Tag: guide

Guide to Hood River, Oregon

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Life in Hood River, Oregon revolves around water and mountains. With the Columbia River bordering the city to the north and Mount Hood, a stratovolcano in the Cascades, to the south, the small city is a playground for people who like to be active outside year-round. The destination has all the hiking, biking, and skiing you could want, but it may be best known for a sport that’s a bit more niche: windsurfing. Thanks to the winds that funnel up the Columbia River Gorge, Hood River has been nicknamed the “windsurfing capital of the world,” and windsurfers and kiteboarders come from all over to play in the wind, especially between June and September. But travelers with other interests are sure to enjoy Hood River as well.


“Known as Portland’s backyard, Hood River is not just for skiers, mountain bikers, hikers, and kiteboarders, but also for art lovers, beer and wine enthusiasts, and foodies,” says Ashley Huckaby, a Hood River local and account manager with DVA Advertising & Public Relations who spoke with Travel + Leisure via email.


Irjaliina Paavonpera/Travel + Leisure



The rich, volcanic soil of Mount Hood make the Hood River Valley a paradise for farmers and locavores, too. This region is the largest producer of pears in the U.S., and local growers also produce award-winning apples, cherries, and grapes. The latter crop has made the Hood River Valley home to some of the best wineries in the Pacific Northwest, and locally made beer is just as prevalent. In fact, Huckaby notes that there are “more than 20 wineries, 13 cideries, and the most craft breweries per capita in the nation” here. Many can be visited by traveling the area’s iconic Hood River Fruit Loop (more on that below). 

To help you explore this rich destination, we’ve put together the ultimate guide to the Hood River community (which has a friendly population of under 10,000 people), including what to do, where to eat, and how to get around.


Related: This Little-known Trio of Towns in the Pacific Northwest is My New Favorite Girls Trip Destination — With a

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Key West, Florida, Travel Guide

Ginna

You don’t have to break out your passport to spend a few days in an island paradise. Just head to Key West, Florida. 


Key West is home to some of the most spectacular beaches in America, and dare we say, the world. Its gin-clear waters that lap up against white-sand beaches will leave you in awe. Its vibrant community and fun nightlife will leave you with lasting memories. And its water activities — like snorkeling, diving, and deep-sea fishing — will keep you active from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave. 


“Key West has hundreds of years of interesting and infamous history, which includes pirates, shipwrecking, treasure, rum running, military exploits, and billionaire’s ventures,” Analise Smith, founder of Key West Food Tours, told Travel + Leisure. “Its melting pot of culture and turquoise ocean surroundings has given way to a vibrant food scene, which includes the most delicious selection of local seafood and tropical fruits.”


Smith added, “When deciding why to come to Key West, it might be a shorter list to ask, ‘Why not?’ And either way, you’ll have a hard time convincing yourself out of the idea.” 


Ready to plot out your Key West vacation? Keep reading about where to stay, eat, and play for a Key West getaway you’ll never forget. 



Best Hotels and Resorts 

Courtesy of Marquesa Hotel



Marquesa Hotel

The Marquesa Hotel embodies the Key West spirit through and through. The hotel, which was voted one of the best resorts in Florida by T+L readers in 2023, is classically styled with dark wood flooring and easy breezy island furnishings, and a bright blue exterior paint color that matches the nearby sea. Don’t miss the on-site Café Marquesa for an upscale meal. 


Ocean Key Resort & Spa

Ocean Key Resort & Spa has perhaps the most coveted address in all of Key West: Zero Duval Street. The hotel — also voted one of the best resorts in Florida by T+L readers in 2023 — could not be more conveniently located and boasts spacious rooms and suites, each with an epic view

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Watkins Glen, New York, Travel Guide

Ginna

The Finger Lakes region in upstate New York is known for its stunning scenery, world-class wineries, and charming small towns. (It was even named one of the 50 best places to travel in 2022 by Travel + Leisure editors.) At the southern tip of Seneca Lake — the largest Finger Lake by volume — is a hidden gem for visitors looking to explore the outdoors: Watkins Glen.


While many head here to visit Watkins Glen State Park — known for its 19 waterfalls cascading hundreds of feet down a winding gorge — the area is equally popular for its wine. The Seneca Lake Wine Trail, in particular, is one of the three unique wine trails in the Finger Lakes region and features 25 wineries.


Bruce Murray, who owns Boundary Breaks Vineyard, told T+L that the local community is tight-knit and highly collaborative, which leads to a welcoming environment. “Part of what makes coming to places like this feel different is that you can see the owner pouring wine themselves,” Murray said. “You can tell that people are committed, and they really care.”


Whether you’re looking for a relaxing getaway or a fast-paced adventure, Watkins Glen is a great central town to kick off your Finger Lakes adventure.


Courtesy of Idlwilde Inn




Best Hotels

For luxury accommodations in town, the Idlwilde Inn is an 18-room retreat set in a renovated 1892 historic Victorian house. Less than half a mile away, the Watkins Glen Harbor Hotel offers a stay right on the lake, with many rooms featuring waterfront balconies. Be sure to ask about their special package deal for the 2024 solar eclipse. (This upstate town is set to sparkle even more during the celestial event.)


A unique option is Grist Iron Brewery, which has an on-site guest house called the Farmhouse. It can accommodate up to 16 people and has a huge deck that boasts picturesque views of the sunset over the lake. Plus, it puts you within walking distance of the great beer and BBQ right up the hill at the brewery.


