Frontier Airlines' Endangered Species

Lovable talking critters on airliners' tails threatened with extinction

When Cincinnati-based Republic Aviation took over Frontier Airlines last summer, it promised financial health without changing the name or doing away with the talking animals painted on aircraft tails that inspired one of the better advertising campaigns on television. First, Republic RIFfed the Frontier office in Denver, and more recently, rumors developed that Frontier's name and mascots would go away too.

The endangered animals are Grizwald the grizzly bear, Benny the other grizzly bear, Montana the elk, Stu the Eastern cottontail, Trixie the red fox, Rudy the other red fox, Mo and Jo the red fox cubs, Ollie the great gray owl, Humphrey the bison, Grace the swan, Woody the wood duck, Sherman the sea lion, Andy the pronghorn, Holly the great blue heron, Sal the cougar, Stretch the egret, Larry the lynx, Flip the bottlenose dolphin and others in menagerie.

Concerned Frontier employees rallied to save the animals and even launched a Facebook page called "Save the Frontier Airlines Brand and Animals." Nearly 400 people have joined the "Save Frontier" page on Facebook.

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.

Henry Moore Sculptures and King Tut Treasures Coming to Denver

Botanic garden and art museum hosting two blockbuster exhibitions this year

Henry Moore was a 20th century British sculpture who is best known for his large, abstract bronzes found in important public spaces around the world, including opposite the British Parliament in London, the plaza in front of Toronto's City Hall, in front of Berlin's Kongresshalle, outside of Australia's National Gallery in Melbourne and at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Tutankhamen was a youthful 18th dynasty Egyptian pharaoh who ruled in the 14th century B.C. and inspired some of the most exquisite, intricate bejeweled pieces that the anonymous craftsmen of the Nile ever produced. Both are coming to Denver -- the Moore exhibition this week, King Tut's treasures this summer. I'm excited about both and hope the both locals and visitors to Colorado will see them.

Moore in the Gardens

The Denver Botanic Gardens' landmark outdoor exhibition of 20 monumental Moore works opens on Monday, March 8, and runs through January 11, 2011 enabling art lovers to see these pieces in all seasons and in diverse environments, Discover sculptures in the Gardens’ diverse landscapes including dormant winter gardens, prairie wildflowers, serene reflecting pools and the rugged rock alpine garden.. Moore found inspiration in natural environments, and the Botanic Gardens is (are?) dedicated to bringing and displaying nature in the heart of Denver and also at the Botanic Gardens at Chatfield in Littleton, south of the city.

If you need to understand more about Moore, join a free tour (with the price of admission on weekends at 1:00 p.m. through the run of the show) or special curator-led walks from May through October, $15 (check schedule later). For non-members, admission through May 9 and after September 12 is $11.50 for adults; $8.50 for 65+  and military; $8 for ages 4-15 and students, and free for children 3 and under. In summer, admission for all is $1 more. The main Gardens are at 1005 York Street, Denver; 720-865-3500.

Tut at the Museum

Denver is immensely fortunate, and honored, to be one of the five North American cities hosting Tutankhamun - The Golden King and The Great Pharaohs. Atlanta, San Francisco, Toronto, New York and Denver. It will be at the Denver Art Museum for six months beginning July 1 and closing January 2, 2011.

The art museum is devoting two large galleries in the Hamilton Building to this touring exhibition featuring more than 100 treasures from Tut's tomb and other sites. Not quite as large as most of Moore's sculptures but imposing nevertheless is a 10-foot statue, the largest depiction of of King Tut ever unearthed.  It was found in the remains of the funerary temple of two of his high officials and still retains much of its original paint. Other artifacts in this remarkable exhibition come from the reigns of other important rulers throughout 2,000 years of ancient Egyptian history, from about 2600 B.C. to 660 B.C.

The exhibition is the product of heavy hitters in the realm of culture and antiquity. It was organized by National Geographic, Arts and Exhibitions International and AEG Exhibitions, with cooperation from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. A portion of the proceeds from the tour will go toward antiquities preservation and conservation efforts in Egypt, including the construction of a new grand museum at Giza near Cairo.

