Travel Blogger Explores Bereavement Fares

Ability to travel affordably to a death or other family emergency depends on the airline

Mark Ashley, a writer and frequent traveler whose Upgrade: Travel Better blog follows the in's and out's of the fickle air travel industry, recently had to fly to Germany for his 99-year-old grandmother's last days. He explored airlines' bereavement fares and wrote a lengthy post called "Bereavement and Compassion Fares: Firsthand Experience" about his findings. Among them: international compassion fares are easier to obtain than domestic ones; most such fares (Continental excepted) must be booked over the phone; and airlines have different policies regarding required documentation. His column on this topic is worth bookmarking, should the need arise.

Thanksgiving is Over; Let Winter Begin

After a mild fall, Colorado ski resorts are welcoming winter

This evening, the live telecast by Denver's "9News" of the lighting of the City and County Building finished off with light, wet snow falling on the streets of Denver. News anchors rejoiced about the perfect time, and skiers and snowboarders are rejoicing after a long, mild, dry autumn.

Snow or no, the City and County Building and other locatations in downtown Denver will be aglow until the middle of January. This glorious, gaudy display that has been a Denver tradition since 1932. Also, Union Station, nearby Larimer Square and the entire 16th Street Mall are festively illuminated for the holidays.

Colorado Mountains Cooling Off and Getting White

Current Colorado snow reports are finally somewhat encouraging too. Vail Resorts Inc.'s Colorado ski resorts (Breckenridge, Keystone, Vail Beaver Creek) reported 3 to 6 inches of snow in the last 48 hours. Moving southward and westward, accumulations have been greater. Aspen Mountain, hosting the Winternational ski races this weekend, and Snowmass (skiers loading onto the six-passenger chairlift shown at right) reported 7 and 8 inches respectively. They are two of the four areas operated by the Aspen Skiing Co. Wolf Creek, located in southern Colorado, was the state's snowfall leader with 13 inches in the last 48 hours. I am writing this on Friday evening, and Saturday morning's snow reports will show greater totals.

Great Snow Conditions in Europe

So far, this is shaping up to be a season of big snows in the Alps. Resorts in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland have reported up to a meter (39 inches) of new snow in the past five days. Although Europeans have no Thanksgiving to provide a psychological kick-off to the season, more than 200 ski areas across Europe have already opened or are opening this weekend, including Zermatt, Switzerland, with 100 miles of pistes and Espace Killy, France with 187 miles of pistes in neighboring Tignes and Val d'Isere. When Americans think of European winter resorts, the Alps come to mind, but the Pyrenees and Scandinavia, especially Norway, also offer downhill skiing. There too, resorts are starting off with abundant snow.

Hawaii Promotes the Obama Connection

Visitors are reminded of President-Elect Barack Obama's Hawaiian heritage

In June 2007, when Barack Obama was a fast-rising star on the US political landscape, I was in Hawaii and took a fabulous, fascinating Hole in the Wall Food Tour that led to the real, multi-cultural mosaic of Honolulu. You can read about the tour here. In that post, I didn't mention that as we were driving back to the the highrises of Waikiki, Matthew pointed to a Baskin-Robbins dipping store and said that Obama had worked there as a teenager. Then, we didn't stop to take a picture. Now, perhaps the Hole in the Wall tour includes a pilgrimage to that dipping store too.

Mainlanders have made much of of his African-American roots, but in Honolulu, he's still considered a local. Now, Hawaii Convention & Visitors Bureau, which promotes the state's tourist interests, is pointing out just how Hawaiian the former senator from Illinois and soon-to-be president of the United States is -- and the information the bureau is disseminating even references the Baskin-Robbins that Matthew pointed out. The CVB writes:

BARACK OBAMA’S HAWAII

“You can’t really understand Barack until you understand Hawaii.” ~
Michelle Obama

Hawaii will always be home for President-elect Barack Obama. There can
be no doubt that growing up in this idyllic, multicultural setting was a major
influence in shaping who Obama is today.

KAMAAINA: LOCAL AT HEART
The Hawaiian word kamaaina means someone
who is native born or who has lived in Hawaii for some time. When Barack Obama
returns to Hawaii with his family, he comes as a kamaaina, a local who knows
where to go, where to eat and what to do. Here are a few places Obama has
visited on his trips back to Oahu:

ACTIVITIES:
• Pearl Harbor - Chief historian Daniel A. Martinez gave the Obama family a tour of the USS Arizona Memorial.
• Hanauma Bay – Located on the southeast coast of Oahu, this is Oahu’s most popular snorkeling destination. This is also near Sandy Beach, one of Obama’s favorite beaches growing up, as well as the Halona Blowhole, near the area where his
mother’s ashes were scattered.
• Nuuanu Pali Lookout – This scenic spot atop Oahu’s Windward peaks was the site of a fierce battle lead by King Kamehameha I.
• Golf – Obama has played rounds at Olomana Golf Links and Luana Hills
Country Club.
• National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl – One of the country’s most prominent national cemeteries for the armed forces. Obama’s grandfather is buried here.

FOOD:
• Plate lunch - Like most locals, Obama frequents the restaurants of Kapahulu on the outskirts of Waikiki. He’s been known to get a local style plate lunch from the Rainbow Drive-In and the 24-hour Oahu mainstay, Zippy’s.
• Shave Ice – The Obama family likes to cool off with a shave ice, the local version
of a snow cone. Matsumoto Shave Ice on the North Shore is a famous shop and spots like Waiola Shave Ice in Kapahulu are popular with locals.

