It's Elk BuglingTime

The haunting mating call of bull elk attracts cows -- and spectators

During the autumn rut, bull elk battle each other for dominance over a harem of cows. Their haunting, almost plaintive cry resonates from the mountainsides that enfold Rocky Mountain valleys. At dusk, the animals emerge from the high country and the forests to tussle and to mate. When you see them, you marvel that such large, stately animals could utter such a high-pitched shriek. The bugling, the fighting and the mating go on at night, and as the sun rises, the animals begin retreating again and the valleys fall quite for the day.

For us, a drive to Rocky Mountain National Park is an easy destination for this annual spectacle. It think of it as an accessible wildlife experience, sort of like a "National Geographic Special" come to life. For us, coming from Boulder for an evening, the park's prime elk-viewing is Horseshoe Park, a huge, riparian meadow conveniently visible directly off US 34 not far from Estes Park. You can hear the bulls' eerie sound on the Rocky Mountain Drama website.

With no natural predators in or near the park, other than a few coyotes and hunters who take out animals that stray beyond the park boundaries, the elk population is enormous, so visitors are almost sure to view the herd in action. In fact, there are so many elk there now that the vegetation is suffering, the park service is embarking on a "management plan" to try balance a healthy, sustainable herd and the aspen and willow that they feed on.

Rangers who have to balance flora, fauna and visitors, but for us who love to see animals in the wild, elk encounters are thrilling, no matter how many times we have experienced them. In addition to Horseshoe Park, we have also seen/heard bugling in Moraine Park and Upper Beaver Meadows. And beginning in fall and continuing through the winter, we have seen elk right in Estes Park. If you're driving through, note that they don't always wait for the light or cross at crosswalks.

Other places offering such elk encounters include Glacier National Park, MT; Grand Teton National Park, WY; Wind Cave National Park, SD; Yellowstone National Park, WY/MT; and in Canada, Jasper National Park and Banff National Park, both in Alberta. There are of course, millions of acres of other public lands where elk abound, but so do hunters, so I'd rather direct you to places where you're more likely not to get shot.

Some years ago, while visiting along the coast of Maine, I heard the unmistakable sound of bugling elk. I thought I was hallucinating, but it turned out that I was near the Bayley Hill Elk & Deer Farm!

Travel Industry to Tackle Climate Change

"Live the Deal" initiative emerges from Copenhagen conference

The United Nations Climate Change Conference that wraps up tomorrow in Copenhagen has been in the news mainly for the estimated number of demonstrators, the number of demonstrators arrested and the heads of government who would or wouldn't be attending, and if the were, when, and if they weren't, why not. A travel-industry initiative called Live the Deal has emerged from Copenhagen. Let's hope it helps people continue to travel while decreasing the environmental burden caused by those travels. We have already seen hotels go green, but lodgings are only a small part of the travel picture. International industry leaders are, of course, just beginning to talk, but as the old proverb says, "Even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

 Below is the press release about those first steps:

Copenhagen, Denmark/ Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates/Madrid, Spain 16 December - "Live the Deal", an innovative, global campaign to help travel companies and destinations respond to Climate Change, reduce their carbon footprint and move to the Green Economy, was launched this week during the Copenhagen Climate Summit.

Announcing the new initiative, long time tourism green campaigner Geoffrey Lipman UNWTO Assistant Secretary-General said: "What Copenhagen represents is a new commitment by the world community towards sustainable low carbon growth patterns. The targets and mitigation actions that countries develop and negotiate through this process will be a new base for travel industry action. What we are providing is a very simple way to get behind the evolving government initiatives, to keep pace with changing patterns and to demonstrate that our sector is acting, not simply talking." He added "We should not be ashamed to promote the growth of smart travel – clean green, ethical and quality - it’s the lifeblood of trade, commerce and human connection".

"Live the Deal" follows the pattern established in the UN led Copenhagen Seal the Deal campaign by its single minded focus, its simplicity and its broad based engagement goals. It will seek to encourage the sector directly and through representative organizations.

It has been developed with the support of UNWTO, whose Secretary-General Taleb Rifai calls it "The kind of link between global policymaking and responsible tourism action that we are looking to inspire and encourage. Our sector fuels the economy, creates jobs and is one of the biggest development opportunities for the world's poorest countries – and it can be a leader in the transformation to a green economy".

