We’d heard about the famous Utah powder and decided to check it out for ourselves.  It was an easy flight into Salt Lake City and then just 36 miles up the mountain to Park City.  If you show your boarding pass, you can even get a free lift ticket on the day you arrive.

We chose Deer Valley because it was voted the number one resort by readers of Ski magazine for the fifth year in a row and we wanted to see what all the buzz was about.

Our first impression was the remarkable guest services. Friendly people in green outfits directed traffic, then helped us get our skis off our car.  There was even someone standing by the map when we got off the lift to help us know where to go. This level of service spilled over even into the lessons I signed up for during the trip . The lessons I took had four maximum in the class, with lots of individual attention.  Since I was starting over after a thirty-year hiatus so that I could ski with my grand kids, I was grateful for all the help.

The powder was real.  Fresh snow fell daily and the conditions were great.  My partner is an expert skier and I’m not, but the mountain offers something for everyone.  There are six peaks, five of which have green/beginner runs, and there are green runs all over the mountain.  That makes is a friendly family place. There are free guided mountain tours everyday to help skiers make the most of the mountain. In addition, the resort limits their sales of lift tickets to 6500-7500 skiers per day maximum so it doesn’t ever feel crowded.  With twenty-one lifts and one hundred runs spread out over their 2026 acres, they can transport 46,000 skiers uphill per hour.  That meant we didn’t wait in lift lines.

The mountain also offers award-winning restaurants for romantic evenings out or fun with the family. The elegant Mariposa, at Silver Lake Lodge at mid-mountain is the winner of a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence and a #1 Zagat survey placement. (Tuesday through Sunday, 6 to 9 p.m. Call 435-645-6632 for reservations.) A great spot to take a break from skiing to enjoy lunch is at the Royal Street Café, also located in the Silver Lake Lodge at mid-mountain. If you go, be sure to sample one of their fresh baked cookies for dessert. (Open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.; 435-645-6632 for reservations.)

Our favorite restaurant was the Fireside Dining experience at Empire Canyon Lodge.  From our table near a crackling fire, we looked out a huge picture window, which lit up the winter wonderland outside—fat fluffy snowflakes falling onto huge evergreens already covered in snow. The restaurant offers hearty favorites from the European Alps, such as Swiss Raclette, stews, fire roasted meats and fricassees, each course served in front of a massive stone fireplace. In addition to the succulent main courses, we especially enjoyed the fresh biscuits, the roasted potatoes and an asparagus pesto that was amazing.  Perfect fare and ambience after a day of skiing.

Between dinner and dessert, we bundled up and stepped outside for a sleigh ride. We cuddled cozy under a thick blanket for a refreshing glide in the crisp night air, with snow falling and the bells jingling on the two massive horses that pulled our sleigh.

Then back inside for the dessert Fondue, my favorite course.  I learned that the word ‘Fondue’ comes from the French verb ‘Fondre’, to melt.  Our fondues included dark chocolate, caramel and white chocolate Grand Marnier fondues.The delectable choices to dip into the fondues:  Apple, banana, strawberries, pineapple, apricots, biscotti, chocolate chip cookies and cinnamon pound cake.

A warm dessert on a chilly evening.  Simply the best.

Fireside dining is open Wednesday through Saturday, 6 – 9 p.m. Free parking available.  Adults $56, Children $28 (11 years and younger), prices do not include beverages, tax or gratuity. Call 435-645-6632 for reservations between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. daily. For Sleigh Ride reservations please email  fireside [at]deervalley.com.

We agree with the readers of Ski magazine.  Deer Valley is #1 in our book too, for an all around experience of excellent skiing, service and restaurants. Get ready for a great season of skiing this year.

Diane Covington 2012

Locked between mountains and the Gastineau Channel, Juneau is a great portal for visitors to be introduced to the rugged and beautiful “last frontier” state of Alaska. With a population of 31,000, Juneau is a cross between a city, a frontier town, a cruise ship destination, and small town America, and you will experience all of these within minutes of each other here.

