CALIFORNIA: Cruising Wine Country #1

I realize this may sound very strange, but in all my world travels, I have never been to Napa or Sonoma in northern California, and have never visited the California Wine Country. I’m a native Californian and I do enjoy a nice glass of wine--it was time to head north to check out the places whose names I only see on wine bottle labels. When I received a brochure from Cruise West on their Food, Wine and Spa Journeys in September and October, I knew this was the perfect trip for me. I called my friend, Carolyn Groves, and on September 15th we flew up to San Francisco to begin a four-night/five-day cruise to the California Wine Country.

Cruise you say? How can you cruise through Napa or Sonoma--no river runs through either city. Cruise West has a very unique itinerary that cruises from San Francisco and navigates up a network of bays and inlets. Each morning you’re met at the ship and driven through charming communities and down small country roads to area wineries and restaurants. Each evening you return to your floating hotel and enjoy wonderful dinners and the camaraderie of fellow wine enthusiasts. I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning and share with you our experiences aboard Cruise West’s The Spirit of Yorktown.

We flew into San Francisco and were met by a Cruise West representative and taken to the Sheraton Hotel at Fisherman’s Wharf. Since passengers are coming in at different hours, Cruise West has a hospitality suite at the Sheraton. We checked in with the Cruise West staff and since we had a few hours ‘til boarding, we took off for lunch at the Wharf. On the flight up (to San Francisco.) Carolyn and I had been talking about the wonderful clam chowder and sourdough bread San Francisco is famous for, add a glass of chardonnay and we had a wonderful lunch sitting outside watching all the tourists.

We returned around 3:30 and discovered we were just in time to be bused to the ship, which was docked in Redwood City. Apparently, the fees to dock in San Francisco Bay had sky rocketed, and in order to not have to pass those fees onto the client, Cruise West chose to dock outside of San Francisco.
We boarded the 138-passenger Spirit of Yorktown and were welcomed aboard with a glass of California sparkling wine (or champagne if it came from France.) The cabins were small, but designed well, and more than adequate for a four-night cruise. After unpacking we headed up to the lounge to meet our fellow passengers. This became a nightly ritual. At 6:00 every evening hors d'oeuvre were served in the lounge and the “wine connoisseur” would present two area wines for our tasting and pleasure. The wine expert aboard was fabulous beyond words…Frank Baldassare from Seattle.
He knew his wines and his presentation was terrific. Every night we would practice the five s’s:

• sight: how does a wine look,
• swill: does it have legs and body,
• smell: does it have a pleasant aroma,
• sip: how does it taste on the palate, and finally,
• swallow!

It was great fun.

After our evening wine tasting we would all adjourn to dinner and regroup in the lounge for an evening program.

Day two started early with a 6:30 a.m. wake-up call. I vaguely remember Carolyn muttering something about being on vacation as we hurried to breakfast and onto the bus at 8:00 a.m.. Our first stop--the Culinary Institute of America.

What an impressive sight. The CIA, Greystone campus, is located in the former Christian Brothers winery, an imposing three-story, 101-year-old building that housed generations of wine making friars. It also has an amazing cookware store with hundreds of kitchen gadgets, cookbooks, and beautiful, upscale, cookware.

Our first class: wine blending. By definition, blending wine simply means you are combining two or more wines to create a new one. That is definitely easier said than done, as working winemakers have long discovered.
I gave it the old college try. With six different glasses of wine and a pipette, I tried my hand at wine blending. I named my brew Ilene’s Fling. I’m not giving up my day job, but it was also difficult to be objective about wine tasting at 9:30 in the morning!!!

We actually spent the entire morning at the CIA. After wine blending we had a cooking demonstration presented by the head chef of the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant on campus. The thought for the day --- use good olive oil and fresh ingredients. The Moroccan spiced loin of lamb and tabbouleh salad were truly wonderful.

Next on the agenda was lunch, served at the world-renowned Auberge du Soleil restaurant, perched on a hill overlooking the entire Napa Valley. The lunch was a lesson in food and wine parings explained by the sommelier. I really can’t remember what we had for the main course, but I’ll never forget the dessert--a chocolate tart in a small pie shell lined with caramel. Outstanding, amazing and wonderful. And I’m not a
chocolate person!
The day was only half over. Our next stop: Mumm Napa, a sister company of Mumm Champage of France. Mumm Napa is located along the historic Silverado Trail with a spectacular view of the valley below.

