Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Shopping Travel: Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Shopping The Beach Travel
by maribeth
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East Coast Adventure: The Outer Banks
The Outer Banks of North Carolina
Even travel writers need a vacation. Everybody needs a break from their job even if their work is their passion. That’s exactly what I did during my four days and nights on The Outer Banks of North Carolina. I didn’t take a single note. I didn’t scout out the best places of lodging, the most typical restaurants or everyone’s favorite dairy bar. I didn’t come away with a single address, phone number or Web site.
My mind is imbued, however, with myriad images of a place that was once imagined and is now forever known. I had envisioned a certain wildness about this immense slice of land that extends along the coast of North Carolina. (The Outer Banks is actually a long, narrow string of barrier islands some two-hundred miles long.) I found its untamed characteristics in its charging surf and along immense swathes of beaches best accessed by four-wheel drive vehicles with deflated tires. I felt enchanted by the region’s cedar shingled houses on stilts despite the over proliferation of them in a good many areas. Indeed the development of The Outer Banks has not always been kept carefully in check but it’s no wonder since much like on Cape Cod and in certain parts of Maine, the ocean roars for attention here drawing crowds from near and far.
Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Travel: Hotels & Lodging Restaurants The Beach Travel
by maribeth
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Mid-Atlantic Discoveries: Virginia Beach
VB Hotspot: The Sexy SkyBar
I have to admit I’m more of a Saint-Tropez kind of gal, so I felt somewhat wary about the idea of spending time at Virginia Beach, a destination that conjured up images of guys in muscle shirts and girls romping about in wet T-shirt contests on the beach. But it made sense for me to park myself there for a few days until my boyfriend, Steve, came by to pick me up for our trip to the Outer Banks. He had actually lived in VB for a while nearly two decades ago and his curiosity about the evolution of this major resort town encouraged me to check it out.
Both of us ended up being quite impressed by this super beach-y destination.
And who wouldn’t be? The Atlantic is gorgeous here. It stretches out as far as the eye can see and comes crashing in with big tumbling waves. I love the vastness of the ocean but I find it even more interesting when there’s activity on the water and here, at practically the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, there’s plenty to see. Cruise ships, barges, immense freighters and all kinds of pleasure boats pass by at varying distances from the horizon, providing endless hours of entertainment, especially for a landlubber like me.
Neptune's Statue on the Boardwalk
The beach and boardwalk tract the coast for some three miles here. My biggest decisions revolved around whether I’d walk on the expansive sandy beach or meander along the impeccably maintained boardwalk. Now that’s vacation mode. Most of the time I ended up doing a combination of both. The scene at both locales percolated with locals and visitors alike doing all the fun things you do at the beach. And yes, I saw a number of muscle men, but more in the form of super fit guys jogging, walking and roller blading along the boardwalk. Few posers here. This is the real deal since Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana, our country’s largest naval facility is located in VB and I can assure you that all of these military dudes and dudettes appear more than fit to serve. The locals overall look as taut and tight as most Coloradans. This is a beach community after all.
The tourists seem more concerned with gorging themselves in one of the many restaurants, bars, ice cream shops and various other eateries along the beach. And VB is their oyster when it comes to choosing their preferred form of temptation. There’s something for every taste and pocketbook and most scintillate with a brightly-colored decor that offers outstanding views of the beach.
VB Ocean Beach Club Penthouse
Far from a tired old beach town, Virginia Beach pops and bubbles with beautiful places of lodging as well. The Virginia Beach Ocean Beach Club is one such place and I felt so content here that it was hard to tear myself away from the sunny interior of my eighth floor abode that plunged over the ocean. The crash of the waves on the beach lulled me to sleep and I snatched every possible moment to sit on my balcony high above the activity below. Morning meant gazing down at early risers strolling on this vast playland of freshly raked beach. I sipped tea (hot and iced) bemused by pods of dolphins that frolicked in the surf throughout the day. In the evening I savored white wine staring down at this constantly animated tableau and one night I even worked on my laptop from my little perch. The combined glow from the moon and my computer screen will never be forgotten.
