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There & Back

Travel Briefs

By The Associated Press

Friday, October 09, 2009

National Book Festival Sept. 26

WASHINGTON — A slew of celebrity writers from John Irving to Jodi Picoult are scheduled to take part in this year’s National Book Festival in Washington, scheduled for Sept. 26.

Other famous authors expected to participate include James Patterson, Marilynne Robinson, Judy Blume, John Grisham, Junot Diaz, Colson Whitehead, Jeannette Walls and Julia Glass.

The event, organized by the Library of Congress and held on the National Mall, is free.

For more information, visit www.loc.gov/bookfest.

Warrior exhibit tickets on sale

WASHINGTON — Fifteen of China’s famous terra cotta warriors are coming to Washington in November for an exhibit at the National Geographic Museum. It’s the final U.S. venue for the extraordinary statues, which have also been on display in Santa Ana, Calif., in Atlanta and in Houston.

It’s also the only venue in the Northeast, and 33,000 tickets for the show have already been sold. Tickets are timed and dated and can be purchased online at www. warriorsdc.org. Prices are $12 for adults; $10 for seniors, students, military personnel and National Geographic members; and $6 for children ages 2-12.

The traveling exhibit, which was also previously at the British Museum, is said to be the largest collection of the life-size figures to ever leave China. The warriors were first discovered in the 1970s in the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, who is considered the first emperor of a unified China and whose rule began in 221 B.C. Nearly 1,000 figures have been excavated, but experts believe that the tomb may contain as many as 7,000 of the statues.

The traveling exhibit includes soldiers, archers, acrobats and animals, and 100 sets of artifacts including armor, weapons and bronze vessels.

Food & Wine Festival and Victorian Week

CAPE MAY, N.J. — The Cape May Food & Wine Festival unfolds over nine days, from Sept. 19 to Sept. 27, with events that include food and wine tastings, a chefs cook-off, a gourmet marketplace, and a chowder contest.

Also on the program are five chefs’ dine-arounds, five gourmet luncheons, wine cellar tours and tastings, a beer-tasting dinner, and Cape May wine school, plus classes and demonstrations.

Then in October, Cape May celebrates its Victorian heritage with Victorian Week, Oct. 9-18. The event includes historic house tours, murder mystery-themed dinners, a chocolate buffet, vintage dance workshops, crafts and antiques shows, living history programs, lectures and performances.

And from Oct. 16-31, a series of Halloween-themed tours and events are being offered in the area.

The events are sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts. For more information or to make reservations, call 609-884-5404 or 800-275-4278 or visit www.capemaymac.org.

Treehouses for your honeymoon: Playgrounds for newlyweds

NEW YORK — Treehouses aren’t just for little kids. Treehouse hotels offer adventure, a sense of fun, and even romance for newlyweds. Destination Wedding Magazine recommends five treehouse hotels in its Fall 2009 issue, some of them offering high-priced luxury. They are:

Lodge Kura Hulanda, Curacao: Offers a luxurious treehouse mansion with a four-poster bed, high on a cliff overlooking Kalki Beach, from $1,200 a night.

Kanopi House, Jamaica: Four treehouse-style bungalows near Port Antonio on the island’s northeastern coast, from $300 a person, all-inclusive.

Tree House Lodge, Costa Rica: A Caribbean-coast retreat in the Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge, where you can relax in hammocks and take canopy rainforest tours, from $300.

Tsala Treetop Lodge & Villas, South Africa: Located between the coastal towns of Plettenberg Bay and Kynsna on the Garden Route of the Western Cape, from $370.

Winvian, Connecticut: A Litchfield Hills resort that includes among its themed suites the luxurious Treehouse, a two-story cottage 35 feet off the ground, with a whirlpool, fireplace and French doors, from $1,999.

Tips for women travelers: Don’t forget the dental floss

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — What do dental floss, shower caps and dryer sheets have in common?

