Rebirth for New Orleans' Roosevelt Hotel

Landmark Roosevelt Hotel, shuttered since in 2005, scheduled to reopen next spring

Having grown up in southwestern Connecticut with the Waldorf-Astoria as an icon in nearby Hew York, it's been strange to think of this grand mid-town Manhattan hotel as being part of the Hilton chain, and I'm find it even odder that there can be a Waldorf-Astoria anyplace but on the block between Park and Lex, and between 49th and 50th Streets. But my own reactions aside, I'm happy that New Orleans' revered Roosevelt Hotel (shown in an old postcard), closed since Hurricane Katrina more than three years ago, is coming back as a "Waldorf=Astoria Collection® Hotel" -- that odd-ball equal sign and trademark registration mark being the company's idea, not mine. Punctuation notwithstanding, the Waldorf-Astoria name carries a great deal of weight in the hospitality business.

The Roosevelt opened in 1893 as the Grunewald Hotel. The Cave at the Grunewald is thought by some people to have been the first nightclub in the US. In 1923, before "rebranding" had a name, it was rebranded as The Roosevelt to honor President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1965, a new owner renamed it The Fairmont, but locals still called it The Roosevelt. The renovation, reported by the Times-Picayune more than a year ago, is nearing realization and will be another important step in the city's long, difficult recovery.

When The Roosevelt reopens, planned for late spring 2009, it will have 505 rooms, including 125 luxury suites. The $135 million renovation will provide the usual bells and whistles: fine-dining and cocktail venues; "an entertainment space guaranteed to rival any other in the Gulf South"; state-of-the-art meeting and convention facilities; a 12,000-square-foot and fitness center; business center; private dining and suite butler service; outdoor pool and courtyard, and a specialty gift shop.

In more than a century of operation, The Roosevelt had its place in local history. Notorious Louisiana Governor Huey P. Long spent so much time in his suite that, according to Louisiana legend, he even built a 90-mile highway directly from the state capitol in Baton Rouge to the hotel. The Roosevelt also is known as having inspired Arthur Haley's 1965 bestseller, Hotel. People who recall that era will be thrilled about the restoration of the hotel, the reopening of the hotel's famed Blue Room and legendary Sazerac Bar.

In the golden era of supper clubs from the 1930s to the 1960s, the Blue Room hosted big-name entertainers, including Tony Bennett, Louis Armstrong, Ethel Merman and Sonny and Cher. New York-born Lou Kelener led the orchestra in the Blue Room from 1945 to 1971. He died in 2000, before Hurricane Katrina devastated his adopted city, but he would surely have been pleased to see "his" Blue Room restored with gleaming chandeliers and polished architectural details. The Sazerac Bar again will serve its signature Sazerac and Ramos Gin Fizz, two cocktails invented in New Orleans and popularized by The Roosevelt.

The Roosevelt is located at Baronne Street near Canal Street just outside the French Quarter. Stay tuned for a phone number and other details.

Mexican Day of the Dead, Colorado-Style, Coming Up

Merry skeletons and plastic flowers contrast with Anglo Halloween

Right after Halloween with its spooky undertones and trick-or-treating comes El Diá de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead celebrated in Mexico, in Mexican-American communities and in parts of Central America. Actually, it is two days (November 1 and 2) and is the time when families celebrate "with" their deceased relatives by visiting cemeteries, straightening out graves, leaving bread and other favorite foods and beverages, replacing faded flowers (usually plastic, because fresh don't last) with new ones and keeping a companionable vigil that includes a merry picnic with their departed loved ones. It is a respectful day but one when happy memories are recalled.

Although the holiday is a melding of indigenous pre-Hispanic and Catholic traditions, the most distinctive iconography is of skeletons in everyday clothing and common settings. Decorating "sugar skulls" is part of the ritual. It is interesting that while Anglo Halloween traditions involve going out and getting stuff (i.e., candy) from other people, the Mexican tradition is to stay with the family, living or not, and give something to the deceased.

My husband and I fortunately happened to be in San Jose del Cabo during the Day of the Dead a few years ago, so of course, we visited the local cemetery. A display on the town plaza explained what the celebration was all about, and vendors of plastic stood set up at the cemetery gates. We walked through the graveyard, watching families perform and sensing that it was wonderful for families to remember the departed joyfully and respectfully.

I'll be right here, north of the border, for the rest of the week, but "Day of the Dead Changes, Grows" in today's Denver Post reminded me that we don't have travel from Colorado. "As it traveled north from its rural Mexican roots, the Day of the Dead has evolved from a simple Memorial Day-type family picnic to honor loved ones, into a lively public celebration of art and culture," wrote reporter Kristen Browning-Blas.

She also provided some background on the celebration and listed local places to see and get a taste of it. I think I'll try to get to the Longmont Museum & Cultural Center (right) and/or CU's Museum of Natural History to check out their displays. Longmont's collaborative exhibition was done with Ciudad Guzmán, its sister city in Mexico, and includes a series of special events, most were last week and earlier this week, but a couple, including a family celebration on November 1, are still to come. Check the museum's calendar for details.

In "Celebrating the Day of the Dead's Delicious Side" in today's San Francisco Chronicle by Gaby Carnacho, who grew up in Tijuana, who wrote, "Brightly colored tissue paper cutouts, or papel picado, decorate cemeteries as well as the homes of the deceased person's family as a signal to the soul that festivities await them on earth. The most significant offerings, though, are the food and beverages that people put on the altars; the deceased's favorite beer, candy and street foods are put on display while those keeping vigil often enjoy more traditional foods."

