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Because Hurricane Sandy pretty much trashed everything from Cape May to Fire Island, I’ve taken it upon myself and my luxury travel company, Steele Luxury Travel, to introduce my readers to some other gay vacation spots up and down the Mid-Atlantic worthy of mention; it would be a gross misrepresentation to think that the gay geography of the East Coast stops at Miami and doesn’t pick up again until New York.
New Hope, Pennsylvania, is about an hour’s drive north from Philadelphia, and pretty much sets the standard for “bump on a log.” But so you know, this is the gayest bump on the gayest log you’ve ever seen—contrary to what you have heard over the years, size isn’t everything, at least when it comes to urban centers. Despite Philly’s proximity, the town has a thriving, fully embedded, and fully embraced gay community. New Hope even its own Pride parade. The hub of M4M activity is The Raven, a gay hotel-bar-pool that is as high-brow (the Oak Room restaurant is outstanding) as it is low-brow (the drag queens are without mercy).
Even better, unlike a lot of other gay resorts, New Hope doesn’t go belly-up on Labor Day. While summer is certainly busier, fall, winter and spring in New Hope all have their allure, and there is something about strolling through a country town in the still of wintertime.
A small place — the population is a miniscule 2,534 — New Hope represents gay life on the “quaint village level.” The town started life as an artist colony and has not strayed that far from its origins; galleries dot the landscape, and the tree-lined lanes and walkways along the Delaware River invite inspiration. This is a place to go to get away from it all, and I will admit it: Sometimes, I just do not want to have my senses bombarded by a city. Every now and again, I want to experience a tree that isn’t pruned to within an inch of its life, a sunset that doesn’t have a skyscraper in the way, and ambience that isn’t habitually shattered by a car alarm. As our company slogan states, Live Your Indulgence©, wherever the destination may be 😉