The tour was interesting. I never knew that sparkling wines are first capped with a regular bottle top during the fermentation process. Later, when the sediment rises the necks of the bottles are frozen, the original cap removed and the sediment is expelled through pressure. The bottles are then corked and put on shelves for aging.

We returned to the ship just in time for cocktail hour and wine tasting presented by our own wine connoisseur, Frank, followed by dinner in the main dining.

The Cruise West Philosophy: No one starves or dies of thirst on our ships!!

Join me next week as we continue our wine cruise through the California Wine Country.

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www.RedlandsTravelService.com.

USA: Grand Tetons, Salt Lake City, Snake River

I remember how happy I was when I finally visited Mt. Rushmore. Mt. Rushmore had been on my “wish list” for many years and I was delighted when my youngest daughter, Erin, suggested a cross-country trip. In all my years of traveling I had never been to the Grand Tetons, visited Yellowstone National Park, or traveled to South Dakota to experience Mt. Rushmore.

It was a wonderful trip and driving is a great way to see the US. As I tell my clients, planning a trip is half the fun … and Erin and I had fun. At the time Erin was a second year medical student at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. We had a limited time frame (two weeks) and I knew we could not drive the entire way across the US, and see everything we wanted to see. So early in the planning I decided we would rent a car in Redlands and drop it off in Chicago. From Chicago to New York we would take the train and I would fly home from New York.

With that plan in mind, we took out our maps and decided where we wanted to go, and what we wanted to see. With the computer, mapping our route was easy. And the GPS proved invaluable. It’s like a cell phone --- I now wonder how I ever got along without a GPS in the car.

As much as I travel, this trip was definitely a learning experience. My first “learning experience” was renting a car. I’ve rented lots of cars throughout the years, but usually just for city driving and sightseeing, not a long road trip. I made reservations with Hertz and picked up the car in Redlands. I requested a mid-size car, and that’s what I got --- a KIA. I didn’t bother asking if it had four, six or eight cylinders --- to me a car is a car. Not anymore. A four-cylinder car may be fine for city driving, but leaves much to be desired for mountain driving. The car was a gutless wonder. The moral of the story is to tell the car rental company where you are going (which I did), and insist on a more powerful car (which I didn’t. )

We actually got away early in the morning and headed northwest to Las Vegas. I enjoy driving and even though most people think the drive to Las Vegas is boring, I love the moonscape -like scenery of the desert. What was strange was passing Las Vegas; our first stop was Salt Lake City. In all the years of going to Las Vegas, I have never driven north of Las Vegas. The red cliffs of northwest Arizona into Utah are absolutely beautiful.

We found a hotel in downtown Salt Lake City and walked to the city center for dinner. After dinner, we headed for Temple Square, the most popular tourist attraction in Salt Lake City, with the beautiful Mormon Temple and the home of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Neither Erin nor I had been to Salt Lake City. When you first see Temple Square, an entire city block ablaze with light, it’s an awesome sight.

Unfortunately, I did not read my literature before leaving Redlands, or I would have known that there are hosted tours of the complex (not the Temple) which is open 9:00am to 9:00pm daily. I will call this learning experience #2 --- read your literature before going on your trip. Seriously, if you are planning a trip to Salk Lake City, I suggest going online and finding the pertinent information, i.e. location, hours of operation, times of tours, etc. Also, adjacent to Temple Square is the Museum of Church History and Art, the Family History Library and the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

We were up bright and early the next morning and on the road by 6:30am --- our destination was the Togwotee Mountain Lodge in Moran, Wyoming, about 40 miles north of Jackson Hole. As we headed out of Jackson Hole we had our first panorama of the Teton Range---magnificent is the only word that comes close to describing the breathtaking view.

We stopped at one of the pullouts along the road and stood in silence as we took in the surrounding scenery. It actually looks like a painting. I have seen mountain ranges throughout the world: the Alps in Switzerland, the Andes in Peru and the Himalayas in India ---the Grand Tetons are just as spectacular, and a lot closer!!!

We arrived at the lodge in the early afternoon and immediately put on our hiking boots. We were on the lookout for wildlife as we followed a trail down to the Buffalo Fork River. We didn’t run into any moose or bears (thank goodness), but enjoyed our hike and the glorious wildflowers along the trail. We finished the day with a soak in the lodge’s hot tub.