Maybe I'll be in Mexico or perhaps San Antonio or El Paso sometime in the future, but meanwhile, celebrations and displays right here in Colorado will hold me.

Final Farewell to Lufthansa Flights LH 480 and 481

Denver-Munich nonstops grounded for good, but Germany still courts Colorado travelers

October 28 was Black Friday for Lufthansa's one-and-a-half-year-old Munich-Denver-Munich nonstops. Denver had given Germany's airline $2 million in incentives to launch the route in March 2007 and offered to make monetary concessions if the airline would continue it. But Lufthansa spokesman Martin Riecken was quoted in the Denver Post as explaining, "It's not a flight that gives us enough revenue and benefits to keep it going." How's that for thanks?

Busy Route Not Enough for Lufthansa

You'd never know from our experience that Denver/Munich routing was not enough of a revenue-producer. My husband and I wanted desperately to fly from Denver to Munich in May 2007 to attend a wedding. First we tried redeeming MileagePlus miles for any class of service on Flights 481 (DEN-MUC) and 480 (MUC-DEN) in a two-week window wrapped around the wedding date. No luck. Then we tried a United-Lufthansa combo with whatever number of plane changes -- in the US, in Frankfurt or elsewhere in Germany. No luck. Then we tried combining flights on other Star Alliance partners. No luck. Then we tried to get affordable tickets on Lufthansa or United. No luck, unless you consider it "lucky" to find a few tickets for about $1,000 each, give or take. We didn't attend the wedding.

Germany Promoted in Denver

It was ironic that yesterday, just three days after Lufthansa wiped this wonderful flight off its timetable, German tourism representatives hosted a media lunch in Denver to promote visitation to the country. They showed enticing photographs of scenery (and infrastructure to see it better, such as this tower on Stuttgart's Killesberg, right), castles, palaces and other sites. They talked about new museums and old holiday traditions. They enthused about art, architecture and museums, and about hip nightlife and high fashion. They praised the ease of getting around via highspeed train or autobahn. It all looked wonderful. I was ready to get on a plane -- but there are now fewer flights from here to there, and I don't envision fares falling.

Schade -- which is German for "too bad" or "what a shame."

Europe is Subject New Lonely Planet Book

Photo-heavy, information-light coffee table book showcases 52 countries

Lonely Planet guidebooks are often thick and always comprehensive softcover books chockful of practical where-to, how-to, what-to information for travelers, particularly budget travelers. A few maps, illustrations and black-and-white photographs were scattered among the text pages, with a four-color photo insert or two to tart the layout up a bit. The books, subtitled "Travel Survival Kit," have become nothing less than bibles for travelers who rely on them for an incredible amount of in-depth information on countries around the globe. There's even a Lonely Planet guide to the non-country of Antarctica, the last, loneliest continent on the planet where visitation is official and scientific, cruise ship icebreaker or of a serious expedition nature, and is totally seasonal.

As noted here, BBC bought Lonely Planet a little over a year ago, and the international broadcasting and media giant lost no time in expanding the Lonely Planet brand into previously unimaginable realms. One of these is a series of hardcover coffee table books that would seem to be perfect adjuncts to a television travel series. The newest is The Europe Book: A Journey Through Every Country on the Continent. It profiles 52 European countries, touching briefly on such topics as landscape, people, the urban scene, cuisine, history and festivals. Enticing four-color photographs grace every page. A bit of the original Lonely Planet spirit survives in the sidebar listing the "essential experiences" for each country -- the kind of insider tidbit that Lonely Planet fans treasure.

The book also includes four themed essays (“Can They Do That In Public - Europe’s Outrageous Landmarks,” “Europe’s Unrecognized Nations,” “The New Europe” and “Revolutionary Ideas: Six That Changed History”), half-a-dozen suggested itineraries called "Great Journeys" and an random timeline of key events in European history and some interesting trivia. Who knew that Armenia was the first European country to adopt Christianity (301 A.D.) or that tiny Liechtenstein is the world's largest exporter of dentures?

Like 1,000 Places to See Before You Die (but bigger in format and with great pictures), The Europe Book invites travelers to tick off which countries they have visited. I have been to fewer than half. That surprised me. It wouldn't have, if I had actually never thought about how many there are now. Of course, now that I am thinking about it, the fragmentation of Europe has greaty increased the number of countries in Europe. The break-up of the Soviet Union, the dismantling of the former Yugoslavia and the splitting of the former Czechoslovakia now mean there are 18 countries where once there were three, a lopsided balance despite the reunification of two Germanys into one. Of the 52, more of two (Russia and Turkey) is in Asia and not in Europe at all, and one (Iceland) is out in the North Atlantic.

The book, subtitled "A Journey Through Every Country on the Continent," must have been a was a geographic and organizational challenge. The editors decided to segment into six regional sections. Most countries get four pages. Some of the biggies (such as England, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Russia ) are allotted six, while smaller city-states and principalities (Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Andorra, San Marino, Vatican City) are covered in two pages.

I have visited nearly all the countries in the sections titled "Western Mediterranean," "Central Europe" and "British Isles & the Low Countries." I find it a bit odd to lump the four British Isles countries and three Benelux countries together in one section, because all they have in common is the North Sea -- except that Ireland doesn't touch it at all, while Germany, Denmark and Norway, which do have North Sea coastlines, are in other chapters. I've been to a few in the "Eastern Mediterranean & the Balkans" (IMO another oddball combo), none in the "Black Sea & Caucasus" and and only two of nine in "Scandinavia & Baltic Europe" -- plus Iceland's Keflavik Airport, but airports don't count. This book tells me that I have many more European nations to check off on my life list, and the gorgeous photographs illustrated why I should visit them.