Juneau’s cornucopia of natural splendor is really its stock-in-trade. You’re never far from an awe-inspiring glacier, rivers teeming with thousands of spawning salmon, or mammoth humpback whales breaching violently from the ocean. Or you can paddle across peaceful lakes, and ride a tramway up a steep mountain for a spectacular view of lush rain forest and shimmering fjords.

Juneau’s man-made attractions also pack some serious weight for their punch; sampling delectable amber ales at a renowned brewery, panning for gold on a river which hard bitten prospectors worked over a century earlier, walking through a historic gold mine, and wandering through some interesting museums are all part of the Juneau experience. And watching the locals who emerge after the tidal wave of cruise passengers has receded back into their luxury liners is always instructive.

You can’t miss Juneau residents—they’re likely to be wearing the Official footwear of Alaska, brown Neoprene XTRATUF Gumboots, with a half-inch wide, cream-colored rim around the top, and cream-colored soles. I once saw a flock of hot young women, dressed to kill in their mini skirts, participating in a Karaoke bar wearing these gumboots, without the slightest hint of self consciousness.

The Mendenhall Glacier is an ideal place to set the naturalistic stage for your visit to Juneau. Caught in a deep valley between tall granite outcrops, the glacier presents a breathtaking sight, with its bluish gray cliffs and tall ridges of ice snaking down from a huge ice field. Sunk into the top of a small butte and surrounded by Northwest evergreens, the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center is an ideal place to view the glacier. Only a 15-minute drive from town, it’s the oldest visitor center in the national park system, one mile from the huge glacier that dominates the vista.

Inside the center auditorium, an 11-minute film tells how these phenomenal ice monsters are formed and recede in tandem with the pulse of nature, while other displays describe Alaska’s abundant wildlife. Outside, a short walk along a sealed trail gets you to Photo Point, where tourists snap frantically away with their point-and-shoots and DLRs, recording this picture perfect vista of lake, glacier, and mountains.

Descending a concrete walkway near the center you enter a raised boardwalk, set ten feet above the ground on metal stilts, where you can look down on the spawning salmon in the small glacial creek. It’s August and they’re writhing and wriggling as they fight their way up the rushing water; stopping for a breather in small side eddies. Recent evidence of bears is everywhere: Chewed up salmon carcasses, large crushed piles of grass, and black piles of scat. The bears are hungry, stocking up for their impending hibernation.

Nearby I read a sign that tells parents to keep their dogs on a leash and keep their children close—sound advice indeed. The bears are taking the afternoon off when we visit, but I’m told that when one lumbers onto the boardwalk, a ranger walks in front, warning visitors to move back and stand still while the bear passes. Wow, a personal ranger escort—welcome to Alaska!

The next day we launch a kayak from Above & Beyond Alaska Company’s Kayak Center into the eerily quiet Mendenhall Lake. The calm waters are shrouded in lacy curtains of mist as we slowly paddle our way towards the glacier, about two miles distant. We silently glide among oddly sculpted icebergs, some the size of small cars or large houses, as they loom up around us. Their colors change from blue to green to white depending on their depth and size. It’s like being in a giant ice-filled margarita glass, with a rim of forest and mountains.

Sticking close to the water’s edge we paddle past cascading waterfalls, gravel beaches, and protruding wedges of land covered with dense green Northwest foliage and brush. Finally, we get to within three quarters of a mile of the glacier, and it’s noticeably colder here from the packed icebergs. All too quickly we turn away from this marvelous sight and paddle back to our beach.

On our way into town we drop by the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery to watch the amazing sight of thousands of huge, spawning salmon struggling and clawing their way up the rushing water to reach their biological destiny, which in this case is to be milked, gutted, cleaned and sold to fishermen. Inside the Visitor Center, an aquarium shows Alaskan undersea life, and tourists are lured into buying salmon products of every description you can imagine, smoked, canned, you name it.