The nest morning we drove into the Grand Teton National Park, founded in 1929. The park encompasses over 300,000 acres and offers an abundant of activities for the entire family. There are several visitor centers throughout the park that provide information on hiking, camping, backpacking and climbing (overnight trips require a permit), horseback riding, bicycling, fishing, wildlife viewing and river rafting. The visitor centers also have wonderful information available on the culture and history of the area going back thousands of years to the early peoples (Paleo-indians) and native Americans that inhabited the land. A fun and educational experience for the whole family.

After some discussion, Erin and I decided on a rafting trip down the Snake River.

Once again we were treated to spectacular views of the entire Teton Range. We also saw an effusion of wildlife including some bald eagles, moose, some osprey (who performed their fabulous fishing techniques for us --- a dive straight down) and some Canada geese. The area is beautiful and provides a quiet peace with the abundance of wildflowers and the surrounding forests of spruce and cottonwoods.

By late afternoon we were again on our way --- Yellowstone National Park. Join me next as Erin and I explore the park’s hydrothermal features and check out the area wildlife.

USA: Yellowstone

Even though most of my group trips are abroad, some of my favorite destinations have been much closer to home. As a child we didn’t do a lot of traveling. When I had my own family we did travel considerably, but never made it as far north to Yellowstone National Park. So Yellowstone was definitely on my itinerary as Erin and I continued our cross-country adventure.

Erin and I were excited as we drove through the South entrance of Yellowstone National Park. We picked up a map and other literature from the Park Ranger and headed for Grant Village. Throughout the park there are several “villages” which provide lodging, food service, camping sights, stores, service stations, visitor information, etc. When I called for reservations in early April (for the following August), they did not have availability at Old Faithful Inn, my first choice for accommodations because of its notoriety and reputation. If it’s important for you to stay at the Inn, I suggest you call a good year in advance if you are planning on visiting Yellowstone in July or August. Since the Inn was not available, I chose Grant Village because it was closest to the South entrance, and easily accessible to the East entrance, the entrance we planned to leave from as we headed east toward South Dakota.

Established in 1872 by the United States Congress, Yellowstone is the first, an oldest, national park in the world. The park was originally established to protect the unique geysers, hot springs and other hydrothermal features that comprise more than 2.2 million acres. Before going to the park, my knowledge of Yellowstone was limited to Old Faithful, the best known of the geysers. However, I soon learned, there is definitely more to see than Old Faithful.

We checked into Grant Village and immediately headed to the West Thumb Geyser Basin to begin our exploration. In the summer months there are Ranger-led programs throughout the part, with times listed in each village and in the National Park Information Guide. There are also wonderful maps for self-guided tours, and pamphlets available (for a small fee) at all the major thermal attractions.

The West Thumb Geyer Basin overlooks Yellowstone Lake, the largest lake at high elevation (7,723 ft.) in the Western Hemisphere. Without getting overly scientific, the bay of West Thumb is actually a volcanic crater or caldera, created thousands of years ago after a powerful volcanic explosion. The West Thumb caldera lies within an even greater caldera, which actually encompasses the central and southern portions of the park. Within the central basin are several geysers and hot springs. Due to a variety of geologic conditions, geysers may have short periods of dynamic eruption followed by long periods of dormancy. The highlight of the basin was the Thumb Paint Pots, several miniature mud volcanoes (3-4 ft. height) with steam curling from small chimney-like cones. Surrounding the cones are boiling “mudpots” --- I felt we were in the midst of a science fiction movie and I expected to see a monster explode out of the depths of the boiling mud. No such monster appeared --- only ribbons of steam. The walk around the basin took about two hours.

We drove back to Grant Village and had dinner at the lake-side dining room. Full service restaurants are at a premium in the park and reservations are a must. In fact, I suggest making dinner reservations the same time you make hotel reservations, particularly if you want to eat at Old Faithful Inn. Check on-line for the different type of in-park accommodations and dining facilities.Since we only had two days in the park, we were up bright and early and on the road by 6:00a.m. We planned to do a loop --- seeing the major gyser areas along the road, passing through Hayden Valley, through Canyon Village and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone (with its spectacular waterfalls), through Norris Geyser Basin, the Lower Basin and unto Old Faithful. As we left Grant Village we had our first wildlife sighting, a beautiful elk crossing the highway. Erin and I were so excited. As we passed Yellowstone Lake and approached Hayden Valley, we saw our first bison --- Erin let out a scream, which you would surely understand if you saw a 2,000 pound bison sauntering down the road toward you. It really is an amazing sight. We soon found the rest of the heard and pulled to the side of the road to watch the dozens of bison that began to appear on the hills and grassy areas along the main road.

