International Balloon Festival

The annual International Balloon Festival of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec will take place Aug. 14-22. The sky of Haut-Richelieu will be filled with 115 hot air balloons from Canada, the United States, France and Brazil. Of the 16 specially shaped balloons on site, eight of them will be in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu for the first time. On Aug. 17 and 18, Laurentian Bank Night Glows will take place. With the coming of twilight, the grounded balloons will light up and transform into gigantic Chinese lanterns.

In its 27th year, the International Balloon Festival boasts the world’s largest inflatable theme park. “Balloon Planet: The Conquest” will now extend throughout the Festival grounds where festival goers can wander among a hundred artistic structures, more than 50 games, two immense domes, and a workshop village for children. Visitors will be able to learn all about the history of hot air balloons and get inside a balloon.

Bimana, the impressive Colombian band, return for an exclusive engagement with their gigantic puppets, octopuses and kites.

The Loto-Quebec Stage features American Idol superstar Adam Lambert, who will launch the festivities with his first visit to Quebec on Aug. 14 at 9 p.m. The guitar genius Orianthi, known for being the last concert guitarist for Michael Jackson, will perform to warm up the crowd. In an exclusive concert, Marjo et ses hommes (Eric Lapointe, Mario Pelchat, Daniel Lavoie, Jonathan Painchaud, Antoine Gratton and Les Respectables) will host the must-see International Balloon Festival Show du Ciel on Sunday Aug. 15.

The International Balloon Festival site will be transformed into a gigantic dance floor on August 18, when K-MARO and the popular Romanian DJ recognized for his world-wide success ‘Stereo Love’, Edward Maya, will thrill the crowd.

Saturday, Aug. 21, features internationally renowned artist Akon, and to close out the Festival on Aug. 22, comedic phenomenon Rachid Badouri and the new sensation, Eddy King, will make sure that the Festival of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu finishes with laughter.

Bring the grandkids! Throughout the event, on the Family Stage, children will be able to attend various shows planned just for them including Arthur L’aventurier, Les Clowns du Carrousel, Sonia Yaya, Les Petites Tounes and magic shows. For more information and directions to St. Jean — a 75-minute drive from Burlington — visit www.ballooncanada.com.

Discount Travel Tips

The ‘senior discount’ isn’t always the best deal

Dear Savvy Senior,
Can you tell us about U.S. travel discounts? My husband and I are approaching retirement and love to travel but have a limited budget.
­ Discount Travelers

Dear Travelers,
Everybody loves a bargain but in today’s tight economy, discount travel deals that have real value are getting harder to find. Here are some tips to help you find the best deals.

Senior Discounts?
When it comes to senior travel bargains, an important point to keep in mind is that the “senior discount” may not always be the best deal. Hotels, airlines and cruise lines, for example, offer advanced bookings along with special deals and promotions from time to time that may be a lower rate than what the senior discount is. Always ask about the lowest possible rate and the best deal available. With that said, here’s a breakdown of the different “senior” travel discounts that are available today and where you can find them.

AARP discounts: If you’re a member of AARP, various travel discounts are available on hotels, rental cars, cruises and vacation packages. To find them see aarp.org/travel or expedia-aarp.com, or call 800-675-4318.
Airlines: Southwest (southwest.com, 800-435-9792) has the best senior fare program, offering discounts on walk-up fares to passengers 65 and older. American (aa.com, 800-433-7300), Continental (continental.com, 800-523-3273), U.S. Airways (usairways.com, 800-428-4322) also offer limited senior fares to passengers 65-plus to selected destinations.

Train discounts: Amtrak (www.amtrak.com, 800-872-7245), the nationwide rail network, provides a 15 percent discount to coach travelers age 62 and older, and a 10 percent discount to passengers 60 and older on cross-border services operated jointly by Amtrak and VIA Rail Canada.

Bus travel: Greyhound (greyhound.com, 800-231-2222), the largest provider of intercity bus transportation, offers a 5 percent discount on unrestricted fares to seniors over 62. Peter Pan (peterpanbus.com, 800-343-9999), which serves the Northeast region of the U.S., offers the same deal. Trailways (trailways.com, 800-776-7581), a privately owned bus company also provides senior discounts but they vary by location. And, most local bus lines and public transportation offer discounted senior passes.

