Delta Doubles Second-Bag Fee

Airline raises fee from $25 to $50, beginning next month

Early last May -- less than three short months ago -- Delta Airlines joined US airlines' stampede to charge most passengers for checked bags and imposed a $25 fee for the second bag. Come August 5, Delta us upping the surcharge race by doubling that fee to $50.

Pity the passenger (or his/her company) who must check more pieces than that. The third bag will now cost $125 (up from $80) and a whopping $200 apiece for the fourth through 10th checked pieces, which is more than many flight legs cost on an advance-purchase ticket .

Extra weight and size count too. An overweight bag between 51 and 70 pounds on a domestic rises from $80 to $90, and an oversize bag 62 inches to 80 inches of the total of its length plus its width plus its height rises from $150 to $175.

As bone thrown to first-class and certain premium passengers, Delta will still let them check up to three bags for free. Business travelers often carry on everything they need -- unless, perhaps, they are attending a trade show and are taking presentation materials. However, other flyers who routinely check many pieces will be paying big-time. FWIW, Delta says that it accepts up to 10 checked bags per passenger on its own flights and four checked bags on Delta Connection carriers.

Think of broadcast media or film makers who will be charged $175 per item for camera, perhaps film or video tape inventory, lighting, or sound equipment, will be paying a lot of such surcharges. Athletes with heavy equipment (hockey bags come immediately to mind) are really getting socked for extra baggage fees, as are people heading for sports vacations with ski equipment, fishing gear or golf bags.


"Commercial airlines are the cheapest way to deliver bags in America," William Swelbar, an airline expert with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been quoted as saying, noting the obvious that it costs more to fly on a heavier aircraft than one with a lighter load Swelbar postulated Delta's position as, "If I'm going to be in the moving business, I'm going to be compensated like a moving business."


Tom Parsons of BestFares told reporters, "They'd rather put high-paying cargo on that plane rather than people's bags." The phrase, "eople's bags," of course, implies people, and Parsons didn't add that cargo doesn't need to be reminded to buckle its seatbelt, drink those costly soft drinks and eat those little baggies of snacks, complain when a flight is delayed, get drunk and disorderly, or try to cram extra stuff in the overhead.

Nearby Mountains Cooler Than the Front Range

Higher elevations = cooler air = relief from daily temps above 90 degrees

Temperatures in the Denver -Boulder area have hit the mid-90s every day for what seems like weeks and weeks -- though unlike the Northeast, where I grew up, the humidity doesn't match the temperature. Even in the height of summer, pockets of snow remain at high elevations, and cool air makes hiking a joy when you start early to beat the high, searing sun on the ascent. Here are some recent getaways within a two-hour drive of Boulder to which we have escaped in the last few weeks:

Ypsilon Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, July 4, 2008

Blue Lake, Indian Peaks Wilderness, July 10, 2008


Lake Isabel, Indian Peaks Wildnerness, July 14, 2008

Wilder Gulch, Vail Pass, July 19, 2008

Lake Dillon, between Frisco and Silverthorne, July 20, 2008

Bear Lake-Lake Odessa-Fern Lake Loop, Rocky Mountain National Park,

July 22, 2008

TSA is Reaching Out to Children as Future Recruits

The Transportation Security Agency must be planning to be around for a long time, because it seems to be reaching out to children and appeal to their career aspirations. That's what James the Future Gringo discovered when he got a gate pass to help his mother manage her carry-ons at Denver International Airport. His blog post has several delicious observations and theories as to what this is all about. His efforts to obtain a yellow "DEN Junior TSA Screener" sticker were admirable but fruitless.

Meanwhile, I wonder whether these stickers are for real -- or whether someone with a mischievous but devious mind ordered them from a custom-sticker outfit. Whether the stickers are genuine or a joke, if you are as much of a fan of the TSA as I am (and as James seems to be), you definitely want to click on his post.

Travel Thumbnail #2: Frisco Historic Park & Museum

This is the second of a series of periodic reports on specific places I've visited -- and which you might want see to as well. Post a comment or let me know directly what you think of this new Travel Babel feature.

