ROADTRIP! Driving the deserts of the American Southwest!

As schools close and summer days get long, our over-scheduled souls yearn for freedom and adventure! Look no further than the open roads through our country's mountains and deserts, farms and seashores!

In the next few weeks, I will inspire you! I'm going to spotlight 4 different itineraries, in various regions of our country. So, trade your island brochures for National Park guides, get an oil change in your car, and pack up your hiking boots, because the American landscape awaits!

Itinerary #1: The Desert of the American Southwest!

Start in Las Vegas!

Known for its cheap flights (strategically low to attract gamblers), this city gives you the pick of themed hotels for any budget! Try Circus Circus (rock bottom rates right on the strip), or the MGM Grand (for a GRAND river pool), or the opulent Venetian (complete with gondolas on a private canal)!

You can catch the newest Cirque show, a gravity-defying spectacle called KA:

http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/ka/default.aspx

or see the classic musical, Lion King

or just walk the strip and watch the moving stage of pirate battles and dancing fountains.

Ever seen the fountain "ballet" at the Bellagio?

http://www.bellagio.com/amenities/fountains-of-bellagio.aspx

Then load up your rental car and hit the desert highway!

Loop north though Utah's canyon country!

You'll hit Zion's slot canyons first (always take a guide... those flash floods warnings are no joke!), and then Bryce's orange rock pillars, called Hoodoos Country!

You can't go wrong with either a morning hike or an afternoon balloon ride!

When my kids were young, we used to call those buttes "Birthday Cake Mountains" since they looked like a layered cake!

Stay and Play on Lake Powell!

Hire a houseboat for a few days, and kick back on the emerald green waters of this magnificent canyon! We fished by day and stoked bonfires by night, jet-skiied to the Rainbow Bridge (longest rock span on earth)

,

and hiked to the top of buttes.

We spent afternoons, dropping the hook in private coves to fire up our BBQ and open our waterslide right off the back of the boat!

And when night came, we dined on the water in the seclusion of our anchorage, watching the sun set over the empty canyonland - then we drug mattresses to our boat's top deck to cuddle together under a powdered-sugar sky full of stars!

You'll have to force yourself away from the treasures of Lake Powell, but more excitement awaits, only a few hours south at the Grand Canyon!

Stash your rental car in Williams and board the Grand Canyon Railway! You'll hear history and enjoy refreshments as you chug through the northern Arizona countryside, but be careful to steer clear of the gun-slingin' cowboys -- sometimes they get into shoot-outs, right on the platform!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPC8RSvKKu0&feature=related

If you plan carefully, you can snag a cabin, right on the rim.

"It's much more than basic... we were delighted", a client told me this past Spring.

And another guest said, "All I need is my percolator and the sunrise!"

You might enjoy the IMAX theatre show: The Grand Canyon Movie (buy your tickets online at http://www.explorethecanyon.com/)

And be sure you take some time to hike, not just along the rim, but also BELOW it, to feel the magic in this geological wonder! It's 270 miles long and over 1 miles deep!

If you're real Native American buffs, detour east to Canyon de Chelly (pronounced Shay) where a canyon jeep tour with a Navajo guide will uncover petroglyphs and cave dwellings!

If you're a outdoor enthusiast, try a wilderness rafting trip on the Salt!

You'll ride wild rapids through the Sonora desert, tackle a multiday trip from Inn to Inn, or go all the way in a Wilderness River Expedition!

Take a day in civilization as you head back west through Sedona!

Gel at a vineyard, gear up on a mountain bike, go Zen at a spa, or just enjoy a dine-around in the downtown area. Watch up for those killer burritos!

No visit to Arizona would be complete without some hot spring-ing! There are many hot spring resorts, but the real finds are the ones you hike to, like this one, one a few minutes drive, but then a few hours hike, from Hoover Dam:

The rules? Hike together and in daylight. Take lunch and plenty of water. Expect nudity. And NEVER put your hand up on a ledge or under a rock.... this is scorpion country!

Cappadocia's Cave Country of Central Turkey

Everyone's heard of Istanbul, but the wonders of Cappadocia, only 1-hour flight east, are often unknown. Well.. no more! Read on to learn a bit about this intriguing area of limestone formations, castles and cave dwellers, and even hikes!

You can fly from Istanbul to Cappadocia, into 1 of 2 airport towns: Kayseri (pr Kay-cer-ay) or Nevsehir (pr Nev-se-hir), and your first sights will likely be the iconic limestone natural pillars called Fairy Chimneys (above). It's hard to imagine the scale, but many of these are as high as 40 meters! The tuff from volcanic eruptions from 3+million years ago, and the later erosion, created these minaret-type spires, as well as the soft rock cliffs that the people of the villages at the heart of the Cappadocia Region carved out to form houses, churches and monasteries

Cappadocia is referenced in literature as far back as the Bible, and, in fact, its caves served as remote refuges where Christians hid out from Roman prosecutors.