New York Times: The Hawaiian Plate Lunch
SF Gate: Where Would Obama eat?

OHANA: BARACK OBAMA’S FAMILY
Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961
at the Kapiolani Hospital for Women & Children in the city of Honolulu on
the island of Oahu. Honolulu is home to the majority of Hawaii’s diverse population and it was here at the University of Hawaii that Barack’s father and mother, Barack Obama Sr. and Ann Dunham, met.

Raised in Hawaii until he was six, Obama spent four years in Indonesia
after his mother remarried. Obama returned to Hawaii at age ten to attend the
prestigious Punahou School, where Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, and golf phenom
Michelle Wie also attended. Far from a Presidential hopeful, Obama dreamed of
becoming a pro basketball player, playing on the state championship basketball
team.

Obama lived with his maternal grandfather and grandmother, Stanley and
Madelyn Dunham, a few blocks from school in the neighborhood of Makiki, just ten
minutes away from Waikiki. He spent his youth enjoying picnics at the scenic Puu Ualakaa State Park near his home and Kapiolani Park in Waikiki as well as body surfing at Sandy Beach on the eastern tip of Oahu. He even worked at a Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream on South King Street that still exists today.

Obama continued on to Columbia and Harvard Law but made frequent visits
back to see his ohana, or family, in Hawaii. His mother, who earned a Ph.D. in
anthropology at the University of Hawaii, died of cancer in 1995. More recently,
Obama’s grandmother “Toot,” short for tutu (Hawaiian for grandmother), passed
away in Hawaii just one day before Obama was elected the 44th President of the
United States.

Honolulu Advertiser: Barack Obama: The Making of a Presidential Candidate

ALOHA: THE SPIRIT OF OBAMA

Beyond Hawaii’s natural beauty, the islands are a place of incredible
diversity. Dating back to plantation days, Hawaii has been home to a multicultural mix of people. It is this culture of acceptance and aloha that has had a profound affect on Barack Obama and will continue to influence him in the future.

“What’s best in me, and what’s best in my message, is consistent with
the tradition of Hawaii.” ~ Barack Obama

Time: My Chance Encounter With Obama in Hawaii

Iberia Adds 10 US Code Shares

Connections via Chicago make travel to Madrid and beyond more seamless

Code shares between domestic and international flag carriers take some of the stress out of travel that requires changing planes to a US gateway. Code shares assure legal connections, especially important when checked baggage is involved. I just flew between Denver and Huatulco, Mexico, on code-shared flights between American and Mexicana, which netted mileage added to my American Airlines AAdvantage frequent flyer account for all flights.

Iberia, the airline of Spain, has just added 10 new US destinations to its network with the extension of its code-sharing arrangements with American Airlines. Iberia passengers can now fly from Albuquerque, Buffalo, Baltimore, Charlotte, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Rochester and San Antonio to Madrid connecting via Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.

With these new destinations, Iberia now operates from 48 cities in the United States, with direct service from Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York and Washington D.C., to Madrid, and connecting flights via American Airlines from the rest. From Madrid, Iberia passengers can fly on to 34 airports in Spain, 42 European cities and 10 destinations in Africa and the Middle East.

Looking in on Huatulco

Quick trip to resort towns in southern Mexico yields favorable impression

You know those "36 Hours in...." pieces that are published in the New York Times and in Hemispheres. I experienced "36 Hours in Huatulco" -- about the time I spent in this resort development in the State of Oaxaca. Two days and three nights provided a tantalizing taste, and I'd love to return.

Officially called the Bahias de Huatulco, it is actually a string of resort developments and beaches tucked into a series of nine bays along a 35-mile-long stretch of south-facing coastline between the southern end of the Sierra Madre Range and the Pacific Ocean. Rather than one long beach, there are 36 small ones, which means there is no shoulder-to-shoulder, Cancun-style row of high-rise hotels. In fact, there are no high-rise hotels at all, because regulations prohibit anything higher than five stories, and nothing is built on the ridgetops either. (Below, Tangolunda Bay with Camino Real in foreground and Quinta Real, with its twin Moroccan-style domes, in the background.) Recycling, water purification and aggressive sewage treatment also have contributed to Huatulco's certification in 2006 as a Green Globe Community. In fact, it became the organization's first recognized tourist destination in the Americas.

Fonatour, the Mexican government development and tourism promotion agency, also designed Huatulco as the greenest of the country's five new resort areas and also transferred 30,000 acres to another agency for preservation as a national park. There is not yet any infrastructure, but the dense jungle, coral reefs, bays and beaches within park boundaries are protected. Biologists and wildlife experts have document 413 plant species, 130 species and subspecies of mammals, 291 species or birds, 72 species of reptiles and 15 amphibian species, as well as fish and shellfish that live in the sea. It is an astonishing accomplishment for a country that has had, at best, a checkered environmental and ecological record.