The Place: Frisco Historic Park & Museum, CO

The Story: This museum and local park containing a complex of historic structures from Frisco's mining heyday is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year -- and next year, the town of Frisco itself turns 130. I've passed the old schoolhouse with the "Museum" sign many, many times, but it was usually before or after skiing, which meant the museum wasn't open, or when I didn't have time to stop and look around. A visit last week was enough to convince me that I had missed a genuine Colordo high-country treasure.

Many local small-town museums are a jumbled hodegpodge of anything anyone chose to donate, from genuine historic treasures to old trash. Unlike such museums, which do have their own funky charm, Frisco's is sensibly laid-out, well lit, clearly labeled and truly informative -- in short, it was curated, not thrown together.

The museum (built in 1899 as a saloon, later the town's schoolhouse, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places) features a working railroad layout (put a quarter in the slot and watch the train go around), old school desks that children love to sit in and a variety of such displays as glass-cased objects from the Swan River Valley's past. Recent civil engineering history spotlights the construction of the nearby Dillon Dam and Eisenhower Tunnel. In the natural history realm, there several taxidermed specimens of local fauna.

Beside and behind the museum are nine relocated buildings. The oldest is an 1860 cabin, before there really was a Frisco. Others range both chronologically and functionally from the 1881 jail to the 1943 Log Chapel. Most date from the 1890s, and all contain additional historic displays from mining, ranching and trapping in the valley. Household goods, furnishings, clothing, the role of women in the valley, ski history and more are documented. Some structures also include recorded, push-botton audio narrations in voices from the past. In all, it is extraordinarily well done.

Tips for visiting: If you are interested in American history, Western history, Colorado history or mining history, be sure to allot a couple of hours for your visit.

Cost: Free

Coming Event: The museum's official silver anniversary celebration of the park and museum takes place August 15-17, 2008, featuring an art and antique show, an old-fashioned ice cream social and live music.

More Information: The Frisco Historic Park & Museum is located at 120 Main Street; 970-668-3428. Click here for the museum's own audio-video preview, or see my almost-silent movie by clicking on the image below. It is my first effort at including a video segment, so please excuse an amateur's technical inadequacies.



Summer hours (May-September), 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; Sunday, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. Winter hours (October - April), Tuesday-Saturday, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., Sunday, 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Closed Monday. The park tself is open, even when the buildings are closed.

Frisco's Main Street is roughly parallel to Interstate 70. Take exits 201 or 203, and follow the signs.

Personal Luggage Scale Saves Money and Check-In Hassles

Draconian checked-bag and overweight-bag fees call for cleverness -- before you leave home
Domestic airlines have seemingly been in a race to see who can impose the most aggressive fees for checked bags -- policies that I and other observers have howled over with outrage. It seems that airline passengers are now traveling lighter, only with carry-ons when possible. Southwest, the rare airline that still checks two bags free for domestic flights, seems to have been a beneficiary of these new policies.

But the majority of flyers travelers are booked on other carries, and many of us want to avoid or minimize checked-bag fees whenever and however we can. Balanzza has come up with a simple, hand-held digital luggage scale that you can use to weigh your bag before you leave home (or before you return home with your purchases) to make sure that no single piece of luggage moves into the overweight-bag zone. The scale itself weighs less than a pound and can weigh bags up to 100 pounds.

Strap the device to the handle of your bag, lift it, wait for the beep, put the bag down and read the weight on a digital screen. If you need to repack, you can do so before you get to the airport. Two models are available -- one that designed to be lifted with one hand, the second with two hands. Either one costs $24.95.

Travel Blog Offers Dozens of Packing Tips -- Mostly for Women

Months before airlines put the hammer down by levying baggage charges, a blog called Travel Hacker ran a piece called "The Art of Packing: 44 Tips to Save Space, Time and Keep Your Organized." While it does not specifically address such issues as minimizing the number of bags to be checked or keeping the weight down on those bags, some of this advice does help with packing strategy.

These tips are overwhelmingly geared to fashion-conscious women travelers. Number 6, for instance, reads, "If possible, try to pack only one sweater and/or jacket for your whole trip. Unless you’re going to Paris Fashion Week in the winter, you should be able to get away with sporting the same outerwear for a few days. You can jazz up your outfits with different accessories to keep your look from getting too tired out too quickly. You’ll be saving yourself a ton of extra packing space, so you can stock up on more fun items like shoes and shirts. Even better if you decide to wear or carry your jacket on the plane instead of forcing it into your luggage." But if that describes you, take a look and see anything that might help you pack lighter, smarter and better.

