Do you remember where you were when it happened?

I am speaking, of course, of Saturday afternoon's successful attempt to set a Guinness world record for skinny dipping -- it's pretty safe to assume a record was set since there wasn't one before.

The event, which took place at 3 p.m. "Eastern Nudist Time'' at more than 135 locations around the country, was sponsored by the Florida-based American Association for Nude Recreation and was intended to serve as a finale to their Nude Recreation Week.

Carolyn Hawkins, a AANR spokeswoman, said that the group had not completed compiling numbers but they know that more than 8,000 participated and they are hoping the final count will reach 20,000.

Most of the gatherings took place at AANR clubs, but there were some public clothing-optional beaches, such as Gunnison Beach on the Jersey Shore and Haulover in Miami.

OK, so it sounds like you missed it. If you would like a running start at the next attempt, the folks at About.com have compiled a list of 10 resorts, campgrounds, and clubs in the New England where you can kick the tires on a clothing-free "nakation.''

Alan Berner/The Seattle Times via AP
Skinny-dippers crowd the pool at FS Family Nudist Park in Issaquah, Wash., on Saturday.

We got our first family dog ever in September. Not long after, I became a dog freak. At least an Eva Freak [our dog's name]. Now I pay particular attention to anything dog. This Saturday's event in Provincetown has caught my eye, and seems like a terrific event for any expert or novice runner, that happens to stay active with their own Evas. Dog Run Dog is in its 4th year, and provides a 5K or 10K race circuit for dogs and their people. Dog Running, the generic term for Canicross, is quickly becoming both a popular recreational and competitive sport. Requiring very little training, Canicross is easy for anyone to start.

Dog Run Dog is Saturday, June 20, from 9 a.m. to noon. In its 4th year, the race is held in conjuntion with the Carrie A. Seaman Animal Shelter and Pilgrim Bark Park. This event is professionally timed and the top three teams are awarded the coveted Dog Bowl. Call 1-802-356-4444 for info or check online.

Photo courtesy Dog Run Dog

Here’s a Flag Day freebie for you.

The Boston Harbor Alliance is offering free ferry rides this Sunday to Spectacle and Georges Islands. Simply register online at Harbor Islands Express, and select your return and departure times. Then, plan to spend a relaxing day on one of the city’s oases.

Normally, the cruises run $14 for adults and $8 for children, each way, so families looking for a Sunday picnic spot this weekend are sure to be taking advantage in large numbers. Seeing as it is Flag Day, of course, the Alliance is encouraging riders to wear red, white, and blue to show their patriotic spirit.

Facing the prospect of increasing competition from Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways, Delta Air Lines will halt nonstop flights from Logan International Airport to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on Aug. 17. “We made a competitive decision to drop the service and maintain our focus on our seven US hubs,’’ said Kent Landers a Delta spokesman. In April, Southwest announced that it would begin service from Logan with five daily flights each to BWI and Chicago Midway Airport on Aug 18, and JetBlue said it would fly to Baltimore four times daily starting on Sept. 9, a move widely viewed as a reaction to Southwest’s entrance to the Boston market. Delta will continue to offer service to BWI through a connecting flight via New York’s Kennedy Airport. In another development, Delta announced that it was cutting last-minute, walkup fares on its shuttle service from Boston to New York's LaGuardia Airport by as much as 60 percent to $129, compared with the previous fare of $329. The change would bring the carrier in line with the fares offered by most of its rivals on the competitive route heavily used by businesspeople, according to Rick Seaney, chief executive of farecompare.com, which tracks airline fares.

Posted by Paul Makishima and Chris Reidy, Globe staff

It's clear that most folks who are planning summer travel are looking at more modest options.
Most, I'm guessing are planning trips of a few days to a week by car. Interestingly enough Bloomberg News is just reporting that The Air Transport Association is forecasting that US summer airline travel will fall 7 percent from last year.
Anyway, I just did a spot this morning on NECN offering tips on how to save on trips this summer. You can watch but if you want the shorter summary here it is:

FIRST, do some research on prospective destinations for the availability of cheap or free things to do. Check out AAA guides and family-travel websites to get a feel for the lay of the land: Are there attractions, parks, beaches, places to hike and bike at or near where you plan to be? Also take a look at websites of newspapers in the area along with those of state travel and tourism agencies for calendar listings of events that may be happening while you're in the area.

SECOND, if you’re planning to get away for just a couple of days and you’re looking to cut lodging costs, consider using one of the “opaque’’ travel sites, like Priceline or Hotwire, which let you bid on rooms. The downside is that these sites are “opaque,’’ not transparent. You don’t bid on a room at a specific hotel. Instead you make an offer on a room at a class of hotel -- 2-, 3-, or 4 stars -- in a specific city and you don’t know exactly where you’ll be staying until your bid is accepted. But by using these sites you can score savings of up to 40%-50%, particularly at higher-end properties this year.

THIRD, if you're looking for a more extended vacation, a like a week or more, consider renting a house. This often gets you a lot more space at the same or lower per-night cost of a hotel room and will save you all kinds of money in things like food. There are a number of websites like VRBO, which stands for Vacation Rentals By Owner, and craigslist with vacation home listings.

AND FINALLY, AND THIS IS A GREAT TIP: If you can be flexible about where you go and are willing to wait till the last minute, say, the week before your vacation you can get great deals on unrented vacation houses -- and I expect there to be a fair number of these available this year. In years past I have saved as much as 50% on rentals this way. When you spot last-minute openings, they’ll probably be discounted already but don’t be afraid to make an offer. By taking the last-minute route you may not be able to get a place in that town on the Cape that you usually go to, but it can also be an opportunity to explore another place or perhaps even another state.

Hope this helps. If you have other ideas, please share.

From May 21 to Sept. 27, 2009, Kimpton is offering a special PRIDE rate code to members of the LGBT community to receive a complimentary weekend night when they book two nights at the best available rate. Plus, Kimpton is including a $50 dining credit for use at participating restaurants adjacent to Kimpton hotels.
“Kimpton is proud to be supportive of the LGBT community,” said Alan Baer, senior vice president of human resources and co-chair of the Kimpton Gay & Lesbian Employee Network. “As a company we are very involved in the communities we live in and contribute to dozens of LGBT organizations.”
The Summer of Pride offer is available in 20 cities including: Alexandria, Arlington, Boston, Cambridge, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Portland, San Diego, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Seattle, Scottsdale, Vancouver, Vero Beach, and Washington, D.C.
Use the rate code PRIDE when booking. Some restrictions apply, based on availability. To book visit here or call 1-800-KIMPTON.

Long before TV celebrity chefs, home kitchens were the main stage. Since Colonial times, its where families and servants acted out dramas, told stories, tried new technology, experimented with ingredients, fed bellies and comforted souls. Declaring 2009 the Year of the Kitchen, Historic New England has planned house tours and special events at their properties in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Spanning centuries, they range from the Coffin House, c.1678, in Newbury to Gropius House, c.1938, the first architectural commission in America designed by German Bauhaus movement founder Walter Gropius, in Lincoln.
House tours are open on a regular schedule. Special programs include wine tastings, hearth cooking and an afternoon tea. Late April, stock up at an Herb Sale at Lyman House Greenhouses, Waltham. In June, learn about New England Victorian Cookery at Castle Tucker, Wiscasset, Maine. America’s Kitchens, a new exhibit with vignettes and interactive experiences, opens June 11 at the New Hampshire Historical Society museum in Concord, N.H., then travels in 2010 to Long Island and, in 2011, to Cape Cod. There’s also a new America’s Kitchens book.

Posted by Janet Mendelsohn, Globe correspondent

Trade card for Pure Refined Paraffine by the Standard Oil Company. Collection of Historic New England

The folks at the Perrin Post have written about the Hot Dates, Cool Rates promotion for discounts on rooms in Nantucket for spring and summer.
For instance, at the luxurious Wauwinet, the summer rate for a standard room is $746 per night (including tax), but on some mid-May and June nights the rate falls to $247.
At the White Elephant, standard rooms fetch $675 per night in summer, but you can get a room for $192 per night for some late April and early May nights, in late April and parts of May and June the price will nudge up to $214; and some July and August dates will only set you back $439.
Rooms as the Cottages at the Boat Basin will usually set you back $538 per night in the summer, but for a number of April nights, you can score a studio cottage for $137 per night, and you can snag rooms at a savings of at least 29 percent on select dates in May-August.
The Jared Coffin House is normally $170 per night, but in April room can be had for as little as $109; on some May and June dates $115; $137 for select other days in June.
I just spoke to the folks at Nantucket Island Resorts, which is running the promotion and they say that, despite what you may see on the website, you can still snag one of these deals through the end of April -- and they are considering extending even farther. But if you're sure you want to go, why wait?

View from the porch at Wauwinet

Spring’s welcome arrival also signals the start of New England’s crafts show season. The timing couldn’t be a better boost to the local economy because money spent over the next two weekends puts dollars in the pockets of the professional regional and national artists who make a living selling their original work at such events. Plus buyers can add eye-catching additions to their wardrobes or home.
This weekend the Paradise City Fair of Fine and Functional Art takes over the Royal Plaza Trade Center in Marlborough, Mass., for three days. (March 20-22). Featuring 175 juried exhibitors working in wood, glass, furniture, jewelry, wearable fiber, decorative fiber, metal, painting, mixed media, and photography, there’s no excuse not to find something you’ll love. To encourage more spring vibes, the festival presents “The Gardeners of Paradise City,” an indoor exhibit of garden-related work.

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Spring might be just around the corner (7:44 a.m. EDT on March 20, for those who can’t wait), but there’s still time to get in some cross-country skiing.
The Carl Johnson Memorial 5K at Great Glen Trails on Saturday March 14 will let you glide and give a hand to a good cause at the same time. The $8 race fee benefits the ALS Association, which helps the search for a cure for the progressive neurodegenerative disease, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, that claimed Carl Johnson in 2006.
Johnson volunteered frequently as a timer for competitions at Great Glen, and the event celebrates his irrepressible sense of good fun. Besides vying for fastest times (men’s and women’s) in both classic and skate skiing, participants also guess their finishing times. The closest guess wins the ‘‘Mystery Time’’ prize. (The 2008 winner was off by only 11 seconds.)
Johnson was a great fan of flamboyant outfits, so the race includes a prize for loudest racing tights. ‘‘This doesn’t look like your usual field of racers,’’ says Mary Power, Great Glen event coordinator. With times that typically range from 20 minutes to more than an hour, participants need not be top athletes.
To get to the race head to Pinkham Notch, Route 16 at Mt. Washington Auto Road in Gorham, N.H. For info, call 603-466-2333 or go to www.greatglentrails.com. Registration begins at noon on March 14, with the racers sliding out of the blocks at 1:30.

Posted by David Lyon, Globe correspondent

If you've always wanted to be one of those dysfunctional travelers who navigate the globe on "The Amazing Race,'' here's your chance. The CBS reality TV show is holding open casting calls in Holyoke on March 14 and in Burlington, Vt., on March 19. Two-person teams will be videotaped in two-to-three-minute auditions on a first-come, first-served basis. The tapes will be sent to CBS for screening (no network officials will be at the auditions so don't get too excited). Team members must be at least 21, have valid driver's licenses or photo ID cards, fill out application forms, bring passports, and meet a host of eligibility requirements. The Massachusetts casting call, held by Springfield affiliate CBS 3, is from 1-4 p.m. at the Bernie's store at 250 Whiting Farms Road in Holyoke. The Vermont casting call, held by WCAX-TV, is from 3-6 p.m. at University Mall at 155 Dorset St. in South Burlington. Bon voyage!

Too broke to pay for a lift ticket? Want to win a season's pass to one of Maine's best secrets? Try Randonnee. Saturday, that's tomorrow, folks, Saddleback is hosting the Mountain Challenge. The route traces the Rangeley, Maine, ski area's boundaries. It covers more than seven miles and rises 18,000 feet, taking in terrain ranging from beginner blues to Saddleback's gnarliest black. Competitors will race up the mountain on Hudson's Highway to America using ski mountaineering equipment (metal edges required), then jockey for position as they traverse the area's summit ridge before descending double-black Muleskinner.
First prize is a season's pass for the 2009-2010; second prize is pair of Black Diamond adjustable poles; third prize is SmartWool accessories. No lift ticket is required, but the entry fee is $25, which icludes a tee shirt and spaghetti dinner. Advance registration isn't required, but more information and online registration is available at www.SaddlebackMaine.com.

Posted by Hilary Nangle, Globe correspondent

Delta Air Lines Inc. is re-establishing summer service from Boston to both Nashville and Charleston after a yearlong hiatus that was prompted by skyrocketing fuel prices. The Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan, said that these mid-Atlantic cities -- Boston's second and third largest domestic destinations that lack service -- will have daily service using 50-seat regional jets through regional carrier Delta Connection between June 4 and Sept. 7.
"We are extremely pleased that Delta Connection has returned to Nashville and Charleston with daily service from Boston," Edward C. Freni, Massport’s Director of Aviation, said in a press release. "Delta Connection has a reputation as a high value air carrier whose presence at Logan will result in more choices and competitive fares for our customers."
Delta announced last March that it would terminate nonstop service a few months later between Boston and Las Vegas, New Orleans, Greensboro, N.C., Savannah, Ga., Louisville, Ky., and Charleston, S.C. as the airline industry scrambled to offset high fuel costs by cutting seat capacity. Delta said at the time that it canceled routes that weren't headed to a hub airport and were served by 50-seat regional jets, which were disproportionately impacted by the high cost of fuel. Today, jet fuel costs almost 60 percent less than it did a year ago, according to the International Air Transport Association.

By Nicole C. Wong, Globe staff

Amid the numbing gray of the season, you become convinced that dinner out is what you need. But you want something different; haut is too fussy and fusion is just a culinary mutt putting on airs.
So why not go for a drive and dine in the 19th century.
This Saturday, Old Sturbridge Village will offer ’’Dinner in a Country Village,’’ an adults-only program that allows a group of up to 14 visitors to prepare and indulge in an 1830s New England-style feast. The village holds these dinners on Saturdays from November through March. It also throws offers similar events for families, called ‘‘Families Cook,’’ typically during school vacation weeks.
Guests arrive at Sturbridge around 5 p.m. after the living history museum has closed for the day. They are met by costumed interpreters who take them to the parsonage and help oversee preparations, but guests do all the chopping, stirring, and mixing, using period kitchen tools and methods.
Perhaps the prospect of Calvinist-influenced cuisine seems unpromising? One look at the multicourse menu should offer comfort: pounded cheese, mulled cider, winter vegetable soup, crookneck squash pudding, pear pie, dressed macaroni, stewed red cabbage, roast stuffed chicken, Scots collops (beef with apples), cranberry sauce, long rolls, raspberry charlotte, coffee, and sparkling cider.
For more information contact Old Sturbridge Village at 508-347-3362 or check out the website. Reservations are required, and the cost is $85 per person.

Blue, the Inn on the Beach, may be nestled in the dunes of Plum Island, Newbury, but it takes its styling cues from the boutique hotels of Miami’s South Beach. This is the first year the inn is open year-round, so to encourage off-season visits, a 2-for-1 special is being offered through the end of March. Stay two nights and the second night is free, resulting in a nightly rate beginning at $122.50.
Visit www.blueinn.com and click on Special Promotions or call 978-465-7171.
Posted by Richard P. Carpenter, Globe correspondent

February is always tough. Very cold, very snowy, and dark. But this year is particularly hard what with Mr. Layoff scratching at nearly everyone's door.
We need some uplifting; we need a break.
The one bright spot? That it's Black History Month so there are generally many interesting and cool events. But where to look for a compendium of all the state has to offer? Hard to come by. I scoured the Web and came up empty handed (try it yourself and if you find a major listing let me know). So I managed to scrape together more than a dozen, with the help of the Mass. Office of Travel and Tourism, which I pass on to you.
But surely there is more. If you know of any, feel free to pass along. I'm serious. Give a brother a hand here.
Feb. 5
Martha’s Vineyard Motown Night Event
The Anchors, Edgartown, 5:30 p.m.
This event marking Black History month and the 50th Anniversary of Motown Records is presented by the Edgartown Public Library and the town Council on Aging. It features a chicken gumbo and sweet potato pie dinner and a screening of the award-winning documentary, "Standing in the Shadows of Motown.''
Call ECOA at 508-627-4368, edgartownlibrary.com/

Feb. 6-15
Annual Boston African Film Festival
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
This event showcases African American films, including "Shoot the Messenger,'' "Paris Selon Moussa,'' "Heartlines,'' "Kinshasa Palace,'' "Delwende,'' and "Awaiting for Men.''
Museum of Fine Arts

Feb. 7
Tribute to Motown
Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Springfield, 8:00 p.m.
The orchestra joins with Motown foursome Spectrum in a tribute to the golden age of groups like The Four Tops, The Temptations, and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles.
Symphony Hall, Springfield, 413-733-2291, www.springfieldsymphony.org

Feb. 7-May 31
Faith Ringgold: Works on Paper
Mt. Holyoke College Art Museum, South Hadley
This exhibition includes 18 prints and paintings, echoing the themes of protest that characterized the artist's early urban narrative paintings, as well as examples from her recent series on jazz musicians.
413-538-3185
www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/artmuseum/exhibitions/index.html#FAITHRINGGOLD

Feb. 8. 15, and 24
Black History Month KidsFlicks Program
The Worcester Public Library, Worcester
The movies and dates are as follows:
"Night John'' - Feb. 8, 1:30-4:30 p.m.
"Kirikou & the Sorceress'' - Feb. 15, 2:00-4:00 p.m.
"Daughters of the Dust'' - Feb. 24, 6:00-8:30 p.m.
Worcester Public Library, 508-799-1672

Feb. 12, 6:00-9:00 p.m.
"Traces of the Trade: Massachusetts and the Economy of Slavery''
New Bedford Whaling Museum Auditorium, New Bedford
Program commemorates the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade with a screening of Katrina Browne’s documentary, "Traces of the Trade'' about a Rhode Island family and its connections to the slave trade. A panel discussion will follow.
Click here for more information.

Feb. 20
Victory! The 2009 Black History Month Step Show Celebration
Mechanics Hall, Worcester, 8 p.m.
The Victory! Step Show features regional and local step teams competing on the Mechanics Hall stage.
For tickets, call the Mechanics Hall box office, 508-752-0888
www.mechanicshall.org

Feb. 21
"Celebrating Cape Verdean Culture in New England''
The Zion Union Heritage Museum, Hyannis, 2-4 p.m.
Claire Andrade-Watkins of Emerson College will discuss her film. A sampling of Cape Verdean cuisine will follow the presentation.
www.zionunionheritagemuseum.org/calendarofevents.html

Feb. 21
Masters at Work: A visit to AAMARP
Roxbury, (Meet at the MBTA Stony Brook Station at 10:45 a.m.) 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Spend an afternoon visiting the African American Master Artist-in-Residency Program (AAMARP). Guests can tour two of the AAMARP galleries. Visitors will have the opportunity to speak to artists about their work and make purchases. In addition, many of the artist studios will be open for viewing, including those of Hakim Raquib, Susan Thompson, Gloretta Baynes, Keith Washington and Walter Clark.
617-427-1006, www.discoverroxbury.org

FULL ENTRY

The way this winter has been going even the kids will need a break from the weather during school vacation week.
Enough with the sledding, skiing, and the like. Cape Cod's Ocean Edge Resort & Club has another idea: a week-long pool party.
For its No School, Only Pool getaway, valid Feb. 14 to 21, nightly rates start at $89 per room, per night, for a family of four. And, when accompanied by a paying adult, children 12 and under eat free from the kids menu.
The 335-room resort plans daily activities at the two indoor pools and family-friendly movies on select nights.
To book, visit the website or call 800-343-6074 and ask for rate code "No School.''
Then count the days.

With Virgin America prepared to launch its service from Boston to San Francisco and Los Angeles on Feb. 12, JetBlue announced that it will revive plans for service between Boston and New York to Los Angeles International starting June 17.

JetBlue had planned to launch service out of LAX last summer but pulled back, citing the record high fuel costs. That meant that the closest their customers could get to the city was either Burbank or Long Beach as opposed to Virgin, which offers service out of LAX. The discount carrier, which hasn't decided on fares for the twice-daily service (bet on low introductory ones), will begin selling tickets to LAX Wednesday Feb. 4.
JetBlue also has said that it will revive nonstop service from Boston to San Francisco May 1 on a seasonal basis -- which means through Labor Day -- after discontinuing the service last year.
Sebastian White, a JetBlue spokesman, denied that the moves were in response to Virgin's entrance to the Boston market.
"As you'll remember, when we canceled plans to start up LAX service last summer, fuel was at an all-time high. Fares could simply not support the cost of operations in the market,'' he said in an email. "With fuel prices down and fares slightly up, the timing was right for us to finally make our debut at LAX.''
White, however, admits that the airline sees Virgin as a competitor on the routes they both serve.
David Cush, Virgin chief executive, has said that he sees the airline's main competition as the legacy carriers, not discounters like JetBlue. Cush says his carrier aims to link major business centers, offering travelers top-flight entertainment options, service, and other amenities.
White says of JetBlue, which is no slouch in the area of in-flight entertainment and amenities, "We're committed to making JetBlue even more relevant to Boston travelers, particularly our growing numbers of business customers, by offering flights to their most-requested destinations.''
OK, guys, sounds like competition to me. And even if y'all are focused on business travelers -- as are most carriers, since suits tend to fly more than the rest of us and are more willing and able to pony up high fares for the privilege of flying when and where they need to -- I expect this could signal the beginning of good things for regular travelers in Boston.

One more thing... JetBlue says it will start flying to Montego Bay, Jamaica, May 21. Boston customers will be able to connect to direct flights departing from New York.

The Big Deal about this Southwest offer of $49-$99 one-way fares to most of the carrier's destinations is that it is for travel any day of the week. Typically, such sales limit travel to Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.
Here's the deal: You must book before Jan. 27 online for travel through March 11, and a 14-day advance purchase is required. For all the details: http://"> details head to the website.
A new development: The AP is reporting that American and Continental say they are matching the Southwest fares. And Delta has just posted a systemwide fare sale on its website that runs through Monday -- same as the Southwest sale.
I just love competition. Don't you?

Amid the slumping economy and with February school vacation week looming, the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism has just launched a program that offers savings of at least 25 percent at more than 300 Bay State hotels, restaurants, and attractions from now till March 31.

To look at a list of participating lodgings, restaurants and attractions, you must go to the agency's website and print out a Mass Value Pass. To redeem discounts, consumers must show the pass at points of purchase and be sure to mention the Pass when booking hotel reservations.

What's that? You say you're really strapped and can't afford to get away? Well, perhaps you and yours will be looking to go out to dinner or hit the theater -- dare I say it, a staycation or perhaps a naycation. Being able to shave a few bucks off is never a bad thing.

Ever since I read "My Lead Dog Was a Lesbian: Mushing Across Alaska in the Iditarod -- the World's Most Grueling Race" (the book is better than the title, by the way) I have been fascinated with dog sledding. If you're itching to be pulled along by friendly Siberian huskies from the Arctic Paws dog sled team, learn the art and history of mushing, and take a turn at controlling the team on a short ride, Stone Hill Center in Williamstown is hosting Family Day, an afternoon of dog sledding, snowshoeing, snow sculpting, and sledding on Jan. 25 from 12:30-3:30. There will be a campfire and hot chocolate - and hopefully, snow. (Lack of snow will cancel the event; check online or call 413-458-2303 to confirm.) All the activities and admission to art galleries are free. Stone Hill Center, which opened in June, is part of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. It houses art galleries and the Williamstown Art Conservation Center.

Necee Regis discussed great getaways this season in the Hub. Click below for a transcript.

As another snowstorm hovers over New England, we take a look in Sunday's Explore New England section on ways you can hone -- and even improve -- your skills in a few summer sports. Golfers and softball and baseball players need not wait until the grass is visible to take some swings and stretch out sport-specific muscles.We were reminded at one point during our interviews of how fiercely loyal players and coaches can be to their sport. It brought back high school memories of hockey players derisively calling us basketball players "roundballers," and questioning our toughness.
Frank Niles of the South Shore Baseball Club in Hingham has been involved in baseball for decades, and he talked of teaching youngsters the fundamentals by sometimes "tricking them into good habits." It wasn't important, he said, "to know which neurons in the brain were firing. We just stress that they stand on the balls of their feet and be ready when the ball is hit to them. Almost anybody can get better," he said, "and know that they are getting better.'' He paused. "If not, we can always send you to a soccer clinic."
Ouch.