There are three signs you see everywhere in the park. One is to caution people about the danger of scalding water and the need to stay on designated paths and boardwalks. Yellowstone’s hydrothermal features are frequently near or above boiling, and the crust surrounding them is thin and breaks easily. The second sign cautions people to stay away from wildlife. Yellowstone is not a zoo, and the animals are not tame, they run freely in the park. Besides bison and elk, there are coyotes, moose, bears, deer, bighorn sheep and wolves. The third and most prevalent sign, is the 45-mile speed limit posted frequently along the road. In the summer months that usually is not a problem since the roads in Yellowstone are packed with cars. The real danger is when people suddenly stop because they see wildlife. Usually a traffic jam ensues, particularly if the wildlife moves onto the road and cars are afraid to get too close, as is the case when a herd of bison crosses the road.

After our initial bison sighting we almost became immune to seeing these magnificent creatures and continued on our way. After stopping in Canyon Village for a much-needed cup of coffee (no Starbucks, but Seattle’s Best was equally as good), we continued on to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone; the canyon plunges 1,000 feet down with dramatic waterfalls and colorful rock formations. Puffs of steam mark hydrothermal features in the canyon walls. You can experience the canyon from a variety of overlooks or, time permitting, you can follow a number of trails and walkways that wind along the rim and down into the canyon. It really is a spectacular view.

As we continued our loop, we stopped at Mud Volcano with its explosive mudpots, Sulpher Caldron, Norris Geyser Basin, the hottest and most dramatic geyser basin in the park, Fountain Paint Pot with wonderful examples of the four types of hydrothermal features (geysers, hot springs, fumaroles and mudpots), and onto the Upper Geyer Basin, with the world’s largest concentration of geysers and hot springs, including Old Faithful.

We first visited the Old Faithful Visitors Center and checked out the geyser’s eruption predictions. The eruption length and height, and the time between eruptions, vary from day to day and year to year. When we were there in August, the average interval between eruptions was 94 minutes. Old Faithful is a cone geyser, which erupts in a narrow jet of water, and just prior to eruption, the water temperature at the vent is 204 degrees Fahrenheit. Hot.

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After viewing the eruption we picked up an Old Faithful Area Trail Guide and continued around the Upper Geyser Basin. There are several trails ranging from .7 miles to 4 miles in length --- we chose the Geyser Hill Loop (1.3 miles) that took us past a number of geysers and hot springs.

As a travel agent I couldn’t visit Yellowstone without seeing the Old Faithful Inn, one of the largest log cabins in the world. As I walked in the front entrance, I was immediately taken aback by the immense size of the lobby with it’s 85 foot tall ceiling, huge stone fireplace, and overhanging balconies and railings, all made from twisted, gnarled logs. The lobby was packed with tourists --- it was fun just sitting in one of the many rocking chairs scattered throughout the lobby listening to all the hubbub, in a dozen different languages.


We tried again to get dinner reservations at the Inn, but nothing was available until after 9:30. We ended up walking across the parking lot to the Snow Lodge and had a lovely dinner in the main dining room. The Old Faithful Snow Lodge, an impressive building on its own, was built in 1999 and adds additional room capacity to the area around Old Faithful.

We arrived back at Grant Village, exhausted and ready for a good nights sleep. Erin had kept me on the move all day and my muscles were definitely feeling the miles of trails we hiked.

Join me next week as we visit Mr. Rushmore and the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota.

