Sparkle, sophistication, and Mother Nature. It’s an odd trio, but one that now exists thanks to the world of glamping. By definition, it’s “glamorous camping” or the pairing of camping with luxury travel. By either definition, it means you won’t find yourself sleeping on an air mattress with a mysterious leak or spend hours figuring out how to get a tent to stay upright after leaving a much needed pole at home. But gentlemen, don’t be fooled, glamping isn’t just for the ladies. The high-end lodgings, gorgeous views, and no hassle trips mean glamping is something you should put on your bucket list, even if you don’t care to admit to it. If you’re looking for a secluded hideaway or a luxury river experience, you’ll find it glamping in the Gem State. Here’s a look at just a few of the glamorous options available. This wilderness experience just 30 miles from Sandpoint is a play on a bed and breakfast. Each private campsite offers a canvas tent with a fully-equipped camp kitchen, a wood burning stove, wood floors, and a queen-sized bed.
At night, you can relax by your own campfire and enjoy a little stargazing. In the mornings, enjoy a homegrown, farm-style breakfast in a solar powered homestead. This lodge offers glamping tents nestled near the banks of the Clearwater River. A stay in one of these tents means you’ll find pillow-top beds (king or two twins), wood floors, a wood stove, and an iron-claw bathtub. You can grill up your own meals on the BBQ or head to the lodge for a bite to eat if you’re just not in the mood to cook. But if you find you’re still a little tense, you can book an in-tent massage with a local masseuse. These luxury glamping tents feature queen sized beds nestled along Moose Creek. As you listen to the sounds of nature, enjoy a shaded porch with reading chairs, a wood stove, and an outdoor fire pit. If you have a bit of problem unplugging, Wi-fi is available. When you’re ready to emerge from your wilderness oasis, you may want to take a drive to Driggs to check out the GeoTourism Center or the Grand Teton Distillery.
The wilderness adventure is a combination of luxurious accommodations sprinkled with nature’s simple pleasures located in the western foothills of the Teton Mountain Range. When you decide to spend the night in a luxury tent, you’ll sleep on a king or queen sized bed, scurry across carpeted floors, and find tiled bath facilities near the lodge. And heck, if you’re feeling adventurous, you can check out the trail rides, pack trips, and sunset dinners available. This customized wilderness experience travels with you, all the way down the river! This luxury adventure tour will have you paddling (and screaming with happiness) through the thrilling Middle Fork of the Salmon River by day. Then at night, the guides do the work for you. Your tent will be set up while an organic, gourmet dinner is prepared in the midst of mind blowing scenery (to make your mouth water: goat cheese fondue, champagne-poached salmon fillet, and Dutch oven pound cake.) All this is served on linen covered tables with select wines.
Inside your tent, you’ll find elevated beds, flannel bedding, carpets, nightstands and lanterns. And yes, the guides pack it all back up for you in the morning. Share your glamping experiences with @VisitIdaho and keep on living the lifestyles of the rich and famous in Idaho’s wilderness. Feature Photo Credit: Kevin KieranBecause this is either romantic or idiotic, or both. A 25-year-old American man has been jailed for two months after floating across the St. Croix river on an air mattress and illegally entering Canada from the United States to get to his pregnant girlfriend. Immigration officers in Canada’s New Brunswick will be telling the crazy tale of John Bennett for some time. Bennett, 25, was denied access to Canada at the border in Calais, Maine but was so desperate to see his pregnant girlfriend that he took matters into his own hands. In a plan worthy of a movie, Bennett purchased an air mattress in Walmart, blew it up and navigated it across the St. Croix River late on Wednesday, paddling with a wooden board.
Sadly for Bennett, he was spotted by an eagle-eyed resident and was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who took a dim view of his illegal entry to Canada. Related: Hundreds Of Americans Invade Canada On Rafts It emerged that Bennett had been refused entry at Calais as he had outstanding minor charges in the US, and now he has to face charges for his bold move. Although the daring adventurer claimed he had been motivated by fears for his girlfriend’s safety, he was sentenced to two months in jail. “He was wet and carrying his boots… (and) walking towards the town. He said she (his girlfriend) had an ex-boyfriend who was threatening her, but that hasn’t been confirmed by the other party,” lawyer Peter Thorn told City News. The sentence seems a little harsh on Bennett but at least he has a hell of a dinner party anecdote for later in life. Even the judge seemed to see the funny side, saying: “Pardon the pun, but it seems to me you wanted to get there, come hell or high water.”
Canada is on fire when it comes to bizarre jail sentences after a woman in Red Lion was jailed a few months ago for repeatedly having deafeningly loud sex, but this one has raised the bar again. Should John Bennett have been arrested or applauded? John Bennett deserves a night of free drinks and a book deal for this, not two months in jail! A Mexican woman tried to cross the US border this year by hiding within the dashboard of a car, while a man sewed himself into the passenger seat.For 28 years, communist-controlled East Germany was cut off from the capitalist enclave of West Berlin by a barrier of concrete, barbed wire and heavily armed guards. The first barricades of what would become the Berlin Wall sprung up in August 1961, after the number of East Germans leaving the GDR via West Berlin reached record heights. For the next three decades, the barrier would divide families and neighborhoods that once shared the city. On Nov. 9, 1989, the wall came down almost as quickly as it had first appeared.
