Autumn in August

A few chilly, rainy days with snow above 10,500 feet provide foretaste of fall and winter

Colorado is a favorite summer escape for Texans and other Sunbelt/Sweatbelt dwellers seeking to escape the heat and humidity. Anyone visiting over the past several days certainly has gotten away from the heat, but steady rain have brought unusual humidity for mid-August. Right now, in Boulder, the temperature is 50 degrees and the humidity 93 percent. Earlier in the week, those numbers were reversed.

Up to six inches of snow have been reported in the high country, according to television traffic reports this morning, and Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park is or was closed. (Channel 9 News photo, right, taken today in Rocky Mountain National Park.)

All this is a reminder that the 2008-09 ski season is scheduled to launch less than three months from now. Keystone plans to open November 6. Arapahoe Basin still has its 2007-08 calendar online, and Loveland's website is currently down, so I don't know when these contenders for early-to-open honors plan to begin operations.

What I do know is that many people are looking to economize this season -- especially since just getting to the slopes will most likely be more expensive than in the past. With that in mind, this is the time for skiers and riders decide where in Colorado they want to slide this winter. Each ski area, large or small, has its own value-laden season pass. Examples of Colorado's big-league passes are Vail Resorts' new $579 EPIC Ski Pass (unlimited, unrestricted, season-long access Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly and Arapahoe Basin) and the $439 Rocky Mountain Super Pass Plus (unlimited access to Winter Park/Mary Jane and Copper, plus six unrestricted days and free skiing every Friday after 12:30 p.m. at Steamboat).

Just to underscore what exceptional values these are, consider that an Aspen Premier Season Pass (Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Buttemilk, Snowmass) is $1,769 if purchased before September 12, $300 more if purchased later. That does serve to keep the riff-raff away, but then again, the riff-raff probably can't afford the gas to drive to Aspen anyway.

The best deal of all is Colorado Ski Country USA's 2008-09 GEMS card, which at just $10 (ten dollars!) is worth considering even for those purchasing a Rocky Mountain Super Pass, an EPIC Ski Pass and/or a pass to any single ski area. Ten smaller areas belong to the GEMS group: Arapahoe Basin, Echo Mountain, Eldora, Loveland Ski Area, Monarch Mountain, Powderhorn Resort, Ski Cooper, SolVista Basin and Sunlight Mountain Resort. Benefits include free lift tickets to three GEM resorts, two-for-one lift tickets at four others and discounted lift tickets at six resorts.

The rain will stop, some of that high-country snow will melt and temperatures will rise again, but the calendar pages will not stop turning, and ski season is drawing closer by the day.

San Miguel de Allende'sBotanical Garden

Charco del Ingenio showcases Western Hemisphere cacti in a protected landscape

The roughly 154 acres occupied by the unique botanical garden called Charco del Ingenio outside of San Miguel de Allende is reportedly second most important collection of cacti in Mexico, after Mexico City. That would rank Cacti Mundi that my husband and I visited in San Jose del Cabo several years ago number three or less. The Chacro del Ignenio is a pirvately funded ecological preservation area that began 18 years ago with 60 species now dispays some 550 cacti varieties from native habitats that stretch from Patagonia to Canada, but mostly species that grow in Mexico.

Mario Hernandez is knowledgeable passionate about the plants under his care. He is still awed by cacti's ability to store water and yet transform CO2 into O2 He points out that cacti are edible, and have religious, medicinal and spiritual value as well. And did I mention that they are great to look at too? He didn't bother saying that. I think he realizes that is self-evident.

Below are just a few examples of the varied and wonderful cacti growing at the Charco del Ingenio Botanical Garden.

The botanical garden includes flat dry land, a canyon, spring-fed wetlands and even a lake. The section nearest to the entrance is laced with easy paths. The natural area across the canyon is largely wild and includes the ruins of an old hacienda. We didn't have time to go look at that.

Cactus "buds" and cactus flowers.

When the Dalai Lama visited Mexico in 2005, he came to Charco del Ingnio and blessed the Plaza of the Four Winds, a ceremonial and scenic gathering place designed by architect Enrique Pliego and honoring local indigenous groups.Built with inlaid colored stones,wasinspired by the 16th-century Chichimeca-Toltec codex, the plaza is designed with four outer circles that indicate the four cardinal directions and corresponding figures that evoke the four natural resources (earth, water, flora and fauna) in traditional pre-Columbian colors. Reached by a smooth, flat but unpaved trail, it is one of the few places in San Miguel Allende that is wheelchair-accessible.