I visited Egypt a year ago and was captivated. The tombs in the Valley of Kings are open by rotation to try to protect them, and Tut's tomb was not open while I was there. The tomb was discovered in 1922 by by Howard Carter, and while many ancient tombs had been looted of their treasure, Tutankhamun's was intact. This is not the first time that priceless artifacts from the tomb have been on tour, but it is the first time they have been to Denver. The Treasures of Tutankhamun tour lasted from 1972 to 1979, visiting the British Museum, museums in the USSR, Japan, France, Canada, West Germany and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Tut tickets are now on sale to Denver Art Museum members and go on sale to the general public on May 14. Click here for the complicated pricing schedule. The museum is at 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway (just south of Civic Center Park and on 13th Avenue between Broadway and Bannock) Denver: 720-865-5000.

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

JFK Airport is Constipation International

Airport's longest runway closed for repaving

New York's already congested John F. Kennedy International Airport has gotten that much worse with the shutdown of the longest of its four runways for repaving. The Bay Runway, which pilots know as 13R-31L, sticks out into Jamaica Bay. The repaving project started on March 1 and is expected to be out of service for four months. Color me skeptical, but I'd put my money on construction delays. Why should repaving be completed on time when hardly anything else at the airport ever seems to be?

According to reports, one-third of JFK's traffic, including something like half of the departures, are using the three smaller runways. If you've ever flown in or out of JFK, you have seen (and waited in) long conga lines, even under the best of circumstances, and I'm afraid that New York rarely enjoys the best of circumstances. When I fly to Europe, I already try to avoid Chicago's O'Hare, especially in winter. I was beginning to feel more tolerant of JFK since the installation of a monorail connecting terminals, making plane changes a more efficient and pleasant process. But now....

International carriers using JFK must endure the construction delays, but domestic carriers have more flexibility. JetBlue, American and Delta and perhaps others have cut their schedules while the main runway is being repaved. That means those of us who connect to international flights at JFK might now be forced to us LaGuardia, another miserable, delay-plagues airport, or if they do manage a domestic flight to JFK, the fares might well have increased.

Even before 14,572-foot Bay Runway was closed, the US Department of Transportation ranked JFK a pathetic 28th out of 31 major airports in terms of delays, which the Federal Aviation Administration expects to be the Federal Aviation Administration expects delays to be about 50 minutes during peak times and 29 minutes off-peak. Fifty minutes sounds better than an hour, and 29 minutes better than half-an hour, which is bad enough. In order to make the next numbers sound better, airlines have begun padding their schedules by adding expected waiting times into their flight times so that they won't go on record as "delayed" or "late." If you're flying via JFK, bring a good book.

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 with 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.

Denver Sings "Happy Birth-DIA"

Denver International Airport at 15 -- looking back and looking ahead

Sometime at the end of February 1995, I flew out of Stapleton International Airport en route to, I think, Honduras. I returned to the new Denver International Airport, which had opened on February 28 while I was away. If an airport could have had a new-car smell, DIA would have had it. As I look at the original version photo below (which might or might not pop up on your screen in its entirety), I count 16 small masts or antennae atop the main terminal's distinctive Teflon tents -- one for each year and one for good luck.

After much ridicule and a hiccupy debut, DIA has matured into the fifth-busiest airport in the national and ninth-busiest in the world. Thirty thousand airport, airline and government workers and 140,000 passengers a day are under those Teflon tents and on the concourses. Many modifications have been made over the last 15 years: The central feature in the main terminal has been a dancing fountain and various kinds of gardens. The platforms on both sides of the terminal on the baggage-claim level have been widened (originally it was a challenge to wheel a SmartCart or a big piece of luggage around the concrete pillars,) and a roof now covers the platforms, because the original design didn't take into account summer's strong sun and random fall/winter/spring snows.

One thing that hasn't changed but continues to puzzle me one of the exits from the train level to the terminal, which has not been used for 15 years, always has a human security presence. Why on earth didn't they erect a gate? Other changes are obvious: a different mix of transportation entities with booths on the perimeter of the terminal, the post-9/11 addition of unsightly but mandatory security checkpoints complete with snaking lines of passengers cluttering the floor of the grand space and the great emptiness of the ticket counter areas, especially on the west side, since many passengers now print their own boarding passes and also checking as few bags as possible.

On the airside, there are now six runways taking up just a fraction of the airport's 54 square miles of land. That huge tract, annexed by the City and County of Denver for the airport, also boasts an enormous array of solar panels, a bison herd (a safe distance from the runways, of course) and 27 oil and natural gas wells.In contast to airports constructed decades ago and now hampered by congested metropolitan areas, DIA has lots of room under the big Western sky.