They’re all products that can serve multiple purposes when you travel, according to “101 Tips for Women Travelers,” a new free booklet from Overseas Adventure Travel and Grand Circle Travel. More than 70 percent of the two tour companies’ clients are women, and the booklet is comprised of ideas from female employees, guides and travelers around the world.

Among the tips: Dental floss is so strong it can double as a makeshift laundry line for clothing you might be handwashing on the road. Many travelers swear that dryer sheets repel mosquitos if you tie one to your belt loop or backpack or slip one in with your bedding. They also help keep a suitcase full of clothes or a musty rental car smelling fresh.

And stash those free hotel shower caps in your luggage for later use. You can use them to wrap up a damp swimsuit, cover a camera in the rain, or help insulate anything you’re carrying that might either leak or get wet.

To receive the “101 Tips” booklet, call 800-873-5628. You should receive a free copy within two or three weeks.

Annual art festival coming up in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — Thousands of art-lovers attend the Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival each year, scheduled this fall for Sept. 10-20.

More than 50 events are on the program, including art shows, music, cowboy poetry and even a Western fashion show.

Other events include an exhibition of Western furniture and home accessories, studio tours, a gallery walk, ranch tours, concerts, and a real estate auction.

One of the signature events of the festival is the National Museum of Wildlife Art’s Western Visions fundraiser, Sept. 16-18, which includes a series of shows and sales of work by more than 150 artists, from photography to jewelry to miniatures. Demonstrations of painting and sculpting techniques are also on the program, along with a Wild West Artist Party, Sept. 17, 6:30 -10:30 p.m., $200.

Another element of the fundraiser is a morning photo safari to capture the landscapes and wildlife of Grand Teton National Park, Sept. 17, 6:30 a.m.-11 a.m., in the company of Western Visions artists Lindsay Scott and Leo E. Osborne. The adventure will be led by Wildlife Expeditions, a division of non-profit Teton Science Schools. The cost is $125 for members; $150 nonmembers. Call 307-732-5412 to register.

Details at tinyurl.com/pp44w9.

Scenic trips to see waterfalls, foliage in Western N.C.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Some of the prettiest places to see fall foliage in Western North Carolina also offer scenic views of waterfalls.

The Blue Ridge Parkway will take you to U.S. 276, where you’ll find Looking Glass Falls and Sliding Rock. The water in the natural 60-foot waterslide at Sliding Rock is still warm enough to try in early fall.

For hikers, a three-mile trail in DuPont State Forest will take in three waterfalls: Hooker, Triple and the 150-foot High Falls.

At Graveyard Fields, Blue Ridge Parkway milepost 418.8, the Yellowstone Prong loop trail leads to two waterfalls, with spectacular fall color. Second Falls is just a third of a mile from the parking area.

In the Nantahala National Forest, adjacent to Gorges State Park, you’ll find the 150-foot-high Rainbow Falls, with views of the falls from the front, bottom, side, and top. It’s one of four waterfalls on a two-mile stretch of the river. Access includes a a new hiking trail from Gorges State Park.

Just eight miles from Gorges State Park is Whitewater Falls, in the Jocassee Gorge area just before the South Carolina state line. For an excellent view of the falls, follow the paved one-quarter-mile walkway to the upper overlook.

Linville Falls, at Blue Ridge Parkway milepost 316.3, can be seen from four overlooks on the Erwins View Trail, 1.6 miles round-trip.

Crabtree Falls, at Blue Ridge Parkway milepost 339.5, near Linville Falls, is accessed by a 2.5-mile loop hiking trail through an old-growth forest.

Hickory Nut Falls, a 400-foot waterfall in Chimney Rock State Park, can be reached from a three-quarter mile walk through hardwood forests of oak, hickory, maple and basswood.

One of the region’s least-visited waterfalls is Glen Falls, in Highlands, a 1.5-mile round-trip walk through the Nantahala National Forest.