VB Ocean Beach Club at Dusk
A little investigating led me to unearth lots of charm amidst all this newness. Of course the quaintness of the beach never waned, but I delighted in discovering some small, soulful places that clearly rank as locals’ best-loved establishments. I peeked into Pelon’s Baja Grill, a surfers’ favorite, the first day I arrived, yet sadly never made it back for some of their renowned fish tacos and guacamole. I picked up some excellent take out instead from Taste nearby and brought it back to my surf-side enclave. I also longed to experience the old beach house interiors of Doc Taylor’s and Tautogs, but opted out of eating there as well since the beach beckoned. (I swear I’ll return to Doc Taylor’s some day, especially for their crab crêpe with veggies topped with Hollandaise sauce.) Steve and I did, however, grab breakfast at The Belvedere Coffee Shop, a real classic that hasn’t changed since the days when he would come here with his buddies before a day in the surf. The Belvedere is a totally unpretentious diner that offers fantastic views of the ocean and tasty eggs cooked to order.
Rockfish, a must-see for anyone that has a love for the Beatles, presents more great vistas of the beach. After having studied the plethora of Beatles’ memorabilia here (one of the largest in the world), I was happy to sit outside and gaze at the VB Fishing Pier over their lighter version of scrumptious She-crab soup (a sort of bisque) and Pina Colada. She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Steve arrived for my last night and I was excited to show him all that I had discovered at Virginia Beach Oceanfront. We strolled along the boardwalk, his eyes widening as though he was seeing it all for the first time. We stopped in front of the many different points of interests—-extraordinary statues and the like—that were erected at each intersection of a street along the Boardwalk. He was amazed at how far this once shabby beach town had come, how handsomely the oceanfront had been developed over the past ten years or so. We lingered at the Neptune Plaza for a while where free concerts are performed nightly to a highly animated crowd. We poked in at The Jewish Mother, an institution of sorts known for hosting performers such as Dave Matthews and Dr. John (before they became big). Steve informed me that it hadn’t changed an ounce since his college days but we learned that it is slated to take over new digs in 2010. (This is likely a good thing since to me it looked like too much of a dive.) Their eight-inch tall carrot cake, however, tempted me greatly but we were in search of a more romantic venue.
We found our bliss at the SkyBar, the wraparound pool bar that opens at 10 p.m. on top of the Hilton. Apparently it’s only open to hotel guests, but that alone would give me reason to stay there. Part Miami, part Marrakesh, part (yes) Saint-Tropez, the look of the SkyBar is sexy and alluring. As soon as the doors opened, we busted onto the scene, took one look around and threw down my jacket on one of their many double-wide loungers that punctuate their pool deck. After doing the 360-degree tour, we opted for a lounger within the indoor pool area. It was nearing late September by now and the ocean breeze cast a chill in the air. Inside felt like a tropical paradise. We sipped strawberry daiquiris and lounged in each others’ arms amidst piles of white terry towels, many of which were rolled up into perfect bolsters. Steve moved to take off his shirt until I suggested we not become quite so comfy. As much as we were enjoying each other, we didn’t miss a minute of the action that played out before us. House music blared and fashionable folks slithered by as though they were mingling at a mixer on the beach.
I wondered how many people had ended up in the pool after a couple of hours of partying. Undoubtedly a few. If so, VB’s wet T-shirt exhibitions have certainly come a long way. Steve and I vowed to come back to take in even more next time.
SkyBar and Its Infinity Pool by Day
Virginia Beach Ocean Beach Club, 3401 Atlantic Avenue, 757-213-0601 or 800-245-1003, www.vboceanbeachclub.com
Hilton, 3001 Atlantic Avenue, 757-213-3000, www.Hilton.com/VirginiaBeach; SkyBar is open Friday and Saturday nights from 10 p.m.-1:30 a.m. throughout the season (which goes at least until October 31st when they’ll have a Fire & Ice Halloween Party—ooo la la!). SkyBar memberships are also available inside Catch 31, the showcase restaurant of the Hilton, for $100.
Pelon’s Baja Grill, 3619 Pacific Avenue, 757-417-3970, www.pelonsbajagrill.com
Taste, 36th & Pacific Avenue, 757-422-3399, www.tasteunlimited.com
Doc Taylor’s Restaurant, 207 23rd Street, 757-425-1960
Tautogs, 205 23rd Street, 757-422-0081, www.tautogs.com
Belvedere Coffee Shop, 3601 Atlantic Avenue, 757-425-0613
Rockfish Boardwalk Bar and Sea Grill, 1601 Atlantic Avenue, 757-213-7625, www.phrinc.com/restaurants/rockfish
The Jewish Mother, 3108 Pacific Avenue, 757-422-5430, www.jewishmother.com
More Fun
Pocahontas Pancake & Waffle Shop, Atlantic Aveune & 35th Street, 757-428-6352, www.pocahontaspancakes.com; loved the kitschy decor and will definitely return some day for their griddlecakes.