Thirty-seven writers, mostly well-traveled and credentialed Lonely Planet authors, and numerous photographers contributed to The Europe Book ($40). It is the fourth in a series that also includes The Travel Book ($50), The Africa Book ($40) and The Asia Book ($40). The original LP guidebooks are for people who are planning a trip or are traveling, while this new series is for people who have traveled and want to tap into specific, I've-been-there memories and the general flavor of European countries to remind us all of the continents variety and beauty.

Luggage Pilferage

No valuables taken, but petty theft is annoying and (again) shows travelers' vulnerability

Yesterday afternoon, I flew from Houston to Denver. Two bright red TSA-approved locks were on my checked bag’s two biggest zipper compartments when I checked in. When I got home, I saw that the bag sported only one lock.

Is it possible that I didn’t snap one lock completely, and that it opened and fell off in transit? Yes, of course. Is it possible that the small bottle of tequila in a sturdy little cardboard box given to all somehow fell out of the middle of my bag? Unlikely. It could have been either a TSA screener or perhaps a baggage handler, or for all I know, a space alien who likes tequila and used its super powers to find mine.

According to Aero-News, a TSA screener at Newark International reportedly was recently arrested for trying to sell pilfered items on eBay. I’m not saying that my little tequila, given to all convention attendees, will end up in an on-line auction, but I’ll bet it ends up in someone’s drink -- or simply as a straight-from-the-bottle nip for the needy to make a boring job tolerable.

Newsday reported that TSA spokeswoman Lara Uselding had said that 465 TSA officers (0.4 percent of the agency's workers) have been terminated for theft since May 1, 2003. The odds are pretty good that nothing will be swiped from checked bags or from carry-ons during the shoes off/jackets off/laptop out/X-ray/metal detector pre-flight gauntlet passengers endure, but when it happens, it's annoying at best and devastating at worst. When expensive electronics (including laptops and other communication devices with private information) or jewelry is taken, it can be be more than the loss of something as inconsequential as a small bottle of tequila.

Am I going to report it? No. It's not worth the bother. The TSA and/or airline baggage-handling operations seem to be the gift that keeps on taking.

Travel Writing and Photography Award Winners

Society of American Travelers honors the best in the travel commmunication business

Two of the journalists' organizations that I belong to are the American Society of Journalists & Authors and the Society of American Travel Writers. The former's slogan is "We write what you read." At the SATW convention which has just concluded in Houston, the 2008 travel writing, photography and broadcast awards were announced. I wish I had time to include links to all the winners' websites, but I don't -- so I hope some of you will take the time to search some of the names and publications to find out why my colleagues have been honored.

Lowell Thomas Awards in travel journalism (numbers in parentheses indicate the number of entries in each cagtegory)

Category 1: Grand Award — Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year (37)
Gold: Christopher P. Baker, freelance writer-photographer
Silver: Jane Wooldridge, Travel Editor, The Miami Herald
Bronze: Sarah Wildman, freelance journalist

Category 2: Newspaper Travel Sections (27)
2A — Newspapers with 500,000 or more circulation
Gold: Los Angeles Times, Catharine Hamm, Travel Editor
Silver: The Houston Chronicle, Harry Shattuck, Travel Editor
Bronze: The Boston Globe, Anne Fitzgerald, Travel Editor
Honorable Mention: Chicago Tribune, Randy Curwen, Travel Editor

2B — Newspapers with 350,000-499,999 circulation
Gold: The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Karan Smith and Julie Traves, Travel Editors
Silver: St. Petersburg Times, Janet K. Keeler, Travel Editor
Bronze: The Miami Herald, Jane Wooldridge, Travel Editor
Honorable Mention: The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Betsy O’Connell, Travel Editor

2C — Newspapers with up to 350,000 circulation
Gold: The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, Millie Ball, Travel Editor
Silver: The Orange County Register, Santa Ana, CA, Gary Warner, Travel Editor
Bronze: Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Judy Wiley, Travel Editor
Honorable Mention: The Ottawa Citizen, Laura Robin, Travel Editor

Category 3: Magazines
3A — Travel Magazines (15)
Gold: National Geographic Adventure, John Rasmus, Editor-in-Chief
Silver: Budget Travel, Erik Torkells, Editor-in-Chief

Bronze: Travel + Leisure, Nancy Novogrod, Editor-in-Chief

3B — Travel Coverage in Other Magazines (12)
Gold: Brides Magazine, Sherri Eisenberg, Senior Travel Editor
Silver: Departures, Richard David Story, Editor-in-Chief
Bronze: Coastal Living, Kay A. Fuston, Editor-in-Chief

Category 4: Newspaper article on U.S./Canada Travel (99)
Gold: Jane Roy Brown, “After Alice’s Restaurants,” The Boston Globe
Silver: Janet Forman, “Oh, men and their spas,” The Globe and Mail, Toronto
Bronze: Diane Daniel, “Home Exchanges, A bit at a Time,” The New York Times

Category 5: Magazine Article on U.S./Canada Travel (73)
Gold: James Vlahos, “The Arch Hunters,” National Geographic Adventure
Silver: Dana Cowin, “What Defines a Great Food City?” Food & Wine
Bronze: Stephanie Mansfield, “How the Sunset Tower Got Its Cool,” Departures

