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Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

March 8th, 2012

Beautiful Book Stores: McNally Jackson Books, NYC

I’ve been meaning to tell you about this book store for ages. Ever since I returned from my October trip (Month of Me!) trip to New York City, that is. I already told you about Spoonbill and Sugartown Booksellers, but Kerry and I also visited another independent book store by the name of McNally Jackson Books.

Photo credit: Yvonne Brooks. Photo source: McNally Jackson Books.

McNally Jackson Books is in the NoLita district of Manhatten, “NoLita” meaning “north of Little Italy.” As you can see in the map below, it is also close to a really interesting district called the Bowery, which I’ve written about here.

The store has a large main floor, then stairs to an equally large basement floor. I could have spent days in there. But that’s not saying much, I guess, since I could spend days in virtually any book store. But this store has a very large selection of very interesting books, all displayed so nicely and with conveniently located chairs here and there. Plus, the staff have a lot of personality. (If you don’t believe me, check the store’s twitter feed.)

And if that’s not enough. There’s the cafe. The very, uber-cool cafe.

McNally Jackson Cafe / Front Studio Architects © Maggie Soloday Photography

Photo credit: Maggie Soloday Photography. Photo source: ArchDaily.

There is another element to this store that makes it unique — there is a library-quality printing machine right in the store! This means that you can self-publish or if you can’t find a particular title because demand is just not large enough to warrant large print runs …. hey, print it on-demand. It’s basically the complete opposite of an e-reader.

Photo credit and source: McNally Jackson Books.

But my favourite part of this entire gorgeous store was the children’s section in the basement. It was soooo cosy … it made me want to be a little girl again, and just re-live that first spark of love with books! Here is a photo I snapped from my phone. In the background, you can see the giant book in green. And then in the foreground, the large mushroom table and smaller mushroom stools.

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March 4th, 2012

On Children, Travel, and Inclusion

In our North American society, children are often considered to be annoyances in air travel, restaurants, grocery stores, and even when they are quietly feeding. I think that as a parent, now used to life with young children, I have far more tolerance than I might have had when I was child-less. In fact, it barely even registers with me that a child is making loud crying noises unless it is the specific crying that I recognize as one of my children. But even still, I freely admit that I can empathize with some of the sentiment behind these movements.

So a piece in Saturday’s Globe & Mail by Bruce Kirby caught my attention. Kirby’s writing is almost poetic, and describes why traveling with young children is a rewarding experience. It was this one section that really struck me:

Take an infant to Buenos Aires, or Kathmandu, or Siem Reap, or any foreign land where children are woven through the strands of daily life. Here strangers will ceaselessly approach — poking, tickling and whispering to the baby — without so much as a sideways glance at you. [...] Within days, the infant has learned to seek the attention of strangers, basking in their affection.

To watch the process in reverse is heartbreaking. Board a plane bound for Canada with an infant, and the collective aversion of eyes is obvious. Ditto for walking into a restaurant once home. The child, of course, will continue to wave and coo at strangers in cafes and supermarkets, although far fewer will return the attention. Eventually, the baby gives up.

Isn’t this perspective, from the point of view of the infant, interesting?

Even though most of us will never be — or even aspire to be — the intrepid travellers that the Kirby family is, the article is definitely worth a read. You can access it in full here.

Max and I taking a feeding break during travels in January 2009.

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February 20th, 2012

Day 2 at Smuggler’s Notch Resort, Vermont

This is a post is a continuation of a short series on Smuggler’s Notch. To catch up, you can find the first post in this series here, and the second one is here. Our family’s accommodation and activities were provided by Smugg’s, while extras like food and whatnot were paid for ourselves. (Image below, credit: Smuggler’s Notch, Vermont.)

Gooooood morning Smuggler’s Notch!

In contrast to the first morning, when the kids had been up early and racing about the condo, this morning was far more quiet. They’d had a big day and evening yesterday, and we parents got to reap the benefits with a little sleep-eye. However, it didn’t last long because Hubby and Stella were so keen to hit the hills again that they were insisting on squeezing in a few runs before Snow Sport University started up at 9 am.

Breakfast was a quick bowl of hot porridge and fruit (and coffee for Mom and Dad!) in the condo. Too quick, in fact, for even a photo. And with a blink of an eye, off they went out into the snow!