Sleeping beneath the stars isn’t an option in wintertime, unless you are cultivating your survivalist instincts. An alternative is to break out the sleeping bags and head for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where families have the option of sleeping under, for instance, an enormous blue whale. This unique after-hours opportunity (no Ben Stiller sightings are promised) includes a screening of the IMAX film “Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure” and a spooky dinosaur-fossil exploration by flashlight. It’s designed for children ages 8–12 and their caregivers. Guests sleep either in the museum’s Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, under the 94-foot-long whale; beneath famous dioramas in the Hall of North American Mammals; or among the geological formations in the Hall of Planet Earth. The program dates are Friday, Jan. 9, and Friday, Feb. 6. The sleepover runs from 5:45 p.m. to 9 a.m., and the cost is $129 per person ($119 for AMNH members). It includes the movie and the fossil exploration, an evening snack and light breakfast, cots for all participants, take-home activities, and a live-animal exhibition (seasonal). To register, call 212-769-5200 or visit www.amnh.org/sleepovers for more information. Note: all participants must register in advance, and one adult is required for every 1–3 children attending. Space is limited and sells out quickly. The museum is located on Central Park West at 79th St. In Boston, the Museum of Science likewise sponsors overnight programs, but they are limited to museum members and their families (usually held in June), or to organizations such as Girl Scouts, Cubs Scouts, schools, and youth groups. For more information on their programs, which are also in high demand, families can call the membership department at 617-589-0180, and agencies can call 617-589-0350, or email overnights@mos.org.

Discount air service Direct Air, which will give Greater Boston travelers a taste of Virgin America service, is offering $140 roundtrip fares to two Florida and one South Carolina cities to mark the launch of its service from Worcester Nov. 22.
The sale will begins Friday Nov. 14 on the company’s website and will run through Nov. 21. Travel must be completed by Oct. 31, 2009, and the fare certificates are transferable. Customers will be limited to 20 certificates.
Direct limits baggage to two pieces per passenger and there is a prepaid fee of $20 per bag per direction, $25 if paid at the airport.
Ed Warneck, president of Direct, said yesterday the air service will reserve 10 percent of seats on flights for the special fares, ‘‘and will obviously let more in if we have available seats on planes.’’
Direct, based in Myrtle Beach, S.C., will fly on Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays into and out of Worcester Regional Airport, which hasn’t had regular commercial service since Allegiant Air, a discount airline and charter company based in Las Vegas, pulled out in 2006. The schedule calls for one arrival and one departure daily to its Florida destinations: Punta Gorda, near Fort Myers, and Sanford, outside of Orlando. Service to Myrtle Beach will take place on Thursdays and Sundays. Flight are nonstops.
Direct is an air service, which means it doesn’t own planes but leases them. For its Worcester service, it plans to use Virgin planes and flight crews for its Florida flights at least through spring of 2010 and USA Jet Airlines for trips to Myrtle Beach.
This will give local travelers who have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Virgin an opportunity to sneak a peek at the airline, which has garnered attention for its luxury approach to lower-fare travel, with its leather seats, satellite TV, on-demand movies, streaming radio, and selection of MP3 music files.

FULL ENTRY

In Queenstown, in the South Island, the town is ringed by mountains, what are informally known as The Southern Alps. These include a range called The Remarkables, and they truly are. (see photo)
This area is known as the adventure capital of the world. On the glacial-blue Lake Wakatipu and the surrounding waterways, down back roads and off mountain ledges, off towers and man-made bridges, adventuresome souls take jet boats and ride rapids, rent 4WD vehicles and mountain bikes, and downhill ski and leap from ridiculous heights while tethered to bungees. The latter activity is a little too hardcore for this hobbit, but I did hike the big hill that looms over town, Bob’s Peak, which gives a quintessentially wide panorama over Queenstown, the lake and the peaks beyond.
I also took a tour with Nomad Safaris, one of the first companies to offer back-country tours by Land Rover into the wilder areas near Glenorchy and beyond, where Peter Jackson filmed some of the more majestic scenes from "Lord of the Rings.'' Geeks: places like Isengard, the Ithilien Camp, beech forests near those used for Lothlorien and the battle where Boromir gets skewered by arrows. Not far, in Arrowtown, is the “Ford of Bruinen” on the Arrow River, one of two locations where Arwen called forth a magical flood in the form of horses that swept away the Ringwraiths.
But as I’ve said before, you need not be a Tolkien nut to dig this landscape. It is remarkable.

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Posted by Globe correspondent Ethan Gilsdorf who is traveling in New Zealand to research his book "Escape Artists."

We schooled 'em big time. Beantown came out on top in a Travel + Leisure competition, pitting 25 major US cities -- including big hitters like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, and Dallas -- in an East vs. West competition with 45 categories, from people to food to culture to night life. We whupped San Francisco in the finals. More than 125,000 travelers cast their votes in the contest.
So how did we do? We cleaned up in the culture category, particularly in classical music and historical sites and monuments, placing No. 2 of 25 in both. We did OK in shopping, with antique stores (No. 5), art galleries (No. 7), and luxury boutiques (No. 8) leading the way.
We didn't fare so well in terms of night life, making it only to No. 16 in clubs and No. 12 for the lounge scene.
We didn't embarrass ourselves in live music and bands (No. 11), and visitors like our noteworthy neighborhoods (No. 4) and public transportation (No. 5).
And it's no shock that in affordability (No. 20), traffic (No. 20), and weather (No. 22)...well, let's face we hate all of that too.
There were, however, some surprises.
In the people category, we weren't bad in terms of intelligence (No. 6). I don't feel too bad about being beaten by Seattle (No. 1) or maybe even Minneapolis (No. 2), but Austin (No. 3)?
And then there's friendliness (No. 20), but, hey, who cares what they think?
In attractiveness, we were No. 17. The top two were Miami and San Diego. I get that. Same with L.A. (No. 7) and even Denver (No. 10). But Phoenix (No. 11)? Please.
As a spring break destination, we're at No. 21. Come on. We have tons of students of every opposite sex here. And bars. And beaches. Wet t-shirts can be a little dicey in March, however.
Looking over our whole profile, we don't look much like cheerleader material but we'd be a shoo-in for class president. No matter. I hear nerd is the new black.

Having wished for some time that this country were in a different shape – that is, its political intelligence, its health insurance system, its educational structure, its leaders, its women, its Congress, its media (reading this with Fox News on in the background, eh?), its infrastructure, its nuclear waste sites, its polar bears and wolves (the four-legged kind, though now we all have to worry about the Wall Street species, too), oh, I could go on – here next to me is a book to inspire the perfect question for our so-called presidential debaters (so-called because in an actual authentic genuine real debate, you are expected to provide an actual authentic genuine real answer to the question) this week: How did the states get their shapes? And when both of them say, uhhh, well, uhhh, gee, that’s not on my playlist, they would be allowed to answer the variation: How have the states gotten into the shapes they are in: suffering from divisions along class lines, unemployment, ill health, mediocre education, alienation from the above-named anointed estates, but thrilled to see the band put the dot on O h i o on any given Saturday.

“How the States Got Their Shapes” by Mark Stein (Collins, 332 pp., illustrated, hardcover, $22.95) might be just the tranquilizer one needs when trying to comprehend US history, be it in the making or made already. Take Ohio. Imagine it before coal mines and marching bands.

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The movie "The Lord of the Rings" was filmed in dozens of locations throughout New Zealand. Rivendell, that bucolic hideaway and home of the elves, was shot about 45 minutes north of Wellington in Kaitoke Regional Park, a 2,860 hectare park in the foothills of the Tararua Ranges just off State Highway 2. Once in the park, you won't find the movie set anymore, which was built into the steep hills, thickly-covered with bush, and forests of rata, rimu and beech trees. But you can imagine it, and walk around, exploring the park with a guide from a company like Wellington Rover, or on your own. Or go for a lengthy hike. The Hutt River gorge runs through it all, and can be crossed on a swinging footbridge. Just don't forget your action figures
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Posted by Globe correspondent Ethan Gilsdorf who is traveling in New Zealand to research his book "Escape Artists."

Let’s hear it for Wachusett Mountain for wisely predicting long before the first flakes fall that skiers and snowboarders might be tightening their purse strings this winter amid an uncertain economy. To help ease our pain, the Princeton ski area is offering:

Incentives for those who carpool: If you buy four lift tickets for the same day online, you’ll get free parking (that’s $12).
Early discounted price for a season pass: You can buy a pass at last year’s rate through Oct. 29.
Discounts for college students: Wachusett’s UPass has the same benefits as the Bronze Century Pass, which goes for $209.
Deals on lessons: One-day with rentals, lesson, and lower-mountain lift ticket is $74; two days, $124; three days, $199.
Health plan reimbursement: Fallon Community Health Plan members can use their $300 family fitness reimbursement toward lifts, lessons, and season passes.
‘‘Three-Peat’’ cards: For $99 you get three days of skiing (the days don’t have to be consecutive) anytime during the season. The card can be reloaded after the three days are used.

Driving north from Wellington was a surprise: no major 4-lane Interstates exist in New Zealand. The major north-south routes are mostly two lane roads. Whadya know ... Here I pull over to the side of the road, take a rest stop and try to figure out where I am and where to go next --- and I take in a good breath of the scenery too.

Posted by Ethan Gilsdorf, Globe correspondent

I spent a day exploring the mini-film empire of Peter Jackson -- the modest but now famous complex of studios, post-production houses and special effects companies. Affectionately called "Wellywood," the facilities are all located on the Miramar peninsula just outside of Wellington. Best known among them are Weta Workshop and Weta Digital, the folks behind creating creatures, costumes and props for "Lord of the Rings," the Narnia films, and others. There's also a newly opened gift shop right near the Weta complex, called the Weta Cave, where fanboys and fangirls can buy figurines and swords and capes, and watch a behind-the-scenes video of Weta magic. As for glimpses into real filmmaking, as you'll see, I was not entirely successful gaining access. But nonetheless, here's a sneak peek at what I could weasel my way into.
Posted by Ethan Gilsdorf, Globe Correspondent

I've decided it's time to get outside Wellington so I've rented a Hyundai and now I need to learn how to drive on the wrong (I mean, "left") side of the road.

In the early days of my travels in New Zealand I came upon this taxi driver who took me for a ride along the coast in Wellington and told me stories about the area's Hollywood hangouts and some mysterious cheese.

Posted by Ethan Gilsdorf, Globe Correspondent

Blue skies on the Cape the other day, as Chilean president Michelle Bachelet thanked Ted Kennedy for helping end oppression in her country.

It's a long trip to the other end of the hemisphere, and Santiago, of course. But it is there that one can meet Bachelet among her people, and learn of why she was so thankful. For that, read here.

Wellington is a windy city. At least it is now, in September, the start of their spring. And drizzly. The city, set into steep hillsides that drop into the sea, reminds me of San Francisco: mostly wooden homes, lush greenery, and a funky rather than corporate feel. Not that there aren’t high rises and business people running about. But as one person told me, “Auckland is the rat race. Wellington is courteous and friendly.” Bars and cafes line Cuba Street.
It’s also the nation’s capital, the center for arts and generally the creative hub of the country. The national museum, Te Papa, in hunkered down here by the waterfront. On the Miramar peninsula, out by the airport, is where you’ll find New Zealand’s film making facilities, Stone Street Studios and Weta Workshop and Weta Digital. More on that later.
But as I said, it’s windy. I met a Swede today who said, “Have you been to Chicago? I think this place is windier.” In a tour bus that took me and my group past Miramar to Breaker Bay, we saw a surfer who seemed to be having a hard time making it back to shore. Our driver called the police, who called the coast guard. Apparently, the guy made it back to shore. He turned out to be a snorkeler.

Is it true Kiwis are friendly?
After my weekend in Sydney, I flew back to New Zealand. My destination? Wellington, home to “Wellywood,” the country’s movie-making mini-epicenter. The film industry is not huge, but it’s much bigger ever since Peter Jackson directed his Lord of the Rings trilogy.
In the check-in line at Air New Zealand, I met a couple, Paul and Kelly, just back from holiday in Macau and Hong Kong. We began to chat --- he’s a computer programmer, she’s a botonist, they live in Wellington --- and before long, they were talking about the “one degree of separation” rule regarding Lord of the Rings. The sheer size of the production meant everyone in New Zealand probably knew someone who had worked on a Peter Jackson movie. Or they had worked on one themselves.
In fact, Paul’s car had once been used in one of Jackson’s early movies, “Meet the Feebles.” As for Kelly, she had almost worked as a stunt double paddler for a boating scene in “Rings.” She had paddled a particular river often, and as she told me, she was “almost as tall as a hobbit. I was smaller then!” It turned out a friend of hers ended up doing the stunt work. I wanted to know more and asked if I could get their names.
Before long, they gave me half a dozen recommendations for places to eat and cafes to haunt. They told me how to get around in Wellington. Turns out, they live very close to my hotel, so they offered to share taxi from the airport. They even gave me their cell numbers and offered to meet me for a drink sometime during my stay in Wellington.

And they didn’t let me pay anything for the taxi. So far, the locals are very friendly.
Posted by Ethan Gilsdorf, Globe Correspondent

I flew a long, drawn out day that became two. Boston to San Francisco to Auckland. The plane hit the International Date Line and we lost a day. In Sydney for the weekend to see old friends, and recover from my jet lag, I knew I’d be heading back to New Zealand on Sunday. I’d come for adventure, the scenery, and to see what is the reality of New Zealand amid the fantasy promoted by the Lord of the Rings, “Home of Middle-earth.” Since the trilogy was filmed here, “Rings” has dominated the public image of this country.
On my flight, my seatmates were a couple from Orange County, who had rented a condo time share in the North Island. They liked the Peter Jackson films, but they had not come to New Zealand specifically to see the landscape of Mordor or the Shire. Still, they described the mountains and forests and rivers as “unreal.”
On my layover in Auckland, I perused the rows of alcohol at duty free, thumbed through “The Lord of the Rings” movie location guidebooks, and watched the sunrise out the airport windows. Rain clouds gave way to morning tinged with pink, orange, and robin’s egg blue.
A real land or a fantasy land? Join me for my blog over the next two weeks as I find out.

Posted by Ethan Gilsdorf, Globe Correspondent

It’s fall. It’s got to be done. Get thee to a corn maze! If you’re anything like me, expect a small anxiety attack at imagining yourself hopelessly trapped at closing time. Just have faith that a child will lead you out, if you can keep up. Call ahead for hours and dates of operation — many are open through October, weather permitting. Here’s a small sampling:

Davis Farmland and Mega Maze
145 Redstone Hill, Sterling
978-422-8888
The mother of all corn mazes, with bridges. This year’s theme: the Olympic Games.

Ward’s Berry Farm
614 South Main Street, Sharon
781-784-6939
The huge hay pyramid kids can climb is as popular as the corn maze.

Honey Pot Hill Orchards
144 Sudbury Road, Stow
978-562-5666
A hedge (not corn) maze.

Parlee’s Farm
135 Pine Hill Road, Chelmsford
978-256-2859
Maze open on weekends only. Call for dates of ‘haunted’ flashlight nights in October through the 7-acre labryinth.

Sauchuk Farm
53 Palmer Road (Route 58), Plympton
781-585-1522
Roaming guides will help you not get lost. Afterwards, there's free face-painting for the kids.

Massachusetts-based Cape Air will begin service from Lebanon, N.H., to Boston in November. Cape Air will provide six daily roundtrip flights from Lebanon Airport to Logan.
The New Hampshire municipal airport will stop providing Colgan Air service to LaGuardia Airport in New York after research showed the Boston market has the potential to grow.
Cape Air has a partnership with JetBlue and is expected to offer $54 one-way fares from Lebanon to Boston. (AP)

If you’ve read the bestseller "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, you know Mortenson has traveled an insane number of times back and forth from his home in Montana to the wildest parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. And building schools along the way.

He’s survived a kidnapping, a firefight between Afghan warlords, tea with the Taliban, CIA investigations, fatwahs, and death threats from fellow Americans. All in the name of promoting peace, education, literacy, and economic development.

My money’s on Mortenson, director and cofounder of the Central Asia Institute, to win a Nobel Peace Prize one day. Here’s an opportunity to see him in person: He’s speaking at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12 at Stonehill College in Easton. Admission is free and open to the public. Read his blog here.

Carriers are raising air fares, charging us for bad food and movies, and hiding the pillows and blankets. There's talk of skimping on fuel and charging passengers by their weight. What's next, ditch the life vests?
That's exactly what Air Canada's regional carrier Jazz is doing to save weight and fuel. Apparently Canadian regulations say it's OK to use flotation devices (that's the cushion of your seat, remember?) instead of inflatable life vests when planes remain within 50 miles of shore. Jazz planes fly over the Great Lakes and along the Eastern Seaboard from Halifax to Boston to New York. Jazz says the number of flights over water are minimal and that the carrier is adjusting routes slightly to keep within the regulations.
Like every other air carrier, Jazz is having problems. This month it reported its second-quarter net income fell 32 percent from a year ago.
On a positive note, life vests for infants will remain. Let's just hope they don't start charging for them.

It looks like a castle, but you won't find any fairy-tale princesses waiting to be rescued at the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester, which houses the largest collection of medieval arms and armor outside Europe. The museum is brimming with weaponry and equipment used by gladiators and knights including all manner of helmets, suits of armor, shields, lances, swords, war hammers, maces, and spears. My favorite was the tiny suit of armor created for a dog.

For boys of a certain age, three floors of weapons in a castle is pretty much heaven. The day we visited, my 7- and 9-year-old sons made colorful heraldic shields in a hands-on workshop, and we heard two museum staffers talk about what it was like to be a knight and walk around in all that armor. Wearing gloves (oil from our hands can harm the metal with handling over time) we got to hold and examine the equipment and put on the incredibly heavy helmets.

There's no cafeteria (only vending machines), but you can leave for lunch and come back in again with your receipt. The museum is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4. Admission is $9 for adults and $7 for children ages 6-16. Children 5 and under are free. We rented the audio wands for an extra $2 each, which only enriched the experience. The wands give you a customized audio tour - you choose which information you want to hear as you travel through the museum - and can be programmed easily for children.

Boston's Antique and Classic Boat Festival comes to Salem this weekend, Aug. 23-24. Touring vessels and meeting skippers and their crew bring the sea to life as you explore vintage motor yachts, 1920s-era mahogany runabouts, sloops, sharpies and more. Some captains and crew sport vintage attire, while others take the time to set period displays and floral arrangements aboard their vessels. Boat owners are excited to share their boat's history, and their own personal experiences too. The purpose of the festival is to encourage owners to keep up such treasured old craft, for if they don't bother, then maritime heritage is lost. Along with the boats, visitors get artists, crafters, live music and a ceremonial Blessing of the Fleet to round out their day. Cost is a $5 donation while children under 12 are free.

Just saying the word makes my teeth hurt. And ‘‘nocation’’ or the ridiculous ‘‘holistay’’ are no better. But my family and I took the staycation challenge last week and lived. We covered a fair amount of ground: camping at Nickerson State Park and a beach day in Brewster, an afternoon swimming at a local pond, two cookouts with family and friends in Rhode Island, a trip to the Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration in Connecticut, and a movie and dinner out in Cambridge. We were in no rush. In between we had time to play board games, ride bikes, read, relax, and recharge.

In the road trip department, here’s an interesting challenge: Drive your family cross-country on $250 a day. At first blush that seems easy, but when you factor in a hotel stay, gas, and food, it adds up fast. And what to do on the cheap to keep the kids entertained? Travel blogger Amy Graff from On the Go with Amy traveled from Santa Monica, Calif., to Chicago did it and stayed (barely) below her budget of $3,750 over 15 days. (Her trip was sponsored by Best Western, for whom she blogs, which I’m sure didn’t exactly hurt.) Her tips for a budget road trip? Drive a fuel-efficient car, carry refillable water bottles, avoid big-name destinations (sorry kids, no Grand Canyon or Disneyland), split entrees, and opt for cheap souvenirs. (It helps if your child likes to collect rocks.)

And it doesn’t hurt to have a sense of humor. Bon voyage.

OK, so many of us are staying put this summer. Thank god we happen to live in a place full of fun and touristy things to do (if you don't believe me just ask any one of the thousands of men wandering aimlessly around town with cameras around their necks, clad in pressed shorts and white socks with cellphones holstered and strapped to their belts).
Most of us who've lived here forever have never been to many of these places, unless you got dragged there as a child or by a child. Now is your chance.
Three of the biggest purveyors of packaged discount deals for local tourist sites are Boston Explorer Pass, Go Boston Card, and Boston City Pass, and the first two of the three are currently running sales. And this is the way they work:

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JetBlue has just launched its fall "Jetters Will Play'' sale starting now through Wednesday Aug. 6.
One-way fares start as low as $39 -- although most are not. From Boston, you can get to Buffalo (but why would you want to?) or New York City (now you're talking) for as little as $59. How about Fort Lauderdale or Orlando? As low as $94. Oakland or San Jose? Try $179.
All of these fares must be booked through the site; there are blackout dates; and the dates by which travel must be completed vary according to destination. Also, you'll note that you'll generally have more success getting the best rates by trying to book midweek.
If you go to the site, you can also register for a sweepstakes that will be held from now through Aug. 6 to win a pair of round-trip tickets to a different destination every day.

I don't want to be here. At work, I mean. It's going to be hot and sunny today. And if you're reading this right now, during normal work hours, we are likely pretty simpatico.
I'm thinking about water. Actually I'm thinking about beer and water. I'm thinking about a sweat-soaked July evening and looking at an orange fingernail moon outside Mike's Westview in Amherst. Double-digit collections of ponies of Rolling Rock left behind.
A short hop to Puffer's Pond. And swimming. A half dozen of us. And we met others.
SO.
The past is. But if you have fond memories of old-fashioned, swimming holes, the folks at swimming holes.info have taken it upon themselves to compile lists of such places around this great land of ours.
In the Bay State, they list 37, with most of them concentrated in Western Mass. and around the Cape. They offer you directions to each place, along with descriptions, fees (if any), whether swimming is officially sanctioned (not necessarily a legal distinction), when the listing was last updated, and whether bathing suits are "Required," "Optional," or "Customary" (sadly they make no distinction about time of day for such niceties).

Southwest plans to start offering international flights for the first time through a partnership deal with Canada's WestJet.
Southwest said it is working on a so-called code-sharing agreement with WestJet, a low-fare, Canadian regional airline, which flies around Canada as well as to Hawaii, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Code-sharing deals typically allow carriers to sell tickets on each other's flights.
The airlines hope to detail schedules, fares, and other features of the pact by late next year. I think it's pretty safe to say, though, that New England customers of Southwest, which services Providence, Hartford, and Manchester, will likely be among the recipients of more lower-fare options to Canadian destinations. The agreement is subject to review by regulators.

Over the weekend while playing Cranium, I had to draw a picture of a kilt, with my eyes closed mind you, and good enough to make my husband scream, "Kilt" with conviction. Needless to say, we did not move 2 spaces forward. So with kilts on the brain, I will tell you about a Celtic Festival happening on July 12th in Blackstone Valley. Yeah, I have never heard of Blackstone Valley either, but it's an area in Massachusetts down by the intersection of Connecticut and Rhode Island. Anyway, the Blackstone Valley Celtic Festival is in its 6th year and has beefed up its program to entice even more of you to come see the bagpipes, fiddles and even vote for your favorite kilt-wearing man! Bring the kiddos as well, because there is a special Celtic Kids Pavilion for crafts and fun.

All adult tickets are priced at $15 in advance and $20 at the gate. Ages 65 and over and children 8-16 pay $10 in advance and $12 at the gate. Children under 8 are free and so is parking. I wish I could say the gas is free too, but at least it's there and back in a tank or less from Boston!

Western Massachusetts is such a hotbed for fine artisans and varied crafters, and this time of year, the region is flooded with new talent, familiar faces, and much excitement. This weekend, July 4-5, is set for Great Barrington's Berkshires Arts Festival where over 175 juried artists gather to show and sell their wares.