Whalebone, 1616 Laskin Road #748B, 757-437-8141, www.whalebonesurfshop.com; the place to shop for surfboards and surf attire, particularly ultra-cool T-shirts.
Coastal Edge, 2122 Atlantic Avenue, 757-491-9017, www.coastaledge.com; a super-popular surf and skate shop with numerous locations in Virginia Beach.
Forbes Candies, 2318 Atlantic Avenue, 757-425-5173, www.forbescandies.com; an Old School candy company that continues to make yummy saltwater taffy and other treats in big copper pots.
Pot Pourri: Bargains Hotels & Lodging Telluride The Rockies Travel
by maribeth
Comments Off on Great Travel Deals for Public Radio
Great Travel Deals for Public Radio
Magnificent Mountain Lodge in Telluride
Thank you to all that supported community radio in our recent KOTO fundraising drive! I still need to do my part, however, to raise money for our unique radio station here in Telluride, Colorado. Some of my favorite establishments have made some generous donations to help our cause. In exchange for the pledge amounts listed below, you can snatch up stays in outstanding properties as well as the opportunity to take an exciting train excursion, all at fantastic value.
$250. pledge: Two nights in a one-bedroom condo at the handsome Mountain Lodge in Telluride. Approximate value: $500.-750.
$250. pledge: Two nights in a hotel guestroom at the luxurious Capella in Telluride. Approximate value: $400.-900.
$150. pledge: Two nights at the Rochester Hotel, Durango’s must-see tribute to Western movie making in the Rockies. Approximate value: $320.
$50. pledge: A train ride for two on the Cascade Canyon Winter Train operated by the historic Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. Approximate value: $100.
Note that some blackout dates may apply.
I’ll be accepting pledges on a first-come basis through this Web site only. You may write me a note on my Contact Page.
Thank you in advance for supporting my fundraising efforts for KOTO, an NPR station and one of only about a half dozen entirely community sponsored radio stations in the country. KOTO is a Telluride treasure and we now boast an increasing number of listeners on the web at www.koto.org. I’m happy to host Travel Fun, my bimonthly talk radio show on travel there, a chatty program that features interviews with all kinds of exciting guests from the worlds of travel, beauty, fashion and more.
Choo-Chooing Through the Rockies in a Winter Wonderland
Riding the Bus with Greyhound
Greyhound: An American Tradition
Sometimes Amtrak just doesn’t cut it. And since I’ll do just about anything to avoid driving—especially in an area unfamiliar to me—I decided to give good ‘ole Greyhound a whirl. They typically serve more destinations than Amtrak within corridors where plane travel doesn’t make much sense.
I used to take the Greyhound somewhat regularly during my college days and came to tolerate the Boston/Albany route fairly well. That was some time ago needless-to-say but although I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m an intrepid traveler, I am a good sport. So I thought what the heck, Greyhound is a good way to go. At least for this trip that was to take me from downtown D.C. to Virginia Beach, a distance of just over two hundred miles. I didn’t need a car in VB and my return trip was arranged, so I thought I’d heed that famous slogan that says “leave the driving to us.”
Four Corners Podcasts Telluride The Rockies Travel: Four Corners Ken Burns Podcasts Telluride Telluride Festivals The Rockies Travel
by maribeth
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Ken Burns on America’s National Parks and Telluride
Ken Burns and “National Parks” Producer Dayton Duncan
If you’re anything like me, you’ve been moved to tears every night this week watching Ken Burns’s six-part series, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” on PBS. This work was a labor of love for this master documentarian for some ten years and I think most of America is grateful for it finally being available for all to see. “It is the history of the ideas and the individuals that made this uniquely American thing happen,” Ken told me in a Travel Fun interview I conducted with him early September. “For the first time in history, land was set aside for the people,” he continued.
You may listen to the entire forty-minute interview I conducted with Ken by clicking on the play button here:
Ken also chats about his twenty-year relationship with Telluride. “It’s my lover,” he says. Listen to the podcast to find out why. You’ll also learn more about Ken’s two-decade long relationship with the Telluride Film Festival and why he calls it “the best festival on the planet.”
I was lucky enough to see one of Ken’s films on our National Parks on the big screen at Telluride’s Mountain Film Festival last May. Read about that experience here.
Book Picks
“Ken Burns: The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” at www.shoppbs.org/home. You can buy this must-have tome and the DVD and receive the CD soundtrack for free.