Car rentals: Most car rental companies offer 5 to 25 percent discounts to customers who belong to 50-and-older organizations like AARP. Good discounts are also available to AAA (aaa.com) members. To shop around for the best rental car deals use travel aggregator sites like orbitz.com or kayak.com.

Hotels: Most hotels in the U.S. offer senior discounts usually ranging from 10 to 30 percent. Age eligibility will vary by hotel, usually starting at age 50, 55, 60 or 62. Hyatt (hyatt.com, 888-591-1234) offers the biggest hotel discounts – up to 50 percent off to seniors age 62 and older.

Cruising: If you’re interested in taking a cruise, there are lots of bargains available regardless of age. To find them use cruisecompete.com (800-797-4635), which can give you the lowest prices for the dates and ports you specify. In addition, some cruise lines offer seniors discounts on select cruises to passengers 55 and older. The best way to find these is to contact a travel agent (see cruising.org to find an agent who specializes in cruises), or check with a few cruise brokers like vacationstogo.com (800-338-4962), cruise411.com (899-553-7090), or ecruises.com (800-223-6868).

National Parks: One of the best travel deals available is the “America The Beautiful – Senior Pass” (www.nps.gov/fees_passes.htm). This is a lifetime pass that will let you and anyone in your car into national parks, forests, recreation areas and monument grounds. It’s available to those 62 or older, and you can get it at one of the federal recreation sites for a one-time fee of $10, and it never expires.

Entertainment: In most cities, seniors over 60 qualify for reduced admission to theaters, museums, and other attractions. Be sure you ask!

Out and About in New York’s Central Park

By Joan Scobey

My mom read her morning paper on a park bench that was “adopted” by the Madoff family (yes, that family). My own daily park route takes me past William Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott on the Literary Walk. Two guys on bass and guitar, usually strumming “Sweet Georgia Brown,” stand by the statue of the beloved husky Balto, whose dogsled team carried antitoxin through a blizzard to halt a diphtheria epidemic; invariably, a kid is sitting on its back being photographed.

Practically everyone in New York has a favorite spot in the park. Joggers love the track around the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir (she ran there frequently). For birders, it’s the dense foliage of the Ramble. Pug owners congregate at Pug Hill.

In fact, a roster of famous New Yorkers introduce their own pet places, marked with small green signs and identifying numbers, to passersby via cell phone. Dial 646-862-0997 plus that number to hear Alec Baldwin talk about playing ball at the Great Lawn (16#), John McEnroe at the Tennis Courts (37#) and Yoko Ono at Strawberry Fields (36#), celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

I recently met Doug Blonsky, the president and administrator of the Central Park Conservancy, at the Loeb Boathouse, the park’s idyllic lakeside restaurant, for a park tour. His megawatt enthusiasm stokes the park engines.

We headed north along the East Drive, and a few minutes later he slowed in front of a bronze panther crouching on a boulder.

“The park is full of marvelous animal sculptures, even though most people only know Balto,” he said. “I love this one — it’s called ‘Still Hunt.’”

We walked past the reservoir and into the park’s northern reaches to one of its crowning glories: the Conservatory Garden at 105th Street and Fifth Avenue. It’s actually three floral landscapes in distinct styles — Italian, English and French — in continuous bloom from early spring through late October. The six-acre gardens and filigreed wrought-iron Vanderbilt Gate are beloved backdrops for wedding ceremonies and photographs, as are several other bucolic spots around the park (permits required for both). Every month of the year something is blooming somewhere; a park bloom schedule notes where and when.

Just north of the garden we slipped into a time warp of American history. This rugged terrain is where the Brits camped out during the American Revolution, monitoring George Washington in nearby Harlem, and almost 40 years later the Americans rebuilt their fortifications in the War of 1812. McGown’s Pass, Fort Clinton and Nutter’s Battery were all defenses against the British, who never did invade the area. The stone shell of Block House No.1, near 110th Street, is the only remnant left.

The craggy landscape overlooks the Harlem Meer, once a swamp and now a tranquil lake for fishing. The Charles A. Dana Discovery Center, one of four activity centers, provides free poles, unbarbed hooks, and bait for catch-and-release fishing.

