January 15th, 2008 writerspice
This morning, before the sun came up, I took our dog for a walk. The sky was that pearly blue that deepens into an impossible, nearly neon shade before the sun emerges over the horizon and washes it out. It was beautiful – fat snowflakes drifted to the ground, settling over a new layer of white.
The walk was a refreshing tonic for the desperate addiction that seizes me at this time of year. While working on articles – lately, about Michigan’s art coast, eating local at area farmers’ markets and Quebec City’s 400th anniversary – I carve out small breaks to surf the net for bargain getaways in exotic locales. Barring that, an inn, any inn or resort or spa or hotel, in a part of the world at least a two-hour drive away, will do.
So I was pleased to stumble across iloveinns.com yesterday and this: buy their book, the 19th edition of Bed & Breakfasts and Country Inns, and you’ll get a gift certificate for a free night (usually midweek) at any one of several participating properties. The book costs $24.95, making it a great deal.
I spent awhile perusing the website’s list of participating properties and saw a few places I’d heartily recommend, including the Londonderry Inn, a former farmhouse in mid-coast Maine, an area I wrote about for both NOW Magazine and the Georgia Straight.
Closer to home, there’s Petoskey, Michigan’s historic Terrace Inn, where the innkeeper told me that one of his guests asked, when told about their Ernest Hemingway-themed room, “How’s it decorated? With booze and women?”
On the western edge of Michigan, there’s the lovely Hexagon House B&B (pictured above) in Pentwater, a small town with a dozen art galleries on the east coast of Lake Michigan. Within my stomping grounds, there’s the Pretty River Valley Country Inn, near Collingwood, where each of the guest rooms has a fireplace, a must after exploring the wooded 120-acres on your snowshoes or skis.
With the possibility of my going back to school next year and rising costs of renovating our house, we might not be going anywhere anytime soon. But, still, it’s fun to daydream.
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November 23rd, 2007 writerspice
I’ve posted before on the great deals that can be had this time of year in Las Vegas.But after hearing stories of the loads of available freebies from some friends who went recently, I was glad to see this post – Backpacking Las Vegas…Cheaply – by Ubertramp – a veritable catalogue of how to do Vegas a little bit differently: without blowing that wad ‘o cash…
Posted in Bargains!, United States | 1 Comment »
November 7th, 2007 writerspice
In my part of the world, it isn’t April that’s the cruelest month. It’s November: grey, damp, dark at 5:00 and shadowed by the anticipation of the long winter tunnel that awaits. Yesterday morning, weather predictions called for 15 to 20 centimetres of snow (that’s about 5 to 8 inches, for you non-metric folks) in my area. Only a light dusting covered the cars this morning, but it’s enough to call to mind one basic fact: It’s Coming.
For skiers, snow-shoers, yurt campers, kids, this is exciting. For us? Well, apart from the fact that we also claim to like to ski, snowshoe and winter camp, last night we went to bed at 8:30.
But don’t get me wrong. There are aspects of this particular time that do appeal. For one, the mood is perfect for poetry. As the days grow shorter, that other half of my career comes to life.
Travel wise, it’s also a great time to get away.
When J. and I were still doing shift work, before we’d settled into a more-or-less 9 to 5 life, we liked to take a few days off mid-week and, just, well, leave. The crowds are non-existent and rates are so much cheaper.
Once, on a two-night November excursion to Niagara Falls, the first big snow hit. Snuggled up in our hotel room (upgraded to include a fireplace, of course), we ate ordered-in gyros and Greek salad and watched nearby Buffalo, New York being buried on the T.V. news. When the flurries eased, we set out to explore, passing first through the shabbier streets of Ontario’s kitsch capital, walking by a vacant art deco department store, amazed at how empty the 1940s street scape seemed to be. We hiked along the gorge, visited the Hershey store for chocolate milkshakes and gazed at the awesome power – in any season – of those several tonnes of water forever falling.
Another trip took advantage of great mid-December deals during holiday shoulder season at Deerhurst Resort in Ontario’s Cottage Country. This was fun: before settling into our bargain suite, we wandered the snowy main street of Huntsville, poking around art galleries, outdoor equipment shops and, my favourite, for that time of year, Christmas Tyme, where about a million tree ornaments vigorously attempted to empty my wallet.
This year, as the days grow gradually colder, shorter and covered in white, we’ll have to see just where the spirit moves us.
Photo by Jeff Epp
Posted in Bargains!, Ontario, Seasons | 1 Comment »
October 12th, 2007 writerspice
I’ve only been to Las Vegas twice - driving down the strip in a 1970′s lemon yellow Toyota Corolla with holes in the floor (but that’s another story) and touching down for a couple hours layover on the way home from Utah this July.
But friends of mine went this summer. They did the whole deal: hotel on the strip, Fremont Street Experience, day trip to the Grand Canyon, and getting engaged. That last one might usually read ‘being married by an Elvis impersonating officiant while loaded on prickly pear shooters’, but these are fairly conservative folk.
If you’ve got a hankering to try your luck at the casinos, wander for a bit in red rock paradise and, who knows, maybe come home wearing some bling of your very own, these are the days to go. Notices of off-season hotel sales and package discounts at places like Expedia and Travelzoo keep popping up, bound to tempt the wayward gambler with a bit of time on his or her hands.
Photo by K. Liivoja
Posted in Bargains!, United States | 2 Comments »
