IATM

THE AMERICAS COURIER Volume XIV, No. 4 Winter 2010

Where shall we meet for our Greetings, fellow Tour Managers and Tour Guides. I hope this last Golden Jubilee Convention in 2012? newsletter of 2010 finds you enjoy- ing every moment of this happy holiday season. I have just returned from a productive meeting with the Board of Directors in London. We, just like most businesses today, are still dealing with the depressing financial situation. Our recent decis- ions come from a desire to keep the central office funded while strateg- izing for membership growth. IATM is looking into new markets for membership growth. Our new mem- bership drive is directed towards Tour Operators. Many TOs see IATM as one more way to prove that their Tour Guides/Managers are indeed Independent Contractors. This desig- nation helps Tour Operators to save on employee costs. Tour Operators can additionally save on insurance Ecuador is one of the venues being considered, with pre- and post-tours to costs by promoting our liability insur- breath-taking Macchu Piccu (above) and to the fascinating Galapagos Islands ance to their Tour Guides/Managers. IATM is proud to work with Tour Welcome, Operators while promoting our mem- The Mission of IATM bers as low risk professionals who New Members! ‘To promote and maintain the cost them less money without sacrif- Active highest standards of competence, icing our rates of pay. IATM is now integrity and professional conduct on offering all Tour Operators compli- Chrissy Schwarz the part of all Tour Managers.’ mentary membership and a reduced Emporia, KS (from Affiliate member) Active membership fee for their Debra Pfahl ‘To promote, protect and improve Guides. Ottawa, Ontario the welfare and status of Tour I will be emailing a prospectus to Managers.’ Tour Operators with whom we al- Affiliates ready have a connection, informing Linda Parris IATM The Americas is a member of: them as to the benefits we can Casa Grande, AZ provide to them. I would like your Deborah Lombardi World Federation of Tourist help in contacting the main Tour Delmar, NY Guide Associations operators here in the Americas by www.wftga.org introducing us to them. Rather than Sara Raney Henderson, NV cold call the operators that we already know and love, can you Curtis Evans National Federation of Burleson, TX please introduce IATM to any tour Tourist Guide Associations operators you work with. I would Melanie Strickland www.tourguidesofamerica.com like to present an opportunity for Madrid, Spain

Page 1 The Newsletter for Travel Professionals Winter 2010 them to lower their risk and increase SECRETARY WANTED managers and not local guides, we cannot hold full membership. the smooth operation of their tours. It is a win-win situation. I will send all This is almost certainly the last IATM FEG – Federation of European Guides. members an email with further det- Courier that Jo Curran will edit, and the IATM’s nemesis. They work against us last time she will dun you for annual ails on this opportunity. at EU level trying to put our profession The Board is still considering pro- dues. Her cancer has progressed very out of business in favor of theirs (local posals for our 2012 Golden Anni- rapidly, and she knows she has little time and national guiding). versary Convention. I have put forth left. WFTGA – World Federation of Tourist a proposal for the Convention to be In a future issue, there will surely be Guide Associations. A worldwide organ-

held in Ecuador with pre- and post- many tributes and testimonials to Jo’s ization of local guide associations. They tours to the Galapagos Islands and role in professionalizing the Tour Man- meet every 2nd year, and IATM has Peru (Macchu Picchu). The Board ager’s role and organizing IATM’s The adjusted our convention schedule so that

needs real feedback to make the best Americas region. But right now, we need we do not clash with theirs. (This year possible decision. Please consider the a replacement; an Active member with IATM’s AGM is part of an International energy and good contacts to keep in Weekend and not a convention). IATM following negotiated itinerary and provide feedback to me. I will send touch with existing members, recruit The Americas Region is an affiliate you a reminder email so I can report new ones and liaise with other TM member of WFTGA, so our members organizations. And pay the bills. And put can attend their conferences at the your thoughts to the Board when we meet again in Sorrento to make a out the newsletter. member’s rate. Any local guide assoc- iation can be a full member of WFTGA. final decision. Apart from a couple of busy times of the The more members we have the There is one fee per country, and the year, the job should take only a few more local associations who are stronger we are and the more we can hours a week. It’s rewarding, though not do for our