“Our three other centers also lend game equipment,” Blonsky said. “At Belvedere Castle we give out a backpack with binoculars and bird guides for self-guided birding in the Ramble. At the North Meadow Recreation Center it’s bats, balls and other sports equipment for play around North Meadow fields. And at the Chess and Checkers House, game pieces for the 24 game-board tables.”

Looping south on the West Drive the landscape opens up to wide meadows, with dozens of ball fields. Blonsky stopped at a particularly barren stretch.

“This used to be dense forest before a freak storm last August roared across the park, uprooting more than 500 trees,” he said. “The devastation was brutal, but we’re looking on it as an opportunity to clear out some long-neglected tree stands and make meadows for people to picnic and new habitats for bird life.”

Most of the downed trees have been turned into mountains of wood chips for mulch, but one huge fallen trunk is still there as a reminder of the park’s worst day.

Most people know the park best for its public events — the Shakespeare Festival in summer, New Year’s Eve fireworks and midnight run, the Great Lawn performances of the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera — but creating a place for small pleasures is exactly what its two designers, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, had in mind when they won the 1858 design competition to turn 843 city acres of swamps and rocky schist into the first public park built in America. Their vision, as Olmstead put it, was to create “long spaces that you could dream away in” and provide separate spaces for walkers, horseback riders, birders, ball players, picnickers and cars. Their solution was a brilliantly interlocking design: They sank through-traffic transverses below ground (and eye) level and discreetly set 36 distinctively designed bridges across ponds and lakes and over the drives and bridle paths that loop around the park.

This Greensward Plan was a monumental effort that took 15 years and more than $14 million (roughly $200 million today). To begin with, Olmstead and Vaux had to relocated 1,600 residents who were living in several small villages; move nearly 5 million cubic yards of stone, earth and topsoil; and transport flocks of sheep upstate from the Sheep Meadow (lest they be used for food by Depression-era New Yorkers).

Today Central Park is the model for urban parks worldwide and a National Historic Landmark since 1963. Its lakes and woodlands, gardens and trails, rocky schists and dense rambles are the heart of the city and, with 30 million visitors a year, New York’s second most popular attraction after Times Square.

It is run by the Central Park Conservancy, a private, not-for-profit organization that provides 85 percent of Central Park’s $27 million annual operating budget; the rest comes from the city. The stats are staggering: 250 acres of lawns, ball fields and playgrounds; 150 acres of lakes and streams; 69 miles of roads and paths; 6,000 trees, including 1,700 prized and endangered American elms — not to mention monuments, bridges and buildings.

All this is in the care of 250 staff and a few thousand volunteers. It’s no surprise that volunteering is one of the ingenious ways the park solicits support. You can endow a tree ($5,000), donate daffodils or tulips ($1 per bulb) or work (35 gardeners help the Conservatory Garden staff of five).

A favorite way is to adopt one of the 9,000 benches ($7,500). Their bronze plaques tell moving tales of love and loss: “Michelle, Will you marry me? Love, John” and “To My Knight in Shining Armor; the Love of My Life, Mouse.”

Central Park is the front yard for half a million people who live within a 10-minute walk. Some days it seems every one of them is there, usually with a dog or a camera. And it isn’t long before someone asks me to take their picture by a tree — or astride Balto.

IF YOU GO
“Seeing Central Park” is the official map for all the walks and sights, the location of cafe/snack bars and restrooms. Pick it up at a kiosk or visitor center near main park entrances, or visit www.centralparaknyc.org.
Loeb Boathouse serves American food every day at lunch or weekend brunch, and at dinner from April through November. Its casual cafe is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., winter to 4:30 p.m.

Kids (and adults, too) who visit Central Park in New York love to have their pictures taken on Balto, the beloved husky whose dogsled team brought needed medicine through a blizzard.

Clowns and jugglers are among entertainers who enchant kids every weekend at New York’s Central Park.

Bethesda Fountain overlooks the lake and the Loeb Boathouse, Central Park’s only formal restaurant.