The Festival is geared for families too with live demonstrations and workshops for both adults and children, great food, and plenty of live music. The opportunity to meet and speak with so many talented artists and craftspeople is an inspiring experience. The show is held under large outdoor tents, and in Ski Butternut's lodge. Held rain or shine, the festival is worth the drive out to the Berkshires.

Adults pay $10, seniors $9, and students $5. Children under 10 are free and a weekend pass is available for $13 if you plan on seeing all the festival has to offer - and it will take 2 days! Hours are Friday, July 4, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; and Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Want to stay a while? Visit the Berkshire Visitors Bureau for lodging information. And take a peek at last year's show here.

A lot of people will be bound for Cape Cod this summer, and parents in particular might be looking for an alternative to the Wii, the Xbox, and the television. Have you thought about getting the kids onto the Internet? Kidding, kidding. An antidote to all of the above would be fresh air and a new perspective on nature, and to that end, the Mass. Audubon Society has several kayaking programs for all ages and levels of ability. The Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary in the Barnstable village of Cummaquid has some 38 guided kayak trips scheduled this summer, and the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary has 23 trips planned along the Outer Cape.
For example, Long Pasture is hosting a trip tomorrow (that’s June 28) from 9 a.m. to noon that will traverse Cape Cod’s largest barrier beach and salt marsh system, Sandy Neck. Kayakers will explore the many tidal creeks and islands of Barnstable Harbor in search of shorebirds, osprey, horseshoe crabs, and other marsh inhabitants. They will also make a landing at the Sandy Neck barrier beach, a pristine, 6-mile stretch of coastline protected by the town of Barnstable. This trip is intended for those with previous kayaking experience, yet all experience levels are welcome. The cost is $35 for Mass. Audubon members, $40 for nonmembers, and kayaks, paddles, and life vests are provided. To register or for more information, call 508-362-7475. For the first time, the Long Pasture sanctuary will also offer trips this summer to the Herring River in West Harwich and the Bass River in Dennis.
Wellfleet Bay will offer nine twilight canoe paddles across a string of interconnected ponds in Wellfleet. For more complete immersion, sign up for Wellfleet Bay’s “Coastal Ecology by Kayak” program, a four-day course that provides training for shorebird identification and analysis of coastal botany. Two sessions will run: July 30-Aug. 2 and Aug. 13-16. For more information on these programs, go to the Long Pasture or Wellfleet Bay websites and click on “program catalog” on the left side of the page.

If you find yourself on Cape Cod over Fourth of July week, you might want to take advantage of a couple of programs designed to lure people to Hyannis, which is the downtown village in the town of Barnstable and arguably the region’s central business district. On Thursday, July 3, the galleries and studios of Pearl Street (just a couple of blocks west of the major Main Street intersection with Center Street and Old Colony Road) will host “Artscape 1st Thursdays.” Studios include the Shirley Blair Flynn Center for the Creative Arts, the Guyer Barn, ArtSpace, Breakdown Lane, and a new cooperative gallery called The Cultured Pearl. Complimentary appetizers and beverages will be served, and attendees can receive a 20 percent discount on dinner at participating restaurants by getting their brochure stamped. Another Thursday evening staple, the TD Banknorth Summer Stroll, with entertainers livening the Main Street scene, begins the same night and runs from 6-9 p.m. The Amazing Richard, a magician, will perform near Palio’s Pizzeria at 435 Main Street. Inca Son, an Andean musician, will play across the way near Kandy Korner at 474 Main Street, and Rebecca Marona will draw caricatures and do free face-painting in front of R&S Avenue, a children’s boutique at 547 Main Street. Go to hyannismainstreet.com for more information on the 120 shops and 40 restaurants in the district.

A sample of Tripping Lily's music.

Your fingers are nearly guaranteed to fly at the annual Hands on the Arts Festival this weekend 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Home to the Cape’s oldest working historical windmill, the Eastham Cultural Council transforms the green into an arts showcase geared to kids of all ages.
Under the big tent, visitors can explore arts and crafts like Japanese brush painting, jewelry making, easel painting, and fiber arts, all taught by local artists. Burgeoning artists can try their hands at making paper flowers, shell ornaments, and braided key chains. A perpetual crowd pleaser is the sculpture crafted from found objects, proving again the timeless adage that one’s person’s trash is another’s person’s work of art.
Besides the activities in the tent, the works of more than 50 artists will be on sale during the juried craft show.
Once you’ve had your fill of the visual it’s time to move on to the performing arts. The costumed, handmade Gerwick Puppets, will perform plays both days. And the Yo-Yo People show there’s more to the past time pastime than old school tricks like walk the dog.
For music lovers, Tripping Lily, a group featuring stringed instruments like such as mandolin, violin, and ukulele, will bring their blend of bluegrass and quirky pop, and Provincetown Jazz Festival founder and drummer Bart Weisman will perform with his entourage.
Hungry? They’ll There will be plenty of barbecue and made-to-order sandwiches for sale.
Posted by Marty Basch, Globe Correspondent

Lee-ann Wilbur and Donald Woods once spent Valentine’s night in the Lizzie Borden B&B in Fall River, so I guess they understand the appeal of sleeping at a murder scene. Now the couple owns the B&B, and they’ve found that the demand for the John Morse guest room, where Abby Borden’s body was discovered, skyrockets on the Aug. 4 anniversary. So, instead of starting a waiting list, for the third year running, they’re auctioning off a one-night stay for two in the Morse room on eBay. You still have time to bid until June 11. One aficionado of the Borden case won the auction in both of the first two years, but he’s promised not to bid this year. The winner also gets two “I Survived The Night At The Lizzie Borden B&B” T-shirts and a Lizzie Borden bobblehead doll.

Posted by Patricia Harris, Globe Correspondent

Excuse me while I try to overcome an onslaught of peristaltic contractions. I'm not a ride guy. To me, they are like mechanically induced food poisoning: headache, nausea, oy.
But I know some of you are. So our pals at Travel + Leisure (so what's up with the plus sign?) have compiled a list of the World's Top Ten. Now why do you care? Well because our own Six Flags New England in the lovely bedroom community of Agawam made the list with its Superman Ride of Steel. (The good folks at Boston.com have also compiled a list of the top ten in North America, including footage of what it's like on the Superman ride.)
If you want the details, read on. I think I need to lie down. Got any saltines?

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The rodeo, with its bronco-riding, calf-roping cowboys and cowgirls, seems about as quintessentially Western as you can get. But the Painted Pony Rodeo, the oldest weekly rodeo in the country, is actually just a few hours’ drive from Boston, in the Adirondacks’ Lake Luzerne.
But tomorrow, the Painted Pony Rodeo crosses into northern Vermont for a show in Highgate. This is professional rodeo, and the event should attract up to 100 men and women from as far away as Texas, who are earning professional points competing in events like bareback bronc riding, steer wrestling, team roping, and cowgirls’ barrel racing, where riders steer their horses at a fast clip around a set of barrels.
There’s also an opening pageant, as well as rodeo clowns, and a trick roper who can do just about anything with a lasso. Wear your cowboy hat or come early: The first 100 kids children to arrive get a free cowboy hat.
Tickets for adults are $15, for children $10, and ages 5 and under free. Gates open at 4 p.m., and the show starts at 7, rain or shine.
Posted by Kathy Shorr, Globe Correspondent

And so the cuts begin. American says it will cancel its daily Boston-San Diego service Sept. 3. The struggling carrier also says it will halt New York-London Stansted as of July 2, Chicago to Buenos Aires Sept. 3.Chicago-Honolulu Jan. 5, and trim American Eagle service in September to 33 flights, from the normal winter schedule of 55 daily departures.
These reductions are all part of the carrier's plan to reduce its schedule by as much as 12 percent and that of its regional Eagle service by as much as 11 percent. American detailed all this about a week ago -- at the same time it dropped the bomb about charging passengers $15 for even a first checked bag.
Be forewarned. This is just the beginning. News of more cuts will continue to trickle out.
If you are planning travel in the fall, you might do well to start making those plans soon. Decent fares and available seats will not be easier to come by as time passes.

Wondering where to stay in Seattle? Try the Queen Anne section, which evokes old-school, bohemian Harvard Square minus the traffic. There are great restaurants such as Phuket and Racha (both serving Thai cuisine), the Melting Pot (cheese fondue), the Mercury (a fancy spot with lamb, steak and halibut), Pagliacci Pizza (a student hangout and you can’t beat their salads), and the diner-like Mecca and ever-funky Dick’s, both specializing in burgers. Culturally, the Uptown Moviehouse features the latest art films. And you’ll find terrific used-record stores such as Easy Street Records and Underdawg Records, both trumpeting the recent comeback of vinyl. The minimally named Used Books is a great bookstore. The club scene is well-represented with Peso’s (a wild ‘n’ crazy room late at night), Floyd’s Place (with 27 beers on tap), and Chopstix, a dueling piano bar. There’s also the 24-hour Metropolitan supermarket and 24-hour Bartell drugstore. This neighborhood caters to every need. And recommended lodging is at the MarQueen Hotel, a historic but inexpensive place with kitchens in the units.
Posted By Steve Morse, Globe Correspondent

Combine tickets to the Red Sox and a day of discount shopping and it's a perfect getaway for many. That's just what Boston Marriott Copley Place Hotel and Wrentham Village Premium Outlets are offering with their "Short Stop and Shop" Package.

Although they tout this for international visitors, it's available to all. Included are:
- three-night or four-night accommodations for two
- two tickets to Red Sox game
- round-trip transportation for two from the hotel to the outlets, for a day of shopping
- one $25 Chelsea Premium Outlets gift card
- one $5 VIP Chelsea Premium Outlets discount coupon book

Four-night package dates:
- July 5-9, with tickets on July 7 or 8 (Boston vs. Minnesota)
- July 25-29, with tickets on July 28 or 29 (Boston vs. Los Angeles)
- Aug. 31-Sept. 4, with one set of tickets on Sept.1, 2 or 3 (Boston vs. Baltimore)

Three-Night package dates:
- Aug.17-Aug. 20, ith baseball tickets on Aug. 17 (Boston vs. Toronto)

The four-night package price is $919; three-night $739 (including tax; excluding alcohol, parking, and gratuities). Availability is limited. For reservations, call 1-800-228-9290 and ask for promotional code ZJL.

The Student and Youth Travel Association (SYTA) has released these Top 10 rankings for US, North America, and International hot spots for student and youth travel from their annual member survey, which polls student and youth travel industry professionals on current and emerging trends:

Top 10 U.S. Destinations
1. Washington D.C.
2. New York City
3. Orlando
4. Chicago
5. Greater Boston
6. Historic Virginia
7. Southern California
8. Philadelphia Area
9. Baltimore/Annapolis
10. Hawaii

Top North America Destinations
1. Toronto
2. Montreal
3. Quebec City
4. Vancouver
5. Cancun & the Yucatan
6. Calgary
7. Edmonton
8. Ottawa
9. Oaxaca
10. Mexico City

Top 10 International Destinations
1. United Kingdom
2. France
3. Italy
4. Spain
5. Australia
6. Germany
7. Greece
8. Brazil
9. Peru
10. China

United says it will no longer award a minimum of 500 frequent-flier miles on each flight starting with its July 1 flights no matter when they were ticketed. Now travelers will only get credit for the actual distance flown.
The loss of this little perk will matter little to most of us but will sting many frequent and business customers who used to be able to rack up big miles this way.
It follows a move by US Airways, a United code-sharing partner, which did the same thing back in February. Oh, and did I mention US Airways and United also happen to be in merger talks?

April showers bring May flowers, of course, but up higher, the greenest of leaves. These shades inadequately captured by a point and shoot camera the other day on a drive from Amherst to Athol. The palette was deeper and sharper, crawling up into distant hills, when seen with the naked eye. Looks like a bumper crop coming this fall...

If you haven't been training, then it may be a little late for this weekend's 7 Sisters Trail Race in Amherst. As the race website promises:

"Very scenic overlooks of the Pioneer Valley with views of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst College, Hampshire College and the Town of Amherst, as well as a beautiful view of the Connecticut River and Northampton to the west."

Only problem is, those views come while humping up and down very rocky terrain for 12 miles.

If you need a bit more time to get in shape, there're always the races at the Pineland Farms Trail Challenge, in New Gloucester, Maine.

Those races are bit longer, at 25 kilometers, 50 kilometers, and 50 miles. And as the web site warns: "The trails are wide and non-technical, but very hilly. Although there are no major climbs the rolling terrain is unrelenting."

Happy trails...

Last week's April school vacation was pretty ho-hum for my kids, except for a surprise my husband and I launched at the last minute to completely blow their minds. (Not all that hard to do with a 9- and a 7-year-old.) Back in November we "won" a gift certificate for a helicopter ride for four at a silent auction to benefit our local schools. We cashed it in on a warm spring day when fuel prices are sky-high, so I'm guessing we got a bargain.
We donned headphones, strapped in, and lifted off from Norwood Airport. Our pilot took us on a 1-hour tour over Boston with running commentary. (It was cool to hear him on the radio politely requesting clearance for our various buzz-overs.) We peeked into the upper levels of office buildings downtown, flew over the USS Constitution (educational, no?) and Bunker Hill (looks surprisingly small from above), and saw our reflection in the John Hancock tower (the only bumpy part -- the air up there seems to follow its own weather pattern).

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You have until midnight to score this. Southwest is offering a sale for travel May 8-31, with prices as low as $48 one way. From Providence, $48 gets you to Baltimore/Washington Int'l, $83 to Columbus, Ohio, $66 to Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and $94 to West Palm Beach. Blackout dates are May 22, 23, and 26 and all reservations must be made on the site. Other fees apply. These are pretty good rates, but it's always wise to shop. In this case quickly.

OR, MY SO-CALLED GLAMOROUS LIFE

When I tell people I live in both Boston and Miami Beach their reactions range from admiring to insanely jealous. My Boston friends imagine me wearing flip-flops in February and swimming morning laps in the outdoor community pool. (True.) My Miami friends imagine me escaping the endlessly muggy Miami summer and sitting on my deck enjoying cocktails in lovely New England summer evenings. (Also true.)

But this glamorous life comes at a price. First, call me Queen of the Sublet. I can’t afford two mortgages and so twice a year I’m advertising on craigslist and then I’m cleaning/packing/unpacking and cleaning again. In between comes the driving. Twice a year—round trip—1500 miles each way. Actually, after three days of packing and loading the van the drive is a relief.

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Following competitors' efforts to offset rising fuel costs, American said that it will start charging most passengers a fee to check in a second bag. Passengers on American and American Eagle who purchase discounted economy-class tickets on or after May 12 for travel within the United States, US territories, or Canada will have to pay $25 for the second piece of checked luggage. The new policy does not apply to frequent fliers who have earned the gold, platinum or executive platinum status in the AAdvantage program or to passengers who pay for a full-fare economy ticket. America is now the sixth and last legacy hub-and-spoke carrier to adopt the charge since February. Last week, JetBlue said it would charge a $20 fee for the second checked bag to customers who purchase seats on or after May 1 for travel on or after June 1.
Posted by Nicole C. Wong, Globe Staff

Yes, it's that time of year again. It's a no-brainer. Sneak a peek at the website and head to the participating shop nearest you, belly up to the counter and score a free cone. This being their 30th year, B&J's is offering up a few new flavors: Coconut Seven Layer Bar (coconut ice cream, fudge flakes, walnuts, graham cracker and butterscotch), Imagine Whirled Peace (caramel and sweet cream ice creams with fudge peace signs and toffee cookies), One Cheesecake Brownie (yes, cheesecake ice cream and brownie chunks), and Cake Batter.
OK, so it could be warmer outside. But we're talking free ice cream here.

This offer from Boston Marriott Long Wharf Hotel is pricey, but if a Sox fan is willing to pay $175,000 for a once-buried, torn Ortiz jersey, this might seem like a bargain.

Here's the deal: The Waterfront Luxury Suite Baseball Package costs $1,200.
It includes: two field box seats to a Sox game at Fenway (seats are six rows from the field, on the third base line,section 31, Box 78, Row D); overnight hotel accommodations on the evening of the game, in a new Waterfront Luxury Suite; breakfast for two the next morning at Oceana Restaurant; and complimentary overnight parking for one car.

Check the website for games dates (no Yankees games on the list).

You have to pay in full at time of booking and the fee is nonrefundable. Availability is limited, so if this would make the perfect Mother's or Father's Day gift, act now.

It's that time of year again. The sun is shining; buds are budding, and airlines add international service at Logan ahead of the busy summer travel season -- and all just for your travel convenience.
So, get a pencil. Here's the list, courtesy of Matthew Brelis, Massport's director of media relations:
At the end of this month, Aer Lingus will increase Dublin service to seven times a week from four, and Lufthansa doubles Frankfurt flights to 14 from seven.
On June 6, Iberia heads to Madrid seven times a week, up from three. Two days later, Icelandair increases Reykjavik service to 11 times from seven, and on June 9 Air France takes off for Paris 14 times a week, up from seven. SATA will double service to Ponta Delgada, Azores to four times a week from two on June 26.

The May issue of Parents magazine has compiled of list of what it considers the 10 best US and Caribbean beach resorts for families. Lo and behold, a Cape Cod resort clocks in at number 8, competing alongside heavy hitters in Florida, Hawaii, California, and the Caribbean. The rankings are based in part on cost, quality of supervised children’s programs, variety of family activities, and quality of pool and beach areas. In order of their rankings, here's the list:
1. Sheraton Grand Bahama Island Our Lucaya (Bahamas)
2. Club Med Punta Cana (Dominican Republic)
3. South Seas Island Resort (Captiva Island, Fla.)
4. Atlantis, Paradise Island (Bahamas)
5. Disney’s Vero Beach Resort (Florida)
6. Beaches Negril Resort and Spa (Jamaica)
7. Hilton Hawaiian Village (Honolulu)
8. Ocean Edge Resort & Spa (Brewster)
9.Loew’s Coronado Bay Beach Resort & Spa (San Diego)
10. Rio Mar Beach Golf Resort Casino & Spa (Puerto Rico)

Spirit is starting Boston to Trinidad service via its Fort Lauderdale hub June 12. The discounter already offers flights from here to a couple dozen destinations, mostly in Florida and the Caribbean. To kick things off they (of the we-charge-for-checked-bags-and-just-about-everything-else) are advertising fares as low as 5 cents a seat (That deal ends today and involves flights between Fort Lauderdale and Port of Spain. Spirit is, however, also offering 5-cent-a-mile fares out of Logan, but those also end today and travel for those must take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays between June 14 and Oct. 31).
Anyway, consider this an FYI.

Uncle Samuel, dude that he is, has just raised the caps on the amounts that airlines must pay to passengers who get involuntarily bumped.
The rule changes, which take effect in May, double the limit carriers must cough up to The Inconvenienced.
This is the way it will work: If you get bumped and the carrier gets you on another flight and to your destination less than an hour late, you get nothing, nil, nada, zilch.
If, however, they get you there between and hour and two hours late (or between 1 and 4 for international flights), they owe you compensation of 100 percent for that flight, up to a cap of $400. If it's more than two hours (or 4 for international flights), they owe you 200 percent, with a limit of $800.
Still unclear? OK, let's say you booked a round-trip for $600 to San Jose (as in: do you know they way to), and you get bumped. You were supposed to arrive at 3 p.m. But they get you on another flight and you land at 4:30. They owe you 100 percent -- or $300 -- for the one-way leg they messed up. Got it?
Bear in mind this does not affect you if they tell you they're overbooked and you voluntarily give up your seat. Then the compensation is a matter of mutual agreement (usually, when they ask for volunteers they tell you what they're offering).
The rule changes also cover more flights: any flight with 30 seats or more (before you had to be on one with 60 seats to qualify).
The US Department of Transportation has been working on these changes for months. But the final rules couldn't have come at a better time as we are just about to hit the busy summer travel season and folks have gotten skittish -- and understandably so given the nearly daily bad news about delinquent airline safety checks, flight cancellations, and poor treatment of passengers.
More to the point, with the airlines raising fares, cutting flights, and pushing to make sure every seat is filled, there can't help but be more overbooking so more bumping. Given what's going on, it's worth committing these rules to memory, hombre.

Imagine the plight of the harried iPod user rushing to catch an international flight out of Logan with no time to buy replacement headphones preflight. Thoughts of chattering seat mates would make one cringe.

Well, iPod users needn't fret. There's an Apple dispenser in terminal E. Much like a candy machine, you view the offerings and make your selection. A credit card is all you need.

Do folks really use it, I wondered recently? I didn't wait long for my answer. A young woman walked up, keyed in the headphones ($44.99), swiped her credit card, got what she wanted, and walked on, a satisfied customer.

Others only window shopped. Options included: iPod charging kit ($39.99), adapter kit ($49.99), Garmin navigation system ($379.99), Sony digital camera ($429.99).

One drawback for any shopaholic: No way to comparison shop.

Keep ’em busy during school vacation week: Black Sheep Knitting Co. in Needham is offering a two-day April vacation knitting workshop for kids ages 8 and older on April 23 and 25 from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Beginners will learn to cast on, knit, purl, bind off, read a pattern and more. The cost is $45 including materials — come in the day before to prepay and pick out a project. Call 781-444-0694 for details. There’s a popular beginners’ class for adults as well (6 classes for $72) Work at your own pace and learn new techniques.

Hear the music? The quickening pace? Now that Delta and Northwest have coupled everybody else is scanning the room to partner up, and you can all but see United and Continental reaching out to each other.
While all this recombining may be good for the struggling industry -- never mind fun for those of us who like to watch (and you know who you are) -- the bottom line for us here in Boston, at least in the short term, may be somewhat less significant.
Let's start with the $3.1 billion Delta-NWA deal. Yes, it will create The World's Largest Airline, but as my pal Nicole Wong sussed out this morning the biggest change for Logan passengers may be where they catch flights.
The newly combined Delta will become The Sky King at Logan, with 21.7 percent of the passenger market share. But because it is followed closely by American with 16.7 percent it won't be totally commanding. And Logan passengers will likely see little change in service as there is no overlap in the nonstop routes either flies from here, with Delta headed largely to the South, Mountain West, Northeast, Europe and Latin America and NWA focusing on the Midwest, Canada, and Asia.
However, Matt Brelis at Massport says it could make some sense for Northwest to move its four gates from Terminal E next to Delta's 12 in the newer, partially occupied Terminal A.
Now, onto United-Continental. Reuters is reporting that the two have laid most of the groundwork for a deal and would likely push to do one quickly if Delta-NWA manages to get all the way hitched.
OK, so what does this mean to us? Again, very likely not much.

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The Quiet Car. Quiet. Even the word is hushed. Silent. Calm. Not busy or active. No talking in a loud voice to the person next to you. No talking on the phone. No radios blaring. No movies. No TV. No intrusive sounds at all.
The Quiet Car is the Amtrak Acela's semisecret sanctum, and my once-in-a-while refuge, a place where noise of any kind is not allowed. Which is not always what I want, to be unplugged and silent and still, not when I'm traveling with friends or family or children. "Want some M&Ms? Want to play 'Go Fish'? You really want me to read 'Bear Snores On' again?" Sometimes noise is important.

But sometimes no phones, no music, no chatter, no children's cries, no listening to a man in a business suit recite in a booming voice his client's names and Social Security numbers into his cellphone are exactly what I need.
Posted By Beverely Beckham, Globe Correspondent

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It's starting to look like the MD-80 Inspection Fiasco of '08 is winding down.
American says that it is only expecting 595 MD-80 cancellations today, including 10 at Logan which will affect about 1,000. This brings the running total to nearly 3,100 scrapped flights since this whole thing kicked off Tuesday, a disruption that affected hundreds of thousands of travelers.
This means that the carrier has restored about half of its schedule for the planes, and it is still hoping to have all the planes up by Saturday afternoon. But don't assume all will be back to normal. If you are flying out Saturday -- particularly on a longer haul flight with a stop in, say, Chicago or Dallas-Fort Worth -- you'll still need to check.
I wrote yesterday about the compensation American is offering by way of an apology to customers. In fairness to them, it's probably worthwhile to note that Uncle Samuel does not require airlines to offer passengers any compensation in these circumstances. But neither does it preclude them from doing the right thing.
Do you think AA handled this pretty well? Give it some thought because this won't be the last of mass cancellations as the chastened FAA turns the safety inspection lights on high after years of being slack. The regulators are making another round of checks that will run through June 30, and everybody's best guess is that the carriers that will be most affected are those with older planes, the AP reported. About a third of the US fleet is more than 25 years old, according to the International Air Transport Association.