Southwest's Growth Fuels Musical Gates at DIA

Still-healthy Southwest Airlines' growth in Denver requires more gates

Southwest Airlines, a tenant at Denver International Airport's C Concourse (now renamed "C Gates"), currently has 84 daily departures (and a comparable number of arrivals, of course), with 95 by September and 115 planned by November 2. To say that Southwest is bursting at its C Gate seams is no exaggeration.

To accommodate this growth and give Southwest more contiguous, DIA is asking Alaska Airlines, US Airways, AirTran Airways and Midwest Airlines to move. Alaska and AirTran are expected to move from their current C Gates to A Gates. Air Tran and Midwest will share an A Gate to which the latter has already moved. US Airways' move will be shorter, from C32 to C29.
It will be a win-win relocation, with Southwest getting the space it needs in the upcoming months, and Alaska, Air Tran and Midwest passengers departing from a closer-to-the-terminal concourse.

When I flew Southwest last month, it looked as if a moving walkway was being installed on C, the shortest of the concourses where passengers were previously required to walk to all the gates. What I think is a new walkway seems to be a substitute for the planned 10-gate expansion of C, put on hold because of the present pullback of United, Frontier and other airlines using DIA.

Hotel Room Cleanliness: A Concern?

Travelers weigh in on hotel room cleanliness

The Independent Traveler has tackled the topic of hotel room cleanliness, how much it matters to travelers and to what lengths they are willing to go to stay in a spic-and-span room in "How to Find a Clean Hotel Room." Some of the revelations are enough to make a body just want to stay home -- for example, "A recent study conducted by the University of Virginia found that people infected with a cold who spent a night in a hotel room left contagious germs on nearly 35 percent of objects they touched. The study showed that a virus can live on objects like faucet handles and ice buckets for at least a day -- disturbing evidence of what might be waiting when you wheel your suitcase into a suite."

The Independent Traveler's current poll of the week, "How Clean Is Your Hotel Room?", reveals that most travelers do something to avoid the worst of the germs and cooties that might be present in hotel rooms. The question was, "How do you ensure that your hotel room is clean?" Participants have 10 answers to choose from and may click on more than one. Of the 68 people who responded so far, 29 percent clicked on "I avoid the bedspread at all costs"; 27 percent plan ahead and clicked on "I read hotel reviews before booking to avoid 'dirty' hotels; another 27 percent selected "I wash my hands frequently," and just 2 percent of the most cautious (or biggest jokers) clicked on "I travel with a gas mask and plastic gloves."

Travel Thumbnail #1: Bent's Old Fort

Step back to the 1830s and 1840s with a visit to this adobe fort along the historic Santa Fe Trail

This is the first of a series of periodic reports on specific places I've visited -- and you might want to as well. Post a comment or let me know directly what you think of this new Travel Babel feature.

The Place: Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site, CO

The Story: This "castle on the Plains" is a faithful reconstruction of a fortified adobe trading post built on this this site in 1833 by brothers William and Charles Bent and Ceran St. Vrain along the Santa Fe Trail's Mountain Route (that is, the northern route). That section of the Santa Fe Trail followed the Arkansas River, which provided water for livestock and humans in the Great American Desert.

Bent's Fort was the linchpin of the Bent-St.Vrain Company's trade that stretched from Fort St.Vrain to the north to Fort Adobe to the south. Cheyenne, Arapaho, Arikara, Comanche, Kiowa, Shoshone and Sioux Native Americans were known to have traded at Bent's Fort, but the main trade was with the Southern Cheyennes and Arapahos. Bent's Fort took in buffalo robes and passed out supplies, but it also resupplied explorers, adventurers, pioneers and the US Army and also was a place for wagon repairs, livestock, food, water, hospitality and congenial company.

Bent's Fort welcomed anyone traveling along the Santa Fe Trail, including Indians, soldiers, Mexicans, Germans, French, Irish and blacks -- tolerance that was not to be taken for granted in its heyday. William bent encouraged alliances among people who would later war violently on each other.