Joan Scobey is a freelance travel writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com

Moonlight Lady Offers Destination Weddings

The popularity of destination weddings is on the rise, with the greatest interest coming from the second marriage and gay wedding markets. Vermont Discovery Cruises recently announced that the Moonlight Lady offers a new destination-wedding venue with overnight cruises on Lake Champlain.

“The beautifully appointed interior and intimate style of this ship affords an ideal setting for a destination wedding,” said owner Mike Shea.  “Couples may have their ceremony, candle-lit dinner, a sail into the sunset, a midnight champagne toast and a farewell brunch the next morning. Our Burlington location enhances the experience offering hotels, shops, galleries, recreation and abundant nightlife. Our guests may enjoy an extended weekend with friends and family in lieu of a typical single-day celebration.”

The Moonlight Lady is available for private functions of up to 40 guests for lunch or dinner service and accommodates 16 passengers in 8 private cabins for overnight guests. The ship offers 3 decks, an open kitchen, bar, observation areas and both indoor and outdoor seating. It operates from May – October.  For more information, call 802-863-3350 or email info@vermontdiscoverycruises.com.

New Outdoor Experience is Like a Full-Service Hotel — Without the Hotel

Start with beautiful natural outdoor environments that include mountain, wooded, lake-side and ocean-side locales. Add services and amenities generally associated with full-service hotels and you have the genesis for the outdoor experience that is RVC Outdoor Destinations.

RVC Outdoor Destinations offers multiple RV hookups and buddy sites, but that is where the similarity to traditional RV parks and cabin/cottage rentals ends.

RVC Outdoor Destinations feature cottages, Yurts and classic Airstream trailers for rent, and most destinations are on the water.

Destinations include concierge service, a lobby, convenience stores, grab-and-go food, fitness centers, game rooms, saline swimming pools, free WiFi and cable, coffee and wine bars, boat launch and slips, golf cart rentals, and more.

VC Outdoor Destinations has locations throughout the Southeastern United States. For more information visit www.rvcoutdoors.com

Grandtravel Offers ‘Bonding’ Trip to Italy

Grandtravel brings grandparents and grandchildren together to explore Venice, Florence, Siena and Rome, showcasing the best Italy has to offer — from cafés that circle elegant piazzas, massive architecture, ancient ruins, medieval towns, and magnificent seaside, to fine cuisine, world-class art and designer fashion. Discover Ancient Rome, stroll the gardens of Tivoli, take a hands-on cooking class, ride the rails through the heart of Tuscany en route to a 16th-century working farm, visit a Venetian mask workshop and a glass-blowing studio – in essence, begin a classical education that will enrich the childrens’ appreciation for the flair and style of Italian culture, all at a leisurely pace with three nights’ stay at each property. The 12-day “Italy’s Splendor” has two summer departures, both guaranteed, July 5-16 and August 2-13.

Participants enjoy an adventure filled with activities that accentuate the special bond between the two generations, each learning from the other, as they create Venetian masks; visit a wine cellar to learn how wine is made; cook with a Tuscan chef; float along the elegant canals of Venice in a gondola; tour the architectural wonders of St. Mark’s Square, the Doges’ Palace, the Roman Forum, Colosseum and majestic Pantheon, and the Sistine Chapel; and view Michelangelo’s David, Tintoretto’s Paradise, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Springtime and Bernini’s masterpiece, the Fountain of Four Rivers. Other highlights include a pony trek across the Tuscan countryside and following costumed actors through the hidden passageways and mysterious staircases of the 16th-century Palazzo Vecchio.

Meal settings reflect the country’s variety: a traditional trattoria, Tuscan-style barbecue, lunch in a Sienese restaurant, gourmet picnic amidst the idyllic scenery of the Tuscan countryside and dinner at a lively Tivoli restaurant. There is plenty of free time to explore the cities and towns as well: shop along Rome’s Via del Corso and Via Veneto, relax at cafés or indulge in an afternoon treat of gelato while taking a passegiatta, the Italian ritual of an evening stroll.

For more information, call (800) 247-7651, or visit www.grandtrvl.com.

