There's one more weekend to head north to Cranmore and face the terror that awaits atop their 2,000 foot summit -- the Ghoullog. The spirits of three evil brothers and their victims return to the grounds of Cranmore, where vile and heinous acts were carried out. The tour includes a nighttime stroll through a haunted walkway to the Quad, where after a seven-minute ride to the summit of Cranmore, visitors tour the Ghoullog, where haunted happenings are sure to frighten and surprise the hardiest souls. Visitors can finally begin to relax on the ride down the Quad chairlift with a breathtaking vantage of the Moat Mountains and Mount Washington at night.

Oct. 29 is locals night, while Oct. 30-31 are open to all. Ghoullog runs from 7-10 p.m., with doors opening at 6. The cost is $25.

There are only two weekends left to embark on the Urban Adventours Emerald Necklace & Fall Foliage tour. This weekend and next, you can discover Frederick Law Olmsted's famous system of parks on this bicycle tour. From the shaded boulevard on Commonwealth Avenue to the popular shores of Jamaica Pond to the winding paths of the Arnold Arboretum, this chain of gardens, reserves, and open space displays some of the most colorful flora as autumn descends on Boston.
No bike? No worries. The tour includes a bike, helmet, water, and, of course, a friendly and knowledgeable guide. The tour is 2.5-3 hours long and covers 10-12 miles. How better to see the city and its colors -- and all this for only $50! Check out the details.

Photo courtesy Urban Adventours

We can’t tell you what this year’s mystery meat will be, but if you book ahead for the 54th annual Wild Game Supper at the Bradford, Vt., United Church of Christ, you’re certain to taste bear, moose, buffalo, elk, venison, wild boar, rabbit, and pheasant with rice. Calvin Trillin once called this folksy dinner on the Saturday before Thanksgiving (Nov. 21 this year) the “Super Bowl of church suppers.” It’s the perfect diversion for stick season in northern New England, but seats are very limited and the reservation process is very strict. Requests cannot be postmarked BEFORE Oct. 19, but wait much longer and you may not get a seat. Prices are $25 for adults, $12 for children under 10. Send a check made out to Bradford United Church of Christ (or BUCC) along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope and a note indicating when you’d like to eat. Seatings are at one-hour intervals from 2:30-6:30 p.m. (Be sure to note if you’re willing to eat at any time if your slot is full.) Send check, SASE, and time request to UCC Wild Game Supper, P.O. Box 861, Bradford VT 05033.

Posted by Patricia Harris and David Lyon, Globe correspondents

Photo of volunteers serving the Bradford Game Supper by David Lyon for the Boston Globe

We can’t think of a better way to revel in the autumn colors while getting some exercise than next weekend’s “Pages and Pedals: Authors Bike Tour of Concord.” This event is Sunday, Oct. 18, from 1 to 3 p.m. and is sponsored by the Boston Center for Adult Education (www.bcae.org). The leisurely tour is led by Susan Merlino of Concord Bike Tours, and it will pass the homes, birthplaces, and final resting places of some of America's most famous and influential authors. Think Thoreau, the Alcotts, and Emerson… You don't have to provide your own bicycle. Just contact Concord Bike Tours ahead of time at 978-697-1897 to be fitted properly and you’ll be good to go with bike, helmet, and snack. The two-hour tour begins in the parking lot of the Ripley Elementary School, on Meriam Road in Concord. Cost is $55 ($50 for Boston Center for Adult Education members).

Leaves are still clinging to the trees in my backyard, but that hasn't stopped ski resorts from getting the word out on the upcoming winter season. Most of the time, they boast about the latest changes, like a new trail or quad chairlift. Big whoop. But now and then something catches my eye. This year it's the latest developments at Northstar-at-Tahoe in California. The
same Ritz-Carlton team that helped transform Colorado's Beaver Creek from Vail's forgotten little sister into one of the finest family-friendly mountains in the country has descended on Northstar. A new Ritz will make its debut this December mid-mountain, surrounded by a greatly expanded teaching area and a new Burton Snowboard Academy. If it sounds strikingly similar to Beaver Creek, you're right. Ritz knows how to focus on the family market. And if they have the same success as their Colorado cousin, expect Northstar to rise out of the shadows and challenge Squaw Creek and Heavenly as one of Tahoe's premier ski areas.

