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Here’s a guest contribution

(the first of many we hope!)

Skiing remains one of the most popular pastimes and winter sports in America. This is especially true in the Northeast. With its wide array of mountain ranges, seasonal climate and rich ski culture, the Northeast offers some of the best skiing in the United States. The region has a lot to offer, from small mountains that cater to novices to rolling mountains in Pennsylvania to New England’s famed ski resorts. From Maine to New Jersey and everything in between, the Northeast is home to some of America’s most celebrated ski resorts and villages.

Stowe, Vermont
One of the oldest and most charming ski resorts in North America, Stowe offers New England’s scenic mountain scenery alongside an old fashioned, European style resort. Mount Mansfield is known far and wide for its excellent powder snow while skiers of every level will find plenty of trails and slopes suitable for them. The town of Stowe is also filled with quaint shops, restaurants and places to relax.

Killington, Vermont
New England’s premier ski resort, Killington, the “Beast of the East,” ranks among the elite ski destinations in the United States. Sprawling over seven mountains, Killington is the largest ski resort in the Northeast and offers something for just about everyone. The resort also boasts an incredibly varied terrain, stunning mountain views and the highest vertical drop in the region. A favorite of skiers for generations, Killington never fails to deliver.

Belleayre Mountain, New York
Towering over the rolling hills and forests of Upstate New York, Belleayre Mountain is an old fashioned, traditional ski resort that offers plenty of thrills as well as phenomenal mountain views. Boasting 171 acres and a close proximity to the New York City metropolitan region, it is one of the most accessible and popular resorts in the region. With a soaring 3,429 foot summit and scenic ambience, Belleayre Mountain is one of the top ski resorts in the country.

Bretton Woods, New Hampshire
The flagship ski resort of New Hampshire, Bretton Woods is filled with history, charm and skiing heritage. Boasting a wide variety of trails and slopes as well as incredible views of Mount Washington and the White Mountains, Bretton Woods offers some of New England’s finest skiing. The resort’s beautiful Mount Washington Resort is among the top hotels in the region and known for its uncompromising guest service and elegant flair. A top destination for families and skiers of all levels, Bretton Woods is not to be missed.

Smugglers’ Notch, Vermont
Along with the adjacent Stowe ski resort, Smugglers’ Notch is one of Vermont’s most renowned skiing destinations. Known for its family skiing programs, panoramic views and varied terrain, Smugglers’ Notch is New England skiing at its best.

Big Boulder and Jack Frost, Pennsylvania
The premier ski resort in the beautiful Pocono Mountains, Jack Frost is one of the top ski resorts in the state of Pennsylvania. Big Boulder resort, located in the Jack Frost ski resort, is known for its varied terrain and majestic slopes. With 36 trails and a summit in excess of 2,100 feet, Big Boulder and Jack Frost combine to create one of the most spectacular and memorable skiing experiences in the Northeast.

Jiminy Peak, Massachusetts
Jiminy Peak, the largest and most renowned ski resort in the charming Berkshire Mountains, holds a wide array of trails and slopes, incredible views and plenty of cafes, shops and restaurants. Perfect for skiers of all skill levels and those seeking a quiet, mountain retreat, Jiminy Peak stands tall as Massachusetts’ finest ski resort and destination.

No matter what part of the Northeast you’re in, you’re sure to find a spectacular and memorable ski resort.

Megan Gates is an active blogger who provides written work to the blogosphere pertaining to NYC Real Estate, Hamptons Homes, home improvement and the latest architecture, design and fashion.  Follow her on twitter @MEGatesDesign.

COMING SOON ON AMAZON!

When we started Bastide les Amis as a self-catering rental property in Menerbes, we provided our guests with a printed Guide to the property and some useful day trips and items of local interest which are often not carried in the more commercial and established Guide Books.

We’ve had such a great reaction and coupled with the growing readership of this website, we felt that we should expand the concept into a 100 page book. Lovonne’s beautiful photographs taken over the seasons, complement the words which give you a highly personalised view of the Luberon and surrounds.

From a [very] short History of Provence, to day trips, some quirky trips like discovering the secrets behind the ‘turnarounds’ (the roundabouts!) to ‘Finding your way around a French supermarket’, Footsteps has been designed to give you an insight before, during and even after your trip to Provence - no matter how many times you have been here.

