fear, and my surgically repaired left knee and I wanted no part of it.

Not anymore, not after surviving the clinic started by an original Boomer named Joe Nevin. Half a day in, after starting with baby steps and baby skis, our small group could be found navigating down runs like Midnight and Pumphouse, and eventually through black-diamond Reds and a double-black-diamond, Glades 3.

A classmate navigates a blue run on Day 1 of the clinic.

While the view from the top was stunning, looking back up at what we had just skied was what really sent the heart racing. Instead of aching legs from long days of skiing, I was energized at the prospect of breaking free from a 30-year skiing rut – all the while knowing my bad knee didn’t bother me one minute.

What clicked was instruction from a team assembled by Nevin, a former Apple exec, who followed the corporate mantra he preached in teaching boomers how to navigate the mogul world.

“I had just come out of 12 years at Apple where the corporate DNA is all about making complexity simple,” said Nevin, former chief information officer at the innovative high-tech company that revolutionized the industry with its iPods, iPhones and now iPads. In short, he wanted to turn terminally intermediate skiers into confident mogul and powder skiers – all in a matter of hours.

With help from instructors such as Alan Bush and Larry Feher, he has, turning this 47-year-old and hundreds of other boomer-groomers into bump and glade skiers. Now, instead of ignoring the egg-carton-like fields that generally are devoid of crowds, I’m drawn to them.

Mogul runs are often the least crowded on any mountain.

The biggest key for Nevin in starting the program seven years ago was identifying 20 percent of the information that would make 80 percent of the difference.

He began with ski boards – 98 centimeter carbon-fiber skis stubby enough to make macho men cringe. Nevin compared them to the old wooden Wilson tennis racquets before Prince came along with its oversized metal frames that drastically enlarged the sweet spot.

“They absolutely force good technique; they’re like truth serum,” Nevin, 63, said of the mini-skis. “You put them on and if you don’t have the proper stance, your feet will wiggle.” With no back seat, they magnify everything that’s going on between one’s feet and the snow. “If there’s a problem, we can immediately identify it,” Nevin added.

The shorties also provided a much smaller turning radius, something that went a long way toward instilling confidence while staring down a steep fall line and minefield of moguls.

Forget about skiing a zip line to the bottom through the troughs, knees bumping chests á la Olympic champions Dale Begg-Smith and Jennifer Heil. We would learn to ski the tops of moguls, where the snow is the softest, and at controlled speeds.

It was something Nevin felt crucial if he were to gain the trust of a largely untapped market on the slopes; boomers who don’t want to jump off cliffs or bang through a course with their knees in their face but want to explore the entire mountain.

“We were looking at a demographic that had certain attributes,” Nevin said of folks born between 1946 and 1964. “They’re getting older, maybe not in as good a shape as they were when they were younger and their reflexes are starting to decline a bit.”

Flat light only made listening more important as we navigated a mogul run on day two.

Also, unlike the 4-year-olds who take off from the top of a run without an ounce of fear, there tends to be greater apprehension about falling and getting hurt, and their ability to bounce back.

Cathy Godshall, a partner in an Akron law firm, admitted as much, especially knowing her basic technique needed some work. “After doing it a few times, the things that looked scary didn’t look scary any more,” said Godshall, 58, who came to Aspen with her husband, Doug, 63, and a third law partner/friend.

While their friend would suffer a freak accident on Day 1, falling and breaking a shoulder before we even hit the bumps, it didn’t affect their desire to push on.

Ditto for the couple from Australia who hadn’t skied in four years or an Amazon.com software developer who was determined to keep up with his buddies. “I’ve skied nastier runs before and gotten down without killing myself,” said Seattle’s Chris Jones. “But I never understood how to do it in a way that was safe and controlled, necessarily. Now I can because it’s been broken down into a set of measurable and learnable skills (where) you go, ‘OK, it’s this.’ I love solving puzzles and moguls are a very interesting puzzle to solve.”

That’s not to say we, namely me, didn’t take a few spills over the four days. But most were because I was going too fast, or threw my body out of balance with bad habits. With the instructors’ choice of words and constant scrutiny, I’d finally get it.

It was evidenced as we stood at the top of Glades, a 45-degree hill of bumps beneath us along with hundreds of pines but not one other skier. We couldn’t help but admire the peace, quiet and beauty of nature all the while harboring the knowledge that we were about to ski where we hadn’t dared venture before.

Off Ruthie’s Run we stumble upon the shrine to Jerry Garcia.

“With our technique, it’s safer skiing over here,” said Feher, who has a PHd in sports administration and has taught everywhere from Taos to Jackson Hole, including the last 16 years at Aspen/Snowmass. “There’s trees, but they’re not moving. Out on the (groomed) slopes, there might be 100 people racing by you.”

It’s true. Some 80 percent of the people ski on 20 percent of the runs.

“Those are the groomed runs, so if you can get off the groomed runs and get away from the people, it’s nice and quiet and peaceful,” Feher said.