USA: The Badlands of South Dakota

When Erin and I started planning our driving trip across the northern US, we each picked out several things we wanted to do and places we wanted to see. Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park and Mt. Rushmore headed the list. We then had to make choices. I was surprised at how many national parks and national monuments there are in South Dakota. We wanted to spend more time in the Black Hills with its rugged rock formations, canyons and gulches; visit Wind Cave National Park with over 100 miles of underground passageways; see the historic town of Deadwood, an old mining town in the Black Hills long associated with gambling and shady characters, and the final resting place of Wild Bill Hitchcock and Calamity Jane. Unfortunately, we had to be in Chicago by a certain date and realized we could not possibly see it all. We finally decided on Badlands National Park, best known for its dramatic vistas and fossil resources, and where the famous dinosaur, Sue, was discovered 15 years earlier (Sue is now on display at the Field Museum in Chicago).

We left Keystone early and headed east on I-90. Once past Rapid City, we began seeing signs for the town of Wall. Sign after sign after sign --- it went on for miles and miles --- advertising Wall Drugs. Even though we were on a tight schedule and Wall was definitely not on our itinerary, our curiosity got the best of us and we ended up stopping in Wall. Wall Drugs is a huge, old-time store that goes on forever and ever---it actually covers an entire city block. With its early west atmosphere, it reminded me of the type of stores you find at Knott’s Berry Farm. Unless you have lots of time I really don’t recommend stopping at Wall. However, I do commend the marketing person who thought up all those signs --- it worked. I can now say I’ve to Wall, South Dakota!

From Wall we took Highway 240 into Badlands National Park. The park encompasses over 240,000 acres of sculptured Badlands and mixed-grass prairie. With limited time, we selected the Badlands Loop Road, a 30-mile drive that would take us past several scenic outlooks, nature trails and the Ben Reifel Visitors Center. We entered the park through the Pinnacles Entrance and our first stop was the Pinnacles Overlook. Before us lay a vast expense of deep gorges and knife sharp ridges with rock layers “painted” in hues of red, gold and green.

Mother Nature has been at work. It’s hard to condense what took place over 75 million years, but it was a combination of shifting weather patterns and geological forces that transformed the area into what we now call the Badlands. According to park literature…”Forests flourished and withered away. Volcanoes laid down a thick layer of ash and rivers repeatedly flooded the region, depositing sediment. The black, muddy floor of the Pierre Sea apparently compressed into a band of 2,000-foot-thick shale. These successive layers of matter often held the bodies and bones of animals now long extinct and preserved for posterity as fossils.” Erosion did the rest. Wind and the rushing waters of rivers, now long vanished, eroded the dry, fragile soil, gouging out channels and gullies, and carving the cliffs, spires and odd rock formations you see throughout the park.

As we drove along the Loop road you can actually see the “layers of time.” Different amounts of red-brown iron oxide mixed in the sediments give varied hues to each layer. And each layer contains different fossils from the different geological periods. Over the years, paleontologists have found the fossilized remains of saber-toothed cats, miniature camels and horses, huge rhinoceros-like beasts and small squirrel-like rodents. Today, the Badlands area has the distinction of being known as having the world’s richest Eocene/Oligocene Epoch fossil beds.

We continued driving along the Loop Road, stopping several times at scenic overlooks to marvel at the magnificent vistas. We pulled out our binoculars in hopes of seeing some Bison or Bighorn Sheep, but never did manage to find any. There are also several self-guided trails, which are easily assessable from the Loop Road. The Fossil Exhibit Trail features fossil replicas and exhibits on now extinct creatures that once roamed the area. The trail is a quarter-mile and takes about 20 minutes. It is also wheelchair accessible. Other trails along the Loop include the Medicine Root Trail, the Cliff Shelf Nature Trail, the Castle Trail and the Notch Trail --- all very in length and accessibility. Some are definitely more strenuous than others.

Half way through the Loop is the Ben Reifel Visitor Center. Besides the much welcomed “facilities,” the center offers an orientation program in the auditorium and has a small museum featuring natural and cultural history exhibits. The orientation program, a combination of a short film and a talk by a Park Ranger, is excellent and provided good background information on the area now known as “the Badlands.”

Unfortunately, time was our biggest problem. In hindsight, I definitely would have planned an entire day to explore the area. Badlands National Park is opened year-round; however, not all of the facilities are open in the winter months. Accommodations in the park are limited. The Cedar Pass Lodge has small cabins with air-conditioning and private bath. It also has a full service restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. There are also several campgrounds operated by the National Park Service. If you’re into hiking, camping, backpacking, bicycling, wildlife viewing or horseback riding, and have an interest in geology and paleontology, Badlands National Park is a perfect vacation destination for the entire family.