Drop off to Snow Sport University

Like Day 1, both children were registered to attend Smuggler’s Snow Sport University. We were really happy to see that Stella would have Blake as her instructor again. One of the neat things about the program is that during the day you can bump into your child on the hill and say hi and see how things are going. In the photo below, this is what Hubby did with Stella and she is trying to avoid the embarrassing parental contact – haha! Also note the red device strapped around her leg. This is a GPS and all the kids have one strapped to them for safety reasons, but at the end of the day you can also log-in and see where your child skiing, for how far, and at what speeds.

Max, who the day before had put on quite a show at drop-off, quietly raised his hand up to the hand of one of the instructors and walked off to join his group. In contrast to Stella’s experience, during the two days that Max was in this program, his instructors were, for the most part, fairly unmemorable. On the first day, one of his instructors was a young man by the name of Justin who was charismatic and full of energy, but the others seemed like they were just going through the motions. Sure, working with the kids in this age group is probably the least favorite choice for the instructors (since three-year-olds are far more work than say, ten-year-olds), but I don’t care — it’s their job and they should at least pretend to enjoy it! (Hey, the rest of us have to, don’t we? )

Ski lessons for the adults

Starting at 10 am, Hubby and I were registered to participate in adult ski lessons. We were really looking forward to this since neither of us had ever had the opportunity to have an actual lesson before.

I had signed up for a Level 3 lesson, which would focus on “tuning your turns.” My instructor was Neal, and he clearly loved his job. He’s been teaching up at Smuggler’s for two decades, but you’d never know it by his youthful zeal. He was patient, offered just the right tips, and peppered our time with jokes here and there. From one lesson alone, I made huge progress on my turns and have almost mastered moving from snowplowing stance to having my feet in parrellel position.

My Smugg's instructor in action

Adult group lessons are two hours in length and cost $75 per person. I lucked out with a great group, and was able to meet some interesting people while we swapped partners on the chair lift rides. In total, my class had two couples and three women. One of the women was from England and she told me that she and her family have been coming every year, for more than five years, to Smugg’s because they felt comfortable there and because their children enjoyed the kids’ programs so much.

Meanwhile, Hubby had his ski lesson over on another hill. He was signed up for a level 6 class. (In total, there are 10 levels of classes offered.) When we caught up at lunch, he was raving about his experience. By chance, he ended up as the only student in his class and he said his instructor, Charlie, was fantastic. From just this one lesson, Hubby was able to move from skiing on blue hills to moving over to black ones.

I have to admit that left to my own devices, I probably would not have forked out any cash for adult ski lessons (but willing would do so for my kids). But now? I will happily pay for a lesson every time I get a chance. It really helps to build confidence and enhance your skills. Stella is also now a big fan of lessons. Although she’s had lessons at a local hill, she found her lessons at Smugg’s to be more in depth and far more helpful.

Zip-lining with Arbortrek

More first-time experiences were in store for us today! Hubby, Stella and I (Max was not old enough to participate) were heading over to Arbortrek Canopy Tours. Our tour was called the “Wild Winter Ride,” and involved 6 zip lines and 2 sky bridges in the gorgeous Vermont forest over a 2.5 hour period. None of us had zip-lined before, so we were feeling nervous and excited (or at least, Stella and I were!).

I’m not even sure how to describe the experience. It was all so exhilarating and fun! So perhaps I will let the photos speak for themselves. Our guides were Roger and Stephanie and from start to finish, they were perfect companions who also made you feel very safe.

Here is our full group: Hubby and I are on the far left (it was pretty cold that day, as you can tell!) and Stella is the smallest one, sitting down with the red helmet beside one of our guides, Roger, with the yellow helmet.

I will resist the urge to post every single picture available! But, if you are interested, they are posted from each tour up on Arbortrek’s Facebook page.

It was truly an experience of a lifetime. And I really want to go back and try it out in the summer now too!

Re-grouping back at the condo

Our Arbortrek driver, Ben, was kind enough to drop me off along the way back where I could pick up Max. So Max and I headed back to the condo, and were joined shortly afterwards by Stella and Hubby.

After a big day of big activities, this regularly sedentary body was aching! I decided to fill up the Jacuzzi tub in our ensuite bathroom and soak my bones.