Category 6: Newspaper Article on Foreign Travel (79)
Gold: William Ecenbarger, “A Small Ship in a Big Jungle,” Chicago Tribune
Silver: Yvonne Horn, “Spanish Wineries’ Star Power,” San Francisco Chronicle
Bronze: Richard Read, “Amsterdam, Dual and Cool,” The Oregonian

Category 7: Magazine Article on Foreign Travel (90)
Gold: Scott Anderson, “Fast Track to Tibet,” National Geographic Adventure
Silver: Laurie Werner, “Asian Beauty,” ForbesLife
Bronze: P.F. Kluge, “America’s Best Kept Secret,” National Geographic Traveler

Category 8: Newspaper Photo Illustration of Travel Article (40)
Gold: Richard Sennott, “Room for the Soul,” Star Tribune, Minneapolis
Silver: Torsten Kjellstrand, “Amsterdam, Dual and Cool,” The Oregonian
Bronze: Michele McDonald, “A Gloriously Gritty Groove,” The Boston Globe

Category 9: Magazine Photo Illustration of Travel Article (66)
Gold: Gordon Wiltsie, “The Vanishing Breed,” National Geographic Adventure
Silver: Tierney Gearon, “Malibu A-Go-Go,” Departures
Bronze: Catherine Karnow, “Authentic Paris,” National Geographic Traveler

Category 10: Special Packages/Projects (44)
Gold: Tom Haines, project director, and Boston Globe staff, “At the Edge of Europe,” The Boston Globe/boston.com
Silver: Terry Tazioli, Travel Editor, and Seattle Times staff,
“Pike Place Market at 100,” The Seattle Times/seattletimes.com
Bronze: Toni Salama and Randy Curwen, “The Next Big Thing,”
Chicago Tribune/chicagotribune.com

Category 11: Article on Marine Travel (48)
Gold: Carl Hoffman, “Take Me to the River,” National Geographic Traveler
Silver: Gayle Keck, “Pirates of the Mediterranean,” The Washington Post
Bronze: Alan Solomon, “How Do We Love Baja? Let Us Count the Whales…,”
Chicago Tribune

Category 12: Article on Adventure Travel (60)
Gold: Aaron Teasdale, “Across Maasai Land,” Adventure Cyclist
Silver: Gary McKechnie, “Prairie Hog,” Hog Tales
Bronze: Matthew Power, “Escape to Mount Kenya,” National Geographic Adventure

Category 13: Travel News/Investigative reporting (26)
Gold: Steve Friedman, “The Long Trail to Jail,” Backpacker
Silver: Christopher Ketcham, “A Death at Outward Bound,” National Geographic Adventure
Bronze: William J. McGee, “Air Security: Why You’re Not as Safe as You Think,” Consumer Reports

Category 14: Service-Oriented Consumer Article (80)
Gold: Jill Schensul, “Ever Ready for Mishap,” The Record (Hackensack, NJ)
Silver: William J. McGee, “The Ultimate Guide to Travel Web Sites,” Condé Nast Traveler
Bronze: Carol Pucci, “The Exchange Game: Pay Attention When It’s Time to Pay,” The Seattle Times

Category 15: Environmental Tourism Article (45)
Gold: John Falk, “Why the Bonobos Need a Radio…and Other (Unlikely) Lessons From the Deepest Congo,” National Geographic Adventure
Silver: Ellen Creager, “This Little Traveler Saved the Planet,” Detroit Free Press

Bronze: Susan Pigg, “The Plane Truth About Flying,” Toronto Star

Category 16: Cultural Tourism Article (92)
Gold: Matthew Polly, “Bangkok Vice: Buddhas, Boxers, and Bar Girls,” Slate
Silver: Gretel Ehrlich, “The Vanishing Breed,” National Geographic Adventure
Bronze: Jerry Shriver, “Finns Call the Shots,” USA Today

Category 17: Personal Comment (121)
Gold: Steve Friedman, “It’s Not About the Hole,” Bicycling
Silver: Silvano Marchetto and Marisa Acocella Marchetto, “Italian Road Trip: So, What Should We Eat?” Bon Appétit
Bronze: Sebastian Junger, “Running Away,” National Geographic Adventure

Category 18: Special-Purpose Travel (118)
Gold: John Falk, “Downward Facing Boyfriend,” National Geographic Adventure
Silver: Paula Bock, “Burma: Healing and Hand Puppets,” The Seattle Times
Bronze: Leigh Ann Henion, “The Longest Yard,” The Washington Post

Category 19: Short Travel Article (70)
Gold: Christopher P. Baker, “ Baracoa,” Cuba Absolutely
Silver: Arthur Golden, “ Stolen Kisses,” National Geographic Traveler
Bronze: Tom Downey, “A Manhattan in Tokyo,” Outside’s Go

Category 20: Travel Books (16)
Gold: Nesreen Khashan and Jim Bowman, editors, “Encounters with the Middle East,”
Travelers’ Tales/Solas House
Silver: Susan Fox Rogers, editor, “Antarctica: Life on the Ice,” Travelers’ Tales/Solas House
Bronze: Anita Alan, author, “Big Sur Inn: The Deetjen Legacy,” Gibbs Smith, Publisher

Category 21: Guidebooks (46)
Gold: Erik Torkells and the editors of Budget Travel, “Secret Hotels,” Stewart, Tabori & Chang
Silver: Andrew Evans, author, “Iceland,” Bradt Travel Guides
Bronze: Debbie Harmsen and Michael Nalepa, editors, “Fodor’s Complete Guide to the National Parks of the West,” Fodor’s Travel Publications

