I, for one, can never get enough of winter fun. Living in San Francisco, a trip to the mountains is easy but requires some planning and often ice skating indoors has to satisfy my cravings.

In Ottawa, Ontario, workers and students can ice-skate commute (skammute?) on the Rideau Canal Skateway. The 4.8-mile-long, 26-foot-wide frozen canal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Visitors can rent skates, and warm up spots, cafes and other amenities dot the route. It is of course a popular tourist attraction and the centerpiece of Winterlude, a three-week-long winter festival including ice sculptures, skate clinics and Snowflake Kingdom, a snowy playground wonderland.

The world’s largest naturally frozen ice rink has been open for more than 40 years. The average length of the skating season is 50 days. The Rideau Canal skate season typically runs from December to mid March. Some years it is extended to as much as 95 days and you can check ice conditions daily. Moms pushing strollers mingle with commuters and school kids, making rush hour a busy affair on the ice. It gets cold in Ottawa and many insist a packet of tissues is mandatory to fend off the runny noses. Some prefer hockey skates, others speed skates or figure skates. Canadians are of course big ice enthusiasts!

Ottawa, Canada’s capital, is home to some great museums, imposing structures and fine restaurants welcoming an international diplomatic core. If you’re like me and love the idea of a long outdoor skate, Ottawa might be calling.

My friend doesn’t do anything unless it is full throttle, so it didn’t surprise me that he had a hankering for extreme speed. It did, however, surprise me when he said his whole body was sore after the less than 2 minute, nearly $150 (Canadian Dollar) ride down the Olympic track. Kitted out, he was placed in the back seat and braced himself to fly down the mountain.

I am a bit of an Olympic geek so I had lots of questions, not least of which was about the poor Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili who was killed during a training run while reportedly going nearly 150 MPH. I knew he was killed on that very same run and I had watched the tragedy unfold.

The Whistler Sliding Center hosted all the sliding events in the 2010 Games and is now a premiere world track. I know the luge and skeleton are much more dangerous than bobsled because the sleds are less protective, but that accident was so haunting. Often, ex-football players or track stars are inspired to be the anchor of the team on bobsled. Their speed helps a team get a fast start, but even those guys and gals train intensely for the sport. I was relieved to hear that the tourist sleds have higher walls and that they start after the treacherous turn where the accident happened. Although lightning fast, tourist runs are significantly slower than Olympic runs.

With a professional pilot and plenty of gear and preparation, tourists can ride the wind and ice at 125 MPH. My friend lived to tell the tale and has the picture to prove it! As for the Winter Olympics, next up are the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

The islands get all the tourism they can handle, but if you take the ferry with your car and go on a weekday you can miss the weekend congestion. If you must go on a weekend and take the ferry from Anacortes (about an hour and a half from Seattle) or from British Columbia, prepare to wait in line a few hours. Locals know to get their car in line for the ferry early, spend time doing something else, and then have a friend drop them at their car before the ferry arrives.

Puget Sound is  full of islands with character — high bank, low bank, small coves, big agricultural expanses, small houses that blend into the trees, trophy houses that have architectural bragging rights — and somehow it all hangs together.  The ferry ride shows you a  sampling of terrain and lifestyles as it moves past various islands, stopping at several of them (San Juan, Lopez, Orcas) and giving glimpses of many more in the distance, many of which are only served by private boats or smaller Ferry services.

I stayed on Orcas Island. Orcas has a charming, New England quality and 2,409-foot-high Mt. Constitution, the highest point in the San Juans. It was colonized by Robert Moran, one of the Captains of Industry of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and Moran State Park is named after him. The mountain has a demanding climb to the top and moderate auxiliary trails for unambitious hikers like me. Expansive water views are everywhere and the island is dotted with wonderful places to stay and explore.

I usually stay at the Inn at Orcas, which is a short walk to the Deer Harbor Marina, about a fifteen minute drive to the town and quite a distance from the park. It’s a formal sort of house (think Charleston) near a cove that fills in when the tide rolls in from the nearby bay. Jeremy is your host and his partner in life is the cook for breakfasts that are wonderful as long as you aren’t on a diet or have a high cholesterol reading. These guys are warm and engaging hosts in a gorgeously decorated inn. Each room has its own theme, some nautical, some floral, some more English than others, all luxurious.

There are also two more private buildings — one of which is a small cottage that is quite cozy and has a great view of the inlet. I stayed there once when I went to a wedding and roomed with another good friend from out of town. We almost  burned down this adorable hideaway when Adrienne rested her suitcase on the gas fireplace and it melted and started to smoke. The acrid smell woke me up, and I grabbed the suitcase and tossed it outside. Fortunately, nothing but the suitcase was damaged and the cottage is still there for you to enjoy. A mark of Jeremy’s hospitality is that he has been kind enough to allow me to stay at his place many times since then.

If haut Charleston is not to your taste there are other romantic choices. The Kingfisher is beautifully located across the street from the water’s edge and they provide kayaks and other watercraft for experiencing the sound. They have a few rooms, sweet, simple and some with a great water views. The inn is very reasonable and has terrific breakfasts and seriously good food for  other meals as well. Another choice if you want a farm-like experience is the Turtle Back Farm. It has beautiful pastoral views and is compelling and cozy inside. Like the Kingfisher, its close enough to town to bicycle in.