Posted by Steve Jermanok, Globe correspondent

************
Steve Jermanok blogs daily at www.ActiveTravels.com.

No boat needed for this water race. Just one hollowed out pumpkin! The second annual Giant Pumpkin Regatta and Festival features local business leaders, students, and others racing in giant hollowed-out gourds on Lake Champlain in a competition of size and speed. Yes, the vessels are hollowed out gourds. The event includes food vendors, pie eating contests, pet costume contests, and entertainment for all ages on the picturesque Burlington, Vt., waterfront. Regatta is Sunday, Oct. 11. For details, visit online.

Photo courtesy State of Vermont

Castleberry Fairs organizes the 11th Annual Autumn Craft Festival On The Lake at Mill Falls Marketplace, on Meredith Bay, this weekend, Oct. 3-4. Gorgeous landscapes, great specialty foods, live music, scores of artisans, and lots and lots of shopping opportunities. Come Sunday and also enjoy the area’s scrumptious 
20th Annual Lakes Region Chowderfest! Your Vote Counts! This annual tradition at Hesky Park features local restaurants duking it out for the exclusive bragging rights of saying they have the best chowder on the lake. Hesky Park is located across the street from the Inns. Friends in the area tell me that while foliage is not yet peak, it is dazzling anyhow. 
Show hours each day are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This is a free event, and outdoors rain or shine. See you there! Visit online for more information.

Photo courtesy Ellis Merrill

Put on your explorer’s hat and head to New England’s “Last Green Valley” for the 19th annual “Walktober ’09,” a series of 106 events, walks, and excursions. The daily programs throughout October provide enticing ways to learn about history and nature in the Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor stretching from northeastern Connecticut into south-central Massachusetts. Under the auspices of The Last Green Valley, Inc., there’s something for all ages and abilities, among them birding walks, forest hikes, river sightseeing, children’s programs, and talks at historic sites in and around 35 towns. Visit TLGV.org for full brochure or call 866-363-7226.

This is the perfect weekend for early foliage viewing, especially up at the top of the Toll Road above Equinox Mountain outside Manchester, Vt. This is the highest peak in southern Vermont and the view is unlimited, stretching from New York to Quebec, from Massachusetts to New Hampshire. By Columbus Day Weekend the brilliant foliage here is often gone. All this talk about foliage is just to get you to the 17th Annual Hildene Fall Arts Festival, in Manchester, this weekend. The festival features 200 booths showcasing art, crafts and specialty foods at scenic Hildene’s Meadow. Visitors can enjoy fresh food, live entertainment, and a unique Vermont beer, cheese and sausage tent. For more information, visit online.

Photo courtesy Lee Krohn

The Deerfield Fair, in Deerfield, N.H., is celebrating its impressive 133d year this coming weekend, Oct. 1-4. I'd say progress is starting with a dozen oxen and some old school agriculture, and growing it into the oldest and one of the largest New England family fairs. I've written before in this blog that I am a proud, veteran Deerfield Fair-goer. I have been going to the fair for more than 30 years now, and can offer these tips for a successful trip:
1. Leave at the crack of dawn. Gates open at 8 a.m., so be there between 7-8 a.m. to ensure no admission line, no wait to park, and no parking miles away. By getting there early you will also miss the MILES and MILES of backed-up traffic to get into the fair.
2. If you have kids, and they plan to take the midway rides, do that first. The crowds around the rides get crazy, and who wants to spend their day this way? If there is time later, go back. But get that angst over with.
2a. Friday and Sunday are wrist bands days which means for $20 your kid can ride as much as they want all day. This is the way to go if you've got thrill-seekers on board.
3. Look at the map online, figure out what is most important to you, and get there early. I like the pigs and sheep. So if I don't want to fight to see them, we head there first. If I like the ox pull, I get there early, and so on.
4. The ATM is not convenient. Bring cash.
5. Donuts the size of your head are available when you arrive early. Hand-made heaven. One donut fills your yearly quota of this treat. Lines go 50 deep easy, so again, mark your map and be efficient!