And because we ventured off the groomers, we ended up seeing things we might not have known about – like the makeshift shrine to cult hero Jerry Garcia, complete with dozens of photos and a Stoner Avenue street sign, that has been erected amid the pines and aspens.

It’s something just about any boomer could appreciate.

Bumps for Boomers

Ski purists might object, but in this class Nevin and instructors tell students not to carve but to slide, drift or even skid from spot to spot. “You can carve in the bumps if you’re young and have lightning-fast reflexes. But when you get to be 45 and older, you really can’t move that fast,” Nevin said.

Instead, students are taught to ski independent of reflex speed, which means they won’t be penalized as their reflexes slow even further as they age. And they won’t have to speed up their reflexes the steeper the hill gets.

“Overall, we’re really showing people how to use the brakes before the accelerator pedal,” he said. And carving produces speed.

The program

The four-day clinic, with lift ticket, is $1,493 in February and March. Three-day clinics also are available for a slightly reduced fee. Classes are purposely kept small, with a maximum of four students per instructor. At times, our clinic provided almost one-on-one training. Ski boards are provided the first two days. Skiers simply need their boots and poles those days, and can either rent skis the final two days or provide their own. Find more information at www.bumpsforboomers.com or by calling 970-989-2529.

Face of Bells offers the ultimate in beauty and difficulty.

What we learned

On day 1, we learned proper balance, how to turn from a dead stop, to flatten our skis and sideslip or drift down to a spot where our eyes were focused. We also learned the parts of a mogul, from the spine to the trough, and secondary fault lines that we could parlay into green runs through the field or controlled blue runs.

We started slowly on small moguls. By Day 3, we ditched the short skis, and had pole touches and turns down, allowing us to ski controlled stretches of mid-to-large moguls.

Who are the students

Some 70 percent are men, and though the class is aimed at boomers, it has attracted senior fathers and 30-something daughters intent on skiing together, and one 84-year-old man who skied the double-black diamond Face of Bells both times he took the course.

The program also attracts a lot of couples.

“One of the most humorous things is when I get a call from a guy hemming and hawing a bit about how he’s an expert skier but his wife is pretty tentative, wondering if she’d be all right for the clinic. Around the end of Day 2, the guy is getting really upset because the wife is out-skiing him. I’ve actually had guys throw their poles down and get real (ticked) off,” Nevin said.

The reason is simple. Skiing the bumps using Nevin’s method is not about brute power. It’s about finesse and patience. He likened it to golf with a guy trying to whack the ball as hard as he can, only to slice or hook it badly.

“If you relax and do things smoothly, it’s much better. Less is more,” he said.

Writer Lynn DeBruin gears up before the four-day bumps clinic.

If You Go

Deals in Aspen

While Aspen still caters to the rich and famous, it isn’t immune to the bad economy, which means there are plenty of deals out there. February and March also are often the best months to ski. Not only is the base typically its deepest, but skiers might get a powder day one day and sunny blue skies the next.

“The promotions and deals they can get are better than they’ve been in the 22 years I’ve been here,” said Jeff Hanle, director of public relations for Aspen/Snowmass. “Everybody is trying to fill their rental property. If your dream is to come to Aspen, now is the best time to do it.”

Bill Tomcich, president of StayAspenSnowmass.com, said Aspen has never been more affordable, especially with lodging, airfare and lift ticket packages. Increased hotel inventory and airline capacity are key reasons.

How2GetThere

With Frontier jumping into the Aspen market a year-and-a-half ago, it brought airfares down.

Tomcich said that there are 10 percent more airline seats available now, with United adding nonstops from Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and Delta serving Aspen nonstop from Salt Lake City and Atlanta through March 28. Tomcich’s website also contracts directly with airlines, meaning many packages don’t require a 14- or 21-day advance purchase. For more information, and last-minute deals, go to www.stayaspensnowmass.com.

Where2Stay

Last year the Limelight Lodge (www.limelightlodge.com), a pet-friendly, 125-room upscale moderate property, opened in Aspen. This season, the new upscale 151-room Viceroy (www.viceroyhotelsandresorts.com/snowmass) opened as well.

We stayed at Chateau Dumont (www.chateau-chaumont-dumont.com), just a two-minute walk to the gondola, with spacious rooms, full kitchen, free internet access and free street parking.

Also nearby are the Aspen Square Condominiums (www.aspensquarehotel.com). Though smaller than Dumont, they were very chic, some with gas fireplaces, balconies, terrific views of downtown Aspen and also very close to the gondola and shopping.

Pet motel

The Little Nell (www.thelittlenell.com)is one of the top-rated hotels in Aspen, and perfectly located next to the Gondola at Aspen Mountain – also known as Ajax.

It’s also dog-friendly. It offers brass ID tags for pets, fresh water bowls, dog walking and sitting on request and even a pet menu from the elegant Montagne restaurant, featuring tenderloin of beef and grilled salmon with eggs.

