Rosario Resort &Spa, a historic resort on 30 acres of waterfront on Orcas Island in the scenic San Juan Islands, has announced its winter schedule for a popular “Take a Hike, Clear a Trail, Enjoy a Vacation” package. It’s the perfect incentive to take a luxurious weekend getaway with an opportunity to “give back” built in for good measure.
Thanks to a partnership between Rosario and neighboring Moran State Park, guests who volunteer to do trail maintenance can receive special “green” rates the weekend of their visit, such as $69 per night for a standard guest room, a 40 percent discount. Participants will also receive a 15 percent discount at Rosario’s spa, just the thing after a morning of trail maintenance.
Guests of all ages and athletic abilities are invited to participate. Many clean-up sites will require three- to four-mile hikes, while others are accessible by vans provided by the resort. All sessions will be guided and monitored by Moran State Park.
Work parties are from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on the first Saturday of the month, including Nov. 3, Dec. 1, Jan. 5, Feb. 2 and March 1. Rates are good for Friday and Saturday night on the weekend you work. See www.rosarioresort.com for details or call 800-562-8820 to sign up.
Guidebooks clue you in to the ‘hippest’ hotels
What makes a hotel hip?
“It’s not just the feeling of ‘wow,’ because you can get wow from anything. You can get wow from a 100-foot-atrium in a corporate hotel,” said Herbert Ypma, author of the “Hip Hotels” guidebook series.
Instead, Ypma looks for “highly individual places” that are “capturing and reflecting and radiating the notion of travel” with some element that is unforgettable, whether it’s stunning decor, extraordinary architecture or a breathtaking location.
There are 14 books in the ‘Hip Hotels’ series, including the most recent, a paperback version of the “Hip Hotels Atlas” (Thames &Hudson, $36.95), that has just been released in the U.S. The lushly illustrated atlas offers descriptions of hotels on six continents.
Some of the properties in the book are luxury accommodations with pricetags to match, like the Chateau de Bagnols in Bagnols, France, a restored medieval castle where rooms begin at $675 a night. But others are moderately priced, including several of the seven listings for the continental U.S.
For example, listed rates for the Korakia Pensione, in Palm Springs, Calif., start at $159. The hotel is lauded as “a place of hand-washed linen sheets, canopied four-poster beds, lace, ceiling fans, slate and wooden floors, furniture from Rajasthan, chairs from Mexico, glassware from France, black-and-white photography and lots of old books.”
Other continental U.S. properties in the “Hip Hotels Atlas” are Dunton Hot Springs, Dolores, Colo.; The Home Ranch, Clark, Colo.; Cibolo Creek Ranch, Marfa, Texas; Sundance, in Sundance, Utah; and Canoe Bay, Chetek, Wis.
Details at www.hiphotels.com.
Book offers every urban transit map in the world
Some people love the romance of long-distance railroad travel. Some like to step off the curb and hail a cab. But others prefer the screech and rumble of subways — and the more arcane and exotic the system, the better.
For these urban transit freaks and fans comes the perfect book: “Transit Maps of the World: The World’s First Collection of Every Urban Train Map on Earth,” by Mark Ovenden (Penguin, $25).
The book includes maps from more than 200 cities including Berlin, Chicago, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris and Tokyo, along with Barcelona, Boston, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Lisbon, Mexico City, Montreal, Munich, Osaka, San Francisco, Seoul, St. Petersburg and Washington D.C.
There is also a section on cities with light-rail and commuter systems and a final chapter on hybrid tram-trains, monorail services and other urban transit systems.
Each map is accompanied by a brief history and an explanation of the challenges involved in creating both the physical rail system and the visual guide to it. Entries for older lines include examples of historic maps and even proposed concepts for future maps.
Amtrak opens mobile hot spots at stations
Amtrak will install Wi-Fi hot spots at five Northeast corridor stations, giving all passengers access to wireless Internet service for the first time.
The service, provided by T-Mobile, will be available at Washington Union Station, Baltimore Penn Station, Wilmington, Del., Station, Philadelphia 30th Street Station and New York Penn Station.
Spokeswoman Tracy Connell said some locations of the Club Acela first-class lounge had wireless, but this is the first time it has been made available throughout the stations.
McGovern museum drawing visitors
The McGovern Legacy Museum at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D., drew an estimated 25,000 visitors in its first year.
The museum is part of the George and Eleanor McGovern Library and Center for Leadership and Public Service.
“One thing about the McGovern Legacy Museum that is interesting is that you don’t have to be a Democrat and you don’t have to like George McGovern’s policies at all,” said Pam Engelland, director of the Corn Palace Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It’s just a lesson about that time in our history.”
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