As for everything else, it's the regular fair stuff going on, but in mass quantities. The Deerfield Fair has it all. Take a peek online and see for yourself. Heed my warning about the traffic. I have known people to think it won't be "that bad," they leave at 10 a.m. and don't see the inside of the gates for hours on end. This fair stuff .... is serious stuff, ya know.

Photo courtesy Kimberly Sherman

Blink… Blink… Blink…day and night, in rain, sunshine, snow and especially fog…mariners depend on lighthouses and tourists flock to their scenic locations, cameras at the ready. Except when the light station is remote or off-limits. But on Saturday, Sept. 12, you can explore 52 of the 68 iconic landmarks in the State of Maine during the nation’s largest -- and Maine’s first - - Open Lighthouse Day.

From 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., the light stations will be open to the public, including several normally seen only by boat or from a distance, including Matinicus Rock, Franklin Island, Egg Rock and Boon Island in York. Or visit easier to reach lighthouses that dot the coast from Portland Head Light to Dice Head in Castine and West Quoddy Head Light in Lubec, near Canada.

The event is coordinated by the US Coast Guard, Maine Office of Tourism, and the American Lighthouse Foundation. Surrounding communities will celebrate their maritime heritage with stories of life on isolated rocky islands, shipwrecks and ghosts. (Folks swear the lighthouses are haunted at Woods Island in Biddeford, Hendricks Head in West Southport and Owls Head near Rockland.) Museums and visitor centers at Pemaquid Point, Marshall Point (Port Clyde), Grindle Point and other popular destinations will be open so you can pore over historic memorabilia and learn about what it took to man a lighthouse and how keepers and their families lived in less than romantic conditions. Today all but one of of New England’s lighthouses are automated but that doesn’t make them any less attractive.

Beginning 52 days before Maine Open Lighthouse Day, one light per day is featured at www.lighthouseday.com alongside information on which lights will be open to the public and how to reach them.

Posted by Janet Mendelsohn, Globe Correspondent

File photo of Portland Head Light by Mark Wilson/Globe Staff

LINCOLN, N.H. – It’s a little jarring to realize something you thought had been around forever is actually younger than you. But the Kancamagus Highway, a 34 and ½-mile stretch of scenic roadway with a plethora of panoramic views dotting much of it, turns 50 this year, coming to life in 1959 – some six years after I did.
A two-day celebration, Aug. 14-15, is planned to mark the road’s birthday, said Jayne O’Connor, president of White Mountains Attractions in North Woodstock, which along with the U.S. Forest Service is coordinating the celebration.
On Aug. 14 from 9 a.m. to noon there will be interpretive programs at the Lincoln Woods Visitors Center, the Discovery Trail, the Pemigewasset Overlook, the C.L. Graham Wangan Ground Overlook, the Albany Covered Bridge and the Blackberry Crossing Campground.
From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day, there will also be exhibits and historic house tours at the Russell Colbath Historic Site near the halfway point in Albany, which will also be the site of the official celebration ceremony from 2-4 p.m.
The Kanc, as it’s known, is a wickedly wonderful touring road, great for driving briskly and hugging its many twists and turns, and as part of the observance, a “Kruise the Kanc” scenic driving tour of the highway Aug. 15, adding “an historic ambiance in a setting that is largely untouched since the first motorists passed over the road,” O’Connor said. For more info, visit thekanc.com

If you think Maine is all about the coast, you need to venture inland and discover the lakes, rivers, woods, and peaks that define the region between Bethel and Millinocket. Not only does this region rival the coast for natural beauty, it's also wildlife rich. You won't see a puffin, but your chances of spotting a moose are high.

Making that easy is the new Maine Woods Discovery program, a collaborative venture by Alpine resorts Sunday River, Sugarloaf, and Saddleback Maine; the rustic lodges and nature-based programs of the Appalachian Mountain Club and Maine Huts & Trails; and rafting and recreation outfitters Northern Outdoors, and New England Outdoor Center.

These entities have put together seven one- to three-day packages, each combining accommodations with activities and some meals, with rates beginning at $75 per person. Packages include geocaching, hiking, biking, paddling, rock-hounding, and craft-making. Read on for details.