During our stay, while we warmed up with a delicious dish of Beef Bourguignon after a day on the slopes, a bulldog wandered carefree near its owner, taking in the Aprés scene himself.

An Italian visitor hams it up with dog Trixie at the lounge in the Little Nell, a pet-friendly hotel.

What else

Aspen offers a four-mountain pass with Ajax, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk and Snowmass all within nine miles. It also offers the largest free groomed Nordic system in North America, and another Nordic area, Ashcroft, which sits in a valley surrounded by 14,000-foot peaks.

Pine Creek Cookhouse (www.pinecreekcookhouse.com) offers a chance to dine and dash with a two-mile ski trail to the restaurant. One can also get there via snowshoe or horse-drawn sleigh. Nearby, T-Lazy-7 Ranch (www.tlazy7.com) offers guided snowmobile tours of the picturesque Maroon Bells – North America’s most photographed mountains.

The area also has three new ice-skating rinks, a 25,000-square- foot child-learning center and free shuttle service between the ski areas.

Top photo: Ski boards or mini-skis help shorten the learning curve in the Bumps for Boomers clinic.

Lynn DeBruin is a freelance writer/photographer based in Denver and former sportswriter for the Rocky Mountain News. She is an 8 handicap and she skis better now than ever.

By Chris Reinolds
Photos by Alex Kozelle

In the silvery early morning mist, the triathletes came dribbling across the finish line. Most looked relieved and drained after a swim and hilly bike and run through the Lake Jocassee area of South Carolina. But even in the midst of the pain, the competitors marveled at the splendor of the clear, pristine lake and the undulating mountains in South Carolina’s western “Golden Corner.”

Clint Shealy, camped before the Oct. 3 race with his family at the lake’s state park, Devil’s Fork.

“It’s the most beautiful course I’ve ever been on. Tough mountains and rolling hills. God’s creation is amazing. I couldn’t get through it if I didn’t enjoy the beauty,” Shealy said.

One of the six waterfallls that empties directly into Lake Jocassee. Courtesy of Ken Sloan

Thankfully you don’t have to be a triathlete to enjoy the Lake Jocassee area. You just need an appreciation of nature and an adventurous spirit. The lake features world class trout and bass fishing and is home to bald eagles, peregrine falcons, black bear, deer, beaver and other wildlife.

The “Golden Corner” of South Carolina is known for its numerous cascading waterfalls and the picturesque lakes named Hartwell and Keowee. Lake Jocassee’s beauty, however, is absolutely jaw-dropping given that it is bordered by the pristine wilderness of Sumpter National Forest and closely ringed by the Blue Ridge Mountains. An added bonus is that it’s not as well known as Hartwell and Keowee, so spending time there is truly about getting away from it all.

The lake itself was built in the early 1970’s by Duke Power as a source for hydro-electric power. In 1974 it opened to the public. Jocassee was named for a Cherokee Indian word meaning “Place of the Lost One.” Legend, of which there are many in this area, has it that a Cherokee girl named Jocassee walked on water across the Whitewater River after finding that her lover, Nagoochee, was killed by her own tribe. Today, her spirit is said to still walk on the river searching for the ghost of Nagoochee.

The unusual attraction is the presence of six individual waterfalls that spill directly into the lake. Bring or rent a boat, get out your map and off you go on a scavenger hunt. A lake bejeweled by rushing waterfalls adds a new dimension to the lake experience. Each waterfall has its own characteristics and makes for a great swimming hole during warmer weather.

In fact the Devil’s Fork State Park villas are sold out during the summer months. One reason for that, aside from the spectacular setting, could be that the park has only been in use since 1991. That’s a freshness you won’t find in many state parks. Facilities are newer and in good working order.

The villas at Devil’s Fork State Park are like private vacation homes.

Our family stayed at the villas, which were higher standard than a traditional state park cabin. It was more like renting a vacation home on the lake. We had two bedrooms, a roomy screened porch, fireplace and a full kitchen. The area is low on traffic and a playground is accessible to all the villas. That makes it easy to lounge on the porch while the young’uns scamper up the slide and collect walking sticks.

Assistant Park Manager James Stanton said most visitors come to play on the lake, but a good number also stay at the park for Clemson football games in the fall.

“We’re halfway between Atlanta and Charlotte and for a lot of folks it’s an easy drive,” Stanton said.

Ken Sloan, executive director of the Mountain Lakes Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the biggest draw to the area is the 150-plus waterfalls.

On our first day, we started with sumptuous homemade egg and cheese biscuits at Jocassee Outdoor Center. Then we took out a pontoon boat at the center, which is conveniently located near the entrance to Devil’s Fork State Park. The center rents a variety of boats including kayaks which are very popular for treks to the waterfalls. If you want to kayak, know that it takes about an hour to reach the first fall. With young kids, we opted for a quicker (and roomier) motorboat.

Returning from a cruise on the lake.

