Getting the flavor of...Urban tourism by kayak

Urban tourism by kayak

Exploring Victoria, British Columbia, by kayak is a unique way to see the city, said Matt Villano in The Wall Street Journal. I’ve often wandered on foot through this provincial capital but was surprised to find it so kayak-friendly. A tour guide from Ocean River Adventures (oceanriveradventures.com) led me into the city’s J-shaped harbor, where we glided past yachts, museums, and even one of Canada’s “busiest airports”—a landing area for seaplanes that we crossed by paddling for our lives. I later explored the seagoer’s food options, sampling a chili from the paddle-up window at Grilligan’s BBQ, then top-notch fish-and-chips at Red Fish Blue Fish, a dockside canteen. “History was on the agenda” the day I kayaked the Gorge Waterway, which cuts through one of the city’s oldest districts. After docking, I strolled through a garden festooned with rose strains dating to the 1400s. “It was as if I had visited another era.”

A woodworker’s retreat in Maine

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Not everyone would pay for the privilege of working on a vacation, said Dawn Klingensmith in the Chicago Tribune. But because my fiancé is “an uneasy lounger,” I decided that a five-day apprenticeship for two at cabinetmakers Thos. Moser (thosmoser.com) had “best-gift-ever potential.” Couples pay $4,500 to participate in a “customer in residence” program, a fee that includes nights at a historic inn; daily transport to the Auburn, Maine, workshop; and group dinners at fine area restaurants. You also have to pay retail price for whatever piece you build under the tutelage of the shop’s master cabinetmakers. Fortunately for me, participants don’t need woodworking experience. But I wasn’t to blame when the oil finish I sprayed on the table we built revealed an otherwise invisible crack in the cherry top. When the pros scrapped that top and replaced it, “I felt grateful for the defect”: It taught me new respect for a demanding craft.