One such area is the Koreme, a 1st-century community, now UNESCO World Heritage site, that you can tour,

Largely a monastic space, there are dozens of chapels, with detailed frescoes

and also rock houses, like this one with a dining table carved right into the cave's stone:

Another hiding space were the Underground Cities, which number as many as 300, only 10% of which are explored and open. It's jaw-dropping to walk from the empty, rolling grasslands - often marked only by a well opening -- down into these unbelievable warrens, which sometimes go to as deep as 7 stories!

They include kitchens with tandori ovens carved right into the floor, chapels, storage, air shafts, wells, and massive stone "doors" to keep out invaders. Here are some shots of the Derinkuyu site:

Here is the wine-making facility:

and here is one of the many tombs used for temporary burials when they were under seige:

At the highest point of Cappadocia is the Uchisar Castle, which is really more of a fortress. In the picture, below, Uchisar Castle is the columnar shape rising out of the village.

Most of the rooms of the castle are closed for safety reasons but that's not the point, anyway! The big deal is to hike to the top (watch your step! most organized tour groups do not allow their participants to take the hike) for incredible panoramic views!

It's surrounded by a city, where you can grab lunch or even stay overnight. There's a famous cave hotel here called the CCR, but an even better inspiration is the boutique Museum Hotel:

You can also tour a winery,, shop for one of their famous handmade dolls:

or tour a potter:

Or take a hike!

For a full slideshow, check this out:

http://picasaweb.google.com/toughlovetravel/CappadociaCaveCountryOfCentralTurkey#

A Turkey Culinary Primer

Similar to other grand Cuisines of the world, Turkish food is a result of the combination of three key elements:

#1: Abundant agriculture and sea life, and a mix of regions in close proximity, creating different specialties.

#2: The legacy of an Imperial Kitchen. Hundreds of cooks specializing in different types of dishes, all eager to please the royal palate, makes for inventive cooking!

#3: Turkey was the crossroads of the Spice Road, where ingredients and cultures mixed robustly. Just check out the Spice (also called Egyptian) Bazaar:

All turkish food is based on Ottoman traditions, but it is not a homogenous art. Aside from a few Turkish specialties that are found throughout the country, most regions have their own specialty:

The Black Sea region in northern Turkey uses corn and anchovies -- The Southeast, like Ufra and Adana, is famous for its kebabs, mezes (or appetizers) and baklava -- Western parts of Turkey, where olive trees are grown abundantly, transfuses all dishes with its famous olive oil -- and along the Mediterranean, the food is predictably rich in vegetables, herbs, and fish. Central Anatolia is famous for its pasta specialties, such as manti (ravioli from Kayseri) and keskek (Persian barley stew)

Throughout all these regions, the foundation of all Turkish food is a white dough.

It is most commonly baked into Simit (sesame seed rings commonly enjoyed with your morning coffee or as a street snack)

and Borek (thin sheets of pastry used in a bunch of ways but usually layered and baked with cheese).

You’ll also be served ekmek, or white bread--manti, or dumplings -- – and pide (which we call pita), or flat bread, like this kebab is wrapped in, above right.

On a typical Turkish meal in Istanbul, your culinary journey will look something like this…

You’ll start with Raki. It’s the official national drink of Turkey, where drinking is never a hurried, loud, boisterous, or a lonely affair, but rather a communal, gently festive and cultured way of entertainment. Raki is made from anise seed and served, with a side of chilled water, with your mezze.

Mezzes, or appetizers, come next. Like Spanish tapas, you can often mix-n-match from a large menu or buffet, but Mezzes have a very different flavor than their Spanish counterparts. Choices usually include dolma (what we call grape leaves) and kofte (meatballs).

There’re always seafood offerings, like kalamar (squid), cod roe, or stuffed mussels:

There’s always beyaz peynir (literally “white cheese”) and often fried or grilled cheese called Saganaki. Check out the greek sheep, goat, or cow cheeses, many of which we just call Feta.

There are sides of hummus, your compulsory Borek (fried puff pastry with white cheese, which is also called ladyfingers or cigarette rolls, photograph above), all garnished with boiled egg halves, fava beans, cold eggplant salads, sliced ripe melon, acili ezme (hot pepper paste often with walnuts), and kalamata olives... all served with slices of grilled or garlic bread.

Your main course is often Kabobs. Cooked on skewers, these date from when nomadic Turks used to cook their meat and breads (borek) over camp fires.