The Caribbean-blue and forest green water of Lake Jocassee becomes more intense as the Blue Ridge Mountains hug the rocky shoreline. Each of the lake’s six waterfalls is tucked away in coves and inlets. We found only five before the weather started looking bad. At each waterfall a soft mist filled the air. I promise to come back in the summer to swim near the falls. The sound of rushing, falling water is trance-like.

We ended our day hiking the 2.5-mile Bear Cove Trail. That day, the trail was dotted with gold and red mushrooms, and much to my son’s excitement – bear and deer foot prints. The trail pauses midway on a shale beach.

Ready for more sightseeing, we spent most of the second day hiking to waterfalls. We visited Stumphouse Tunnel Park and Issaqueena Falls. An easy five minute hike gives you a view of the waterfall named for an Indian maiden who hid on a ledge to avoid capture as she fled to warn her English lover of an Indian attack.

The nearby tunnel is what remains of an abandoned railroad that was supposed to go over the Appalachians to connect the port city of Charleston with Knoxville and later Cincinnati. Rather than go over the mountains, it was decided to build a tunnel. The 1,600-foot long tunnel was started in 1852 but the Civil War and a lack of money stopped construction.

In 1951, nearby Clemson University bought the tunnel and used it to cure the South’s first blue cheese. And it is now the “tunnel to nowhere.”
Bring a picnic lunch as there are picnic sites and a port-a-john on site.

Station Cove Falls, up close and personal.

We ended the day touring the Oconee Station State Historic Site and hiking to Station Cove Falls. Built around 1792 during tensions between white settlers and Creek Indians, the Oconee Station was one in a string of small frontier posts garrisoned by state militia. Its impressive 20-inch stone walls are still standing. The site includes access to the sixty-foot Station Cove Falls in the Sumter National Forest, an easy thirty minute hike.

On our way out of town, we made sure to hike Whitewater Falls, the most spectacular and easiest to access. From baby strollers to senior citizens, this is a hike for everyone.

Beginning in North Carolina and ending in South Carolina, these falls are the highest in the eastern United States. The Upper Whitewater Falls plunge 411 feet. South Carolina’s Lower Whitewater Falls drops another 400 feet.

The magnificent Upper Whitewater Falls, the tallest in the the eastern U.S.

A myriad of other activities we didn’t get a chance to try: horseback trail rides, whitewater rafting, and touring the Walhalla Fish Hatchery. Also the Foothills National Recreation Trail for hardcore hikers covers about one hundred miles and crosses numerous rivers. The terrain varies drastically from extremely steep ravines to relatively moderate portions.

Maybe next time!

If You Go

Where2Stay

Devil’s Fork State Park
161 Holcombe Circle
Salem, S.C. 29676
Tel: 864.944.2639
Toll Free: 866.345.7275

The park offers fifteen 2 bedroom, 1 bath villas and five 3 bedroom, 2 bath villas. Rates from $84 to $172 per night. Also available are 59 paved sites with water and electrical hook-ups, some accommodating RVs up to 36 feet, plus 25 walk-in sites for tent camping for $16 per night. Back country camping is available on the lake’s north shore, accessible only by boat. Rates range from $18 to $38 per night.
http://southcarolinaparks.com/park-finder/state-park/1355.aspx

Where2Eat

Bring groceries because dining options are limited. For more choices, you need to drive about 25 miles to Seneca. Check out Paesano’s Italian Restaurant among others.
www.paesanositalian.com

What2Do

Foothills National Recreation Trail
www.sctrails.net/Trails/ALLTRAILS/NRT/Foothills.html
www.foothillstrail.org/index.php

Jocassee Outdoor Center
516 Jocasse Lake Road
Salem, S.C. 29676
Tel: 864.944.9016

For boat and kayak rentals, fishing guides, guided lake tours, outdoor info, basic staples and homemade egg and cheese biscuits.
www.jocasseeoutdoorcenter.com

Oconee Station State Historic Site
500 Oconee Station Road
Walhalla, S.C. 29691
Tel: 864.638.0079

Admission: FREE

Days and Hours of Operation: Apr. 1-Nov. 30, 9am-6pm, daily.
Seasonal hours of operation Dec. 1 – Mar. 31, closed Mon.-Thur. Open Fri-Sun, 9am-6pm.
Historic structures are open from 1pm – 5pm Sa-Su with guided tours available.
www.southcarolinaparks.com/park-finder/state-park/1887.aspx

Station Cove Falls Trail
Trailhead is located 3/10 mile past the Oconee Station State Historic Site.
www.sctrails.net/Trails/ALLTRAILS/waterfalls/Stationcove.html

Walhalla State Fish Hatchery
198 Fish Hatchery Rd.
Mountain Rest, S.C. 29664
Tel: 864.638.2866

Open 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. daily
Closed Christmas Day
Call ahead in winter months since severe cold may affect operations.