If your favorite tweets come from feathered creatures, the Maine Birding Trail is for you.

Along with this spring’s official launch of the online trail, there’s a just-published companion guidebook, Maine Birding Trail (Down East Books, 2009) by Bob Duchesne, a Maine state representative, avid birder, and Maine Audubon guide who founded and has worked on the trail website since 2003. Duchesne says the project will continually change as birding sites are upgraded or protected according to the need for habitat protection. It’s his labor of love, developed in collaboration with Maine state government, Maine Audubon, and local birders.

The book identifies more than 260 accessible sites, dozens of other locations that are not part of the official trail and additional bird-watching venues in nearby Campobello and Grand Manan islands in Canada.

The book is not a guide to birds. In fact, there are no photos, no flight pattern charts or any of the other usual birding tools. It’s a travel guide to places throughout Maine from the southern beaches to Aroostook County, identifying which species you’re likely to see where. Chapters correspond to Maine’s official tourism regions rather than habitat zones.

In addition to driving directions and local maps, Duchesne gives visitors a heads-up on terrain. In Washington County, a Down East locale of undeveloped lakes where he says the tiny village of Grand Lake Stream has been the center of a robust hunting and fishing tradition since the 19th century, traditional sporting camps and lodges are marvelous places. Nearby, “the Little Mayberry Cove Trail begins at the outlet dam and follows the shoreline for 2 ½ miles through mature hemlock forest. Black-throated Blue Warblers, Scarlet Tanagers, and Eastern Wood-Peewees are common among the many songbirds found along the trail.” The Pocumcus Lake Trail is good for Ruffed Grouse and “judging by the abundance of moose droppings, it’s also a pretty good corridor for wildlife in the thick woods.”

Posted by Janet Mendelsohn, Globe correspondent

As reliable as sunrise, pilgrims making their way to Santiago de Compostela line the roads of northern Spain in the morning. For one thing, most pilgrimage hostels make them leave by 8 a.m., which is only shortly after dawn. On an early morning run ourselves, we stopped in a roadside bar for a bite, only to find it filled with cheery walkers exchanging tips on backpacks and pack frames and comparing footwear. They represented half a dozen countries among them, yet the lingua franca was not French or (more appropriately) Spanish, but English — as spoken on TV and in the movies. Come se dice "blister?''

Posted by Patricia Harris, Globe Correspondent

Photo by Patricia Harris for the Boston Globe

While I have a crush on most berries, there is none more flexible and satisfying than a ripe strawberry. Perhaps I am a bit biased having grown up among countless strawberry picking fields, with a mom and grandmother making the sweetest jams, and the makings for shortcake were always at an arm's reach. June in New England is strawberry picking month, and festivals celebrating the fruit can be found all over. This Saturday, June 20, is Canterbury Shaker Village's 1st Annual Strawberry Jamboree.

Celebrating the onset of summer and the village’s longtime love for strawberries, the jamboree is an open mic musical jam session featuring TJ Wheeler and Patrick “Hatrack” Gallagher, where visitors can sign up to play or simply enjoy the music. A Strawberry Bake-Off with Professional and Home Chef divisions will fill the air with some more sweet music. Visitors can also shop for fun and unique products, take home strawberries and strawberry plants, and enjoy the many children’s activities.

Tickets are $17 for adults, $8 for children ages 6-17, and children 5 and under visit free. In keeping with the times, there is also a $42 family rate. Check online to register for bake-off and other details, or call 603-783-9511.

We got our first family dog ever in September. Not long after, I became a dog freak. At least an Eva Freak [our dog's name]. Now I pay particular attention to anything dog. This Saturday's event in Provincetown has caught my eye, and seems like a terrific event for any expert or novice runner, that happens to stay active with their own Evas. Dog Run Dog is in its 4th year, and provides a 5K or 10K race circuit for dogs and their people. Dog Running, the generic term for Canicross, is quickly becoming both a popular recreational and competitive sport. Requiring very little training, Canicross is easy for anyone to start.

Dog Run Dog is Saturday, June 20, from 9 a.m. to noon. In its 4th year, the race is held in conjuntion with the Carrie A. Seaman Animal Shelter and Pilgrim Bark Park. This event is professionally timed and the top three teams are awarded the coveted Dog Bowl. Call 1-802-356-4444 for info or check online.

