Rest and relaxation? Not on these vacations

24
SHARE YOUR SNAPS
See some amazing sight on your last vacation?
Eat an unforgettable dish? Still laughing at that
oddly translated road sign? Share your vacation
photos with Boston Herald readers — just
e-mail your photos and/or short videos to
photos@bostonherald.com.
Action plAn
Rest and relaxation?
Not on these vacations
BILL BURKE
l
Travel
Guy
www.bostonherald.com
ounge chairs, drinks
with umbrellas and
poolside afternoons
may be the perfect
getaway for some — just
don’t ask a bucket-list traveler to join you.
The bucket list — an
inventory of must-do activities pegged for completion
before each of us “kicks the
bucket” — has become a
vacation model for active
travelers. Their rallying
cry: Don’t just sit there, do
something.
Experiential travel — yes,
it’s a real word — puts
vacationers in the thick of
things, letting them taste
the essence of a particu-
THuRSDAy, AuguST 4, 2011
BOSTON HERALD
THE
INN CROWD: Chef Michael Salmon, above right, gives gourmet cooking lessons at
the Hartstone Inn in scenic Camden, Maine. Culinary adventures with Red Lion Inn
executive chef Brian J. Alberg, right, include optional motorcycle tours.
lar destination. It’s a far
different thing to look at a
mountain stream than it is
to wade into it, throw a fly
downstream and wrestle
with a trout at the end of
your line. Pick a pastime,
sport or activity and there’s
likely an itinerary involving
it. And many of these experiences, in every corner
of New England, are little
more than a road trip away.
Chef for a Day:
The Hartstone Inn and
Hideaway, a Mansard-style
Victorian B&B built in 1835
in Camden, Maine, gives
guests a chance to live and
work alongside award-winning chef Michael Salmon.
Spend a day in the kitchen
and learn how Salmon
gets it done. The package
starts at $375 per couple,
and gets you a five-course
gourmet dinner for two,
four hours in the kitchen
helping to prepare dinner
with the chef, a personalized copy of his cookbook
and two Hartstone Inn
aprons. Accommodations at
an additional cost. (To book,
call 1-800-788-4823 or go
to hartstoneinn.com.)
Roaring Ramble
Package:
Red Lion Inn executive
chef Brian J. Alberg likes to
spend his off-hours roaring
through Stockbridge on his
custom Harley motorcycle.
So if your bucket list calls
for more bugs in your teeth,
consider this culinary/
touring package. Alberg
provides the opportunity
for guests to roll through
Western Mass. on a guided
Rock Climbing
Package:
Hale’s Location estate. The
Victorian-style hotel sits in
the shadow of Cathedral
Ledge, two-and-one-halfhours north of Boston and
just minutes from Conway
Village. (To book, call 800533-6301 or go to white
mountainhotel.com.)
—bill.burke@comcast.net
BOsTON hEraLd
Choose between a halfday or full-day experience
of rock-climbing instruction at the International
Mountain Climbing School
in North Conway, N.H. All
the necessary equipment is
included in the cost ($185
for a half-day, $235 for a
full day), as are accommodations at the White
Mountain Hotel and Resort,
located on the 254-acre
Thursday, augusT 4, 2011
Day labor or vacation
getaway? It depends on
your point of view, but if
living like Tom Sawyer has
been a longtime dream,
Liberty Hill Farm Inn in
Rochester, Vt., can knock
that one off the bucket list.
Boys can milk cows, stack
bales of hay, ride on a tractor, float down a river, hike
up a mountain and build a
bonfire on the riverbank.
Girls can do all that, and
bottle-feed calves, collect
eggs, pick wildflowers in
the meadow, paint and
explore life on a dairy farm.
Everyone sleeps in a farmhouse once owned by the
founder of Emerson College at this 511 Liberty Hill
dairy farm. Packages start
at $98 a night and include
breakfast and dinner. (To
book, call 802-767-3926 or
go to libertyhillfarm.com.)
FIELDS AND MOUNTAINS: Visitors to Vermont’s Liberty Hill Farm get a hands-on
agricultural adventure, above, while rock climbers will find steep thrills at the
White Mountains in North Conway, N.H.
www.bostonherald.com
Farm Boy/Farm Girl:
25
tour atop their own bikes,
and then unwind with an
inn menu featuring sustainable foods.
“We’ve had people come
up from Florida where they
took the train to Virginia and
did a really cool ride through
the Northeast — including our tour,” Carol Bosco
Baumann of the Red Lion
Inn said. Chef Alberg “enjoys
the sense of freedom, being closer to the land on a
bike. You can smell it, see it,
breathe it.”
The motorcycle portion
of the tour typically takes
place on Mondays — because that’s the chef’s day
off — and lasts about four
hours.
As for the sustainable
menu, expect local granola
called Bola Granola, Bantam
hen eggs from Alberg’s
Graceful Acre farm, bread
from Berkshire Mountain
Bakery and maple sausage
from Ioka Valley Farm.
The $525 package
(including tip and taxes)
also includes your room —
deluxe rooms are available
for an upcharge — and
breakfast the next day. This
Berkshires getaway is two
hours west of Boston at 30
Main St., Stockbridge. (To
book, call 413-298-5130 or
go to redlioninn.com.)