Open to the public, this is the only South Carolina hatchery involved in the culture of trout, a cold water species.
http://hatcheries.dnr.sc.gov/walhalla/tour.html

4MoreInfo

Mountain Lakes Convention & Visitors Bureau
www.scmountainlakes.com

Top photo: Lake Jocassee as seen from Upper Whitewater Falls.

Chris Reinolds is a freelance journalist based in the Southeast. Her husband, Alex, is her trusty cameraman and their two young sons want to live on Lake Jocassee forever. You can contact Chris at creinolds@gmail.com.

Story and photos by Nancy Merz Nordstrom, M. Ed.

Sitting in Terminal E at Logan International Airport in Boston surrounded by strangers, I found myself wondering how, at age fifty-one, I was about to travel to Europe, my very first passport clutched tightly in my hand. Talk about stepping outside my comfort zone! Except for short trips to Canada and Bermuda with my family, all my travel had been within the U.S. Yet here I was, waiting to board a SwissAir flight to Zurich. To say conflicting thoughts were swirling about was putting it mildly.

Tragedy Brings Change

After twenty-nine years of marriage, four children, and work as a secretary, the unexpected death of my husband at age forty-eight had thrown my life into limbo. Even three years later, I was still floundering. Being a single woman was not a comfortable role for me in many different ways.

Travel was one of those ways. I kept noticing how our society seemed fixated on “Couple-hood,” especially when it came to vacations. I was interested in traveling, but I soon realized that traveling solo was going to be a real challenge – a challenge made even more difficult by that ubiquitous “single supplement,” a practice by hotels that penalizes single travelers.

So it was with great interest that I read an article earlier in the year about Interhostel, at the time an educational travel provider for adults over the age of fifty, based at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. (The university disbanded the organization in 2005.)

The article talked about how their programs were perfect for solo travelers. It went on to say that traveling with Interhostel groups was fun, educational and safe for singles, especially single women. An added bonus was that many of the programs did not have that infamous single supplement.

So here I was five months later, about to leave for Innsbruck, Austria and the Northern Tirolean section of Italy. As a child I loved the story of “Heidi,” so a trip to the Austrian and Italian Alps seemed like a good fit. An added plus was that program participants would be staying in single dorm rooms, with private baths, at the University of Innsbruck – all without that extra charge.

In the weeks prior to departure I received a wealth of information about our program. I read everything thoroughly, including books from the suggested reading list. We were told about our accommodations, what to pack, and our day-to-day itineraries were clearly spelled out. I felt well prepared for what I thought would be a one-time fun vacation.

Little did I know that the next three weeks were about to change my life. How does that expression go? Life is what happens when you’re making other plans. Well, life had certainly done that to me three years previously, and it was about to do it again.

The Journey Begins

The view from my room.

My fellow travelers all seemed friendly as we introduced ourselves – a nice mix of couples and single women, with a few single men. There were several “fifty-somethings” in the group, the rest in their sixties and seventies. I was promptly christened “the baby” since I was only fifty-one.

In my research on travel for older adults I had recently learned about Elderhostel, an even larger educational travel provider. (The non-profit educational travel organization changed its name on October 1, 2009 to Exploritas.) Their minimum age at the time, however, was 55, and I did not want to wait four more years for this first travel experience.

So, five hours after leaving Boston we landed in Zurich. We regrouped, found our Munich-bound plane, and one-hour later were on the ground in Germany. We were then joined by an Austrian guide who spoke flawless English and stayed with us throughout the entire program.

Check-in at the Studentenhaus (University of Innsbruck dorms) was quick and easy – pick up the key and go. No time-consuming forms to fill out. We each had our own room – spartan but utilitarian and very clean. The view from my window showcased the River Inn and old-world buildings on the opposite bank. I was awe-struck.

Cathedrals…

Lectures, Field Trips and the Local Scene

The next morning our program began in earnest after breakfast. While in Innsbruck our breakfasts would all be taken in the student cafeteria in our building. Most of our lunches would be in the downtown student cafeteria called a “Mensa,” (Latin for table). The food was hearty and quite good.

Once breakfast was over, we found our classroom at the University for our first lecture on the history of Austria. The professor spoke perfect, but accented English, and gave a thoroughly enjoyable talk that really helped set the program in perspective.

There was a lot of give and take between him and other participants, especially those who were old enough to have lived through World War II. No one hesitated to speak their mind about the thorny issues of that war, but he retained his good humor through it all.

In the afternoon we traveled to Schlos Ambros, a magnificent castle just outside Innsbruck, home to one of the largest European ruling families, the Hapsburgs. What an incredible place – beautiful grounds, great collections and medieval armor everywhere. Again, the sheer age of the castle, in comparison to buildings in the U.S., took my breath away.

…picturesque dining…

That evening we walked over to a local Beer Garden for dinner where we were wined and dined in typical Austrian style. Free time after dinner gave us the opportunity to walk back to the Old City, find an outdoor café and settle in for a musical evening of Tirolean entertainment, complete with costumed singers and dancers.