Trails and Tours for Snow-shoes and Skis

By Phyl Newbeck

Let’s face it – the snow is going to fall whether you like it or not, so the trick is to get out and enjoy it. While many prefer the adrenaline rush of downhill skiing, others may opt for the peace and serenity of cross-country skiing or snowshoeing. For those who would like a helping hand to guide them over the trails, Vermont offers a number of options:

❄ The Touring Center at Stowe offers two kinds of guided snowshoe trips. On Wednesdays and Saturdays, the Center provides tours of easy to moderate terrain, ending with lunch at the Fireside Tavern. On Saturday evenings, guides lead moonlight tours beginning at 5:30 p.m. Snowshoers can stride along the streams of Ranch Valley and enjoy a cup of hot cider at the hut near the end of the trek.

❄ At Trapp Family Lodge, members of the legendary von Trapp family lead daily tours through March 15. The theme of the trip, difficulty factor and equipment needed depends on which member of the family is leading the tour.

❄ Smugglers Notch offers a wide array of guided snowshoe tours, as well. While many are geared for families with children, there are other regularly scheduled treks on the Nordic center’s trails providing information on local history and wildlife. Additionally, there are weekly Saturday night trips into the Notch, and twice weekly backcountry treks starting at the top of Morse Mountain (accessed via the chairlift). Smuggs also hosts a thrice-weekly guided cross-country ski tour to visit a pristine and undisturbed beaver pond.

❄ Bolton Valley Nordic Center offers two-hour snowshoe treks every Saturday on both groomed and backcountry trails with guides from Petra Cliffs.

❄ Ole’s Cross Country Center in Warren has hired naturalist Carol Thompson to lead weekend snowshoe tours at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Tours can also be made by appointment. In addition, Ole’s will be hosting moonlight snowshoe tours on Jan. 31 and Feb. 28. The speed and duration will be determined by the group and can range from a leisurely two-mile stroll to an athletic four-mile trip.

❄ Moonlight snowshoe trips are very popular. Catamount Family Center in Williston will also lead moonlight treks on Jan. 30, and Feb. 27, beginning at 8 p.m.

❄ Craftsbury Outdoor Center in the Northeast Kingdom offers weekly, guided snowshoe and ski tours for center members and those staying overnight at the lodge. Additionally, they run five week-long Elderhostel programs called Exploritas in January and February. Exploritas provides daily guided tours and instruction for experts, as well as novices. Three of the weeks include music and dance, another includes poetry and film, and the last incorporates yoga.

❄ For those looking for a multi-day adventure, Sojourn Bicycling and Active Vacations offers four six-day cross-country skiing and/or snowshoeing tours in January and February. Pamper yourself with five days of outdoor adventure and four nights of lodging and food. Winter enthusiasts will spend two nights at the Blueberry Hill Inn in Goshen, two at Topnotch Resort in Stowe and a final night at the Edson Hill Manor in Stowe.

❄ Two companies, Wonder Walks in Bristol and Bredeson Outdoor Adventure (based in Connecticut) provide custom guided snow-shoe treks. Wonder Walks will create trips of three, four or five days duration covering either the Green Mountain National Forest’s Moosalamoo region or trails in and around Stowe. Bredeson Outdoor Adventures offers an Inn-to-Inn guided snowshoe tour in Stowe from March 5 to 8, but they can also be hired to provide custom packages throughout the winter for both cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Both companies take care of food and lodging, which are included in the package price.

❄ Less luxurious, but free of charge, are the cross-country ski tours offered by the Catamount Trail Association. Over the course of the winter, guides will lead 29 single day tours, one week-long tour, and two tours which take place over three-day weekends. The outings range from easy treks to those requiring strong climbing skills and backcountry equipment. One of the easy routes is a Feb. 27 three-mile trek on rolling terrain from the West Hill House to the Mad River Barn in the Mad River Valley. A step up from that is the easy/intermediate trip planned for Jan. 24 in Stowe, which travels four miles through the Weissner and Gameroff Woods. A longer easy/intermediate trip of seven miles, taking place on Feb. 20, travels from Blueberry Hill Ski Area to the Rikert Ski Center in Middlebury, mostly through backcountry terrain.

