Old Faithful? No, that's the Beehive Geyser, also at Yellowstone National Park.

Fascinating facts about America's wonderful West
Because America's West is fascinating,  Austin-Lehman Adventures has come up with fascinating factoids about the area. To wit:
 * There are fewer than 1,000 geysers in the world. yet more than 500 of them are within Yellowstone National Park, giving it the highest concentration of geysers on the planet. (Another factoid: Although the park is primarily in Wyoming, it extends into Montana and Idaho.)
* More than 2,400 miles of streams flow through Yellowstone, providing some of the best fly-fishing in the world.
* In the Black Hills of South Dakota, the work-in-progress Crazy Horse mountain carving will be the world’s largest sculpture  -- 563 feet high and 641 feet long.
* Mount Rushmore’s Thomas Jefferson sculpture was originally started on George Washington's right, but after 18 months Jefferson was dynamited off and carved on the other side.
* At the intersection of three separate ecosystems, Zion National Park has a more than 900 species of plants not found anywhere else in Utah.
*In most rural areas of the United States, 2500 stars can be seen on a clear night. But at Bryce Canyon in Southwestern Utah, 7,500 stars can be seen twinkling.

For more curious fun facts, click here. For information about Austin-Lehman trips to the above destinations and to places world wide, visit www.austinlehman.com.

   Search Amazon.com for National Parks

Trivial question

Where in the world can you find a pangolin? (Readers of Adam Mansbach's best-seller, "Go the F**k to Sleep" have a ready reference.)

Baby on the way? Take a break while you still have time

The Trump Collection's Babymoon Package caters to couples on their second trimester who want to savor what will soon be all too rare: lazy mornings, quiet time for two, and plenty of pampering. The package is available at at Trump International Hotel & Tower New York and Chicago,  Trump International Hotel Las Vegas and Waikiki Beach Walk®and Trump SoHo New York. Included in the two-night offer, which starts at $889, are a prenatal massage for her and Trump Classic Massage for her partner;  one in-room breakfast for two; a twice-daily selection from a menu of healthy mocktails, smoothies and teas; and prenatal pillows. Visit visit www.trumphotelcollection.com.


Worth quoting

"Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.." -- Paul Theroux

The circus is coming -- to Vermont's Okemo

In the winter, we associate Okemo Mountain Resort in Ludlow, Vt., with fine skiing. But in the summer, it's a variety of attractions. For instance,  on Fourth of July weekend, a circus  will feature aerial acts with trapeze and fabric elements, partner acrobatics, and comedy.  The three performers, each with credentials including Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey, Circus Smirkus, and Cirque du Soleil. You can save by pre-purchasing tickets online at Okemo.com. Cost is $12 for  13 and older and $9 for 12 and younger. Children 2 and younger will be admitted free. Tickets purchased at the door will be priced at $15 and $12 respectively. Okemo’s celebration of the Fourth of July weekend will also include concerts and fireworks

The resort's Fourth, Festival and Fireworks package includes a three-night stay at The Jackson Gore Inn or a mountainside condo and a three-ride coupon (for each person) for the new Timber Ripper Mountain Coaster, plus access to the Spring House Pool and Fitness Center. Rates start at $68.24 per person, per day, or $545.95 total for a family of four. Okemo’s Vermont Symphony Package includes a two-night stay, two tickets to the popular July 3 Vermont Symphony Orchestra performance at Grafton Ponds Outdoor Center, a  Vermont gift basket and access to Jackson Gore’s Spring House Pool and Fitness Center, plus additional amenities. Rates start at $479 for 2 adults.Call 802-228-1600 or visit www.okemo.com. 

Tour guide joke

When tourists who are about to explore a cave ask worriedly, "Are there any bats in the cave?", some guides can't resist answering, "No. There were but the snakes ate them all."

