In Country

Georgetowner • December 21, 2015

Looking for something to do outside the city for New Year’s and the night before? We have you covered with a rundown of the best In Country holiday celebrations.

Easton and St. Michaels

Get away to the bay on New Year’s Eve with a trip to Easton or St. Michaels, Maryland. The two charming towns are a scenic 20-minute drive apart and have a lot to offer this New Year’s. In Easton, the town celebrates the coming of the New Year with First Night Talbot, a big event in Easton Town Centre that includes food, musical performances and fun activities for kids. The night concludes with the Crab Drop, a play on the famous Times Square countdown to the New Year — with a six-foot-tall papier-mâché crab.

Also in town, the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra is playing a special New Year’s Eve concert at Christ Church, starting at 6 p.m. Tickets range from $60 to $85 and can be purchased by calling 888-846-8600. 111 South Harrison St., Easton, Maryland.

As for accommodations, try the sumptuous Inn at 202, which has rooms starting at $290 per night and open dinner reservations early on New Year’s Eve. 202 E Dover St., Easton, Maryland. Or try the Inn at Perry Cabin by Belmond, with rooms starting at $585 for New Years Eve. It’s in St. Michaels at 308 Watkins Lane.

Annapolis

Annapolis is bustling with food and hospitality options for New Year’s Eve. The capital city celebrates the occasion with two firework displays (at 7:30 p.m. and midnight) and live music on the city dock in the heart of town. Try one of Annapolis’s renowned restaurants like VIN 909, a wine bar offering Italian and new American cuisine, or something more casual with views of the water, like Dock Street Bar and Grill. For accommodations, the Chez Amis B&B is the number one recommendation by Trip Advisor, and is centrally located in the historic district of Annapolis. But as I write this, there is only one room left, and it’s going for $175 on New Year’s Eve. VIN 909: 909 Bay Ridge Ave. Dock Street Bar and Grill: 136 Dock St. Chez Amis: 85 East St.

Middleburg, Virginia

Your New Year’s plans can be a bit more relaxing in the Virginia countryside where great artisanal foods, sweeping meadows and a number of delightful inns await. There’s the Goodstone Inn, which has rooms with a view starting at $335. Their New Year’s Eve is celebrated over fresh cuts of meat from nearby farms along with some of Virginia’s finest wines. Or, celebrate the occasion at the sprawling Salamander Resort and Spa. Salamander hosts its Toast to the New Year Celebration from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., and offers all of its regular activities, like horseback rides and massages, on Jan. 1 so you can treat yourself for the New Year. Check in on Dec. 30 to make the most of your stay. Rooms start at $473. Goodstone Inn: 36205 Snake Hill Road. Salamander Resort and Spa: 500 N Pendleton St.

Chuck Baldwin • November 5, 2015

The first Saturday in November means the Montpelier Hunt Races are running — as they have for the last 86 years. Set in the Piedmont foothills at the home of James and Dolley Madison, race day draws visitors from Washington, Richmond and all over Virginia for traditional hunt-country festivities.

With the first post time 12:30 p.m., seven races are run: two on the flat and five over fences. Most of the races are more than two miles long and offer exhilarating views of equestrian action.

Besides the main draw, other activities entice on race day — and not just for the well-dressed grown-ups in attendance. There will be Jack Russell Terrier Races near the flat track at 10:30 and Stick Horse Races for children ages 2 to 11. The children’s races will take place on the course in front of the race tower, but kids must enter at the Montpelier Tent by 11:15.

The Tailgate Contest is also quite popular, with lots of prizes handed out. Judge and jury is Jerome Thalwitz, owner of the Bavarian Chef, a highly regarded German restaurant in business since 1974 on Route 29 north of Charlottesville. He’s looking for best use of a theme, best presentation, best taste and most fun. The contest is free, but let the office know in advance of race day. Chef Thalwitz will need to know where your spot is located so he can find and judge you, starting about 11 a.m. Bear in mind that no grills or open fires are allowed.

One of the most entertaining non-horse-related events is the Hat Contest, for which the criteria are elegance and best race theme. There is a prize for groups, so put your heads together and cap them. Also on the racecourse in front of the tower, this contest occurs right after the finish of the second race.

The sixth race is the premier race: a steeplechase run over Montpelier’s live brush fences. The seventh and last post time is 4:30.

Vendor’s Row offers unique shopping opportunities, perfect for the holidays. Race-day souvenirs and merchandise are available at the Montpelier Museum Shop tent.