This non-profit hatchery exists to sustain salmon for the State of Alaska for commercial and sporting use, and I’d say they do an outstanding job of it. We walk past long metal vats with tens of thousands of tiny salmon fry writhing around, waiting to graduate into the larger vats with the bigger boys and girls. Eventually they’ll be released into the ocean and 2 to 5 years later will thrash their way back here to be milked of their eggs and milt. Where else but Alaska will you find a horde of tourists intensely watching this whole process?

It would be gross touristic negligence to visit Juneau without going on a whale-watching excursion. To see these behemoth 45-foot long denizens of the deep erupt 15 feet or more from the water in a feeding frenzy is more than spectacular, or any other superlative for that matter. It is, simply put, a sight that must be seen to be believed. Captain Greg of Weather Permitting Alaska takes us out in his aluminum boat to show us these enormous creatures, telling me that he guarantees a whale sighting.

He lives up to his word. Twenty minutes later we are watching a sight that would excite even the most jaded tourist or wild life photographer—humpback whales bubblefeeding. One of the whales makes a primal grunting sound somewhat akin to a distorted foghorn, and then dives below a school of unsuspecting herring where it blows bubbles that rise, scaring the herring into a tight ball. Meanwhile, nine whales have dived deep under the water, forming into a circle, and then rise rapidly up to the surface, their enormous jaws wide open, scooping hundreds of pounds of herring and plankton into their gaping maws.

Exactly eleven seconds after the foghorn warning, the whales breach simultaneously from the water like prehistoric monsters, in a gigantic waterspout, and then slam down onto the water on their backs and sides, to disappear with a blast of steam from their blowholes and a last flick of their mighty trident shaped tails. It’s quite a performance and I can hardly speak for a while afterwards, apart from a lame “Did you see that?” We follow the whales for an hour or so, see this performance repeated a couple of times and return to shore very happy campers.

Back in Juneau, we take the Mount Roberts Tramway to the top of the steep, 2000-foot high mountain of the same name, and catch a breathtaking view of Gastineau Channel and Douglas Island far below us. This panorama of absolute seclusion is a powerful reminder of how Juneau can only be reached by boat or plane—there are no roads leading into Juneau from the mainland. We visit a half blind eagle in a shelter, walk along the hiking trail for a while, and watch an informative movie, Seeing Daylight, about Tlingit Indian legends, culture, and language.

Back down the mountain we walk along Juneau’s tidy streets exploring its touristy shops, galleries, museums, and restaurants. The historic district of town, with its turn of the century western facades, is an eclectic milieu of jewelry and souvenir shops that feed the insatiable thirst of the cruise ship passengers, interspersed with bars of all stripes, and hardware and convenience stores for the residents. Pretty planter boxes of colorful flowers, twin-globe street lamps, and festive banners brighten up the sidewalk, as a trolley car clangs its way along the street. Juneau is quite the scene, tucked dramatically away at the foot of a mountain range.

Watching the enormous cruise ships berthing and sightseeing seaplanes buzzing to and fro across the harbor reinforce just how much tourism is the life-blood of this city.

Don’t miss the iconic Red Dog Saloon, but time your visit after the cruise passengers have retreated, or you’ll have to wait a while. This touristy recreation of a noisy honkey tonk bar seems to have captured the spirit of the 1890’s during the town’s gold rush heyday, complete with sawdust floor. Look for Wyatt Earp’s gun, some Winchester rifles, a mounted Kodiak bear, and other frontier paraphernalia displayed behind the bar.

For beer aficionados, the Alaskan Brewing Company makes for a lively stop. In 1986, when Alaskan Brewing Company set up their brewery in Juneau, they became the 67^th operating brewery in the United States. Since then, their products have been awarded more than 100 major national and international medals and awards, half of which are gold. Their most renowned brews, Alaskan Amber, Alaskan IPA, Alaskan Stout, Alaskan Summer Ale, and Alaskan Winter Ale are uniformly thirst quenching. Drop by and sample up to six of their delicious beers, free of charge. You’ll meet a fun mix of locals and tourists, all with a passion for beer.

