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CNN Live Today
Interview With Nilou Motamed
Aired October 13, 2003 - 11:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Colorful autumn leaves and crisp cool air can add to a great get away. If you're in a mood to enjoy the fall foliage, we have some advice about where to go, and we're not just talking New England. Destinations range from cozy inns to hotels to train trips.
But our guest says if you haven't already made your reservation, you better act quickly. Joining us from New York with some advice on finding the best autumn leaves is Nilou Motamed of "Travel + Leisure" magazine. Nilou, great to have you with us here.
NILOU MOTAMED, "TRAVEL + LEISURE": Thanks so much, Daryn.
KAGAN: I really like the list you compiled because Even though I'm going to head to New England in a couple of weeks to check out the leaves, it's not all about New England. Clear across the country, let's start in Aspen.
MOTAMED: Well, first of all, Daryn, I mean the thing about this weather -- and we're having great weather as you saw before in the forecast -- it just makes people just put on their sweaters and go apple picking or go to a pumpkin patch.
This is what's great about Aspen is you can go hiking too. You're seeing these beautiful -- Aspen trees turn this amazing golden color. You can go to Aspen which is normally thought of as a ski resort, but it isn't quite a ski resort yet because it hasn't snowed. But you still have the snow capped mountains with these gorgeous Aspen trees that turn the golden color.
One great place to see them is the Maroon (ph) Bells which is a mountain peak and you're seeing that right now and the Maroon Lake. And a great place to stay in aspen is Little Nell. And what they're really known for is their service, they're (UNINTELLIGIBLE) property.
And they're (UNINTELLIGIBLE) will call you ahead of time when you're going to stay there and ask you, do you want us to set up bike riding trips? Do you want to set up hiking tours? Would you like to us get some horses for you so you can go horse back riding? So once you get there, you hit the ground running and you can see as much of the beautiful scenery as possible.
KAGAN: All right, we only have a couple of minutes. We're going to try to get (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as much as we can. Let's go to Arkansas.
MOTAMED: Arkansas, home of Bill Clinton. We've got the Ozarks and this beautiful Route 7, a 60 mile route. You can see amazing -- I think you go through two national forests on a scenic byway. You can see amazing scenery. It's a driving trip, 60 miles not too bad. And you can have your home base be in Little Rock.
KAGAN: Going to skip ahead and do -- go to a recall country, to California, up the west coast. You can take a train.
MOTAMED: It's a great idea. This is the American Orient Express. You can take a seven night, eight day trip up the coast from Los Angeles to Seattle and stop in Napa Valley. You get the amazing coast line and great foliage.
KAGAN: Finally we end in the east with Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains.
MOTAMED: Virginia is a phenomenal destination. You've got -- it's about two hours out of D.C. so it's convenient to get to. You've got Blue Ridge Majesty. You can imagine that it's just gorgeous and it's a great hike destination, great climbing destination. You can definitely do the kind of relaxing outdoor pursuits that you want to do on a beautiful fall day.
KAGAN: And finally to really hit this, I understand a lot of people have different Internet sites so you know exactly when the peak color changing time is hitting.
MOTAMED: One of my favorite ones is LeafPeepers.com. It connects you to all of the different Web sites from the different states. You can find out exact forecast, find out when the peak time is, which is now, Columbus Day, going forward to the next couple of weeks. Make sure when you're going is going to be the ideal season and temperature to get there and get the maximum leafpeeping available.
KAGAN: LeafPeepers.com. Very good. Nilou, thank you. Appreciate the tips.
MOTAMED: Thank you.
KAGAN: Great to have you with us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 13, 2003 - 11:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Colorful autumn leaves and crisp cool air can add to a great get away. If you're in a mood to enjoy the fall foliage, we have some advice about where to go, and we're not just talking New England. Destinations range from cozy inns to hotels to train trips.
But our guest says if you haven't already made your reservation, you better act quickly. Joining us from New York with some advice on finding the best autumn leaves is Nilou Motamed of "Travel + Leisure" magazine. Nilou, great to have you with us here.
NILOU MOTAMED, "TRAVEL + LEISURE": Thanks so much, Daryn.
KAGAN: I really like the list you compiled because Even though I'm going to head to New England in a couple of weeks to check out the leaves, it's not all about New England. Clear across the country, let's start in Aspen.
MOTAMED: Well, first of all, Daryn, I mean the thing about this weather -- and we're having great weather as you saw before in the forecast -- it just makes people just put on their sweaters and go apple picking or go to a pumpkin patch.
This is what's great about Aspen is you can go hiking too. You're seeing these beautiful -- Aspen trees turn this amazing golden color. You can go to Aspen which is normally thought of as a ski resort, but it isn't quite a ski resort yet because it hasn't snowed. But you still have the snow capped mountains with these gorgeous Aspen trees that turn the golden color.
One great place to see them is the Maroon (ph) Bells which is a mountain peak and you're seeing that right now and the Maroon Lake. And a great place to stay in aspen is Little Nell. And what they're really known for is their service, they're (UNINTELLIGIBLE) property.
And they're (UNINTELLIGIBLE) will call you ahead of time when you're going to stay there and ask you, do you want us to set up bike riding trips? Do you want to set up hiking tours? Would you like to us get some horses for you so you can go horse back riding? So once you get there, you hit the ground running and you can see as much of the beautiful scenery as possible.
KAGAN: All right, we only have a couple of minutes. We're going to try to get (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as much as we can. Let's go to Arkansas.
MOTAMED: Arkansas, home of Bill Clinton. We've got the Ozarks and this beautiful Route 7, a 60 mile route. You can see amazing -- I think you go through two national forests on a scenic byway. You can see amazing scenery. It's a driving trip, 60 miles not too bad. And you can have your home base be in Little Rock.
KAGAN: Going to skip ahead and do -- go to a recall country, to California, up the west coast. You can take a train.
MOTAMED: It's a great idea. This is the American Orient Express. You can take a seven night, eight day trip up the coast from Los Angeles to Seattle and stop in Napa Valley. You get the amazing coast line and great foliage.
KAGAN: Finally we end in the east with Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains.
MOTAMED: Virginia is a phenomenal destination. You've got -- it's about two hours out of D.C. so it's convenient to get to. You've got Blue Ridge Majesty. You can imagine that it's just gorgeous and it's a great hike destination, great climbing destination. You can definitely do the kind of relaxing outdoor pursuits that you want to do on a beautiful fall day.
KAGAN: And finally to really hit this, I understand a lot of people have different Internet sites so you know exactly when the peak color changing time is hitting.
MOTAMED: One of my favorite ones is LeafPeepers.com. It connects you to all of the different Web sites from the different states. You can find out exact forecast, find out when the peak time is, which is now, Columbus Day, going forward to the next couple of weeks. Make sure when you're going is going to be the ideal season and temperature to get there and get the maximum leafpeeping available.
KAGAN: LeafPeepers.com. Very good. Nilou, thank you. Appreciate the tips.
MOTAMED: Thank you.
KAGAN: Great to have you with us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