Photo courtesy Dog Run Dog

Pirates are not just for kids apparently. The New England Pirate Faire in Gloucester, Mass., this weekend, June 20-21, proves it. Buccaneers and Jack Sparrows will deluge Gloucester in this two-day festival of all things Pirate.

The New England Pirate Faire features a cast of over 100 actors and musicians, putting on a production to make you feel like you're an extra in the Pirates of the Caribbean. The Tortuga Marketplace will be set up for vendors to offer their pirate goods to visitors. All pirates need be on hand from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. each day. Admission for adults is $12; children pay $8. For details look online or call 781-346-102.

Photo credit Pastimes

A really fun travel site is The Lost Girls, a blog by three twenty-somethings from New York who quit their jobs to make a yearlong, round-the-world jaunt. Besides cataloging their own trip, they sometimes invite others to blog, and this one comes from Hannah Dorland who offers these tips on trips with a Significant Other of the Mars persuasion:

1. Two people equals two mouths. A few granola bars, jiffy pop, grapes, and turkey jerky just don't cut it. Besides, men seem to get ravinous towards evening... I think the bear that snuck into our campsite in the middle of the night was in a better mood than my guy.

2. Extra body heat in the tent does NOT mean that two sleeping bags aren't necessary. It's Minnesota. Even in the summer the nights get chilly, and as nice as cuddling may be it's no substitute for proper sleeping bags and/or blankets!

3. Being comfortable is key. When I backpack alone, I wear high-waisted baggy pants with tightly cinched belts, hiking boots, a bandana, and a sleeveless mens tee-shirt. This time, I wanted to look pretty and instead ended up chafing after 12 miles because my low-waisted jeans conflicted with my backpack waist strap.

4. Just because he offers to carry things, it doesn't mean he actually should. Chivalry is nice and all, but the heavy pack was mine, specifically purchased to fit my tiny 5'3" frame, and his upper back was SORE the next morning.

5. Three person rafts are meant for three people, not two people and two giant backpacks. Remember that packs can often weight as much as a small child, so count them as one! I ended up sitting on top of the two packs and paddling at an awkward angle... guess we should have rented a canoe!

Photo by iStockphoto.com

I always think of Spain with bulls, not cows, so the green rolling hills of dairy country in Cantabria came as a real surprise. As I walked the uphill road from Santillana del Mar to the Altamira cave museum, these Holsteins came bounding over to the fence. I couldn’t help but think that I’d stumbled into a Woody Jackson landscape of west-central Vermont — except for the 12th century Romanesque country church in the valley below and the 20,000-year-old paintings in the caves of the surrounding mountains.

Posted by Patricia Harris, Globe Correspondent

Photo by Patricia Harris for the Boston Globe

To prepare for the cookout, Dad sits with the English-Italian dictionary to figure out the first thing he’d like to say upon meeting our gregarious host, Guido: "You are my brother from another mother.''

Guido, my pal Francesco’s uncle, was born with the gift of making whoever he’s with feel like they’re two peas in a pod, and this day was no different. He lent me his daughter’s scooter the first time I lived here, and though I only have what the French would call notions of Italian, language never seems to be a barrier when talking with him.

My parents came to Sicily on vacation to learn about the Motherland and our family history here – Dad’s maternal grandparents emigrated from the tiny town of Altavilla Milicia in the early 1900s – and being together in the place where our ancestors were from is a potent emotional experience connecting us with the past and each other.

Guido’s wife Pina and Francesco’s mother make a feast that includes roasted peppers, sautéed mushrooms and grilled meat a go-go and I’ve smuggled an entire jamón Ibérico – black hoof and all – through customs as a gift from our family to theirs.

Today, however, food (very tasty food at that) was simply a way to bring us together, and I’d trade every amazing Sicilian restaurant meal for this one feast.
Being made to feel like family can be as important as finding the real one.

**********************

Globe travel correspondent Joe Ray writes his own blog, Eating The Motherland and contributes to the English language version of Simon Says! the French food and lifestyle blog run by French food critic Francois Simon.