The Montpelier estate, the lifelong home of our fourth president and first first lady — Dolley Madison is credited with defining the role — will be open at reduced rates for visitors who wish to experience the mansion, the other historic structures and archaeological sites, special exhibits and the gardens and forest trails on the grounds.

William DuPont purchased the Montpelier Estate in 1901 and made substantial changes, enlarging the house, renovating the gardens and adding additional outbuildings and stables. His daughter, Marion DuPont Scott, a fine horsewoman, inherited the property and turned it into a top thoroughbred breeding and racing facility. She opened the Montpelier Races to the public in 1929.

The Montpelier Hunt Races will take place Nov. 7 at 11407 Constitution Highway, Montpelier Station, Virginia. Gates open at 9 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. Tickets at the gate are $20 and parking is $30. Tickets bought in advance start at $15, with $20 parking. To register for the Tailgate Contest, call 540-672-0014 or email info@montpelierraces.org. For more information and advance tickets, visit montpelierraces.org.

Ari Post • October 26, 2015

The annual Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland, is back with a full weekend of events Nov. 13 to 15. Since it was founded in 1971, the festival has become a Delmarva tradition, showcasing the heritage of Maryland’s sun-flecked peninsular region while raising funds to protect the wildlife and habitat so integral to the Eastern Shore way of life.

Not even the founders could have imagined what it would become. Through art, education, outdoor activities, local food offerings and even calling contests, the Waterfowl Festival captures the windswept beauty of the area’s wild birds and the ardor they stir up among hunters, birders and wildlife enthusiasts.

The event’s nonprofit wing, Waterfowl Festival, Inc., has raised more than $5.7 million, making conservation grants to hundreds of projects run by more than fifty organizations. Its conservation arm, Waterfowl Chesapeake, supports waterfowl and the environment by creating, restoring and conserving habitat throughout the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

General admission is $15 for the entire weekend. Children under 12 are free. There are fifteen different exhibits and four events, as well as music and activities for children. A list of festival highlights follows. For a full calendar of events, visit WaterfowlFestival.org.

For the Love of Dogs. Perhaps the most popular events at the festival are the doggy demos run by the Talbot Retriever Club. At Easton Middle School, the stands fill quickly to watch dogs race down a dock to splash into a pool of water (the competition is to see which can remain airborne the farthest or highest). Guests can also head over to nearby Bay Street Ponds to see some exceptionally skilled canines show off by leaping into the pond to fetch thrown or hidden dummies. For details, visit dockdogs.com.

Calling Contests. The best birdcallers in the world flock to the Waterfowl Festival. With five contests culminating in a finals round Saturday night, audiences have the chance to watch duck and goose callers from over 15 states and Canada compete. Admission to the finals is an additional $10.
Birds of Prey. Hawks, falcons and owls sharpen their hunting skills during an exciting outdoor flight demonstration with master falconer Brian Bradley.

Food and Drink. Food vendors will offer Eastern Shore favorites and traditional festival fare, supporting local nonprofit organizations. Don’t miss the Wine, Beer & Tasting Pavilion on Harrison Street. Admission (including a tasting glass) is an additional $10.

Arts and Crafts. At the Artisans Gifts and Workshop, visitors can watch painters and carvers at work while browsing a variety of handcrafted wildlife art, jewelry and clothing. At Buy, Sell, Swap at Easton High School, haggling is encouraged among traders, collectors and customers for a dizzying selection of decoys, hunting and sporting memorabilia.

For those visitors who want to take a break from festival activities, go for dinner or just enjoy Easton’s small-town charm, here is an overview of dining and shopping options.

On the restaurant front, Georgetown local Courtney Chapin, who has a home in Easton, notes: “There’s been a real shift toward farm-to-table, and it’s so easy to do here because of the wonderful farms all around the area.”

Brasserie Brightwell is a bistro-style spot with live outdoor music on the weekends. Try their mussels, local fish of the day or grilled whole rainbow trout. “And they have the best burgers in the world,” says Chapin. Their lamb sliders with smoked tomato chutney and goat cheese aren’t bad either.

For pizza, look no further than Out of the Fire, a wood-fired pizza joint with the best margherita pie in Easton or almost anywhere else. There are vegan options, a small, well-cultivated wine selection and a variety of fare inspired by local ingredients, like a softshell crab BLT. When you order the Swiss chard and kale it looks like it comes from a real garden.

Mason’s Restaurant is a local staple, one of the oldest restaurants in town, consistently serving up delicious food — and they have a great outdoor patio. Don’t miss their crab cake, wood-fired flatbreads and local beer selection.

