WORLD'S
BEST 'SECRETS' Ask our Travel Specialists about these TRAVEL 'SECRETS ' in the U.S. and Canada! |
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NOBODY GOES TO...YET: ALABAMA Because its mayor promptly surrendered to Union troops, the cotton-trading town of EUFALA was spared, proving once again, that discretion is the better part of historic preservation. For an authentic Civil War-era experience, stay at the 1872 Kendall Manor downtown. |
BREAKING NEW GROUND: ALASKA Anchorage, the state's biggest city, is also its largest native village and now, home of the ALASKA NATIVGE HERITAGE CENTER. Learn about Inuit, Aleut and Indian traditions in five model "villages" ringing a lake. |
TABLE WITH A VIEW: ARIZONA For 15 years JANOS WILDER, extrovert and French-trained chef, owned Tucson's best restaurant until he lost his lease. His new digs are out in the northern foothills. Sit on the covered patio with the Tucson valley spread out below. |
BEDOUIN & BREAKFAST: NORTHERN CALIFORNIA Flunk scouting? You'll still enjoy camping at COSTANOA, a new 40-acre resort in coastal San Matco County where the tents have real beds with real linens, maid service and breakfast delivered each morning. It's next to four state parks, so there's lots of hiking as well as massages, yoga and mountain biking. |
WELCOME BACK: CONNECTICUT The YALE CENTER FOR BRITISH ART in New Haven reopened after a year-long shutdown. Designed by (Brit) Louis Kaln, it celebrates with the works of Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and sculptor Henry Moore. |
LIFE AFTER DARK: HAWAII At the BIG ISLANDS; KEALAKEKUA BAY, you can snorkel 24/7 with guided, nighttime cruises. Swim with eels, crabs, lobsters and other oceanic things that glow in the dark. Getting wet was never so much fun! |
ZEN: LAS VEGAS Tranquillity's popping up in the strangest places. Two sister REGENT hotels, the GRAND SPA and the GRAND PALMS, opened 11 acres of gardens in the desert suburb of SUMMERLIN. But if you need neon, don't worry - a limo can get you to the Strip in 25 minutes! |
ZEN: LOS ANGELES Founded in a storefront temple in Little Tokyo, the JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM expanded into its new pavilion, with room for 30,000 artifacts, photos and even home movies, this is L.A. |
LOOK OUT: MASSACHUSETTS Were you sure Mount Greylock was the highest point in the Bay State? Get 100 feet higher when you climb the newly-restored, WPA WAR MEMORIAL observation tower. From the top, you can almost see Beacon Hill! |
MOVING EXPERIENCE: MISSISSIPPI RIVER You've barged along the Loire, so why can't you see America that way. Actually, you can, on the 100-cabin R/V RIVER EXPLORER, cruising the Mississippi River region. |
AMAZING (BUT TRUE): NEW JERSEY The Whistler of the East? Skiing superpower Intrawest, which bought sleepy Vernon Valley/Great Gorge (and happens to run that B.C. resort), seems to think so. The first step? Changed the name (to MOUNTAIN CREEK). |
BEFORE AND AFTER: NEW ORLEANS The address says Canal Street, but the 452-room Ritz-Carlton (that opened a few years ago) won't be just another of that street's bland modern high-rises. It's the turn-of-the-century MAISON BLANCHE department store! |
ZEN: NEW YORK A few years ago, W's first New Age business hotel opened - 722 minimalist rooms housed in the old Doral Inn on Lexington Avenue. Next Up? San Francisco and Seattle. |
TASTE OF: NEWPORT BEACH Remember those drive-in carhops? Well, they're back, sort of. Pull into the AUTOBISTRO, place your order on the two-way radio and, within minutes, your sesame peanut noodles are lowered from a space-age kitchen on stilts. |
FABULOUS FACE-LIFT: QUEBEC PROVINCE A Jazz Age resort on the St. Lawrence for the rich and famous, LE MANOIR RICHELIEU had grown tatty in recent decades. It re-opened a few years ago, on its 100th birthday, returned, courtesy of new co-owners Canadian Pacific, to its former splendor. |
DINING
INN: SOUTH CAROLINA The WENTWORTH MANSION INN's new restaurant claims to be the only dining room in town serving nothing but authentic Low Country cooking - often one-plate dishes like shrimp pie, dating back to Charleston's (and the mansion's) 19th-century salad days. For more information, contact our New Orleans Specialists |
NATURE CALLS: SOUTH DAKOTA The new GEORGE S. MICKELSON TRAIL, honoring the late governor who helped make it possible, runs 110 miles on the old Burlington Northern rail bed. Hike or bike past elk and deer, through Black Hills and Badlands. (Enter at the towns of Custer or Deadwood.) |
URBANE RENEWAL: TEXAS The last Van Cliburn piano competition finals were held, not in Fort Worth's cavernous convention center, but in the uncannily Beaux-Arts-meets-fin-de-siecle-VIENNA BASS PERFORMANCE HALL. It now hosts the city's symphony, ballet and opera. |
DRAMATIC COMEBACK: TORONTO Upstairs from the main auditorium at the ELGIN THEATER is its magical WINTER GARDEN. The walls are trellised, the columns look like tree trunks and the ceiling's covered with real beech leaves and glowing "moon" and "stars". Tours ($4), are given Thursdays and Saturdays. |
ART ATTACK: WASHINGTON Want to see the Stratocaster Kurt Cobain smashed at a benefit concert for Bosnia? Or go beyond air guitar in a working sound lab? Then, cruise by SEATTLE'S EXPERINCE MUSIC PROJECT, a new rock-and-roll museum founded by Micro-tycoon Paul Allen and designed by that Guggenheim guy, Frank Gehry. |
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