OK, so you've been delayed. What now. Well, you can perhaps get some compensation from American, but it depends on how much you've been put out. And you'll need to tell them about it.
If your cancellation forced you to stay overnight somewhere, you can send a message to American's customer relations department and apply for compensation. There is a hot link on the website that gives you access to a form along with instructions. You will be eligible for refunds, hotel and meal vouchers, and a $500 voucher for future travel as an apology, said Tim Wagner, an airline spokesman.
American also will award vouchers of varying amounts to other passengers who message them from the site or write to them via snail mail (American Airlines Customer Relations/P.O. Box 619612 MD 2400/DFW Airport, TX 75261-9612) and detail how they were inconvenienced.
If you are scheduled on a flight that gets scrapped you can get a refund or apply the value of your ticket to future travel (Say Wa-Hoo, somebody). Travelers flying on any MD-80 flight from April 8 – 11, even if their flight has not been canceled, can rebook without fees. Travel must begin by April 17.

So, you think you're having a bad week?
American says it'll ditch another 933 flights today, including 16 at Logan which will affect about 1,600 passengers. You may add this to the approximately 1,550 total flights already grounded this week in the MD-80 Inspection Fiasco of '08, moves that have left 171,000 across the nation stranded.

American said this afternoon that they don't expect to have the situation completely resolved until Saturday night. So be forewarned.
For those you who hadn't heard, the thing that's triggered all this chaos is the tighter scrutiny on safety checks being brought by FAA, which has tightened inspections after catching major (well-deserved) flak from Congress and others for letting Southwest fly planes that had missed safety check-ups.
In the case of the MD-80s, it involves spot checks by regulators that found the carrier hadn't secured some wiring in accordance with an agency directive.
American has said that the problem posed no safety risk.
Also today, regional carrier Midwest Airlines said that it would ground 13 MD-80s for the same reason.
Get the feeling that this is just the start? With the FAA facing heat and the spotlight of public scrutiny turned up way high, it's a pretty safe bet we're going to see more groundings in the not-too-distant future.

A sure sign of spring are the thousands of blooming daffodils and early wildflowers in Blithewold Mansion's gardens on the shores of Narragansett Bay. The grounds of the 1908 mansion in Bristol, R.I., are a melange of color and scents during the annual Daffodil Days April 12-May 4. Though the yellow-and-white flowers are the centerpieces of the festival, visitors can stroll the Great Lawn with its bay views or linger in gardens, both classic and more informal.
The 17th-century English country-styled manor, complete with gargoyles and crests, was built as the summer home of Augustus Van Wickle, a Brown University graduate who became a coal baron in Pennsylvania. The 45-room mansion anchors the grounds with its 33 acres of gardens and striking trees, such as a 90-foot giant sequoia, ginkgo, and weeping pagoda.
Afternoon teas with scones and assorted desserts are served in the mansion's dark oak-paneled dining room overlooking the water Wednesday through Friday at 2 and 3 o'clock. Special children's teas will be served at 2 o'clock on April 16-18. Don't miss the Butler's Pantry with its displays of china, silver, and crystal.
The mansion also houses such indoor exhibits as floral arrangements, paintings from nature by area artists, and the Colonial Dames of America's collection of Bessie McKee's (Van Wickle's widow) turn-of-the-20th-century hats. But during Daffodil Days, garden variety visitors want to be outside.
Admission for adults is $10, seniors and students $8, children under 17 free. Afternoon tea is $10 (plus admission). Grounds and gardens open daily 10 a.m.- 5 p.m.; self-guided tours of mansion and gardens Wednesday-Sunday 10-4.

Posted by Marty Basch, Globe Correspondent

Did you call before you drove out to Logan? You should have.
Today's toll is estimated to hit at least 1,000 nationwide, including 17 flights at Logan, mostly to Chicago and Dallas-Fort Worth, affecting about 1,900 customers. Nationwide as estimated 110,000 travelers were affected. Yesterday, American canceled about 460 flights -- as many as five at Logan -- of its MD-80 planes to check the bundling of wires in some planes, the same issue that forced both it and Delta to cancel a combined total of more than 700 flights last last month.
American has said that flight safety has not been

compromised.

Passengers wait at the American counters at O'Hare Airport in Chicago Wednesday morning. (AP Photo)

The tighter scrutiny on safety checks is happening as the FAA has tightened inspections since coming under fire from Congress and others for letting Southwest fly planes that had missed safety check-ups. Airline spokesman Ned Raynolds said that it was highly likely there would be more cancellations tomorrow but he couldn't give a better estimate. Bottom line: Got a flight with American? Call before you go.

The calendar says it’s spring, but sometimes it’s up to you to go out and find it yourself. A good place to grab the season by the scruff of its neck is at the Garden in the Woods, the headquarters and botanic garden of the New England Wild Flower Society in Framingham. This ‘‘living museum,’’ which opens officially for the season on April 15, has more than 1,500 native plant species, along with many rare and endangered specimens. Family and children's programs coming up in May include Flower Power on May 18 (learn about flowers’ awesome powers at the height of the spring bloom) and Fairies in the Garden on May 29 (hunt for the woodland sprites among the wildflowers and build a fairy house.)

If you're planning to fly with American Wednesday it might be worth making a call before you head to the airport.
American said it was canceling as many as 500 flights to check the bundling of wires in some planes, the same issue that caused it to ground more than 400 last month.
At Logan, the airline said there were as many as five canceled flights. Representatives for American, which operates about 2,300 daily flights, said they expected there would be more throughout the system Wednesday.
The airline said the Federal Aviation Administration raised concerns about recent inspections of the wiring in its approximately 300 MD-80 aircraft. Company representatives said that the problems did not pose safety threats.
The FAA has tightened inspections since coming under fire for letting Southwest fly planes that had missed safety inspections. American and Delta both canceled hundreds of flights late last month to do wiring-related inspections and repairs.
The hits just keep on coming.

Some tidbits gleaned from the morning news:
*Aer Lingus just cut a partnership deal with United. This comes a couple months after the Irish carrier reached a similar code-sharing pact with JetBlue.
What this means is that it will be easier to fly between anywhere United -- or JetBlue -- flies and any place Aer Lingus does.
Now if you and/or yours only hop between Boston and Dublin or Shannon, it's maybe not such a big deal. But it will make a difference for relatives across the pond who might want to make the rounds here in the States. Or maybe for that daughter of yours living in San Francisco who hasn't been to see the grandparents outside Donegal in a bit.
*Hard to believe but John Weikle, the founder of the bankrupt carrier Skybus, is "working on a plan" to get discounter flying again, the News & Record of Greensboro, N.C., reports. The airline has about $10 million in cash, Weikle said, which is enough seed money to attract other investors. Locally, Skybus flew out of and into Portsmouth, N.H., and Chicopee, Mass.
Excuse me? Didn't we just leave a bunch of folks stranded this weekend?
If you revive it, they will come? Can I have a show of hands: Even if Skybus makes it back, who will take a chance?
My advice? If they get it going again and you're determined to do it, snag tickets early and fly right away. Long-term planning is perhaps ill-advised, methinks.
(Thanks to Today in the Sky for pointing us to this last item.)

Passengers are left scrambling for ultracheap transportation after Skybus filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday.

Skybus's Chapter 11 filing comes 10 months after it began offering low-cost, bare-bones service from small airports such as Portsmouth International Airport in New Hampshire, about 50 miles from Boston. Skybus abruptly halted flights Saturday, becoming the fifth small airline last week to disclose it would cease operations.

Skybus follows bankrupt Aloha Airlines, ATA Airlines, and regional carrier Skyway Airlines, which all shut down last week. And small charter carrier Champion Air last week said it plans to pull the plug on passenger service by the summer.

The failures highlight turbulent times for an industry squeezed by rising fuel prices, increasing competition, and safety concerns - and leave fewer options for travelers already complaining about worsened performance.

Passenger gripes rose 60 percent last year compared to 2006, according to the annual Airline Quality Ratings study that was released yesterday by researchers at the Wichita State University and University of Nebraska at Omaha's Aviation Institute. The analysis of the 16 largest US airlines also showed they mishandled more bags, denied boarding to more passengers, and landed more flights late in 2007 - earning the industry its lowest score since the ratings started 18 years ago.

"I don't see any way this is going to get better," said researcher Dean Headley, citing airlines' high fuel costs, cutbacks on seat capacity, hiring freezes, and unprofitable operations. "Everything's working against it."
Posted by Nicole C. Wong, Globe Staff

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Amid the recent airline gloom, a ray of sunshine -- actually, more like a pretty good deal from JetBlue.
The discounter is offering $25 off and 50 TrueBlue points for tickets purchased on the site with an American Express Card by May 13 for travel between May 1 and June 18. Since 100 points gets you a free ticket, you can score either by flying twice or you can think of this as a kind of “fly two, fly free” offer. You must, however, be a TrueBlue member, but that's no problem because it's free. Details are here.

Thanks to View from the Wing for the tip.

AirTran joins US Airways and JetBlue in offering a standby deal for passengers holding tickets for Skybus, which shut down Saturday.
AirTran's offer is much like the ones offered by the other two, which I wrote about Saturday. It's $50 per flight plus taxes and fees; to set it up you need to call the reservation line 800-247-8726. You'll need to show your original Skybus ticket receipt or e-ticket confirmation when you check in, and all travel must be completed by April 15.

And then there were four. Continental says that it will start charging most customers who buy the cheapest tickets $25 to check in a second bag. The new baggage policy applies to passengers traveling within the United States, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Canada on or after May 5 if they hold economy-class tickets, unless they are premium members such as Elite OnePass members in the airline's frequent flier program or holders of the airline's Presidential Plus credit card. The service charge, which will help defray rising fuel costs, was also adopted by United, US Airways, and Delta in the past two months.
Posted by Nicole C. Wong, Globe Staff

This wasn’t supposed to get complicated, Baires. Just a few days of fun, and then I’d be on my way. But in less than six months I’ve already spent several weeks with you. And you know how tough long-distance relationships can be, mi Buenos Aires querido.
Oh, this get-together was well worth it. But don’t forget that for me it meant almost 5,700 miles of traveling each way, via Miami, and a $1,342 air fare. We had a great time, though.
The little things really can be a big deal. Did I say thank you for the empanadas? I’m not sure I can survive a Boston summer, much less a winter, without them.
And the ice cream – thank you for the cool Freddo and Volta chains and all the others, including my favorite, Persico.
And the alfajores – those caramel-filled pastries defy description.
Thanks, too, for not giving me a hard time about my not eating beef. I know Argentina is famous for its beef, but it’s just not for me. A couple of friends in Boston laughed about it: What would I eat in Argentina? Funny, but it wasn’t a problem: You surrounded me with great chicken, turkey, salads, and pasta --and all those wonderful fruit and vegetable stands.
And I will ask the same question people ask about Paris: How can one city support so many fine bakeries? They are easier to find than 7-Eleven stores in the States.
I don’t mean to sound superficial, though. I know there’s a lot more to you than food and fun.
Posted by John P. Harrington, Globe Staff

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Chinese President Hu Jintao held the Olympic torch aloft after lighting it at a ceremony at Tiananmen Square in Beijing Monday. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

I've never been jealous of an inanimate object before, but with news of the Olympic torch preparing for its trip around the world Monday, I felt a tinge of envy.

The torch arrived in Beijing today following last week's lighting ceremony in Greece. On Tuesday, it sets off on a journey that the Olympics website claims will cover 137,000 kilometers in 130 days and culminate with a return to Beijing on Aug. 8 for the opening ceremony of the games.

I dig the torch's itinerary. It features random, interesting cities sprinkled over the world, such as Canberra, Austrailia, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to compliment the usual heavyweights of London, Paris, and Hong Kong. Check out an interactive map of the planned voyage here.

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There’s a reason why Paris-style billboards, flower stands, and book and magazine kiosks accent just about every main street in Buenos Aires: BA has long thought of itself as that other Paris.
In its glory years, the city unabashedly appropriated European ideas about architecture and urban planning. What resulted was a treasure trove of mostly low-rise buildings, sensual parks and plazas too numerous to count, shaded side streets, and head-turning monuments – dozens of them.
But these days, the city’s moving in another direction: up.

Posted by John P. Harrington, Globe staff

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I’m all for vacationing for the sake of a good cause. Even if it’s just for a little overnighter. Boston’s Seaport Hotel, which has teamed with the nonprofit literacy program Reach Out and Read, is offering an overnight stay for four, tickets to the Boston Children’s Museum, and use of the health club and indoor pool. The package starts at $169 per night plus tax. Nice touches for the kiddoes include cookies and milk upon arrival and a small toy from the hotel’s treasure chest. Guests can make a personalized bookplate to give to a child in need, and the hotel will make a donation to Reach Out and Read. The package is available on Friday nights throughout the year.

“Pleeze, don’t write about tango!”
That was my porteño friend Juan Jose’s advice when I sought suggestions on what to blog about from Buenos Aires -- too many travel stories already about tango.
And it’s not as if I’ll be running off to a milonga to learn to tango. Several years ago, friends in Colombia insisted I learn to salsa. Hah! Talk about two gringo left feet and swivel-proof hips. I stuck to US-style disco dancing in a darkened Bogota nightclub, and had a blast.
But this past weekend, I discovered something totally new: electrotango.
New to me, that is. It’s been around a few years. The music lured me around a corner in San Telmo, down a side street, and into an old barn that on Sundays is part of the neighborhood’s massive and massively popular flea market.
It turned out that what was seducing me was a CD called “Tanghetto: Buenos Aires remixed.” Besides the cut above, you can check out more from the group on YouTube. Their song “Aire” will take you away. Chills up the spine. Delusions of immortality, amor, y una vida dramática en Argentina.
Dance while you can.
Posted By John P. Harrington, Globe Staff

Delta Air Lines says it will stop direct flights to at least six cities from Boston and roll back daily service to two other destinations, surrendering its spot as Logan International Airport's largest carrier based on the number of destinations served to JetBlue.

The service cutbacks are aimed at coping with the soaring price of jet fuel, which hit $100 a barrel a month ago and hasn't backed down. While some airlines are raising fuel surcharges and tacking on fees for extras such as more legroom and a second checked-in suitcase, Delta is cutting capacity on less profitable routes nationwide.

As a result, Boston travelers will find 14 percent fewer seats available in June compared to a year ago, said Delta spokeswoman Susan Chana Elliott. "Most of it is going to be on your point-to-point flights, flights that aren't routed to our hub and that are served by 50-seat regional jets that are disproportionately impacted by the high cost of fuel."

More reductions in service may come, but some flights could return on a seasonal basis, Elliott said.

In June, Delta will terminate nonstop service to Las Vegas, New Orleans, Greensboro, N.C., Savannah, Ga., Louisville, Ky., and Charleston, S.C. Delta is also canceling its second daily flight to Los Angeles International Airport, leaving it with one daily run as of May 1.

Posted By Nicole C. Wong, Globe Staff

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They're having a bad week, yo. It started Saturday when it was reported that a "small" piece of a wing broke off, (small? we're talking a 5-foot-by-7-foot hunk -- basically something the size of a 9th grader ) hitting a passenger window as a US Airways plane flew over Maryland.
Then we hear about the US Airways pilot whose gun accidentally went off during a flight. The dude was apparently certified under the TSA's Federal Flight Deck Officer program, which requires folks in the cockpit to get trained before they start packing. I'm assuming he passed.
No one was hurt in either incident. But it should give you, The American Flying Public, pause, yes?

Now don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against Dunkin’ Donuts or Starbucks. But both might perk up their business with a bit of Buenos Aires-style coffee flair.
In Baires, even the chains have table service. Failed Catholic that I am, I spent late Easter Sunday morning at The Coffee House outlet three stone-throws from Eva Peron’s grave, pretending I understood every word in Clarin, a local newspaper.
But more important, take a look at the picture. So simple, so satisfying. The café con leche came in a cup – and I don’t mean paper. With it you always get a tiny biscuit or cookie, gratis. And fizzy water. Whether to get a media luna or two (as the croissants are called here) is up to you.
And implicit in this deal, which will cost just a few pesos, is that no one will act as if you should even think about surrendering your seat until you decide to say, “Senorita, la cuenta, por favor.”
Now isn’t there some way this might translate in the good old US of A?

Posted by John P. Harrington, Globe Staff

Going to Europe? Keep the calculator handy. Every coin will count. And handing it over will hurt. This year, I like pesos better – the Argentine kind.
Here’s what things are costing me in Buenos Aires, at the current (stable) dollar-exchange rate:
* Nice 400-square-foot one-bedroom apartment in best neighborhood, with modern kitchen, California closets, air conditioning, free WiFi, balcony, and whirlpool bathtub: $350 per week.
* Subway ride: 29 cents.
* 25-mile reserved taxi ride from airport to city center: $22 (And the driver doesn’t expect a tip.)
* Liter of Tropicana orange juice: $1.50. Medium-size Colgate toothpaste:

$1.58. Tasty quick-lunch kind of chicken sandwich from a fine bakery: $1.50. Fresh bakery croissant, Paris quality: 22 cents. You can make your own fruit basket at the neighborhood fruit stand for a dollar or two.
*Leisurely lunch at an upscale Italian restaurant (about seven kinds of bread and breadsticks, a delicious Bellini, a bottle of fizzy water, and a large portion of grilled salmon with fresh cherry tomatoes and arugula): $18.70. In a neighborhood restaurant you can get pasta and a glass of wine for $5 or $6. On popular Avenida Santa Fe, a tourist magnet like Los Molinos charges $4 for a mozzarella pizza for one, $7.95 for a chicken-and-mushrooms entrée.
On popular Avenida Santa Fe, a tourist magnet like Los Molinas charges $4 for a mozzarella pizza for one, $7.95 for a chicken-and-mushrooms entrée.
Better-quality clothes, though, seem as expensive as in the States. And don’t buy a flat-screen TV or Swiss chocolates here.
An acquaintance from Boston paid just $30 a night in a basic hotel with shared bath (clean and safe, but with a painfully tiny shower stall) before he upgraded to a Marriott and paid with points. A fairly luxurious room can be had for $200 a night.
Now try that in Europe.
Posted By John P. Harrington, Globe Staff

The TSA -- yes, they of the water-bottle rules, shed the shoes, and most recently the ski-lane system of airport security -- want to know what you really think about how things are going at Logan.
It's part of their new era of glastnost (the term? It's a late Cold War thing; you wouldn't understand) that was kicked off a few months ago with the launch of their blog.
Now they're kicking the tires on a new deal in which they're asking users of six airports (Logan, Dallas-Fort Worth, Dallas-Love, LAX, Salt Lake City, and Denver) to leave a comment on the blog about what they think about airport security.
So here's your chance. Got feedback? Had your laptop hard drive erased? Been strip-searched after being tripped up by your underwire? It's time to clear the air and let the healing begin.

Dude, what next? Discounter JetBlue, which currently offers free in-flight television, will charge $10 to $20 more for some seats with more legroom.
Six rows on some of their planes will offer four more inches than usual -- 38 total -- and the fees will run from $10-$20, depending on the length of the flight.
Now JetBlue isn't the first to do this. Northwest already charges $15 more for some seats -- say, in the exit row -- with more space. But air travel wise wise guys say they now expect other carriers to play copycat.
Why? The airlines are getting squeezed big time by higher fuel and other costs. So they're looking for other ways to raise scratch and cut costs. American and Northwest JUST raised international fuel surcharges by $20 for a roundtrip, and Delta jacked up its domestic fares by $10. Last week most of the Sky Kings kicked up domestic fuel charges by as much as $50. United and US Airways recently started charging some passengers for checking a second bag. And most of the carriers are looking for places to trim schedules and ground planes.
And there will be more of all of this.
The next logical optional charge would be air. No, I'm not suggesting that they would withhold it completely. Just the stuff that's, well, most breathable. And smells best.
Or perhaps they can go the bake sale route.

How wide is the widest street in the world? I wanted to know. But I didn’t feel like measuring Avenida 9 de Julio with a yardstick and turning into the loco gringo.
Wikipedia says 459 feet. Google Sightseeing says 417. Virtualtourist.com says 426. Yahoo plays it safe: “One of the world’s largest avenues.”
Britannica.com says, flat out, that it’s the widest street anywhere. But to get the details you need a credit card number to activate a free trial -- you know how that works.
Buenostours.com says it’s an avenue residents of the city “claim to be the widest street in the world.”
By any measure, the street, opened in 1936 to commemorate Argentina’s 1816 Independence Day, is a lot wider than a US football field is long. And a lot wider than, say, the Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Boston. MIT (a source I can run with) pegs Comm. Ave. at “200 feet from building face to building face.”
Posted By John P. Harrington, Globe Staff

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And then there were four. Discounter Megabus plans to start offering trips between Boston and New York starting in late May. They will be going head to head with Boltbus, which is launching its service in April.
Both services have a similar pricing deal: It begins at a $1 for a seat if you reserve in advance and gets more expensive the closer you get to departure. BoltBus will offer WiFi and power outlets; Megabus plans to have WiFi but no power outlets. BoltBus will be shoving off from South Station; Megabus from 700 Atlantic Ave.
And both companies are locked in a Texas Death Cage showdown with the Chinatown bus services, Lucky Star and the sometimes-mechanically-challenged Fung Wah, which offer potentially lower cost service without amenities or the guaranteed seating.
The BoltBus-Megabus Battle in Boston is part of a larger war between the Scottish owner of BoltBus, FirstGroup PLC, and Scottish rival, Stagecoach Group, which runs Megabus. A kind of Scottish Battle Royale for the hearts and minds of the Backpack Brigade.
Still all this fighting over us. I'm thinking it's a good thing.

Dude. Not really, but sort of, so keep reading. This is the story. A little bird (actually TheAirDB) told me that Skybus is going to start offering service from "Boston" (Portsmouth, N.H., really) to "New York" (Newburgh, N.Y., which is really about 80 miles north of Manhattan for all of you geographically-challenged types).
What? You've never heard of Skybus? (You're so ignorant sometimes you're like embarrassing to hang with.) They're the guys who started up last year and they set aside 10 seats for $10 on every flight. And the real fares are pretty low, too. How do they do it? Well, first of all they fly into places that don't get used much or at all (but are sort of close to places where you might want to be). And they charge for EVERYTHING: Water costs $2 a bottle; checked luggage $5 a bag per flight; and pillows $12 each. My pal Nicole Wong wrote a cool story last month about what it's like to fly with these guys.
OK, so you don't care about the "Boston" to "New York" deal. Well, they're also planning to start flying from Springfield (you know, like Western Mass.? Like Basketball Hall of Fame?)
to Punta Gorda and St. Augustine, Fla.
Ultra-cheap flights to Florida. Hmm. Sound better? OK, now, you CAN'T get these deals just yet because, well, they're not soup yet. But I'm predicting in the next few days....(so shake yourself and start paying attention to Current Events, OK? Sha.)

¡Que tremendo! I arrived in Buenos Aires yesterday. Here’s what to expect when you get here:
At least 15 percent of the population will be dancing tango in the streets. Most everybody else will be eating beef (meat the tour books describe as “succulent”) rushed in from the Pampas by gauchos.
Eva Perón has been dead 55 years, but crowds at the Casa Rosada will still be chanting “Evita! Evita!” And if a soccer match is just ending, at least 1.3 million futbol fans will be on the rampage.
Those who are not tangoing, eating beef, or rampaging will be shopping, hanging out at a sidewalk café, or agonizing at a therapy session. No matter who or where they are, invariably they will be well-dressed, attractive, and flirtatious.

Posted by John P. Harrington, Globe Staff

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AirTran Airways will relocate check-in and ticketing operations at Logan International Airport from the lower level of Terminal C to the main lobby of the terminal tomorrow, the airport's operator, the Massachusetts Port Authority, said.

The airline, which is operated by AirTran Holdings Inc. of Orlando, will utilize the ticket counter once used by Continental Airlines Inc. in the main lobby and will use new gates – 38, 40, 41, and 42; each of the gates will be accessible from the upper level of Terminal C, Massport said.