For shoppers, Curlicue is a quaint, locally owned store with beautiful gifts and textiles, home accessories, jewelry and much more. Next door, Chef & Shower offers unique, must-have selections of cookware and bath supplies. It’s like William Sonoma, but with a sharper eye and a personalized touch.

Piazza is a shop that must be called “cute,” but in all the right ways. With a selection of decadent, zesty and rare olive oils and balsamic glazes, fine cheese and other boutique ingredients, it is the best kind of a place to swing by before hosting a party.

Lastly, the Amish Country Farmer’s Market, open Thursday to Saturday, should not be missed. From the kitschy charm of the market to the endless selection of everything from fresh produce and coffee to barbecue ribs, smoothies and hand-rolled soft pretzels, the market is charming, attractive, full of delicious food and friendly faces: a microcosm of everything great about Easton. Once you are here, you will have trouble leaving.

Sallie Lewis • September 2, 2015

The last month of summer has slipped through our fingers. Soon, fires will be lit, crackling warmly in their grates. Outside, autumn leaves will turn shades of gold, butter yellow and burnt orange. In town, tree-lined streets and places such as Rock Creek Park and the C&O Canal put on a colorful show.

Yet it’s outside the city, where concrete gives way to canopied trees and sprawling fields, that the true spectacle takes place.

People hoping to witness the quintessential display of fall foliage should travel to Shenandoah National Park, where Mother Nature never fails to awe or inspire. Here, just 75 miles from Washington, 200,000 acres of some of the country’s most scenic land is home to tens of thousands of living creatures, including 200 different species of birds. Throughout the park, hickories and birches, gum trees and blueberry bushes are but a few of the native plant species, and they burst with color every fall.

Hikers at Shenandoah National Park will delight in the 500 miles of rugged trails that score the terrain. For a less strenuous experience, hop in the car and venture down the park’s famed Skyline Drive. This 105-mile-long path affords some of the park’s most picturesque views. There are more than 75 scenic overlooks facing the Shenandoah Valley to the west and the Virginia Piedmont to the east. Pack a picnic lunch and take in panoramas that attract visitors from all over the world.

The meandering Blue Ridge Parkway is another renowned place to witness the fall season’s vibrancy. This 469-mile drive, carved through the Blue Ridge Mountains, connects Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In the fall, visitors wind their way along the road, taking in the vivid canvas of sourwoods, black gum trees and poplars.

Dissuaded by crowds? Try hiking at Sky Meadows State Park in Delaplane, Virginia. Just an hour from D.C., this less crowded destination affords beautiful views of fall’s color from late September to November.

Closer still is Great Falls National Park, only 15 miles from the District. Lined with hiking trails along the Potomac River, this 800-acre park offers a number of stunning places for visitors to unwrap a picnic lunch and rest tired legs.

In any of these places, however near or far, large or small, the real beauty of the season is evident in the leaves’ ephemeral symbolism. Destinations like Shenandoah National Park or Sky Meadows give a beautiful burning glimpse of life’s fleetingness and renewal. In the coming weeks, plan your trip to witness this beauty firsthand — and remember to close your eyes. After all, it is the sound of the rustling leaves mingled with birdsong that sings on in memory, long after the last leaf has dropped.

Sallie Lewis • August 19, 2015

With foxhunting season on the horizon, thoughts of tacked-up horses and stylish hunting parties, with all dressed in riding coats and hunt caps, come to mind. Soon, the Virginia Hunt Country — with its large, historic estates, elegant horse farms and unspoiled surroundings — will reawaken these images. Rolling hills colored apple green and cornflower blue take on an almost mystical quality in the early morning light, or at dusk when hunting parties traverse through venerable foxhunting grounds associated with private clubs.

Perhaps the most prestigious of these is the Orange County Hunt, founded in 1910. Today, the Orange County Hunt encompasses a patchwork of properties with thousands of acres of easement-protected land. Rare is it then to find an estate coming on the market in such an esteemed place. Enter: Hound Hall.

With 100 acres in the heart of the Orange County Hunt, Hound Hall is a golden coin unearthed from Virginia’s deep-rooted treasure trove. In the early 2000s, a private owner purchased the land and built an English country house for his family. The estate was named Hound Hall after the owner’s daughters attended Foxcroft School. Here, students are either “Foxes” or “Hounds,” the designations of two spirited teams, and when the girls became “Hounds,” a name for the estate was born.