members. This is the WFTGA members, the cheaper member- in the financial sense. ship is for each one. There are several fundamental structure of our organ- ization. Our region is very fortunate as Chris Carrdus, Jo’s friend who worked US associations who are WFTGA we are experiencing growth mostly with her on admin and newsletters, has members, the biggest being NYC and agreed to help the new person with DC. due to our ability to offer professional liability insurance. IATM can do great information and advice for 6 months. If ASTA – American Society of Travel things for you and for our industry. you see yourself filling the Secretary or Agents Treasurer role, or both, please e-mail NTA – National Tour Association, an Please get involved with us so that we can continue to show our stren- [email protected] right away. association of US destinations, hotels gths and demonstrate the profes- and attractions. IATA – Airlines are their members sionalism that we all have for our chosen industry. Travel Matters ABA – Association of US motor coach owners Take care and enjoy, The ABC for TMs Beware of rabies overseas Scott MacScott CTM There is an ‘Alphabet soup’ of assoc- iations which we travel professionals Public-health officials have issued a encounter. Here is a short explanation: rabies warning to American travelers IATM – International Association of after a 42-year-old psychiatrist from Vir- Tour Managers. We have 12 chapters ginia died after exposure to a rabid dog Diary Dates known as Regions world wide, and serve while he was jogging in India last year. the interests of over-the-road TMs It was one of seven cases of rabies acquired abroad from 2000 to 2009, out th NFTGA-USA – National Federation of 21-24 January – IATM, AGM and of 31 human cases in the United States, International Weekend. Sorrento, Italy Tourist Guide Associations. Federation of many US local guide associations. officials from the Centers for Disease 24-27th January-Sorrento Post Meeting The current chair lives in Chicago. Mem- Control (CDC) said. Other cases were Tour, Savelletri and Bari bership is open to any local guide contracted by Americans traveling in the th th 30 Jan – 4 February, WFTGA Con- association and dues are based on mem- Philippines, Ghana, El Salvador, Haiti vention, Tallinn, Estonia bership numbers. They hold occasional and Mexico. 1st-3rd April, IATM Nordic Brief Study conventions; the last one was last winter CDC officials say that many dogs in Tour and AGM, Valdres, Norway on a Caribbean Cruise. IATM The Africa and Asia have rabies, and people can be exposed through a bite or through 7th-11th November, World Travel Market, Americas Region is an Affiliate member of NFTGA. As an association for tour exposure to infectious body fluids like London. saliva that come in contact with an open Page 2 The Newsletter for Travel Professionals Winter 2010 wound or mucous membranes. When stead, opt for travel sites such as Two other quibbles. Not all of the you ‘walk up to a cute dog on the street Travelocity.com or a service like airlines are represented. To check in a place like India,’ said an author of Hotwire.com. Though Hotwire doesn’t Southwest Air, for instance, you’ll have the report, Jesse Blanton, a CDC epi- reveal the rental company’s identity until to go to its Web site or use its app. The demiologist, ‘you place yourself at a lot you’ve committed, it provides a total other isn’t really ITA’s fault, but some of of risk.’ See www.cdc.gov/rabies for price with fees and taxes included. the information it gets from contributing more information. Talk to an insurance agent. The ‘big- airlines is consistently wrong. In a test, I gest car-rental ‘gotcha’ is its highly found flight from Baltimore to Martha’s More express buses in Northeast profitable insurance.’ You can avoid Vineyard to be priced substantially lower many fees by asking if your own auto on the ITA site then the actual purchase Greyhound and Peter Pan now offer non- policy has primary coverage for car price from the airline. stop bus service between New York City rentals and opting for that instead. But for its overall usefulness and its and major cities in the Northeast. The Source: National Geographic Traveler powerful sorting, fliers may find this app companies, which are working together, is just the ticket. started sending out express buses between New York and Washington, ITA App Is Just the D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston Ticket for Flight Deals How to land cheap airline seats and Silver Spring, Md., in late ITA Software, whose product powers Go to the source. Airlines try to ‘bypass September. Some promotional fares have your searches for airline ticket deals online travel sites’ by posting discount been as low as $10 one way. More on sites like Kayak and Orbitz, has ‘promo codes’ on their home pages. Start information: www.uncommontransport. been in the news because Google is your search for deals at the carriers’ sites. com. The Bolt Bus, www.boltbus.com, trying to buy the company. The ITA Google it. If you can’t find codes on an also offers express buses between some app On The Fly offers powerful airline’s site, ‘try doing a Web search Northeast cities. sorting for people searching out with the airline’s name and the term

