The Ranch at Rock Creek

Set among ten square of miles of rugged Montana ranchland lies The Ranch at Rock Creek—a luxury guest ranch that brings together wide open spaces and upscale amenities like never before. Exceptional wild trout fishing on pristine Rock Creek and trail rides among wildflower meadows are just two of dozens of on-property
activities, while outstanding cuisine, spa treatments, and stunning accommodations await guests at day’s end. Families, couples and friends will discover that The Ranch at Rock Creek is a place that offers the feel of the ‘true West’ without sacrificing true comfort.

It is situated at 5100 feet above sea level, just west of the Continental Divide.
It lies in one of the most remote parts of the Northern Rocky Mountains, in theRock Creek watershed, famous for its pristine aquatic habitatand abundant wildlife.
The nearest larger population center to the northwest is Missoula, about 1.3 hours by car, and Butte is approximately 1 hour southeast of The Ranch. Philipsburg, a small former mining town, is just 25 minutes from The Ranch. Even for Montana, the land that surrounds The Ranch is untraveled. Much of it remains unchanged over the past several decades, offering the sort of peace and quiet that is practically unattainable in the modern world.

Like everything at The Ranch at Rock Creek, Activities are designed with your
individual tastes, preferences, and needs in mind. Everything is included here, and the recreational opportunities, both on and off the ranch, are almost limitless.
On-ranch activities such as horseback riding, fishing our stocked trout ponds, hiking, wildlife watching, mountain biking, sporting clays, archery, rafting, campfires, star-gazing, and games in The Granite Lodge are always popular. Guided and self-guided trips to Philipsburg, historic mining towns, and other regional attractions are another option. Also, special events at The Ranch at Rock Creek are more than just special. This setting is outstanding for weddings, family reunions,
small corporate gatherings, providing both luxury and privacy. The Ranch’s onsite concierge staff will ensure that you can experience it all, so just let them know your interests and preferences and they will take care of the rest.

The Granite Lodge sits on a small ridge just west of Rock Creek, and like classic ranch headquarters, it’s the hub of activity at The Ranch at Rock Creek. Nine suites offer luxurious, individually-decorated accommodation options, and the great room and bar are the place for sharing tall tales before dinner. The 4-lane bowling alley, game room, and 14-foot movie screen are where most guests gather in the later evening, for a little camaraderie and competition. The dining room is located in The Lodge, and Chef Josh’s extraordinary cuisine reflects our pure surroundings —local beef, elk, bison, free-range chicken, organic eggs, resh fish, seasonal local fruits, vegetables and Ranch-grown herbs, all enhanced by an inspired wine list.
It’s our goal to offer more than just the basic comforts, and more than just a place
to stay, to ensure that your Northern Rockies experience is the perfect blend of
wilderness and comfort.

Chiva Express- Ecuador

Chiva express Devil's Nose Train Tours

Metropolitan Touring’s unique CHIVA EXPRESS Rail & Road programs along the very scenic route of the railway, will be operating irregularly in the next months due to maintenance of the rails and installation of new sleepers. We will operate by road on those segments where the railway is being repaired. The highlight of the railway route, “The Devil’s Nose” is fully operative and riding the zigzag cuttings on the rock aboard the Chiva Express is a unique and thrilling experience. A trip of Ecuador from within, at the rythm of past centuries.

What is “Chiva” A CHIVA is a typical, old-fashioned Latin American bus, with plenty of room on the roof for bags of grain, bananas and the odd chicken. Throughout Ecuador, these buses have taken on a new lease of life as party vehicles with adapted, high-sided roofs. Typically, they are hired for celebrations and guests ride on top of the bus as it drives around the streets, an oompa-oompa brass band banging out favorite tunes, while the typical Andean canelazo drink is liberally poured.

Metropolitan Touring and some other tour operators followed to adapt the chiva idea to the historic train ride from Quito to Guayaquil. Our passengers will enjoy an exclusive and unique trip through the Andean countryside and the coastal lowlands on board our Chiva Express- especially adapted for safety and comfort, while complementing the fun of the ride; a unique way to discover the beauty of Ecuador from different and new perspectives and angles.