Hubby gave me this time of peace and quiet by happily whisking the kids off to the outdoor pool. From there, we gathered back to the dinner table for an Indian curry with chicken (the same one we made on this camping trip).

After-dinner fun

We decided to try something the Family Snow Tubing tonight, despite how tempted Stella was to head back to the Fun Zone. Just as we were heading out, we heard a huge “boom!” then a “bang!” We rushed out to find a full-on fireworks display! A large group of us gathered on the snow hill to enjoy the lights. Wow, it really felt like we were away somewhere special.

Once the fireworks finished, we resumed our regular plan to hit Sir Henry’s hill for Snow Tubing. After one run, Hubby and I quickly suspected that perhaps this wasn’t exactly a safe activity. The tubes were hitting really high speeds, it was difficult to slow or stop yourself. Add to that was that the two employees at the bottom of the hill, who I assume were supposed to help you stop, were pretty blase.

On my first time down, the tube had been spinning so much that I couldn’t see where the end was and I banged my head into a barricade (luckily, I was wearing a helmet, so no harm done). The experience spooked me though, and I decided then that I wasn’t comfortable doing any more runs. Before Hubby and the kids could even make their decision, a woman flew at high speeds on her tube right up and over the barricades. Another witness estimated she was at least 8 feet in the air before she hit the pavement. All of the parents quickly realized that the speeds were too fast and the barricades were not high enough and gathered up their children to leave. As for the poor woman, the last we saw of her, she was still lying on her back and a medic was checking her eyes for signs of concussion. I really, really hope she’s okay. So, consider yourself warned: I highly recommend NOT doing this activity unless some significant changes are made to make it safer.

We decided to cheer the kids up with a stop at Ben and Jerry’s. This time, with the memory still fresh of how yummy our treats had been last night, we all upped our sizes. Mmmm!

Good night, sleep tight!

Even with ice cream pumping through their veins, the kids were pooped and hit the sack quickly once we got back to the condo. Naturally, the adults weren’t too far off either!

Despite feeling shaken by the tubing experience, the day as a whole had been soooo fantastic. We’d made a ton of wonderful memories together and were no rush to go home. In fact, Stella had already announced that she wanted to live at Smuggler’s Notch forever. (This is high praise because she has done a lot of travel in her young life and has only ever said this once before, and that was when we stayed at Dunk Island in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.) Hubby and I could understand how she felt though since we were wishing that we had a whole week to enjoy Smugg’s.

p.s. I’ve added a video of what one of the Green hills at Smugg’s looks like from top to bottom. It’s me skiing on the first day, so you can even admire my fancy snowplow skills. Hubby got a “GoPro” camera from Santa, so the video is taken from the top of his helmet as we skied down it.

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February 13th, 2012

Day 1 at Smuggler’s Notch Resort, Vermont

This past weekend, we were hosted at Smuggler’s Notch Resort in Vermont. The whole family had been eagerly looking forward to this trip — some family time is always welcome, and Hubby and I were very keen to share some great outdoor winter experiences with the kids. Since Smugg’s is known for its award-winning children’s programs, we thought this would prove to be the perfect place to be able to do so.

Below, I’ve tried to note down as many helpful details as I can from our Day 1 experience so that if you’re reading this post, trying to decide on a holiday, you’ll have the information you need. If after reading you’ve got questions, feel free to jot them down in the comments box and I’ll be sure to get back to you.

Morning has broken

We had arrived in the dark the evening before, so we keenly checked out our view from the condo as soon as we woke in the morning. We lucked out! The day ahead was destined to be a gorgeous sunny day and our condo was right at the edge of a green ski run that we could ski right out to from our back deck.

Breakfast in the condo

I brought about $100 worth of groceries with us because I thought it would be easier (and of course, less expensive) to eat in the condo for breakfasts and dinners. Breakfasts because it’s always harder to herd cats in the morning. And dinners because my son, a toddler, would be tired after a big day on the ski hill and a restaurant experience with a tired toddler is anything but relaxing. (Plus, my girlfriend had just returned from a weekend in Tremblant ski resort and her tales of a $150 dinner that barely got eaten with her two young boys had not escaped my notice!).