Currently, AirTran Airlines services eight destinations out of Logan, including Akron/Canton; Atlanta; Baltimore; Fort Myers; Orlando; Tampa; and West Palm, in Florida, as well as Newport News, Va., Massport said.

AirTran is also planning two new nonstop routes from Boston; three daily flights to Chicago Midway will start April 9, and two nonstop flights to Milwaukee will start May 21, Massport said.
Posted by Chris Reidy, Globe staff

A taste of royalty in the Canadian Rockies

Visiting Banff or Lake Louise? The Fairmont Banff Springs and Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, those two storybook hotels, may be out of your budget for lodging, but it's still possible to play prince or princess for the day.

At the Banff Springs, spend a half day or longer in the Willow Stream Spa. Day access is a whopping $79 (for nonguests, reservations required), so the longer you stay, the better it seems (it's open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.). Of course, one dip in the progressive pools or the central mineral pool (be sure to lay your head back in the water—music is piped in), and you'll think it's worth every penny. At least I did. Head outside to the whirlpool, and don't be surprised if a deer strolls by. As another woman said: "It doesn't get any better than this!" Well, actually, it does, but that requires spending beaucoup bucks for a massage (rates begin at $165 for 60 minutes, plus gratuity and GST) or other service. Instead, add a mini-splurge for breakfast or lunch, perhaps even light dinner, in the spa. In between taking the waters or trips to the steam room or sauna (with a window overlooking the mountains), simply relax in your robe and slippers, munch on complementary fruit and perhaps cookies or muffins, and sip tea for big Ahhhh! factor. Before leaving, shower using the spa's fancy-schmancy shampoo, conditioner and cleansers, then slather liberally with lotion. Now melt.

At the Chateau Lake Louise, make a reservation for high tea, served daily in the lakefront lounge from noon to 4 p.m. Yes, it's pricey at $38, but the experience is priceless. Begin with a glass of wine (or champagne, for an additional $10), then choose a tea and sit back and nibble your way through a three-tiered silver tray of finger sandwiches, sweets and to-die-for scones with Devonshire cream and strawberry jam. It's so elegant and so self-indulgent and so satisfying.

Posted by Hilary Nangle, Globe Correspondent

I won’t use a pseudonym and keep a low profile when I return to Buenos Aires, nor spend my nights dreaming bad dreams about how and when my assassin will arrive.
That was the fate the great Jorge Luis Borges assigned to “Sr. Villari” in his short story “The Wait.”
Darkness and daylight – both tormented Villari. And with good reason. His room in his quiet little rooming house didn’t end up being much of a hideout.
But unless the trip from Boston to BA (with a two-day Miami layover) goes awry in ways I can’t imagine, I’ll worry a lot more about finding Buenos Aires’ best empanadas than about eluding assassins.
Last year, my friend Gustavo and I were glad to let two wet tourists who needed a ride to the subway station in the middle of a downpour in Rio de Janeiro sit in Gustavo’s car in a traffic jam with us for 45 minutes. They were great company. She was from South Africa, and he was from Ireland. They had gotten to Rio via Buenos Aires – “just another big city,’’ she called it.
Hmm. I panicked for a moment. I would be on my way to BA a couple of days later. Had I made a big mistake by renting an apartment there for a whole week?
Now any Argentine – just pick one on the street, anyone – will quickly educate you that Buenos Aires is “the Paris of South America,” should you be so uneducated as to not realize that. Not knowing this would be more or less as silly as, say, not knowing that eggs come from chickens.
Posted by John P. Harrington, Globe staff

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I know you missed this, but it could make your life better and, well, that's what we're all here for, yes? To make your life better. So pay attention.
At the end of this month, the EU-US Open Skies Agreement becomes real, and it will bring big changes to anyone who hops the pond -- read more direct flights to cities in Europe along with the possibility of some lower fares as discounters remake European travel the same way they've reshaped domestic flights.
Basically, the deal, signed last year, brought down a complicated series of barriers -- for instance, limiting how many airlines can make transatlantic trips out of Heathrow -- and will essentially allow any US airline to fly to any European city and vice versa.
Already we're starting to see changes: British Airways is launching another airline, OpenSkies, which will connect JFK nonstop with cities like Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam; Air France will fly from LA to London, and KLM will fly from Dallas to Amsterdam.
Gridskipper susses it all out.
This is just the beginning of the changes. Stay tuned.

Hola, muchachos. Comment ça va? My pal Carolyn Johnson has a cool story in this morning's Globe about a social networking website, MyHappyPlanet, started by a Harvard Business School student that helps people learn languages.
Sites like this one let members dust off those language skills by communicating through written messages, talking, or IMs with each other (yes, dude, in foreign languages). MyHappyPlanet also has features that lets users correct grammar and vocabulary when sending messages and includes a phrase translator.
The site also hosts a series of user-generated videos that give you a taste of cultures and languages around the world. I had to include one of them here, "One Semester of Spanish Love Song.'' But, WARNING, DANGER, WILL ROBINSON, it's a parody. So if you happen to be an earnest, serious student of language you might want to avert your eyes or least mute the sound. Ciao. Adjö. Sun-kia. Do svidanja.

All right, I'm warning you: This is going to hurt. With crude prices sashaying toward $110 a barrel, US gas prices hit a record $3.227 per gallon today, up 27 cents in a month and topping the old high of $3.2265 set in May.
Around here, the average was only (only?) $3.103, off the record $3.214 set in September of 2005 (yes, all pain is relative). Want a little salt for that open fleshy wound? Last year, we were paying $2.506.
All these figures are courtesy of our pals at AAA.
The auto club says that folks in some parts of the country could be ponying up $4 by this summer (although our good friend Art Kinsman of the New England branch says we'll likely be paying closer to $3.50-$3.60). Let's hope most of those $4 folks are Yankee fans -- or Californians or Floridians (or anywhere else where people are wearing shorts when we can't).
Getting ready to swear off car travel? Airlines are no better.
United, American, Delta, and Continental have just raised round-trip ticket prices by as much as $10 amid surging jet-fuel costs, which hit a record $3.17 a gallon last week. The airlines have already tried pushing up fares about a half dozen times this year. So what's the total damage? As much as $50 in total fuel surcharges on certain US round-trip flights.
It could be a tough travel year, my friends. Seems like a good time to go fashionably green and maybe take up bicycling.

Need to catch the Brewers home opener April 4? Or sample some of the beers that made Milwaukee famous? Then Midwest Airlines may have a deal for you.

Through Friday, the airline is offering some discount fares for future travel, including some flights between Boston and Milwaukee. So for travelers who want to get a good look at Brewers slugger Prince Fielder (right), this may be an opportunity to check out.

The special fares cover some Midwest Airlines flights from April 1 through June 11, and one-way fares based on round trip purchase include such starting sample prices as Milwaukee to Boston for $79, Midwest said.
For locals interested in cricket and a different kind of royalty than Prince Fielder, British Airways is offering a summer sale that includes round trip fares from Boston starting at $769. Ticket purchases must be made by the end of Thursday, and the summertime rate is available for travel from May 26 through Sept. 3, the airline said.

As always, conditions apply to both Midwest Airlines and British Airways offers.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Dude, let me tell you. I dig tapas. And flan. The sherry thing I can take or leave, but the food is way cool (I love the olives and the squid -- who knew?). When I used to get sick, Mom used to make flan so... (OK, man, don't look at me like that. I bet you miss the PJs with the feet built in, too).
Anyway, it's that time of year again. Iberia Airlines says that it's planning to ratchet up service from Logan to Madrid (I'll say this once: Bullfights are NOT cool: Think "The Story of Ferdinand'' meets Jason) from three flights a week to seven, starting in mid-June.
Last May the airline launched service from Logan with five flights a week and then scaled back as the weather cooled. So just in time for the summer travel season, Iberia is once again increasing flights as a kind of rite of the season -- kind of like the crocuses or the swallows, or the girls with the big hair at Revere Beach.
Fernando Pollan of Iberia points out that the carrier will be running more flights this year than last and hopes to expand its Logan business year-round.
¡Qué guay!, yes?

Where else but in Miami can you find a Japanese restaurant with a half-Spanish name operating with a Caribbean chef de cuisine working alongside a Japanese sushi chef for an Israeli owner in a former post office building?

In Miami’s evolving Design District, one of the newest kids on the culinary block is Domo Japones, a stylish Japanese Bistro serving innovative food in a stylish setting. What is innovative food, you ask? Well, there’s white fish sashimi with jalapeno and blood orange yuzu sauce, yellowtail tartare with kimchee sauce, and box-style sushi with Japanese pickled rice topped with edible orchids. (See latter two in photo.) And those are just the appetizers.

Open since December 2007, in a renovated former post office, Domo Japones’ atmosphere is Miami-hip: modern, intimate, cool, and casual. Open till 3:00 a.m. (unheard of in Boston!) the place gets going late and is hopping most days of the week and weekends. Those “in with the in-crowd” may recognize “Maitre D’va” Donna Hughes, the statuesque beauty whose ex-hubby Allen owned the popular 190 restaurant further up the street. (We hear he’s recently reopened on the beach! More on that later.) Once we spotted Donna, we knew this was the place to see and be seen — and to eat.

Magellan Press is out with a guide for hungry travelers: ''Where the Locals Eat: The 100 Best Restaurants in the Top 50 Cities.'' That's US cities, and Boston is included.

Entries include a range of food and prices. Boston restaurants include Brown Sugar Cafe for the best Thai and the Cask 'n Flagon for the best sports bar.

If you think the $11.95 price is too steep, particularly for a guide that includes only one New England city, check their website for more foodie news and blogs.

And if you have your own local winner, share your tip with us.

It is worth turning around for the roadside shop called Quesos Chela, which serves fresh empanadas, shakes made from milk, corn, sugar and more ...

File this under: Unbelievable. There is a story out today about the death of a 44-year-old woman aboard an American Airlines jet bound for New York from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Apparently, the woman had heart disease and complained of feeling sick and having difficulty breathing.
But this is where the story gets molto funky, and versions diverge.
According to a cousin who was traveling with the woman, Carine Desir, this is what happened: Desir asked the flight attendant for oxygen and was refused -- twice. Apparently the refusals -- and the woman's apparent suffering -- caused a bit of consternation among fellow passengers (after all, having someone on your plane gasping for breath tends to put a crimp in the fun factor of any vacation). So the attendant relented and tried to administer oxygen. But the tank was empty.
So a second tank was produced. Also empty. At this point the cousin prevailed on the pilot to get the plane down ASAP, and he agreed to divert and land in Miami, 45 minutes away.
Unfortunately, a short time later Desir collapsed and was pronounced dead by a doctor who was on board. What then? The airline folks moved Desir's body to the floor of the first-class section (is there no end to the perks up front?), covered her up with a blanket, skipped the Miami stop, and headed off to New York.
American initially refused to comment but now is disputing the cousin's version. The airline says that its oxygen tanks and a defibrillator were working and noted that several medical professionals on the flight, including a doctor, tried to save Desir.
So what's the Truth? Your guess is as good as mine, but I think the next time I fly American at the very least I'm gonna pass on first class.

It's the 50th anniversary of The Freedom Trail Foundation and the Ritz-Carlton Boston Common
is celebrating with its Freedom Trail 50th Anniversary Package.

The package includes a deluxe guest room or suite, a private Walk Into History Walking Tour, A copy of "The Freedom Trail, An Artist's View,'' and an American breakfast for two in the Jer-Ne Restaurant.

The offer starts March 14 and continues through the year. Cost starts at $515 per couple and a three-day nonrefundable advance booking is required.

I am, like, so into green. I recycle, walk whenever I can, and keep the Charlie Card handy. I'm also really, really into Starbucks (OK, I'm not exactly sure how this helps, but my man, Sergio, says it's cool). My goal in life is to make my carbon toeprint like the size of this period.
Anyway, Popular Science has put out its rating of the greenest cities. And I'm thinking this is going to totally influence all my travel plans.
They ranked the cities by how good they are at getting electricity from clean and renewable sources, how much people use public transportation and recycle, and the number of green buildings they have.
And now the Top Ten:
10. Austin, Texas (Yee-haw)
9. Chicago (love the hot dogs)
8. Seattle (the birthplace of coffee)
7. Berkeley, Calif. (the mother of all crunchitude)
6. Cambridge (i.e. People's Republic of)
5. Eugene, Ore. (where they invented running)
4. Oakland, Calif. (still not much there there)
3. Boston (mad teams, lame drivers)
2. San Francisco (worth it for the sourdough alone)
And the No. 1 greenest city in America:

1. Portland, Ore. (which, according to lore, could very well have ended up being Boston, Ore., had our guy not lost the coin toss with some dude from Maine)
There you have it. Start booking flights. And don't forget the carbon-offset fees.

Passengers flying out of Bradley International Airport will be able to fly directly to Memphis this summer.

Bradley and Northwest Airlines are announcing that daily nonstop seasonal service to Memphis International Airport will begin on June 16.

The chairman of the airport's board of governors says the value of this new service will be further multiplied because passengers can use it to connect to other flights offered by Northwest Airlines at Bradley.

Northwest says the daily flights to Memphis, complement daily service to Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Indianapolis and Amsterdam.

The service will be operated by Northwest Airlink partner Pinnacle Airlines using 50 seat jets. (AP)

If Delta Air Lines Inc. buys Northwest Airlines - a deal that could be announced any day now -- the merger would create the largest airline in the world and at Logan International Airport. Yet little is likely to change for travelers at Boston's intensely competitive airport.

"Of all the major cities in which the two carriers are involved, Boston would have the least impact," said George Hoffer, a Virginia Commonwealth University economics professor who has studied the airline industry.

Logan officials and airline experts predict the combined airline wouldn't reduce - or add - service at Boston's airport. They say route cuts are unlikely because there aren't any major metro airports that serve this region other than Logan and there's no overlap between the 30 nonstop destinations Delta serves and the four Northwest flies from Boston.

Additionally, Delta already scaled back its investment in Boston a little over a year ago. But the combined carrier also is unlikely to add service because the money-making routes from Boston have already been taken.

Posted by Nicole C. Wong, Globe Staff

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DAY SEVENTEEN

Last day in La-La Land. A full-circle day. For gifts and souvenirs, I buy bottles of my friends Litty and Melkon’s infused vodka, which is still not available in Mass; until then I’ll smuggle it like a bootlegger). I snag some merchandise -- CDs, shot glasses -- from my friend Sage’s band The Lucky Stars.

I run into Michelle, the friend I’ve been staying with, at Chango, the cafe that’s been my workspace. She’s finally beating her cough, but her boyfriend Sage is getting sick. Their son Weston sings silly songs and still tries to sneak up on me in the kitchen while I’m making dinner. I’ve enjoyed being part of this little family this past week.

I walk with Sage to the local school, his voting place, on Super Tuesday. After casting your vote in California, you get a voter-verifiable paper receipt. I like this. Proof you were there, part of democracy for a day. I lunch with another friend whose couch was my crash pad for two nights. If I total up my meals out over the past 16 days, I’ll be depressed. I don’t, and brace myself for the credit card bill.

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The answer? Maybe not so much.
I can tell from the blank stare that you are, once again, clueless. OK, let's back up for a second and get you caught up.
The airlines, facing rocketing fuel costs and grinding competition, are scrambling for Advil Extra Strength and answers. Many are feeling the urge to merge, hoping that two can indeed live cheaper and more profitably than one. For the past few weeks, Delta and Northwest have reportedly been doing the dance and may make an announcement soon. My pal Kim Blanton took a look at that deal in a story last month.
In the past few days, news guys have been filing reports saying that United and Continental are also chatting it up, partly because of concerns about being left in the dust if a Delta-NWA deal gets done.
What does this mean to us? Very likely not much. At least in the short term. United hauls about 10 percent of Logan passengers, and Continental 4 percent, according to the folks at Massport. And there are no overlapping routes: Continental goes to places like Newark and Cleveland while United hits Left Coast hot spots, D.C., and Chicago.
But in the long run, fewer competitors tend to mean higher fares. That you can take to the bank, hombre. Stay tuned.

ENTRY VIII

There's a flip side to the Google Maps tale. If you've ever looked at your own neighborhood on a mapping program, you've probably been confused. We certainly have. (We challenge you to navigate the Financial District or Bay Village with Google Maps.) After weeks of never leaving the hotel without either a laminated street map or at least scribbled instructions from Google, something finally clicked. Wherever we found ourselves in Madrid, we knew where we were.

The test came one night at the end of a research trip, when we decided to go tapas-hopping and catch an early (10:30pm) flamenco performance. Every place we wanted to go lay in a tangled nest of medieval streets, but we walked briskly to the first bar on our agenda, then the next, and the next, and the next, winding up at the flamenco show at 10:15 (the music and dancing began around 11).

Google that.

Despite the spikes of skyscrapers sprouting at its edges, Panama City's central streets are often low-slung. Two and three and four-story buildings sit back from avenues that rise and fall on slight slopes and wind, heading one way for a block, then another the next. Foot traffic and the lurching of colorful old school buses give the place intimate dimensions. Heat and humidity can make it feel like an atrium.

So it was a subdued scene - despite the bull horns, waving red flags and chants for change - when more than a thousand marchers turned a corner onto Avenida Central Espana and headed away from the Bella Vista district - long a center of the city - toward the Plaza Cinco de Mayo.

It was calmer than in previous days, when protesting construction workers sought better safety conditions, then came out in bigger numbers after police apparently shot and killed one of their own on Tuesday.
Photo: Essdras M Suarez

FULL ENTRY

To entice airlines to roll out nonstop service between Boston and Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East, the Massachusetts Port Authority's board approved rebates on Logan International Airport's landing fees for new international routes.

For routes that provide at least three nonstop flights a week throughout the year, Massport, which runs Logan, will for the first time give a 75 percent credit on landing fees during the first year of service and a 25 percent credit the second year - worth a total of $300,000 to $750,000 per new route.

Additionally, Massport will donate advertising space on one or two billboards in Terminal E, the international terminal, and publicize the route on the airport's local radio ads for a year.

Initially, Massport expects this International Air Service Incentive Program to cost the authority a couple of million dollars. But officials predict Massport will recoup some money after three or four years, as an increase in the number of international passengers boosts parking and concession revenues.

"Competition among airports for new service remains fierce, especially for new international service," Massport's chief executive, Thomas J. Kinton Jr., said at the board meeting. "The package," he later added, "is designed to minimize the risk of new service, not subsidize routes that are not self-sufficient."

Logan isn't the only airport giving this discount. Breaks on landing fees - which cover the expense of operating the airfield - are widespread on new international routes, experts said. Though airlines face significant financial risks on start-up routes, airports stand to gain a lot as the big jets used on international flights funnel passengers through the airports - helping to offset airlines' shift to smaller planes on domestic routes.

Logan currently offers nonstop service to 32 international destinations, but all of them are in Europe, the Caribbean, or Canada.

Massport has been eager to inaugurate nonstop flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Mexico City, Tel Aviv, and Mumbai - cities that are frequented by business, academic, and leisure travelers from Greater Boston.
Posted by Nicole C. Wong, Globe Staff

FULL ENTRY

ENTRY VII

How did people ever research guidebooks before Google Maps?
You buy the most detailed (and usually most expensive and unwieldy) street map on the market and make 20-30 pages of enlarged photocopies of small areas. Our Madrid master map unfolds to 3.5 by 5 feet—not exactly useful on the street. Once we arrived, we started plugging in actual addresses to Google Maps to figure out how best to see, say, four hotels, two churches, five shops, and a small museum in a one-day walking circuit. Google saved many unpleasant surprises. One flamenco spot gave its address as a street we knew well because it went past our hotel. Google Maps revealed that the bar was about two miles away—at the other end of the street. (We took a bus.) Moreover, the resolution of Google Maps is better than any printed map we’ve found, even showing the names of short back alleys. (You’d be surprised how many bars with live music are on short back alleys.)

You don't need GPS in Boston when you rent through Avis. You can book a chauffeur instead.

Avis began testing its Chauffeur Drive service six months ago and it's caught on with business and leisure travelers. What began in 10 cities in June is now offered in more than 350 cities in Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.

Avis's partner WeDriveU provides the drivers for $34.50 per hour (plus a 15% service charge), and there is a three-hour minimum per ride. See the Avis website for other details. The drivers can pick up the car and customer and later return the car to Avis. Or you can keep the car and drop the chauffeur off. Just don't do it in the middle of nowhere.

Somebody say, yee-ha! U.S. Airways Express will restore nonstop service between Logan and Albany International (?!) in April. (alright, you boys in the back of the class stop snickering; we're talking about the capital of the Empire State here.)
The Boston Business Journal is reporting that Colgan Air will run daily flights Sunday-Friday. Flights will depart Boston at 6 p.m. and arrive in Albany at 7:20 pm., with return flights scheduled for 6 a.m. weekdays and 12:45 p.m. Sundays.
Service to Albany ended last month when Colgan and Big Sky Airlines, operating under Delta Connection, stopped flying the route. Now that it's back we should plan a trip. Wonder if Eliot Spitzer bowls?

DAY FOURTEEN

The Echo Park Film Center, a non-profit,
community-based film and media center. The funky storefront has a small space for screenings and meetings, and best of all rents out old-school equipment like Super 8 alongside video and digital. The night I visited, the center hosted a DVD release party for a remarkable film, “This is the LA River,” a collaborative, lyrical, 16mm film made by 21 young people ages 14 and 19 about that neglected river that runs through Los Angeles’ heart --- and should be its soul.
Tinseltown ain’t known for its German expat community. So think of the Red Lion Tavern on Glendale in Echo Park as a biergarten theme park --- greenery-draped back patio, white beer steins lining the walls, plates of knackwurst, bratwurst and bockwurst, and a dozen beers on tap like Bitburger and the dark Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel, brews normally absent at most American bars. And yes, waitresses in lederhosen.
Posted by Ethan Gilsdorf, Globe Correspondent

FULL ENTRY

Brighten an otherwise dreary February day by making a trip to the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton — if you’ve never been there before, I guarantee you’ll be pleasantly surprised that such a wealth of creative contemporary
craft is nestled in an unassuming building on 22 wooded acres of south of Boston. On display are wood sculptures, enamel jewelry, and multipaneled metalwork installations. And don’t miss the mechanical toys and kinetic sculptures of Gina Kamentsky, on display until Nov. 9. But it’s the investment in connecting with community that makes the museum truly vibrant. Saturday Kid Classes feature a different medium for each month (February is fabric) and allow children 6-10 to let their creative juices flow. Teen Studio classes (for kids 14-17) focus on ceramics, fibers, or metals. For grown-ups, there are Saturday Try it Out! workshops (sculptural knitting, anyone?), Girls’ Night Out classes on Wednesday (including mosaics and Polaroid transfer), and 2-day weekend intensive workshops (check out cloisonne enameling). Feb. 19 (during school vacation week) is the museum’s [SENSE]ation Day, and kids of all ages can make art in hands-on workshops and participate in interactive performances of fairy tales. There will be ongoing demonstrations and art activities throughout the day: make a mask or learn the art of Japanese paper dyeing. Oh, and don’t miss the small but very cool gift shop.

Got cabin fever? Nothing like a little stargazing to snap you out of it. Sharon Friends of Conservation is hosting an astronomy night Feb. 16 at Moose Hill Farm, which is down the street from the Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary in Sharon. Several telescopes will be on hand. If you don’t know Orion from a hole in the ground, knowledgeable volunteers from SFOC and the South Shore Astronomical Society will field questions. Hot drinks and a warming room will be available. Dress warmly and park at Moose Hill Farm at 396 Moose Hill St. Did I mention it’s free? (If Feb. 16 is impossibly overcast, astronomy night will be Feb. 17.) Call 781-784-4625 for more information.

New Englanders looking to escape the snow may find better deals this year by flying beyond Florida.

Travelers leaving from Logan International Airport can reach some popular destinations in the Caribbean for 5 percent to 35 percent less than they could last winter, while flying to Florida vacation spots can cost 5 percent to 15 percent more than a year ago.