Located between the Coyula and Copalita Rivers that cascade down from the Sierra Madre, Huatulco offers river rafting as well as such more expected activities as sea kayaking, snorkeling, scuba diving, surfing and golf. In the town of La Cruceita are a shady plaza, a church, small shops, restaurants, bars and small, budget hotels. The waterfront center of Santa Cruz is smaller and a second plaza, more shops and a cruise ship pier accommodating two vessels. The Boulevard Santa Cruz/Boulevard Benito Juarez parallels the coastline and connects Santa Cruz with the zone of larger beach hotels with swimming pools, restaurants, bars and other facilities (one of Las Brisas' several pools, below left; beach in front of Camino Real, right).

West of Huatulco is the small village of Ventanilla with its stunning, undeveloped beach fronting a mangrove-fringed lagoon (below left) and a small, palm-studded island (right) on which a crocodile preserve is situated. A boat ride through the mangroves is a magical experience, with dappled light, sounds of birds and the occasional glimpse of orange of a male iguana.

The beach at Ventanilla is one of several where sea-turtle eggs are removed from the sand to a protected enclosure until they hatch and make their way to the water. Close to the nearby beach community of Port Angel is the Centro Mexicano de la Tortuga, a research and rehabilitation center that studies both sea and land turtles. It is also something of a turtle zoo, where visitors can see many species on land and in tanks (below).

Mexicana Airlines flies Mexico City-Huatulco several times a day year-round. Continental has nonstop service from Houston on a seasonally changing schedule. Hotels range from in-town bargains with rooms for as little as $25 a night to super-luxury resorts with room rates starting at more than $200 nightly. Several properties are all inclusive, meaning that all meals, entertainment (below) and on-site activities are included.

After a 36-hour taste of Huatulco, I look forward to returning for a whole feast.

Mexico City Airport Connection Alert

Mexico City Airport - Avoid making connections here if you can. The airport is poorly signed and confusing, and with its vulnerability to fog/smog, flights can be delayed. Continental flies nonstop Houston-Huatulco, but only once or twice a week in the spring/fall shoulder seasons.

Note: For more details on specific connection issues at Mexico City's Benito Juarez Airport, see comments below. I will say that once a traveler has a concept of the layout (one very long terminal area with international gates at one end), it is easier than arriving clueless and depending on poor signage and misleading information. But I still believe that the first time around, it's good to have a little spare time.

FYI: 110 ML > 3 ounces

Dear Diary: experienced Transportation Stupidity Agency actions -- again

6:10 a.m. - Left home. Husband dropped me off at Boulder's Walnut Street bus station.

6:19 a.m. - AB bus to Denver International Airport left on time.

7:35 a.m. - AB arrived at DIA a few minutes early

7:37 a.m.- No line at American Airlines check-in. Got boarding passes for Denver-Dallas, Dallas-Mexico City and Mexico City-Huatulco flights. Carry-on only.

7:42 a.m. - No lines at security. Hooray! Took off shoes and jacket. Removed laptop from case. Sent small roll-aboard, laptop case and two bins, one with one-quart plastic bag with small liquids/gels, through Xray. Security screener squinted through clear plastic at small container of contact lens solution, lipstick, small bottle of liquid makeup, small stick of deodorant and small tube of toothpaste and small tube of sunscreen.

7:43 a.m. - Screener removed tube of sunscreen, purchased in some country that is on the metric system, examined it more closely and declared quietly but triumphantly (and ungrammatically). "This is 110 milliliters. Three ounces is 100 milliliters." I didn't know that before, but now I do -- and you do too. You're welcome.

7:44 a.m. - Supervisor confiscated my 110 ML tube of sunscreen that probably had 30 ML of liquid left. He helpfully suggested that I could mail the offending object home if I chose (the post office at the airport, of course, was not yet open) or return to the airline counter and check my bag with the leftover sunscreen in it.

7:45 a.m. - Grabbed my stuff, my previous good mood dampened by Transportation Security Agency nonsense -- again.

7:55 a.m. - Arrived at the gate with enough time to write this post, courtesy of the much-appreciated free WiFi at DIA.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, don't you feel safer knowing that this agency of the Department of Homeland Security is on the job?

Dear President-Elect Obama......

Results of Tavel Magazine Readers' Poll on Skiing

Results of Condé Nast Traveler's 13th Annual Ski Poll announced

A ski poll is nothing at all like a ski pole. The former is a travel magazine's annual survey that ranks "the best places to ski and stay in North America" An "unprecented" 32,633 Condé Nast Traveler readers who took part in this year's survey. Frankly, I always take these reader polls with a grain of salt. Big Western resorts always "win" because more people visitthem. The big, fancy hotels generally rank high, not necessarily because everyone who selected them has stayed there, but because many people recognize a name-brand luxury chain and vote for it. The results are interesting nonetheless.

The magazine's press release explained: "Readers were asked to evaluate resort towns on the following criteria: Terrain and Conditions; Lifts and Lines; Town Ambience; Dining; and Après-ski/Activities. The ski hotels were rated based on: Location; Rooms; Service; Dining and Food; and Design. The awards appear in the December issue (on newsstands November 25) and are derived from the Condé Nast Traveler Readers Choice Survey." Whistler Blackcomb, BC, was voted Best Ski Resort Town, with an overall score of 90.7 and top scores in Après-Ski/Activities and Local Dining. Other top scorers in specific categories are:

• Top Terrain: Big White, BC (95.3)
• Top Lifts and Lines: Deer Valley, UT (92.1)
• Top Aprés-ski/Activities: Whistler/Blackcomb, BC (93.2)
• Top Local Dining: Whistler/Blackcomb, BC (90.3)
• Top Local Ambience: Jackson Hole, WY (94.0)