Join us next week as we explore the “windy city” --- Chicago.

USA: Weekending in Seattle

This past October I had the pleasure of traveling to Seattle with my friends Marjorie and Bill Handel, to celebrate a birthday of a special friend.

October is an ideal month to travel almost everywhere, and particularly to Seattle. The air was crisp, the sky a deep blue with white, fluffy, cumulous clouds, and the leaves on trees were glorious shades of red, gold and orange. For a moment, I thought I took the wrong flight, and ended up somewhere in New England.

The word “rain” is often associated with Seattle, but I think this association is part of a plot to keep Californian’s from wanting to relocate to the “Emerald City.” Over the many years I have visited Judith and her family in her beloved city, not once have I had to use my umbrella, which I dutifully pack every time I go for a visit.

On my many Northwest visits, I have enjoyed the wonderful diversity of festivals and concerts at the Seattle Center, road the elevator to the top of the Space Needle for a birds eye view of downtown Seattle, ate my share of fresh seafood at Pike Place Market, drank my share of wine in the bars and clubs in and around Pioneer Square, watched with fascination as the salmon jumped up the fish ladders at the Hiram Chrittenham locks making their way back to the streams where they were born, shopped to my heart’s content in the original Nordstrom’s Department Store, and enjoyed more than one “double tall skinny latté” at both Starbucks and Seattle’s Best.

Since my last visit two years ago, Judith and Jim had moved from the University District, near the University of Washington, a bit north to the Ravenna-Roosevelt Neighborhood, near Revenna park, but still close to the much sought-after heirloom tomatoes and fresh focaccia bread of the University District’s Saturday morning Farmers Market.

Seattle is a city of neighborhoods, not based on ethnicity, like Little Italy or Korea Town, but each having evolved with its own personality or character. The Greenlake Neighborhood has wonderful Craftsman style homes overlooking the lake. I decided it was the “sporty neighborhood” as everything revolves around the lake. There is a three-mile walking and bike path around the lake, plus a baseball field and roller blade area. There were several paddleboats on the lake and a rowing club meets regularly year around.

West of Greenlake is the funky Fremont Neighborhood. It reminded me of Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles with its small, offbeat boutiques and restaurants. The people living in the area consider Fremont to be “the Center of the Universe,” or so a sign on one of the storefronts proclaimed. Fremont is also well known for its larger than life size statue of Lenin (found in Slovakia after the breakup of the Soviet Union), a genuine 1950’s rocket ship, a great Sunday Farmers’ Market, and the Troll, living under the Aurora Street Bridge. It can’t be all bad---especially with three microbreweries nearby.

Another of my favorite areas in Seattle is the International District, just south and east of downtown. Wonderful restaurants, particularly if you’re in the mood for Dim Sum. It also has the most incredible Asian Supermarket --- Uwajimaya, a huge conglomeration of often unidentifiable but beckoning vegetables, seafood, and sauces. Judith is a gourmet, in every sense of the word, and discovered Uwajimaya during her Asian phase. I remember that phase well; it was a real treat for everyone.

On Sunday morning, we learned our flight would be delayed for several hours so we had the entire day free for sightseeing. It was a toss up between the Seattle Art Museum, the Experience Music Project and the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field. Since Bill is an avid plane enthusiast, and none of us had visited the Museum of Flight before, it won hands down, or wings up, as the case may be.

The Boeing Company is an institution in Seattle and has been a major part of the Seattle economy since it opened its doors in 1909. Today, the original building, known as the Red Barn, is now part of the Flight Museum complex at Boeing Field. We started our tour with a visit to Air Force One, now on permanent display in the “air park” across from the museum. The Boeing 707 was the first presidential plane, and was used by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. Compared to the 747, the 707 seemed tiny: there was a small conference room, a desk, some couches, the “command center,” a galley and seating for a dozen or so people. There were even a few feminine touches in one of the bathrooms, compliments of Jacqueline Kennedy and a doggie door requested by President Johnson for his beloved Beagles.

The museum is amazing. The main building houses 54 different full-size aircraft, including an SR-71 Blackbird and a DC-3. If you’ve always dreamed of being a pilot, there is a state-of-art flight simulator that offers 3-D visual effects, special effects like wind and smoke and plenty of motion. Since we recently had lunch, no one opted to try out the simulator.