Hound Hall has frontage on two country roads and is situated just down from Boxwood Winery and Hickory Tree Farm. The grounds boast a number of impeccable features, including a state-of-the-art equestrian facility suitable for professional show, polo or racing operations. The 17-stall Belmont racing barn and stable was completely rebuilt, a tribute to the surrounding country. Highlights of the facility include an expansive 7/8-mile sand exercise track that can be used for cross-country schooling or converted for polo. Additionally, there’s a separate two-stall barn with a two-bedroom apartment for trainers.

The house at Hound Hall defies its recent construction. It feels at once historic and modern, a dichotomy that affords both luxury and convenience. Outside, the home, built with a locally quarried stone, is lavishly landscaped. Inside, five en-suite bedrooms allow ample room for family, extended family and guests. Throughout the house, antique, wide-plank oak and pine floors sprawl; the railheads are all period reproductions, stained to replicate the patina of age and wear. Five wood-burning fireplaces add warmth on cold Virginia evenings, and the ironwork in these hearths, along with the fireplace tools, was designed and forged locally.

The owner spared no time or expense to ensure the home’s quality construction, readily working with the craftsmen, artisans and architect on his vision. This effort is evidenced in the paneling, doors, bookcases, cabinets and interior window shutters, all of which are handmade and hand carved from 9,000 square feet of old chestnut boards sourced in Pennsylvania.

In addition to the home and the equestrian facility, Hound Hall has a first-class sporting clays course. Shooting enthusiasts will covet the enclosed automatic, dual-action Promatic thrower and the area for entertaining, all within walking distance of the house. There is also a walk-in Pentagon gun safe on the lower level of the house.

This multi-faceted property, just seven minutes from Middleburg, is both an elegant sporting estate and a comfortable country home. Whoever its future buyer may be, the land — with its unobstructed mountain views, wooded acreage and rolling hills — is sure to offer a sense of peace, embodying the bond between man and nature. And, who knows, Hound Hall’s future owner may just watch the next fox hunt canter through, witness to a token of sporting history that remains alive and well today.

Gary Tischler • August 17, 2015

Before we travel to a new place, we stuff our luggage full. We pack the things we know and remember. We pack expectations, a kind of act of the imagination about how things might be, what we’ll see and feel. We pack our own memories.

We went to Cooperstown in upstate New York. We came initially because of opera—the Glimmerglass Festival and its artistic director Francesca Zambello, who also runs the Washington National Opera. We came also because of the church of baseball, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, where baseball’s inventor or grand developer Abner Doubleday lived. It is not the house that Babe Ruth built, but it is where he and hundreds of baseball’s finest are honored pretty much forever.

We discovered, too, that Cooperstown was founded by the father of James Fenimore Cooper, the town’s most famous author and America’s first novelist of any note, best known for “The Last of the Mohicans.”
Armed with this, we noted the presence of the Fenimore Art Museum, alongside the expansive and beautiful Leatherstocking Golf Course, which is part of the more than 100-year-old Otesaga Resort Hotel, and also runs across Lake Street, next to the modestly titled Farmers’ Museum. If you stay on that road and drive all the way around the lake, you will end up where you started: on Main Street in Cooperstown.

So, I came to Cooperstown already armed with some notions and memories. I—as well as my boon companion and partner—grew up in small towns, with similar populations and tropes, in Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively. I came to Cooperstown as an erstwhile German immigrant who spent the 1950s following the Cleveland Indians in their annual baseball wars with the New York Yankees, part of a youthful love affair with baseball that has never much abated. I thought it cannot get much better than this: baseball, opera, small town and James Fenimore Cooper, whose works I had only experienced in their Classic Illustrated comic book versions or as movies.

We stayed on the outside of the town at a Best Western Plus, where in the morning you could see mist and fog on the hills outside. We made our way into town—you hit Main Street at the town’s only stoplight—and I soon found out that everything I thought I knew was incomplete.

Cooperstown is a real place, not just the Hall of Fame.

If you’re an outdoor person, there are plenty of parks and recreational offerings—boating, biking, hiking, fishing. There are plenty of restaurants, farmers’ markets, distilleries and regional breweries. The influence of Whole Foods is not much in evidence.

Drive into town for the first time, and you’ll see the sign Redneck Barbecue brashly displayed on a roof in big colors.

This co-mingling of informality works its way through the town and the places you’ll see, oh my—even to some degree at elegant, impressive Otesaga Resort Hotel, the flagship of accommodations for the area. Buffet and lunch breakfast are a welcome offerings for travelers as well as guests, where eating by the window seats or outside retains an elegant, peaceful feeling. It makes you want to read a book by Henry James.

