Albany Music & Dance Restaurants Saratoga Springs Writing & Books: Augusten Burroughs book signings Saratoga Café Capriccio dining Albany dining capital district area dining Saratoga entertainment Albany Mrs. London's Northshire Bookstore Sam Bush The Egg Wheatfields
by maribeth
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Nights Out in Albany and Saratoga Springs, New York
Sam Bush Giving It His All at The Egg
My Mom and I laid low during the few weeks after my father passed away in March at our family home in Troy, New York. Then I said, “Let’s have some fun.”
After a few minutes of reflection, Mom said, “Yes, I’d like to break out and enjoy myself. Although don’t take too many pictures because officially I’m in mourning.”
The heck with old conventions–we’re no longer entrenched in the burdensome customs of the Victorian Age; Mom was long overdue for a little gaiety in her life. (I do, however, think there’s a lot to be said for the nineteenth-century tradition of wearing black for at least a year. It indicated to people ‘I’m vulnerable. Be kind to me.’ But I suppose that’s a thing of the past–people would just think we dressed very New Yorkish. Or Goth.)
So I checked out what was happening in the capital district area, the region that encompasses Albany, Schenectady and Troy as well as the event listings for Saratoga Springs, New York, the quaint old town just forty-five minutes north of us where I lived five years prior to moving to Colorado. Of course I zeroed in on what interested me the most in the Entertainment section of the Times Union; fortunately Mom and I have very similar tastes.
I snatched up tickets for a Sam Bush concert at The Egg in Albany and a book event featuring Augusten Burroughs, put on by the renowned Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga. Mom agreed to treat us to dinner and suddenly we felt excited about life again. With all the care-taking Mom did for Dad the past six months, there’s no doubt that these plans promised to buoy her back to more fun-loving days.
Food & Wine Restaurants Shopping Telluride: Alpen Schatz alpine life Colorado Alpinist and the Goat fine dining Telluride shopping Telluride
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Feasting on Fondue and Raclette in Telluride
A Bubbling Pot of Fondue at Alpinist and the Goat
Providing a Heartwarming Welcome
Serving Up the Bubbles
Brrrr. Baby it’s been cold outside, at least here in the Rocky Mountains. Tis the season to eat lots of warm, hearty foods–calorie-rich meals that refuel you after charging down the slopes all day at Telluride Ski Resort.
And baby do I have a recommendation for you. Book your table at Alpinist and the Goat where you can delight in melted cheese in its most delectable forms: fondue and raclette. Both specialties from the Alps, here these convivial dishes are served with salad, seasoned bread and apples. For the fondue, you can choose from seven different options such as traditional, truffle and Cortina, a twist on the classic recipe blended with creamy gorgonzola. More adventuresome gastronomes will want to try the Basquel, a spicy fondue made with traditional Emmenthaler, Manchego and chorizo or Cajun Fondeaux, a rich blend of cheese finished with crawfish tails and Cajun seasonings. Yum. Leave it to Americans to innovate a centuries-old classic from the Alps.
Colorado Hotels & Lodging Mountain Living Restaurants Skiing & Snowboarding Telluride: Bootdoctors early season skiing holiday festivities Mountain Lodge New Sheridan opening day Telluride Telluride Ski & Snowboard School Telluride Ski Resort
by maribeth
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Grateful for Telluride and the Telluride Ski Resort
The Town of Telluride, Colorado After the Storm
With all that’s happening in the world, most of us are feeling extra stressed these days. This is true even in Telluride, Colorado, one of the safest and most beautiful places on earth. No one is immune to feeling reverberations from all these horrific terrorist acts. As I wrote in my story, Paris Attacks Hit Home, we are one.
The Telluride Scene
Still though, we are so privileged in this sweet little ski town. Few people lock the doors to their cars and houses except during bear season, since our local bruin population has become pretty savvy about entering spaces redolent with lingering pizza, berry and pie smells. We live in a bubble of sorts where our biggest threats come from pushing it too hard on the slopes or getting caught in an avalanche during a backcountry ski.
Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Telluride Telluride Festivals: bars Hotel Restaurants Telluride Telluride Film Festival Telluride Film Festival for the Budget Traveler
by maribeth
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A Local’s Take on the Telluride Film Festival and How to Do TFF on the Cheap
TFF: Great Films in a Spectacular Setting
“Aren’t you tired of seeing movies?” my Hunny asked me as I rolled in last night after the last film of the After the Festival Telluride Film Festival viewings.
“No, you know how I love movies, Hun. Plus, I only saw eight over the span of five days. Some people see that many within the first two days of the festival.”
