Snow-covered Mount Katahdin is hard to ignore, right there across Millinocket Lake from our perch in the River Driver’s Pub. There’s no prettier dining spot in Maine.
The restaurant is at Twin Pine Camps, part of Matt and Wendy Polstein’s New England Outdoor Center, a North Woods destination offering a range of accommodations and great food. Combining amazing outdoor adventures in all seasons with fine dining and luxurious accommodations, Matt and Wendy have created the type of facility you would more commonly associate with Maine’s thriving coastal tourism industry.
The only difference is that they have created their dream destination 10 miles west of Millinocket — the perfect location if you enjoy the outdoors as much as we do.
I used to think Matt Polstein was crazy — trying to create a world-class destination on the edge of Maine’s 10-million acre northern forest. But he and Wendy have done it.
I’ve visited great lodges in Montana, Alaska and Quebec on fishing adventures — and Twin Pines ranks right up there with the best — at a fraction of the cost.
Sitting one morning in one of the six new environmentally-friendly cabins scattered along the shore of Millinocket Lake, I am reminded of a presentation by a national environmental group a few years ago, reporting that tourists seek amenity-filled accommodations on the edge of the wilderness where they can recreate each day before returning to their luxurious cabins and a fine dinner. Bingo. That’s the very definition of Twin Pines.
We arrived in the early afternoon in time to snowshoe from our cabin to Hammond Ridge, following the tracks of two coyotes on the upper trail, enjoying stunning views of Millinocket Lake and Mount Katahdin, and getting two hours of solid exercise.
We needed that in preparation for a wonderful dinner. River Drivers used to be east of Millinocket, and moved just last September to this new location where it continues to be the best restaurant in the region. I’ve eaten at River Driver’s Pub quite a few times over the years, so this assessment is not based only on this recent visit.
Consistently good food, well-prepared and creative, at reasonable prices — that was how I rated the restaurant in its old location. In its new location at Twin Pines, with two-story windows offering jaw-dropping views of Mount Katahdin, the restaurant now gets all the stars I can award.
A creature of habit, I ordered the Haddock Roulade for our first dinner, my favorite entrée at the old location. It is soooo good, with fresh haddock with Maine crab stuffing and covered in a lobster cream sauce.
For our second dinner, I found a new favorite, the Pork Osso Bucco, cut-with-a-fork, falling-off-the-bone pork on top of creamy mashed potatoes covered in pan jus. Fantastic!
On both nights, Lin and I enjoyed the unique River Driver Salad with two dressings and warm mushrooms. The first night we shared a crab cake, continuing our search for the best in Maine, and this presentation is near the top — mostly fresh crabmeat in the cake, with a very tasty roasted tomato pesto aioli. It’s good to know they can get fresh seafood way up here.
2012年2月22日 星期三
Go Away With ... Kambri Crews
When bill collectors called the Crews house, they talked to Kambri, the hearing child of deaf parents. Today, Kambri Crews, a 40-year-old author, having watched her charismatic father beat her mother, tells her compelling life story filled with love, hope and fear, in her thoughtful and sly memoir "Burn Down the Ground" (Villard, $25). One of the more unique places that Crews travels to is the Texas prison where her father is serving a 20-year sentence for the attempted murder of a girlfriend.
Q. What was the first trip you took as a child?
A. I've been flying on my own since I was five years old. I flew Braniff Airlines from Houston to Tulsa where I spent summers with my deaf grandparents. When I was 12, they took me on my first real vacation: a road trip to San Antonio, Texas to visit the Alamo and the Natural Bridge Caverns in New Braunfels. We saw wild bat colonies, rode inner tubes down the Guadalupe River, toured an anti-gravity house and ventured deep inside the caverns on a guided tour of sheer natural wonder. We were learning, laughing and experiencing things for the first time together. Before that trip, my grandparents were just some old people my mom was fond of. By the end, we were true friends.
Q. What would be your dream trip?
A. In sixth grade Social Studies class, Kenya was my choice for a required report on a foreign country. I've always had a fascination with animals and African safaris in particular. I'm not sure I could handle watching a real hunt and kill, though. I sob uncontrollably at National Geographic. I'd likely ruin the food chain by shrieking like I do at horror movies: "He's right behind you! Run!"
Q. What are your favorite hotels?
A. I once lived in a one-room tin shack, so it doesn't take much to impress me. Offer me warm cookies, free newspapers and lemon water in the lobby, and I'm ready to move in. My top three hotel memories are of the Topaz in Washington, D.C., they are pet friendly, offer you free wine in the late afternoon and are within walking distance of the DC Improv where my husband performs; the Biltmore Hotel in Providence, R.I., their pillows were so divine I purchased four for myself, and the Hotel des Academies et des Arts, a boutique hotel in Paris, that made me want to live there as an artist in residence, even though I can't draw a circle.