During Mexican-American War in 1846, Bent's Fort was a staging area for Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny's "Army of the West," which seized land in what is now New Mexico but was eventually defeated in California. Until a combination of disease and the US Army's unwillingness to compensate William Bent for garrisoning Kearny's soldiers caused its abandonment in 1849, the fort was the only major permanent Anglo settlement along the Santa Fe Trail between Missouri and Mexican holdings.

The fort was reconstructed for the US Bicentennial in 1976 according to archaeological excavations and original sketches, paintings and diaries. A skeleton Park Service staff is on hand all year round, supplemented in summer by costumed docents and re-enactors who recapture life in this frontier fort for 21st century visitors.

Today, visitors see living quarters, workshops, store rooms, ramparts, kitchens and trading areas.

Tips for visiting: Sunscreen, water and bug spray are useful. Mid-day summer temperatures in the 90s or higher are not unusual.

Cost: Adults, $3; children aged 6 to 12, $2 under 6 years , free. Also free are holders of the Interagency Annual Passes, Senior Passes and Access Passes.

More Information: The Santa Fe Trail Historic Byway Association has additional information about Bent's Old Fort and also encampments and other participation events.

The site is open daily except select holidays. Summer hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. From September 1 through May 31, hours are 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Bent's Old Fort is 70 miles from Pueblo, 8 miles from La Junta and 15 miles from Las Animas. The official address is 35110 Highway 194 East, La Junta, CO 81050-9523; 719-383-5010.

Ten Top (Mostly) North American Bike Rides Cited

Tour operator selects 10 top bike rides from its tour offerings

The price of gas these days makes not driving all that much more appealing, and two pedals are looking a lot more sensible than the gas pedal. Cycling vacations in New England, in "old England" and in continental Europe have become incessantly popular ways to see the scenery at a relatively leisurely pace, economically and heathily as well. In Europe or the UK, where rain train transportation is wide-ranging for rainy days, times when travelers want to skip from place to place, or when they just need a rest day, it is quite simple to put together an independent itinerary for those with strong legs and lungs to match. In North America and elsewhere in the world, an unsupported bike trip is more of a commitment. In any case, a number of tour operators offer supported cycling trips with a ore-established itinerary, baggage transfers and a sag wagon to pick up tired riders and their bikes.

Whether you go independent or with a tour operator, if a cycling trip appeals to you, take a look at Austin-Lehman Adventures' list of 10 great bike rides linked to various of their itineraries. Austin-Lehman (800-575-1540) specializes in what it calls "adventure luxury" travel. If you're planning a fall trip, the company is offering a $300-off sale. Some of their trips might appeal as they are, and if you prefer to go on your own, the list might give you some ideas.

1. The ride down from Pine Creek into Paradise Valley - Montana Canyons, Calderas, & Cowboys Adventure
2. Bike ride to Gold Rush town of Hope, along Crow Creek - Alaska - Best of the Greatland
3. Riding the Kettle Valley Railroad - Okanagan Valley - Canada's Wine Country
4. Riding through Pemberton Valley - Whistler - British Columbia Wilderness Adventure
5. Mountain Biking from your cabin door at Mountain Home Lodge - Washington - Best of the Northwest Adventure
6. Biking Antelope Flats in the Tetons - Wyoming/Grand Teton – Valley Floors to Jagged Peaks Adventure
7. Biking Snow Canyon at the start of Bryce Zion - Utah - Bryce Zion - Red-Rock Wonders
8. Biking the trail to Maras Inca Salt Mines in Peru - Peru - Land of the Inca
9. Biking Cape Point in South Africa, the southern most point on the continent - South Africa Safari & Multisport Adventure
10. Biking the Icefields Parkway outside of Banff - Canadian Rockies - Rocky Mountain Multisport

Cheyenne Frontier Days Begins July 18

The rodeo, carnival and cultural fest nicknamed "the Daddy of 'Em All" starts this week

I live in the university town of Boulder, known for liberal politics, concern for the environment, political correctness and an enviable lifestyle, but the longer I've been in Colorado (going on 20 years now), the more I also appreciate the parallel universe of ranching, Western country tradition and the hard work and commitment that go with that life -- not lifestyle, but life. The annual National Western Stock Show in Denver and Cheyenne Frontier Days, coming right up in my neighboring state to the north, perpetuate and honor the skills and the traditions, and help the rest of us have a glimpse. Cheyenne Frontier Days start July 14 and run through July 27. Rodeo, entertainment, rodeo, midway, rodeo, Indian Village, rodeo, Western art show, rodeo, parades, rodeo, food and rodeo are the main attractions. The website contains a schedule and prices.