airline deals. ‘promo codes.’’ You’ll be surprised by Viewing vacation spots online And with good reason: ITA’s own site what you can find. Download apps. Airlines are creating Curb appeal can be critical in selling has been the secret weapon of road smart phone apps or online tools to keep a home, but it also may be important in warriors because of its ability to sort up communication with customers. selling you on a vacation spot. About a through lots of flight options and deliver Southwest’s Ding service is a download- third of all Americans look at images on the results in an easy-to-read chart. able app that alerts you to new deals. Google Street View to check out hotels It’s such a powerful product that com- American’s DealFinder tool for PCs and other destinations before booking a petitors have opposed the purchase. But provides ‘personalized offers based on vacation, according to a survey of more that shouldn’t stop you from loading up your travel interests;’ than 6,000 people by the online-coupon ITA’s free iPhone application, On the Leave it to the pros. Airfare-watchdog. firm Couponcodes4u. Fly. com scans countless sites for promotions Google Street View displays images The app lets you search multiple airlines and regularly posts unpublished discount of streets and neighborhoods shot by using a number of filters. From the first codes. ‘It’s the single best code source;’ specially designed vehicles that have page, you choose departure and destin- Source: ShopSmart been deployed to thousands of sites in at ation airports, specific dates or a block of least nine countries. (There also are dates during which you’re willing to street-level images at Mapquest.com and travel. You can choose how many stops Double Decker Hero Bing.com. you want the plane to make, whether you Pilots have their ‘Sully,’ now bus drivers will allow multi-airline flights, and you have a ‘Sweeney.’ Andre Sweeney was How to save on a car rental can set it to show you only flights with driving his double-decker Megabus on available seats. the New Jersey Turnpike when a goose Do a price check. Car-rental companies You can sort the resulting flights by the smashed head-on into his windshield, have been known to tack on surcharges airline price, departure time, number of sending shards of glass into Sweeney’s without specifically informing customers. stops, arrival time or duration of the eyes. Sweeney never lost control, staying Late fees, early-return fees, and fees to flight. You can even look at a map to see in the driver’s seat, until he reached a rest change a reservation are just a few how direct your flight will be. stop, where paramedics treated him. Pas- examples of the mysterious payments One thing the app doesn’t allow you to sengers compared Sweeney’s cool under that can get added onto a bill. Double- do is book the flight. For that, you have pressure to that of Chesley Sullenberger, check every item before handing over to go to another site – otherwise ITA the pilot who safely landed his plane in the keys. would be competing with its clients. the Hudson River after a collision with Know where to book. Avoid booking geese. ‘He did a great job’ one said. directly with rental-car companies. In- Page 3 The Newsletter for Travel Professionals Winter 2010 ITINERARY PROPOSAL a background. After lunch, we continue to the This is just a proposal. The Board of historic city of Riobamba in the Ecuadorian Directors will decide upon the venue in highlands, free evening. Dinner and Over- January. The Board needs all feedback night at Riobamba. so we can represent your thoughts. Day 6: RIOBAMBA to CUENCA – Train Ride to Nariz del Diablo, Ingapirca Inca Day 1: QUITO - Arrival Archeological site and Cuenca. Arrival in Quito International Airport Maris- After early breakfast, enjoy the full morning cal Sucre. Transfer to hotel. Hospitality desk train ride through backyards and many registration at the lobby. Remainder of the indigenous towns such as Cajabamba, day is free to relax and acclimatize to Quito Middle of The World Alausí and Sibambe, and the amazing altitude of 9,500 ft. Welcome drink for all the Day 4: Surroundings of QUITO – Full day; ‘Nariz del Diablo’ (Devil’s Nose). Box participants at 8pm. Dinner – not included. visit to Otavalo Indian Market. Experience the diversity of the Ecuadorian Lunch included. From the village of Alausi Day 2: QUITO – Convention Meetings countryside in our full day excursion of the we will continue south to the Ingapirca, the After breakfast, IATM Agenda AGM 8am, famous Otavalo region north of Quito. After largest Inca Ruins of Ecuador. After ex- and Allied Tradeshows. 