Q. What is your favorite vacation destination?
A. Peru. It has the perfect combination of spectacular natural beauty, rich history, friendly people and affordability.
Q. To someone who was going there for the first time, what would you recommend that they do during their visit?
A. The lost city of Machu Picchu is the obvious choice with its jaw-dropping beauty and unusual origins. But we also stayed at the Tambopata Eco Lodge, where we hiked through the rain forest and camped in a tent in the jungle with our guide named Elvis. We saw every species of monkey native to Peru and had a very long staring contest with a herd of wild boar. I won. It was a slightly dangerous, yet completely thrilling experience.
Q. Where have you traveled to that most reminded you of home?
A. There's no place like home. But with my unconventional life, I actually mean it. Camping in the rain forest in Peru would probably be the closest. Not bathing, relieving myself in the woods, sleeping on the hard ground, using lanterns and flashlights and hoping not to be killed in the middle of the night? Yep, that about sums it up.
Q. What is your guilty pleasure when you're on the road?
A. The hotel mini-bar and room service. I like to order anything that supplies me with more miniature things to take home: mayo, ketchup, mustard, jelly. I could have a curio cabinet filled with them.
Q. When you go away, what are some of your must-have items?
A. A good book, sunblock, sunglasses and a fridge stocked full of overpriced tiny stuff. I don't know what it is about mini-sized things that I love so much. Maybe my husband can tell you.
Q. Where are your favorite weekend getaways?
A. Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., is a short drive or train ride from New York City and a lovely village with iconic American historic sites. If you're a runner like I am, they offer fun, yet challenging, races, including a 10K on Halloween weekend. Seeing the Headless Horseman along the trail adds some incentive to run a little faster. They also have fantastic antique stores, if you have a way of getting your purchases back home.
Q. What is your best vacation memory?
A. When I was nine, my friend Sally and her family let me join them on a road trip to Matagorda Bay on the Texas coast. Her family drove school buses and had converted an old one into a makeshift travel trailer. For some unknown reason, we had the entire beach to ourselves. Seeing miles of vacant gulf and sand and sky was overwhelming. We threw a net into the ocean and later pulled up our catch to find so many crabs you couldn't see the string. We camped, swam in the surf, ate freshly boiled crab and swapped stories around a fire. They didn't care about fancy pillows from the Biltmore or stocked mini-fridges, they just loved each other and, by default, me. It was magical.
Q. What was the first trip you took as a child?
A. I've been flying on my own since I was five years old. I flew Braniff Airlines from Houston to Tulsa where I spent summers with my deaf grandparents. When I was 12, they took me on my first real vacation: a road trip to San Antonio, Texas to visit the Alamo and the Natural Bridge Caverns in New Braunfels. We saw wild bat colonies, rode inner tubes down the Guadalupe River, toured an anti-gravity house and ventured deep inside the caverns on a guided tour of sheer natural wonder. We were learning, laughing and experiencing things for the first time together. Before that trip, my grandparents were just some old people my mom was fond of. By the end, we were true friends.
Q. What would be your dream trip?
A. In sixth grade Social Studies class, Kenya was my choice for a required report on a foreign country. I've always had a fascination with animals and African safaris in particular. I'm not sure I could handle watching a real hunt and kill, though. I sob uncontrollably at National Geographic. I'd likely ruin the food chain by shrieking like I do at horror movies: "He's right behind you! Run!"
Q. What are your favorite hotels?
A. I once lived in a one-room tin shack, so it doesn't take much to impress me. Offer me warm cookies, free newspapers and lemon water in the lobby, and I'm ready to move in. My top three hotel memories are of the Topaz in Washington, D.C., they are pet friendly, offer you free wine in the late afternoon and are within walking distance of the DC Improv where my husband performs; the Biltmore Hotel in Providence, R.I., their pillows were so divine I purchased four for myself, and the Hotel des Academies et des Arts, a boutique hotel in Paris, that made me want to live there as an artist in residence, even though I can't draw a circle.
Q. What is your favorite vacation destination?
A. Peru. It has the perfect combination of spectacular natural beauty, rich history, friendly people and affordability.
Q. To someone who was going there for the first time, what would you recommend that they do during their visit?
A. The lost city of Machu Picchu is the obvious choice with its jaw-dropping beauty and unusual origins. But we also stayed at the Tambopata Eco Lodge, where we hiked through the rain forest and camped in a tent in the jungle with our guide named Elvis. We saw every species of monkey native to Peru and had a very long staring contest with a herd of wild boar. I won. It was a slightly dangerous, yet completely thrilling experience.
Q. Where have you traveled to that most reminded you of home?
A. There's no place like home. But with my unconventional life, I actually mean it. Camping in the rain forest in Peru would probably be the closest. Not bathing, relieving myself in the woods, sleeping on the hard ground, using lanterns and flashlights and hoping not to be killed in the middle of the night? Yep, that about sums it up.
Q. What is your guilty pleasure when you're on the road?
A. The hotel mini-bar and room service. I like to order anything that supplies me with more miniature things to take home: mayo, ketchup, mustard, jelly. I could have a curio cabinet filled with them.
