Tag Archives: Travel & Leisure

Top Travel Videos: “Aerial America – Colorado” (Smithsonian Channel)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMLte7OEQaE

Get ready for a Rocky Mountain adventure over the state that boasts some of the highest peaks, tallest sand dunes and largest single-site brewery in America. Every year Colorado attracts music lovers, ski buffs, and sports fans drawn to its Red Rocks, Aspen slopes and the Broncos’ Mile High Stadium. But it is also a state with a history, marked by war, a gold rush and legendary bank robberies. Through it all, Colorado remains a feast for the eyes.

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Travel & History Books: “Great Camps Of The Adirondacks” – Gorgeous Updated 2nd Edition (2020)

The foremost guide to the historic camps of the Adirondacks―a unique vernacular style of rustic architecture designed to complement the land. Now available in a Great Camps of the Adirondacks Harvey H Kaiser 2020second and enlarged edition, here is the foremost guide to the historic camps within America’s spectacular forest preserve, the six million acre Adirondack Park.

When first published in 1982, Great Camps of the Adirondacks launched a campaign for the preservation of these architectural treasures while also sparking a trend in great camp-inspired home design, a cohesive approach to building that author Harvey H. Kaiser named Adirondack Rustic Style.

Great Camps of the Adirondacks - Harvey Kaiser 2020

In this second edition, preservationists will find a success story. Designers and builders will discover page after page of inspiration. All readers will see the history of a region unfold as Americans from the mid-1870s to the late-1930s, including the very wealthiest New Yorkers, sought out the wilderness. The camps they built as private seasonal retreats are distinguished both as architectural responses to the Adirondack environment in the use of logs and stone, and as successful examples of buildings blended into the forest and the natural contours of the mountains and lakes―homes built to serve as beautiful complements to the land itself.

Harvey H. Kaiser served as the Senior Vice President for Facilities Administration and University Architect at Syracuse University between 1972 and 1995. His 1982 book Great Camps of the Adirondacks popularized the term “Great Camps” to refer to the grand summer residences that wealthy families built in the Adirondack Mountains in the nineteenth century, and revitalized interest in these sites. Several studies on western national park architecture culminated in his 2008 book The National Park Architecture Sourcebook.

 

Steven Engelhart is the executive director of Adirondack Architectural Heritage (AARCH) located in Keeseville, New York. AARCH is a private, nonprofit. historic preservation organization for New York State’s Adirondack Park, whose mission is to promote better public understanding, appreciation, and stewardship of the region’s architecture, communities, and historic sites.

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Future Of Mobile Living: “HAAKS Opperland Camper” Easily Detaches From Chasis – “Open Living Area”

At the push of a button, the HAAKS camper extends its support legs, so that the car can be driven out of it; it remains available for day trips. The module self-levels and the automatically extendable roof unfolds your sleeping area.

Haaks Campers inside view

HAAKS campers offers you the freedom and flexibility  for your adventures, with a new way of  camping. A way of camping with luxury and  comfort, but also more sustainable and with natural  materials. Closer to nature.

A motorhome should feel like a second home. Building a HAAKS motorhome is a  process that we go through together. Take us  on your journey. What does your ideal adventure look like? Where have  you been and what do you want to do? Together  we design the perfect camper for all your  travels. Do you want a specific type of upholstery,  a different layout, or a different toilet? We fully adapt the camper to  your wishes. So that you feel at home in it.

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Destination Hotels: Parco Dei Principi In Sorrento, Italy – 1960’s “Infinite Blue”

From a Cereal Magazine online article (March 2, 2020):

Hotel Parco dei Principi di Sorrento facebookOf all Gio Ponti’s 100-odd buildings, Sorrento is the only hotel where you can still stay, fully immersed in his art — for as well as the building itself he designed every last detail. He was not just an architect, but a designer — of interiors, furniture, industry, cars — an artist and a ceramicist, a writer and a teacher; and at Parco dei Principi his passion for so many disciplines converged in one triumphant paean to modernity.

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The concept of infinite blue was architect Gio Ponti’s driving inspiration when he built Parco dei Principi, his slice of 1960s modernism on a coast of faded antiquity. When it opened in 1962, the hotel was something new for ancient Sorrento: a clean-lined, contemporary edifice on the tufa-stone cliff. Inside, the bright, wide-open spaces were pared down and decorated entirely in white and blue.

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Best Of Camping: “2020 Polydrop KJ-20 Fully Loaded Camper Trailer”

Polydrop Trailer is not only designed to be futuristic-looking. It is aiming at truly futuristic, eco-friendly travel trailers. Polydrop’s energy system runs by 100w solar panel and battery.

  • 2020 POLYDROP KJ-20 Fully Loaded Camper Trailer interior bedPolydrop Trailer fully loaded model weighs only 1150LBS, it can be towed by most cars. Hydraulic disc brakes come stock on all of Polydrop Trailer models will help you drive safely.
  • Polydrop Trailer is the most insulated travel trailer in the market. Polydrop’s maximum 8.7″ insulation lets you stay comfortable during any weather conditions. There is no such word as camping season with a Polydrop Trailer.