The Top 10 Ski Resorts are the usual suspects:

1. Whistler Blackcomb, BC

2. Telluride, CO

3. Deer Valley, UT

4. Aspen, CO

5. Jackson Hole, WY

6. Sun Valley, ID

7. Vail, CO

8. Beaver Creek, CO

9. Park City, UT

10. Sun Peaks, BC

Ranked as the Best Ski Hotel for 2008 is the Post Hotel & Spa in Lake Louise, AB, with an overall score of 93.3 and the top score for Food (94.9). There's something funny about the Pan Pacific Mountainside leading in three categories but not appearing at all on the overall top-10 list. Make of that what you will. Both are in Whistler/Blackcomb. Other category leaders are:

• Top Location: Pan Pacific Whistler Mountainside, Whistler/Blackcomb, BC (100)
• Top Rooms: Pan Pacific Whistler Mountainside, Whistler/Blackcomb, BC (96.1)
• Top Service: Four Seasons Resort, Jackson Hole, WY (95.1)
• Top Food: Post Hotel & Spa, Lake Louise, AB (94.9)
• Top Design: Pan Pacific Whistler Mountainside, Whistler/Blackcomb, BC (96.1)

According to the poll, the Top 10 Ski Hotels overall are as follows:

1. Post Hotel & Spa, Lake Louise, AB

2. Pan Pacific Whistler Village Centre, Whistler/Blackcomb, BC

3. Four Seasons Resort, Jackson Hole, WY

4. Stein Eriksen Lodge, Deer Valley, UT

5. Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch, Beaver Creek, CO

6. Four Seasons Resort, Whistler/Blackcomb, BC

7. Little Nell Hotel, Aspen, CO

8. Lodge & Spa at Cordillera, Vail Valley (Edwards), CO

9. Sundance Resort, Sundance, UT

10. St. Regis Resort, Aspen, CO

Amtrak To Winter Park: All Aboard

Colorado resort teams up with Amtrak to Winter Park to offer Snowball Express package

Winter Park is less than 30 miles west of Boulder, but because there is no road through the Indian Peaks Wilderness and adjacent James Peak Wilderness, the roundabout drive is considerably longer. The one shortcut from near here to right there is by train. The 6-mile-long Moffat Tunnel bores through the mountains under the Continental Divide and under the protected land. The Winter Park Resort lies at tunnel's West Portal. The Ski Train uses the tunnel for its dedicated Denver-Winter Park trip -- and so does Amtrak's California Zephyr. In fact, one of Winter Park's chairlifts is called the Zephyr in honor of the classic rail route.

This year, Winter Resort and Amtrak have partnered to offer an affordable and stress-free vacation package and called it the Snowball Express. It sure beats driving across the Plains, which are vulnerable to dicey snow conditions, and for people put off by airline hassles, it's a terrific option too.

The California Zephyr between Chicago and Oakland offers daily service -- not always punctual, but otherwise reliable. The Snowball Express includes roundtrip coach seats on Amtrak, three nights' lodging in a one-bedroom condo in the Town of Winter Park and three days of lift tickets. Book online through Winter Park Central Reservations or by calling 800-979-0327. The package is valid until the end of the ski season but must be booked by December 7. Adult prices including travel from what organizers call "preferred departure cities" are:

Chicago - $665
Naperville, IL - also $665
Galesburg, IL - $639.50
Burlington, IA - $634
Mt. Pleasant, IA - $628
Ottumwa, IA - $625
Osceola, IA $613
Omaha - $592
Lincoln, NE - $582.50

More Trains to US Ski Country

Other US ski resorts with rail access (though none nearly as doorstep convenient as Winter Park) include:

• The North Lake Tahoe resorts via California Zephyr to Truckee
• The seven resorts near Salt Lake City, a major Amtrak station
• The Aspen areas via the Zephyr to Glenwood Springs
• Whitefish Mountain Resort, MT via Amtrak's Empire Builder
• Schweitzer, ID, to the Amtrak stop at Sandpoint
• Several resorts in Vermont and New Hampshire via either Amtrak's Ethan Allen Express to Rutland or the Vermonter, with half-a-dozen stops from Brattleboro in the south to Essex Junction and St. Albans in the north)
• Amtrak's Downeaster to Portland, ME
• Alyeska, AK, via the Alaska Railroad to Girdwood

Other Countries

Canada's VIA Rail services:

• In Quebec, Quebec City for Mont. Ste.-Anne and Le Massif and Montreal (for Tremblant), including trains from New York City/Albany)
• In Alberta, Jasper for Marmot Basin
• In British Columbia, Kamloops for Sun Peaks and Vancouver for Whistler/Blackcomb

And in Europe, virtually every Alpine mountain resort has excellent, efficient, frequent and punctual rail service or at least a bus that connects directly to a nearby railroad station.

Beating the Checked-Bag Blues

Airlines' pay-to-play policies affect ski-vacation travel budgets

It is impossible to travel light on a ski trip. Ski clothing and other winter outdoor clothing and footwear are bulky. Ski and snowboard equipment is both bulky and awkwardly shaped. Since last ski season ended, most airlines have begun charging for checked luggage on domestic flights. Most US carriers began imposing a fee for the second checked piece, which was bad enough for skiers, but they levied fees even for first checked bag, which is bad for all travelers.