Category 22: Online Travel Journalism Sites (24)
Gold: Boston.com/travel, The Boston Globe, Christine Makris, Senior Producer
Silver: BudgetTravel.com, Budget Travel, Steve Merrill, Online General Manager

Bronze: Southernliving.com/southernbyways, Southern Living, compiled by Annette Thompson, Associate Travel Editor

Category 23: Travel Broadcast — Audio (18)
Gold: Paul Lasley and Elizabeth Harryman, “On Travel — Kansas City,” XM Satellite Radio
Silver: Joseph Rosendo, “Ontario, Canada’s Far North,” Travelscope Radio Network
Bronze: Ron Bernthal, “Lost and Saved,” WJFF Public Radio

Category 24: Travel Broadcast — Video (10)
Gold: Joseph Rosendo, “Colors of Malaysia,” PBS TV stations
Silver: Joseph Rosendo, “Churchill, Manitoba’s Beluga Whales and Polar Bears,” PBS TV stations Bronze: Toni Salama, chicagotribune.com, Hawaii’s Big Island, Galveston, Kemah, Greek cruise and Dubai shorts


Bill Muster Photography Competition


Photographer of the Year

** Gold: Ellen Clark ** Silver Alison Wright ** Bronze: Chad Case

** Single Subject Portfolio ** Gold: Gail Mooney (Buenos Aires) ** Silver: Michael Ventura (Cajun Country) ** Bronze: Donnie Sexton (Life on the Ganges)

** Animals Gold: Bernadette Heath Silver: Blaine Harrington III Bronze: Stuart Dee HM: Rick Browne HM: Steve Rosenberg

** Action Gold: Paul Franklin Silver: Michael De Freitas Bronze: Steve Bly HM: Steve Bly HM: Gary Crallé

** Cultural Gold: Michele Burgess Silver: Yvette Cardozo Bronze: Richard Nowitz HM: Richard Nowitz HM: Bob Willis

** Natural Scenic Gold: Richard Nowitz Silver: Eric Lindberg Bronze: Dennis Cox HM: Blaine Harrington III HM: Mary Love

** People Gold: Richard Nowitz Silver: Blaine Harrington III Bronze: Donald Nausbaum HM: Donald Nausbaum HM: Stuart Dee

Can Moses Save Venice?

Is the $7 billion project to save the coastal city from rising waters working?

Global warming, climate change or whatever you wish to call the syndrome that is causing polar ice to melt and sea levels to rise are of concern to the world's low-lying coastal cities. These concerns are particularly urgent in magnificent Venice every winter with its rains. MOSES (Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico) is a massive (and massively controversial) $7 billion engineering project begun in 2003 to construct 79 movable underwater gates designed to regulate the tidal flows in the city's lagoon (right) to prevent flooding and yet allow large cruise and container ships to pass through. Click here to see photos of floods in Venice in 2004.

Venice, founded in the fifth century, rose to be Europe's leading maritime power and center of Renaissance art and architecture, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Tourist interests and architectural preservationists are pro-MOSES. Environmentalists continue to oppose it because they are concerned with with a closed system of stagnant water with prevented from flushing out the Venice lagoon. Several months ago, contractjournal.com reported that the mile-long rock and concrete system has caused a new coral reef to form and species previously unseen there to find habitat there. These include the endangered giant pen shell (Pinna Nobilis), an endangered bivalve that can grow to about a yard long and the Dustbin Lid jellyfish (Rhizostome Octopus), the largest in the Mediterranean.

Inter-Island Airline Improvements in Hawaii

In the wake of Aloha's demise, Mokulele Airlines set to fly with larger aircraft

Mokulele Airlines of Hawai’i will begin flying 70-seat Embraer 170 jets on November 19, 2008. The two-class cabin will have large windows, comfortable seating with extra armrest room at the elbow, wider aisles and overhead bins nearly 30 percent larger than standard in most narrow-body aircraft to accommodate large carry-on bags.

Republic Airways Holdings, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is operating Mokulele Airlines. This airline holding company owns Chautauqua Airlines, Republic Airlines and Shuttle America. I just flew Chautauqua, operating in Texas as a Continental commuter partner, from Houston to Midland-Odessa and from El Paso back to Houston. Previously, Mesa Airlines operated smaller Cessnas for Mokulele.

After all the airline failures I've written about in recent months, I am happy -- really happy -- to report on improved air service, especially in Hawaii, which really depends on reliable air service. The carrier's phone number is 808-426-7070.

Lightning Strikes Thrice at Hotel Check-in

Hilton Americas-Houston follows three unacceptable rooms with a winner

I'm not a prima donna. Really, I'm not. But some hotel rooms just won't do. When I checked in to the Hilton Americas Houston for the 2008 Society of American Travel Writers convention, I didn't care whether my room as in the East Tower or the West Tower or the section in the middle. I didn't care whether my room had a king bed or two doubles.

But I did care when I opened the door to my room and saw two key cards on the desk, and soiled towels and used soap in the bathroom. Plus the room smelled of smoke. I had just minutes to get to a meeting, so I called the front desk, explained the situation and asked to for a bellman to pick up my bags and transferr them. I would come down for my new keys when the meeting had ended. I was told that for "security reasons," I had to present myself to be given a new room. Is the Transportation Security Agency involved with hotel check-ins now?, I wondered.

I waited in line at the registration desk, explained the situation again and was given keys to another room on another floor. When I inserted the key card in the door lock, it flashed both red and green. Then I heard voices in "my room." I loudly asked whether anyone was in there. A couple opened the door explaining that they had just been moved to that room because the air conditioner in their original room wasn't working.