Much of Juneau’s history revolves around its gold mining days that started in 1880, so you’ll find plenty of gold mining museums and tours here. Tucked away in a rugged mountain valley behind Juneau, the Last Chance Mining Museum is absolutely crammed, floor to ceiling, with thousands of old pieces of gold mining equipment. They range from small to enormous and the gadgets make the museum look like the setting for a Steampunk Convention.

In one corner of the museum stands a replica of the AJ Mine Adit, the mine entrance. The original mine entrances are sealed off to the public, so this replica was created to give the visitor an idea of what a mine was like back in the day. Walking through, you’ll see historic photographs, a wide display of hand tools that were used in the shops for maintaining the mining equipment, pneumatic drilling equipment, and ancient picks and rock samples.

The remnants of another gold mine are seen on the AJ Mine and Gastineau Mill Tour—and they’ll show you how to pan for gold. The tour bus ascends a steep trail up Mount Roberts to what remains of the Alaska Gastineau Mill. A guide shows large black and white photos outlining the different types of gold mining and demonstrates how to operate a sluice box, and then describes hydraulic mining, dredging, open pit mining, and underground hard rock mining.

Next you drive two minutes down the dirt trail and stop at the enormous rusting steel girders and concrete skeleton of the former mill, built into the steep mountainside. It was here that the ore carts opened to pour their contents into a rotating pebble mill, where the rocks were crushed into a sand-like product, which was sifted and washed to collect the gold.

Then, you’re whisked further down the hill for a tour inside the historic Gastineau Mine conveyor tunnel shaft, one of the highlights of the day. It’s the only hard rock gold mining tour in S.E. Alaska. Your guide escorts you into the cool, 360-foot-long mine shaft. Inside the mineshaft, 20 feet wide and ten feet high, our voices and the gravel crunching underfoot echo down its length. The guide stops to demonstrate how work was done in the mines, sawing a joist, operating a bone rattling pneumatic drill, and dumping ore into a hopper ore cart.

The Juneau-Douglas City Museum gives a concise and thorough history of the town. As one might expect, its major focus of is on its mining history, with plenty of old photographs, interactive exhibits, dioramas, and displays about Hands On Mining, to show the pioneer life as it was back in the mining days.

You can read stories about the mines from sliding panels, and a large colorful display shows the types of rock at the Treadwell Mine. Glass cases contain typical clothing worn by miners, and some of their equipment.

The Alaska State Museum, a large white concrete building with art nouveau decorations sculpted into its walls, is only a ten-minute walk from the Juneau-Douglas City Museum, and is equally impressive. Although not as focused on mining as the Juneau-Douglas City Museum, it gives a polished, in-depth recounting of the state’s history and natural history, including Native Cultures, History Galleries, a For Kids Only section, and much more.

The Juneau Steamboat Company Harbor Tour, ably led by Captain John L. George, is a low-key summary of the Juneau gold rush heritage. You sit inside a turn-of-the-century, wood-fired passenger steamboat as it chugs sedately along the Gastineau Channel at 3.5 knots. Wearing a black vest complete with silver watch chain and captain’s hat, Captain George regales you with tales of how these steamboats were a common form of transport back in the day, ferrying miners and their families across the channel, and tells of the three mines that produced gold along the channel.

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Where to stay:

For the complete experience, stay at the historic Silverbow Hotel, a beautiful 1914 boutique hotel with 11 rooms decorated with antiques and period wallpaper. Situated in the heart of downtown Juneau, its old furnishings and creaking floors help you relive the good old days of mining in Juneau. The bakery next door is not to be missed.

