Luxury Resort

A new luxury resort, splashy tourist events and an array of new tour products are a few of the assets state tourism officials hope will spell prosperity this year. "The number of high-caliber events and new products and an incredible spring advertising campaign will work to increase our visitors," predicted Hannah L. Byron, the state's director of tourism. "Even with the current economic climate, we fully expect for tourism to rebound. We may not see the kinds of growth that we had hoped for, but I think we're still going to have a good year."

The state-owned Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay resort in Cambridge continues to deplete a reserve fund to cover its semiannual debt payments because it is not making enough money. The state withdrew $2 million from the reserve June 1, cutting the fund's balance nearly in half to $2.3 million, according to a June 4 letter to the Maryland Economic Development Corp., which owns the golf resort hotel and conference center on the Choptank River. MEDCO financed the hotel's construction in 2002, issuing more than $120 million in tax-exempt revenue bonds, which are designed to be paid for out of the revenue a project creates.

After little snowfall last year, the Resort at Squaw Creek in the Lake Tahoe region of California, which had the bad luck to open last winter, may have better fortune this year.Skiers staying there have been skiing on Squaw Valley's upper terrain, and it was hoped that temperatures would fall low DTC enough for snowmaking to be switched on, permitting guests to ski from their doors.The luxury resort includes retail stores and equipment shops, several swimming pools and hot tubs, an outdoor ice rink, three restaurants and an English pub.Accommodations range from $160 a night for a standard room to $845 for the two-story penthouse.

It may be the Fourth of July, but if you're a sports fan in this town looking for emotional fireworks, you're definitely out of luck. Let's look at how things are going for the big players around here. The Orioles are dropping in the win column with all the restraint of a safe thrown from a 20th-floor window. The NFL lockout grinds on, to the point where the Ravens have canceled training camp in Westminster, depriving their fans of the annual summer ritual of baking in 95-degree heat to watch their heroes and fantasize about the coming season.

At a news conference in Annapolis late this morning, Gov. Parris N. Glendening is expected to announce the sale of the state-owned, 351-acre hospital property in Cambridge for redevelopment as a luxury resort and residential community.Glendening will be joined by Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels Corp. development executive Nicholas J. Pritzker and officials from Dorchester County, according to an advisory last night from the governor's office.They are expected to unveil plans for a $225 million resort and residential community on the banks of the Choptank River.

PROSPERITY has eluded Cambridge, a historic town of 10,800 on the Lower Eastern Shore. While nearby communities -- St. Michael's, Oxford and Easton -- draw tourists and wealthy retirees, Cambridge, the focal point of agricultural Dorchester County, limps along.Unemployment in Dorchester County, at 7.8 percent, is third-highest in the state, exceeding Baltimore's 7.4 percent jobless rate.That could change, thanks to a deal sealed this week between the state and Hyatt Hotels to turn 342 acres on the shores of the Choptank River into a luxury resort.

In a recent scholarly lecture, Dr. I.M. Kookie, the noted expert on lots of stuff, presented a unique perspective on the unfortunate Hugh Grant affair."

The state-owned Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay resort in Cambridge continues to deplete a reserve fund to cover its semiannual debt payments because it is not making enough money. The state withdrew $2 million from the reserve June 1, cutting the fund's balance nearly in half to $2.3 million, according to a June 4 letter to the Maryland Economic Development Corp., which owns the golf resort hotel and conference center on the Choptank River. MEDCO financed the hotel's construction in 2002, issuing more than $120 million in tax-exempt revenue bonds, which are designed to be paid for out of the revenue a project creates.

It may be the Fourth of July, but if you're a sports fan in this town looking for emotional fireworks, you're definitely out of luck. Let's look at how things are going for the big players around here. The Orioles are dropping in the win column with all the restraint of a safe thrown from a 20th-floor window. The NFL lockout grinds on, to the point where the Ravens have canceled training camp in Westminster, depriving their fans of the annual summer ritual of baking in 95-degree heat to watch their heroes and fantasize about the coming season.

Envisioning a major tourist destination in economically depressed Cambridge, Hyatt Hotels Corp. has proposed a swanky resort that would feature a luxury hotel and 400 vacation homes on 350 acres overlooking the Choptank River.The $187 million project would become Maryland's first such luxury resort and, state and hotel officials say, rival the famed Greenbrier in West Virginia as a choice for leisure and business travelers alike.Chicago-based Hyatt pitched the project to Maryland officials in response to a request for ideas to redevelop the state-owned Eastern Shore site, now home to a psychiatric hospital and nonprofit agencies.