The Charco del Ingenio is open for self-guided visits, with 2 1/2-hour guided tours presently given on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. The cost is 50 pesos.

TSA-Approved Laptop Bags

Metal-free laptop cases should ease airport security hassles -- but the TSA continues its relentless intrusive ways

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Also, see "Fliers Cheer Laptop Policy Change" from USA Today, August 15 issue, published after I wrote the following report about one of these approved cases.
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First came TSA-approved luggage locks for checked luggage that the Tansportation Security Agency can open but that theoretically others who might wish to riffle through bags. Now from Pathfinder Luggage comes Checkpoint Friendly Compu Brief, a laptop carrier bag that has reportedly been redesigned in accordance with TSA instructions, without metal, zippers, closures or labels that could obscure the view of the computer as it passes through X-ray screening apparatus. The company says that they have tested it California's Ontario Airport and were able to see a clear view of the laptop.

Preorders of the two initial designs, briefcase (estimated at $120-$125) and wheeled ($150-$200), are being accepted at 800-759-9738. In addition to these bags, Pathfinder says that they are developing a fashionable, lighterweight version for the female traveler.

This new product will mean one less thing for laptop-toting flyers to deal with as they remove their shoes, belts and jackets, take keys, change, iPods and cell phones out of their pockets, and drink that last sip of water. However, it will be no solution at all for the Department of Homeland Security's new regulation permitting them to confiscate laptops from international travelers, keep them however they wish, copy information from hard drives, analyze it with forensic software and in other ways trample travelers' civil liberties.

TSA Intrusions Continue Anyway

In a new blog post called "No ID at security: Fast-track to a government “list”? Either way, why are we bothering?," Upgrade: Travel Better details all sorts of reasons not to fly anywhere, convenient new computer bag or not, domestically or internationally, if it involves the TSA. The agency has reportedly been storing personal information from all sorts of government documents about thousands of air travelers who might have forgotten their "government-issued ID" or perhaps had a wallet and driver's license stolen. I you are in that situation, Upgrade: Travel Better notes that "you’re now required to answer 20 questions about your personal life [that] is disturbing. What does this have to do with airplane safety, exactly?"

The blog further notes:

"The TSA has yet to provide an adequate explanation for how checking identification actually enhances security. Yes, there are some bad people who want to blow up planes. But if you actually search them before letting them onboard, then they should be able to walk into the airport carrying a Mickey Mouse Club membership card
and a smile and that should be that. Cockpit doors are locked, pilots have guns,
and passengers aren’t about to take crap in the sky. But you’ll
never get a straight answer out of TSA for why ID checks are necessary for domestic
travelers."

Hear! Hear!

Mega Mao Joins Other Gigantic Sculptures

The chairman joins four US presidents and one very nobel Native American leader

Sulptor Gutzon Borglum (who is always referred to as "Borglum") and his helpers carved these four gigantic heads of four important presidents out of South Dakota granite. Mt.Rushmore is now a National Monument, administered by the US Park Service.Nearly 2.5 million visitors a year come to gaze at Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson. Teddy Roosevert and Abraham Lindoln. Borglum, whose father was an immigrant from Denmark, began working on the South Dakota project in 1927 and remained involved until he died in 1941 at the age of 74.

Just seven years after Borglum's death, sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski (who is always referred to as "Korczak") began sculpting a nearby mountain into what will someday be a statue of Crazy Horse, the great Lakota chief to honor Native Americans. When completed, it will be world's largest sculpture. Born in Boston into a Polish-American family, Korczak worked virtually alone until his death in 1982, like Borglum also at the age of 74. His last words to his wife, Ruth, were, "You must work on the mountain-but go slowly so you do it right." Ruth and eight of their 10 children operate Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation board of directors and guide Crazy Horse toward eventual completion.

Meanwhile, in Mao Zedong's home province of Hunan, a gigantic head is being constructed -- not carved out of a mountain, but built on a concrete frame. China has the biggest defense wall (the Great Wall of China), the biggest dam (the Three Gorges Dam) and one of the tallest skyscrapers (the 101-story World Financial Center in Shanghai, the second tallest skyscraper on the planet -- at least until the completion of Burj Dubai).

