Kathmandu, Nepal is home to many forms of worship, including this Monk’s Temple.

Celebrating life with travel — that’s a Tifton Gazette notion shared throughout the year with stories about places to visit around the world and close to home.

    They’re people stories: researched and written so newspaper readers get to know the folks who live in other places and figure out new ways to visit them.

    How do others shape their days and how can I fit in on a holiday: that’s the notion of celebrating life with travel.

    Here’s a recap of some of the 2010 travels through the newspaper.  They’re good journeys for the new year too. Check the Tifton Gazette Explore archives for all of them.

All the way across the USA

    Found it hard to remember I was in America when enjoying JUNEAU, SITKA and the Island Spirit small ship in between. Alaska’s a long way from Tifton.

    Capt. Jeff Behrens guides 32 passengers on his FANTASY CRUISES experience between those Alaska towns in a personal, attentive, up-close sort of way. See a bear? Stop the boat and lower the kayaks.

    The impressive Tongass Forest fills this journey, along the Alaska Marine Highway waterways and in Sitka and Juneau. 

    Mendenhall is the glacier 15 minutes outside Juneau, an ice field on top and fresh water below. Spectacular from afar, on a hike and from a helicopter above.

    Russian heritage adds a different spirit to Sitka, as do an abundance of brown bear, bald eagles, salmon and deep-sea halibut.

    Eighteen totem poles line a two-mile walk in Sitka National Historical Park, and I found numerous dance performances to clue me in to native cultural heritage traditions.

Canada on the eastern side

    Elegant, sophisticated MONTREAL is ever so much easier to reach than Europe, and equally chic. This is a city for walking, with fabulous architecture along the way and fine restaurants in every block.

    Prefer to bike? Montreal launched the BIXI program and provides 5,000 bicycles in sidewalk racks, easy to rent right there and return to another rack however many blocks away you’re going.

    Trains and buses are easy to navigate and plentiful too, including a big underground network and neighborhood.

    Botanical Garden, farm markets abundant with fruits, vegetables, cheeses, meats and more in artistic arrangements, museums of fine arts, Canadian history, crafts of Quebec and more and always another lovely park.

    Montreal is a city of green spaces, grand views, friendly people, outstanding food, true in the modern neighborhoods and in the Old Port part of the city.

Via Rail is the train connection to QUEBEC CITY, Canada’s 400-year-old community. Stay right in the midst of history in charming boutique inns or the splendid 1893 Chateau Frontenac with tall turrets and gracious old-world furnishings.

    The St. Lawrence River flows through and the venerable UNESCO declares this city a World Heritage site. French is the preferred language, lovely to hear and delightful to try.

    Food’s another highlight, fresh from UPA farms (that’s L’Union des Producteurs Agricoles) and magnificently prepared at restaurants throughout the upper and lower cities.

The other side of the world

    Yak cheese for breakfast started my explorations of KATHMANDU, Nepal, sitting in a garden of marigolds. Prayers are abundant in this nation so recently opened to the public after 5,000 years of closed borders: vibrant colored flags carry prayers in the air and hands turn prayer wheels as people walk by, releasing mantras carved on them.

    Nepal is complicated, calm, relevant and startling all at the same time.  I stayed in the capital city and hope to return to find my way to the countryside.

    SOUTH INDIA is a holy place. Everything’s sacred, the people say, and they have the stories, temples, altars and sculptures to reinforce that.

    Don’t suppose I’d want to go on my own, but my trip with “Magical Journeys: Authentic Sacred Tours” led by Carol Cumes of Peru and South Africa transformed me from sightseeing to being, teaching me to experience India with my heart and not my mind.

 

A few Florida highlights

    The SUWANNEE RIVER Wilderness Trail in North Florida winds 171 miles through tannin colored waters dotted with knobby-kneed cypress trees and great maps from National Geographic and Florida State Parks show the way for canoers and kayakers.

    I did 10 miles; many people do much more, sleeping overnight in floored, screened platforms close to restrooms and easy to reserve.

    Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park is near, run by people passionate about music, nature and animals, and presenting big-name concerts.

    APALACHICOLA and neighboring St. George Island provide Florida Gulf Coast vacations with water and forest almost side-by-side.  Fine bay, untouched by the oil spill and filled with king mackerel, amberjack, redfish and grouper. Big woods in this Big Bend Scenic Highway destination where 85 percent of the land is public, protected for fun and recreation.

    Ate my way around both towns, plus Carrabelle and Eastpoint.  Famous for their oysters, over fished when fearing the oil spill, but bound to be back.  In the meantime, fine chefs are fixing other delectable food.

    The romantic, elegant Coombs House, built in 1905 and exquisitely renovated is the place to stay.

 

Maine by land and by sea

    I introduced myself to Maine with three days in PORTLAND exploring interesting museums, eating chunky chowders and baked beans with brown bread. Saved the lobster for later.

    Portland is a festival city with blockbuster special events. Satisfied me on a no-festival trip, staying at the Harbor Hotel on the bustling commercial waterfront and touring the city with knowledgeable Norm Forgery who shares Maine Day Trips with visitors.

    Sailing the open waters, craggy rock shores and charming coves of Penobscot Bay gave me a view of Maine from the Lewis R. French, a SAILING SCHOONER built in 1871.

    Mesmerizing views. Relaxing days and nights. Help heave ho if you like, or just watch. Eat a lot, perched on deck, with hearty foods prepared on a wood-burning stove below. Quarters are tiny so pack light; pleasures are enormous.

    ROCKLAND and CAMDEN are the towns from which the fleet of 12 windjammers sail, charming communities filled with book stores, fine restaurants, historic inns and art, especially the Rockland Farnsworth Art Museum and Wyeth Center.

East Tennessee

    Civil War stories are being told in East Tennessee in 2011, part of 150th year anniversary observances. New angles, soldiers sure, but families as much as their battles.

    Historians here are connecting old facts in new ways.  Check out the McClung Museum in KNOXVILLE and the Farragut Museum in, well, Farragut. Also, the Nathanael Greene Museum in Greeneville.  Each is run by teams of passionate Civil War scholars and enthusiasts.  Gerald Augustus is the historian storyteller to ask for in Lenoir City.

    Sleep in East Tennessee for two grand hotel experiences whether you care about the Civil War or not.  The 1884 General Morgan Inn in GREENEVILLE, one of the Historic Hotels of America, is a sumptuous place indeed, as is the Carnegie Hotel in JOHNSON CITY, new ten years ago, now recreating fine details of its 1890s roots.

Georgia’s coast

    Nannygoat Beach on SAPELO ISLAND offers lots of shells, and more importantly to me, solitude. Reach this barrier island by Georgia Department of Natural Resources ferry from Meridian, eight miles north of Darien.

    Or, book some nights on a private island and ask Capt. Andy Hill to take you to Sapelo for a day trip. Eagle Lodge on one of his islands sleeps a dozen and is priced for normal people, not exclusive trip-takers.

    EAGLE ISLAND offers nice short hikes, abundant birds, kayak and canoe docks, 1,500 feet of porches surrounding the lodge and an outdoor kitchen for cooking crabs, oysters and low country boil. 

    The KING AND PRINCE on St. Simons Island launches its 76th year in 2011, replete with charm, grace and the kind of resort elegance that welcomes instead of intimidating. Its island has a bustling village by the pier with eateries, an amazing tea shop and stores.