Polar bears are a bargain in Churchill, Manitoba

The most famous polar bears in the world  live on the Manitoba coast of Hudson Bay, and come into the little town of Churchill every fall on their annual trek  onto the sea ice. A new three-day, two-night short tour is available for  $1,695, including round trip air between Winnipeg and Churchill, accommodations in Churchill, breakfast and a full-day Tundra vehicle excursion to view the bears.  There are seven departures for the Bear Country Adventure between Oct. 11 and Nov. 14.Call The Great Canadian Travel Company at 800-661-3830 of visit www.greatcanadiantravel.com.  To go directly to the  Bear Country Adventure  page, click here.

Trivial answer
You can find a  pangolin, or scaly anteater, in tropical regions of Asia and Africa. But do you really want to?


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Planning a trip? There are apps aplenty for that

If you have a smartphone or other intelligent mobile device, you're aware that there are applications (better known as apps) for just about anything. Travel is no exception, and here are a few of the latest apps available:

* Rick Steves, the radio-TV Europe guru, has a free app, Rick Steves' Audio Europe, for iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. Designed to help heighten traveler’s sightseeing experience, it organizes Steves’ library of audio files – 25 audio walking tours of Europe’s top sights plus 200 tracks of travel tips and cultural insights from his radio shows -- into geographic-specific playlists covering all of Europe. Learn more at www.ricksteves.com or go directly to the iTunes App Store.

* With the free Copenhagen Open app from Wonderful Copenhagen, you get loads of information about the top sites, museums, palaces and the like. The app also includes excellent suggestions
for best-kept-secret restaurants, bars, clubs and shops in the city's laid-back residential neighborhoods, where you might feel conspicuous pulling out a guidebook, but searching for info on your phone just makes you look like you belong.

* Kayak.com has a new version of its travel app for iPhone/iPod touch that features a redesigned user interface, and maximizes speed and reliability of search functions. The app continues to include a number of free services such as flight, hotel and car rental search, itinerary management and flight tracking, but has added new features including translation for 10 European languages, a car service search and expanded booking options. The app is can be downloaded free for iPhone and iPod touch devices through iTunes and the App Store.

* Whether you’re home or on a road trip to an unfamiliar place, the free Poynt app uses your phone's GPS and cell site location to know where you are and directs you to the nearest and/or cheapest options to fuel up. Poynt also lets you find restaurants, make reservations, search movies, theaters and showtimes, and seek out businesses. To download, visit www.m.poynt.com from your BlackBerry, iPhone, Android or Windows Phone 7.

* It's not exactly an app, but Hotwire.com now has a mobile site with on-the-go access to Hotwire’s features and deal availability via your smartphone’s browser. The site offers the same discounted hotel and car deals as the full site, which Hotwire says can get you up to 50 percent off. Visit hotwire.com from your smartphone to be re-directed to the mobile site at http://m.hotwire.com.

* The website alOt.com has launched Compare Airfare Prices for finding, comparing and booking travel via a desktop app. The company also has maps, weather and shopping apps. Find the info at at www.alOt.com.

Trivial question

This city was once called Yerba Buena. What is its name today? (Answer somewhere below.)

Dash toward $250 savings with this cruise line offer

Norwegian Cruise Line launches its Freestyle Dash limited-time offer tomorrow, with savings on cruise vacations to Alaska; Bahamas & Florida; Bermuda; Caribbean; Europe; and Hawai’i.  People who book by March 18 will receive up to $250 to spend on board for shore excursions, spa treatments or dinners in any of Norwegian’s Freestyle Dining restaurants (based on cruise length and category). The offer also includes  reduced cruise deposits at time of booking, plus free upgrades fleet-wide. See a travel agent, call  866-NCL-CRUISE (625-2784), or visit www.ncl.com.

Search Amazon.com for cruises

Worth quoting
"Travelling is the ruin of all happiness! There's no looking at a building here after seeing Italy." -- Fanny Burney


It's no joke -- $10 skiing on April 1

On April Fool’s Day,  skiers and riders who donate at least three nonperishable food items at Okemo Mountain Resort in Ludlow, Vt., can purchase a full-day lift ticket for $10. All donations will go to a local food bank. And that is just one of the spring events planned at Okemo. You surely wouldn't want to miss the Joey Jam, Slush Cup pond-skimming competition and, new this year, a wet and wild Tug o’ War. Get the details by calling 802-228-1600 or by visiting www.okemo.com.