The reason? Airlines are shifting large planes from domestic routes to more lucrative international routes. Fewer seats on flights within the United States and more seats to the Caribbean, Bermuda, Latin America, and South America drive domestic airfares up and international ticket prices down. Additionally, while airlines have been tacking hefty jet fuel "surcharges" on domestic fares, they've been adding smaller fees or even rescinding them on tickets to some popular Caribbean destinations amid intense competition on those routes, said Rick Seaney, the chief executive of FareCompare.com, a Dallas consumer airfare research website.

"It's supply and demand," said Seaney, whose website crunched for The Boston Globe the yearly data for February and March airfares between Boston and these winter getaway destinations. "The more supply, the cheaper the price."

But in most cases, it's still much cheaper to stay in the United States. Sun-seekers on a budget will still probably prefer Florida, where they can reach beach scenes like Miami, West Palm Beach, and Fort Lauderdale from Logan for $180 to $190 round trip, including taxes and fees. Although, travelers who have been eyeing an island escapade but have hesitated because of the higher airfare may find the time is right, with $240 to $300 round-trip prices to St. Thomas, Bermuda, and Nassau, Bahamas.
Posted by Nicole C. Wong, Globe Staff

FULL ENTRY

DAY THIRTEEN

“I wouldn’t be talking to myself if someone would just talk to me,” grumbles a disturbed young woman in a flowery dress at Chango, the cafe that’s become my de facto workplace. “And the coffee here [expletive],” she adds, storming out with this further insult: tossing a cup of some liquid at the front window.

She could have been an actress. This could have been performance art. But I doubt it. It’s just an unhappy LA day for her.
The morning seems grimmer than others this week, overcast, over-bleached. Or just over-exposed. A woman next to me is

also from out of town, visiting friends, haunting cafes. She can’t get the wireless signal to work, either. Nothing’s going right. And I’m anxious
about being on vacation for so long. Do I deserve this break? Love my neuroses.

I’m still wandering Echo Park. Struck by the composition of a mural of palm trees in a school
playground and actual palm tress in the distance. I snap a picture. The school recess monitor
yells at me, “Hey! You can’t take photos here!” I apologize. She radios the front office anyway. I
leave. (Oddly, I run into her a few hours later on Sunset Blvd and explain again: No, ma’am, I am not a terrorist or a child molester. Honest.)

On the walk home, I see a house and garage set into the hill, completely wrapped in a orange- and green-striped tarpaulin. Like a wedding tent, or an inflatable Moonwalk for a birthday party. Or a Christo-wrapped art project.

But no. The home’s been sealed off for some anti-termite fumigation. Do not enter, kids. This
anti-art project/Bounce House can kill.

On Cape Cod, the Chatham Bars Inn resort, has deals for Feb. 15 or 16. Couples can stay in a deluxe guest room with a fireplace, receive an amenity upon arrival, and have a three-course dinner for two, plus breakfast in bed, and a 2 p.m. checkout. For luxury lovers, there are the 12 Spa Suites with a sauna, private hydrotherapy tub, steam shower, plasma TV, Bose sound system, and fireplace. Spa services, including the romantic Side By Side Massage, are available in the privacy of the suite. Valentine’s Weekend packages start at $399 for two and include all taxes and service charges. The spa suites begin at $691 a night with taxes and services included. Visit the inn's website or call 508-945-0096 or 800-332-1577.
Posted by Richard P. Carpenter, Globe Correspondent

If you live near Logan, say someplace like Eastie, you've probably heard the drum beats getting louder, particularly near Terminals A and E, the homes of Delta and Northwest. That's because the folks who know and write about such things at the WSJ and NYT are telling us that the pair are getting closer to tying the knot.
What will this mean to you (because that is what it's all about, no?)? If you'll recall -- and I know you won't, which is why I'm writing this -- my pal Kimberly Blanton wrote a story last month saying that if the two merged it would perhaps not hurt us so much because Delta, with 16 percent of the Logan business, largely flies south to spots like Atlanta and Florida, while Northwest, with a mere 5.4 percent, is a West Coast carrier.
So did we duck a bullet? Maybe.
Delta, which seems hungry to get hitched, could still do the deed with United, which it has also been flirting with, corporate hussy that it is. If that happens it would create a carrier that would serve more than a quarter of the 28 million who flew into and out of Logan last year. There would be greater overlap, so routes would probably get snipped, and fares on longer flights to places like the West Coast would rise.
So, if there's going to be a deal, I think I know who I'm rooting for. I think.

I’ve rented a car twice in the past couple of months. I got a great rate both times—just $28 a day — but the first time, I let the salesperson talk me into buying insurance for an extra $20 a day. He mentioned that if anything happened, I’d have to pay not only for any damages, but also a fee for each day the car was out of commission. Most important, he said, my car insurance company wouldn’t cover it (something about a special “state exclusion”). I was too rushed to call my insurance company, so I paid the extra $20 per day. Can you say “sucker”? The next month when I picked up another rental car, I had plenty of time to spare and called my insurance company first. Turns out it would cover all costs. Lesson learned. Always find out what your insurance company (or even your credit card company) covers before you rent a car.
Anybody else out there got a car rental horror story?

DAY TWELVE

Here in L.A., ever since the strike, a lot of out-of-work writers have a lot of time on their hands.

Sitting in cafes, driving in cars, walking the streets (to their cars or cafes), would-be screenwriters seem undeterred.

“Look, guys, if you want to sell this movie..." one guy in sunglasses insists into his cell phone, passing me on the sidewalk.

“I’m writing my first screenplay,” says another fast-talking writer in a cafe, giving a 30-second
elevator pitch. “I’m scripting a scene of a future meeting with the president of Korea. Well, it’s all
scripted.”
In another cafe, a woman and two men huddle over coffee, strewn notebooks and a laptop. “I was at a third callback when...” the woman, apparently also an actress, brags to her two colleagues.

The subject moves onto describing an actor she knows. “He’s a former actor,” the she says. “That guy who starred in 'Space Jam,' you know, that movie withMichael Jordan? He says still makes enough residuals off that movie to get health insurance from SAG.”

A few minutes later, they’re hashing out a scene from a work-in-progress. They go back and forth discussing characters and motivations. I could be witnessing the next Robert Towne or Herman Mankiewicz in the making.

“I really, really love this script,” she says, “I really, really can’t help but be in love with Scott
and Fred and Karen. I just love the whole thing.” To emphasize her point, she compares the script to “that Kate Hudson movie 'Almost Famous.' ”

Really.

Perhaps theirs is not the next Oscar-nominated screenplay after all.

“We could have her, like, see the knife go in and go, ‘Ha ha!’ She could cover with humor. Cover with humor.”

Really? Or really not.

Posted by Ethan Gilsdorf, Globe Correspondent

The year 2007 stood out as the second worst on record for delayed, diverted, and canceled arriving flights at Logan International Airport and other airports nationwide, according to federal data.
Only 69.68 percent of Logan's flights and 73.42 percent of the nation's arrived on time last year, according to the Department of Transportation. Performance fared worse only in 2000, when the on-time arrival rate reached 65.54 percent at Logan and 72.59 percent nationwide.
On-time arrival rates have slipped every year since 2002, as more planes took to the skies nationally and late-arriving aircraft sent delays rippling throughout the network. Aviation analysts don't expect conditions to improve soon.
"Air travel is now mass transit" rather than an elite mode of transportation, said Calyon Securities analyst Ray Neidl. "Most complaints are still due to late flights, and the government is probably more to blame than the airlines" because it hasn't up graded the antiquated air traffic control system.
The government has been trying to modernize the nation's air traffic control system, which determines how many planes can safely fly through the sky at once, by switching to a cutting-edge satellite navigation system that can help ease delays.
A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman declined to comment on air traffic control and referred questions to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, which compiles the airline data. The bureau spokesman pointed to data showing weather caused 34 percent to 45 percent of the nation's delayed flights last year.
The Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan, also blamed Mother Nature for its worsening performance. Last December, 64.2 percent of the airport's flights arrived on time - down from 76.3 percent in December 2006 - and 67.7 percent of flights departed on time - falling from 78.5 percent of departing flights in the same month the prior year.
"December 2007 was the second snowiest December on record," Massport spokesman Richard Walsh said. "It's also important to note that last winter, Boston Logan did not receive its first snowfall until February."
Posted by Nicole C. Wong, Globe Staff

DAY ELEVEN

Last night ended with a quintessential movie experience: watching the Marx Brothers’ 1937 comedy “A Day at the Races.” That put me in touch with the Hollywood of old:fast-talking men in pork pie hats; women shimmering in backlit, gauzy close-ups; and a kind of mad-cap, hope-over-fear, anything goes esprit de corps.

Though the glamour has diminished in most neighborhoods of L.A., the entrepreneurial spirit runs deep and strong. Small businesses fringe both sides of West Sunset: Mama-y-Padre taco stands and convenience stores; auto body shops run by Armenia brothers; Salvadoran restaurants and all-night retro diners with names like The Brite Spot and Madame Matisse;
funky hair salons and boutiques; junk shops and 99-cent stores. Even in the gentrified zone of Silver Lake, the coffee shops and groceries mostly aren’t chain-owned -- unlike back in Boston, where every street corner has become a luxury ATM booth or DunkinCVSbucks.

But appearances are deceptive. A grungy storefront next to a shuttered theater where a street person has staked his or her claim becomes enchanting at night. A superior vegetarian restaurant called Elf Cafe is hidden behind its
nearly missable storefront. The modest but delicious menu is concocted in an in-full-view kitchen the size of most bathrooms; the chef works with three hot plates and an oven. The elfin waitresses, poised and lovely, flit among the seven tables. They are lovely. The food is more lovely.

More so than any other city, LA looks more glamorous at night. And once that sun simmers behind Sunset Boulevard, those elves sure make a mean vegetable torte and mushroom ragout with polenta.

Posted by Ethan Gilsdorf, Globe Correspondent

During the month of February passengers on select JetBlue flights out of Boston and a few other cities will be treated to breakfast with new Philadelphia 1/3 Less Fat Soft Cream Cheese.

In these days of limited, if any, meal service, breakfast for 500,000 is a welcome announcement.

No word on whether it comes with a bagel, though.

DAY TEN

I’m comfortable in foreign places. But it’s disorienting to be alone in an American city with nary
a friend or schedule. These past days in L.A. I’ve felt somewhat adrift, aside from the moorings my friends have provided. But my hosts are busy at work each day, leaving me to wander Echo Park and Silver Lake; walk the clash of Sunset’s high- and

low-brow cultures; get lost on the Glendale strip in search of a grocery store; and climb the staircases and twisted streets that crisscross every precipitous, house-laden hill.
I’ve been in solo and anonymous mode. One of my haunts has been a cafe on Echo Park Ave called Chango, a local hipster hangout where the creative, day-jobless of L.A. look busy. Whole platoons sit in rows at tables behind white MacBooks, nursing a single coffee all afternoon. Moochers like me.

But I don’t mind knowing no one. Which explains my surprise upon seeing a familiar face at Chango -- Jami, a friend from Boston. Jami and I caught up. She and her husband Brian are
trying to make it as screen writers. I had no idea what ‘hood the couple had settled in when they moved here last fall. Seems Echo Park is a good starting place.

In a way, it wasn’t a shock to see her. I’d often run into Jami once a week in Somerville cafes like True Grounds or Diesel. Here, in L.A., the chance encounter seemed just another reminder how mobile we’ve become, and how interchangeable are the backdrops and scenery for our creative pursuits.

Posted by Ethan Gilsdorf, Globe Correspondent

I figured I better start listing some ways to reach your sweetheart's soft spot on Valentine's Day -- heaven knows most of you men need quite a bit of help being creative. A card? Well, sure if you write it. Roses? Good lord please no....not roses, peonies maybe, roses no. Think outside Russell Stover's box [and please don't tell me you buy Russell Stover's]...get up and go some where...plan a day, plan a night, take time to make plans...that's what she wants...to be shown that you took time to think about what she might really like on Valentine's Day. Oh stop whimpering, here's 3 choices to bring your love and your lover to...

1. 5th Annual American Heritage Chocolate Celebration – Feb. 9 - Just before Valentine’s Day [which will tell her you're even thinking ahead!], Deerfield, Mass. Sweep the love of your life off her feet and participate in chocolate tastings, demonstrations, and a hands-on opportunity to create a special Valentine together. Call 413-775-7214 for more information.

2. OK father-in-law, this is a test to see if you are really reading my blog! Couldn't be easier...right in your own Salem, Mass., the 5th Annual Salem’s So Sweet Chocolate & Ice Sculpture Festival takes place between Feb. 8-14. Many of the town's restaurants will feature unique chocolate offerings in the form of desserts, tea, cocktails and signature sauces. A special chocolate and wine tasting starts off the week on Feb. 8. The festival is free...as is love.

and

3. Possibly the best for last...that is if quantity overrides quality, not that quality is even going to suffer here! Find a Saturday afternoon and bring her to the Langham Hotel’s Deluxe Chocolate Bar. This all-you-can-enjoy-without-really-making-a-horrific-scene buffet offers more than 125 chocolate desserts to include mousses, made-to-order chocolate crêpes, milk chocolate passion fruit tarts, truffles, chocolate fondues and more. MORE! Billy...it doesn't get any more clear. THIS is what I want for Valentine's Day.

And if you want to top it off on the official day, go back for Valentine's Day Dinner with seatings from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. A cost of $80 per person includes champagne on arrival to set the tone for the night. The dinner INCLUDES the only-in-your-dreams-chocolate-buffet mentioned above. Call 617-956-8751 for heaven.

Waterville Valley, in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, has a deal for the first two weeks of February. The Fab Feb. offer includes midweek lodging and lift tickets, access to the White Mountain Athletic Club, and shuttle bus transportation. Guests who book for three nights will get a $50 voucher for Town Square restaurants and shops. This two-night minimum package starts at $99 per person per night and is valid through Feb. 14. A group lesson can be added for $18 a person. Either go to the Fab Feb. page or call 800-GO-VALLEY.

Posted by Richard P. Carpenter, Globe correspondent

The SeaCoast Inn in Hyannis, Mass., was named the "best bargain in the world" in TripAdvisor's annual "Travelers' Choice Awards."

The inn, located on Cape Cod, is lauded by consumers posting on TripAdvisor as "fantastic," "immaculate," "comfortable," and "quiet," with a perfect location and friendly innkeepers. The inn is closed for the season, but rates on the inn's website are listed as $98-$148 summer, and $68-$108 spring and fall (higher for holiday weekends),

For the complete list of 325 hotels in all categories, visit TripAdvisor's website.

The winners were determined based on the popularity of a given hotel as measured by both the quantity and quality of postings on TripAdvisor and across the Web, along with traveler ratings of certain attributes such as cleanliness. (AP)

Hey, I've heard that a couple of Irish families have recently moved to Boston, so I'm passing this bit along just in case anyone's interested.
Our pals at the Wall Street Journal say that JetBlue and Aer Lingus will announce Friday that they've cut a partnership deal. This means that come spring, travelers across the puddle will essentially be able to book flights between Ireland and more than 40 US destinations in a single reservation. Everything will connect through JetBlue's home base at JFK in New York.
Now if you and/or yours just hop between Boston and Dublin or Shannon, it's maybe not such a big deal. But what about Uncle Declan who always wanted to make the rounds here in the States? Yes, I thought you'd get it sooner or later.

DAYS SEVEN AND EIGHT

The rain is still here. On Friday afternoon, I’m in West L.A., killing time at LACMA (the Los Angeles County Museum of Art). Standing water everywhere; each patch of grass super-saturated like a maxed-out sponge. Fake mastodons mired in the adjacent La Brea Tar Pits look on woefully at the traffic passing on Wilshire, stuck in the drizzle like the rest of us. Southern California was not built for such weather.

But on a drive to Echo Park Saturday morning, finally, sunshine. Then, an astounding sight: the giant “HOLLYWOOD” letters affixed to the hillside, and behind them, snow-capped peaks. Everything gleams --- even the old cars. Even the old stars.

My pals Sage, Michelle and Weston have invited me for breakfast. I know Sage from my days at Hampshire College out in Western Mass. We kick around for the afternoon, have pizza and sausage panini at a place on Sunset Blvd. called Masa.

His musician friend Cari Lee Merritt is down from San Francisco to play a few shows, first Saturday night at a church hall in Pasadena, then Sunday at a landmark Los Feliz club called The Derby.
The world of throw-back jazz- and swing-era society is alive and well in L.A. Folks come out dressed to the nines in period

clothes to dance -- and they do dance well. Cari’s Pasadena show with the Hollywood Combo is like a high school social, complete with non-alcoholic punch and chairs lining the walls. Sage and I watch the show, hang out backstage with the band between sets, then have eggs and meatloaf sandwiches with her and bandleader Mark Tortorici at a diner until 1am. I’m going to gain 20 pounds on this trip.

FULL ENTRY

DAY SIX

Snow?

Snow.
The drive last evening from Santa Cruz to the airport in San Jose yielded a dusting of the white stuff amid the redwoods and knobcone pines. And, on a slipperier stretch of Route 17, an overturned monster truck. Uh oh.

I bid Drew farewell, and boarded the plane. My descent back into LA was a blustery, gut-churning dive. The airplane lurched, roared, clobbered by winds. Back on earth in one piece, the flight attendant announced over the PA to applause, “We made it.”
Torrential downpours fell as I took the shuttle to my next stop in West LA. Two twisters had touched down somewhere. Minor flooding and mudslides. Interstate 5 between the Los Angeles Basin and the San Joaquin Valley was closed due to snow in the mountains.
What the...?
On, Friday, it was overcast. I was parked at a cafe on Wilshire, gazing at palms and cacti and birds of paradise. And wondering if and when snow might hit the Hollywood Hills. That would be some special effect.

OK, so it will a little too late for Mardi Gras or to catch the season opener at Wrigley... But JetBlue will offer one daily nonstop from Logan to Chicago O'Hare, as well as to New Orleans, beginning on May 1. Introductory fares will start at $89 for Chi-town and $99 for The Easy. Decisions, decisions. Would I rather have a beef dog with mustard, onion, pickle relish, a dill pickle, tomato wedges, and a dash of celery salt or a little file gumbo, an oyster po' boy, and a cold Abita? There is no choice. Crank up the chanky-chank. Cher.

A 5-cent flight. Say no more. Spirit is adding two daily nonstops between Boston and Fort Lauderdale. The first flight will begin April 17 and the second May 1. The discounter currently offers service to Fort Lauderdale via Myrtle Beach.
But check this out: They are making 5-cent introductory one-way fares available if you book by midnight tomorrow -- that's Jan. 30. And here is some of the rest of the fine print: You must book a roundtrip. For your trip out, the nickel fares are available April 29 or 30, or May 14 or 15, and on the way back May 7 or 8 (there are also nickel fares from Fort Lauderdale available April 17 or 18). If you can't get a nickel fare but travel Mondays-Thursdays you can still get a reduced rate of $61.95 for travel between April 17 to June 12.
This could be cool. I've never been to Lauderdale, but I did see "Where the Boys Are.'' Surf's up.

This one is primarily for The Suits -- and you know who you are. JetBlue is now offering special refundable fares for those (hopelessly fickle ones) whose travel plans keep changing. It's not free. The new fares will cost $50 more on short-haul flights and $100 for longer ones. But for the price of admission you can make unlimited changes to reservations right up to departure or you can even opt out entirely and still get a full refund. Don't thank me. As I've said time and again, we simply cannot do too much for The Man in the Gray Flannel.

If my heart had cockles, I am sure they would be warmed by the mere thought of Milwaukee. It's like a Mecca of culture (It might rival Scranton, fictional home of our beloved "The Office.'' )
Think of it. You got your pop culture: Laverne, Shirley, the Cunninghams, The Fonz, Joanie, Chachi. And then, your high culture: the Pabst Mansion, Milwaukee Beer Museum as well as the virtual Museum of Beer and Brewing, which like Pinnochio hopes to someday be real. And don't get me started about the International Clown Hall of Fame.
Now that I've got you hot to go, you should know that AirTran is planning to add two nonstops a day from Beantown to Beerville starting May 21, with one departing at 6:30 a.m. and the other at 5:30 p.m. and arriving about an hour and a half later.
Wait, you say that Big City Life is not your cup of decaf and you really would rather head to the country? Well, my friend, Cape Air will commence three daily nonstops from Logan to the New York burgs of Plattsburgh as well as to Saranac Lake.
Hey, I like Saranac Lake. It's pretty, and they make a Saranac Black and Tan there, right? Wait, you mean it's actually made in Utica? Does Cape Air fly there?

You know your vote counts. Your vote could change (or massively screw up) the world. Well, OK, so I’m not talking Clinton or Obama or even McCain here, I’m talking Monopoly. But a vote is still a vote. Pawtucket's own Hasbro is creating a global edition of the classic board game and wants your say in what cities to include. Vote for your top 10 cities (you can vote once a day) from a list of 68. The 20 cities with the most votes on Feb. 29 will make it onto the board. Then, from March 1-9 you can vote for other cities as "wild cards" — but only two of those will make the cut. So how does Boston (the Cradle of Liberty, the Hub of the Universe!) figure into all this? Currently it’s ranked a dismal 40th on Hasbro’s list, languishing behind Melbourne, Beijing, and Brussels. The top 10, in order, are: Paris, London, New York, Rome, Sydney, Barcelona, Dublin, Tokyo, Madrid, and Athens. So let’s show some Beantown spirit and get on the big board, people!

DAY FIVE

“Remember this one? I used to be good at this,” Drew says.
“Oh yeah,” I say. “Wait, check this out ... Robotron!”
This is last night. We’re in the Santa Cruz’s Casino Arcade. Fueled with Greek meatballs, grilled chicken, souvlaki, beer and wine, we’re down by the sea, near the boardwalk, in a building with a green neon “Casino” sign. But there’s no gambling.

Instead, a treasure, a time capsule.

Within the gallimaufry of modern machines, a veritable museum of old school video games: Galaxian, Asteroids, Tron, Donkey Kong, Tempest, Q*bert, Centipede, Pac Mac, Frogger, something that looks like a Pong rip-off, and my beloved fave, Robotron. All worn out and bleary-screened but in perfect working order.
Heaven.
Before long, we’re killing robots, saving humans, dodging spiders, cracking open meteors, blasting TIE fighters. We’re right back in high school, circa 1984. We haven’t lost our touch. We’re just a little out of practice.
The arcade is about to close, so we end with a round of pinball, then a new-fangled game called Drummania, much like karaoke with drumsticks. I pick Led Zeppelin’s “Misty Mountain Hop.” Fortunately, my percussion debut is an embarrassment only to myself and Drew. John Bonham I’m not.
Next stop: two strings of bowling, a pitcher of beer.
We’re bad. Getting badder.

Posted by Ethan Gilsdorf, Globe Correspondent

Click here to read the rest of this entry

FULL ENTRY

This just in folks...92.5 the River just whispered something great in my ear, right after Ryan Adams did. TODAY, Jan. 25, start coughing and sniffling and tell your boss you have to leave early. The first 100 people to present their Ski & Ride coupon at Cannon Mountain TODAY can ski for ONLY $9.25. And if that's not sweet enough, the station is also sponsoring a Bass Apres Ski Party in The Lift pub from 2-4 p.m. There will also be chances to win some great prizes, including a pair of skis from Fischer Ski! Earn your Oscar now, and ski for under ten bucks today!

DAY THREE
Not sunny California. Even in LA. Oh well.
Keeper of the flame of her family's Kerala (South India) cooking secrets, my friend Litty treated me and my college friends Sage and Michelle to a feast last night. Best of all, she and I cooked it together. And that means I’ve stolen some of her secrets. Not that I can remember after all that vodka.
Litty writes for Saveur and Men’s Journal, but she’s working on a series of short stories. The fictions are not about her Indian heritage, as I expected, but about the world she’s come to know since marrying her husband, Melkon --- the vibrant Armenian community in Los Angeles.
In the a.m., Litty (bless her) takes me to Burbank airport for my flight north to Santa Cruz. Another small airport. I write this from the plane. My jet dips through the clouds, over patches of farmer’s fields -- squares, rectangles, circles, trapezoids, that all end when they hit those omnipresent, purplish, muted-green mountains.
I swear I might be able to see myself down there, or some other me, trying to re-center the compass for 2008. Or was that a wisp of cloud?

