The Best Urban Rails-to-Trails in the U.S.

As transit networks for human-powered activities, rails to trails are bringing together communities, linked by a shared interest in a safe way to commute and commune with nature, and, in the process, protecting natural resources while also revitalizing local businesses.

1. Illinois Prairie Path, Illinois

Nicknamed the Roarin' Elgin, the now retired Chicago, Aurora & Elgin Railroad once carried commuters and freight between Chicago and its suburbs. Its legacy, the 62-mile Illinois Prairie Path (IPP), one of the country's oldest rails to trails, is perfect not only for the botanically inclined but also the committed commuter.

2. Ojai Valley and Venture River trails - California

Urban grittiness is evident along the six-mile Ventura River trail where rotating and decommissioned oil derricks are in plain sight. But art installations also dot this trail, such as a bronze of oranges, reflecting the produce the railroad once transported, and other Ventura themes.

3. Burke Gilman Trail - Washington

 Traced by a sandy beach, Golden Gardens as well as other parts of the trail offer views of the mighty Olympic Mountains, even snow-capped Mount Rainier, in the distance.

4. Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail, Florida

The path -- it's dotted with aluminum sculptures as a nod to its railroad history -- allows bladers, walkers and cyclists to safely and scenically traverse the Gulf coast, tidal waterways, myriad leafy parks and quaint neighborhoods in a state that's hardly noted for its pedestrian-friendly clime.

5. Minuteman Bikeway - Massachusetts

Short but oh-so-sweet, the 10-mile-long Minuteman Bikeway wanders through the landscape touched by the Revolutionary War, paralleling the Battle Road, aka Massachusetts Avenue, the route taken by British soldiers that marched to Concord. Following the path of the Lexington & West Cambridge Railroad from Cambridge to Bedford, this rail-to-trail is heralded as a year-round commuter way, even in the dead of winter.

6. Washington & Old Dominion Trail - Virginia

Many cyclists, joggers and bladers escape D.C. or commute on this trail that compliments the capital's retinue of memorials and monuments with lessons in history that are blended with a sense of peace rarely found in the chaotic Beltway.

7. Silver Comet Trail - Georgia

For 22 years since 1947, passengers could board a luxury train that cruised over towering trestles and through tunnels bored into mountains as it made the trip from New York to Birmingham, Alabama. That storied corridor has been transformed into the 62-mile Silver Comet Trail that spans Smyrna, Georgia (on the outskirts of Atlanta) to the Georgia/Alabama border near Cedartown in a rural North Georgia corner that's a mix of hardwood forests and rolling fields.

Find out more about this these seven urban rails to trails in the article I wrote for NationalGeographic Traveler - Intelligent Travel.

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My Fave National Wildlife Refuges

Not much wildlife made it into "Wild," the Reese Witherspoon movie based on Cheryl Strayed's solo, thousand-some-mile trek along the Pacific Crest Trail. That is, unless you count some of the shady people her character meets along the way. In real life, it's the four-legged, winged and finned creatures in our nation's wild places that provide treasured experiences for ourselves and our children -- whether it's prowling for owls, digging for crabs, learning to photograph flocks of cranes, or following the tracks of a bobcat. In America, wildlife links us with our past and provides a gift we can offer future generations. We can thank President Theodor Roosevelt for establishing the first national wildlife refuge -- Florida's Pelican Island -- in 1903. But the idea of protecting America's fish and wildlife, and the plants and waters they depend on dates to the mid-1800s, when reporters and explorers in the West documented how animals were being wiped out. The public came to the realization that America's heritage is intimately tied to its wildlife that require safe and healthy havens to thrive. Every U.S. state plus its territories has at least one refuge, all managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serve. I recently wrote about six stand-out national wildlife refuges for National Geographic Traveler - Intelligent Travel. 

credit: Ward Feurt/USFWS

credit: Colin Hackley

credit: Steve Hillebrand/USFWS

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Florida's Hidden Retreat

It's hard to believe that there are still hidden corners in Florida, a state I've criss crossed extensively. Yet, I just returned from Cedar Key that harks back to the Florida of maybe 50 years ago. But what was even more curious was that every single person I spoke with before my trip thought Cedar Key was part of the Florida Keys on the east coast. In fact, Cedar Key is on the west coast -- so, clearly, not part of the Keys. And given that there are no water parks, or beach resorts, and that it's one hour from Gainesville or two hours from Tampa, it's understandable why Cedar Key is off the radar.



