Welcome to the August 2007 ExperiencePlus! Rambler E-Mail Newsletter

• Dear Folks...
• Cataclysms, Cliffs and Canyons
• Emilia-Romagna at 19Km Per Hour
• From Our Customers: Don & Mary Bradbury
• Ballad of the Whiskey Robber by Julian Rubinstein
• From Paola's Kitchen - Grilled Vegetables with Mediterranean Dressing

Dear Folks,

August has arrived, bringing some welcome moisture to what had been a typically dry, hot summer here in Colorado. It's also a chance for our tour leaders in Europe to catch their breath during the August lull, before one of the busiest times on our calendar in September and October.

The Price family is once again scattered to the four winds. Maria Elena recently left to attend graduate school at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Rick and Paola are approaching Marseille as they retrace part of the route of Annie Londonderry, the first woman to ride a bicycle around the world. (If that sounds interesting, keep in mind this tour will run again in 2008, as will another following the route of another pioneering female bicycle tourist from Florence to Rome. Stay tuned for more about that.) And Monica and Michele are enjoying a little R&R in after successfully wrapping up our ExpeditionPlus! trip from St. Petersburg to Istanbul.

The rest of us are enjoying the outdoors closer to home. Everyone has been riding to work despite the regular afternoon thunderstorms. Diane was caught on her bike in a particularly memorable cloudburst that dumped 5" of rain in one evening! Julie and Joeann have each taken some time off to ride up in the mountains; Mark is putting in plenty of miles in preparation for the Hawaii Ironman this fall; Maria Elena has been hiking and backpacking near the Continental Divide; Rich is researching an all-dirt self-supported bike tour he's planning this fall; and Sarah has been rediscovering mountain biking on her new Cannondale, which she's named Pearl because "the world is her oyster!"

All that might give you the impression we're too busy to get any actual work done, but there's plenty of news on that front as well. We've recently announced three new tours in Italy: Cycling the Coast of Tuscany, Cycling the Coast of Tuscany Plus! Vineyards and Olive Groves, and Bicycling Faenza to Verona Across the Po Valley. We've also posted our new tours in Northern Argentina, Discover Northern Argentina and Discover Northern Argentina Plus! the Ruins of Quilmes, which will run in April of the coming year. More new bike tours are in the works, in Costa Rica, Crete, Germany's Bavarian Alps and one from Russia through Estonia and Latvia. Meanwhile, the next catalog is nearly ready for the printing press. And the dates and prices for our 2008 European season are up on our web site.

If you're still looking for a trip this fall, consider one of our tours in Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Slovakia or Turkey. Many of our fall departures are nearly full, so give us a call to see whether there's space before you make your plans.

Whatever you're doing this summer, we hope you're enjoying it as much as we are. Until next time,

--the folks at ExperiencePlus!

This month's three featured tours will have you hiking through some of the most unique topography you'll ever see. Some of these "wonders" were formed in a matter of hours, while others slowly materialized over hundreds or thousands of years. Walk with us and witness the remains of devastating volcanoes, the weather's slow shaping of stone, and the exceptional products of human ingenuity.

• Read more about the Cinque Terre, the Amalfi Coast and Utah's Canyonlands here.
• Italy: Hiking Tuscany & the Cinque Terre.
• Italy: Hiking the Amalfi Coast & Capri".
• Utah: Hike Canyonlands & Arches National Parks.

Customer Chris Wesely describes how her recent Venice to Pisa bicycling tour made her a "cycle-touring convert."

Since coming home last month (May 2007) from the Venice to Pisa ride with ExperiencePlus!, I've been telling all my friends it was the best vacation I have ever had. Their reaction is usually undisguised surprise. I am not known as an athlete to my friends, and riding 30 miles a day for 10 days doesn't sound like something I would do, no matter how much wine is promised at dinner. Suddenly, I'm a cycle-touring convert.

• Read more about how Chris discovered bicycle touring here.
• Learn more about our "Cycling Venice to Pisa" tour here .

This month's interview features Don & Mary Bradbury, whose outdoor pursuits have taken place from sea level to Colorado's 14'ers and seemingly everywhere in between:

How did your love of the outdoors develop? [...] We got married and continued skiing while we took up small sailboat racing to add to our sun exposure time. We moved into a cruising sailboat to explore the southern California coast and did bare boat chartering in Honduras, Caribbean, Tonga and Fiji.

Read the rest of Don & Mary's interview here.

Julie Van Scoy reviews this month's book, subtitled A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts. She writes:

With a title like that, who wouldn't be skeptical? Open the cover and before the first paragraph even begins you get a cast of characters who seem so eccentric that they must be fictional. What factual story involves a ballet-dancing detective, a national police chief, the host of a hit television show, and an entire professional hockey team?

Read the rest of Julie's review of Ballad of the Whiskey Robber by Julian Rubinstein here.

With all the barbeques going on during the summer, Paola's grilled vegetables provide either respite from or a great addition to all that grilled meat.

With our small or large vegetable gardens and farmers' markets all over the country producing fresh vegetables, you may find this dressing interesting. It is composed of the quintessential Mediterranean herbs of mint, garlic and rosemary.

Click here to read the rest of Paola's Grilled Vegetables & Mediterranean Dressing recipe.

If you would like additional recipes, visit our online recipe archive. You'll find recipes for European and Latin American specialties like Panzanella: a Tuscan Salad, Tapenade, Gallo Pinto, and more.

Happy Walking and Cycling until next month!

E-mail us at tours@ExperiencePlus.com with comments and questions. Or give us a call at 800-685-4565.

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