Posted by Ethan Gilsdorf, Globe Correspondent

You'll need a car to get there, or at least some ground transportation (there's no subway yet), but Somerville's Union Square is becoming a cool hangout. Music fans are especially flocking to the revived Toast Lounge (70 Union Square), which is now booked by the former managers from the shuttered Tir na Nog up the street.

Toast has no cover charge and has recently expanded to six live music nights a week (the only exception is Friday's popular lesbian night). The emphasis is on residencies, with Christian McNeill's Sea Monsters on Sundays, the world music-influenced Rex Complex on Mondays, the exquisitely rootsy David Johnston Band on Tuesdays, the zany Chandler Travis Philharmonic on Wednesdays, and the R&B-belting Andrea Gillis on Thursdays. The Saturday entertainment is still taking focus, but I caught a great young reggae band called the Well there recently. (Friday and Saturday also have a 2 a.m. license at the club, versus 1 a.m. during the week).

The multi-roomed Toast, which had a long-ago incarnation as the jail cells for the Somerville police station, now consists of a concert room in the back, softened with a carpet, tables and chairs, and sensuous lighting. There's also a small sports bar and an adjacent lounge in the front with bizarre-looking, high-backed red chairs. Shortly, however, the wall between the sports bar and the lounge will be knocked down to make way for a longer bar and more tables for mid-to-upscale dining (food is currently being served and that function will increase).

The back room will be untouched and will still host concerts. Already a fun-loving crowd shows up -- a mix of ages and sensibilities -- and thanks to great word-of-mouth praise for this place, those numbers should be on the rise as well.

Posted by Steve Morse, Globe correspondent

DAY TWO

I had come to LA for the usual reasons: seeking fame, fortune, and change. Actually, I’m here for two and a half weeks, essentially to get the heck out of Boston and its weary cold. But also to jump-start my New Year. Why not begin it new, in a new place? Fool myself that 2008 will be different. It will be. It is already.


My first new experience? A sneak peek into vodka production.
Litty and Melkon are journalists who also run an “artisanal spirits factory” in nearby Monrovia. Their company, Modern Spirits, infuses vodkas with surprising flavors like black truffle, candied ginger, chocolate orange, celery peppercorn, three tea, pear lavender, grapefruit honey, rose petal and pumpkin pie.

Posted by Ethan Gilsdorf, Globe Correspondent

Click here to read the rest of this entry.

FULL ENTRY

I told you not to wait. The Pats were bound for Phoenix; the stars were aligned; it was in the cards; the fung was all shui-ed. Now you've got the Golden Ducats but can't find a flight (cue the sound of quiet manly sobbing in the distance). Well, JetBlue is trying to save your bacon. They've added a flight from Logan to Phoenix especially for the Bowl crowd. It will go out Friday Feb. 1 at 7 our time and arrive at 11 their time -- no reason not to make last call in the watering hole of your choice.
You must have great karma because don't deserve this. You really must have suffered in another life.

Last winter Patricia Harris and I had a very cool winter break in
Provincetown, which, as we reported, does NOT go into hibernation until
muscle-shirt weather. In fact, from November into April the community takes
on a friendly vibe of cozy, bright spaces that banish the chill of winter.
At the time, we met Dan Hoort, who runs the Somerset House Inn, one of those
stalwart guest houses that keeps its doors open all year. Last year Hoort
started a restaurant guide for his guests so they could figure out where to
eat in the off season. It was a hit, and went up on the town tourism site.
This winter he's gone one better, adding shopping, services, and events on
his own site. Want to know which bar or club
is open? What's playing at the Provincetown Theater? When Leather Night is
at the Crown & Anchor's Vault Bar? Dan's got it all.

Posted by David Lyon, Globe Correspondent

Yes, we're going to Phoenix. Sunday is a mere formality (San Diego? Get serious.) -- remember, you heard it here first.
So as you begin to plot the intricate calculus that will hopefully result in tickets to Super Bowl XLII, your ever-avuncular Sam suggests you be aware that not all Super Bowl packages will actually include tickets. Don't look so surprised. (You're having flashbacks to 8th grade, aren't you? Don't worry. Lots of pubescent guys got fooled into buying X-ray glasses.)
Bottom line: If a ticket isn't specifically mentioned as a tour feature, assume none will be proferred. And, if the tour was described as involving tickets and you don't get one, you're entitled to a refund for the whole package.
So if it does happen and you're in Phoenix, relax. Find a place with a flat-screen the size of Cleveland and kick back with a cold Dos Equis and maybe a heaping pile of birra de chivo. Oh, and plan on a chat with the Department of Transportation's Aviation Consumer Protection Division online or at 202-366-2220.
Go Pats!

The barter system is apparently alive and well. If you’ve always wanted to learn about the process of maple sugaring, or want to be able to produce your own, the Remick Museum in Tamworth, N.H., has a proposition for you. John Dyrenforth, a Remick Museum trustee and long-time maple producer, is offering a series of workshops to aspiring syrup makers in exchange for volunteer work in the Remick Farm’s new sugar house. The sugar house is still under construction, and the “sweat equity” will help complete the building as well as pay off your debt for participating in the workshops. They run on three consecutive Saturdays, Feb. 16 and 23 and March 1, starting at 10 a.m. each day, and will cover tapping, tubing, and buckets (Day 1, two hours), gathering sap (Day 2, two hours), and the boiling down, filtering, and canning process (Day 3, a six-hour session). By pitching in, you’ll be supporting the Remick Museum’s goal of preserving the agricultural way of life in the Granite State. The museum, officially the Remick Country Doctor Museum & Farm, is the product of a foundation established by Dr. Edwin Crafts Remick. Remarkably, before Dr. Remick’s death in 1993, he and his father Dr. Edwin Remick provided 99 years of continuous medical care to Tamworth and nearby towns. The village of Tamworth is in central New Hampshire between the White Mountains and the Lakes Region. To learn more about the program, or to register, go to remickmuseum.org or call Susan Junkins, the museum’s volunteer coordinator, at 800-686-6117 or 603-323-7591.

Delta, the third-largest US airline, is Logan Airport's largest carrier with 16.2 percent of all passengers.

If Delta Air Lines Inc. merges with another carrier, a deal with United Airlines may be costlier for Boston-area travelers than one with Northwest Airlines.

One year after thwarting a takeover attempt by US Airways Group, Delta's executives said this week they would seek permission from the company's board to enter merger discussions with Northwest and UAL Corp.'s United.

If a merger results, it could trigger a long-anticipated consolidation spree in the airline industry driven by record oil prices, which have boosted fares nationwide in recent months, airline industry analysts said Friday.

But a Delta-United merger would be the more costly of the two possible outcomes for Boston-area passengers, because it would combine top-tier airlines into a single carrier that would serve more than one-quarter of the 28 million passengers who flew into and out of Logan International Airport last year.

"There's more opportunity for cutting out routes, and when routes are going to be cut out, what happens is there's going to be a tendency to increase prices," said Boston University finance professor Allen Michel.

At Logan, Delta, the nation's third-largest airline, serves about 16.2 percent of passengers, compared with number two United's 9.7 percent, and Northwest's 5.4 percent. Fare increases, under a Delta-United merger, would be most likely "on the long profitable routes" such as Boston to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Denver, Michel said.

Posted by Kimberly Blanton, Globe staff

FULL ENTRY

A friend of mine once pointed out how vulnerable people seem to be when watching movies in an airplane. Big beefy guys tearing up during romantic comedies. Giddy laughter at suspect jokes. Something about sitting 35,000 feet above the earth, my friend suspects, changes how you see things.

So maybe it's not quite as dramatic to sit in a theater on the other side of the state, or then wander unfamiliar streets afterward, but something about that also makes you consider films differently. Far from home and stripped of the daily distractions of life's routines, you connect more directly to what is being said and shown. You incorporate more - if even only for a few moments - the film's ideas into your own.

That's what I found, anyway, on a recent roadtrip through western New England in search of independent cinemas. You can learn about the adventures of this one-person rolling film festival and the theaters where it played out this weekend in The Boston Globe and online at boston.com's travel site.

But you won't read about what happened on a dark and cold Thursday evening after I sat through a late-afternoon showing of "No Country for Old Men." The film features plenty of violence. Afterward, alone in streets and shops, I had the unsettling sensation of how committing a murder might feel. I wrote in vivid detail about that moment in an early draft of the cinema story. That scene, understandably, ended up on the editing room floor.

Not looking forward to braving long lift lines at some of the busier ski areas in New Hampshire and Vermont? Been there, done that. So head west instead: Hawk Mountain Lodge in Charlemont is offering a ski-and-stay package, with the skiing at nearby Berkshire East Ski Resort. The lodge is a renovated 1800s farmhouse with five rooms, and prices range from $55–$125 per room per night. You get a $5 discount off a daily lift pass and 10 percent off a meal at Stillwaters Restaurant. Family-friendly Berkshire East offers plenty of terrain with more than 45 trails and five lifts. And it recently added a snow tubing park, which opened Dec. 26. Wheee!

Learn to salsa, check out Mercury, or try a Russian steam bath. Tom Long includes these and more in his 10 Ways To Forget About Winter in the Sunday Globe's Travel section.

Or if winter's already too much for you, consider a trip to one of the Happy Places where Eric Weiner, author of "The Geography of Bliss,'' says natives have found contentment.

Also on Sunday, Globe Travel writer Tom Haines maps out Quebec City's year-long 400th-birthday celebration and Jaci Conry takes us on a trip to Hingham.

If you're in withdrawal and can't wait for summer to be back on Cape Cod, Patricia Harris and David Lyon have the answer for you -- Hyannis in winter. In the Globe's Sunday Travel section, they'll take you on a Cape escape filled with dancing, swimming, dining, and more.

Also on Sunday, Paul Kandarian takes us to the Cape Cod Canal, where the railroad bridge is a tourist attraction. Claudia Capos ventures south of Sicily to Malta to explore its archeological sites. David Abel regales readers with his tale of stumbling upon Paratroopers Day in Moscow. And Robbie Brown writes about the Alcoholic Cider Capital of the World, Hereford, England.

Sometimes it's worth taking a chance. When we were planning a trip to Bridgeport, Conn., to work on a Close-Up for the Wednesday travel pages, we checked the rates at the Holiday Inn in downtown near many of the restaurants and a couple of performing arts venues. Double rooms were $150 a night -- more than we wanted to spend, but we liked the location. So we waited until we arrived -- in fact until late in the afternoon -- before we strolled into the lobby and asked the desk staff what the rate was for a room for the night. We were prepared to drive a tough bargain. But the clerk looked up and said $109. Mission accomplished. But we have to be honest -- it was a cold Monday night in mid-December. We're not sure if we would have as good luck if a convention of P.T. Barnum Fan Clubs had been in town. (Barnum was mayor for many years.)

Posted by Patricia Harris and David Lyon, Globe correspondents

NEW YORK -- Travel in 2007 was marked by high gas prices, new passport rules, record lows for the dollar, and record-high air travel. In 2008, experts say, Americans may take shorter trips or choose destinations closer to home where their dollar goes further. But they will still travel.

The Conference Board's most recent consumer survey found 45.8 percent of Americans intend to take a vacation within six months, down just a tad from 46.4 percent a year ago. "When there's a slowdown in the economy, travel only slows slightly," said Douglas Shifflet of D.K. Shifflet & Associates, which tracks travel trends. "The amount of time people spend on vacations and in hotels is hit harder. They make tradeoffs; they stay closer to home or with friends and relatives."

International hot spots for '08 include Beijing; Central America; Italy, Eastern Europe and Lisbon, Portugal. But domestic travel could benefit from the weak dollar and other trends. Visits to national parks were up 1.3 percent, January-September 2007, compared to the previous year, with Yosemite and Yellowstone adding more than a quarter-million visitors. Lonely Planet, the guidebook publisher, picked the U.S. as its No. 1 destination for 2008. (AP)

I was beginning to think that snow isn't good for anything but shoveling,
when I got an email from the Birches Resort on Moosehead Lake (Rockwood,
Maine) about their snowmobile programs. Think New England winter sports and
you usually think of the big downhill ski resorts. But even with Big Squaw
Mountain ski area in nearby Greenville, the Moosehead region is more a land
of wide-open spaces, and this compound of cabins, cabin tents, and yurts has
come up with a much more off-the-beaten-path winter outing. Instead of a
one-horse open sleigh, you dash through the woods on an Arctic Cat
snowmobile. The three-night guided excursion starts at the Birches Resort,
journeys to cabins (with hot tubs) in Baxter State Park, then on to a
traditional lumber camp on the northern edge of Moosehead Lake before
returning to the Birches in time for lunch. The open sleigh was probably
more environmentally friendly (apart from equine methane), but I've been
told that newer snowmobiles are no longer the ear-splitting, blue-belching
beasts of old. Guided Lodge-to-Lodge Snowmobile Excursion trips start in
January. For more details visit www.birches.com or call 800-825-9453.

Posted by Patricia Harris, Globe Correspondent

Globe correspondent Ethan Gilsdorf has been walking from Massachusetts General Hospital to Lee, N.H., this week in memory of his mother and to raise money for the Brain Aneurysm Foundation. He sent this last night.

Blog Entry 6: Day 3 report

Dec 19, 11:30pm, Dover NH

10 years ago today Sara Lynn Gilsdorf died. The idea was that my three-day, 60 mile (now looking closer to 75 mile) walk would end on this day, Dec. 19, at my mother's gravesite. That was the plan, anyway.

Day 3 began with a taxi ride back to my end-point from the day before: Merrimac, Mass. No sun. Overcast. And quiet, cold roads. First challenge: Bear Hill Road. Obviously called "hill" for a reason. 7am. Ugh. Up I went.

But I felt good -- even strong. The back-up shoes helped -- not clunky hiking boots this time, I decided, but insulated walking shoes.

I crossed into New Hampshire at 7:45. I looked at my map. I had been doing 4 miles an hour. I was on a tear -- at this rate, I'd walk an extra mile per hour than I had the first two days.

NH meant the end of suburban homes, and the beginning of farms, wood stoves, baying hounds, banging carpenters, and lots of "No Trespassing" signs. I actually saw a chicken cross the road. I kept cruising: Newton, East Kingston, the lower-left corner of Exeter. My planned route along the B&M/Amtrak rail line was stymied by the snow. I went around. That added another couple miles to my day. I pumped my arms and walked faster.

Still, I couldn't get warm until noon --- despite temps in the 20s and low 30s. My water bottle frozen over after a couple hours. Hot water at a convenience store broke through the ice. The state motto should be Live, Freeze or Die. But the Granite State is my home state, and I appeciated the modest farmhouses, auto bodies and beauty salons in doublewides, a welcome
sight after all the McMansions of Massachusetts.

Around 1:30 pm, as I marched through Brentwood, I hit "the wall."

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Big Sky Airlines, which flies to small and medium-size communities under the Delta Air Lines banner, is ending service to eight destinations on Boston routes after Jan. 7. Those cities are: Allentown, Pa.; Burlington, Vt.; Trenton; and Massena, Ogdensburg, Plattsburgh, Saranac Lake, and Watertown, N.Y. "Sustained unusually bad weather, disappointing revenue, and record high fuel prices have significantly disrupted their operations to the point that they are not sustainable," Delta said. (Nicole C. Wong, Globe business staff)

Globe correspondent Ethan Gilsdorf has been walking from Massachusetts General Hospital to Lee, N.H., this week in memory of his mother and to raise money for the Brain Aneurysm Foundation. He sent this last night.

Tuesday, Dec 18, 9 p.m., Amesbury, Mass.

Today was a good day. The weather was ideal: sunny, pristine blue skies, comfortably cold temps that meant I could walk without hat or mittens most of the time. The ice that began flinty and slick mushed up some under the sun. I didn't slip once.

Yes, my feet hurt. A friend noted, "You realize you're walking back-to-back marathons, with a 30 pound pack, with no training." "Uh, yeah," I replied. You don't want to hear about the state (and shape) of my left pinky toe at the end of the day.

But what made Day 2 inspiring was the goodness of people. I left Andover and enjoyed their well-groomed and plowed sidewalks. Folks from Boxford to Groveland honked in support --- a glass delivery truck, the fuel guy, an older couple. At a garden center-bakery where I stopped for coffee, a man reached into his wallet and gave me a $20 contribution to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation. And another customer, perhaps feeling put on the spot but without any money, persuaded the cashier to lend her few bucks and passed them to me.

The kindness kept growing as the miles added up.

On a Haverhill back road, a red pickup stopped, popped into reverse, and a man rolled down his window. His name was Ernie. "Would you like some cocoa?" He invited me back to his kitchen for hot chocolate, his wife's yummy homemade pastries, and conversation. Ernie also gave money.

Later, a woman and her mother delivering newspapers drove past me, pulled a 180, and pulled to the roadside. "What's up with Mom?" she asked. Another donation.

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Globe correspondent Ethan Gilsdorf is walking from Massachusetts General Hospital to Lee, N.H., in memory of his mother and to raise money for the Brain Aneurysm Foundation. Here's the latest from Ethan:

Monday night, Dec. 17

I left Mass General at 7 as the sun rose. Taking the Longfellow Bridge was like walking on a moonscape of ice. The city and its suburbs are wrapped in a straightjacket of ice and snow. To navigate the sidewalks is to become aware of the varieties of ice: color, depth, viscosity, slipperiness. On my route today from Boston to Cambridge, then Somerville and Medford before hitting the 'burbs of Stoneham and Reading, often I had to walk on the road. There was simply no way unless I climbed frozen solid snowbanks or post-holed my way through crusty snow (I did my share of that, too).

I was warm (despite the wind and cold), I was determined, I was happy. And now, in the hotel in
Andover, I'm exhausted. Day 1 is over. I surpassed my mileage goal, so perhaps I'll go a bit slower tomorrow? That is, if in the morning I can get my legs to work at all. And my feet.

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You're stuck in Rutland and it's Cold. And Dark. You're thinking about gnawing off your right paw (make that the left; you write with your right one).
The only thing that's getting you through is a dim and distant dream that some day when the sun returns you'll be able to snag a cheap JetBlue flight to see the A's in the East Bay. Well, today your dream has come true, and it didn't involve Publisher's Clearinghouse, dudes with video cameras, or a big fake check with your name misspelled in cursive.
The good folks at the Rutland Herald say that thanks to partnership agreements with Cape Air, folks in Rutland can book flights between there and the 15 domestic JetBlue destinations that connect with Cape Air at Logan.
So oil that glove and sing: "The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades....''

Globe correspondent Ethan Gilsdorf is walking from Massachusetts General Hospital to Lee, N.H., Monday through Wednesday in memory of his mother and to raise money for the Brain Aneurysm Foundation. He sent this last night.

Of course, it had to snow and sleet and freezing rain the weekend before my walk. So be it.

Today I trekked from Davis Square to Harvard and bought gaiters at EMS. I packed and repacked my gear. I have my Cliff bars and my 17 layers of clothing. And I've received my "Good luck" calls from family and friends. So, yes, I'm still heading out at 7 a.m. from Mass General Hospital on this memorial pilgrimage. My route first takes me to my mother's old apartment in Cambridge. Then I head through Somerville, Medford and up through the Middlesex Fells to Stoneham, Reading and North Reading. I hope to make 20-22 miles the
first day.

For inspiration, I picked up a copy of German filmmaker Werner Herzog's diary/memoir "Of Walking in Ice: Munich - Paris 23 November - 14 December 1974," about a walking trip he undertook to visit a sick friend -- his quite a bit longer than mine. I feel Herzog and I, we are kindred, crazed spirits. When my walking feet are (hopefully) dry, I'll remember he
made his trek in the age before Gortex and wicking fabrics. And I'll try to remember I'm not a crazy person when I wake at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow.

We travel for different reasons. Globe correspondent Ethan Gilsdorf is planning a walk in memory of his mother. He leaves from Massachusetts General Hospital Monday and hopes to arrive in Lee, N.H., Wednesday. He'll blog each day and write about his experience in the Sunday Globe's Travel section next month. Here's the latest from Ethan:

OK, I'm crazy. Only a little. But I think my mother would approve. I hope.
My mother's life was cut short when, as a 38-year-old Harvard graduate student, she was suddenly struck down by a ruptured aneurysm. Usually fatal to patients, brain aneurysms hemorrhage in about 30,000 Americans each year. Sara Gilsdorf survived, but her life was greatly changed by the illness. So was mine. She died 19 years later from neurological complications.
In making this 60 mile, solo walk in memory of her, I'm hoping to commemorate her, and bring attention to this dangerous medical problem. I'm also trying to raise money for the Boston-based Brain Aneurysm Foundation, which does a lot to help families to cope with the long-term effects of aneurysms. I wish it existed when my Mom came home from the hospital.
Donations can be made online or by calling 617-269-3870.
Plus, a three-day, walking meditation on her life should do me good. I'm planning my route. I leave at 7 a.m. Monday...wish me luck. And thanks for your support.

I know you're out there because I've seen you all the way down in Florida, those of you crazy enough to drive down the East Coast from New England to the Sunshine State. Yeah, I've done the deed too. The only way it can be kind of fun is if you stop and smell the exits. Road maps and highway signs tell only half the story, which is why you need to carry a copy of "Drive I-95," by Stan Posner and Sandra Phillips-Posner (Travelsmart, $23.95, with 72 full color maps. At bookstores or online, or call 888-GUIDE95). For some reason (maybe because the state is so darn long), Florida wasn't included in their exit-by-exit guide until the recently published fourth edition. So hooray for that!

Some of the invaluable information the Posners impart: detailed services at exits, radio stations, places police officers like to point their radar guns from, Internet availability, pet-friendly accommodations, travel trivia, and off-beat stops. Do you think you could find the Ava Gardner Museum (Exit 95, near Smithfield, N.C.) on your own?

Posted by Diane Daniel, Globe Correspondent

Who’s that sliding down your chimney a couple weeks early? Why it’s Santa Massport.
It seems the good folks there want to spread a little cheer by giving holiday travelers a break on parking at Logan (which this time of year can be like one of Dante’s less choice rings of hell).
If you pull into the Central Parking Garage, Terminal B Garage, or Terminal E lots between Dec. 21 at 3 a.m. through Dec. 29 at 3 a.m. they will give you the economy lot rate, which is $18 a day, or a $6 discount.
Worth setting your alarm for 3, I’d say, to take full advantage.
A tip: If you need to park for 7 days, the economy lot offers a special weekly rate, which will save you even more.
But wait. Santa Massport has another gift: live music in the terminals. To quell your holiday frazzles, musicians, including an acapella group, a jazz trio, a horn quartet, and the Winchester High School Octets, will be in terminals at peak travel hours on Dec. 20 and Dec. 21. Live piano will begin in Terminal A on Dec. 17.
Thank you, Santa Massport. See, I told you it would pay to be good.

Globe correspondent Ethan Gilsdorf will make a solo walk in memory of his mother, Sara Lynn Gilsdorf, who died 10 years ago, on Dec. 19, 1997, from complications resulting from a brain aneurysm she suffered in 1978, when she was a Harvard graduate student living in Cambridge.

On Monday, Dec. 17, Ethan will begin the 60 mile journey, departing from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston (where she was a patient). He'll arrive at his mother's hometown and grave site in Lee, N.H., on Dec .19.

The walk will benefit the Brain Aneurysm Foundation.

Ethan will be blogging along the way. Look for his entries to start Dec. 17 and for his essay on the walk, which will appear in the Travel section of Sunday Globe next month.

Cambridge had just enough snowfall to cover the irresponsible behavior of
certain dog-owning neighbors when we lit out for the territories, i.e.,
Vermont, for a quick escape on behalf of the Checking In column. But as we
pushed west, the accumulation began to mount. Passing Fitchburg, we saw
snowplow drifts (boding well for Wachusett Mountain) and by the time we
started up I-91 into Vermont, the roadside piles grew higher and higher.
When we parked at our inn in Chester, Vt., nearly a foot of fluffy stuff
covered the town's wide green.

Now we know (at least we've heard) that the ski mountains have been open since mid-November, but it's not really winter until the snow's deep enough for snowshoes and cross-country skis. Sure enough, 10 minutes away from the inn, Grafton Ponds opened 15 km of groomed trails for classic Nordic and skate skiing on Saturday and turned showshoers loose on their seemingly endless fields of fresh powder.

Snow is here! (And, as our innkeeper said, rubbing her hands together,
"There's more coming on Sunday.")