The island of Cedar Key is one of 17 barrier islands, many of which are part of the pristine Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge.




Here's what I found and did:

1. Cedar Key is the farmed clam capital of the U.S. We enjoyed healthy, plump and juicy clams served in myriad ways

2. Kayaking along shallow salt marshes and marine estuaries

3. Plenty of bird watching possibilities, including shore birds like ibis, heron and egret

4. Bold sunsets that I never tired of watching

5. Roads where I rarely saw cars, making it perfect for renting a bike and pedaling around to the museums, old cemetery, petite landing strip and across the bridges linking four of the isles

6. Several state reserves, like the Cedar Key Scrub State Reserve, where I could walk sandy trails bordered by lush foliage and spy curious animal tracks

7. Wandering the town of Cedar Key to check out the arts and crafts shops where I talked with painters and sculptors

8. Taking a historic walking tour of the town that's dotted with buildings dating to the 19th century


My base for this five-day trip was the Cedar Key Bed & Breakfast, a yellow pine, two story 19th century dwelling just steps from the water. Here I knew I had just stepped into another world when owner Alice Phillips greeted me saying "We don't lock our doors here." To a native New Yorker, this couldn't have sounded more alien. But every night we found the door to the inn's public rooms unlocked. There we could raid the ever-present cookie jar for chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin cookies, M & Ms, or biscotti.



The town is oh, so walkable. So at night, we'd wander from dinner down the streets where everything shuts down at 9:30 pm to find our inn along a dark residential lane rimmed in tiny lights. What a welcome sight.

My room, the Honeymoon Cottage, one of the 7 rooms and 2 suites at this B & B -- was plenty quaint and comfy with thick bathrobes, a clawfoot tub, rose detailing, lace curtains and antique accoutrements.

But the key selling point of this room is the views of the garden with the 500-year-old live oak tree. As a New Yorker where views of nature are in short supply, I couldn't get enough of this one.

The backyard garden is where I spent much of my down time listening to the tinkling water fountain or watching the butterflies flitting about the blooming flowers. I often curled up with a book on the patio that fronts the backyard. And, despite the fact that the area drips with heat and humidity in the summer -- conditions I happen to love -- the patio was comfortable with its fans blowing a cooling breeze.

Every morning we were treated to fresh fruit salad, cinnamon raisin toast and bagels, yogurt and an ever-changing hot breakfast. The cream cheese omelet with chives was plenty flavorful. So was the French toast with nutmeg, and breakfast burrito with bacon and cheese. My favorite: the light-as-clouds pancakes. (I have a thing for pancakes that float off the plate; and these were so fluffy that I could've tied them down.)

The breakfast room, like the rest of the inn and Cedar Key in general, was like stepping back in time. An antique type phone and clock hung on the walls as did a framed set of the well-known Donax brushes that were made from local saw palmetto plants.

Alice and Bill, her husband and co-owner, keep a wall of DVDs, CDs and books to occupy anyone who can't find enough to do in and around the islands.

I spent five days here and I could've easily have spent another five or more. It's not every day that you find a warm, friendly place where the owners take such great care in providing their guests with everything they need for an enjoyable stay. They knew I'm very type A and I wanted to know everything there was to do and see and they didn't disappoint. They gave me the insider info on the best restaurant to eat chowder and who serves the best Key lime pie. They suggested who I should kayak with because I'm a novice kayaker as well as who gives one of the best boat tours in the area.

But even more important were the other guests who checked into the Cedar Key B & B. I rarely hold long conversations with guests at breakfast. But here I found people who were smart, interesting and welcoming who had a love of nature. And many of them had either been here before or, if not, they knew they'd return again. And I'll be one of them, too.