The condo came equipped with full-sized fridge, stove, microwave, and dishwasher. These kind of amenities are soooo nice for families.

Checking into the Smuggler’s Snow Sport University

Max was registered to participate in the Discovery Dynamos program, which caters to children aged 3-5 years of age. These are all-day programs that run from 9am to 4pm and include ski lessons, indoor activities, snacks and lunch. Many of the packages for Smugglers‘ include these children’s programs, but if you register for this program separately, the cost is $139/day.

Since Max can often need coaxing to try anything new, I had been nervous about this when we first signed him up. But over the last few weeks, Hubby had gathered gear for him from Play it Again Sports and taken him up to a local ski hill several times. So, he was ready. Or so we thought.

He threw a full-blown toddler’s meltdown. Yes, we were “those” parents. Oh dear. We took the “tough love” approach and walked away, knowing full well that the counsellors had my cell phone and that we had a direct line to call them should we be worried as well.

Stella, on the other hand, had a perfectly easy hand-off. The group she was registered in was called Adventure Rangers and we were happy to see that there were a number of other children in her age and ski level. Off she went merrily. (In the photo below, we snapped a shot of her and her class on the hill while we were in the chairlift. Her instructor Blake, a great guy who really was really engaged with the kids, is in the front with the blue and red jacket.)

Picking up my gear

Hubby and the kids were all kitted out with full gear — some from friends, some bought second-hand, and some bought new. But me? I didn’t know if it would be worth the investment. As you might recall, I’m not exactly a cold-weather lover, so I thought I was better off getting rental equipment for our weekend at Smuggs.

They had a great system that was very efficient and everyone’s gear was adjusted to their specific level, height, and weight. After getting my rental equipment, all that was left was to actually ski!

Bunny hills here we come!

Despite being a total beginner, there was a very welcoming vibe here at Smuggs. At other ski hills I’ve been to, the other skiiers seemed to give off the vibe of “money” — sporting all the latest designer snow gear and equipment. Here, however, was a mix of cool and hippy.

As we took the chair lift up, Hubby and I realized that we couldn’t actually remember the last time we’d skiied together. It was nice sitting on the chair lift, with his arm around me, and the sun shining down on us and the bright white snow reflecting back. At the top of the hill, we had a picture taken with the two of us together as proof that we’d actually spent time alone together over the last goodness knows how many years!

While Hubby is comfortable snowboarding down black diamond hills and skiing on blue hills, I needed the bunny hills! He joined along with me and we had such a nice time on the runs. The conditions were amazing, the guys working the chairlift were cheerful, and I thought, “Maybe I could really get into this skiing thing.”

Lunch break

We really didn’t want to waste any time away from the hills to eat lunch, so Hubby and I decided to pop into the Green Mountain Deli. It was just a hop, skip, and a jump off the ski hill and was noted as the place to go for speedy service.

I thought we might end up with limited choice — hamburgers or hotdogs — but was pleasantly surprised. I opted for a grilled flat bread with chicken and pesto sauce, while Hubby chose “The Vermonter,” which was a sandwich with baked ham, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, apple slices, and honey mustard. All sandwiches come with fries or salad, and the price of $10.25 seemed reasonable.

We then hit the slopes again as quickly as we could wolf down our lunches!

Picking up the kids

The children’s programs follow a schedule of a morning session on the slopes, lunch, an afternoon session on the slopes, and then at 2:30 pm, all of the kids’ programs return to a central meeting area for indoor activities.

Hubby and I decided that at this 2:30 break, I would pick up Max and take him back to the condo for a nap, while he and Stella would hit the hills together. He was happy to see me, and gleefully told me how he had a good day skiing. Nevertheless, he looked like a tired little guy, so he and I caught one of the resort’s courtesy shuttle buses from the bottom of the hill back up to our condo.

But first, we stopped at the Treasures child care center for a tour. This center cares for babies as young as six weeks old! Shelley, who’s worked at Treasures for five years, welcomed us and showed Max and I all of the facilities. I was truly impressed and wouldn’t hesitate to leave one of my children in the center’s care. Like the Children’s Snow Sport University programs, childcare is included in many of the packages or you can choose to pay for it separately at the rate of $85 per child, per day, or $15/hour. (I’d like to share more details with any new parents out there, so I will try to do a complete post on this at a later point.)