JERICHO, West Bank - The Lemon Grove restaurant is small but elegant, with white table cloths and patterned china plates. Perched on the ninth floor of the Intercontinental Hotel, it towers over the lowest city on Earth. Its staff is dedicated and friendly, impeccably but casually dressed in shirts splattered with tropical colors. Waiters wielding small silver brushes sweep crumbs from the table into matching dustpans, and the chef always wears a long white coat and tall hat. It is a strange sight for a grand, 181-room hotel that has no logical reason for being open.

Sit down for a chat with chef John Fleer, and it's immediately clear you're not talking to an ordinary cook. For one thing, the "foothills cuisine" he has developed at Blackberry Farm, a world-class luxury retreat in the Tennessee shadows of the Smoky Mountains, has earned accolades for its sophisticated take on regional good food. For another, he's as comfortable discussing the culture and philosophy of food as the techniques of preparing it. After all, he began his cooking career to help pay his way as a graduate student in religion and culture at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

A new luxury resort, splashy tourist events and an array of new tour products are a few of the assets state tourism officials hope will spell prosperity this year. "The number of high-caliber events and new products and an incredible spring advertising campaign will work to increase our visitors," predicted Hannah L. Byron, the state's director of tourism. "Even with the current economic climate, we fully expect for tourism to rebound. We may not see the kinds of growth that we had hoped for, but I think we're still going to have a good year."

For years, Dan Reynolds cut his Ocean City vacations short or didn't take them at all because he didn't want to leave his dog behind. Yosemite, a 13-year-old red chow mix, so hated his one kennel stay that he made himself sick, Reynolds said. He tried pet sitters and called in favors from friends. Few hotels in the resort town allowed pets, and any that did, stayed booked. Some vacationers got so desperate that they did everything from sneaking dogs into hotel rooms or leaving them in the car to trying to drop them off at the Humane Society for a few days, Reynolds said.

PROSPERITY has eluded Cambridge, a historic town of 10,800 on the Lower Eastern Shore. While nearby communities -- St. Michael's, Oxford and Easton -- draw tourists and wealthy retirees, Cambridge, the focal point of agricultural Dorchester County, limps along.Unemployment in Dorchester County, at 7.8 percent, is third-highest in the state, exceeding Baltimore's 7.4 percent jobless rate.That could change, thanks to a deal sealed this week between the state and Hyatt Hotels to turn 342 acres on the shores of the Choptank River into a luxury resort.

At a news conference in Annapolis late this morning, Gov. Parris N. Glendening is expected to announce the sale of the state-owned, 351-acre hospital property in Cambridge for redevelopment as a luxury resort and residential community.Glendening will be joined by Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels Corp. development executive Nicholas J. Pritzker and officials from Dorchester County, according to an advisory last night from the governor's office.They are expected to unveil plans for a $225 million resort and residential community on the banks of the Choptank River.

It's not Bermuda or Jamaica or the Virgin Islands. There's not a whole lot of Club Med about it. For many, when the time comes to plan an exotic island getaway, Puerto Rico gets short shrift.Maybe it's taken for granted by Americans; after all, it is a U.S. commonwealth, and to travelers, that means visiting the island is pretty much as easy as visiting Fort Lauderdale. And, no doubt, it suffers from comparison with its smaller cousins, the tiny points of land that are more in keeping with most Americans' idea of a Caribbean vacation.

When Gina Zembetti got the assignment to write an essay about her favorite place, the high-school freshman picked the spot where she's transformed into an elegant young lady from another era."One feels like a princess or movie star in the most elaborate of settings," the Northridge, Calif., teen wrote in her essay, voted the best in the class. Gina was describing the famed 692-room Hotel del Coronado, a grand Victorian landmark just over the bridge from San Diego and a fixture on the Pacific Coast since 1888.

When Gina Zembetti got the assignment to write an essay about her favorite place, the high-school freshman picked the spot where she's transformed into an elegant young lady from another era."One feels like a princess or movie star in the most elaborate of settings," the Northridge, Calif., teen wrote in her essay, voted the best in the class. Gina was describing the famed 692-room Hotel del Coronado, a grand Victorian landmark just over the bridge from San Diego and a fixture on the Pacific Coast since 1888.

Envisioning a major tourist destination in economically depressed Cambridge, Hyatt Hotels Corp. has proposed a swanky resort that would feature a luxury hotel and 400 vacation homes on 350 acres overlooking the Choptank River.The $187 million project would become Maryland's first such luxury resort and, state and hotel officials say, rival the famed Greenbrier in West Virginia as a choice for leisure and business travelers alike.Chicago-based Hyatt pitched the project to Maryland officials in response to a request for ideas to redevelop the state-owned Eastern Shore site, now home to a psychiatric hospital and nonprofit agencies.