Posted by David Lyon, Globe Correspondent

Consider the recent wanderings of two Massachusetts men.

The first, Andrew Skurka, of Seekonk (and Boulder, CO), prefers to undertake his odysseys on foot, for very long times. He walked more than 7,000 miles of trails from Quebec to Washington state in 2005. This year, he covered nearly that distance again while backpacking an average of 33 miles per day for 208 days straight along the Great Western Loop.

The second man, Jeff Clarke, embarked for only three days with a less daunting, but surprisingly rich goal: kayaking "the mighty Charles River."

Land. River. Months. Days. Each journey spanned the extremes of a natural world turned industrial.

Here’s a little stocking stuffer for kids with a geographic bent: ‘‘Nicholas: A Massachusetts Tale’’ by Peter Arenstam (Mitten Press, $14.95). The chapter book tells the story of a field mouse on a family quest across the Bay State. Along the way, he befriends a chipmunk and other creatures who not only do not eat him but also teach him something about the area he’s exploring (the Berkshires, Quabbin Reservation, Wachusett Mountain, Gloucester, Boston, Plymouth, and Martha’s Vineyard). The illustrations by Karen Busch Holman are elegant and sweet without being overly precious. (As non-precious as a book about a talking mouse can be, anyway.) It’s the first in a 4-part series of ‘‘Nicholas’’ books starring Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. (Sorry Rhode Island and Connecticut!)

At Crane Beach, the property managed by The Trustees of Reservations at the eastern edge of Massachusetts, there are sand and sea and darting plovers. A run through summer dunes brings slipping, slogging steps up and down open slopes.

A world away and yet only at the western side of the state, there is Field Farm, another Trustees property, home to hay fields and, in summer, strong-winged bobolinks, yellow-capped birds that travel across the equator to avoid winter winds.

At the ocean's edge, wind gusts flat and strong. In the Berkshire valley tucked beneath Mount Greylock, the state's highest peak, it does that too. But it also breaks, suddenly, into chaotic twists and turns shaped by contours of the land.

It is a striking place to go after spending time in the settled world. Over the past three days, I've driven crowded highways, passing in and out of bustling towns, stopping to watch films set in the music-filled streets of New York, the dust-blown desert of India, and the corn-fed fields of Iowa.

This morning, 12 degrees and bright sun, bobolinks long gone from Field Farm and Greylock's summit looming clearly, not the sea, I set out on a run. Snow, not sand, gave way beneath each step, as mid-morning warmth softened the surface. The "South Trail" traced a frozen pond, an open field, then ducked into woods. Tiny tracks crossed my path.

I ran another mile deeper among the leafless trees and, as at the ocean's edge, found solitude, and strength.

Lips blue yet? Let's play fortune teller (OK, you can put on a costume. We'll wait.): It's going to get colder. And darker. Earlier. Everyone you know is going to get crankier. Maybe even you.
Now I am a great believer in geographic solutions to nongeographic problems. What does this means? Road Trip, muchachos.
The state tourism folks, with a little help from their lodging friends, are offering deals at more than 200 hotels in the state between now and the end of March. You simply go to the site , click on the region you want, pick a hotel, and get the discount code.
What kind of deals? Check this out: Want to try the Taj? Right now, the best advertised rate for a room for two is $295. Through the site, you score one for $229 -- and that includes breakfast. (You would be so in with The Significant Other)
Too rich for you? At the Hyatt Place in Medford, hoi polloi must pony up $169, but for you it could be $79.
How about the Cape this weekend? The Cape Codder Resort & Spa in Hyannis says it's $129, but if you know the password it's $99.
The fine print: There may be blackout dates; you need the deal codes and a reservation; taxes and gratuities are extra; and rooms are subject to availability.
OK, this is no Club Meditteryuckiness. But with the holidays coming you can't afford it anyway. And if you can, feel free to leave the room anytime you like. Like now.

Fifteen minutes ago got an email that said this:

"Thought you'd be interested in this article on some guy's stay at an infamous local-area Boston establishment."

It included a link which led to this.

It is a two-part story about a night in a bed & breakfast in the house where a lady lost her head, then her parents did too.

The story comes with photos, including this:

And a paragraph deep near the end that says this:

"I’m actually in Lizzie Borden’s room right now writing this one lone paragraph. I’m at a facsimile of her writing desk, in the exact spot where she kept her original writing desk, my posterior falling through a flimsy antique chair. My girlfriend is about to try on what is purported to be one of her dresses. When I write the rest of this article, I’ll stick this paragraph in it, hopefully somehow creatively. And without editing a single word. As a result, in a way this is the worst paragraph in the article because it lacks any art of composition. In another, it’s the best, because these words are literally being formed at the place they are describing. Between you and me, I wish I was more creeped out. And I mean by the room...not for the fact of photographing my girlfriend in a dead girl’s dress. I like that. I’d write more but I’m beat from a dragged-out séance. Oh, and if you’re from the B&B, we never did that thing I’m about to write about with the dress, regardless of the pictures I may or may not include in this article. If you’re just a reader, though, we totally did it. I’m definitely going to edit this paragraph."

Your eyes are bloodshot. Season is changing and you just can't wake up. You choke down your grande with shot of expresso (on second thought, make it a double, barrista). Thumb through the paper. There on page 2 of the Business section: American plans to sell its regional carrier, American Eagle. Who cares?
Shake yourself. You do. Or should.
You travel, right? At Logan, American is The Big Kahuna, with around 20 percent of the market, and American Eagle is a significant piece of that -- in fact, Eagle is responsible for nearly 40 percent of all regional flights out of Logan.
So what do we mean by regional? To begin with Eagle does 8 daily flights to LaGuardia. And then there are other high and low spots like Bangor; Columbus, Ohio; Raleigh-Durham (Go Tar Heels!); Toronto; and Reagan National in D.C.
What does this all mean? Listen, if I knew that I would be making mondo bucks instead of writing blog fodder. But it's a safe bet that it will matter to you. Stay tuned.

Get a pencil. JetBlue launched a four-day sale today for travel in January and February.
They're flogging fares from Logan to the Bay Area (which includes Oakland, SF and San Jose) for as low as $139.
The fine print: Flights must be booked online at the airline's site by midnight Friday; require a 14-day advance purchase; take place between Jan. 8-Feb. 13; and be on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Saturday. There are other restrictions if your travel involves New Orleans, Aruba, Cancun, Nassau, or St. Maarten. There are also blackout dates.

A crazy thing happened before my recent nonstop Delta flight from the Durham, N.C., to Boston. The flight was scheduled to leave at 4:25 p.m. I got an e-mail at 1:25 p.m. saying "we have just been advised of a time change." The flight was rescheduled for 5:36 p.m. On the way to the airport, around 4 p.m., I got another e-mail and an automated call to my cell saying there was another time change -- to 8:42 p.m. I headed back home.
Around 7 p.m. I checked the status online, only to learn that my plane was on the runway awaiting takeoff!
I called Delta and was told "we're sorry for your misunderstanding. You should have gone to the airport at the time your flight was originally scheduled to depart." Now that’s ridiculous.
I had to rebook for the next morning, greatly inconveniencing many people and missing a meeting.
Later, Delta spokeswoman Susan Elliott said in an e-mail, "occasionally we are able to recover from the delay more quickly then expected.... In certain situations, and it is not often, customers can find themselves with circumstances where they are unable to make their flight."
There was no "misunderstanding." I did the right thing, which turned out wrong.

Posted by Diane Daniel, Globe Correspondent

You need it don't you? I can tell you need it bad. A fix of new stuff. The writer's strike has cut off your supply. It's already been a week. Cold sweat rising. Maybe you've even started the shakes. Don't waste your time lookin. Ain't nuttin on the street.
If it makes you feel any better, check out this YouTube video in which writers Greg Daniels, B.J. Novak (who also plays Ryan), Paul Lieberstein (Toby), and Mindy Kaling (Kelly) explain why they're fighting the good fight -- and why they abandoned their loyal fans to face a potential wasteland of rerun and reality TV hell (like summer without watermelon or those drinks with the cute paper umbrellas).
OK, so we don't have any new shows to help you through this rough time, but we do have this: Mindy Kaling shows us around Scranton (with the small catch being that she had never actually been there before). We have a story, pictures of Mindy around town (this one is her at the Steamtown Mall -- remember the "Women's Appreciation'' episode?), and a video slide show -- which is partly narrated by Mindy.
Try it. It'll be free. At first, anyway. We'll see about later.
Anything to get you through the night, right?

Those thoughtful folks at the T plan to juice up Silver Line service during peak airport travel times before the holiday and on the following Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. They've also released the rest of their Thanksgiving schedule, which starts tomorrow and runs through Friday.
So now you can plan your tryptophan-inebriated escape from the orgy ahead of time. Lord knows you won't be much good for anything when it comes time to lurch out of Mom's with your food buzz on, arms laden with shopping bags full of tinfoil packets of leftover bird and that last untouched pumpkin pie from Shaw's.
Remember your Charlie card.

New England is home to three of TripAdvisor’s "Top Ten Overlooked (and Under Budget) Ski Destinations in the US"
Editors at the Needham-based travel company rated ski resorts that featured mountains with a 2,000 foot vertical drop on average that offered less-expensive lift tickets and more affordable lodging and night life than many of the country's more celebrated resorts.
Jay Peak in Westfield, Vt., (adult ticket, $62) came out king of the mountain. "Located in a snow belt that generates a remarkable 350 inches of snow on average annually, Jay Peak has developed a reputation for its excellent powder skiing with adventurous off-piste opportunities, and with less traffic than Vermont's trendier ski spots," the report said.
Taking fourth place is Cannon Mountain, in Franconia, N.H. ($54). "Experience wonderful skiing and a bit of history on Taft Slalom, one of the first ski trails cut in the US."
Saddleback Mountain, in Rangeley, Maine ($40), came in at No . 9. "After undergoing renovations in the past few years, Saddleback now boasts great skiing along with a new ski lift, additional ski terrain and a new lodge at an elevation of 2,460 feet -- the second highest in New England."
The rest of the best:
2. Solitude Mountain, Solitude, Utah, $55
3. Schweitzer Mountain, Sandpoint, Idaho, $55
5. Durango Mountain, Durango, Colo., $60
6. Taos Ski Valley, Taos, N.M., $63
7. Diamond Peak, Incline Village, Nev., $48
8. Big Mountain, Whitefish, Mont., $56
10. Gore Mountain, North Creek, N.Y., $115 (2 day pass)

Posted by Diane Daniel, Globe Correspondent

Don't fret about those pies for Thanksgiving...plan your day around the Upper Cape Family Networks' famous Pie Auction Fundraiser on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 10am at the Oak Ridge School in Sandwich. This event gains in popularity each year as those around the Cape have found the secret to their Holiday success - pack their apron away, go bid on over 60 pies and hear their Thanksgiving guests ooh and ah. [Not to mention the money for those oohs and ahs goes to incredible family programming!]

Some pies offered are in disposable tin pans and others are offered up in handmade ceramic pie plates, shrink wrap and ribbons - the selection abounds and presentations are surprisingly creative which makes for even a better dessert to bring over to Aunt Elizabeth's on Thanksgiving. Don't have time to stick around and raise your bid card?...no problem, visit the sale table and buy from over 100 pies and get on to the rest of your errands! And no fundraiser is complete without a silent auction table, and here you can find bountiful baskets from local businesses and families, gift certificates and of course, more pies! Love to bake? Even better - call the Mastermind of the event, Tina Toran at 1.508.548.0151 ext. 172 to donate your own pies, then go and pick up someone else's culinary treat.

This auction is devoted to raising awareness, raising funds of course, but also as a family fun day as the Toe Jam Puppet Band is the entertainment, and let me assure you, this is a show your kids will cherish - heck, adults will cherish this performance too! Everyone even has a chance to play with the band. Bring your wallet, your kids, other's kids and if you can manage, other people's wallets? and have some fun for a great cause.

Question: What performance goes through 8 Lids, 1 Tall Bins, 5 Short Bins, 10 6ft 6in poles, 15 Pounds of Sand, 4 blocks of Athletes chalk, 12 pairs of Drumsticks, 200 liters of Water, 8 Bananas, and 12 boxes of Matches in one week? Answer: STOMP.

I just can't believe the acts that the Lowell Auditorium books these days - the Broadway phenom STOMP has been booked for Nov. 27-28! STOMP, a unique combination of percussion, movement and visual comedy, was created in Brighton, U.K., in the summer of 1991. It was the result of a 10-year collaboration between its creators, Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas. We took our boys [ages 5 & 7] to see STOMP this summer in New York City -- and even though the creators suggest the audience be over 8 years of age, our boys loved it and are still snapping and banging their way through the day. The shows are at 8 p.m. and tickets range from $28.50 -$54.50 [WAY less than seeing them in N.Y.!] The show has its obvious loud moments, being percussion based, so if noise bothers you, think about seeing the Doodlebops three days prior!

I was rushing through Logan last week when I picked up the latest issue of
Travel New England. Located around the airport and in South Station, the
newspaper is free and geared toward travel agents. However, travelers would
be wise to read it next time they're killing time at Logan. In their
"Airports New England" column, they talk about new carriers and/or flights
going in and out of the region. Several years back they mentioned that TNT
Vacations in Boston was starting a new charter flight to Barbados. Their
first flight out was over Christmas week, when prices are usually
exorbitant, to gouge that family traveler who only has two weeks off from
school during the winter months. The TNT charter price was less than half
the price of American Airlines and my family had a great vacation on the
island. Now I read that starting Dec. 17, Skybus Airlines will begin
nonstop service between Portsmouth, N.H., and two Florida
airports -- St. Augustine and Charlotte County Airport in Punta Gorda. Skybus,
you may recall, was offering incredibly cheap tickets to Columbus, Ohio,
over the summer, starting at $25 each way. They charge extra for
everything, including luggage, but it's still very affordable; certainly
worth a look for people wanting to leave the chill of winter behind.

Posted by Steven Jermanok, Globe correspondent

I’m always amazed at the number of people who’ve never heard of Roomsaver.com or its affiliate publication Traveler Discount
Guide. The guide -- which seem to be available for free at pretty much every interstate rest stop and state welcome center -- and its accompanying website offer coupons for discounts of up to $20 to $50 off regular room rates at more than 4,000 hotels in 48 states.
This is an example of the kinds of savings we’re talking about. Say you’re headed to Portland, Maine. On a late October Friday, I called a Holiday Inn on Riverside Street and was told the lowest price for a room for two for Saturday night was $109.95. Roomsaver’s coupon rate was $84.95.
Two caveats: Most of the offerings appear to be for midprice major chains on or near highways. So you aren’t going to score a deal for The Pastel Floral Print Chenille Bedspread Inn, or, say, The Ritz or Taj. And, these are pretty much walk-in rates (which means you can’t make a reservation using the discount and if the hotel is booked you’re out of luck). But you might be surprised at the number and variety of offerings. If you haven’t looked, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Admit it. Your nerves take a beating when you live in Boston. To fight the stress levels, a personal suggestion is to chill out occasionally at the Kripalu Yoga Retreat in the Berkshires, located on the Stockbridge line right across from Tanglewood. I’ve been going once or twice a year for many years and while the prices have gone up (not on a par with nearby Canyon Ranch, but certainly more than they used to be), the quality has gone up as well.
I stopped by for a recent massage at the site’s health center (you don’t have to stay at Kripalu to book their services) and was immediately transported by a masseur named Umesh, a true character who has also run Kripalu’s off-and-on, chartered hikes to the Himalayas. We discovered that we were born five days apart, but the main thing was that I left with a refreshed outlook, ready to tackle the city again.
Oh, and the food is great there, too. And they even serve coffee in the cafe. That’s a long way from when I first went to Kripalu when they were based in rural Pennsylvania 25 years ago and the men had to stay in a huge barn with an outhouse, and no caffeine was allowed.
File under: Yoga retreats adapt to the times.

Posted by Steve Morse, Globe correspondent

The changing of the seasons on the Outer Cape generally adds a note of finality to the year: restaurants, antique shops, and family amusements shutter their doors and windows, take in their signs and outdoor decorations, and in many cases, turn off the heat and plumbing until spring.
Despite the economic ebb, life does go on out here, and we are thinking specifically about nature and the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary naturalists don’t curtail programs in the colder months, they throw on a jacket and gloves and adapt to the conditions, just as the creatures do. There are cruises on Cape Cod Bay to see seals and seabirds, birding outings, beach hikes, and in a cursory nod to the season, indoor lectures. One fascinating program provocatively called ‘‘Sea Turtle 911’’ discusses a late-fall phenomenon where sea turtles linger too long in Cape Cod Bay and become cold-stunned. Their blood circulation and other body processes slow down, they are unable to swim, and they’re at the mercy of the wind and currents. In 2006, 91 sea turtles were recovered from the beaches of Cape Cod during the ‘‘stranding season’’: 83 Kemp’s ridley turtles, six loggerheads, and two green turtles. You can find out why sea turtles strand and what you can do to assist. You can also sign up for one of the scheduled beach walks to look for stranded sea turtles. The sanctuary coordinates the Cape Cod Sea Turtle Stranding Network, in which injured turtles are brought to the sanctuary to be measured, slowly warmed, and given initial treatments. Live turtles are then transferred to the New England Aquarium for rehabilitation. The sea turtle 911 program will be held on Saturday, Nov. 17, and Saturday, Dec. 1. It costs $6 for Mass. Audubon members, $8 for nonmembers. Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, Route 6 on the Eastham-Wellfleet town line, 508-349-2615, www.massaudubon.org/wellfleetbay

As we peruse the 10-day weather forecast for mid-November, we find what can only be described as ‘‘bonus days.’’ It’s going to hit 60 degrees a few times over the next week and a half, and that translates to comfortable golf weather as the calendar slips toward Thanksgiving. Bonus days.
There’s something about golf in the fall that makes one savor the opportunity more, makes one more cognizant of the surroundings. We bask in any warmth that can be wrung from the sun, we welcome the breeze that clears the fairway of leaves, exposing our ball so we can strike it again. We worry less about the result of the shot, and relish the feedback from the club as it sends the ball ... somewhere, forward, to be struck again.
Most courses drop their daily greens fees around Nov. 1, in deference to the less pristine conditions the player is likely to find. The greens may be a bit ragged, the rough heavier with moisture, the lies a bit more uneven than we’d find in midsummer. But that’s really OK, as is the presence of the windbreaker that restricts our swing a bit. We swing too hard, anyway.
We remember caddying for members at our local 9-hole course as kids, lugging the bags and wondering exactly how late in the season they’d continue to play, how they could find it fun as the wind grew more biting and the greens got bumpier. We don’t wonder anymore.
Go to mgalinks.org and click on member clubs, then search by region and club type (public, municipal, semi-private) for a course in your area. Most courses have websites with phone numbers and seasonal greens fee rates.
RON DRISCOLL

This month's Conde Nast Traveler touts its 20th annual Readers' Choice Awards, The Top 100.
Twelve New England gems made the list of Top 100 Mainland US Hotels: The Charlotte Inn on Martha's Vineyard (12), Pitcher Inn in Warren, Vt. (23), Blantyre in Lenox (26), Boston's Four Seasons (35), White Barn Inn in Kennebunkport, Maine (39), Twin Farms in Barnard, Vt. (44), Nantucket's White Elephant (54), Boston's Fifteen Beacon (62), Taj Boston (65), Boston's Hotel Commonwealth (73), Wequassett Resort and Golf Club on Cape Cod (81), and The Wauwinet on Nantucket (88).
If your favorite place to stay in New England didn't make the cut, think about voting next year.
And be sure to give Boston the nod for top US city. This year it made the cut, but it was No. 10 out of 10.
The winner among US cities: San Francisco.

I usually spend Thanksgiving with my husband’s family (who are scattered across Massachusetts and Rhode Island) but last year, all his siblings spent the holiday having dinner with various inlaws. So my husband and kids took the holiday ‘‘off’’ and stayed at the Eagle Mountain House in Jackson, N.H. They offer a nice, low-key brunch buffet on Thanksgiving. We took a long walk, drank hot chocolate by the fire, played ping pong in the game room, and vegged out in the Jacuzzi. It was one of the most relaxing holidays I’ve ever had.
This year, The Balsams in Dixville Notch, N.H., is open for Thanksgiving (in the past it has closed between Columbus Day and the Christmas holidays). There will be live entertainment, movie showings, and a Thanksgiving feast. Doubles start at $258 (including Thanksgiving dinner) and kids under 10 stay free. Sure, extended family is wonderful and I’m grateful for each and every one of them. But sometimes wonderful is someone making your bed and cooking your dinner.

Spencer Finch's "What Time Is It On the Sun?" at MassMOCA has drawn a buzz from the contemporary arts crowd. But any dedicated traveler would benefit from a trip to North Adams before the show closes on March 31, 2008.

Finch's cerebral meditations on environments actually offer some down-to-earth hints on how to really pay attention and more fully experience a place. I'd never thought much about the breezes at Walden Pond, for example, until I stood in Finch's semicircular installation of box fans programmed to approximate the wind speed and direction during a particular two-hour period.
A framed pastel rendering of the color of the ceiling above Sigmund Freud's couch is a quirky reminder to look for the offbeat detail that defines a place.
In a burst of simple genius, Finch placed colored panels in the panes of the wall of glass in the Duncan Brown Family Gallery. When the sun shines through, it's like walking into a candle flame. I always light a candle when I visit a church (it just makes me feel good and it's a way to make a small donation). Next time I'm in a dimly lit cathedral, I'll remember Finch's pure enveloping light.
MassMOCA is open Wednesday through Monday 11-5.

Posted by Patricia Harris, Globe correspondent

Life is pretty laid-back in the Berkshires, but the region also boasts one of the most cutting-edge museums in the world. It's Mass MoCa in North Adams and it is located in old, renovated, industrial-brick buildings that provide huge amounts of space for some of the most intriguing installations you'll ever see.
On display for the next two years is Anselm Kiefer's bewildering concrete sculpture, "Etrois sont les Vaisseaux,'' which basically looks likes curled-up chunks of urban sidewalk, running in a long row that makes it seem like buckled parts of a bridge. I've certainly never seen anything like it.
There's also Spencer Finch's mix of colored glass panels that filter light into a kind of psychedelic kaleidoscope. Very trippy and you can sit on benches in front of it and start hallucinating, if you like. No need for LSD.
Overall, this is a fabulously surreal museum. It also offers concerts, some of them in the B-10 Lounge (complete with couches), where the Jazz Passengers perform on Nov. 17. The galleries are open every day except Tuesday, and admission is $12.50 for adults.
In addition, the museum has a cool cafe (called the Lickety Split Cafe) in one of its industrial buildings; and there's a more stylish restaurant, Cafe Latino, right next door.

Posted by Steve Morse, Globe Correspondent

Looking to kill a sunny weekend afternoon while feeling vaguely outdoorsy? Head to Purgatory Chasm State Reservation in Sutton. That’s what I did with the kids on a recent Saturday afternoon, mainly to test out my new GPS. And yes, it took us directly to Purgatory Road in Sutton, no questions asked.

There’s a wow factor when you first enter the chasm -- an enormous jumble of boulders, caves, and rock formations with great names: Look for Lover’s Leap, the Devil’s Coffin, and Fat Man’s Misery. The clearly marked Chasm Loop Trail will lead you through the chasm and then upward, where you can gaze down at the massive rocks. It can get somewhat crowded and the rocks can be slippery so take your time. But it’s an easy hike, the kids will love exploring the caves, and best of all, it’s free.

I never know when to strike up a conversation with my seatmate on a long airplane flight. If I start too soon, I fear spending the next several hours hearing about my flying companion's latest breakup, big business deal, or incredibly precocious grandchildren. But I've also gotten great tips from locals who are returning home to the city I'm visiting.
On a recent flight to Miami, I exchanged a few pleasantries with the buff guy who had the window seat next to my aisle. He proceeded to doze while I read. The flight was approaching Miami when we started to chat. It turned out that he was a personal trainer and was returning home from Boston where he'd been working with his client -- none other than Josh Beckett.
That left me only about 20 minutes to hint shamelessly for help scoring post-season Red Sox tickets. No luck. Another hour and I would have had them!

Posted by Patricia Harris, Globe correspondent