Like many, I have tried to eat less meat, support legitimate ventures that protect the jungle environment and visit various rainforests to enjoy and learn more about them. Whether soaring above the canopy on a zip line, boating down the Amazon or hiking to an idyllic tropical waterfall in Fiji, rainforests are hot travel destinations. I nearly coughed up my granola this morning as I read a front page story in The New York Times entitled: New Jungles Prompt a Debate on Saving the Primeval Rainforests.

The key word is “debate” and controversy there will be about this article, I am sure, but it was a fascinating read. The premise of the article is that as fast as original rainforests are being decimated by farming, logging and industry (about 38 million acres a year), replacement forests are growing at a much faster rate. Spurred by urban migration and improved yield on farmlands, it is estimated that 2.1 billion acres return to wild habitat each year. If this is true it has tremendous potential environmental implications. Globally nearly one-fifth of the world’s carbon emissions come from the destruction of rainforests. We should all still be concerned about maintaining and managing the great jungles of the Amazon and Indonesia, but the question is, does this regeneration and re-growth really cancel out the destructive forces?

Since I was cloistered at home with two boys sick with a stomach bug, it seemed like our entire family was on a peculiar diet.  This discussion and my secret obsession with a somewhat trashy/voyeuristic reality show called The Biggest Loser got me to thinking about the obesity epidemic once again. Full disclosure, one of my more interesting jobs was as a diet counselor in NYC, back in the last century. I do think this show and many other books, programs and organizations are working hard to combat this plague and perhaps the slump in the economy will mean more home cooked meals and outdoor fun, on the cheap, instead of more fast food. As a journalist, mom and yoga teacher I have legitimate reasons to follow America’s expanding waistline, even though my family gets tired of my rants.

So back to Vegas…it seems the city of Lost Wages, one of the fastest growing metropolises in the last years, also comes in at #4 on the Top Fattest Cities List. Surprisingly Miami tops the list despite the South Beach Diet and proximity to sun, sand and surf. Equally shocking, Salt Lake City, Utah comes in as the top fittest city in the United States.  San Francisco, where I live, only came in 12th, which surprised me. On any given day, 365 days a year, you see people out jogging, cycling or heading to a yoga class, but cuisine in the Bay Area is equally appealing…go figure.
For a full list check out the Men’s Fitness Magazines’ ranking.

Others might choose the Inca Trail in Peru; the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain; pub-to-pub walking in the Cotswolds of England; the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.

I’ve been tempted by the Overland Track in Tasmania. But Robert D. Hershey Jr. extols the virtues of the Milford Track in New Zealand in a recent story in The New York Times. As far back as 1908 this 33.5-mile trail was called the finest walk in the world and many hikers feel it’s true today.

After reading Hershey’s story I’m ready to start planning a trip south. How about you?

There I was at the top of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe. Living in Paris for my college semester abroad, I was lucky to have been invited to “sport d’hiver” with a French friend’s family. I was new to skiing and had spent the morning in ski school with toddlers; very humiliating. My friend, who was an expert skier, insisted I join her in the “egg,” the tram to the top of Mont Blanc. She assured me I could take the tram down again.

As I recall, she was preoccupied with a budding romance, and although she cared for me deeply, her focus was, let’s say…elsewhere. Once at the peak, the gruff operator insisted I get off. No, I could not take the lift down to our designated lunch spot at a mountain restaurant. Not wanting to be a drag or imposition, I told her to go on ahead with her crush and I would tackle the triple black diamond slope on my own and meet them there.

I was 19 and foolish. Two hours later I arrived, frozen and black and blue from sliding down the mountain on my bottom; it was a harrowing experience, despite the fact that it makes a great story all these years later. A meal never tasted so good.

This memory resurfaced, as I read an article in Vanity Fair Magazine’s December 2008 issue entitled  “Some Like it Haute - the World’s Top Mountain Restaurants.” One listed for Megeve, France sounded like the spot we went to, although I can’t be sure. L’ Alpette, as it is called, has been a lunchtime institution since 1935.  With a well chosen wine list and oyster bar, weary skiers can enjoy local sausage and simple salads or more elaborate plates.

Although I grew to enjoy downhill, these days I stick to cross country, but if you’re interested in the top picks, some of the most compelling are:

St. Anton, Austria - Verwall Stube. Described as “über –chic,” Vladimir Putin and the Jordanian Royal family frequent this mountain top foodie haven.

Verbier, Switzerland - Au Vieux Verbier. Known for traditional Swiss cuisine, Vanity Fair calls the interior kitschy and says you may run into the likes of Leo DiCaprio, Jamie Oliver or Björk.

Closer to home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming you might tuck into a house–smoked buffalo tenderloin at Jackson Hole’s latest hot spot called Couloir; the views are apparently breathtaking.

I have to say there is nothing like dining at altitude!

But for me the awe was for that giant shed of ironwork and glass, the silver rails, the growling iron beasts waiting for departure from the Milwaukee Road Depot on Washington Avenue in Minneapolis.

Looking back, I can see that the place was pretty mundane compared to the grand railway stations of the world. Even by American standards it wasn’t much, but I would only learn that later. At the time I thought traveling by train was the greatest adventure imaginable, and part of that wonder was due to the grand spaces where trains began and ended their journeys, where passengers boarded and disembarked.

Soon after, though, train travel went out of favor, the stations went derelict, many were torn down. The Milwaukee Road Depot closed in 1971, but at least it’s not gone. It’s been converted to a retail center with two hotels, restaurant, water park, and ice rink.