Chiva Express by Metropolitan Touring Unique Rail & Road Journeys in Ecuador

The CHIVA EXPRESS journeys are a unique and exclusive product of Metropolitan Touring and a great way to experience the best of mainland Ecuador, from the Andean patchwork countryside to the lush tropical coastal lowlands. The Chiva Express is a must-do trip through the unbeaten paths and ever-changing scenery of this beautiful country, designed to offer a relaxed, fun and truly authentic experience for world class travelers.

BC Heli-Ski! Now's the time to start getting your ski's ready.

With awe-inspiring ski & snowboard terrain, a heli on your front lawn, gourmet dining, and luxurious wilderness setting, Tweedsmuir Lodge Heliskiing is our premium heli-skiing and heli-boarding experience.

The watchwords are privacy and exclusivity and it’s an experience enjoyed by only a lucky few each year. The lodge, surronded by pristine wilderness inside Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, has a maximum capacity of 15 people per week. This is an ideal place for you and your closest friends to come enjoy the best ski holiday of your collective lives.

All groups fly in the Astar B2 helicopters. This machine is capable of flying loads of up to 5 clients and if you book a private ship it is there for your exclusive use.

Accommodation is in chalets circling a massive front lawn and looking out at the most stunning scenery you are likely to find anywhere. The main lodge building is used for dining, socializing and includes a games room, guest office, shop and bar service. A separate spa building compliments the lodge facilities with hot tub, yoga and excerise facilities, and massage rooms.

In addition, it is very easy and convenient to get to our Tweedsmuir Heli Skiing location. Less travel time means possible ski days on both your arrival and departure days, and you can therefore maximize your valuable holiday time like never before.

CALL YOUR TRAVEL ADVISOR TODAY

Novia Scotia Walking

Biking and hiking routes that reveal quintessential Nova Scotia scenery of sheltered coves, weathered lighthouses and charming fishing villages with Backroads.

Day 1: Wolfville
Meet in Halifax Shuttle to Wolfville, with its shady elm trees and manicured lawns in the picturesque Annapolis Valley Visit a memorial featuring a statue of Evangéline, the heroine of Longfellow's poem, at Grand Pré National Historic Site before hiking along an historic dyke system to our lovely Victorian Inn Enjoy a tour, tasting and dinner at Domaine de Grand Pré winery.

Days 2-3: Annapolis Royal
Hike along Cape Split and emerge from a violet-carpeted forest onto a bluff that offers views of the wild Bay of Fundy - home of the world's highest tides In Annapolis Royal, be spooked by ghost stories on a candlelight graveyard tour through one of Canada's oldest cemeteries Discover shops, museums, stately tree-lined streets and historic Victorian homes Spot whales, seals and dolphins on a wildlife-watching cruise.

Day 4: White Point Beach
Discover the diverse pristine ecosystems of Kejimkujik Seaside Adjunct: coastal tundra forests, salt marshes and bogs, and sand and pebble beaches Gaze at harbor seals sunning themselves on the shore at Harbour Rocks At St. Catherine's River Beach, look for endangered shorebirds such as piping plovers.

Days 5-6: Lunenburg
Hike along a 100-year-old pedestrian-only coastal cart path from Broad Cove to Green Bay As you pass the tiny coves and beaches, keep an eye out for sandpipers, gulls, ducks and geese, and enjoy views of the Lahave Islands and seal colonies Take a leisurely jaunt with a local historian through the 18th-century seafaring town of Lunenburg, a World Heritage site that is "the best surviving example of a planned British colonial settlement in North America."

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Last Minute Yellowstone Deal

Book a Family Yellowstone Adventure and receive a Canon PowerShot S5 IS Digital Camera & Planet Earth, BBC award winning DVD set -- per Family ($599 Value).

6-Night Family Yellowstone Adventure w/Natural Habitat Adventures
Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone Lake, Old Faithful, Jackson
Departs Jul 18; Aug 1, 2009

Call me today for more info

The World's Cleanest Countries/Costa Rica # 5

Apr.20.09 Swiss Travel, Costa Rica

The declining health of Mother Earth has drawn growing attention over the last two decades, with countries coming together to fight a range of environmental threats, from declining fishing stocks to global warming. Witness the Kyoto Protocol, the first widely adopted set of environmental protection guidelines, which emerged during the 1990s and took effect in 2005. Kyoto led to the development of the first large-scale emissions trading market, Europe's Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading Scheme, which puts caps on carbon dioxide pollution. A similar carbon market, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, began operating at the start of this year in 10 Eastern U.S. states.