I lost a couple of hours somewhere …

Once we got back inside the condo, it didn’t take Max and I long to cuddle up in the massive king size bed at the condo and doze off to never-never-land. Hubby and Stella skiied until the chair lifts shut down at 4pm and then went back to the condo as well. When they got there, I was snoring so loud that he was able to walk right into the bedroom and get his swimsuit without me noticing!

The two of them then went swimming in the outdoor pool. That’s right: OUTDOOR! The Mountain Laurels, where we were staying has a pool open year-round. Hubby dared Stella to lay in the snow with her bathing suit on in exchange for an ice cream, while she countered back to him for a back scratch. (I’m quite sure that both would have done it without any bribery needed anyhow.)

Dinner

Hubby had made an extra large batch of spaghetti sauce during the week before we’d left so that we could bring the leftover sauce up with us. Everyone was happy to eat some good ol’ fashioned pasta after burning so much energy during the day!

After-dinner fun

We had two things to do before we would declare the day complete: ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s and a visit to the FunZone.

With more than 15 flavors to choose from, it was a tough choice! The kids and I each had a kid-sized cup, while Hubby had a small adult size, totaling under $20. It kind of makes my mouth water just looking at the picture.

After the ice cream, we quickly packed ourselves up and headed over to the FunZone to catch some of the action before closing time. The FunZone is like an indoor fairground! There was a massive blow-up slide, bouncy obstacle course, air hockey, shuttle boards — you name it. Plus, a gated-off area for toddlers where they could play safely while toys and blow-up activity zones sized just for them. There is no cost to enter, you simply show your lift pass.

I couldn’t get Stella to stand still long enough for a photo — she was just was zipping around the place from one spot to another non-stop! So, this picture of the back of her while she was climbing up the giant slide is about all I’ve got.

Bed time!

Bed time was a breeze since the kids were thoroughly spent from all the day’s excitement. The condo had a room with four single beds in it, each with its own built-in drawers underneath as well as a wall-mounted night-light for reading. There was also a large, flat-screen tv in the room, which we never turned on, but I would imagine that a family with teenagers could make great use of.

Normally Max and Stella enjoy having their own rooms, but in this new, unfamiliar setting, they liked the security of having each other in the room with them.

The day is done

As Hubby and I settled into bed ourselves, I watched some trashy reality tv programming with a glass of red wine before turning out the lights. Then we read for a bit before falling fast asleep.

Day 1 was now done. We couldn’t have asked for more, really.

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January 17th, 2012

Smuggs — here we come!

Our family didn’t downhill when I was growing up, nor did Hubby’s. We’d like to introduce the kids to downhill while they’re still young. You know … before that fear factor sets in. Fear stops a lot of people from doing a lot of things. But when you start young, or at least have a little introduction to something when you’re young, it always seems to make a difference. Like learning to swim as a kid versus an adult, or a new language, or sport — you name it. Our adult minds can put so many barriers in front of things that youthful zeal simply doesn’t allow for.

A budding nordic John Travolta.

I don’t even really care for downhill skiing though. It’s just an experience that I’d like my children to have. But when you visit a ski resort for a weekend, it is a HOLIDAY! And I love holidays. So I am so excited that we’re going to visit Smuggler’s Notch, or “Smuggs,” as it’s often called.

I’ve heard about Smuggler’s for ages and the thing that really caught my attention was the stellar reputation of their kids’ programs. The resort has invited my family to visit for a three-night stay this winter season. To help us learn more about the resort and plan our stay, we were sent a package, which arrived this weekend.

Wow, this is no ski hill and a few restaurants. This is like a winter Disneyland — there is so much to do!

We watched the DVD that came in the package on Sunday evening. Stella, who’s nine, is particularly excited about the zipline and the arts & crafts programs. Max, who’s three, is interested in the skiing with other children. And Hubby, who is snow-crazy, is excited that not only can he ski and snowboard, but he can also go ice-climbing.

As for me, I’m looking forward to having a proper ski lesson (normally I just point my skiis straight ahead and hold my breath down the green hills!) and taking part in a guided snow-shoe trek. But I’m also hoping that if the kids’ programs are as great as they are reputed to be, that I can grab a bit of “me time” while we’re there as well. Is that so wrong?