Skiwear and other winter clothing mean one checked bag per person. Most experienced skiers take their own boots, even if they rent skis. A pair of boots just about fills a carry-on that will fit into the overhead, especially the teeny space on smaller regional aircraft that often fly into mountain airports. A separate boot bag, even if stuffed to the gills with clothing, counts as a second checked bag.

Take your own skis or snowboard, and that’s checked bag number three. The one bright spot is that one ski or snowboard bag and one boot bag still count as a single piece of luggage, as they did in the days when airlines accepted two pieces of checked luggage without charging. This amounts to bad news for skiers heading for their vacations.

At this writing, most airlines charge $15 for the first and $25, but United gets $50 for the second checked bag. The first bag is free on Delta, and the second costs $25. Don’t plan on taking more than you need. The third and subsequent bags are $80 and up each.

These baggage charges are for the entire trip, not per leg if you are changing planes. Fees for overweight bags have also skyrocketed, so don’t think that buying a team ski bag or hockey gear bag and stuffing everything into it will save money. It won’t.

Premier members of airlines’ frequent-flier programs and those seated in premium cabins in the front of the plane are generally exempt from these surcharges.

Southwest is one major U.S. carrier that so far does not charge for up to two checked bags. The airline also does not charge for curbside baggage check-in, a real boon when a lot of gear is involved. Southwest flies to the ski gateways of Albuquerque, Boise, Denver, Manchester (NH), Salt Lake City and Reno/Tahoe. A change of planes might be necessary, but low fares and absence of surcharges make it worthwhile.

In Colorado, Steamboat and Vail Resorts’ four destinations (Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Vail, plus Heavenly, California) are helping skiers out with a kind of subsidy to take the sting out of the baggage surcharges.

There are still a couple of weeks to tap into Vail Resorts’ Baggage Bailout that gives a $50 credit to guests who book at least a four-day, four-night ski/snowboard vacation by December 1 through Vail Resorts Reservations (866-949-2573). The offer is valid for any qualifying vacation through April 20, the end of the ski season but most be booked by phone.

Steamboat’s Bags Fly Free offer nets a $25 American Express gift card from the resort per booked seat – plus 20 percent off on lift tickets and lodging on early-bird bookings of lift/lodging packages of at least four nights. The vacation had to have been booked though Steamboat Central Reservations (800-922-2722) by November 3, but with this ongoing economic slump, late-booking skiers hold out hope that this or another kind of rebate will be revived. When combined with the resort’s pioneering Kids Ski Free program (children under 12 ski and stay free one-on-one with a paying adult), Bags Fly Free can really pare the cost for a family.

If you will visit any of these resorts (again, Beaver Creek, Keystone, Breckenridge or Heavenly several times this winter) and don’t like to be bothered with your skis at all, consider a RentSkis.com season pass for unlimited ski/snowboard rental. The cost is $359 per adult ($459 for performance gear) and $199 for kids 13 and under.

Air Canada imposed and then rescinded checked-baggage fees and now allows each passenger to check two bags at no charge. Calgary and Vancouver are the major Canadian gateways to ski country. Others are Montreal, Quebec City, Edmonton, Kelowna and Canadian Rockies Airport (Cranbrook). Transatlantic still have a two-piece free baggage allowance, and international airlines also consider skis/boots as one piece, which can take some of the sting out of a European ski trip.

Some skiers are willing to pay more to avoid hassles, especially when flying to small mountain airports where planes are often weight-restricted. That means you might reach your destination, while some or all of your checked bags follow – often the next day.

Options include shipping bags via FedEx, UPS or a dedicated door-to-door luggage pickup and delivery service. Sports Express, which is headquartered in Durango, Colorado, has a particular affinity for travel to the mountains.

Yet another option is to rent skis. Ski Butlers is a ski/snowboard rental operation with a difference. The service delivers top-quality, well maintained skis and snowboards directly to your accommodation in 25 North American resorts, adjusts your boards to your boots and picks it up at the end of your trip. That saves both the expense of taking your own equipment the hassle of going to a rental shop, filling out forms and standing in line to get your gear -- and then at the end of your vacation, trekking back to the rental shop to return the equipment. Their slogan is "Never Stand in Line Again."

None of this, of course, is carved in granite. Domestic carriers, which don’t need to file their tariffs with regulatory agencies in advance, hit travelers over the head by imposing fees for checked baggage, and they might turn on a dime and change them too. With a soft travel market, the possibility of lower jet-fuel prices and sluggish reservations, they could drop the fees – or other resorts could follow Steamboat and the Vail family and offer a credit to ski vacationers. The only thing certain about the 2008-09 season is uncertainty.

QE2 Runs Aground in Home Waters

Ignominious incident mars fabled liner's last call to home port

The 'Queen Elizabeth 2' ran aground just outside the Southhampton harbor. The 39-year-old Cunard flagship was nearing the end of her final voyage before heading for Dubai to become a floating luxury hotel when she hit the Brambles Sandbank around 5:30 GMT this morning. It is her home port, and the sandbank is familiar enough to seaman that it has a name. A combination of the rising tide and tugboat power pulled the ship free. Cunard spokesman Eric Flounders said that no passengers were injured and that the ship was not damaged.