More of a wine lover?

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Priced out of summer season family vacation? Here’s how to guide ‘budget-conscious’ travel – Countrywide

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Inflation and fears about the way of the economic system are putting a chill in most Canadians’ summer time vacation options, according to new polling.

But gurus inform World wide Information “budget-conscious” holidays are nevertheless in the cards for quite a few wanting to get away.

About six in 10 Canadians are scaling again their holiday ideas because of to inflation or the unsure financial content material, according to an Ipsos poll carried out completely for World News.

Go through far more:

Want a low-cost getaway? Here’s where by to go if you’re wanting to preserve on airfare

The benefits of the study unveiled Sunday exhibit that just about a quarter of Canadians come to feel there is no way a summer time vacation would be affordable.

“Just as inflation was the ‘Grinch that stole Christmas’, so much too it is rearing its unattractive head once more and it is impacting the summertime family vacation strategies for a large amount of Canadians,” suggests Sean Simpson, senior vice-president of Ipsos Worldwide Affairs.

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While general inflation has eased from highs found past summertime, selling price pressures have been specially sticky on the expert services side of the equation, influencing how much Canadians spend for motels, eating out and other vacation-linked fees.


Click to play video: 'Canadians spending record hours worrying about their finances'


Canadians spending record hours stressing about their finances


And after a 12 months that noticed climbing interest charges drive up costs Canadians are spending on their credit card debt, approximately 6 in 10 respondents say they’re prioritizing other charges about vacations this 12 months.

But for lots of Canadians, holidays are out of achieve when they issue most.

Read more:

Transat says journey need almost on par with 2019 regardless of higher costs

Some 71 for each cent of respondents to the poll say they seriously want a getaway this summer months, climbing to 83 per cent of households with youngsters. But among the all those who say they are in dire will need of a getaway, pretty much a 3rd say they’ll be not able to find the money for a single.

Story carries on

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Sisters powering US’s initially Black foodstuff guide retail outlet share their 5 necessary reads | Books

Ginna

For sisters Gabrielle and Danielle Davenport, each and every month is a very good time to go through about Black food items. As the owners of Brooklyn’s BEM | books & more, the country’s to start with guide retailer to emphasis on the topic, the two sisters are often curating performs that narrate and elevate tales and reminiscences about Black food items.

“Black record, for us, is a 12 months-spherical affair,” explained Gabrielle. “In phrases of items we’re examining, it’s usually exciting to see how record exhibits up during the collection.”

For Black Record Month, the two are revisiting cookbooks, poetry, essays and memoirs that highlight the job of foods in Black culture and liberation. From texts like Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, which examines the intersection of the combat for racial justice and the destiny of Black corporations like McDonald’s franchises to The Perfect Bartender 1917 Reprint, a recipe guide highlighting early 20th-century cocktails from the Black bartender Tom Bullock to At the Desk of Ability: Food stuff and Cuisine in the African American Battle for Flexibility, Justice, and Equality, which examines the part of food items in the struggle for freedom and equality, the bookshop house owners remind visitors that there are several sorts of texts that stimulate style buds although re-developing and often hard perceptions about race and id.

The Guardian sat with the sisters to master additional about five textbooks they’ve been examining throughout Black Heritage Thirty day period and past.

High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America,
by Jessica B Harris

Large on the Hog. Photograph: Bloomsbury Usa

When clients come to BEM inquiring what to read through to discover far more about Black foodways, Gabrielle and Danielle usually level them to Superior on the Hog. It’s one particular of the most significant pieces of creating by the culinary historian and cookbook creator Dr Jessica B Harris, and aided categorical and reorient findings about foodstuff in the Black diaspora. Printed in 2011, the e book was afterwards remodeled into a docuseries on

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Design a Trip, Get a Holiday Guide Advice

Ginna

We all want to luxuriate in a vacation. But there is often the looming query: which reserve should really I browse whilst I’m gone? A family vacation guide suggestion can be all yours if you just just take this quiz and layout your ideal family vacation.

With this holiday guide suggestion quiz, I’ve tried to acquire a vast collection of opportunity holiday reads. From time to time I want to invest a lot of time with a tome of a fantasy e-book. In other vacation options, I want to read through some romance genre variants to fill my soul with kindness. Most likely I want a science fiction or fantasy novella to read in my minimal spare time. There are even times when I want to examine a few essays about books to recognize style fiction all around yet again.

I experimented with to do a bit of all that in a singular quiz, so your mileage may well fluctuate. If nothing at all else, I hope you go away with a holiday vacation ebook advice that fills some time on your following trip — with a awesome location to continue to be, a thing fun to do, and a wonderful e-book to read even though we’re at it. Sit back again, relax, design a holiday vacation, and get a family vacation reserve recommendation.

The Family vacation Reserve Suggestion Quiz Benefits

The Extremely Mystery Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Mika Moon is a good deal of issues: an orphan, a YouTuber, a witch, but she has in no way been a instructor. When she gets an electronic mail inquiring her to teach a few youthful witches, she thinks it must be a joke. On the off probability that it’s not, she goes to the English countryside to see. She finds a house owned by a globetrotting witch and operate by a nonmagical located family that just desires to increase the 3 orphan witches in their treatment. Mika can’t say no. This is a cozy witchy fantasy romance for absolutely everyone who’s found what it signifies to be a

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