Still, I’m happy that Film Festival has passed. Just like every other festival in Telluride, it represents a workout of sorts. There’s always so much to take in and experience, whether you’re working it or attending it or doing some combination of both (as is the case with most Telluridians); it’s physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting. But it’s still pretty fantastic.
Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Travel: best seafood Digby Pines ferry to Canada Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel Inverary Resort Liscombe Lodge MacKinnon-Cann Inn maritime vacation Nova Scotia Nova Star
by maribeth
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Nova Scotia Highlights
The Scallop Boat Fleet in Digby
Beddeck on Cape Breton Island
I’m high on Nova Scotia. Really. I recently spent seven days and seven nights in this Maritime province of Canada and I’m busting to tell the whole world about it. Really.
One of a Gazillion Little Boats I Admired in Nova Scotia
Ready for the Bay of Fundy Tides: The Biggest in the World
Lunenberg Loveliness
If you follow this blog, you know that I’m a big storyteller. And I can’t wait to share my travels in Nova Scotia with you. For now though, I’ll keep the words to a minimum and let my pictures tell the story. Hopefully they will be enough to entice you to begin pondering a trip to this charming destination. Spring, summer and fall rank as the best times to go although I’d love to see this endearing land beneath a blanket of snow as fierce gale winds blow in from the Atlantic.
Hotels & Lodging Outdoor Adventures Restaurants The Outer Banks Travel: #AffordableTravel #BeachVacations #CapeHatterasNationalSeashore #OuterBanks #SummertimeFun
by maribeth
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Another Wonderful Visit to the Outer Banks
The Outer Banks of North Carolina
I recently spent a week at the beach with my boyfriend, Steve. We were on the Outer Banks of North Carolina (OBX), one of the most alluring surf side destinations in the world, and a spot he has been frequenting for almost three decades.
So Pretty
Almost There
Steve’s an avid beach enthusiast and I love the fact that he can just as easily appreciate lounging in a sun-baked dune as catching a ten-foot wave in the surf. Depending on the season and the weather patterns, you can find big swells in the waters off of Nags Head, Rodanthe, Hatteras, Frisco, and a slew of other OBX surf spots revered by surfers and beach aficionados from around the world.
Arizona Hotels & Lodging Restaurants The Southwest: Elements fine dining Jade Bar luxury resort night scene Phoenix Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort specialty cocktails
by maribeth
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A Scintillating Sanctuary in Phoenix
Sultry Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain Resort & Spa
Elements: Where the Quality of the Views Rival the Food
It has been cold, rainy, snowy and windy here in Telluride, Colorado all week. I don’t mind because we always need moisture in the West and it’s also good catch-up-at-my-desk weather. But still, I can’t help daydreaming about more sunny, hot-as-a-baked-potato-fresh-out-of-the-oven environs.
I’m letting my thoughts drift to the desert, the Sonoran Desert to be exact, which I’m sure is in glorious bloom right now. Heating up nicely, too. I enjoyed a terrific visit there–within greater Phoenix/Scottsdale/Carefree–last summer with my mom, my fourth trip to that part of Arizona since I was young. And each time, I love it even more. Yes, we went last summer. It was a sunbaked sojourn and we reveled in it. (You just have to make sure you’re not basking in the sun during the heat of the day.)
Art & Culture Restaurants: art exhibition Gustav Klimt movie Neue Galerie New York City Woman in Gold
by maribeth
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The Woman in Gold Movie and Exhibition
Woman in Gold: the Painting in the Movie
I often say I wish I could remember everything I’ve ever read as well as everything I’ve ever written. I give myself a pass on the former but in terms of the latter, I’d think I’d remember most of it. Oh, if only that were the case! In my four guidebooks, one travel memoir, almost four hundred blog posts and an assortment of freelance pieces, I’ve researched and reported intensively on subjects I’m passionate about. And yet, sometimes I catch myself in a sort of black hole-space of my mind.
Take the feature film “Woman in Gold” as an example. I’d been hearing talk about it for months and I vaguely knew about the story of Gustav Klimt’s masterpiece, Adele Bloch-Bauer, the Mona Lisa of Austria, and how it was returned to its rightful owner and found its home in America. It wasn’t until last week, however, upon seeing this fabulous movie starring Helen Mirren, one of my favorite actors, that I realized I had had the pleasure of gazing upon this magnificent work in New York City. I refer to it as “a glittering painting by Gustav Klimt” in my story Gallery Going with the Ladies of Larchmont, one of the first posts to my blog back in 2008.