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Roy Stevenson is a freelance travel writer and photographer based in Seattle, Washington. He’s had more than 600 articles published in 160 regional national, and international magazines, newspapers, in-flights and online travel magazines in the U.S.A., Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. He writes on travel and culture, history, art, military history, military vehicles, writing, communications, health, fitness, running, triathlons, sports and film festival reviews.

By Roy A. Barnes

Christmas in Germany is taken really seriously and has much historical significance.  Decorated Christmas trees originated there in the 16^th century when Christians started bringing decorated fir trees into their homes (because of its triangular shape that represents the Holy Trinity).  It’s purported that Martin Luther was so impressed with a bright starry night amongst evergreen trees, that he re-created the scene for his family by putting up a tree in his house, substituting lighted candles for stars; and thus, starting the lighted Christmas tree craze. Do people really take the time to think about where Christmas gifts come from?  Well, some of Saxony’s locales are part of the answer.

To Saxony’s Capital for Stollen

The first Christmas market (Striezemarkt) originated in 1434 in the city of Dresden. And it’s here in the trendy and artsy Neustadt part of the city that I came across some really wonderful-tasting holiday season sweet bread called stollen.  Stollen can be made with a number of ingredients which include finely ground flour, yeast dough, butter (which makes up 1/3 of the recipe, including some that’s melted and then hardened), bitter and sweet almonds, raisins soaked in rum, salt, candied orange and lemon peel, sugar. When Stollen first came out in the 14^th Century as a result of a contest originated by the Bishop of Nauru’burg, each loaf weighed 30-plus pounds. People would not eat the first or last pieces because they saved them in hopes of good luck.

The Backerei Grundmann is near the Three Kings Church (Dreikonigskirche) and emanated a pleasant fruity bread smell.  A retired baker, Frank Ludolphy, still active in the bakers association (and baked for a living some 45 years), made some.  I got to sample the Zutaten (“very fine ingredients”), and found the rum-soaked raisins irresistible.  Ludolphy rolled out the dough and began shaping it. There’s normally a maturing time for the fruit flavor to soak into the bread.   He let me sample the dough (which he bakes at 356 degrees Fahrenheit/180 degrees Centigrade for 40-50 minutes). The raw form had an orange-like taste, reminding me of the orange sweet rolls mother used to bake for the family on Saturday nights.

No artificial preservatives are used by this bakery, which sells their stollen at various locations around the city, baking some 14,000 loaves for the holidays.  It’s generally available between September – January.  The baked loaf is quite dense and the fruit juices can make the stollen appear to have brown spots. Nonetheless, I wasn’t let down by the incredible fruity, sweet taste of the semi-soft bread that’ll get even the Scrooge-iest of people into the Christmas spirit!

It’s “Time” for Christmas in Glashuette

In the town of a few thousand people about an hour away from Dresden to the south and very close to the Czech border lies Glashuette (founded in 1506), where some 10 watch manufacturers are located.   You don’t have to be one of the rich and famous to take a free tour of the Germany’s premiere luxury watch maker Glashuette Original whose watchmaking roots go back to 1845.   Because of the amount of components that are used, the hand assembly and craftsmanship, these watches are not your ordinary chain store timepiece. Getting a watch for Christmas with a glass bottom to witness the working parts means big bucks spent on one’s behalf for this brand, with 2009 US prices starting at about $6,700 and going up well over $150,000.  They’re sold in over 70 countries and in chic cities like London, New York and Hong Kong. This company uses gold screws, Louisiana alligator skin (for the watchbands), and Meissen Porcelain (for the dials) to make some of their watches.

The company produces about 8,000 watches a year via watchmakers who’ve had 3 years of apprenticeship training to install between 150-500 movable parts (some as small as a tiny bread crumb) per watch.  They implement concepts like spark erosion technology, bronze plating (superior to gold) and complex measuring and polishing of the plates.  It can take more than 40 hours to complete one watch.