Our days settled into a familiar routine: lectures on Austrian music, history, art, culture, industry, and politics, with field trips to reinforce what we learned. Our evenings were spent at wonderful restaurants and cafés soaking up the local scene, talking to the locals, most of whom spoke excellent English, and music, always lots of music.

…and colorful costumes.

During one of our excursions, while we were sitting at a café in downtown Innsbruck, we heard people chanting and were very surprised to see a large human-rights demonstration coming down Maria Theresian Strasse, the main street of Innsbruck. They were Turkish patriots and sympathizers, carrying signs, banners and coffins protesting the death of one of their leaders.

Now, that street – Maria Theresian Strasse – is the very same street that I had seen in a film the day before as part of a lecture on the history of Austria. In that film, the street was again the scene of a large march, not of human rights activists, however, but of Nazis during World War II. The film showed us the occupation of Innsbruck by Hitler and his troops.

It was a sobering, eerie experience to sit there and watch this modern-day demonstration since in my mind’s eye I saw the Nazis instead. This was a real life history lesson for me, learning at its very best.

All of our lectures and field trips were designed as real life history lessons. How different these classes were from those of my youth. I found myself thinking over and over how I wished school could have been this stimulating, this challenging, this entertaining. I loved sitting in the auditorium at the University of Innsbruck soaking up all the professors had to impart to me.

Not Quite Journey’s End

By day, a 1,000 year-old Roman ampitheater in Verona.

By night, the perfect setting for a performance of Aida.

Three weeks flew by. The tour took us through Verona, Italy to see a performance of Aida which we saw in an outdoor, one thousand year-old Roman amphitheater, then through the Italian Alps and the Tirol region. We walked the ancient streets of medieval walled towns, visited Brunnenburg, the castle home of the late poet, Ezra Pound and then back to Innsbruck to visit castles, wonderful churches and cathedrals, art museums, and even met an actual descendant of the Hapsburgs.

The last day of our program found us listening to a lecture on Austrian industry. We then visited the oldest bell foundry in Europe, built in 1599, and run by the same family for fourteen generations.

That evening our delicious farewell dinner was held at the oldest inn in Innsbruck, the Goldener Adler. Our souvenir menus told us we were having warm duck breast salad, steak with vegetables, unlimited wine and sacher torte for dessert. We had a great time recapping the many interesting things we learned, the incredible places we visited, and all the highpoints of the program.

There were stories, laughter, picture-taking, and even a lengthy limerick by one of the more poetically inclined members of our group. Musical entertainment was provided by a Tirolean zither player. The evening was a fitting finale to an outstanding program that did more for me than I had ever expected.

The author at the farewell dinner.

In fact, what I took home from this trip was much better, and far more long-lasting, than any souvenir. I took home a kind of action plan for the next step in my new life. For me, being back in a classroom after more than twenty-five years was invigorating. Thanks to this educational travel program I realized that, in an effort to help remake my life, I wanted to return to school.

So, taking another step outside my comfort zone, that fall I entered a special program for working adults at Cambridge College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. No eighteen-year-olds in these classes; just hard-working men and women who came to school in the evenings and on weekends. Six semesters later I emerged with a Masters of Education degree, having focused on adult education. I saw all around me how education changed the lives of my classmates as well as myself, and I wanted to be part of something that powerful.

A year after leaving school I found my perfect job, a combination of learning and travel, with Elderhostel, Inc., the nation’s first and largest educational travel provider for older adults. For the next five years, from their headquarters in Boston, I directed the Elderhostel Institute Network (EIN).

Different from Elderhostel’s regular type of educational travel programming, EIN helps start new lifelong learning institutes or learning in retirement programs, for older learners at local colleges, universities, retirement communities and other venues.

We also provide resources to all these programs, help organize regional conferences, and promote communication between all the programs. Today we have almost four hundred programs affiliated with EIN. It is a stimulating and enriching job that feeds my soul, a far cry from my secretarial days.

In 2004 my new husband (I remarried at age 55), and I left Boston and moved to New Hampshire, where I have continued the same work with Elderhostel, not as an employee, but as a consultant, working for myself.

It’s been thirteen years since I took that educational travel program to Austria and Italy. That trip was a watershed moment for me, a real personal achievement, and a journey of self-discovery. What I found was that, with or without a husband, I had the ability to make a fulfilling life for myself, and for a woman raised to think of herself only as a wife and mother, that was a huge epiphany.

Elderhostel says that the world is your classroom! What are you waiting for?

Nancy Merz Nordstrom, M. Ed. Is the author of Learning Later, Living Greater: The Secret for Making the Most of Your After-50 Years, published by Sentient Publications. Read her 10 Ways Educational Travel is Better Than Your Average Vacation on the Where2Now blog. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and blogs and writes columns about life-long learning for the over fifty crowd and loves every minute of it. You can contact Nancy at learninglater@comcast.net.