Philadephia Offers New High-Tech, Self-Guided Tour

With Ben Franklin as a guide, visitors can't go wrong in the cradle of American liberty

July 4, American Independence Day, would seem to have been the perfect date for the introduction of a new self-paced GPS Ranger tour of Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park. But July 14, Bastille Day, isn't a bad choice either, because the French got their uppity ideas about removing themselves from under a royal yoke from the new United States. Also, Benjamin Franklin, portrayed by Philadelphia's Ralph Archibald, who hosts the tour, was a key to striking an alliance between the nascent United States of America and France. But more to the point, the 14th worked better than the Fourth of the mayor of Philadelphia, who is expected at the debut of the new tour.

The GPS Ranger is a device that "knows" the user's location based on GPS (Global Positioning System) technology. See what I mean about high-tech? This patent-pending, handheld computer then delivers the tour, including appropriate video, audio, musical soundtrack and historical photographs, to visitors. It is to those museum audio tours what high-def color television is to AM radio. However, everything happens automatically. There are no buttons to push to tell the device the visitor's exact location. I haven't used it myself, but it is said to be both entertaining and educational.

The state-of-the-art Independence Visitor Center rents the device for $15.95, which is a good deal because it can be shared by several visitors and covers the historic highlights around what has been called Philadelphia’s Most Historic Square Mile, including the Liberty Bell, National Constitution Center, Declaration House, Washington Square containing a burial ground of fallen Revolutionary War soldiers, the “Moon Tree” grown from seeds that on board a moon flight in 1971, City Tavern, Christ Church Burial Ground with the graves of five signers of the Declaration of Independence including Franklin and Elfreth’s Alley, the oldest continuously inhabited residential street in the country, dating back to the early 1700s.

United's Most Recent Dishonor

One expert ranks it the worst of the worst

"Worst. Airline. Ever." read the online headline of an article in the Washington Post travel section. Could it be some Congolese airline? The Democratic Republic of Congo has reportedly been the site of more than half of the air accidents in Africa, according to the African Airlines Association -- eight last year alone, according to Reuters. The most recent was the crash of a domestic Congolese airliner on April 15, in which 70 people were killed.

Or perhaps Air Sudan is the worst. On June 10, an Airbus 320 veered off the runway and burst into flames, killing about half of the 214 people on board, according to a CNN report, adding, "Sudan has a poor aviation safety record. In May, a plane crash in a remote area of southern Sudan killed 24 people, including key members of the southern Sudanese government. In July 2003, a Sudan Airways Boeing 737 en route from Port Sudan to Khartoum crashed soon after takeoff, killing all 115 people on board."

No, not those. I clicked on the "Worst" link and landed on a feature by portfolio.com's Joe Brancatelli. He wasn't taking disaster-prone African carriers into account, but he fingered United as "the worst of the worst on the slag heap of the nation's big network carriers."

He listed the reasons behind his selection: 4 percent decline in passenger traffic in May; it plan ground 100 aircraft and reduce capacity by 10 percent; lay off thousands of more workers; rejection by potential merger partners; stock that traded a 52-week high of more than $50 plummeted into the single digits; deteriorating inflight services; permanent grounding of its no-frills Ted brand is being closed, the airline's second expensive failure in the low-cost arena this decade; overall on-time performance at a dismal 72.7 percent in April; crushing debt, and a screwy fleet flying all sorts of airplanes -- "26 separate in-flight seat configurations. It dabbled in everything from the upmarket P.S. to the downmarket Ted. It had five types of narrow-body jets, four types of wide-body aircraft and eight flavors of regional jets. Travelers were confronted with flights outfitted with an ever-shifting mix of one, two, three, or even four classes."

I really take no joy in United's miseries. I have nearly 200,000 miles on United's MileagePlus frequent-flyer program which keep building up because they are so difficult to use. I've given my son a couple of hundred thousand miles over the years, but I've never managed to redeem them for a transatlantic flight in any class of service, even changing planes several times, any time my husband and I wanted to travel. I'd better try again -- before United goes under.