Down to the lobby again. A Hilton staffer recognized me still dragging my baggage around and asked about the problem. I explained yet again, then went back to the the desk for my third key to my third room. As I was leaving the lobby, she asked whether everything was all right. I said that I hoped so, for by now, the meeting I was supposed to be at had been going on for 15 minutes. She looked at the little folder that holds key cards and noticed that I had been given what she thought might be a smoking room.

Back we went to the desk. She looked over the shoulder of the desk clerk and old him that "we [the hotel] have to do something for this guest [me]" She offered to comp my first night's stay. I thanked her but said I was with a group and had pre-paid everything months ago. She then upgraded me to an "executive room" on a higher floor. She came up with me to make sure that my key worked (it did), that the room was clean (it was) and that no one was in it (on one was). Much to my further astonishment was that every light in the room was blazing -- in the middle of the afternoon. I know that Houston was enriched by the oil business, but this was totally unnecessary. Guests in executive rooms have access to a lounge where continental breakfast, beverages and snacks are available -- and all the lights are also always on.

I all but missed my meeting, but I have a nice, clean room that I'm not somehow sharing with strangers. It turns out that my angel was event services manager Bridget Moses. When I returned after the convention's opening ceremony, a large bowl of fruit and some juice had been delivered -- with her card and a note of apology. If this happens to you, I hope that you too have a Bridget Moses to make things right.

Big Bend Country is Very Cool & Colorado is Cold Enough for Skiing

I have been in West Texas all week, a prelude to the upcoming Society of American Travel Writers convention in Houston. I signed up for this preconvention trip because I wanted to see Big Bend National Park and raft some of the Rio Grande's most spectacular sections. To non-Texans, West Texas implies that whole southwestern region, especially the triangle south of New Mexico, but Texans know it's really the land west of the Pecos. Our small group has explored the real West Texas as expressed in the landscape and culture of Big Bend Country. We have stayed in a different place every night, eaten really well (but not once on Tex-Mex food) and seen places of unexpected interest and beauty. Internet access and time to post have been sporadic, and I haven't had cell service in days. So 20th century!

I'll post about some of my experiences when I can, but meanwhile, I found out that the ski season has started in Colorado. Arapahoe Basin and Loveland, both snowmaking-eqipped, launched the ski season on October 15, which is about as early as it gets.

Rockslide in Yosemite

Third natural "incident" in a National Park in just over two months

"A large slab of granite cracked loose from a cliff in Yosemite National Park early Wednesday [October 8] and crashed into the Curry Village resort with a thunderous roar, flattening tents and forcing hundreds of campers to run for their lives," reported Steve Rubenstein in a San Francisco Chronicle news story called "Rockslide Threatens Curry Village in Yosemite." The story includes photos and a map of the site.

He wrote about screaming schoolchildren, broken rock showering down, snapped trees, smashed cabin walls and a "plume of dust hundreds of feet in the air." The slide, in which the equivalent of 200 dump-truck loads of rock fell into Curry Village from more than half way up Glacier Point, occurred before 7:00 a.m. Glacier Point perches some 3,200 feet above the valley floor.

"Pandemonium" was the word used to describe the reactions of surprised and frightened park visitors, many awakened by the rocks thundering toward them. A smaller rockslide had occurred the previous day, and some cabins were evacuated then.

Wednesday's rockfall destroyed two of 180 the wooden cabins and five tent of the 427 tent cabins that, along with a hotel, comprise Curry Village. Three park visitors reportedly suffered cuts and other minor injuries. The Park Service ordered a complete evacuation of the area, and 1,005 people left the park.

"The falling rock in both slides came from the mountainside directly above Curry Village, about halfway up the granite wall between the valley floor and Glacier Point. Looking up from the valley floor Wednesday, one could see a large oblong patch of lighter granite where the chunk had broken loose. There was no word on when the rest of the camp would be reopened," Rubenstein continued.

He also quoted Gerald Wieczorek of the U.S. Geological Survey who said that rockslides "can occur as often as a dozen times a year," typically starting in fall. In July 1996, a 162,000-ton slab of granite broke off Glacier Point and fell about a mile east of Curry Village, where a resulting air blast downed over 500 trees, killed on man and injured four others, including one woman who became paralyzed.

I'm afraid I don't remember the 1996 calamity, but this one struck me because of recent incidents in two other national parks. On August 3, I posted an item about the overnight collapse of Wall Arch, the 12th-largest arch in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. Two weeks later, I wrote about the breaching of a dam in a side canyon in the Grand Canyon National Park after up to 8 inches of rain fell.

I'm not an essentially superstitious person, but I do see that things often come in threes. When two national parks had such high-profile incidents in such a short time, I expected a third sometime in October. It took another seven weeks before the Yosemite rockslide, and I'm hoping that with three out of the way, nature will be kind to our treasured national parks and leave them be for a while.

Obey the Seatbelt Light When It Goes On

Four unbuckled passengers and two flight attendants injured when plane hit turbulence

American Airlines Flight 908 was roughly half an hour out of Miami International Airport from Buenos Aires early this morning when it hit turbulence at 30,000 feet. Even though the seatbelt light was reportedly on, some people were not buckled up. According to reports, two flight attendants and four passengers were taken to the hospital with back and neck injuries, and paramedics treated eight other people on the scene.

At that altitude, flight attendants would still be in the galleys or aisles, but there is not much of an excuse for if the passengers were not to be stapped in, whether walking around the cabin or in their seats. WTVJ, the NBC affiliate, showed footage of passengers and flight attendants being taken to hospitals.