Photo by Joe Ray for The Boston Globe

At a time when the Commonwealth is planning to close several state parks and swimming areas and raise parking fees at beaches and other recreational sites, Uncle Sam, who is getting quite a bit a practice at this bailout stuff, is reaching out to you.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has announced that the feds will waive entrance fees at
147 national parks and monuments for three summer weekends: June
20-21 (Think cheap Dad's Day outing), July 18-19 and Aug. 15-16.

According to the Associated Press, 147 US parks and monuments charge fees of $3-$25 and nation's 244 other parks already are free. There about about 20 parks and sites in Massachusetts; of that number the ones that normally charge include: Adams National Historical Park, Cape Cod National Seashore, John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site, and Longfellow National Historic Site. Here's a link to a national map and list.

It's spring, and the fish are biting. The Upper Andro Anglers Alliance in co-operation with Trout Unlimited are hoping to hook families on fishing with a free Family Fishing Festival on Saturday, May 30.

The festival will be held at the Grand Summit Hotel Pond at Sunday River Ski Resort in Newry, Maine, from 9 am to 2 pm, rain or shine.

For those new to the sport, free casting workshops and fly-tying instruction will be available throughout the day. Instruction will include both spin casting and fly casting for older youth and parents.

No need to bring equipment, Maine’s Hooked on Fishing—Not on Drugs Program will supply complimentary rods and reels for festival use.

Get this: the Grand Summit Pond will be stocked with trout courtesy of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and participants can take home any catches.

There's even swag: Each young angler will receive a mini-tackle box complete with bobber, sinkers and hook courtesy of the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance. Kids can learn how to tie flies with materials provided by Trout Unlimited and fibers from Sunday River Alpacas. Families participating in the event will be eligible for door prizes from local outfitters and businesses.

Of course, food, too: an outdoor barbecue will feed tired anglers.

Can't make it to Bethel? The weekend of May 30-31 is a free fishing weekend throughout Maine. Resident and Non-resident freshwater fishing licenses are waived each day.

For those families wishing to stay overnight and fish or canoe the Androscoggin River on Sunday, special family packages are available for the weekend at local lodging establishments. Check with the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce.

In the market for a ski resort?

No real surprise, as it was bound to happen sooner or later, but embattled American International Group is finally putting Stowe up for sale, according to the Burlington Free Press.

AIG spokesman Peter Tulupman confirmed that the company is indeed looking for a buyer for the Vermont resort.

There is no estimate on when the sale will occur, but the Free Press estimates the resort is worth at least as much at Killington, which sold for $85 million in 2007.

AIG has owned Stowe since 1988.

Marriott is offering active, reserve, and military personnel a deal at 26 Marriott golf courses across the country. With Fairway Furloughs, members of the armed forces with a valid military ID card get discounted green fees/carts, ranging from $29-$69 after 3 p.m. any day of the week, year round. Tee times can be made up to three days in advance.

"In this country, we have hundreds of thousands of active, reserve, and retired military personnel who play golf, and we can't think of a better way to reward their unmatched dedication,'' said Bill Nault, vice president, Marriott Golf.

The complete list of participating courses includes: Camelback Golf Club, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Desert Springs Golf Resort, Palm Desert, Calif.; Doral Golf Resort & Spa, Miami, Fla.; Grande Pines Golf Club, Orlando, Fla.; Grande Vista Golf Club, Orlando, Fla.; Hawk's Landing Golf Club, Orlando, Fla.; Renaissance Vinoy Resort, St. Petersburg, Fla.; Shadow Ridge Golf Club, Palm Desert, Calif.; Starr Pass Golf Club, Tucson, Ariz.; The Rookery at Marco, Naples, Fla.; Wildfire Golf Club, Phoenix, Ariz.; Cattails Golf Club, Kingsport, Tenn.; Griffin Gate Golf Club, Lexington, Ky.; Kauai Lagoons Golf Club, Lihue, Hawaii; Stone Mountain Golf Club, Stone Mountain, Ga.; Crane's Landing Golf Club, Lincolnshire, Ill.; Westfields Golf Club, Clifton, Va.; and Willow Crest Golf Club, Oak Brook, Ill.

For more information on the program, visit here.