UNESCO World Heritage List Gains 27 Sites

More locations for the intrepid traveler's must-see list

"Extinction is Forever" is a mantra often repeated by preservationists of the natural world and promoters of biodiversity. There should be a corollary for the natural and man-made treasures along the lines of "Destruction is Forever." Sure, nay-sayers can quibble and claim that destroyed buildings and cities can be reconstructed and damaged land can be destroyed, but its never the same.

The World Heritage Committee of UNESCO is the United Nations agency charged with identifying helping to protect, preserve and stabilize the world's most treasured landscapes and landmarks. It has just added 27 sites to its list. Nineteen are identified as cultural sites and eight as natural sites, bringing the total to 878 sites (679 cultural, 174 natural, 25 mixed) in 145 countries. The 2008 additions are:

New Cultural Sites

Preah Vihear Temple (Cambodia)
Fujian Tulou (China)
Stari Grad Plain (Croatia)
Historic Centre of Camagüey (Cuba)
Fortifications of Vauban (France)
Berlin Modernism Housing Estates (Germany)
Armenian Monastic Ensembles in Iran (Iran)
Baha’i Holy Places in Haifa and Western Galilee (Israel)
Mantua and Sabbioneta (Italy)
The Mijikenda Kaya Forests (Kenya)
Melaka and George Town, historic cities of the Straits of Malacca (Malaysia)
Protective town of San Miguel and the Sanctuary of Jesús de Nazareno de Atotonilco (Mexico)
Le Morne Cultural Landscape (Mauritius)
Kuk Early Agricultural Site (Papua New Guinea)
San Marino Historic Centre and Mount Titano (San Marino)
Archaeological Site of Al-Hijr (Madâin Sâlih) (Saudi Arabia)
The Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of Carpathian Mountain Area (Slovakia)
Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Cultural Landscape (Switzerland and Italy)
Chief Roi Mata's Domain (Vanuatu)

Natural Properties

Joggins Fossil Cliffs (Canada)
Mount Sanqingshan National Park (China)
Lagoons of New Caledonia: Reef Diversity and Associated Ecosystems (France)
Surtsey (Iceland)
Saryarka - Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan (Kazakhstan)
Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (Mexico)
Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona (Switzerland)
Socotra Archipelago (Yemen)

Extensions Added Onto Properties Already on the World Heritage List

Historic centres of Berat and Gjirokastra (Albania)
Mountain Railways of India
Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain
The Antonine Wall (United Kingdom)

UNESCO’s World Heritage List now numbers a total of 878 sites( 679 cultural, 174 natural, 25 mixed) in 145 countries. Papua New Guinea; San Marino, Saudi Arabia and Vanuatu have sites inscribed on the list for the first time.

Tour de France is About Sport & Scenery

Cable telecast showcases elite cyclists and doubles as travelogue around France

My husband and I spend three weeks in France every July -- all courtesy of global television. The 95th Tour de France is again a broadcast tour de force -- a three-week telethon around France. This year's Tour began yesterday (Saturday) July 5 in Brittany and will conclude in Paris on Sunday, July 27. The 21 stages will cover 3,500 kilometers past farmland, forests, vineyards, villages, provincial cities, castles, cathedrals, chateaux, coastlines and most thrilling of all, the soaring Alps and Pyrenees.

No matter that the incomparable Lance Armstrong has retired, what doping scandals have hit pro cycling or which teams are in and out, the travelogue part is a thrill. Versus, the current name for the cable channel that used to be OLN, covers the major stage races in Europe and the US, but none is so captivating to travelers as the Tour de France coverage. We watched the Tour of California (lots of rain and lots of transmission difficulties) and the Vuelta d'Espana and the Giro d'Italia, and none showcased the scenery as well as the Tour de France. Regardless of who wins, we will have been on our annual (vicarious) trip to France and enjoyed every bit of the journey.

DIA Offers Places to Plug in Laptops

Free WiFi at the airport is great; facilities for laptop users makes it better

Last January, I reported that Denver International Airport was installing terminal-wide WiFi. Initially, there were not a lot of outlets, which created a problem for travelers concerned about running down their batteries. When I had time to check E-mail on Concourse B (now called "the B Gates") a few months ago, I sat on the floor with my back against a stainless-steel post that happened to have an outlet in it.