Obviously, the thousands of daily flights where no one is hurt don't make the news as does the single rare flight where there are several injuries. However, this incident is a good reminder to take the "fasten seatbelts" sign seriously and buckle up.

Sterling Exhibition to Open at Winterthur

Delaware museum showcases the art and craft of eating implements

A lifetime ago, when I was living in New Jersey, a magazine assignment to write about the Brandywine Valley took me to the Winterthur Museum & Country Estate. I was fortunate that my meeting with the curator who would show me around was on a Monday, the day the museum of antiques and Americana was closed to the public. The velvet ropes were down as she and I walked through the empty rooms a former du Pont mansion. Because I was with her, I was allowed to walk into those rooms and look more closely at the silver and porcelain and glassware and needlework and artwork and.....

If I were still living in the Northeast, I would plan on visiting again sometime been November 1 and February 1 to see "Feeding Desire: Design and the Tools of the Table, 1500–2005."
The exhibition showcases of European and American dining through the designs and functions of eating implements over five centuries. I love to look at this kind of domestic treasure.

Created and curated by New York's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, a branch of the Smithsonian Institution, the show features 300 objects, enhanced by Winterthur’s extensive collection of prints, books and manuscripts. The exhibition is organized along such dining-related themes as “Dining on the Move,” “Tools for Food” and “Dining as Celebration,” the exhibition explores how even familiar objects like utensils can reveal a wealth of information about daily life and societal shifts. Visitors will learn that traveling utensils were used before the 1700s, when hosts began providing dining implements for their guests. The modern equivalent is portable dining gear, such as plastic sets for picnics and stainless steel sets designed for airline dining -- at least before we were forced to use plastic knives when there is any food service at all.

Anne Verplanck, the museum's curator of prints and paintings, has created “biographies” for the most common tabletop tools: the knife, fork, and spoon. These utensils have long defined Western dining. The most beautiful are are aesthetic as well as utilitarian. From sublime and precious to the near-silly, the exhibition features remarkable variations on table tools. Highlights are a Northern Italian traveling set with mother-of-pearl handles from 1590, silver chopsticks from Tiffany and Co., double- and triple-bowled spoons by contemporary designer Andre Zweiacker and traveling flatware by Anne Krohn Graham (above right).

Winterthur is the former home of Henry Francis du Pont (1880-1969), an avid antiques collector and horticulturist. In the early 20th century, he and his father, Henry Algernon du Pont, designed Winterthur in the spirit of 18th- and19th-century European country houses. A visit to Winterthur immerses visitors you in another time and place. You might feel as if you have traveled abroad without crossing an ocean. I did.

Adult admission to the museum, galleries and gardens (lovely and tranquil even in winter) is $20; students and 62-plus, $18; children, $10. The annual Yuletide display, November 22 to January 4 (closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day), is extraordinary. Winterthur Museum & Country Estate, Route 52 (5105 Kennett Pike), Winterthur, Delaware 19735; 800-448-3883, 302-888-4600 or 302-888-4907 (TTY).

Times Article Confirms Current Travel Industry Woes

On September 28, I posted an article here on the impact of the current economy crisis and its impact on the airline segment of the travel industry. Today's New York Times Business Section featured a piece called "Travel Industry Shaken by Economic Downturn." The only silver lining for those with any travel budget at all is that seats in premium cabins on some transatlantic carriers are being deeply discounted, as are rooms in some high-end hotels.

Peace Though Tourism Conference Coming Up

Delegates from 40 countries to address some world problems through tourism and travel

I certainly won't be at Host Stenden University in Leeuwarden, Netherlands later this month for the International Institute for Peace through Tourism's first IIPT European Conference, October 21-24. The theme is “Bridging the North-South Divide through Sustainable Tourism Development.” Delegates from more than 40 countries from Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean will be there to exchange their experiences, knowledge, insights and visions as to how travel and tourism can build on, expand and leverage current sustainable tourism development, wealth creation, poverty reduction and societal betterment in developing countries.

The conference is being organized by IIPT in partnership with the U.N. World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and UN Environment Program (UNEP) in support of the UN Decade of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World and the UN Millennium Development Goals. IITP says that the conference will bring together Ministers of Tourism, senior executives from both the public and private tourism sectors, European Union representatives, UN agencies, foundations, donor agencies, NGOs, educators, policy analysts, leading practitioners, entrepreneurs, future leaders of the industry and senior representatives of related sectors including environment, culture, sport and sustainable economic development.

The conference program is serious and formal, with plenary sessions featuring inspiring keynote speakers and also practical sessions and workshops with case studies of “success stories” and “models of best practice.” If is a lofty and worthy goal, and I frankly don't know whether the US is one of the 40 participating nations. After all, aren't we the country whose president, after the 9/11 attacks, asked Americans to go shopping to prove the patriotism? And until the current economic meltdown in the the US, Americans comprised a huge portion of international travelers.

In my very humble opinion, encouraging international tourism, particularly to developing countries, is a worthy goal. Perhaps the conference will find ways for tourism to benefit local people and local economies rather than cruise lines, hotel chains and other travel providers based in first-world, industrialized countries. And perhaps in this violent and unstable world, it will further pave the way to peace through cross-cultural understanding.

Foliage Season: Drive a Car, Ride a Bike or Take a Hike

The aspens are at or near peak -- but won't be for much longer

Wherever I've lived in fall foliage country, people have always tried to time their travels to catch peak color, whether in New England with maples that show red, orange and yellow, or the Rockies where aspen leaves take on the color of freshly painted highway lines that contrast again the dark conifers. In the last two weeks, I have driven to or through the high country three times, enjoying the through-the-windshield views of Colorado's autumn glory.