Editor’s note: A junior at Boston University, Katherine Lochery is spending her fall semester in Morocco, studying Arabic; Women, Islam, and Politics; and Post-Colonial Aesthetics and Politics. Born in Britain, raised in the U.S. and in possession of a passport that has seen more action than most anyone of any age, she is consumed with a desire to leave the world a better place than she found it. This is the third entry in her chronicle for Where2Now of her experiences during the course of her semester.

October 23, 2009 – Since I last wrote, I have come to discover that, although it may look quite diminutive on a map, Morocco is home to a remarkable variety of landscapes. I spent the first week or so of this month traveling around the country with fellow students and our wonderful program director. Despite having only a week to traverse much of the country, we managed to visit the bustling Marrakesh, spend a night with nomads in the Sahara, explore the mysterious medina of Fes, and immerse ourselves in the northern paradise that is the town of Chefchaouen. Exhilarating, calming, stunning, humbling, unforgettable – just looking back on the journey wills my feet to take me back, back to those places and those people. Alas, while my feet might fail me, my memories grant me the power to return.

Marrakesh

With its famed Djemaa el Fna square and its enormous souks, Marrakesh is an energetic city eager to immerse you in marvels that will leave you out of breath and a bit poorer. Snake charmers, henna artists, street performers, fresh orange juice stands, and colossal dried fruit stalls bring the massive square to life in the late afternoon and especially at night. Encircling much of the square, the colors and sounds of the souks draw you in and convince you that you need to try and bargain for one of everything! My friends and I have found that living and studying in Rabat has made us stingier than the average tourist – we bought very little from the storekeepers who had clearly pinned us as just another bunch of wealthy Americans. Oh, their faces when we explained in Arabic that we are from Rabat!

Rather than allowing ourselves to spend the afternoon navigating our way through the maddening market, we took taxis to the Majorelle Gardens, a beautiful botanical oasis owned by the late Yves Saint Laurent. With exotic plants, serene ponds, and beautiful shades of blue and yellow throughout, the garden offered us relaxation and showed us another side of Marrakesh. We also visited the Marrakesh museum and got our fill of history, culture, and Arabic placards! Not surprisingly, after a long day of traveling and exploring this vibrant staple of any Moroccan excursion, a few of us wound up sharing a glorious bottle of chilled white wine from a atop a terrace with a perfect view of the city.

Hillside view of Marrakesh. Wikimedia Commons

The Desert, Nomads and Camels

The next day saw our little group move further south towards the town of Zagora, one of the gateways to the Sahara. Clearly a town catering to those eager to venture into the dunes of the desert, Zagora gave us the opportunity to purchase those famous blue turbans of the nomads and prepare for our night in the desert. I could hardly sleep that night as I thought about the following day – there is something so mysterious and alluring about the desert. Endlessness, beauty, heat, solitude, meditation, uncertainty – I associate all this and more with the miles and miles of sand and sun.

With the arrival of dawn, we packed some necessities, picked up our guide, and moved closer to the desert. As the sand would’ve wreaked havoc on our trusty little van, we exchanged it for two safari jeeps equipped with two hilarious drivers. I have to be honest, it felt pretty cool to be traversing the desert in a fashion reminiscent of those seemingly adventurous explorers I’ve only seen at the cinema!

Our last stop before truly losing sight of civilization was for lunch at the house of a nomad. A man whose family has been caravanning across the Sahara for the past 400 years, this older nomad gave us a delicious meal and answered our many questions about making a life out of journeying through the sand year after year. His family provides an example of a common dynamic for many tribal groups who live in Morocco today. While some family members continue to caravan with their camels, others have gone to the bigger cities to study at university. There seems to be an impressive blending of modernity and tradition within many of these nomadic households – a freedom to take part in whichever lifestyle suits the individual. The older nomad was extremely generous with both his traditional mint tea and the information he gave us regarding relations between his tribe and the government, as well as what it’s like to spend week after week in the harsh conditions of the desert. I can only marvel at the endurance and ingenuity of such a man and his fellow nomads.

Bellies full and racked with anticipation, we finally drove into the dunes of the desert! Driving over sand is really entertaining – it’s like a mini rollercoaster ride! (I’m quite sure the driver was intent on making sure that this was the case.) As we came over a particularly steep dune, we caught sight of our camp and quite simply, glee overtook us all. I can’t articulate the feeling of setting my bag down on my bed, sitting beneath the sun surrounded by sand and thanking our new nomadic host with a giant smile for the tea and almonds.

Overwhelmed by questions of how my life could possibly have led me to such an instance, I could only comprehend the impressive weight of the decisions we make in treading one path over another. I chose to come to Morocco and study at the CCCL and it is this one decision that had situated me across the table from a beautiful, inspiring, and innovative human who I otherwise would not even know existed. I listened to this man who has unlocked so many of the desert’s secrets and I could only think, how many of us there are in this enormous world! Oh, it’s almost too much to try and conceive!

A shadow caravan in the Sahara.