Later, I took a short walk to the German Watch Museum where I got the lowdown on watchmaking via pictorial and computer exhibits, many of which are in both German and English.   I looked at numerous kinds of pocket watches, table clocks, and pendulum clocks on display.  I got see some really nice looking timepieces, including one dating back to 1778 as well as a pocket watch from 1899 that has over 800 components called the La Grandiose Universal Watch, a 12 year project.  The lobby contains a large priceless pendulum clock (a 32 year project) that was crafted by Herman Goertz circa 19^th century that not only tells the time, but the age phase of the moon and current Northern Sky representation.

Seiffen is all about Toys, Toys, Toys!

About 90 minutes southwest of Dresden is Seiffen, a town of roughly 2,500.  The town became a major toy maker for the Nuremberg market in the 18^th century because of its quality products and low manufacturing costs.   As I walked around town, I noticed a quaint toy shop at every turn or glance across the street.  They sell Seiffen’s wood-turned animal toys, nutcrackers, and intricately-crafted matchbox miniatures, the latter coming about to help cut down on the weight of toys to save on export taxes.  The Seiffener Volkskunst not only sells these goodies, but you can actually watch the toymakers ply their trade making these beautiful and festive objects.  The scent of wood dominates the nostrils, especially that of spruce, the principal wood used for ring-turned toys, which have been fashioned on the lathe for around two centuries to cut down on carving time.

The Erzgebrige Toy Museum is located on Seiffen’s main drag, and a must-see for those who love wood toys.  Over 2,000 items are on display via 3 floors at any one time that cover just about every Christmas-themed toy you can think of from trains, soldiers, smoking men, angels, games, and mining (since Saxony has quite a mining history).   Their collection of Christmas pyramids really helped me appreciate all the more the artistic talents that humans have.   I saw the attention to detail paid to those magical playthings that I noticed dated back to 1699.

Germany tourism website

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The author attended the German National Tourist Office’s 2009 “The Making of Christmas” press trip, in which he got to experience the following venues.  But he writes his impressions freely without any editorial scrutiny from the press trip sponsor.

Biography: Roy A. Barnes writes from southeastern Wyoming and is a frequent contributor to the The Traveler/The Traveler Blog.

Steaming crab legs, ice-cold shrimp cocktail, fresh flounder – Are your taste buds awake? If you love seafood, you will absolutely adore Shem Creek. Located across the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge from Charleston in Mount Pleasant, North Carolina, Shem Creek is the highlight of the Charleston area for the freshest seafood. Brought in daily by local boats, this seafood will make its way to your dinner plate courtesy of the Shem Creek restaurants.

Pack your bags and make a reservation at the Shem Creek Inn. This surprising little gem of a hotel sits directly on Shem Creek, with the pool deck only a stone’s throw away from the water. Although the inn looks like any other hotel from the outside, you will be pleasantly surprised with your accommodations. All rooms have large, comfy beds, a refrigerator and microwave, cable TV, and high speed internet access. In addition, guests receive complimentary continental breakfast daily.

Once you’ve checked in it will soon be time for dinner. And, oh, how to decide where to eat! My first suggestion is the Water’s Edge Restaurant, adjacent to the Shem Creek Inn. Overlooking the creek, you will find indoor and outdoor seating, as you will with all of the restaurants on the creek. As you enjoy your meal, a parade of boats – kayaks to shrimp boats will make their way past. I was told by one of the waitresses that the dolphins usually follow the shrimp boats back in around 4:00 p.m., so keep an eye out and you just might spot one.

At the Water’s Edge Restaurant I recommend the Fish Stew – Lowcountry style with okra and corn in a tomato broth, and the Shrimp Scampi – sautéed shrimp, fresh garlic and herbs with white wine and lemon juice over penne pasta.

After you’ve had your fill of seafood, take a few steps back towards the hotel and you will find yourself at the Water’s Edge Cabana Bar. Have them pour your favorite after dinner drink and spend some time savoring the atmosphere of the creek.