The campaign will be underpinned by a simple carbon calculation tool that allows easy correlation with government targets and implementation measures, as well as a Think Tank and Annual Innovations & Investment Summit. The inaugural Summit will be in Abu Dhabi in the last quarter of the year. Live the Deal will be promoted by a multimedia video "We can take this Climate Change" from platinum album writer and singer Alston Koch which will be profiled around the world in 2010

'Parade' Cites Flaws in Airport Security

Sunday supplement piece on America's wasteful and ineffective airport security system

When bloggers write, thousands read. When Parade, the Sunday supplement, publishes a story, it reaches millions. Today's issue contained a piece called "The Wrong Way Protect Airports?", with a title phrased as a rhetorical question to which many of us answered "yes" even before it was asked.

Writer Lyric Wallwork Winik compared Transportation Security procedures, which since the agency was established have involved an increasing amount of technology (X-rays, metal detectors, chemical sniffers, "puff portals" and such, with the Israeli system. She wrote:

"Israel, home to many of the world’s most devastating terror attacks, has a
different approach to security. Liquid sizes are restricted, but first-class
passengers are given steak knives. Travelers in Israel are interviewed by highly
trained security experts.

In the U.S., billions are spent instead on scanning machines and other
technology to detect weapons. 'The Israelis ask questions, and they profile the
situation, not the person,' explains Seth Cropsey, a former Defense Department
official. 'It’s often a much more thorough approach to
security.'”

The TSA, she writes, "is rolling out new procedures that it says will keep us safer when we fly... Some specifics? New shirts and headsets for checkpoint workers, plus two days of specialized training in how to keep passengers calm."

Winik reported that the agency stationed placed "more than 2,000 behavior-detection experts at airports across the country,' but critics say U.S. security strategy still focuses too much on finding bombs rather than bombers." Israel is certainly a far smaller country than the US and it has a small fraction of the total number of America's airports and airplanes, but it also has a far smaller popular from whom to draw security personnel and train them in "behavior detection" -- and I'm willing to bet that the training takes longer than two days or even the length of time US agents are trained in these skills.

TSA defenders claim that the near seven-year period between 9/11 and now proves that the agency's policies have been effective. Others of us would argue that international terrorism has gone after non-US targets to keep everyone guessing -- or that the US government, with the support of sensationalist mainstream media, has fomented such a climate of fear that no further attacks on "the homeland" are necessary.

Seth Cropsey, whom Winik identifies as "Seth Cropsey, a former Defense Department official," told her, that we really don’t know if “the massive amount of technology that we have thrown at the problem actually works or whether it has been intelligence and other methods overseas that have prevented another air attack. I hate to speculate on that answer, because I fly.”

Whatever the reality, I glad that a mass-market publication has introduced this topic to the general public. Is the public buying the TSA line? Perhaps not. Parade included a reader poll asking the question, "Does America have the right approach to airline security?" As of now, 94 percent of the respondents replied "no" with only 6 percent replying "yes."

Big Bling in Washington

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History to display two fabled blue diamonds

If the US had a monarchy, the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond (top right) would be part of the crown jewesl, but we're a republic, so the priceless gemstone belongs to all of us. The 31.06-carat Wittelsbach-Graff (below right) Diamond will soon be on view for the first time in more than half-a-centry. These two fabulous blue diamonds will be displayed together for the first time at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History from January 28 through August 1.

The Hope is known to have been found in a mine in India in the 17th century, while the Wittelsbach Diamond surfaced in the 1660s when Philip IV of Spain presented to his daughter, who was betrothed Emperor Leopold I of Austria. According to the Associated Press, "In 1722 it became the property of the Wittelsbachs, the ruling family of Bavaria. It disappeared after World War I, resurfacing in Belgium in 1951, and it was auctioned last year by Christie's in London for more than $24 million. It was acquired by jeweler Laurence Graff, chairman of Graff Diamonds International Ltd."

If I were going to be in the Washington, DC, area in that timeframe, I'd go and gawk.

Summer Waning in Beautiful Boulder

Colorful plantings in Boulder's pedestrian zone attract photographers

Tens of thousands -- probably more like hundreds of thousands -- of visitors come to Boulder, CO, every year: vacationers en route from Denver to Rocky Mountain National Park, parents of University of Colorado students, fans of CU (not UC, but CU) football and other teams, scientists visiting the city's prestigious laboratories, business travelers and folks from elsewhere in the Rockies in town for a getaway at the foot of the Flatirons. Sooner or later, everyone visits the Pearl Street Mall, a beautifully landscaped and immaculately maintained pedestrian mall along a four-block stretch of Boulder's historic downtown.

Visitors and locals alike love to hang out on "the Mall," watching buskers perform their acts, listening to street musicians, attending one of several warm-weather weekend festivals, attending free Wednesday evening Band on the Bricks and Friday Noon Tunes performances in summer, or just strolling to or from dozens of intriguing places to drink, dine and shop. The floral display, from the tulips of spring to blossoms that linger until the first hard frost, are the warm-weather backdrop for all of these other attractions (in winter, little lights are strung on bare trees, but that's still a few months off).

