Topping out at over 10,000 feet, Winter Park, Colorado holds the title of highest incorporated town in the United States. Snow covers the region six months out of the year, and skiing and snowboarding is the area's tourist bread and butter. But it may surprise you that when the snow melts, a different side of Winter Park is revealed. Dubbed “Mountain Bike Capital USA,” they boast over 600 miles of…

Let you come on now, I’m saying, to the lands of Iveragh and the Reeks of Cork, where you won’t set down the width of your two feet and not be crushing fine flowers, and making sweet smells in the air.” (The Well of Saints, J.M. Synge) I stepped out into the mist of the front porch, shivering in the cold damp air. Despite the morning stretches in my room,…

So here I sit in the Chicago O’ Hare International Airport waiting for a connecting flight to my home in North Carolina.  People buzz past en route to their departing terminals while the sun rises behind.  As this Saturday begins, a smile stretches across my face, for I am a thousand miles and seven days from the personal hell that I experienced on the waters of the Gulf of Alaska. Six…

Nestled in the heart of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, Asheville has the kind of appeal that draws year-round tourists, well-heeled retirees, and artists of every stripe. In recent years it has earned a reputation as a city of great restaurants, an outcome of its lure to visitors with money to spend. Late last year, the travel website TripAdvisor named Asheville one of the top 10 food and wine destinations…