I do hope you’ll be staying for a couple days as there is much to see and do in the Charleston area. So off you’ll be in the morning to see the memorable, historic city of Charleston. Make your first stop the Visitor’s Center at 375 Meeting Street. Here you will find plenty of brochures to help you decide what to see, and this is also where you can sign up for city tours of all kinds – walking tours, bus tours, horse-drawn carriage tours, and also the famed Charleston ghost tours. The city where the Civil War started is full of history and architecture, and very knowledgeable guides will tell you all about it. In order to be a tour guide in Charleston you must pass a very comprehensive test and get licensed, so be assured that your guide knows what he or she is talking about.

Your day in historic Charleston is done and your brain has been filled with a multitude of historic facts. It must be time again to fill the stomach. Back to the Shem Creek Inn to rest and rejuvenate on your private balcony, or maybe poolside? Then it’s on to the Shem Creek Bar and Grill for dinner.

You will find the view of the marshlands from the outdoor dining area at the Shem Creek Bar and Grill (located on the other side of the creek at 508 Mill St.) to be peaceful and relaxing. Here I recommend the Seafood Stuffed Flounder – flounder filets with a dressing of deviled crab, shrimp and scallops, moistened with a touch of sherry, topped with buttered breadcrumbs and baked to perfection. Other seafood options include Crab Stuffed Baked Lobster, Damn Good Crab Cakes, and “Naked Seafood” – Grilled seafood (your choice of shrimp, scallops, tuna, mahi mahi, or salmon) with butter and Shem spice.

After dinner, if you’re up for a little nightlife, stop in at Red’s. This hoppin’ little spot directly across the creek from the hotel will serve up your favorite cocktail, and you’ll get a breathtaking view of the Lowcountry sky at that magic time of the day – sunset. You will witness the sky becoming filled with every hue of orange, pink and purple. And as the big ball of orange fire drops to the horizon and the stars come out, nighttime settles into the creek. Listen to the music at Red’s or just savor a magical Lowcountry evening. And if, by chance, you are still a bit hungry, you can order Red’s famous bucket of seafood filled with peel-n-eat shrimp, snow crab clusters, and oysters.

Another day has dawned and you’re making plans. What to do in Charleston now that you’ve seen the historic downtown? A visit to a plantation or two is a must! The Magnolia Plantation and Gardens sit on nearly 500 acres on Highway 61, 10 miles from downtown Charleston. At the entrance you may purchase a ticket to tour the plantation home and gardens, or just the gardens. Other options include the Nature Train and the Nature Boat. The Magnolia Plantation, which was owned by Reverend John Drayton at the time of the Civil War, has been in the Drayton family since 1676.

After you have toured the house take a stroll around the grounds. The various gardens, walking trails, and wildlife will keep your attention for hours, if you’re so inclined. Children will enjoy the maze and petting zoo, and your own pet on a leash is welcome to stroll the grounds with you. If time allows you may also wish to explore the Boon Hall Plantation and Middleton Place.

As all good things do, your time at Shem Creek has come to an end. If you love seafood as much as I do, I highly recommend the Shem Creek area restaurants, and if you’re coming from afar, your stay in the Mount Pleasant area will be a most pleasant one at the Shem Creek Inn.

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If you go:

To book your accommodations visit www.shemcreekinn.com or call 800-523-4951.

Restaurant menus can be found at:
Water’s Edge
Shem Creek Bar and Grill

Magnolia Plantation
3550 Ashley River Rd
Charleston, SC 29414-7127

(843) 556-1012

Boone Hall Plantation
1235 Long Point Road
Mt Pleasant, SC 29464-9020

(843) 884-4371

Middleton Place
4300 Ashley River Road
Charleston, SC 29414-7206

(843) 556-6020

Image credit: Aglavin, courtesy Flickr

By Jill Irwin
originally published in

If you time it just right between storms and the first big snows, late October is a spectacular time to hike and explore the Cascades and east of the mountains. This is the first of several posts on my fall road trip to southeast Washington, northeast Oregon, and a teeny bit of Idaho. And just two days after I did this hike, the first big snowstorm hit the Cascades. Close, huh?