Back to the terminal, where increased passenger traffic and security needs not contemplated two decades ago, there's a proposal to move checpoints to the current ticketing areas. That would free up the main terminal space, which would them be restricted to passengers and also be more aesthetic with the TSA's hardware and mazes of passengers heading for the screening stations. There's a debate about whether new, upscale eating and retail in a repurposed main terminal would be a success or a fiasco. There's also a question as to whether an airport hotel that has been on the drawing board, at least conceptually, from the beginning is viable, and whether a lightrail extension to DIA is worth the cost of construction.

The Denver City Council, airport officials and consultants, who paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to study the options, are charting DIA's course for the next 15 years and beyond. Stay tuned.

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.

Earthquake and Chilean Tourist Destinations

Reflections on Chile; broad-stroke news of current conditions

I created this blog in Santiago, Chile, during the 1996 Society of American Travel Writers convention there. The earliest posts are about the Santiago-Valparaiso area more or less in the center of this long skinny country, Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia in the far south and fascinating Easter Island (Isla de Pascua in Spanish) 2,300 miles out in the Pacific Ocean. Natural disasters (and man-made ones too) are heart-wrenching to begin with, but learning of tragendies in places I have visited adds a special poignancy.

It was with a mixture of sadness and relief that I read the following Chile Turismo summary sent to me by Gina Morgan who handles public relations and marketing for the Remota Lodges in the country.

Desert – The north of Chile was not affected by the quake and has not reported any damage.

Easter Island – Easter Island, which lies 2,300 miles off the cost of mainland Chile, a 5.5 hour flight from Santiago, was not affected by the quake. Initial tsunami warnings have been lifted and all operations are normal.

Santiago and Central Region - Santiago’s airport suffered structural damage to the passenger terminal, however no damage was reported to the runways and the airport is expected to reopen later this week. Electricity and phone lines have been restored in Santiago and the city’s public transportation including its metro is fully operational. Valparaiso and Viña del Mar have also reported damage. The annual Viña del Mar International Music festival which was underway has been suspended.

Lakes and Volcanoes – The northern part of the Lakes and Volcanoes region, around the city of Concepcion and the Bio Bio River, was most affected by the quake. Authorities are still working on assessing the full damage. Basic essential services including water, electricity and telecommunications are gradually being restored. The southern part of the Lakes and Volcanoes region was not affected by the quake. Operations in popular tourist towns including Pucon, Puerto Varas and Puerto Montt are normal.

Patagonia – The far south of the country was not affected by the quake and has not reported any damage.

Chile is a country with a history of seismic activity. The country’s preparedness, including its strict anti-seismic building codes, the rapid emergency response from the government as well as the help from a number of organizations can be credited for managing the situation and help minimize the damage. The country’s tourism infrastructure has, overall, fared well, reporting little damage.

Author Wayne Bernhardson, who has written Moon Guidebooks about Chile and Argentina and therefore has good contacts down there, has posted some more detailed news here and here on his blog, Southern Cone Travel.

When I visited briefly in 2006, Valparaiso, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, still showed evidence of a catastrophic earthquake a century earlier. The quake that struck in August 1906 killed nearly 3,000 people, and many buildings still bore cracks and scars. The fatalities appear to be far fewer, but I cannot imagine how an even more powerful quake might have affected the colorful buildings of this beauitfully located and very historic harbor city. I also wonder about the vineyards and whether the vines will be adequately watered and the wineries whose cellars are stacked with barrels and bottles of wine. I wonder whether the ski lifts at Portillo and Valle Nevado were affected. And of course, I am concerned about the Chileans who lost their homes and their livelihoods, for whom the effect on tourism is of relatively minot concern. The world reached out to Haiti with aid. The casualty toll was higher, CNN was there 24/7 for weeks and the country far more impoverished to begin with. I wonder what the world has in its reserves for Chile.

Give the Chileans a bit of time to take care of basic infrastructure needs and get aire service back to normal, and then put this beautiful country on your to-visit list. It's late summer in the Southern Hemisphere now. Harvest season is coming. And ski season will follow. Donate to relief efforts if you can, plan on visiting -- or at least buy some Chilean produce and order some Chilean wine to help the economy.

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......