In spite of nearly universal support for a cleaner globe (the U.S. was one of only a few countries that failed to adopt Kyoto), it's mainly the rich nations that enjoy pristine environments, according to the Environmental Performance Index (EPI). Columbia University's Center for International Earth Science Information Network and Yale University's Center for Environmental Law and Policy developed the index to highlight the cleanest countries, and give laggards the opportunity to benchmark efforts to improve their own environments and the health of their citizens.

Switzerland tops the list with an overall EPI score of 95.5 out of 100, while European countries account for 14 of the top 20 environmental performers. Europe has the infrastructure to provide clean drinking water and treat waste water, lowering the likelihood that Europeans will suffer from waterborne disease. Europe scores consistently well in EPI's environmental health ranking, which measures the effects of pollution on human health. A second broad measure, ecosystem vitality, measures the health of fisheries, the amount of greenhouse gases a country pumps into the air and how well it preserves the diversity of its plants and animals. On this measure, the performance of developed countries diverges. Scandinavia, with its low population and vast open spaces, enjoys pristine forests and relatively little air pollution.

The U.S., once a leader in environmental protection, has failed to keep pace. "Starting 25 years ago, the United States started to fall behind in relative terms. Before that time, Europe always had dirtier air and drinking water," says Mark Levy, associate director of Columbia University's earth science center.
Then-President George H. W. Bush signed the last significant American air quality legislation in 1990, an amendment to the Clean Air Act. The U.S. scores a meager 63.5 on the ecosystem vitality scale, vs. an average score of 74.2 for the world's richest nations. The U.S.' overall EPI score is 81, putting it in 39th place on the list.

Improved science has led to a better understanding of the linkage between pollution and human health. "The science that's come out has shown that the harder you look for air-pollution-related health problems, the more you find," says Levy. "Scientists have recommended that environmental regulations be tightened. Europe has done that, but the U.S. has been stuck." Countries are also handicapped according to their locations, with sub-Saharan African countries suffering from scant and poor-quality water, and Asian countries affected by depleted fishing stocks. Switzerland's weakest marks come in agriculture, in part because farmers in the mountainous country have a tendency to overwork their limited crop land.
A few developing nations break into the top 10 of the rankings. Costa Rica has a per-capita gross domestic product of $11,600, but ranks fifth overall as it protects its forests and rich biodiversity, both lures for ecotourists.

Another Latin American country, Colombia, ranks ninth overall. The country carefully guards its coffee plantations, a source of lucrative exports. Ironically, the presence of guerrillas and drug lords also makes the countryside hard to develop, even as developers rapidly cut down rainforest in neighboring Brazil.

EPI researchers caution that the information used to develop the scale often comes from local sources and can be of less-than-ideal quality, especially in developing countries. They ranked 149 countries, and left the remaining 50 or so off the list for insufficient data.

RockResorts Spa at The Arrabelle at Vail Square on Conde Nast Hot List

RockResorts - The Arrabelle at Vail Square RockResorts Spa was just named to Conde Nast Traveller's Hot "Spa" List

The Arrabelle's expansive spa opened three months after the property's debut, and was worth the wait. Innovative natural treatments are keeping with its Rocky Mountain roots, as is the decor-a pleasant respite from the rest of the resorts's nouveau Bavarian ambiance. Ski-shaped ash-wood planks line the passage to the treatment rooms, rising from black river rock to mimic a forest. Locker rooms, tiled with marble and abstract recycled glass mosaics, have whirlpools, a steam room, and a sauna; men's and women's relaxation lounges feature waterfall-backed plunge pools, plush daybeds, and beige-leather recliners. And should the oatmeal spice rub or Vin Chaud Indulgence whet your appetite, a full spa menu is served. A day spent charging the pow in Vail's Blue Sky Basin is best concluded with the Apres sport massage-aching muscles are relieved with birch, willow, and menthol, then sore spots are targeted in a deep-tissue massage incorporating inflammation-reducing arnica, rosemary, and basil.