Footsteps - the Luberon and Surrounds, is available from Amazon as a hard copy book or can be downloaded via the Kindle App on to your ipad, iphone or any other smart/tablet device. The price is €19.00 (GBP16.00;US$24.99;AU$25.00;ZAR206.00). Downloading the Kindle app is free - merely go to your favourite App Store.

*Currency conversions apply from US$ at time of writing, Amazon will orovde their own ruling price at purchase.

COMING SOON ON AMAZON!  To pre-order, contact: simonburrow@orange.fr

Served at the Park Hyatt, Washington DC - need one say more, the plate was licked clean!

On our recent USA road trip, we spotted a few pumpkins to celebrate Halloween at the end of October. They make an interesting display:

Three hours along the highway from Annapolis and we found ourselves driving up the long drive to ‘the farm’. No Dallas movies could have prepared us for Pleasant Prospect Farm -  all that was missing was JR and his hat.

Immaculately mowed, clipped, polished and sculpted to perfection, the Farm comprises the main building, an office building, a Roman Bath building, a garage, workshop and sauna building, Guest Cottage (the Flag Cabin, containing all the Admiral’s naval memorabilia), and a small building housing a large fridge and the barbeque!

In the garage are two 1930 Ford convertibles, beautifully restored and in fine working oder. The rooms of all the buildings are finished to the highest specifications and we were quite literally, in clover.

Quite naturally with Bud and BA around, the food was nothing short of superb. On the first evening we were treated to smoked chickens and a smoked pork dish outside. This was cooked by right hand man Dan on the largest mobile barbeque you have ever seen - it has to be pulled by a tractor! On the second evening, we kicked off with caviar, bilinis and champagne to be followed by largish veal cutlets cooked on the ‘Green Egg’ - a monolithic version of a Weber.

Who wants to make an atmospheric movie of Olde US where time has stood still and the hillbillies predominate? Cape Charles on the banks of the Chesapeke Bay (Virginia) is just such a place. We popped in to the hardware store looking for an esoteric type of screwdriver for John W….. this is what we found!

A short 45-minute drive from the middle of Washington DC will find you in Annapolis. A smallish town, very historical with bricked houses and walking malls, Annapolis is also the  headquarters of the US Navy Academy. The Academy has over 6,000 members at any one time on a four year course and consequently, the town has a clean, naval feel about it.

Dave and his wife Chris, some of the Admiral’s lieutenants took us out in their boat for sunset drinks, a tour of the various waterways and a ogle at the waterside properties of the well-heeled.

Our tour took us to the seat of Government - the Capitol. An imposing Romanesque building ‘on the hill’. We were ushered through to the Office of the Minority Speaker - Nancy Pelosi (until recently, Obama’s chosen Speaker). An enthusiastic Communications Director took us under his wing and soon we were marching down long marble passages lined with flags of states and Old Glory herself.

The House of Representatives’ Members have their offices stretched over three buildings flanking the Capitol so it was a short, hot and humid walk to the main building. Apparently there is a maze of tunnels and a train service which ferries Members underground back and forth but we went above ground. (Note to South African Government ANC members - don’t get ideas!).

Although it is a comparatively young country, Americans have a great sense of history and you can feel this inside the Capitol with statues, mementos, artefacts and other symbols dotted around every corner of what is an immaculately clean and well kept building.

The little tourist bus took us from Arlington Cemetry and then we jumped off a the Lincoln Memorial for a short walk towards the Capital and Pennsylvania Avenue where we had heard that the Newseum was well worth a visit. We passed the Washington Memorial which has been closed until further notice due to he recent earthquake.

We stopped off at The Source by Wolfgang Puck for a ‘light lunch’ (if that is possible in the USA), the table agreed that Puck’s twist on a Kobe burger was a great hit and suitably replete we entered the Aladdin’s Cave that is the Newseum. A relatively new addition to the Washington Museum landscape, the Newseum stretches for six floors and comprises some incredible exhibitions and artefacts.

We enjoyed a 4-D movie on historical events that had made headlines, viewed the 9/11 newspaper headlines from around the world, artefacts from the Berlin Wall and famous FBI cases, and copies of all the Pulitzer prize winning pictures since 1975.

An afternoon is too short for the Newseum. You need a day to fully appreciate what is billed as ‘the world’s most interactive museum’. It really is.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances

Extract from the US Constitution which greets visitors outside the Newseum.

The US National Gallery

The imposing facade of the US Supreme Court

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