As we’re driving east on Highway 410 (Chinook Scenic Byway) on the northern edge of Mount Rainier National Park, the two-lane road climbs and switchbacks up and up to increasingly magnificent views of surrounding peaks and autumn colors. “Ohmygosh, can you believe that big patch of red?” I yelp, pointing to a brilliant slash of scarlet foliage on the slopes above.

Just before we arrive at Chinook Pass, the sun comes out. I can tell this is the beginning of a great autumn road trip.

It’s a perfect day to hike the 3-mile Naches Peak Loop, one of the region’s most popular hikes. (Of course, I’d say every day is a perfect day to hike unless it’s cold and raining or snowing.) On a nice summer weekend, this relatively easy trail with splendid views can get too crowded for my taste. But this late in the season and on a weekday, there’s not many others out here.

Usually I’d say hike this loop counterclockwise to get the best shots of Rainier, but today she’s obscured by clouds. We park at the Tipsoo Lake lot (where my Yakima relatives used to meet us Coasters for family picnics) and cross the road over to the trailhead.

We begin climbing up a pretty mild grade, in and out of forest, until we emerge into open alpine meadows on the back side of Naches Peak away from the highway. Glowing orange, red, and gold along the trail are huckleberries and other alpine shrubs.

Within a mile or so, we see Dewey Lake to our right several hundred feet below in a glacial cirque, and pass a lovely clear alpine lake just to our left. To the southeast, the forested valley stretches away below us. The going is easy and the scenery is superb.

As we loop around the north side of Naches Peak another mile or so farther on, I pull on my wool cap and gloves. It’s chilly here in the shade, with crunched up ice in the muddy footprints ahead. Yes, there are lots of footprints on the trail, but we pass only a few people today.

After passing through the shady side and starting to loop back toward Chinook Pass, an enchanting alpine lake spreads below like a scene out of Shangri-La. An art director couldn’t have designed a better set to evoke oohs and ahhhs.

At the end of the hike, we cross the highway and descend through a short stretch of forest and come out at Tipsoo Lake and back to the car. Good hike in mountain fresh air.

I’ve never driven the stretch of Highway 410 east from Chinook Pass to Yakima, so I’m excited to travel a new route. Within just 10 minutes of descending east down the pass, I notice the evergreen forests are sprinkled with golden trees.

New England’s fall colors are vivid (yes, I spent a few autumns there), but they’ve got nothing on the Northwest’s golden larches that light up evergreen forests like trees on fire.

“It’s so beautiful!” I keep on saying. Western larches grow in pretty specific areas—between elevations of 2,000 to 7,000 feet on the eastern slopes of the Cascades and mountains of the Columbia Basin and southern B.C. They’re a uniquely deciduous conifer sometimes called tamarack.

As we follow the American River, then the Naches River, the fall colors and scenery continue to give us a good show.

We roll into Yakima about dinner time, and find a Mexican restaurant recommended by a guy we met at a gas station a few miles out of town. I figured with the large Mexican immigrant population, Yakima would have luscious, authentic Mexican restaurants and taco trucks.

Here’s what I learned: While it’s good to get recommendations from locals, it can backfire too.

I’m sure there are decent Mexican restaurants in Yakima, but there are bad ones too, like the one where we had dinner (which shall remain nameless – I’m not about dissing anyone and affecting their business). Next time I’ll check on Yelp or Chowhound!

When You Go

The Chinook Scenic Byway begins in Enumclaw and follows the highway through two national forests and Mount Rainier National Park to US 12 in Naches. Chinook Pass is about two hours southeast of Seattle. I recommend hiking the Naches Peak loop on a weekday if at all possible.

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All photos by Jill Irwin – see more photos from this journey Jill’s blog Pacific Northwest Seasons

Jill Irwin is a freelance writer and native Northwesterner based in Seattle, Washington.