US Airlines Recycle Just 20% of Their Trash

Unhappy ending for the 880 tons of newspapers, aluminum cans, plastic cups and more annually generated by airlines

When flight attendants roam up and down the aisle with large trash bags to collect passengers' discards, I've always wondered whether someone somewhere sorts it, or whether it just ends up in landfills. Responsible Shopper, a consumer watchdog website, has issued a new report cleverly called “What Goes Up Must Go Down: The Sorry State of Recycling in the Airline Industry.”

I wish it had been otherwise, but their disheartening finding is that of the more than 880 million tons of waste that carriers generate annually, only 20 percent is recycled while, the organization says, fully 75 percent could be. Delta, Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic and Southwest are doing the best job of recycling and United and US Airways, the worst.

Lookout Landfills, Here It Comes!

According to research published by the Natural Resource Defense Council, airlines annually throw away 9,000 tons of plastic, enough aluminum cans to build 58 Boeing 747 jets, and enough newspaper and magazines to cover a football field some 700 feet deep. The council says that energy savings from recycling this waste "would represent a contribution by the airlines to reducing their environmental impact in the face of the considerable climate impact of jet fuel, including 600 million tons of carbon dioxide per year pumped into the atmosphere by commercial jets alone."

According to the Responsible Shopper report, airlines could recycle nearly 500 million more tons of waste each year (including 250 million tons of in-flight waste) than they do. Furthermore, no airline recycles all the major recyclables: aluminum cans, glass, plastic, and paper, and no airline has a comprehensive program for minimizing or composting food waste or waste from snack packages. It is probably out of embarrassment that no airline provides good public information about their recycling program, or reports out on progress in relation to any stated goals. In addition, the report says, that all airlines provide over-packaged snacks and meals (below), and not one is working with manufacturers to reduce this waste.

It doesn't have to be this way. A lifetime ago, I worked for Swissair in New York. Even then, the carrier had a contract with pig farmers near Zürich to take all the food waste. But then, the Swiss always seem to do things better than most of the rest of the world. When I think of how little flight attendants have to do on most domestic flights in these times of hardly any food service and minimal snack service, it doesn't seem to much to ask them to bring two trash bags down the aisle, one for recyclables and one for landfill-bound trash.

 The List

Ranked from best to worst with even the best receiving only a B- grade for current recycling efforts and future plans:

•  Delta Airlines
• Virgin America
• Virgin Atlantic
• Southwest Airlines
• Continental Airlines
• Jet Blue
• American Airlines
• British Airways (I'm not sure why this British flag carrier is on the list either)
• Air Tran
• United Airlines
• US Airways

Proactivity

Green America and Responsible Shopper have a call to action too. They are asking passengers respectfully ask flight attendants whether materials on their specific flights are being recycled, and go online to report their findings. The recycling report also contains a list of the airlines and their contact information for anyone who wants to contact them directly.

Responsible Shopper's lead researcher, Victoria Kreha, has some advice for passenger wanting to be proactive, "For concerned consumers looking to spend their travel dollars wisely, airline waste may be the ultimate example of ‘what goes up must come down.’ The good news is that airlines are starting to pay attention to recycling; the bad news is that they have a long way to go to improve the situation. Fortunately, airlines can overcome any of the challenges to creating in-flight recycling programs, including employee education and involvement, knowledge of the type of waste produced, and a time- and space-efficient system.”

I'm not about to preach about the environmental benefits of recycling, even though airlines practice pathetically little of it, better waste management has the potential of creating jobs nationwide, since according to Colorado Recycles, recycling creates six times as many jobs as landfilling. High time for airlines to step up to the recycling plate.

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

Vail Names Trail After Lindsey Vonn

Ski areas have traditionally honored important people in their development and notable competitors by naming trails after them. Consider Sun Valley, with Gretchen's Gold (Gretchen Fraser, 1948 Olympic gold medalist) and Christin's Silver (Christin Copper, 1984 Olympic silver medalist and two dozen World Cup victories) both on Seattle Ridge, and Picabo's Street (Picabo Street, 1998 Olympic gold medalist, World chamnpionship gold, World Cup downhill title) down on the Warm Springs side.

Vail has renamed the International Trail and now calls it Lindsey's in honor of Lindsey Vonn's two medals in the just completed 2010 Winter Games. How appropriate, since the run was used to contend the women's speed events during the 1989 and 1999 World Alpine Ski Championships.

And yes, I know that other ski areas have honored other competitors who trained on their slopes. Sun Valley is just the won -- I mean one -- that came to mind when I saw the photo of the new trail sign honoring Vail's big winner during the '10 Games.