This probably comes as no surprise, nor is the excellent quality of the art works in the Fenimore Museum, including special exhibition currently of the works of Maxwell Parrish, as well as an impressive array of Native American art, among others.

You will be surprised by the Farmers’ Museum across the way from Fenimore. It contains a facsimile working village and farm, covering bygone days in American life—from a church, to a barn, a newspaper office, sheds and a blacksmith, barnyard animals shyly watching tourists, women sewing, the kitchens, bedrooms, dining rooms and libraries of both gentry and small town folks. There’s a Brigadoon quality to this. Imagine what would happen if you dropped a mobile electronic device into this serene scene. It might have the effect of a cultural, social nuclear device.

Around the lake a ways, you’ll encounter Hyde Hall, where executive director Jonathan Maney holds forth on one of the oldest residences around —it was built by an Englishman named George Clarke on a 60,000-acre estate with the help of renowned architect Philip Hooker. Ever since 1964, Hyde Hall has been under some sort of renovation to return it to its original grandeur, which in full glory was considerable. As Clarke was British, and after having the original cottage built, he strove for a touch of English landed aristocracy in the grand manner for a grand manor. Today, Maney, who is a historian, a former professor and a great storyteller, tells us that it is used for weddings, concerts, galas, picnics, lectures and exhibitions. Inside the vast home, which started out as a cottage, there are its paintings, prints, copies (of the inventor-artist Samuel Morse’s painting, “Gallery of the Louvre”), sculptures and rooms upon rooms, dark stairways, expansive window views of a courtyard, children’s rooms as well as a wine cellar fully stocked.

On Main Street, Cooperstown, however, it is baseball everywhere, memorabilia shops (like Mickey’s Place) everywhere. A statue of a youthful Shoeless Joe Jackson stands near Doubleday Field. After all that, at the end of Main Street sits the Baseball Hall of Fame itself, which this weekend (July 24 to 27) will induct four new members—Craig Biggio, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz—during four days of nothing but baseball, including the presence and a parade of hundreds of the game’s living legends and hall members.

From the outside, the hall doesn’t look like much. It seems small, until you walk inside and enter what is not so much a hall of fame but a hall of dreams. The three floors are filled with exhibits on teams, on the history of the games, on individuals like Hank Aaron, the Babe and Joe DiMaggio, on ball parks, the Negro Leagues, and most holy of holies, the true hall that contains plaques of every player inducted into the hall. Prominently located are sculptures of Ted Williams and Babe Ruth, where a small player is trying to imitate Ruth’s batting stance.

It’s an impressive place, a kind of church that’s full of reverence, references and irreverence. It’s a place where the playing of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” can suddenly bring you close to tears. It’s what happens here that matters, the buzz in every hall, young boys and some girls in baseball uniforms all over the place, the chit chat of the game whizzing through the wandering crowds like a giant murmur. On another floor, a dozen people are gathered around a screening of the Abbott and Costello comedy routine “Who’s on First,” laughing hard. Among the plaques, I find Ernie “Play Two,” the Chicago Cub and greatest player never to play in a World Series. His face shows a smile, and so does a woman looking at him. She’s an unrequited Cubs fan. We look at a plaque for Cubs manager Leo “The Lip” Durocher. She grimaces. “That S.O.B. cost us the pennant,” she says with some rancor.

After a trip to a new place, you return with more than you brought—more stuff, more maps, more books and souvenirs. More memories.

I unpacked memories of printer’s ink, an embarrassed turkey avoiding children at the farm, the two warm women who ran the carousel, the taste of cherry in a draught beer, the smoke on the hills, Papageno meeting Papagana in “The Magic Flute,” Solomon Howard’s eloquent basso voice in the two operas and bass baritone Eric Owens who saw ghosts, jumped on a table and owned Macbeth, a drive along Lake Street at midnight with a mother deer in the headlights, the sight and names of all the baseball players bringing back summer nights in Ohio, Maney describing in detail the process for lighting a Hyde chandelier and talking about his grandmother who had survived the fatal voyage of the R.M.S. Titanic, the rustle of white curtains at the resort moved by a breeze from Lake Otsego.
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Kelly Byrnes •

Loudoun County, Virginia, has no shortage of local breweries, combining water, barley, yeast and hops in ways that are sure to please anyone’s palate. With the 7th annual D.C. Beer Week bubbling up Aug. 9 to 16, it’s the perfect time to try some of the crispest, most authentic and best-crafted beers in the region.

