New England: dirty, sexy, sweet

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Mud and maple shroud every New England spring. Thanks to an economic climate that is devastating the travel industry, you can indulge for cheaper than ever. Properties in the New England Inns & Resorts Association (NEIRA) are adding maple to mud as the snow melts, and some are throwing in a bit of spice.

Mud & Maple Madness: Inn at Ellis River, Jackson, NH
From March 15 to May 21, pick up two nights at the Inn at Ellis River, and breakfast and lunch daily. The price (which starts at $479) also includes dinner for two and two massages.

Inn the Mood for Mud: Inn by the Sea, Cape Elizabeth, ME
For $679, pick up a night in a room with ocean views and a fireplace! (Hey, that’s a big deal to a city-dweller like me.) Strawberries drizzled with Rich Maine Mud chocolate Sauce™ will be waiting for you in your room, along with two mudslide cocktails and L.L. Bean gum boots (to make walking in the mud easier). The spa treatment for this package? You guessed it … mud mask.

Tap at Trapp: Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe, VT
From March 13 to April 13, $490 will get you two nights at the Trapp Family Lodge, breakfast every day, a sugaring demonstration and a traditional maple sap gathering experience. On Saturdays, you’ll be able to participate in the “sugar on snow” party.

Dirty, Sexy, Sweet: Colonnade Hotel, Boston, MA
A free car wash will remove the mud from your ride, a nice addition to the one-night stay in Boston’s Back Bay. The $279 room rate also includes Chocolate Mud Mousse for two, with sweet maple liquor, delivered to your room. Apparently, you won’t want to go downstairs for dessert.

March “lion” slams east coast

by Tom Johansmeyer on

From New Hampshire to the Carolinas, March came in, as the saying goes, like a lion. Snow, sleet and wind gusts reaching 30 mph have lead to for motor vehicle deaths, school closings and chaos at airports.

More than 900 flights have been canceled at New York area airports (JFK, Newark and LaGuardia). Hundreds more at Logan International Airport in Boston never left the ground, where the airport closed for more than half an hour to clear a runway. In Philadelphia, more than 40 people were stranded overnight.

Even the bus operators got into the delay and cancellation game. Greyhound and Peter Pan scrapped trips into and out of New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

So, get comfortable. It’s going to take a while to sort this mess out.

Find love on the NH slopes

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Are you a die-hard skier who has always wanted to meet the love of your life on the slopes? Good, go to New Hampshire. For the price of a lift ticket at Black Mountain in the Mt. Washington Valley, you could experience a life-changing eight-minute ride in a chairlift.

Back for a third year, the Black Mountain Chairlift Speed Dating event has been upgraded to include “love potions” from the bar and a menu sure to set your heart racing. The best pick-up line will score you a free night at Whitneys Inn, two tickets to Black Mountain, a dozen roses and a bottle of champagne. If the line really is a winner, though, none of this will compare to the real prize!

Winter Climbing on Mt. Washington

by Kraig Becker on

Mt. Washington in New Hampshire is a popular destination in the summer months when thousands of hikers take to its slopes and climb to the summit. During the winter it’s not nearly as crowded, as the mountain’s infamous weather makes for a much more daunting challenge for the hardy, adventurous climbers who seek to reach the top.

The travel section of the New York Times has an excellent article today on climbing Mt Washington during the winter months, when the temperature plummets to well below zero and the winds buffet its slopes. But the allure of facing those conditions is drawing more and more winter hikers to the mountain each year, where they square off with the elements with the hope of being rewarded with an amazing view from the summit.

The official Mt. Washington website boasts that the mountain has the “world’s worst weather” and it’s hard to argue with that when you read the statistics. The weather station that sits atop the mountain records an average snowfall of more than 200 inches a year, and the wind speed tops 100 mph on a weekly basis. Back in 1934, the wind was clocked at 231 mph on the summit, making it the fastest ever record on Earth.

Beginning hikers are strongly encouraged to take a guided climb to the top, such as the ones offered by Eastern Mountain Sports Climbing School. They charge $140 per person, which includes gear such as mountaineering boots, ice axes, crampons, and so on. They’ll also train you in how to use the equipment before setting out and make sure you get up and down the mountain in one piece.

New state laws that affect travelers in 2009

by Jamie Rhein on

There are slew of new state laws that have gone into effect with the change to 2009. Here are some of the ones that I’ve culled from this CBS News/AP article that could impact travelers depending upon which state you head to for a vacation this year.

In California, do not read-or-write text messages while you drive. It’s now illegal. Heavens! Can you imagine someone texting on a freeway in L.A.?

If you are in Illinois and are having a heart attack at an outdoor fitness facility, look for a defibrillator. All such facilities are now required to have one.

Don’t even think about urinating or defecating in public in New Hampshire. If you decide to let go, it could cost you a $1,000 fine. Did people in New Hampshire have a problem holding it until they found a toilet? That was my initial thinking. Turns out, the law is to prevent people who pee in public from being labeled as sex offenders.

For smokers in Oklahoma, only fire-safe cigarettes are being sold. If you’re a smoker in Oregon, don’t light up in a bar. Smoking is now banned in bars. Trans-fat is also banned in Oregon. From the finest restaurants to fast food, not a speck of trans fat is to be used.

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