Podcast (bonjour): Play in new window | Download
Art & Culture Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Shopping Spas Travel: Art & Culture Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Shopping Spas Travel
by maribeth
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Mid-Atlantic Discoveries: Baltimore
Historic Fell’s Point
When my boyfriend, Steve, asked me to accompany him to his brother’s wedding on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I didn’t expect that the trip would grow into such a big travel week (actually more like ten days). But I should have known that that would be the case since the travel writer in me itched for new experiences and, of course, it takes more doing than one flight to reach the Outer Banks from Telluride. It’s rare that I can go to a place and just BE; instead I seek to live it fully, gathering all kinds of information along the way, jotting down notes, doing what I can to find the story.
We flew from Denver to Baltimore and since I had never visited this major hub, I decided it was a must-see. It did not disappoint me in the slightest. We stayed our first night together on the east coast at The Admiral Fell Inn, a historic property on Fell’s Point, Baltimore’s original port and Maryland’s first National Historic District. (The area was spared destruction in the late sixties after a grassroots effort prevented construction of a highway plumb through this now happening neighborhood. Can you imagine?)
Once dominated by ship building and commerce, today Fell’s Point is a charming harbor side district characterized by centuries-old buildings, eclectic shops, lively taverns and cobbled streets made from bricks of granite used for ship ballast. Goods once flowed through the wharves and warehouses of Fell’s Point with as many as eighteen shipyards operating in the area, building hundreds of vessels. Many of these structures have recently been converted into fun spaces for people to live and play; others, such as the taverns, have existed for ages.
Beauty Colorado Mountain Living Spas Telluride: Beauty Colorado Mountain Living Spas Telluride
by maribeth
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Telluride’s Beauty Boutiques
Mountain Therapy at Mountain Lodge Telluride
I love the notion of a beauty boutique. I frequented Beauté Boutique in the seventeenth arrondissement of Paris for many years. It consisted of a sectioned off little space where (mostly) women had a variety of body parts attended to with the efficacy and regularity of a man’s visit to the barber shop. It was a totally no frills operation but women maintained their monthly appointments for a short menu of treatments that included waxings, pedicures and facials. “In France, all this is part of la hygiene personnelle,” la directrice once explained to me.
The approach in Telluride is not too unlike what I encountered in Paris. Here the salons and spas are considerably more inviting than my neighborhood beauty boutique in Paris but these purveyors of poufing and pampering are indeed accustomed to meeting the needs of an equally demanding clientele. In Telluride, many women remain just as committed to maintaining their beauté as the French. This sort of fervent dedication to spas and salons is somewhat unusual in America but in my Rocky Mountain town where the air is often single-digit-humidity dry and the sun beams hard and bright most days of the year, personal upkeep is more of a necessity than a luxury.
French Provinces Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Shopping Spas: French Provinces Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Shopping Spas The Beach
by maribeth
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Sizzling Sensations from Saint-Tropez
Sexy Saint-Tropez
O.K., I mentioned Saint-Tropez a few posts ago and I’m still tapping into a well of exhilarating emotions. What a scintillating town! And all under the guise of an old fishing village that exudes a delicious combination of Provençal charm and Côte d’Azur pizazz. It’s both glitzy and real. To me, it’s one of the most picturesque and authentic tourist destinations in the world. It’s also a great place for shopping and gallery going, so be sure to meander within the maze of old streets to seek out your favorite boutique. K. Jacques, renowned maker of sandals, is most definitely one of mine. You’ll also find lots of great pottery shops, antique dealers and fashion-forward clothing and accessories boutiques tucked within this glamorous enclave.
Hotel Byblos: A Saint-Tropez Classic
The celebrated Hotel Byblos is still the magical place to be for lodging, dining, drinks, spa treatments or lolling on the beach (hiding behind designer sunglasses in a skimpy little number, bien sur). The whole establishment is awash with cheerful, fresh colors characteristic of Provence and the French Riviera. The hotel has clearly not spared a dime in recent refurbishments since most of the rooms have been beautifully decorated in luxurious fabrics from leading French names Canovas, Frey and Lelievre. Here your beach experience is extended in bathrooms beautified with Italian marble, exotic tiles and polished pebbles. For further pampering, visit The Byblos Spa that features a host of treatments created exclusively by Sisley Cosmetics for Byblos. A stay here (and to Saint-Tropez) is not complete without dining at Spoon Byblos where you can enjoy Mediterranean-inspired cuisine along with an international wine selection. An Alain Ducasse restaurant, the first Spoon, opened over ten years ago in Paris, a highly successful concept that has been replicated in several other countries.