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2020 POLYDROP KJ-20 Fully Loaded Camper Trailer kitchen

2020 POLYDROP KJ-20 Fully Loaded model comes with all of below features.

  • Aluminum Frame
  • Timbren 2000LBS Independent Suspension
  • Titan Hydraulic Disc Brake
  • 175/80/13 Tires
  • Maximized Wall Insulation (Max. 8.7″ Rigid Foam)
  • 100W Solar Charging system
  • 12V Battery
  • Gull-wing Doors on both sides
  • 48″x75″x5.5″ Mattress
  • Full HVAC with thermostat (Heater, 5000 BTU Air Conditioner)
  • Interior Cubbyholes w/ hidden LED Lighting
  • FRP/Wood Kitchenette Galley
  • Dometic CD20 Fridge
  • Hand Pump Sink w/ 2 of 1.6 Gallon Water Containers
  • 2 Burner Stove
  • 4 Channel Outside Security Cameras
  • Fan-Tastic Ceiling Fan
  • Rhino-Rack Roof Rack
  • Sunseeker Awning
  • Road Shower 4S

 

Few things need to be installed on your towing vehicle

  • Tow hitch on your car
  • 1-7/8″ or 2″ Ball receiver (18″ Ball height from the ground)
  • 4 Way flat connector

Top New Camper Vans: “2020 Mercedes-Benz Metris Weekender”

Built by Driverge Vehicle Innovations in partnership with Peace Vans as part of our MasterSolutions™ program, the new Weekender draws inspiration from glorious Mercedes-Benz Metris Weekender Camper Van Interior 2020camper vans of the past while incorporating the latest safety, reliability, and convenience features — taking the pop top van to new heights.

  • Seats five, sleeps four. With an elevating roof, swiveling front seats, integrated table, a rear bench that converts to a bed, an extra battery for more power, and much more, the Weekender comes standard with enough features to go from day-to-day life to adventure mode with ease.
  • Power up your weekends with optional features like integrated solar panels for more power, a 1.5” suspension lift for greater off-road capabilities, upgraded navigation features, roof racks, and camping upgrades like an 8’ awning, mosquito screens, rear lift tent, and a pullout rear kitchen.
  • The Weekender is built on the tried-and-true Metris platform: Tow rating of 5,000 lbs., excellent safety and fuel economy, up to 15,000 mile service intervals, ATTENTION ASSIST®, Crosswind Assist, rearview camera, load adaptive ESP and ECO start/stop, and much more.

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Food & Wine: “Castillo de Cuzcurrita” Winery In La Rioja, Spain (Video)

Monocle 24 Films logoThis Spanish region is home to many large-scale producers, but at Castillo de Cuzcurrita things are done differently. Vintner Ana Martin Onzain unveils how their aged wines – grown and made exclusively in this small village – bring people together.

Castillo de Cuzcurrita Winery In La Rioja Spain winesHISTORY: Little is known of its history of Cuzcurrita prior to the 14th century. On 15 November 1367, King Enrique II of Castile rewarded the Alcalde Mayor of the Hijosdalgo of Castile, Juan Martínez de Rojas by granting him the title of Feudal Lord of Cuzcurrita with all its lands and rights.

In the 16th century, during the reign of Philip II, the 9th Lord of Cuzcurrita, Pedro Velasco, bastard son of Bernardino de Velasco and the wife of Pedro Suárez de Figueroa, established the entailed estate by marrying Marta de Rojas y Osorio, carving his coat of arms over the entrance to the castle.The fortress, which had been erected by the Suárez Figeroa family between the 14th and 15th centuries, remained in the hands of the Velasco-Rojas family until the last century, subsequently passing through various hands until it was bought by the Sáinz de Incháustegui family, Counts of Alacha, in 1947, who went on to restore it and make it their family home.

Within the irregular square floor plan of this fortress stands the keep, one of the most characteristic of its kind in La Rioja due to the harmony of its dimensions and its few arched openings. This square tower rises from right in the middle of the castle with small, rectangular openings.

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Video Profiles: 80-Year Old Scotsman Don Cameron, Hot Air Balloon Pioneer

For more than half a century, Scotland-born Don Cameron has been a pioneer in the world of hot air balloons. He built and flew western Europe’s first modern hot air balloon in 1967, before founding his company Cameron Balloons from the basement of his flat.

The company has since become one of the world’s largest balloon manufacturers, making hundreds of balloons each year. It is the market leader in special-shaped balloons, producing the likes of Darth Vader, Vincent van Gogh and a dinosaur.

Video by Morgan Spence

Camper Trends: “Beauer X-Van” Telescopes To Larger Size With Push Of A Button

From a New Atlas online article:

French company Beauer has earned a lot of attention over the years for telescoping teardrop caravans that grow double or triple their size at the push of a button. Now the company’s bringing its tech to van life, launching a plug-and-play module that grows to create a large camper at camp and a smaller, nimbler van on the road. The X-Van installs in 10 minutes and extends the length of the van to add comfy sleeping quarters for two, giving a mid-size van the length of a full-size model.

2020-Beauer-X-van-00

After popping the tailgate, the owner merely hits a button on the pillar next to the driver seat and watches as the electrically actuated module sets up within a minute’s time. The only thing left to do is pop the expansion panels on the module’s sides to increase elbow room inside. The 25-mm sandwich construction keeps the temperature comfy inside.

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