We are lucky enough to live just a few blocks from the Mall, and as I was walking downtown the other day, admiring the plants, I was taken by the stunning array of healthy coleus plants. I took a number of closeup pictures, which I present here now on a misty romantic day that is a souvenir of the sunny summer days that are about to give way to autumn. I leave it to the gardning enthusiasts among you to ideintify exactly which coleus varieties I photographed. The coleus are still there, and will be until they freeze or are are snowed on.

New Hotel Wing Shines at Sunshine

Upgraded accommodations at Sunshine Village near Banff

The Banff/Lake Louise area in western Alberta boasts three very different and very intriguing ski areas. Mammoth Ski Louise's network lifts and vast skiable terrain comprise the largest ski area in the Canadian Rockies (or perhaps all of the Rockies). Norquay, the smallest of the trio, is the closest to town and has a reputation for challenge. Like Taos, Norquay's toughest runs are the first you see on approach, with the easier turf out of sight. But Sunshine Village offers something unique in the Banff area: slopeside lodging.

Sunshine is celebrating its 82nd season -- quite a history in the ski world, where many areas date back to the '50s and '60s but hardly any others on this continent reach even the most rudimentary operations back to the 1920s.

When the transport gondola from the valley below stops operating at 5:30 p.m. (10:30 on Fridays), Sunshine Village becomes as self-contained as a ship afloat in a pure white sea. Dining, entertainment, socializing and activities for adults and children are concentrated in the Sunshine Mountain Lodge. The lodge's just-opened new wing features suites and rooms that are compact but complete. "Cozy" rather than "spacious" would be the word. All three ski areas are within the boundaries of Banff National Parks, which meant that the new wing had to replace an old one so as not to extend the building's footprint. The lodge's location just steps from the lifts is unsurpassed.

Space in the rooms and loft suites is tight, especially when guests have their clothing and gear scattered around, so public rooms like the one below are well used for games, socializing or just relaxing.

The loft suites have one regular queen-size bed and one queen-size Murphy bed on the lower level and a second large bed upstairs in the loft. When a family or group of friends share a suite, Sunshine Mountain Lodge accommodations don't provide much privacy, but I do love these duvet covers...

...and the convenient location and the mountain views can't be beat.

Reservations: 87-SKI BANFF (877-542-2633) or 403-277-7669.

Skiing in Colorado This Winter? Buy a Season Pass

Vail Resorts and Intrawest sell such inexpensive season passes that even vacationers benefit

If you are planning to ski Vail and/or Beaver Creek and/or Breckenridge and/or Keystone and/or Arapahoe and/or Heavenly Resort, CA, an EPIC pass is a great value, because it buys a season full of unlimited skiing/riding at all those resorts for $579 per adult and $279 per child. You must buy it before November 15, and the only other hitch is that it is non-transferable and non-refundable. You can even purchase it online. The ""smart pass" comes with an embedded chip for no-hands scanning; keep it in your pocket, and a scanning device at the gate at the bottom of the lift logs you in.

Vacationers do not typically show up at a ski area and purchase a one-day lift ticket, so even if that rarely purchased ticket price were already announced, it wouldn't be relevant. But to underscore the EPIC pass' value, consider that an advance-purchase six-out-of-nine-day lift ticket will be $564 per adult and $522 per child; a seven-out-of-10-day adult ticket will be $658. For overseas visitors who typically take longer ski vacations, the value is even greater.

Intrawest's Colorado resorts (Copper Mountain, Winter Park and Steamboat) offer similarly attractive deals. The Rocky Mountain Super Pass Plus is good for unlimited skiing at Winter Park Resort and Copper Mountain, plus six unrestricted days and unlimited free Friday afternoons throughout the season at Steamboat. It is just $439, which is $50 less than last winter's. If you will not get to Steamboat, the Rocky Mountain Super Pass offers unrestricted access to Winter Park and Copper for just $399.

It's worthwhile for you out-of-staters to buy one of these passes even if you're planning just a five- or six-day ski vacation but might be able to sneak off to Colorado for a long weekend sometime during the winter. Since the passes are unrestricted, that includes holidays. AND you get four $50-off coupons to be used for lift tickets for friends and family, plus discounts on rental/retail, food and beverage and Ski & Ride School lessons. These passes are also available online or at Christy Sports Front Range locations

And, if you are lucky enough to live in Colorado and ski, you can't afford not to glom onto an offer like this -- maybe even both if you get to lots of days or partial days.