When an East German official prematurely announced the opening of the border, thousands of elated East Germans headed to the Wall and started ripping it down piece by piece. British academic Timothy Garton Ash described the scene as "the greatest street party in the history of the world." The Wall was a lethal barrier in the three decades it stood. Border guards were under strict orders: “Don’t hesitate to use your weapon even when border breaches happen with women and children," one East German secret service file from 1973 read. At least 138 people died trying to cross the border. While some did make it safely across, it is unclear how many people exactly reached the western part. Some estimates claim that 5,000 East Germans reached West Berlin via the Wall. Men, women and children snuck through checkpoints, hid in vehicles and tunneled under the concrete. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Wall, we dug up 10 of the most brazen and brave ways that people attempted to escape East Germany.
Four months after the Wall was first erected, a young railroad engineer in East Berlin spotted a gap in the barrier. Harry Deterling discovered a disused train track that still ran from an East Berlin suburb into West Berlin. Deterling promptly signed up to drive the train on the nearest route and plotted "the last train to freedom." On Dec. 5, 1961, Deterling brought his family and friends on board, drained the air from the train's emergency brakes, and steamed at full throttle towards West Berlin, sending startled border guards flying. Once on the other side, one of the passengers rang West Berlin's police to inform them: "We've just escaped with a train." East Germany blocked the railway line the next day. An image of Engel's armored vehicle after it smashed into the Berlin Wall, April 19, 1963. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images) East German soldier Wolfgang Engels may have helped to build the Berlin Wall in 1961, but two years later he, too, plotted his escape.
It wasn't the best-laid plan, The Local recounts. On April 16, 1963, Engels stole an East German tank and smashed it into the concrete barrier, crying: "I’m getting out of here to the West, anyone want to come along?” The vehicle failed to break through the Wall. Engels got out and tried to climb over it, but got stuck on the barbed wire and was shot twice by East German border guards. Eventually West Germans who had been drinking in a nearby bar came to his aid and helped him down from the barbed wire. Engels later described to The Christian Science Monitor how he regained consciousness on the bar counter. "When I turned my head and saw all the Western brands of liquor on the shelf, I knew that I had made it," he said. It was love that prompted Heinz Meixner's daring scheme. While working in East Berlin, the Austrian fell for Margarete Thurau, but authorities denied her permission to marry him back in his home country. Meixner decided to get her and his future mother-in-law out on his own terms.
He hired a convertible, removed the windshield and let a little air out of the tires to bring the vehicle even lower to the ground. On May 5, 1963, with Thurau and her mother hiding in the back, Meixner drove the car to the border post dubbed Checkpoint Charlie. When Meixner reached the inspection point, he ducked and stepped on the gas, pelting right under the barrier into West Berlin. In 1966, 18-year-old Hartmut Richter swam for four hours across the Teltow Canal to elude East German border guards and reach West Berlin. "A swan attacked me, dogs were barking, I had to wait several times and dive underwater until the coast was clear," Richter later told Agence France Presse. "I had hypothermia and was exhausted when I finally made it, and passed out on shore." A few years later Richter returned to East Germany and started smuggling out friends in the trunk of his car -- more than 30 people escaped with his help. In 1976 he was caught and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. West Germany secured his release after four years in jail.
East German boats (right) patrol as a West German customs boat (left) watches on the east bank of the Elbe River. Ingo Bethke became familiar with the banks of the River Elbe, north of Berlin, while serving as an East German border guard. When he decided to flee East Berlin in 1975, Bethke returned to the river with a friend and an air mattress. First, they had to navigate through a metal fence, over trip wire and and across a mine field. But the pair did reach the river, where they silently paddled on the mattress into West Germany. Ingo Bethke's family came under scrutiny by East German authorities after his defection. His brother, Holger, eventually decided to follow him and plotted an equally daring escape. Holger trained up in archery and found a tall building that overlooked West Berlin. In May 1983, he snuck into the attic and shot a wire cable over the Wall using a bow and arrow. Ingo was waiting on the other side and fastened the wire to his car. With a metal pulley, Holger rode the zip line high above the wall and joined his brother in West Berlin.
The two brothers then hatched their most audacious plan yet in order to extricate their third brother, Egbert. They learned to fly, and painted two ultralight planes with Soviet-style red stars. In May 1989, they were ready. They dressed in military uniforms and flew the planes clear over the Wall into East Berlin, picking up a waiting Egbert and whisking him back to the West. The brothers had been separated for over a decade. "I thought I’d never see my brothers again but they came out of the sky like angels and took me to paradise,” Egbert later recalled. Aircraft mechanic Hans Peter Strelczyk got his inspiration for his escape from an East German TV program on the history of ballooning. Together with his friend Gunter Wetzel, he made a hot air balloon to carry both families into the west. The friends built the engine from propane cylinders and their wives stitched together bedsheets for the balloon. After a failed first attempt, the two families finally soared over the Wall on Sep. 16, 1979, landing after 30 minutes in a blackberry bush on West German soil.