By the Sea, By the Santa Barbara Sea

I recently attended a conference at the Four Seasons Resort, The Biltmore. A handful of people seemed to squeeze in a run or a walk on the beach, but all I had was the occasional ocean view when dashing across the beautifully landscaped property between my room and the conference rooms. I thought a few of the images I grabbed were worth posting. I hope you agree.

DIA Traffic Up; National Air Capacity Down

Colorado airports' service drops relatively modest

According to an interactive map compiled by USA Today, the number of seats on US commercial airlines has been dropping steadily with more cuts to take effect this fall. Changes range from a modest 0.5 percent in Wyoming, which doesn't have a large population or that much air service to begin with, to a 15.6 percent in mammoth California to a whopping 17.2 percent in Missouri. Colorado's capacity, according to the figures compiled by the paper, is down 1.8 percent.

Meanwhile, Denver International Airport, the 800-pound gorilla among the state's airports and one of the world's busiest, saw a record 4.8 million passengers arriving, departing or connecting in July 2008. I wasn't one of them (my last flights were in June), but it appears that in the short haul, surcharges, extra fees for formerly free services and the reduction or elimination of many of those services don't seem to be keeping people from flying.

DIA's capacity is down 2 percent, while Colorado Springs (CSO), the state's second-largest city, is down 15.6 percent, albeit from a much smaller base. Capacity at most of the Western Slope airports has actually increased from 48.5 percent in Aspen (ASE) to 8.9 percent in Montrose (MTJ).

It's interesting to click on the map and play around. It's kind of nifty, because when you click on a particular state, up come statistics (percentages and average daily seats forecast for November 2008) for individual airports within that state.

'Oasis of the Seas' Now at Sea

Enormous floating city, the 'Oasis of the Seas,' heading for Florida

The 'Oasis of the Seas' should be called the 'Behemoth of the Seas': 1,187 feet long, 208 feet wide 213 feet (that's more than 20 stories!) high from the water line, 16 passenger decks, 5,400 passengers (double occupancy; 6,296 guests total if a body is crammed into every sleeping space) and 2,165 crew from over 71 countries. One of the two dozen elevators is equipped with a bar. The center of the ship is something like a landscaped atrium called Central Park. I guess that way they can book more "balcony cabins." The $1.6 billion ship's own website features click-on video that reminds me of an infomercial. First comes the captain, telling viewers that the crew is "wowed" by the ship. Then we see individual crew members saying, "WOW!" individual and then in unison.

I can't say. "Wow!" If it weren't too late, I'd say "Woah! Hold on!" But it's too late, for she is sailing to start service with her first regular passengers boarding in early December. A ship that at peak capacity holds nearly 8,500 passengers and crew overwhelms everything it encounters. On the winter itinerary, the eastern and western itineraries are very similar. In and out of Fort Lauderdale, then to three ports. Labadee is Royal Caribbean's private island for those who prefer activities to any interaction with any real  Caribbean residents. Falmouth on Jamaica's north coast is a new port for Royal Caribbean, which operates a fleet of cruise ships whos last name is "...of the Seas." Falmouth is a heritage site, currently under restoration. I haven't been there, but it sounds like the Williamsburg of Jamaica. Cozumel, Mexico is an island where my husband and I dived many years ago, when cruise ships -- all a fraction of the "Oasis'" size -- anchored in the local harbor and passengers were tendered ashore. Now, an out-of-town pier with built-in shopping opportunities is passengers' first (and often only) port of call there.The "Oasis of the Seas" therefore qualifies as the world's largest floating cocoon.

Passengers enter the cocoon from a new $75 million, 240,000-square-foot terminal built specificallyto be the home port for new the Oasis ships, both the "Oasis of the Seas" and the even newer "Allure of the Seas," scheduled to debut late next year). Between them, these ships are expected to bring more than 500,000 cruise passengers through Port Everglades every year. That's half-a-million people.

I do not need to post the remarkable specs and all of the facilities and activities of the "Oasis of the Seas" here. It certainly is a marvel of maritime engineering (even the stacks retract so it can pass under certain large but not-high-enough bridges). But I question the entire concept of bigger-is-better and glitzier-is-ritzier cruising. It seems like a bad idea environmental, sociologically and even socially. Segmenting this enormous ship into "neighborhoods" doesn't make it any smaller or less intimate.

Sure, it's a wow! but a Wow! that comes with a price. Like Rome, this gigantic cruise ship was not built in a day. I wonder whether Royal Caribbean would embark on such a project in today's economy and with today's sensibilities.