Catchy Choice Hotels Commercial from Half a World Away

Do you find Choice Hotels' country-song commercial as catchy as I do? "I've Been Everywhere" popularized by Hank Snow and then Johnny Cash, it is a rapid-fire vocal list of places all over the country. To me, it is way better than most jingles. Turns out that the original song was written in Australia more than half a century ago, according to Wikipedia. One Geoff Mack wrote it in 1959 with names of Australian towns, and it was recorded by an Aussie singer named Lucky Starr (real name, Leslie Morrison). First it was a down-under hit, and then it became a hit in the US in 1962 too, when Hank Snow retooled it with American places. Johnny Cash's 1996 release was a hit again a generation later. The Wikipedia entry includes various verions released with different place names around the globe. Click here for a YouTube video featuring Johnny Cash's recording. I keep intending to figure out how many places are in the song and how many I've been to -- not a lot, really.

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.

New National Monument Designations on the Horizon -- Maybe

Western towns will benefit if sites are federally protected

An internal memo about more than a dozen natural areas considered for possible National Monument designation has surfaced. The areas that the Department of Interior is studying for management and protection by the National Park Service or other federal agency reported are:

• San Rafael Swell, UT
• Montana's Northern Prairie, MT
• Lesser Prairie Chicken Preserve, NM
• Berryessa Snow Mountains, CA
• Heart of the Great Basin, NV
• Otero Mesa, NM
• Northwest Sonoran Desert, AZ
• Owyhee Desert, OR/NV
• Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, CA (expansion)
• Vermillion Basin, CO
• Bodie Hills, CA
• The Modoc Plateau, CA
• Cedar Mesa, UT 
• San Juan Islands, WA

Predictably, two Utah politicians immediately came out in opposition -- just in case the two potential monuments made it even into the official proposal state. Senator Orrin Hatch has already been quoted as threatening do everything in his power to prevent the proposal from moving forward, and Governor Gary Herbert keeps arguing that states should be allowed to manage their own natural resources. Click here for the leaked document that has raised the hackles of these rib-rock Republican aginners.
I suppose Messrs. Hatch and Herbert don't think of the economic benefit that accrue to their state annually from visitors to Utah's magnificent national parks:  nearly 1 million Arches, more than 1 million to Bryce Canyon, nearly half a million to Canyonlands, about 600,000 to Capitol Reef and 2,689,840 who visited Zion. And that doesn't include those who visit Monument Valley Tribal Park at the Arizona border and assorted national monuments, federal wildlife preserves and other public lands under federal jurisdiction. Rather than tourist dollars, I suppose Utah's H-team prefers landmarks like the enormous, open-pit Kennecott Copper Mine, the world's largest, just outside of Salt Lake City or uranium mining, even though a tailings pile from a mill near Moab is still leaching into the Colorado River.

The Grand Staircase-Escanlate National Monument in southern Utah was declared and placed under Bureau of Land Management protection under the Clinton Administration, raised howl of indignant protests from the legions of highly placed Utah aginners, including Senator Hatch who called it a "land grab." It it was, the government grabbed 1.9 million acres, including land eyed for coal mining development Andalex Resources, a Dutch company.

Today, regardless of its stance then, the Kane County Chamber of Commerce now boasts: "Near the National Parks you will also find many State Parks and National Monuments, such as Kodachrome Basin State Park, Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Pipe Spring National Monument, Cedar Breaks National Monument, and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. With ninety-five percent of county lands administered by State and Federal Agencies, you'll never run out of things to do, or places to go. Drive roads less traveled, and find a place to call your own." Unspoken is" and stay, shop, eat and pump gas in Kanab and other nearby towns. And people who never would have heard of the place without national monument status do just that.

Fingers crossed that the government ignores the likes of Hatch Herbert, creates more federally protected areas -- and provides the funding to manage them well

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.

Venus and Mars Discuss Ladies-Only Airplane Lavatories

Japan's ANA is introducing them on long flights. A good idea or not?

The current buzz in the air travel sector of the blogosphere is ANA's announcement that it would be converting one front-cabin lavatory on international flights for women only. Stuck at the Airport posted the news on "Ladies Only Lavs on All Nippon Airways" and commented, "Why a woman’s only lav? Women who have flown on long flights don’t even need to ask." Upgrade: Travel Better posted "Do We Really Need Women-Only Lavatories Inflight?" and noted, "Restrooms are scarce resources on aircraft. Taking one lavatory out of commission for half the people on the plane means a greater likelihood of people (men) milling about in the aisles, waiting for a free loo."