The QE2 crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times and made a dozen round-the-world voyages. Between the QE2's lengthy farewell and arrival of the 'Queen Mary 2,' Cunard's new flagship, the hail-and-farewell about these Cunard liners and their ports of call seem to have gone on fore years. These last QE2 farewall ceremonies include yet another visit by HRH Prince Philip, fireworks and a military aircraft fly-by.

Mim Swartz, former travel editor of the Rocky Mountain News and then the Denver Post, and a great cruising enthusiast, boarded what she calls her "favorite ship" for the final leg of this farewell voyage. She wrote about the ship in Sunday's Post Travel Section and will be blogging en route during the 16-day last leg of the farewell voyage.

Visiting Fort Davis, a West Texas Civil Rights Site

The election of America's first black president underscores the story of the US Army's Buffalo Soldiers

With Barack Obama set to become the first American president of African-American descent, 3,000 or so of the 19th century Army veterans who served at Fort Davis must be high-fiving each other somewhere in the beyond. The remote post in a high, dry valley in West Texas was home to about that many Buffalo Soldiers -- black troops who safeguarded the 600-mile-long road between San Antonio and El Paso from Apache and Comanche raids for more than 20 years.

Fort Davis was established in 1854 and abandoned in 1862, a time period now referred to as “the first fort.” Ironically, given the events that followed its beginnings, it was named after Jefferson Davis. In 1854, West Point graduate Davis served in President Franklin Pierce’s cabinet as Secretary of War. Eight years later, he was president of the Confederate States of America – and there lies the irony.

In 1967, the Army sent Lieutenant Colonel Wesley Merritt, who was white, to rebuild Fort Davis (“the second fort”) and to command hundreds of largely black troops. Exhibits in the small, compelling museum depict those times, This Fort Davis National Historic Site is an important stop for people interested in African-American history, as well as military history, and with the presidency of Barack Obama, should become even more so.

In the post-Civil War era, about 20 percent of the military in the West were black, but at Fort Davis, the combination of Union veterans and former slaves amounted to about 50 percent. In addition to protecting emigrants, settlers, mail coaches and freight wagons during the subsequent Indian Wars, the Buffalo Soldiers explored and mapped large areas of the Southwest. They strung telegraph lines to connect frontier outposts that they were also instrumental in building. After the Texas frontier quieted down, the government decommissioned the fort for good in 1891.

Meanwhile, in 1877, Second Lieutenant Henry Ossian Flipper, the first African-American West Point graduate, had been assigned to Fort Davis. He was an officer in the Tenth U. S. Cavalry, one of two African American-cavalry regiments. Four years later, he was court-martialed in the post chapel (ruins and interpretive sign, below) for embezzlement of commissary funds and for “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.”

He pleaded not guilty and was acquitted on the embezzlement charge but convicted for making a false statement, signing financial records he knew to be incorrect and for writing a check on a nonexistent bank account. The conviction, which historians studying the court martial records much later recognized as bias-based, carried an automatic sentence of dismissal from the army. In 1999 President Bill Clinton posthumously pardoned him.

To Chuck Hunt, superintendent of the Fort Davis National Historic Site, it is a civil rights landmark as well as a military outpost. “The Army was the first federal job for many African-Americans. It was an important transitional role for men who went from slave to soldier to citizen.” What a fitting waypost to the present time with an African-American poised to become the First Citizen of the United States of America.

Like many Western posts, Fort Davis was never walled. The Army presence was enough to deter most Indian raiders. At its peak, the post comprised enlisted men’s barracks and officers’ quarters facing each other across the parade ground. On the periphery were storehouses, stables (after all, it was a cavalry fort), the post chapel, the post hospital and other outbuildings.

The fort, which had fallen into disrepair, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and became a unit of the National Park System the following year. Park Service policy is to restore more intact buildings (below) and stabilize others, to that today, 24 four restored historic buildings, five furnished to the style of the 1880s and more 100 ruins and foundations are found on the 474-acre site.

work is continuing on several buildings, notably the post hospital (below), which received a ave Our American Treasures grant. Students from the University of Vermont have coming to Fort Davis on summer restoration workshops to stabilize the structure. When the building’s restoration is completed, the North Ward and the surgeon’s quarters will be furnished too.

The past comes to life through a seasonal interpretive program by rangers and volunteers in period costumes. And the past is being honored with the protection of its historic viewshed. The fort sits on a flat parcel at the mouth of Hospital Canyon. The cliffs of Davis Mountains State Park and Sleeping Lion Mountain form the backdrop for the site. Thirty-seven acres visible from the fort were at one point threatened with a real estate development. An unnamed angel purchased the land and is holding it until the government can take possession of it – a process that literally requires an act of Congress. Write to your Senators and Representative to ask them to support such legislation.

LOCATION

Along Highway 17 (near the junction with Highway 118) just outside of Fort Davis, Tex. The closest airports are in El Paso about 220 miles (4 hours) and Midland/Odessa 175 miles (2½ hours). Amtrak and Greyhound serve Alpine (22 miles).

HOURS

Open: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily except Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday.

FEES

$3 for ages 16 and older, free for 15 and under. All National Parks Passes are valid.

LODGING

The closest accommodations are in Davis Mountains State Park, P. O. Box 1707, Fort Davis, TX 79734; 432-426-3337. There are sites with and without RV water, electricity and sewer hookups – and even cable TV, plus primitive campsites for backpackers and equestrians. Within the park is Indian Lodge, a historic adobe inn built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and recently expanded and restored; 432-426-3254.

