Fun, fun, fun at Curious George Festival in N.H.

 You've got to love Curious George. New Hampshire's Waterville Valley certainly does -- so much so that the 4th Annual Curious George Cottage Family Festival returns  Aug. 13-15,  featuring a weekend full of family-friendly activities including a banana pancake breakfast, a family nature walk, a Fireman's BBQ lunch, photo opportunities with George and the Man With the Yellow Hat, a traveling barnyard, face painting, games for kids, a Curious George story hour and movie viewing, planetarium shows, and a family spaghetti dinner. Whew!

Headlining the festival will be musician Steve Schuch, and storytellers Rick and Carolyn Hunt Schuch will sing "Songs & Tales of the Earth," celebrating nature in all its diversity. Rick and Carolyn, better known as The Laughing Couple, combine Native American storytelling and improvised art into one program for audiences of all ages.

Wristbands for the 4th Annual Curious George Cottage Family Festival are $28 per person for a 3-day pass. Children two and under get in free with a paying adult. Limited tickets available at the event. While in Waterville Valley, families can also enjoy swimming and canoeing on Corcoran's Pond, walk along Waterville Valley's many hiking trails, skate at the WV Ice Arena, or play a game of tennis at the WV Tennis Club.

Participating hotels are offering  festival packages, which include Friday and Saturday night  lodging, a round of golf per day at the WV Golf Club, a Festival Wristband, and a Curious George souvenir.  (That wristband includes admission to the Fireman's BBQ Lunch, Photo Opportunity with Curious George, Petting Zoo, Live Music, Mad Science Show and Fun Station, Storytellers, Face Painting, Games for Kids, Curious George Storytime, Movie Viewing, Planetarium Show and Nature Walks). Additional fees are charged for the Banana Pancake Breakfast and Curious George Spaghetti Dinner; tickets  can be purchased with wristbands.
   
Curious George, a sweet simian who is now featured in books, movies and television,  was born in the imaginations of H.A. and Margret Ray, who spent their summers in Waterville Valley.
For more information about the area and the Reys, call 1-800-GO-VALLEY or go to www.visitwatervillevalley.com.

Trivial question

On average, how many people are airborne over the United States at any given hour?  6,100? 61,000? 610,000? Or 61,000,000? (Answer somewhere within this posting.)

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A memorable free travel exhibit in Boston

 To celebrate their  passion for travel, Grand Circle Corporation Chairman and Vice Chairman Alan and Harriet Lewis have accumulated an extensive collection of vintage travel posters dating from the early 20th century up to World War II. They are now sharing their collection with the public through the Grand Circle Gallery, which opens to the public Friday in Boston.
In addition to vintage travel posters, the gallery will feature the breathtaking photography of their late friend,  Bradford Washburn, who also was a founding honorary director of Grand Circle Foundation, their company’s charitable organization.

The gallery will also include the Lewises'  black-and-white photography—some travel-related, like the vintage images of Europe photographed by George Daniell, and some reflective of times of historic world change, like the dramatic portrayals of the civil rights movement captured by photographer and filmmaker Danny Lyon, and photographs of the 1960s by Elliott Erwitt, including a portrait of Jacqueline Kennedy at her husband’s funeral in 1963.

Grand Circle Gallery is housed in Boston’s Fort Point Channel district, in a historic 19th-century brick building whose first tenants were Chase & Co., a confectionery company that patented America’s first candy machine in the early 1800s.  Today, it is the headquarters of Grand Circle Corporation, parent company of Overseas Adventure Travel and Grand Circle Travel. For more information on the gallery, click here.

Fascinating fact

American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class. Or so legend has it anyway.

A luxurious lake stay in Missouri

A Day on the Lake Package is being offered by Chateau on the Lake Resort & Spa in Branson, Mo. Featuring an Ozark mountaintop setting overlooking Missouri’s  Table Rock Lake, the AAA Four-Diamond resort features a full-service marina that the resort says offers more water sports activities than any other resort in the Midwest. Offerings include watercraft rentals, such as ski boats, fishing boats, waverunners, catamarans, paddleboats, sea kayaks, and canoes. Parasailing, guided fishing excursions, scuba diving, and snorkeling are among other options.