As I’m sure you have surmised by now, we did indeed have the opportunity to enjoy a camel ride across the dunes. My camel was a tall, proud, beautiful (in the only way that camels can somehow appear beautiful) creature that seemed rather content to plod through the desert with me constantly exclaiming how surreal everything felt. I dread to think what she thought about my squeals as she stood up and sat down. It’s a bit terrifying when such a gangly, tall beast decides to sit down…front legs first, then back legs…and you’re holding on for dear life! After disembarking from our camels, we had to run to the top of a dune to catch the sun before it set on that epic day. Picture-taking and sliding down the sand, we made merry as our nomadic guides looked on, laughing at how easily we were thrown into fits of glee!

The view from atop my trusty camel!

Back at the camp, a musical performance by a group of Amazigh men and women. Such fun! As I was recovering from a bit of stomach trouble, I wasn’t planning on gallivanting around the fire, but our nomadic host wasn’t having any of that! Before I knew what was happening, I was dancing around and clapping, following the beat of the drums and the voices of the performers. As a perfect end to the day, we followed the nomads to the top of a dune and spent a couple of hours watching the stars and chatting. Our host showed me how to bury my feet in the sand to keep them warm – an incredible sensation – it actually felt like my feet were wrapped up in an electric blanket.

Looking back, I think my favorite part of the desert was the silence. Once everyone turned in for the night and I was awake in my bed, I was struck by the lack of even the smallest sound. It’s a silence that comforts, that wraps you up and places you deep within the folds of an undisturbed slumber. Completely refreshing and something I could use a lot more of in my life at home.

The following morning brought a rejuvenating breakfast of eggs, bread, honey, tea, and orange juice. Of course, we also had to say goodbye to the desert and move on to our next stop. I was sad to say goodbye to the nomads and our home in the sand. Although short, I feel my stay in the desert will linger in my mind for years. I have found that the best experiences of the semester thus far have been fleeting in reality, yet remarkably permanent in this mind of mine.

The Ancient City of Fes

We turned away from the desert and moved in the direction of Fes. The drive between Zagora and Fes saw us go from the dry, desert landscape to the awe-inspiring peaks of the middle and High Atlas. How strange it is to go through such a variety of surroundings in a single day! As if the Atlas range wasn’t impressive enough, the intellectual center of Morocco that we discovered on the other side of the mountains was even more extraordinary.

Fes is a city that, without a guide, is extremely difficult to navigate. I should say that about the medina in particular. Much larger than the Rabat medina, the old city of Fes is home to tiny alleys that wind around each other and make it impossible to identify from whence you have come or in what direction you should go. Thankfully, we followed a man who knows the ins and outs of this ancient city like the back of his hand. He showed us the famous tanneries and the fabric shops, took us to the oldest Quaranic school in the country, and gave us the opportunity to observe daily life in the medina.

I found the tanneries and their unbelievably hard workers to be most impressive. All day, leather is produced through a process that sees the male workers spending hour after hour in vats of dye under the unrelenting sun. As the smell emitted by the whole process can be a bit difficult to handle, I was glad to have a sprig of mint to sniff! If you have the chance, I think you’d find researching the tanneries of Fes to be quite an enlightening and fascinating read.

The impressive tanneries of Fes.

After a tour of the medina, our group was lucky enough to visit a women’s association in the city. Working with women who have been the victims of gender specific violence, this organization houses battered women and their children, and works to help them become self-sufficient. Through classes in baking, jewelry-making, and other activities, the center gives these eager women the chance to work and earn money for themselves and their children. While they have done so much, the association struggles due to a lack of funding. As it was quite clear that the volunteers are frustrated by how difficult operating on less than a sufficient budget has become, I came away racking my brain for ways in which such an association could raise funds. As with most initiatives relating to women and gender issues here, there is so much work to be done.

Heading Home

Chefchchaouen

Our next overnight stop was in a northern town called Chefchaouen. Couched in the Rif Mountains and known for its blue and white-washed walls, the medina of Chefchaouen is perfect for a beautiful and relaxing stroll for weary travelers. We spent our time there visiting the Kasbah museum, eating a lot of couscous, and doing a fair amount of shopping. Our hotel provided much hilarity as its rooms had been decorated in the style of a room belonging to an 8 year old princess – they were PINK and had beds with canopies and elegant lace curtains. The boys in the group really enjoyed that night.

The final day of our trip saw us wind our way back from the mountains and towards our coastal home in Rabat. We spent the last ride in the van enjoying each other’s company and talking about how on earth Facebook would handle the massive amount of pictures we wanted to upload. I don’t know if I have done the trip justice with my descriptions, but hopefully you feel like you came along for a bit of the journey. If you ever have the chance, do embark on a trip across Morocco – I promise you will discover the places and people I have mentioned. You will have your own unique encounter with this wonderful, generous and incredibly diversified country. I wish I could’ve brought you all along with me, for it truly was a week of sights, sounds, and emotions I am eternally grateful for having experienced!

Except for photo of Marrakesh, all photos by Katherine Lochery.