One reason I stick to the Inn at Orcas (or my friend Cynthia’s place nearby) is because it’s a short walk to Deer Harbor — which is such a perfect setting that it looks like it’s waiting to be discovered as a movie set. Kenmore Air can drop you off there, and circling around before you land in the water is just so beautiful it makes you want to fall in love with the person sitting next to you (this means it would be a good idea to know the person sitting next to you…). The picturesque cove also  has a great little stand for lattes and sandwiches that can be your reward after you complete the absolutely stunning walking and running trail that starts after the harbor and goes forever along the water’s edge with many lookouts.

As for uber romantic things to do: Get a small boat and motor over to San Juan Island and eat at the Backdoor restaurant (wonderful food); have lunch at Roses, which has delectable chicken salad and just about everything else they serve will have you mindlessly happy. You can also just get stuff at the deli section of the restaurant and create an instant picnic on the nearby beach. If you want a fantastic dinner for your second night, drive (or cab) over to Ships Bay — which is a lovely place to stay as well.

It’s all informal here on this island, not too touristy even in the summer. There are  good quality shops in town and several surprising places (like Art Galleries and Pottery Shops) to discover throughout the island. Exploring here is a good idea. So is just reading on the beach, and cuddling at night when the temperature usually dips a bit.

Orcas is definitely a place for lovers — but it is such a quiet and beautiful place that it’s also a place a single person could go to find a dramatic vista and meditate. Families love it too. Many sailors come here with their kids and fish and explore several of the islands and inlets. (Few will swim however. That water is cold!) There’s no doubt that many different kinds of people can enjoy this island world. Still, I think of Orcas as the kind of place that will make you wish you were with your honey — or motivate you to find one.

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Pepper Schwartz serves as the AARP love and relationship ambassador and is the chief relationships expert at Perfectmatch.com.

But now there’s a new game in town: snorkeling with belugas. Yep, you can don a dry suit and slip into water that was frozen solid last week and come nose to nose with beluga whales. John Flinn took the plunge and conveyed his experience in the San Francisco Chronicle this week.

Bob Howells, an editor-at-large for National Geographic Adventure, also gave it a whirl in a story that won the Adventure Travel gold medal in the Solas Awards and also contributed to his Lowell Thomas silver placement as Travel Journalist of the Year.

On my trip a few years back, during many hours of vigilant horizon panning, imagining every mound and swale to be moving, I saw lots of creatures: arctic foxes, snowy owls, beluga whales, but no polar bears, not until dusk on my last day, way off in the distance.

It was a lesson in observation: I saw lots of interesting things while looking for something I almost didn’t find, and realized that, while it was nice to finally see the bear, seeing everything else was its own reward. The landscape around Churchill is big and rough and raw, and I might not have noticed so much if bears had been crowding the horizon.

I will beware of bankruptcies.
I will figure on fees.
I will get an edge through e-mail.
I will diligently monitor the U.S. dollar.
I will plan ahead to get a passport.

Did you know you might be charged for more legroom on flights?  Another obvious, but often overlooked issue, the fact that the fluctuating dollar could drastically raise or reduce the cost of a hotel room abroad. Or, that on June 1, tighter border rules take effect. Most Americans returning by sea or land from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean will need a passport, a passport card or other secure document. Check out the article: Vow to make the most of your 2009 travel dollar to find out more about this list of travel tips for 2009.

The place most people think of when hearing about a taste of France in Canada is Quebec, the French-speaking province with cosmopolitan Montreal and the walled old town of Quebec City. But San Francisco Chronicle Deputy Travel Editor Spud Hilton has a different take and a different place in mind: Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, an archipelago of eight tiny islands (only three are inhabited) off the coast of Newfoundland that not only offer a taste of France, they are France.

The islands are officially known as the Territorial Collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon and are the last remnant of the colonial empire of New France still under French control. As Spud Hilton reports, they are famous for the only use of the guillotine in North America and for being a bootleggers’ haven during prohibition, where even Al Capone spent some time overseeing operations.

The islands are French soil and some locals consider the place more French than France because of its isolation: with little reason to change with the passage of time, the people of the islands have maintained their traditional ways of life.

To prepare the base layer, combine half a cup of unsalted butter or margarine, a quarter cup of granulated sugar, and five tablespoons of cocoa powder in a double boiler over the heat. Add a beaten egg, mix well, and pour into a mixing bowl. Stir in half a cup of chopped almonds or walnuts, one cup of grated coconut, and two cups of graham wafer crumbs. Press the soft mixture firmly into an ungreased eight-inch square pan and put the pan in the refrigerator to chill.

To make the filling, combine two tablespoons of vanilla custard powder, two tablespoons and two teaspoons of cream, half a cup of softened unsalted butter or margarine, and two cups of icing sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Spread this mixture evenly over the base layer and place the pan back into the fridge to stand for half an hour.

For the topping, melt two tablespoons of unsalted butter or margarine and four ounces of semi-sweet chocolate over low heat and stir until smooth. Allow the liquid to cool slightly and pour it over the filling. Place the pan back in the fridge to chill. Once the product has set, use a hot knife to cut the slab into around 40 bars which should be stored in the fridge. This is only one Nanaimo bar recipe and there are many variations.

The 50-Kilometer Holiday is roughly modeled on the 100-Mile Diet, a lifestyle revolution reconnecting Canadians with their roots, and the concept is applicable almost anywhere in the world. With so much to see and do locally, it’s almost a waste to spend thousands of dollars flying halfway across the world when you could have just as much fun at home. A local holiday is a hassle-free holiday with no borders to cross, no travel insurance to buy, no bookings to make, and no money to exchange. You conserve energy and strengthen community while helping to save the planet.