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My Three Best Kept Travel Secrets

TripBase, a very popular travel blog, recently started a tag-you’re-it game across the travel blogosphere. The idea is to collect a cool list of across-the-globe travel secrets from as many travel bloggers as possible. At some point, this list will be a Creative Commons roundup that I’ll be able to share with you once it's available.

I’ve just been tagged by two of my favorite travel bloggers, Melanie of TravelswithTwo and Robin of MyMelange to contribute my top three travel secrets.

Here they are:

1. Florida's Panhandle sometimes gets a bad rap, often because overdeveloped Panama City gets so much attention as a haven for spring break revelers. But there's that other Florida Panhandle, the authentic one that presents so many opportunities to explore some pristine beaches you might have difficulty choosing which ones to lay down your beach towel. In fact, over the past many years, some of these beaches have made it on to Dr. Beach's Best Beaches in America list -- a list with some 50 key criteria, including water color, scenery, urban development, sand quality and more.

Here are some of my favorite picks where blinding white sandy beaches are the rule and where, depending on the time of the year, I've found sections with more shorebird tracks than footprints.
Nine miles of dunes make St. Joseph Peninsula State Park particularly appealing. Shallow waters make also make it ideal for novice kayakers and a haven for migratory song birds, though it's also possible to spy hawks soaring overhead. St. George Island State Park is blessed with miles of sugar-white sands bordered by salt marches and oak and pine forests. Off the beach there's also good fishing for red snapper, mackerel and pompano. At Grayton Beach State Park, you can swim in emerald green water, gaze at sea-oat covered dunes, and hike through a lovely pine forest. St. Andrews State Park gives you the choice of swimming in the gulf or in a quiet tidal pool. From the beach, snorkelers are treated to multi-colored fish among the granite boulders of the jetty.


2. Surrounded on three sides by the sea and ringed by defensive Genoese watchtowers, Alghero makes for a picturesque town, especially given its fortified ancient quarter. Yet, many of those who visit Alghero with its fortified quarter never seem to leave their beach blanket. Set along the less developed west coast, Alghero has so much more to offer than swaths of sand and aquamarine waters that are perfect for boating. A sense of history pervades the old quarter that's still surrounded by Genoese watchtowers. On a self-guided audio tour, I climbed to the 20-meter-high terrace of the 16th century Porto Terra Tower for the panoramic views.
Though the beaches lining the coast of this resort town as well as those in nearby Fertilia get all the tourist attention, there are an array of day trips (many within cycling distance) sure to delight those who care little about sunning on Sardinia's sands. For example, I picked up an audio-guide at the Palmavera Nuraghe and meandered these ruins in this prehistoric village, one of the most complete of these Bronze Age complexes. Drive or bicycle through the little-visited Regional Forest of Porto Conte and you'll quickly understand why the protected land of oaks and pines is dubbed Noah's Ark. Unique white donkeys, small horses and Tibetan goats are just a few of the curious creatures wandering about. Though most visitors sign up for a boat tour to reach the famous Grotto di Nettuno with its cave network, a more memorable journey is to take the 654 steps of the Goat's Stairway down the cliff face. Not far away at Porto Ferro, three Genoese watchtowers guard Sardinia's longest beach where surfers flock to take on the crashing waves. Bird watchers often drive or bike to nearby pine-fringed Lake Baratz, Sardinia's only natural lake, where you may spot grebes and mallards.