❄ For those interested in heading out on a defined route without a guide, Country Inns Along the Trail in Brandon offers two options: the Touring Cat and the Wild Cat. Both options are offered in January and February and involve multi-night stays at local inns with a shuttle for those who do not want to ski the full distances. The Touring Cat includes skiing in Brandon and Chittenden, and hearty meals by the fireplace at the Blueberry Hill, Churchill House and Fox Creek inns. The Wild Cat involves the same inns and similar terrain, but is designed for those willing to break trail and cover eight to 13 miles a day.

Home On the Houseboat: Consider the Cruising Life

By Dick Mills

In 2005, my wife Libby and I retired. Unconventionally, we rid ourselves of all property, house, cars, furniture and all, and invested in a cruising sailboat. Our boat, Tarwathie, is a Westsail 32. Westsails are famous as being among the most rugged, seaworthy, and affordable cruising sailboats ever made. We invested only $60,000 to buy the boat and to equip her for extended cruising.

Since then, we have been cruising nonstop. We had early ambitions about circumnavigation and sailing to Alaska, but we soon learned how wonderful the USA’s East Coast, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean are. The sailor’s paradise is right here in our backyard. Grandchildren are also a powerful magnet that keeps us from straying too far from home.

Like geese, we migrate south in the fall, and north in the spring. We spend most winters in Florida and the Bahamas. So far we spent two summers in Maine, and three in our favorite place – Lake Champlain. In our opinion none of those exotic places are better than Champlain. In the fall and spring seasons, we explore the delights of Chesapeake Bay and the inland waters of North Carolina. Does that sound like a permanent luxury vacation? It is!

You don’t need to be rich to enjoy the cruising life. It is a frugal life style. We live on Social Security plus a little bit from savings. We have no other pension. About one third of our budget goes to boat repair and maintenance. It would cost two or three times more to live in retirement on land. We would have to pay mortgage or rent, utilities, taxes. We would need a car and pay for repairs, replacement, gas and insurance. We would need to own furniture and TV, winter clothes and countless other possessions. We can’t afford to do anything other than cruise.

There are only a few secrets to frugal luxury living on a boat. Avoid marinas, avoid restaurants, do your own repairs, and be healthy. The active lifestyle even helps with health. Cruising sailors tend to be slimmer and fitter than any other group of the same age.

Some people say that cruising sailors live greener than just about anyone. Perhaps so.  Wind supplies our transportation; solar panels provide electricity. We also use about 400 gallons of diesel plus 30 pounds of propane per year. Those fuels provide supplemental transportation, cooking, refrigeration, heating, cooling, and entertainment. Significantly, we have no TV. If we did, it would double our energy use and negatively affect our lifestyle.

We took an online carbon footprint test. It said that we create 0.8 tons of CO2 per year for the two of us. Only people in Bangladesh use less. A single airplane trip for just one of us would produce more carbon than the two of us consume in a year.

We like articles about minimalist housing. Cruising sailboats are already designed for minimal, self-sufficient life. People have been refining boat design for 12,000 years.  Tarwathie has a full galley with stove, oven, fridge, freezer, and sink, living room, sleeping room, bathroom, closets and numerous storage lockers. We carry enough food, fuel, and water for 2 months. We store wastes for proper disposal on land.

What we don’t have is excess space. Our living space is about 160 square feet. We also have a guest bedroom/store room of about 50 square feet. A visitor once commented, “I’ve been in jail. My cell was bigger than this, and I didn’t share it with anyone.”

We don’t mind; we’re very comfortable. Did I mention that husbands and wives should get along exceptionally well if they want to live this life?

Lack of space has an unexpected side effect. It helped to cure us of consumerism. Before buying something new, we must throw something else away to make space.

We keep in touch with family and friends even when out to sea where there are no cell phones and no Internet. We use our HAM radio to post articles to our blog (dickandlibby.blogspot.com) nearly every day. We posted more than 1,300 blog articles so far. We also have regular readers from 39 countries that follow our blog. Readers say they dream of cruising themselves and live the life vicariously via the blog.

Interested? We have one piece of important advice for would-be cruiser. Day by day you are probably not getting much richer; perhaps even poorer. Yet every new day brings a chance that a new health problem may come along that could make you or your spouse unqualified to live life separated from doctors. Good health is a prerequisite for cruising.  Therefore, stop dreaming about cruising and start acting. Do it today.