But train travel is making a comeback, and with it, some of those magical railway stations are being returned to their grandeur, none more so than London’s St. Pancras. In a recent essay in The New York Times, Simon Winchester takes a look at it and other stations around the world, capturing the essence of our romance with trains and creating the urge, in me anyway, to stroll through that space, making my way to a waiting train, for a journey, well, just about anywhere.

One way was to push tourism up the scale of importance and hope to draw visitors to pump needed foreign currency into the ailing system. According to Madeline Drexler in the Los Angeles Times, this produced a clever promotion from the tourism industry: Halfpriceland, the new affordable Iceland. And it turns out to be true. The U.S. dollar trades for almost twice the number of krona it did a year ago, making prices comparable with those in the U.S.

The question remains, though, how many visitors want to be in Iceland in the winter, with short days and cold nights. But with geothermal springs everywhere and a searing nightlife in Reykjavik, winter probably makes little difference here anyway.

My friend’s birthday fell on Inauguration Day so she really wanted to celebrate this year for many reasons. The weather was so glorious and we were headed to this resort called Seascape in Aptos, California. Just a few minutes south of Santa Cruz, this lovely spot is a great respite from the frantic city life I call my existence.

Five moms were headed to this condo to celebrate our good friend’s momentous birthday. The trip started out like some AbFab meets Sex in the City moment with three of us in a Volvo in heels, driving down Highway 1 at 10 p.m. It was pitch black and we were jabbering away about the economy when I thought I heard a plane crashing (the USAIR flight crash landing on the Hudson River fresh in my mind). Turns out, the front tire blew. It was terrifying….

I won’t go into the sitcom-esque story but suffice to say after our husbands insisted we could change it in the pitch black with no flashlight;  we decided it was not going to happen since none of us felt confident in our tire changing skills. Ultimately, a very cute tow truck driver came to our rescue (cue the laugh track).

With the trip off to an ominous start, we arrived at the condo and drank heavily, cherishing the moments without the kids, who were due to arrive with the husbands the next day. I retired early, sure that I wanted to enjoy the glorious surroundings in the morning more than partying. I awoke to brilliant sunshine and the pools and Jacuzzis beckoned.

After scones, yogurt and fruit I rallied the troops and we took a walk on the grounds. One of the big things, that the kids loved once they arrived, golf carts scoot around the property and take you anywhere you want to go. The drivers are very friendly and helpful. We decided to hoof it and work off our hangovers and breakfast before a yoga practice overlooking the surf. The setting couldn’t have been better, the sun warming our souls and shoulders. I had to keep reminding myself that it was January and most of the country in a deep freeze.

The children arrived and the mood changed; they frolicked in the pools and had a great time. That night all the adults went out to eat in Santa Cruz and the birthday girls’ husband had arranged for two babysitters in a separate condo. After margaritas, champagne, cake and beer in the decorated condo we all played a rousing game of Taboo — hampered a bit by mixing tequila and champagne.

The next day the beach was on the agenda. The weather was almost warm enough to body surf but we opted for sand castle building and magazine reading on one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve been to in Northern California. There were fire pits and we noted that one could even request equipment for marshmallow roasting to be delivered by golf cart, something my kids thought sounded simply magical. The price tag was more than $50! Not in my budget.

The condo was very comfortable and we were lucky, one of our party’s parents owned it and let us use it for free. Normally prices run between $300 and $700 depending on size and season. It is not cheap and I found mixed reviews on tripadvisor, which surprised me. We brought our own food but there is a restaurant with a great view on the premises.

This is not the sort of getaway I take often, but one I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to attend. I would recommend it for a splurge and a taste of the good life in California. The site couldn’t be more stellar, made picture perfect by the weather and company. I definitely felt rejuvenated.

We can all get a little insight into this by poking around his neighborhood, and thanks to Gayle Keck we can explore Obama’s Chicago. Her story in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle travel section takes readers on a whirlwind tour of the new president’s former haunts.

Going back farther, the online feature Hawaii Insider looks at tours of Obama’s Hawaii, including pointing readers to a site loaded with Obama-related Hawaii offerings: Obama’s Hawaii Neighborhood. The site links to loads of background reading on the new president and offers a walking tour of Makiki, the district of Honolulu where he lived as a boy.

If you can’t make it to Washington for the inauguration, maybe you can get your Obama fix in Chicago or Hawaii. But with all of this interest in Barack Obama, will the Obama Washington DC tour be next?

Steve is a contributing editor for Rolling Stone. The flap copy on his book says: “Knopper, who has been writing about the industry for more than ten years, has unparalleled access to those intimately involved in the music world’s highs and lows…From the birth of the compact disc, through the explosion of CD sales in the ’80s and ’90s, the emergence of Napster, and the secret talks that led to iTunes, to the current collapse of the industry as CD sales plummet, Knopper takes us inside the boardrooms, recording studios, private estates, garage computer labs, company jets, corporate infighting, and secret deals of the big names and behind-the-scenes players who made it all happen.”

And his conversation with Terry Gross is great. Listen here.

Naturally she had constructive criticism for us, too, in particular: “…while we like the idea of Triporati’s travel experts posting “must see” and “skip it” lists for each destination, it would be more useful to put them in context.”

We’ll keep doing more of the good stuff and work on improving other areas, and of course we welcome any and all feedback.

Read the whole USA Today review, the second on the screen following a review of VacationRoost.com.