3. Barcelona, Madrid and Andalusia get so much tourist traffic but it's the little visited Extremadura region -- one of Spain's least visited regions and the birthplace of Cortez, Pizarro and other Spanish conquistadors that provides so much inspiration for me with its rural landscapes of olive trees and Holm oaks, craggy mountainsides coated with pines and chestnuts trees and historic towns, Guadalupe, Merida, Trujillo, Zafra and Caceres, laced with labyrinthine streets. Each has a distinct character and is worth a visit: Trujillo http://www.spain.info/ven/otros-destinos/reportaje/trujillo.html?l=en for its palaces bearing the coats of arms of prominent families; Guadalupe for its massive monastery that's a UNESCO World Heritage site and one that houses a wealth of museums with elaborate embroidered vestments, reliquaries, ancient books of Gregorian chants; Merida that has some of the most complete set of Roman ruins around - so much so that I was able to jog along the periphery of the Roman Circus where chariot rides once took place; and, every June in Caceres, the capital of the province and another UNESCO World Heritage site, hosts the Classic Theater Festival where the works of the gold age artists can be experienced.
In whitewashed Zafra, though I didn't stay in one of Spain's most impressive paradors that's housed in a 15th century fortress-palace, I enjoyed the property's best feature: it's white marble Renaissance patio where I dined one evening on guinea hen in puff pastry. Instead, I stayed at Hotel Huerta Honda, the next-door property that was once the site of the castle's farm. In fact, the hotel's restaurant retains the original brick archway that was part of the fortress in the late 1400s. I also was lucky enough to visit during an annual event, De La Luna Al Fuego, when I took a historic tour of the fortress' impressive ramparts. I would've hung around longer to watch the sun set when an unexpected lightening storm cut our explorations short.


Now, I'm tagging 5 other travel blogs to share their top 3 best-kept travel secrets:

EllenBarone: Ellen's website and blogs have something for everyone. I've had the pleasure to travel with her and find that she's a real Renaissance woman who always gives me great tips and something new to think about.

JourneyWoman: Evelyn is a supreme resource for all things any woman will need when she's on the road, whether it's staying well or wondering what's appropriate to wear in different international destinations.

CiaoBambino: Ami provides a wealth of family-friendly travel advice. I don't have kids but, if I did, this would be one serious resource.

EuropeUpClose: Terri's just got so many fab tips, deals, news items and advice on so many European destinations. I'm in Europe frequently and I always find something here I didn't know.

Italylogue: Jessica rounds up an amazing array of everything you need to know about traveling to and enjoying Italy.

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The Florida Keys Are Still Wild

Driving from Key Largo to Key West, many people find it difficult to imagine what Florida must've been like before malls and wall-to-wall resorts invaded the area. Yet, all t takes to experience the wilderness of the Florida Keys is to make a very short detour off the main highway or take a pleasant ferry ride. Some of the wilderness venues are so close to the main drag, it's almost hard to believe it when residents admit they've never heard of a particular spot. There are more than half a dozen of these nature preserves to choose from. On my last trip to the Keys, I based in Islamorada and took day trips to each of these leafy destinations below:


• The Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park is just off Route 1. It's the largest remaining tropical hardwood forest in the U.S. and home to endangered plants and animals. Thanks to the signs and labels along the paths, it's easy to pick up plenty of botanical facts about the Jamaican dogwood whose leaves were once used to stun fish or the Bahama strongbark tree whose tea is said to be revitalizing.

• At Indian Key Historic State Park, rangers lead treks through this 10-acre greenspace that has a colorful past. The rogue wrecker bought the island and built one of Florida's first post offices; an agriculturist introduced agave and prickly pear; and a band of Native Americans attacked in the 1800s destroying most of the island's structures. You'll see the ruins of the town square and be able to roam trials that were once busy streets.

• Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park is one of the last virgin tropical forests in the Keys. The park is named for the endangered medicinal tree that 's said to possibly be the tree of the Garden of Eden and also the source of the Holy Grail. Rangers also lead guided walks on the island where you'll find plenty of oddly named and lush foliage. Kayaking, snorkeling and fishing are three other top activities you may want to consider both here and at Indian Key.

• The Crane Point Museum, Nature Center and Historic Site is a 60-some-acre wilderness preserve that is sure to satisfy botany and history buffs alike. Here you'll find the Adderley House, the oldest house in the Keys outside of Key West. It's constructed of sand, shells, lime and rocks. Walk the trails that wind past fresh water ponds and mangrove forests with blue herons and white ibis.

• In Long Key State Park, visitors can walk the pleasant Golden Orb Trail, so named for the spider whose web is many times stronger than the same mass of steel. It meanders through a dense mangrove forest to an observation tower high above the forest.

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