Dick and Libby Mills are formerly from Essex Junction and South Burlington.  (dickandlibbymills@gmail.com)

Vancouver Gears Up for Olympic Games

By Jim Farber, CNS

Tick. Tick. Tick.

In the heart of downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, the brightly illuminated Olympic clock is counting down, marking the seconds, minutes and hours before the start of the XXI Winter Olympics, Feb. 12, 2010. Tourists line up to have their photos snapped in front of it — including one couple in their wedding attire. Everywhere you look Olympic banners wave in the breeze, shop windows sport cuddly Olympic mascots and stores offer displays of Olympic pins, an ever-popular collectible and trading item. Anticipation for the games is growing.

This will be the third time Canada has hosted the Olympics. The summer games were held in Montreal in 1976, and in 1988 Calgary was home to the winter games.

The upcoming competition (which runs through Feb. 28) will be spread out over three locations. The opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the ice sports (including women’s hockey for the first time) will be held in Vancouver.

The Nordic events will showcase cross-country skiers and high-flying ski jumpers competing in the Callaghan Valley to the west of Whistler, a 90-minute drive north from Vancouver. The Alpine and sliding events will propel their way down the slopes and ultrafast track of the new Sliding Centre surrounding the picturesque mountain resort of Whistler.

Ride the chairlift to the very top of Whistler Mountain and you’ll encounter “Ilanaaq,” the Olympic symbol — a traditional stone figure known as an Inukshuk. These figures are just one way in which the games are paying respect to Canada’s “first nations.” And in the Inukitut language, “Ilanaaq” means “friend.” Like the Olympic clock, Ilanaaq has become a favorite of tourists who love to pose beneath his great out-stretched stony arms.

The ideally suited town of Whistler has been hoping to host a Winter Olympics for a long time. Its ski slopes are challenging, its accommodations are plentiful, the village offers a wide variety of eateries and watering holes, and the town is readily accessible by both road and rail.

The only thing that has locals concerned is whether February will find Whistler’s mountains covered with a sufficient quantity of snow. Climate change has affected the region, and plans are already in the works to truck snow into the region if necessary.

Snowfall, however, will not be an issue for the new Sliding Centre. This elegant concrete masterpiece of gracefully descending curves will provide a perfect setting for the heart-stopping bobsleigh, skeleton and luge events.

On the day I toured the facility, the sun had turned the infield into a dusky brown patch of weeds. But come February, I was assured by my enthusiastic guide, the weeds will be replaced by a capacity crowd of cheering onlookers and daredevil competitors.

The Whistler Sliding Centre is one of two major venues created specifically for the games. The other is the Richmond Olympic Oval, located on a 32-acre site just south of Vancouver. This ultramodern structure, which received the Award of Excellence for Architectural Innovation from the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada, will be home to the long-track speed-skating events.

The arena is also a remarkable example of how to make sweet lemonade from the sourest of lemons. Its great wooden ceiling is entirely constructed from trees that were destroyed as a result of Canada’s bark beetle infestation.

The structure, which officially opened Dec. 12, 2008, will provide seating for 8,000 spectators, and according to Olympic Oval spokesman Aran Kay is large enough to fit four jetliners — wingtip to wingtip — on its main floor.

More than 8o nations are expected to take part in the games. And by the time the torch arrives, Vancouver and Whistler will be decked out and ready to receive the onslaught of tourists, Olympic organizers, corporate sponsors, officials, coaches and athletes.

Let the games begin!

251 Reasons to Explore Vermont

By Spence Gregory

We all have our favorite places in Vermont. Mine is the top of Mount Mansfield, with its vast granite shoulders and vistas stretching as far as the eye can see. My wife’s is a place of memory, her family’s rustic camp in the hills of North Fayston when she was growing up.

We’ve been fortunate enough to spend a good portion of our lives in Vermont. I come from Chittenden County, Marge from Bennington. Separately or together, we’ve seen much of this beautiful state. But three years ago we embarked on a quest to see it all.