 

In addition to accommodations for two nights in a lake view room, the package includes a $150 credit for the Chateau Marina to be used toward one of the water sports offered, as well as a picnic lunch for up to four people. The package, which is available through Sept. 30, begins at $570 per room, plus tax, and is based on availability. For reservations or for more information, call 1-888-333-LAKE (5253) or (417) 334-1161 or visit www.chateauonthelake.com.

Trivial answer 

 On average, 61,000 people are airborne over the United States at any given hour.

Families can save at a YMCA that is hardly typical

Most people might not make the YMCA their first choice for a family vacation. But there are affordable Y cabin and lodge vacations still available in Colorado, and they appear to be nice indeed.

Both the YMCA of the Rockies Estes Park Center in Estes Park, Colo., surrounded on three sides by Rocky Mountain National Park, and at Snow Mountain Ranch in Winter Park, situated in beautiful Grand County, near Winter Park Resort offer:
* Buy two, get the third night free packages.

* Free activities on-site, from miniature golf to night hikes.

*  Accommodations including fully equipped mountain cabins or comfortable lodge rooms.

* Two free adult breakfasts per lodge room.

At Snow Mountain Ranch, package rates start at  $109 per night in a lodge room that can sleep up to six adults, and includes two adult breakfasts per day. At Estes Park Center, package 
rates start at $164 per night in a lodge room that can sleep up to five adults. Both offers include two adult breakfasts per day.

Visit www.ymcarockies.org or call 800-777-9622.

Fascinating fact

The Taj Mahal took as many as 20,000 workers and 20 years to complete. (But the results are quite nice.)

Hurry, hurry: Virgin is having a one-day sale

Virgin Atlantic is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a 24-hour sale today for flights from Newark Liberty Airport to London, with fares starting at $186. Book by midnight for travel starting on July 1. 

Visit www.virginatlantic.com.

Monkeying around in Waterville Valley

We're giving you plenty of notice on this New Hampshire event. Waterville Valley Resort’s Curious George Cottage Family Festival will take place Aug-7-9.  The Margret and H.A. Rey Center will be host, and among family events will be a Curious George character lunch, nature walks and hikes, children’s games, a lobster bake, Curious George movies, and astronomy and star gazing. Why, there will even be banana pancakes. A lodging package features Friday and Saturday night lodging, admission to the Fireman’s BBQ Lunch, a photo op with  George, a petting zoo, many activities and  a Curious George souvenir. Prices start at $56 per person per night (based on quad occupancy).

Visit www.ReyCenter.org. 

You deserve a cruise, along with extra savings

Through Aug. 31,  members of the Cruise Lines International Association -- both travel agents and the cruise lines themselves --  are staging a You Deserve a Cruise promotion, with savings and  incentives. After all, says Terry Dale, the association's president and CEO, "Now more than ever, a vacation is what people really need." We agree. 

Read all about the offers  here.

You also deserve a chuckle, of sorts 

Two men are engaging in the old debate on whether Hawaii is pronounced "HaVaii" or "HaWaii." 
They ask a passerby, who answers, "Havaii."
"Thank you," says the  first man.
"You're velcome," replies the passerby.

Trivia answer: The statue is in Ireland

Yesterday's mystery photo (see it below) was taken in Cobh, Ireland. The seaport community, once called Queenstown, was  the departure point for 2.5 million of the 6 million Irish people who emigrated to North America between 1848 and 1950. The statue depicts  girl named Annie Moore, and her brothers. Annie Moore was the first person to be admitted to the United States through the new immigration center  at Ellis Island, New York, Jan. 1, 1892. For the honor of being first, she was presented with a $10 gold piece. It was her 15th birthday.