Hotels, motels, B&Bs and campgrounds can also be found in Fort Davis (Fort Davis Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 378; Fort Davis, TX. 79734; 800-524-3015 or 432-426-3015) and Alpine (Alpine Visitor Bureau, 106 North Third Street, Alpine, TX 79830; 800-561-3735 or 432-837-2326).

CONTACT
Fort Davis National Historic Site, P.O. Box 1379, Fort Davis, TX 79734.

Preview Colorado Ski Season at Ski Expo This Weekend

Lively ski and snowboard show offers deals, steals and snow-oriented entertainment

The 2008 Colorado Ski & Snowboard Expo kicks off at noon today, November 7, at the Colorado Convention Center and runs through Sunday, November 9. Exhibitors include Colorado mountain resorts selling discounted season passes and multi-day ticket packs, as well as overnight lift/lodging packages. Also, ski tour operators will be promoting their travel packages and destinations, and equipment and accessories manufacturers will be showing their hottest and best gear. Other then the Ginzu Knife people, hucksters of various products and services unrelated to skiing but present at every show will be sprinkled among the snow-related exhibitors -- providing a bit of diversion.

Kids, who are admitted free, love to troll the show for stickers and posters, get autographs or ski stars, snarf up candy (as if they didn't get enough on Halloween) and gawk the the entertainment. There's high-flying action of Honda's “Rocky Mountain Snowdown” that I saw on Channel 7 News early this morning. Youngsters can also try skiing or snowboarding at the the Kids Snow-Play area. For some people, the icing on the snow-oriented cake is Colorado Ski & Golf’s annual multi-million dollar ski and snowboard sale with bargains galore on equipment, clothing and accessories. For others, the sale is reason enough to go.

The Colorado Convention Center is at 700 Fourteenth Street, Denver. Show hours are Friday, November 7, 12:00 noon - 10:00 p.m.; Saturday, 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.; and Sunday: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Cash-only tickets are $12 at the door; $10 with a coupon that you can print out or from King Soopers and the Denver Post, and $9 if purchased online here. Children under 12 are free. It's good that there are discounts to the show, because parking is $10 (you have to pay the eight-hour minimum), but if you go Sunday, there is more available street parking (but less stuff on sale from Colorado Ski & Golf). A free subscription to Ski, Skiing or TransWorld Snowboarding comes with paid admission to the show.

Upcoming Denver Arts Week Schedule

Second annual Denver Arts Week to highlights multifaceted cultural scene

Twenty-plus years ago, when I prepared to move from the New York area to Colorado, my culture-vulture tittered about the music, art, theater and dance that I would be missing in the hinterlands. Were they ever wrong! Boulder where I live, Denver just 25 miles away and mountain resort communities among them provide more cultural richness than I could ever take in.

In addition to the regular offerings, the upcoming Denver Arts Week (November 14-22) packs a lot of offerings into a concentrated eight-day period with more than 150 events staged at seven identifiable arts districts in and around Denver. These included dozens of museums, galleries and theaters, with the 31st Starz Denver Film Festival leading off the week and the City of Denver’s 150th Birthday Celebration closing things out. Denver Arts Week encourages locals and visitors to discover why Sunset magazine enthused, “The Mile High City is remaking itself as a world capital of art and architecture.”

Fine Arts

Denver Arts Week kicks off a week early with a sneak preview of Fear No Art First Friday, a "special edition" of the monthly First Friday Art Walks that is designed for the art world newcomer and the connoisseur. From 6:00 to 9:00 pm., visitors go from gallery to gallery or from art district to art district.

The ArtDistrict on Santa Fe features Botticelli Is Not a Pasta workshops with several galleries offering free lectures on topics such as how to collect art as a beginner and art history. The Golden Triangle Museum District offers its free “art bus” that visits more than a dozen galleries and museums. Cherry Creek North galleries and restaurants will offer a family evening with dining specials, extended gallery hours and art in action, which is described as "creative art making projects." The Tennyson Street Cultural District (http://www.tscd.org/) invites families to explore their neighborhood on Fear No Art First Friday (remember, November 7), plus an interactive evening with classes on the art of buying, collecting, framing, hanging and lighting art on Friday, November 21. In Belmar Arts District, Block 7 and the Lab at Belmar are putting on exhibits and special programs.

Museums

Friday, November 14 is scheduled as Night at the Museums with free admission from 5:00 to 10:00 p.m. Programming includes jazz, modern dance, lantern tours and a wide array of family-friendly activities. There is free parking at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center, shuttle service between there and the Denver Art Museum and also a total of 11 participating museums. Each rider will receive the Cherry Creek Passport to Shopping Discount Coupon booklet. Also at the DAM, Ballet Ariel and the Hannah Kahn Dance Company present Contemporary Forms in Space and Time in the lobby of the Hamilton Wing, at 6:30 p.m. and again at 8:00 p.m.

Denver artist Barbara Froula will be at the Colorado History Museum for a meet-and-greet during Night at the Museum to preview her watercolor commissioned for the upcoming exhibit, "Denver at 150: Imagine a Great City." For history buffs, Colorado's past comes to life at the Black American West Museum and at the Byers-Evans House Museum brings to live stories read by Colorado Homegrown Tales in the mansion's library.