My trips along Interstate 70 were to research Western Slope subjects for various assignments, and I didn't have a chance to stop. Therefore, I was really eager to go for a high-country hike. Yesterday, despite gray skies and a forecast for afternoon rain, four of us headed west to hike the Ptarmigan Trail out of Silverthorne. Even when "civilization" was in sight (below), the aspen display was splendid.

The view across the Blue River Valley toward the Gore Range (below) reminded us, again, why we live here:


Some of the aspen were thick-trunked, while others, like those below, were straight and tall as lodgepoles. Seen from right below, their high branches silhouetted against a gray sky resembled lace:

Below is a short video of those leaves coming down when a breeze stirred the treetops.

Much of the trail (below) was "paved" with the gold of new-fallen leaves, and a canopy of gold was overhead. It felt magical.

Even in October, we spotted occasional end-of-season wildflowers (below).

Most of the leaves will drop soon, if not by next weekend, most likely by the weekend after that. We met a pleasant young couple and their dog (below) who were heading deeper into the backcountry to hunt grouse.

We also encountered a team from the Colorado Mountain Club inventorying the condition and usage of the Ptarmigan Trail as one of more than 50 areas for possible addition to existing wilderness areas. The area we hiked through would be annexed into the Ptarmigan Peak Wilderness.

The trail ends on the summit of 12,948-foot Ptarmigan Peak, but we didn't go that far. After about 2 1/2 miles and nearly a 1,200-foot elevation gain, the clouds thickened and a downright cold wind picked up. So we turned around and retraced our steps, reaching the car just as it started to drizzle. Truncated or not, a good hike was had by all.

News Flash: NY Times Travels to Colorado Wine Country

Colorado wine country in prestigious newspaper -- including some factual slippage

In a New York Times travel feature called "Biking Colorado's Wine Country," New York-based wine writer Stefani Jackenthal explores the Palisade region on two wheels. She and a friend spent three days cycling, sipping, dining and B&Bing. I love it when the the prestigious Times focuses attention on Colorado, but why, oh, why does the self-proclaimed "newspaper of record" always get something wrong? The last time was the misleading "36 Hours in Denver" feature with so many off-the-mark facts and suggestions that I blogged it and, more importantly, the Times' mailbox was loaded with objections and corrections from indignant Coloradans.

The wine country piece, which will appear in Sunday's Travel Section but is already available online and in Friday papers, is also somewhat off the mark. Jackenthal wrote, "The first contemporary Colorado winery opened in 1968, but it was slow growing; by 1990, there were only four wineries. Eventually, however, the industry took root. Today there are 72 recognized Colorado wineries, according to the Colorado Wines trade group, with more on the way." Ivancie Winery indeed opened 1968 using non-Colorado grapes but was fairly short-lived. Wineries and vineyards hiccuped into being, and it was two decades before Colorado wineries really were producing wines from Colorado grapes. The trade group is called the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board, more of a mouthful than Colorado Wines but it's the correct name.

The town of Palisade is described as being "surrounded by the Book Cliffs mountain range and Grand Mesa." Palisade isn't surrounded by those two geological features. The Grand Mesa is to the southeast. The Book Cliffs are on the other side of the Colorado River to the north. That leaves the south and west, which are drier than the Mesa and flatter than both. The Book Cliffs are not a mountain range but rather a 60-mile-long escarpment of exposed, eroded sedimentary rock. Wikipedia currently calls them a "mountain range," which is probably where she found the inaccurate description.

Halka Chronic's geologically definitive Roadside Geology of Colorado desribes the Book Cliffs as "towering palisades of Mancos shale. This gray shale, yellow where it is leached, contains types of clay that swell when wet and shrink when dry. Such action brings about a loose soil that is so constantly eroding that it won't support much in the way of vegetation. Where it is not protected by the Mesaverde caprock, the Mancos shale erodes into hump-backed gray and yellow badlands."

But then again, Jackenthal visited several Colorado wineries, compared their wines to European ones and generally enthused about what she found. So who am I to worry that she's weak on Colorado geology and that she implies a non-existent continuum between Ivancie's winery, the real start of the modern Colorado wine industry two decades later and its increasing maturation 20 years after that.

Southwest Numbers Soften in September

Even the country's savviest discount carrier sees passenger declines

Southwest Airlines, arguably the country's smartest air-transport company, guess right on fuel prices, kept its fares relatively stable and declined to impose the rigorous extra fees (notably for checked baggage) that other airlines imposed. So its September figures reveal the recession that in which the country found itself, even before the government was forced to bail out failed financial institutions.

Southwest reported that it flew 5.3 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in September 2008, a walloping 5.9 percent decrease from the 5.6 billion RPMs flown in September 2007. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 0.8 percent to 8.4 billion from the September 2007 level of
8.3 billion. The combination of fewer miles flown and more available seat miles made for a load factor of 63.4 percent, down from 67.9 percent in 2007.

While September was down, the numbers for the nine months that ended on September 30, 2008, were up. Between January and September, Southwest flew 56.2 billion RPMs, up from the 54.8 billion RPMs for the same period in 2007 (an increase of 2.6 percent). Available seat miles were also up, increasing 4.6 percent from 74.4 billion to 77.8 billion. The year-to-date load factor declined slightly to 72.3 percent from 73.7 percent during the same period last year.

Normally, I don't include financial numbers here, but when such a savvy airline experiences such a decline, it is an eloquent testimonial to the countries financial problems in general and the woes of the travel industry as well.