Fabulous fact

The world's largest  estuary is the Saint Lawrence River, which connects the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean and is mostly in Canada. The estuary is over 1,900 miles long and the watershed occupies 390,000 square miles. The largest U.S. estuary is the Chesapeake Bay, which is 200 miles long  and encompasses 64,000 square miles. An estuary is the wide part of a river where it nears the sea, letting fresh and salt water mix. But you already knew that.

Grandparents declare Independence a fine destination

Independence, Mo., is promoting itself as a good fit for grandparents looking for a fresh place to take grandchildren. Wagon rides, the National Frontier Trails Museum, Puppetry Arts Institute, Children's Peace Pavilion, the Truman Library, parks, "spraygrounds" and the Adventure Oasis Water Park appeal to both seniors and children. For info, call 800-748-7323 or go to www.visitindependence.com.

Trivial answer

Yerba Buena is known today as San Francisco.

Love is in the air -- and on the slopes

As Valentine's Day approaches, here is a story of the heart from Okemo Mountain Resort in Ludlow, Vt.

On Jan. 31, James Croswell, of Roxbury, Conn., wrote a message to his girlfriend,  Jenna Winter of Ludlow, Vt., in giant block letters written on the snow under Okemo’s Black Ridge triple chair. It read, “I [heart] U Jenna. Will you marry me?” How could anyone refuse a proposal like that? Jenna and James (pictured) are heading to the altar.

 And the romance will continue at Okemo.  On Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, the resort advises single skiers and  riders in search of a match to ride the Black Ridge Triple Chair starting at 1 p.m. Couples will be paired randomly, on-the-spot, and in the time it takes to ride the lift to the top, fate will make a love connection, or skiers and riders can go their separate ways and return to the “Lookin’ for Love Line” again. 

 That's hardly all, though. Ten oversized red hearts will be hidden along some of Okemo’s easiest ski trails on Valentine’s Day. When a skier or rider finds a heart and takes it to the Real Estate Info Desk in the Okemo Clock Tower Base Area base lodge, they will win a prize package of confections. Also on the big day, one of Okemo’s lift attendants will be wearing a bright red heart on his or her uniform. Skiers and riders who report the name of the lovable liftie to the Clock Tower Base Area base lodge Real Estate Info Desk, will likewise win a sweet  treat. Also, social media sweethearts who take a photo of themselves in front of Okemo’s digital lift signs when a special Valentine message is displayed can win a Snowcat dinner adventure for two. When they e-mail their photo to info@okemo.com, they become eligible to be a finalist in a Valentine Facebook photo contest.

Okemo is offering a Romance Lodging Package starting at $699.95 per couple and including two nights of lodging in a Jackson Gore Inn Executive room, a three-course dinner for two at Coleman Brook Tavern, a 50-minute massage for each guest, a Vermont gift basket and optional two-day lift tickets at a discounted rate of $112.20 per person. This package includes all taxes and a travel protection plan and is valid any midweek (Sunday-Thursday) non-holiday period, excluding March 13-18. Call 866)-706-5366. For more information about the resort, call 802-228-1600 or visit www.okemo.com.

 Search Amazon.com for Skiing

Trivial question

What are France's two longest rivers? (Answer to this easy question somewhere below.)

Spring on Nantucket starts at $125 a night

Guests who book Nantucket vacations by Feb. 18 get the lowest rates of the spring season with a  Hot Dates, Cool Rates Guarantee. Other benefits include a dinner credit ($25 on $100 spending, or $50 on $150) and two $25 spa treatment credits. The participants:    Jared Coffin House, from $125;    The Cottages & Lofts at the Boat Basin, from $175;  White Elephant, from $195,  The Wauwinet, from $225; and White Elephant Hotel Residences, from $350.  To book, click on the hotel name, navigate to reservations and enter the code GTDLOW, or call 800-ISLANDS (800-4752637) or 508-325-1000 and mention booking code GTDLOW. 