Pinpointing a single top-notch brewery in Loudoun County is nearly impossible given the 19 contenders. But, to get you started, the following establishments are well worth checking out:

Lost Rhino Brewing Company offers an extensive selection of year-round and seasonal beers to visitors, who can tour the brewery on Saturdays. Tours run every hour from 1 to 5 p.m. For $8, participants get a souvenir tasting glass and four sample fillings. Those unable to trek to this Ashburn establishment aren’t out of luck, since Lost Rhino is among the 25 regional breweries participating in D.C. Beer Week’s Blind and Bitter event on Aug. 14. Scion Restaurant, at 2100 P St. NW near Dupont Circle, will host the event, in which patrons blindly taste a hoppy brew from each of the breweries and vote for their favorite. Lost Rhino opened a second Ashburn location this year, the Lost Rhino Retreat, with a full food menu. Both have live musical entertainment on Fridays and Saturdays.

Another Ashburn establishment, Old Ox Brewery, utilizes over 9,000 square feet of its building space for beer production. Old Ox has three core beers that are brewed year-round, plus a rotating selection of seasonal and experimental drinks. Tours of the production space take place Saturday afternoons on a first come, first served basis. The tasting room is open Wednesday through Sunday. Though no food is served at Old Ox, visiting food trucks are on the premises most weekends.

In Fairfax County a selection of 22 local and regional craft beers are in store for those who visit Barrel and Bushel, an American-style restaurant and bar located in the Hyatt Regency Tysons Corner. Barrel and Bushel’s drink menu consists of lagers, stouts and ales, as well as wines and bourbon. For those looking to sample a variety of brews, flight trays are offered with four glasses of beer. Choose from one of five flights on the menu or create your own from the beers on tap.

If hard cider, with its crisp, smooth taste, sounds more appealing than beer, Loudoun’s latest micro-cidery is not to be missed. Wild Hare Cider, which officially opened its Bluemont doors last month, specializes in transforming the ripest apples from Shenandoah Valley orchards into a fresh drink to be enjoyed any time of year. Wild Hare’s tasting room is open on weekends; Saturday hours vary and Sunday hours are noon to 5 p.m.

Peter Murray • July 16, 2015

Since vacations are for taking a step back from day-to-day life, take advantage of your time off this summer and retreat into nature. Follow our suggestions below or blaze your own path. Whatever you do, spend your trip enjoying the environment — and be sure to unwind, decompress and unplug along the way.

Moab: In the Land of Extremes
Moab is hard to get to. But hauling it from a distant airport — Las Vegas, in my case — is worthwhile, not only because of the destination’s otherworldly beauty, but also for the geological diversity that haunts and amazes during the drive: mammoth mountains, precipitous canyons and rivers plunging through gorges.

The town itself isn’t much — T-shirt stores here, Mexican restaurants there, motels marking the main drag — but it’s sandwiched between two of our country’s preserved treasures, Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. These two parks offer some of the best hiking trails and most spectacular views of nature in the world. Delicate Arch, in Arches National Park, is a must-see for visitors of any experience level. The hike is short (two miles), but steep, so get ready to work those calves. The view of Delicate Arch, at the end of the hike, is breathtaking, making any scrambling up the trail’s slick sandstone well worth it.

Experienced hikers, on the other hand, should head to the Syncline Loop at Canyonlands. Why the park is called Canyonlands becomes obvious a few hours into the hike, as sharp red walls rise above the trail and one canyon leads to the next, on
and on. Sometimes you’ll hike through massive round boulders; other times you’ll need to be on the lookout for sharp crags jutting into the trail.

About halfway through the eight-mile hike, you’ll be greeted with the Island in the Sky, a brilliant geological feature offering many photo ops. But no matter what, pay attention to pylons guiding the path and bring lots of water on this trip. (You can thank me later for the water tip, as you make your way to the top of false peak after false peak, trying to get out of the canyons.)

Moab Adventures is a one-stop shop for other extreme activities, including rock climbing, rappelling, canyoneering and rafting on the Colorado River. Trip leaders will bring you to hidden local gems like Corona Arch in your search for outdoor thrills.

The store also rents mountain bikes to ride on nearby Slickrock Trail, a mountain biker’s paradise, hailed as some of the best terrain anywhere for off-road cycling. To call it a trail, though, is a bit deceiving. It’s more like round-topped sandstone hills that grip a mountain bike’s tires. Riding can be strenuous, not to mention dangerous, when you’re riding up and down, up and down, with unending hard slopes under your wheels.