Some are cooked in a clay pot. You'll see them lined up along sidewalk tables, an Istanbul version of fast food, but pictured below, the kebab is in a restaurant where our waiter will slice open the sealed top and serve us.

Lamb and spicy beef are some favorite kebabs -- usually served with Yogurt.

Seafood is popular, with four seas (the Black Sea, Marmara Sea, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean) surrounding the Turkish landscape.

Fish restaurants are all over Taksim Square

And women shop in the Grand Bazaar for fish for their home kithens too.

Each region, and season, has its own recipes. On the Bosporus, you can get your sea bass grilled over charcoal on the back of the boat!

"Hamsi", though, is the prince of all fish known to Turks. They say that the Black Sea people know forty one ways of making hamsi, including hamsi börek, hamsi pilaf and hamsi dessert! 



You can check out fish taverns along the Bosporus… they’re always open air, taking up space right by the sea, tables seaside. It is customary, at these taverns, to visit the kitchen to pick out your fish.

Another main course is often Manti… dumplings of dough filled with a special mix of meat, and served with yogurt as a heavy Sunday lunch affair, and all kinds of other meats can be purchased at the Grand Bazaar.

Pilav- like our rice pilaf, but lumpier – is a common “side”.

And yogurt is a key ingredient all along the way – with meats like kebabs and kofte, vegetables like eggplant, mezzes and mantis and more. In fact, the English word yoghurt, or yogurt, derives from the Turkish word yoğurt

Wine is enjoyed throughout Turkey (except during Ramadan), but the cost of a lavish dinner is often less than the cost of the wine that accompanies it. To sample the country's finest, you can tour vineyards, like this one in Cappadocia.

Wine has a long history in this region. The peoples of the Byzantine Empire enjoyed their wines and developed careful cultivation methods for their grapes. Then, under the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan's Muslim subjects largely abstained, but his Christian and Jewish subjects continued to make and drink wine.

With the fall of the empire (1923) and founding of the European-style Turkish Republic, many citizens of Greek heritage moved to Greece, but in the secular republic wine-making was encouraged.

Want a special wine decanter? Check out the pottery in Avanos where they hand spin wonderful wine vessels at Chez Gilep!

Turkish coffee is not a specific variety of bean, but rather a method of preparation. Turkish Coffee is prepared by boiling finely powdered roast coffee beans in a pot (cezve), possibly with sugar, and serving it into a cup, where the dregs settle.

Turkish coffee shops are found in amazing hidden corners of the countryside, and city:

Commons desserts are either fresh fruit (following the seasons… strawberries in spring to peaches and melons in summer, and pears and quince in fall, then mandarin oranges in winter.

Or milk desserts, called the “muhallebi” family of desserts, spotlight puddings, made without any eggs or butter, in a wide variety of flavors including rose-water!

There's lokma, or fried dough, and gozleme, which can also be cooked in syrup, topped with pine nuts and heavy cream, for a dessert crepe!

Honey desserts, like "baklava", are the generic cousins of a dozen or so sophisticated sweet pastries with names like twisted turban, sultan, saray (palace), lady's navel, nightingale's nest.. Check out these pistachio baklavas! This is not a typical dessert after dinner, but rather a snack with coffee or after a kebab.

Turkish delights, a common confection in Turkey since the 15^th century, have a soft, jelly-like consistency, and are often flavored with lemon, cinnamon, pistachios, mint or even rosewater (which gives it a characteristic pale pink color). The confection is often packaged and eaten in small cubes dusted with sugar. It's so sweet it makes your teeth hurt!

Ferman... which were the nighttime sweets on my pillow at Sumahan On the Water (http://www.sumahan.com) is a turkish almond paste, similar to what we know as marzipan. It's a confection that goes way back to the Ottoman Sultans of Edime, the capital of the empire before Istanbul.

And I couldn't resist trying the Turkish Ice Cream, too! It’s deliciously flavored, but more gummy than I was expecting.

As a little sidewalk snack, you’ll find juice bars everywhere, and pomegranate juice is the newest trend!

Pumpkin seeds, a staple crop from Cappadocia in central Turkey, make a salty accompaniment, or you can stop at a nut bar, like this one, in the shadow of the Galata Tower.

To get the best kebab in the Grand Bazaar, go here:

To dine of the best kofte in the city, try there:

And to taste these native specialties, look for a “Lokanta”, a local lunch joint: the Haci Salih, at Istiklal Caddesi, in Istanbul, is a great stop!

Haci Salih Lokantasi‬‎, Istiklal Caddesi, Istanbul, Turkey 0212 243 4528‎