Worth Quoting

"It would be a great country if it had a roof over it!" -- comedian Noel V. Ginnity on sometimes-rainy Ireland. 

 Companions can fly free to the Bahamas

Goin to the Bahamas? Book through Feb. 28 to get free companion airfare or an instant air credit up to $300 for bookings of four or more nights. The offer is valid for travel now through June 30 (some blackout dates  apply). Companion’s Fly Free is The Bahamas’ most successful promotion of all time, with  more than 40 participating resorts and hotels located throughout Nassau/Paradise Island, Grand Bahama Island,  The Abacos, Cat Island, Harbour Island and The Exuma. Visit www.Bahamas.com for a list of participating hotels.

Fascinating fact 

Chinese immigrants first came to San Francisco in 1848. But, according to About.com, the Japanese Hagiwara family invented "Chinese" fortune cookies at Golden Gate Park's Tea Garden.

Give honey to your honey

Kimpton's The Muse New York has a honey of a package, called Bee Mine. Throughout February, guests will receive premier accommodations, 14 percent off the best available rate, in-room and take-home Burts Bees products, two honey cocktails at the in-house restaurant Nios and a complimentary evening wine hour in the hotel's living-room-style lobby. The package starts at $175 per night.  Call  212-485-2400 or book  at www.themusehotel.com with rate code PVAL.

Trivial answer

France's two longest rivers are the Loire and the Seine.

Are hotel loyalty programs worth the trouble?

For some of us, frequent-flier programs are no longer worth the bother. For others, the same can be said of hotel loyalty programs. According to a new survey from hotels.com, those who belong to loyalty programs are finding a number of shortcomings:

 * Ninety-three percent want improvements made to their memberships. 

 * Almost six in ten (59 percent) want fewer restrictions on how they can use their program benefits.

  * More than one-third (37 percent) don’t think the value added bonus is ever really as great as the program wants them to believe.

 * Nearly one-quarter (24 percent) don’t like the fine print that comes with benefits.

* Nearly half (49 percent) didn’t book anything in the last year using their reward travel benefits, such as a hotel stay, a flight or a car rental. 

Now, hotels.com isn't exactly neutral in this matter, since it is promoting its own program, welcomerewards, which it calls "a simple program that offers one free night after every 10 nights booked." But the most enjoyable part of the survey centers on what most people (93 percent) would give up to get a free hotel night:

* 71 percent would give up clothes shopping.

* 65 percent would abstain from chocolate. 

* 31 percent would drop their cell phone. 

* 29 percent would give up watching television.

Or so they say.

Worth quoting

“He who has seen one cathedral ten times has seen something; he who has seen ten cathedrals once has seen but little; and he who has spent half an hour in each of a hundred cathedrals has seen nothing at all.” 

                                                                                                                                      -- Sinclair Lewis

A Family Adventure Retreat in Vermont

In Ludlow, Vt., Okemo Mountain Resort's Family Adventure Retreat, Aug. 14-17,  is designed for families with children  7 and older. It includes three nights of lodging and two full days
of activities with options for children only, adults only, or for the entire family together.  Total cost for the long weekend, including activities, equipment, guides, lunch on Sunday, and lodging, starts at $369.60 per person, for a family of four with two children.

For details, click here.

Fascinating facts

Forty-six percent of the world's water -- about 6 sextillion gallons -- is in the Pacific Ocean. The Atlantic has 23.9 percent; the Indian, 20.3; the Arctic, 3.7 percent.

Telluride ski pass sale starts Aug. 3

The Telluride Ski Resort has announced 2009-2010 season pass pricing, keeping rates the same as last season. However, if four adults purchase season passes together during the annual Pass Sale Aug. 3-Oct. 30, the price drops to 2007 rates. An individual adult season pass will cost $1,198 when purchased during the sale, but the 4Pass will cost $998 per person.

Go to www.tellurideskiresort.com or call 970-728-7517

What's in a name?

Just beyond Hope, Idaho, there is a resort community named Beyond Hope.