Bald Head Island: A Different Kind of Beach
Escape the boardwalks, chain stores and tattooed tourists with a beach trip to Bald Head Island in North Carolina. A photo of the island’s South Beach, with its long stretches of sand and homes on stilts, make Bald Head look like many other shore destinations on the East Coast. But Bald Head’s special qualities include a diverse natural landscape, tons of outdoor activities and, best of all, no cars. Visitors can rent golf carts and bikes to navigate the island after disembarking from the ferry that leaves from the town of Southport.

Once you’re on island, you can lay low at tranquil South Beach or head to East Beach for larger waves, suitable for surfing and boogie boarding. The island’s country club offers golf, tennis and swimming for the family — but watch out for alligators in nearby bodies of water.

Want to get even closer to nature? Take a stroll through the Maritime Forest Preserve, where beautiful Spanish moss climbs up ancient oaks. Or check in with the Bald Head Island Conservancy and schedule a visit to see endangered loggerhead turtles. The turtles lay their eggs in May and June and the little hatchlings emerge from their shells and waggle their way to the Atlantic in August and September.

Fishing is big on Bald Head Island, and there are lots of ways to do it. The easiest way is to bring your rod to one of the beaches and surf fish. You can also charter a boat from one of the outfitters and go searching for the giants of the deep. Or why not rent a kayak or paddleboard and go fishing or crabbing on the marshes around Fishing Creek?

With so much to do, it’s helpful to have a guide. The luxury vacation company Natural Retreats has a host of them. Not only will their people help you nail down accommodations, they have a team on site to take care of all your needs. Natural Retreats runs trips to destinations all over the world, but Bald Head Island is their top trip this summer.

Primland: View from the Treetops
Want to spend a few days living in a luxury treehouse? How about riding a horse or an ATV through verdant pastures? Have you ever contemplated playing 18 holes in the mountains or disc golf in the wilderness? Or just climbing tall trees in the Blue Ridge and stargazing from a mountaintop?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, Primland is the vacation destination for you.

Primland is an eco-friendly luxury resort nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, almost as far south as you can go in Virginia, and it’s the perfect place to take a break from the speed and anxiety of city life.

The resort has been lauded in the Washington Post, Town & Country, Golf Magazine and many other publications — and for good reason. Primland is one of the most dynamic yet secluded resorts in the country. The 12,000-acre resort is well stocked with magnificent mountain views and out-of-the-box outdoor activities. With upgrades to the classic resort offerings, like golf, swimming and spa treatments, this resort provides a country escape both luxurious and contemporary.
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Sallie Lewis •

The tastes of summer reveal themselves in a number of ways, from the sugary juices of a watermelon to the berry-colored stains on a farmer’s fingertips. Here in Washington, chefs around the District are taking full advantage of summer’s bounty — and, even better, much of it is local.

Robert Wiedmaier of RW Restaurant Group (Marcel’s, Brasserie Beck, Mussel Bar and Grille, Wildwood Kitchen, etc.) believes in the importance of putting faces to food, knowing the people behind certain products and, ultimately, being able to buy with confidence.

“I’d much rather talk with the farmer or the cheese maker or the guy who caught my striped bass on the Chesapeake,” he said, as opposed to buying from a commercial, faceless source. “The romance goes away when you buy in a package.”

Wiedmaier buys from roughly 15 different vendors from surrounding states, including Congressional Seafood for blue catfish and striped bass from Chesapeake Bay. For the best local mushrooms, he frequents the Irwin Mushroom Company, a second-generation family-run business in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania (known as “Mushroom Capital of the World”).

Indeed, there is something sensual about indulging in a local product, a richness of flavor and color. “Normally it’s a better product if it’s local,” Wiedmaier said, adding, “That’s not always true, but we try to buy as much locally as we can.”
This philosophy is put into practice at the Chapel Hill Farm in Berryville, Virginia, where Wiedmaier sources whole Randall Linebacks, the oldest and rarest cattle breed in America. The farm — a registered Virginia Landmark and National Historic Landmark — is situated in the Shenandoah Valley; conservation and tradition are at the heart of the program.

Another chef who’s incorporating local products into his menu is David Guas of Bayou Bakery, Coffee Bar and Eatery, with locations in Arlington and Capitol Hill. Chances are you’ve seen chef Guas on the “Today Show” or the Food Network, or even as a co-judge on the Travel Channel’s “American Grilled” program. The New Orleans native is a big proponent of using local foods at Bayou Bakery, where he is working to cultivate a culture and invigorate a taste for Southern style.