The Red Barn, the original manufacturing plant, has a wonderful permanent exhibit that traces aviation history from its early beginnings through 1938. On display is a 1914 Italian Caproni CA 20, the world’s first fighter aircraft, and the Jenny biplane, with its fabric covering removed to showcase the exquisite woodwork underneath.

Commemorating the centennial year of flight, The Museum has a wonderful special exhibit, “The Birth of Aviation, the Wright Brothers Story: the lives and times of Orville and Wilbur Wright.” The exhibit tells the story of the Wright Brothers struggle to make their dream of flight a reality and honors the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first powered flight on December 17th, 1903.

As someone who doesn’t like to fly, I surprised myself by enjoying the museum. We had a wonderful guide, an ex-pilot and long time Boeing employee who had great stories to tell and was well versed on all the aircraft on display.

We had a wonderful weekend. We saw many new areas of the city, and even started planning our next trip back to Seattle. I’d love to see the new Safeco Field, where the Mariners play, and the Seahawks Stadium, and Paul Allen’s Experience Music Project, an amazing Frank Geary-designed interactive museum at the Seattle Center, and…..there is so much to see. If you’ve looking for a great way to spend a weekend---or even a week, consider a trip to Seattle, and remember to pack your umbrella, because if you don’t, it surely will rain.

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USA: Grand Canyon by Rail

If you’re looking for a fun way to spend a long weekend, consider a trip on the Grand Canyon Railway. I had been to the Grand Canyon several times, but never via rail. Since I was in Phoenix for a professional meeting, I decided to take a few days and see what the Grand Canyon Railway was all about.

Carol and I arrived in Williams, Arizona around 5:00pm and checked into the Fray Marcus Hotel (now called the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel) adjacent to the Williams Depot. The hotel is not an historic treasure, but it is a delightful hotel with a wonderful lobby and even more wonderful stone fireplace. By the time we arrived in Williams, the temperature had dropped and rain was in the forecast. The blazing fire in the main lobby, along with a cup of hot tea, was a welcome sight. When we were there in 2004, the hotel had 196 rooms with plans to add an additional 102 rooms. The hotel offers an indoor pool, small exercise room and hot tub. In the hotel is Spenser’s Lounge, a small pub type restaurant with the most wonderful 19th century hand carved bar brought over from Europe. There is also a full service restaurant, Max and Thelma’s, located next to the depot, and a short walk from the hotel.

Once we checked into the hotel and warmed up with a cup of tea ( this was in October), I wanted to check out the town of Williams. Five minutes later we were back in the hotel. Seriously, the town of Williams, founded in 1882 as a railroad town, and later regaining its popularity as part of the Route 66 craze, is two main streets with curio shops, motels, gas stations and restaurants. There is also a Safeway and a 99-cent store. Williams has been around for over 100 years and is now enjoying a renaissance due to the popularity of the Grand Canyon Railway.

The weather is one thing we have no control over. It had turned cold overnight and it was raining. When we came down to the lobby the following morning, the fire was burning in the fireplace and several of the guests were enjoying a hot cup of coffee before venturing out to the train depot to board the Grand Canyon Railway. At 9:15, bundled up with an umbrella in hand, we wandered out to the train platform to catch the “Wild West Show” before boarding the train. The Wild West Show was a bit on the corny side, but the little people in the audience seemed to enjoy the gunfight and cheered when the sheriff caught the “bad guys.”

At 9:45am the whistle blew and the conductor yelled “all aboard.” Carol and I had reserved seats in the Dome Car. There are five different categories of seating on the train: Coach, Club Coach, First Class, Deluxe Observation and Luxury Parlor Car. The differences in the categories are both seating and amenities. Both Coach and Club Class have bench style seats and offer complimentary soft drinks. First Class and Deluxe Observation have the comfortable recliner type seats and there are individual barrel-style chairs in the Luxury Parlor Car, plus a rear, open-air observation platform that is perfect for taking pictures (when it’s not raining!). Club Coach also offers a complementary continental breakfast in the morning. However, if you upgrade to First class and above, you not only get a complementary continental style breakfast in the morning, you also get champagne and appetizers on your ride back in the afternoon.