It should come as no surprise that a woman, Harriet Baskas, writes Stuck at the Airport and a man, Mark Ashley, writes Upgrade: Travel Better. Ashley asks for his readers' opinions on the subject. What's mine? I really have none, because I've very rarely flown in any cabin except the back of the plane.

 

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.

Travel Thumbnail: Heart Mountain Relocation Center

World War II internment camp historic site saddens the contemporary heart

The Winter Olympics captivate me. Apolo Anton Ohno, whose father immigrated from Japan, is representing the U.S.in his third Olympics as a crowd-pleasing favorite in short-track speedskating. Kristi Yamaguchi, the California-born 1992 Olympic champion, is an NBC a commentator for figure skating at the 2010 Vancouver Games. Her paternal grandparents and maternal great-grandparents immigrated to the United States from Japan. Her mother was born in an internment camp during World War II. It might have been the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in the Big Horn Basin of northern Wyoming.

The Story: In one of the more shameful chapters of American history, our government forced tens of thousands Japanese-Americans from their West Coast homes after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and relocated them into 10 internment camps in the US interior. One was at Heart Mountain between Cody and Powell, Wyoming. It accepted ("welcomed" being the wrong word) its first internees on August 12, 1942. For three years, nearly 11,000 US citizen and alien internees were housed behind a barbed-wiore fence in primitve, 120 by 20-foot uninsulated tarpaper barracks laid out like a military base. At that time, the camp was the third-largest "city" in Wyoming. Internees grew vegetables, raised pigs and chickens, worked in the camp hospital and also in the region. They got passes to leave the camp to toil for a pittance, even by the wage standards of the day, to replace men who were in the service

The history of the camp, reflecting both the bigotry of the era and anti-Japanese feelings and fears caused by the Pearl Harbor attack, is heartbreaking. In total, some 45,000 Japanese aliens and 75,000 American citizens of Japanese ancestry were forced into indefinite and involuntary relocation. Ironically, more than 800 men and women from Heart Mountain alone served in the American military defending the nation that had treated their people so shabbily.

Minidoka National Historic Site in Idaho and Manzanar National Historic Site in eastern California are administered by the National Park Service to document this period. The Heart Mountain Relocation Center is a desolate place today, especially on a gray, blustery winter day that makes it all the more poignant. The site is partly Bureau of Land Management land and partly on land purchased by a not-for-proftit Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation dedicated to keeping the memory alive.

When the internees were released and the camp was dismantled, the government sold the barracks to returning veterans for $1 or $2 each, provided the buyers removed the structures. Some can still be seen on area ranches and farms. Two barracks of the 457 barracks, part of the hospital, vents for underground root cellars and one frame house that had been occupied by Caucasian camp officials remain on the site along the railroad tracks between the Shoshone River and distant Heart Mountain.

The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation has purchased back some of the non-government-owned land originally occupied by the camp and has received a government development grant of nearly half-a-million dollars.The camp site currently has a short, flat  trail with government-standard interpretive signs and a World War II honor roll with 800 names of those servicemen, including 15 killed in action, and a visitor center is framed in and planned for completion in the next couple of years.

LaDonna Zall, a retired phys-ed teacher, is a member of the foundation board and a tireless advocate for creating a meaningful site to memorialize the period that she peripherally witnessed. On November 15, 1945, as a young girl, she and her father watched the last trainload of internees leaving the camp. She watched hem walking down the hill and had many questions about who they were and what had happened. As the longtime Acting Curator, she is still getting answers. When the visitor and interpretive learning center is completed, the answers will be easier for everyone to come by. Meanwhile, the site, which received National Historical Landmark Status in 2007, is an empty, poignant place that merits a visit and reflection about the toll that fear and intolerance take on a nation.

LaDonna told the Heart Mountain story to a small group of us from a warm vehicle. She wisely stayed inside the van while we walked that path and read as many of the plaques as time permitted. I wish I had managed to snap a few pictures of her, but as I listened to her tell the camp's story with an astonishing command of numbers and dates, I neglected to do that. A "progress celebration" for the visitor and interpretive center is planned for August 22.

Cost: Entry and the self-guided tour are free until the visitor center is completed. Then, a modest. entry fee is expected.

Contact: Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation, P.O.547, Powell, Wyoming 82435-0547; 307-754-2689.