I recently flew from a C Gate at DIA, and while I didn't have time to go online myself, I was pleased to see high stainless-steel tables with lunch counter-style stools and outlets in the area that Southwest uses -- and of course, laptop-toting travelers were using them. They looked a little tight, but the phrase "looking a gift horse in the mouth" comes to mind. I don't know whether the other gate areas formerly known as concourses are similarly equipped. I hope so.

Boulder Celebrates the Fourth in Style

Close-to-home entertainment, music and great fireworks on Independence Day

We rarely go far for any holiday, because Boulder knows how to celebrate. My husband and I, often with friends, have have cobbled together our own Fourth of July traditions from the city's many options. For years, a goup of us would meet at Chautauqua Park for a picnic and the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra's free afternoon concert of Sousa marches and other lively songs. That event no longer takes place. Instead, the orchestra plays a concert on the evening of the 3rd in the historic Chautauqua Auditorium, a National Historic Landmark with great acoustics. My husband and I and good friends are taking a picnic and going to the concert.

We usually take a morning hike on the 4th. The most appropriately named destination areound here is the Fourth of July Mine in the Indian Peaks Wilderness, west of town, but tomorrow, we will more likely to stay closer to home. In lieu of the afternoon picnic in Chautauqua Park, we might veg out a bit at home. Then, friends are coming over for hors d'oeuvres and drinks before we all walk up to the University of Colorado's Folsom Field for free entertainment and fireworks University of Colorado photo).

We are carpooling with neighbors this evening, so it seems as if we will leave about smallest possible carbon footprint for our Fourth of July activities.

Machu Picchu Under Tourist Seige

UNESCO warns that too many tourists now threaten Peru's top tourist attraction

I have not yet been to Machu Picchu, the Inca citadel high in the Peruvian Andes, but it is certainly on my go-to list. Maybe I had better move it up. According to an Associated Press report, "conservationists advising UNESCO's World Heritage Committee warn that landslides, fires and creeping development threaten the site," due to soaring visitation (800,000 annually) and excessive construction near the site.

The World Heritage Committee meeting in Quebec City, itself a UNESCO World Heritage Site, "was called to determine which of the world's cultural treasures should be added to its [endangered sites] list — and which of those already included there are now threatened. UNESCO committee spokesman Roni Amelan declined to confirm that Machu Picchu, which was named a World Heritage Site in 1983, would be classified as endangered, but said 'it's a possibility'."

The report continued that "unregulated growth, including a boom in hotel and restaurant construction in the nearby mountain town of Aguas Calientes, is putting pressure on erosion-prone riverbanks and could undermine the site." Agua Calientes is without "adequate sanitation" and "Peru's government has done little to address landslide concerns on the winding, mud thoroughfare that leads to the citadel, according to the report."

Residents of Cuzco, the an ancient Inca city and now a jumping-off point for excursions to Machu Picchu, have protested private development in Aguas Calientes, although Machu Picchu itself appears to be protected thus far. Continued uncontrolled visitation could change that as well. The article quote said Luis Lumbreras, identified as "an independent, Lima-based archaeologist who has studied Machu Picchu for more than 40 years," as warning, "Machu Picchu was never made for lots of people... "If we put tourists with boots [instead of people in sandals or bare feet] that are jumping, running, climbing the walls, etcetera, that's the danger."

Last February, locals protested plans to build more hotels and other tourist facilities, causing suspension of rail service, cancelation of tours and blocking of roads. At the time, the BBC reported, "Hundreds of local farm workers, students and teachers have blocked access roads and the only railway line, barring the way to tourists, who have been reduced to taking pictures of the demonstrators rather than the ruins themselves. The protesters want the government to invest more money in the area, and especially to improve the dirt roads."

A friend and her family recently returned from Machu Picchu filled with enthusiasm about the experience. She didn't mention protests or inadequate sanitation or overcowding, but other government have capitulated to development interests at the cost of local culture or respectful preservation of ancient treasures. The relevant UNESCO committee is concerned about this one -- and therefore so am I.