At Toigo Orchards in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, Guas finds a rainbow assortment of fresh produce: apples, pears, sweet nectarines, watermelons and award-winning peaches, among other stone fruits. The farm has over 21,000 trees solely for fresh-market apple production, and the orchard uses Integrated Pest Management (IPM) growing methods, which eliminate chemical residue.

While Toigo Orchards has Guas covered with the best in local fruits, Potomac Vegetable Farms fulfills his vegetable needs. Cabbages, spinach and radishes; collard, mustard and turnip greens; bell, chili, jalapeño and shishito peppers — these are just a few of the goods he and his team pick up from the Saturday farmer’s markets. “Everything they do is top-notch,” he said, adding that Bayou Bakery also buys their okra there (which they then pickle for their bloody Marys).

The Bayou bloody Mary was recently mentioned in Washingtonian, and for good reason. Served in a 16-ounce Mason jar with a creole-seasoned rim, it’s loaded with pickled vegetables, green olives and fresh lime.

Venturing into farmer’s markets and stocking up on seasonal fruits and vegetables give Guas and Wiedmaier an opportunity to color their menus in creative ways. However, this practice also fosters friendly, trusting relationships, one of the great gifts of doing business locally. And just as foods have their own flair and personality, so do the people who grow, harvest and sell them.
“I love doing business with good people,” said Guas. “It starts with that.” And good people he has found, including Jamie Stachowski of Stachowski Market and Deli on 28th and P in Georgetown, who makes all kinds of sausages for him, including boudin and andouille. Tom and Susan Hunt of Westmoreland Berry Farm in Oak Grove, Virginia, are another example. Guas waits in long lines at farmer’s markets to get his week’s worth of their fresh asparagus and berries, including their award-winning strawberries.

Back at Bayou Bakery, Guas’s accumulation of local ingredients shines through in many of the menu items, including beverages. One of the most popular cocktails at Bayou Bakery (aside from the bloody Mary) is the NOLA Backyard Swinger, a grapefruit-based beverage with bourbon, local honey, jalapeño and fresh rosemary. The jalapeño, sourced from Potomac Vegetable Farms, adds a nice heat. The honey used is lovingly called “Holly’s Honey,” named after a grade-school student (she and her father bring it to Guas from Ashburn, Virginia). In addition to the NOLA Backyard Swinger, this honey is also available at the chef’s “Sticky Station,” which features an array of honeys for guests to sample by stirring it into their tea, folding it into their oatmeal or spreading it through the insides of a hot, flaky biscuit.

Washingtonians are lucky to be surrounded by such strong agricultural communities. Artisans and farmers from Pennsylvania to Virginia and Maryland are passionate about their products, and chefs in the District are increasingly interested in sourcing the best ingredients they can. “That’s what we do as chefs,” said Wiedmaier, “we source.” For the rest of us, all that’s left to do is eat and enjoy. [gallery ids="102128,133730,133732,133727" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner • June 22, 2015

June 6
Twilight Polo at Great Meadow
Gates open at 6:30 p.m. for Twilight Polo, with the first match beginning at 7. Great Meadow hosts Twilight Polo every Saturday night through Sept. 19, except June 20 and July 4. 5089 Old Tavern Rd., The Plains, Virginia.

June 9
June Biz Buzz
At the June mixer of the Middleburg Business and Professional Association there will be a 10-minute Biz Buzz to bring attendees up to date. RSVP by emailing info@visitmiddleburgva.com. Nonmember admission is $5. Goodstone Inn, 36205 Snake Hill Rd., Middleburg, Virginia.

June 12
Sips and Snacks
Middleburg’s Home Farm Store invites visitors to a showcase of local artisan foods, at which they may taste and comment on wine, ciders or beer. There will be samples and recipe cards to take home. 1 East Washington St., Middleburg, Virginia.

June 13
Birding Banshee
On the second Saturday of each month, Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy and Friends of Banshee Reeks run a bird walk at the Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve, a birding hot spot. Participants are asked to bring binoculars if they have them. For details, contact Joe Coleman at 540-554-2542 or jcoleman@loudounwildlife.org. 17263 Southern Plantation La., Leesburg, Virginia.

June 14
Middleburg Summer Concert
Soprano Medea Namoradez-Ruhadze, a professor of voice at Shenandoah University, will be one of several featured performers at the second concert in the Middleburg Chamber Music Concert Series at Middleburg United Methodist Church. Refreshments will follow the concert. Admission is by free will offering. 15 W. Washington St. (across from the Safeway), Middleburg, Virginia.