Q. When you go away, what are some of your must-have items?
A. A good book, sunblock, sunglasses and a fridge stocked full of overpriced tiny stuff. I don't know what it is about mini-sized things that I love so much. Maybe my husband can tell you.
Q. Where are your favorite weekend getaways?
A. Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., is a short drive or train ride from New York City and a lovely village with iconic American historic sites. If you're a runner like I am, they offer fun, yet challenging, races, including a 10K on Halloween weekend. Seeing the Headless Horseman along the trail adds some incentive to run a little faster. They also have fantastic antique stores, if you have a way of getting your purchases back home.
Q. What is your best vacation memory?
A. When I was nine, my friend Sally and her family let me join them on a road trip to Matagorda Bay on the Texas coast. Her family drove school buses and had converted an old one into a makeshift travel trailer. For some unknown reason, we had the entire beach to ourselves. Seeing miles of vacant gulf and sand and sky was overwhelming. We threw a net into the ocean and later pulled up our catch to find so many crabs you couldn't see the string. We camped, swam in the surf, ate freshly boiled crab and swapped stories around a fire. They didn't care about fancy pillows from the Biltmore or stocked mini-fridges, they just loved each other and, by default, me. It was magical.
2011年8月12日 星期五
Even existing series are amping the female factor.
After successfully focusing on its male anti-heroes for years, "The Big Bang Theory" recently introduced a stronger female presence with Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch taking on recurring girlfriend characters.
That, in turn, has led tube to more substantial storylines for the show's original token female, Kaley Cuoco, says Bialik.
"Much as I love her with the guys, I personally love seeing (Cuoco) acting when she's with me and Melissa," Bialik said during the same press tour earlier this year.
"Because she gets to do more, she gets to be more. (Her character) gets to be the smartest one, because she is — socially, she's superior to these girls but not in an arrogant way.... Kaley's getting this leading lady opportunity to lead in a different way."
Simon Helberg, who plays the randy aerospace engineer Howard Wolowitz, agrees.
"When the show first started there was a lot of flack being given to (creator) Chuck (Lorre) and to the show and the writers about Kaley's character being such a two-dimensional, sort of ditzy blond," he says.
"And then she got to grow that character and you got to see her father, where she comes from, the layers of her, and now here we are with this entire, almost other show-within-the-show of these three girls. Every time it cuts to a scene with them I think it's just a brilliant way to use everybody and to give a female voice to the show."
Best known for her dramatic work on "24," Calgary-born Elisha Cuthbert says she leapt at the chance to try comedy on the ensemble series "Happy Endings."
She gushed over co-star Casey Wilson, a former regular on "Saturday Night Live," for helping her get in touch with her funny bone.
"I'm learning a lot about improv from her," Cuthbert said earlier this year at a Citytv media event to trumpet the upcoming second season.
Cuthbert also liked the fact that her character, Alex, was not a cookie-cutter rom-com staple — her character flees her own wedding in the pilot episode, leaving her longtime beau and their friends dumbfounded at the church.
The rest of the first season sees Alex embark on a slow climb back to redemption, culminating in a will-they-or-won't-they reunion with her ex in the finale.
"Anyone in their late 20s, early 30s that is going through that probably has felt at some point the cold feet," Cuthbert says.
That, in turn, has led tube to more substantial storylines for the show's original token female, Kaley Cuoco, says Bialik.
"Much as I love her with the guys, I personally love seeing (Cuoco) acting when she's with me and Melissa," Bialik said during the same press tour earlier this year.
"Because she gets to do more, she gets to be more. (Her character) gets to be the smartest one, because she is — socially, she's superior to these girls but not in an arrogant way.... Kaley's getting this leading lady opportunity to lead in a different way."
Simon Helberg, who plays the randy aerospace engineer Howard Wolowitz, agrees.
"When the show first started there was a lot of flack being given to (creator) Chuck (Lorre) and to the show and the writers about Kaley's character being such a two-dimensional, sort of ditzy blond," he says.
"And then she got to grow that character and you got to see her father, where she comes from, the layers of her, and now here we are with this entire, almost other show-within-the-show of these three girls. Every time it cuts to a scene with them I think it's just a brilliant way to use everybody and to give a female voice to the show."
Best known for her dramatic work on "24," Calgary-born Elisha Cuthbert says she leapt at the chance to try comedy on the ensemble series "Happy Endings."
She gushed over co-star Casey Wilson, a former regular on "Saturday Night Live," for helping her get in touch with her funny bone.
"I'm learning a lot about improv from her," Cuthbert said earlier this year at a Citytv media event to trumpet the upcoming second season.
Cuthbert also liked the fact that her character, Alex, was not a cookie-cutter rom-com staple — her character flees her own wedding in the pilot episode, leaving her longtime beau and their friends dumbfounded at the church.
The rest of the first season sees Alex embark on a slow climb back to redemption, culminating in a will-they-or-won't-they reunion with her ex in the finale.
"Anyone in their late 20s, early 30s that is going through that probably has felt at some point the cold feet," Cuthbert says.
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