As it turns out, there are 251 cities and towns in Vermont, ranging in population from , Burlington to tiny Glastenbury with only a handful of residents and Lewis with none at all. Within those 251 cities and towns are countless villages and crossroads communities, each with its individual character, history and flavor.

What got us started on a more focused exploration was The 251 Club. Its goal is its name. Members seek to visit each of the 251 geographical units that make up the Green Mountain State. The objective is to not just drive through but spend enough time to capture the essence of each place. Club secretary William Rockford Jr. of Montpelier said there are around 3,600 current members, of whom 450 have completed the journey. While most live in Vermont, club members come from 36 states and as far away as Ireland and Australia. Eighty percent are retirees.
Vermont is laid out in a series of squares dating back to the mid-1700s, when New Hampshire’s provincial governor Benning Wentworth issued land grants for the undeveloped and disputed territory between New Hampshire and New York. You can see the present-day reminder of this on the welcome signs greeting you as you travel from town to town. Most say chartered or established or settled on such and such a date, the most common year appearing to be 1761. Bennington , named for its benefactor, is the earliest at 1749.

While there’s some variation in the shape and size of the towns, most are approximately six miles square. They’re laid out in a grid pattern with little regard for topographical features except for the uneven shores of Lake Champlain on the west and the Connecticut River on the east. Of course, Vermont is not a square sort of place with its mountains, valleys, rivers and lakes that existed long before Governor Wentworth drew his lines on a map. So the different towns take their character from what happens to fall within those arbitrary borders. And that’s what makes the 251 Club so much fun.

How you go about the quest depends on your particular interests. Bill Rockford tells of one couple who managed to canoe in all 251 communities. It took some ingenuity, because believe it or not there are a few towns in Vermont with no natural waterways. The paddlers solved the problem by locating farm ponds large enough to launch their canoe and keep the record intact.

My own enjoyment is photography. My goal is to come away from each town with at least three or four good photos that define unique features of the place. Since I’m creating a digital album, the first picture in each series is a roadside welcome sign or the name on a building that identifies the town.

My wife and I are also interested in Vermont historical sites and museums, so we try to include those in our travels. Many communities have historical societies that collect and display artifacts and memorabilia. Old cemeteries and town halls are not only visually interesting but can offer genealogical tidbits for those researching family roots.

Our home in Sudbury is on the northern border of Rutland County. We set out from there on our initial ventures, south to the towns around Rutland and Fair Haven, north toward Middlebury and Vergennes. Since we were fairly familiar with local landmarks and points of interest, the first few towns went quickly. But as our circle widened, we found more and more surprises.

One early spring day we discovered the tiny picture-postcard village of North Shrewsbury. The former general store, W. E. Pierce Groceries, was being restored by the Vermont Preservation Trust in the hope someone could be found to reopen it as a center of community life. We were transported back to the days before paved roads and easy travel changed the way we shopped and worked.

On another occasion we booked a bed and breakfast in Chester and explored parts of Windsor County. Chester is a jewel in its own right with its handsome stone houses along Route 103 and its Victorian railroad depot. To the east, Springfield offers reminders of its former glory as the center of Vermont’s machine tool industry, its once thriving factories lining the Black River. Just north of Chester and Springfield, we found the small triangular town of Baltimore which we never knew existed. We wandered its dirt roads looking for an identifiable landmark and finally encountered a tiny white-frame town office building. By contrast, the town of Weston a few miles away is one of Vermont’s premier tourist destinations and a photographer’s dream with its historic gristmill and the famed Weston Playhouse and Vermont Country Store flanking the village green.

The amazing thing about Vermont and the rewarding satisfaction of the 251 Club is that you will find similar surprises in every corner of the state, from the Northeast Kingdom to the Champlain Islands to the Mettawee Valley of Pawlet and Dorset. The fact is, we live in a beautiful, interesting state, and discovering its hidden treasures has never been so easy.

The 251 Club costs very little to join. Bill Rockford sends you a checklist of the cities and towns and a map showing where they are. You go at your own pace and when you’ve hit them all, you let Rockford know and your name appears in the next club newsletter. It’s as simple as that. If you’re so inclined, you can share your experiences with other questers at a pair of dinner meetings held each year in various parts of the state.

Spence Gregory is a former television news producer and Vermont retailer.

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