The Denver Museum of Nature & Science offers the opportunity to meet cutting-edge polar scientists and explorers at "Polar-Palooza," a multimedia road show will present Earth's iciest, most remote regions. The event will also feature a 130,000-year-old piece of ice, extreme cold weather gear to try on and and an opportunity to learn an Alaskan Native dance.

The Kirkland Museum of Decorative & Fine Art partners with Dazzle Restaurant & Lounge to present of cool jazz and modern art. From 5:00 to 10:00 p.m., guests can explore the museum's renowned collection of decorative art with over 3,300 pieces from Arts and Crafts through Modern and to Pop Art and its Colorado Modernist collection and also enjoy hors d'oeuvres and live jazz from Dazzle. The Forney Museum of Transportation opens in the evening for a unique visit by lamp and headlight, as a cross-section of 200 years of transportation is lit for this night only.

Music and art combine at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver's musical performance during Night at the Museums at 6:30 pm with the Denver Contemporary Chamber Players. Museo de las Americas' their new exhibit is called Fine Line. The Molly Brown House Museum offers special tours and live Irish music, while the Children's Museum of Denver brings the past to the generation of the future with silent movies about the Old West.


Performing Arts

The “Night on the Red Carpet” on Saturday, , November 15, focuses on Denver’s array of performing arts options, including more than a dozen local theaters and performing arts groups are also “roll out the red carpet” with discounts and promotions.

Starz Denver Film Festival’s Big Night is a glitzy red carpet event with stars, filmmakers and an exciting new feature film at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. The film directed by Jimmy Boylefollows the adventures of Jamal (Dev Patel), a teenager who was orphaned as a young boy and left to fend for himself in the slums of Mumbai.

Also at the Ellie Caulkins (in the lobby), Tom Noel, a will sign his new book Mile High City between 6:30 to 8 p.m. Three companies offer two tickets for $52.80. A favorite among comedy/improv fans, The Bovine Metropolis Theatre is offering the deal for Friday and Saturday improv comedy shows. Denver Centre Theatre Company $52.80 two-for pricing throughout Arts Week. Buntport Theatre; and the Denver Brass charges the same amount for four tickets.

Congratulations, President-Elect Obama

DIA Gears Up for Winter

New snow-removal equipment and practice runs ready crews for big snows

On December 6, my son is flying from Durango, connecting in Denver and arriving in Oakland to join his father and stepmother in Wine Country. They are flying from Portland, ME, to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and then connecting one more time in Salt Lake City to Oakland. I hope my son takes a good book, because he might have a long wait. I suspect that his travel will be seamless.

Since it opened in 1994, DIA has had only two major closures due to unusually heavy snowstorms, the first March 17-19, 2003, and the second December 20-21, 2006, when the airport received more than 20 inches of snow in 24 hours. In a feature called "Ready for Snow Biz," the Denver Post recently reported that the airport has taken delivery of the first seven of 30 high-speed, multi-function snow-control machines that can plow, sweep, air-blast snow and, in some cases, spray liquid de-icers too.

When a winter storm hits the Front Range, snow removal at DIA a considerable challenge. It has six runways -- five that are 12,000 feet long and 150 feet wide and the sixth, the world's longest runway at 16,000 feet long and 200 feet wide. During the unseasonably hot days of late October, these $709,000 behemoths were doing dry runs on the runways and taxiways. The first eight new machines to be delivered were made by Borschung of Switzerland; 22 are coming from Oshkosh Truck Company/M-B Companies. The total cost will be $32 million -- but for travelers to, from or changing planes in Denver, the investment is priceless.

Earthbound Friendships Can Start in the Travel Blogosphere

After Emailing back and forth, we met fellow travel bloggers in real life and real time

I can't recall whether I found Audre and Dimitri's A Traveling Love Affair blog, or whether they found mine, but I've been reading about the peripatetic life with a lot of admiration and a little bit of envy, and we have occasionally corresponded. They have been traveling the world since 1995, by plane, train, bus, motorcycle, bicycle and automobile. Their individual itineraries are epic, starting with a nine-month trip from Jakarta, Indonesia, where they had worked to Istanbul, Turkey, where they spent five months. Most recently they traveled from Santiago, Chile, to Denver for a planned half year in Colorado.

When I found out they they were her, we speeded up our correspondence with an intention to meet personally. Yesterday, the intention to get together became reality. We were expecting a FedEx shipment of four fresh lobsters from Maine, and when I learned in the last minute that there would be six, I invited Audre and Dimitri in the last minute. They were free and joined us. You can read about our dinner here, but the interesting part, for me, is how in the 21st century, people we meet in the cyber-community of travel bloggers can easily turn into face-to-face friendships. When we follow each others blogs, we know quite a bit about each other before we ever shake hands.

This was the third time this year that I met a fellow blogger. Last March, travel blogger and travel ombudsman Christoper Elliott and I happened to be in Durango at the same time. I managed to catch him and his wife at the tail end of their breakfast, and we spent a bit of quality time over a cup of coffee before we went our separate ways. You can read about our coincidental presence in Durango here.

And from the food blogging community, I met Massachusetts blogger Don Lesser and got together with him, his wife and his sister when they came to Colorado for a wedding. They wanted Mexican food, and I wrote about our dinner at Juanita's here.

It's wonderful to put faces to cyberspace relationships, which is yet another thing that I've learned to treasure about the travel blogosphere.