For details on these waterfalls and other activities, lodging and dining in Western North Carolina’s Blue Ridge area, visit www.romanticasheville.com/waterfalls.htm.

Cooperstown: Baseball, fall festivals and foliage

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Cooperstown has a lot more than baseball to offer visitors, especially in the fall, with autumn festivals and colorful foliage along Lake Otsego.

The Farmers’ Museum hosts an old-fashioned Harvest Festival, Sept. 12-13, with crafts, food and activities, from a dog agility contest to wagon rides through the museum’s 19th century village. Later in the season, the museum will host “Evening at the Tavern,” a four-course candlelit meal with period music and games in its Bump Tavern, featuring a menu based on 19th century tavern food, Oct. 10 and Nov. 14. Halloween-themed tours will be offered Oct. 17, 23 and 24 beginning at 5:30 p.m.

The Chamber of Commerce sponsors a pumpkin fest Sept. 26-27 and the Fly Creek Cider Mill holds weekend tastings and other events, including a cider festival Oct. 10-11. There’s also a Saturday farmers market.

The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad offers a series of scenic train rides in the area, including weekend foliage rides, Sept. 26-Oct. 25, an Oktoberfest train Sept. 26, and Halloween-themed trains, Oct. 23-24 and 30-31.

Cooperstown was founded in the 1700s by the father of author James Fenimore Cooper. You can still see Colonial woodframe buildings and Victorian gingerbread homes around the village, including the oldest house in the village, built in 1790, at the corner of Main and River streets.

The town was also home to the family of Edward Clark, who ran the company that sold Singer sewing machines when they were first invented in the mid-1800s. The Otesaga Resort Hotel, celebrating its centennial this year, was built by one of Clark’s grandsons. Another Clark descendant, Stephen C. Clark Sr., was instrumental in establishing the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

Cooperstown is located about 60 miles from Albany in upstate New York.

Vietnamese art exhibition to premiere in Houston

HOUSTON — An exhibition of Vietnamese art, with more than 100 objects never before seen in the U.S., will premiere at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston Sept. 13. It will remain on view through Jan. 3.

The show, called “Arts of Ancient Viet Nam: From River Plain to Open Sea,” includes major loans from Vietnam’s leading museums, including objects from the first millennium B.C. through the 17th century that have never before left the country.

The museum describes the show as the first “exhibition in the U.S. to address the historical, geographic, and cultural contexts of pre-colonial Vietnamese art in depth.”

The show looks at Vietnam’s history as a crossroads for travel and trade in Southeast Asia and beyond. Artifacts include ritual bronzes, fine gold jewelry, terra cotta burial wares, Hindu and Buddhist sculptures, and ornaments made of gold, lapis lazuli and crystal.

The exhibit was co-organized by The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and Asia Society in New York, which worked with nine museums in Vietnam and the Ministry of Culture. The show will travel to New York next year and be on view at Asia Society Feb. 2-May 2, 2010.

Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla. — Horror movie fans — and anyone else who likes the idea of being scared silly — will want to check out Universal theme park’s Halloween Horror Nights this fall, as a “Ripped from the Silver Screen” theme brings The Wolfman, Jigsaw and Chucky to life.

Event dates are Sept. 25-26, and Oct. 1-4, 8-11, 15-18, 21- 25 and 28-31.

“The Wolfman” movie doesn’t hit theaters until February but Universal guests will get a preview of the character and his obsessions at the park. They’ll also experience Jigsaw’s scary labyrinth from “SAW” before the latest installment in the “SAW” film series debuts Oct. 23.

Other horror films and characters from the movies featured in Halloween Horror Nights include reimagined classics like Frankenstein and Dracula, along with haunted houses, live shows and costumed actors.

Regular admission to any night of the event is $69.99 plus tax. Guests can purchase tickets and vacation packages at http://www.HalloweenHorrorNights.com or by calling 888-467-7677. Weekend night tickets typically sell out.