We “unbundled” and helped ourselves to a cup of coffee. Once we were underway, the attendant came through and welcomed us aboard, offered us the complementary continental breakfast served in the first class car, and took orders for some specialty coffee and alcoholic beverages. The Deluxe Observation seats are located on the upper level of the Coconino and Kokopelli cars and offer breathtaking views from the glass-enclosed dome area ---- when they’re not fogged up due to weather conditions. Seriously, I liked the brightness and airy feeling of the Dome car, but the windows did fog up and seeing clearly was a problem. But even that did not hamper the spirits of the passengers. It was a lively group and when the folk singer stopped by, we all belted out some of our favorite country western songs. The warmth and friendliness of the staff more than made up for the cold and damp weather outside.

We arrived at the South Rim at 12:15, right on schedule (obviously it’s not an Amtrak train). It was still raining, so Carol and I decided to walk up to the El Tovar Hotel (a short block from the train depot) and have lunch, in hopes that the rain would stop and the clouds would rise from the canyon floor. The Grand Canyon Railway offers several packages and tours for visiting the canyon. If you’re only planning to be at the canyon for the afternoon (the train departs at 3:30 for Williams) there are several bus tours available that will take you to the most scenic viewpoints and historic sites. Most of these tours include either a buffet or box lunch. There is also an option to stay overnight at one of the lodges on the South Rim and take the train back to Williams the following afternoon.

If you’re not overly enthusiastic about a guided bus tour, there are free shuttle buses and three different routes around the South Rim: the Village Route stops at many of the lodges and stores in Grand Canyon Village and the Canyon View Information Plaza; the Hermit Rest Route travels eight miles west to Hermit Rest, stopping at several overlooks along the way; and the Kaibab Trail Route circles between the Information Plaza and Yaki Point, providing access to the South Kaibab Trail. If you have the time, this option is a great way to see the canyon. You can get on and off at any stop and can transfer from one loop to the other. In nice weather all you’d need is a guidebook and a picnic lunch, the scenery is spectacular.

The El Tovar Hotel, built in 1905, is the “grand dame” of the lodges on the South Rim and offers a fabulous view of the canyon, and fine dining in their restaurant. In the peak of the tourist season, you need to make dinner reservations several weeks in advance.

By the time we finished lunch, the rain had slowed to a drizzle and we ventured outside to the canyon rim. The canyon was still enveloped in clouds. We talked to several people from around the country and shared in their disappointment at not being able to see the “Grand Canyon.” The literature refers to the “myriad of colors (that) will enthrall the artist; the interplay of light and cloud shadows (that) will thrill the romantic, and the rock layers and landforms (that) will delight the geologist.”

To make a long story short, before we left, the clouds lifted, the sun came out, and we did see the beautiful rock formations and “myriad of colors” that make the Grand Canyon a national treasure. Carol was absolutely ecstatic, since she had not been to the canyon before. We walked back to the train depot and boarded the train back to Williams. On the return trip we were in the Luxury Parlor Car; I wanted to compare the different classes of service and see if it was worth the extra money to sit in barrel-style chairs. Other than the seating and the rear observation platform, the service is the same in first class and deluxe observation class. I personally preferred the Dome car because of the openness and the panoramic views, but there is definitely more room to move around in the luxury car.

The weather had cleared up for the ride home. We enjoyed our champagne and again had a fun time singing along with the folk singer. The inclement weather had definitely not dampened the spirits of anyone on the train.

The Grand Canyon Railway is wonderful. I love train travel and it was fun to take a step back in history to the glory days of rail travel. If you have never been to the canyon, I would suggest staying overnight, which would give you an opportunity to do some outdoor exploration, providing the weather co-operates. Since the train departs Williams at 10:00am, you almost have to stay overnight in Williams, and I would definitely recommend the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel.

During the holiday season, the Grand Canyon Railway offers a special event---The Polar Express. Based on the classic children’s book by Chris Von Allsburg, The Polar Express “comes to life when the train departs the Williams Depot for a journey through the quiet wilderness for a special visit to the North Pole with Santa Claus.” Hot chocolate and cookies are served while special guests read the classic story. The highlight of the trip is when Santa boards the train and hands each child their own sleigh bell (read the book). The Polar Express only runs on specific days in the month of December. Check online (www.TheTrain.com) or call Redlands Travel Service (1-800-339-8417) for additional information and reservations.

If you’re looking for a great weekend get-away, or simply enjoy train travel, I would highly recommend the Grand Canyon Railway.

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