3 course lunch with early breakfast we leave for Otavalo, the ploring them, we continue south to the city of one soft drink. Optional guest tour to the most important indigenous market in South Cuenca, famous for its colonial architecture therapeutic Papallacta Hot Springs. After- America. The ‘Otavalenos’ silently market in and handicrafts; marble, ceramics and the noon visit to El Teleferico Park for a panor- contrast to other noisy indigenous markets Original Panama hats. Dinner and Overnight amic view of Quito at dusk or visit to El elsewhere in the world. Heading north, we at Cuenca. Panecillo Hill. Dinner inc. one glass of wine. observe magnificent Andean scenery. Along the way we will visit a Solar Clock, a Rose Day 3: QUITO – City Tour and Mitad del Plantation and the San Pablo Lake. At the Mundo. bustling market, walk along the plaza and the After breakfast a visit to the best preserved small streets of the village among locals with Colonial Old Town in Latin America. The long braided hair, blue ponchos and white visit begins through the residential zone and trousers. Try your bartering skills. After the Congress which has a stone carved mural lunch (not included) visit Cuicocha Crater representing the history of Ecuador. Con- lake and Cotacachi town for leather goods. tinue to the Colonial site to view the churches Drive back to Quito. Dinner and overnight. and buildings of this urban jewel declared by Day 7: CUENCA to QUITO – City tour UNESCO as a Cultural Patrimony of Hum- Day 5: QUITO to RIOBAMBA – Visit and flight back to Quito ankind. The visit continues through Indep- Cotopaxi National Park, Inca Hacienda endence Plaza, surrounded by the Cath- and Riobamba After breakfast, morning city tour of Cuenca edral, the Government Palace and the Early breakfast; depart Quito to Cotopaxi which will include its Colonial cathedrals, Archbishops. Walk through the 7 Crosses National Park. Drive through the Avenue of colorful parks and the majestic view from the Street to San Francisco Church, one of the the Volcanoes, where on a clear day we can viewpoint el Turi, where we will have a most important religious monuments of the see such volcanoes as Ruminahui, Anti- typical highlands meal while watching a New World. With amazing façade and sana, Corazon, Chimborazo, and Atacazo. dance show. Free time for shopping in courtyard the main altar holds the beautiful Around the highest active volcano in the Cuenca. Afternoon flight back to Quito. (30 Winged Virgin or as it is better known, the world, this 36.000 ha. National Park repre- minutes flight). Transfer to the hotel in Quito. Virgin of Quito, or Virgen del Panecillo. sents an ecological sanctuary with all the Dinner and overnight at Quito. Onward to the remarkable baroque style original flora and fauna of the Andes. As we *Optional late evening excursion to the Church of La Compania de Jesus, Papallacta Hot Springs (4 hours RT) an followed by a tour of the famous Middle of exotic hot springs area of the Papallacta the World Monument 1 hour north of the Cloud Forest, were we will be able to relax at Old town where you will have the the hot springs after a busy tour. Thermal opportunity to step in both hemispheres springs are open till 9pm. Transfer back to simultaneously. At the Ethnographic Mus- the hotel. (Dinner is not included in this eum, learn about the different ethnic groups optional tour. Spa services are extra). in Ecuador. The Ciudad Mitad del Mundo, a replica of a colonial town with its main Day 8: QUITO plaza, church and bullring, is located next to the Ethnographic Museum. Here you will Breakfast and end of services. Start of the find handicraft shops and restaurants serving drive into the Park, we find groups of llamas, Post Tours. typical Ecuadorian food. Lunch & soft drink wild horses, deer, rabbits as well as various included. Gala Dinner at Itchimbia, the species of birds including the Andean gull, Estimated cost; about $1,000 + optionals Crystal Palace with the special cultural hummingbirds, ducks and even the great Please send comments and/or questions to folkloric dance show of the renowned Ballet Andean Condor. Lunch will be at a striking Scott; [email protected] Jacchigua. colonial hacienda with beautiful Cotopaxi as Page 4 The Newsletter for Travel Professionals Winter 2010 How to complain to airlines fees in the future, as well as extra As demand for hotel rooms began to charges for using your cards when improve in the last few months, most Send an e-mail. With e-mail, you’ll traveling outside the country, consider deals ended. But not all of them. always have a copy of the letter as refer- using another type of credit/debit card Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which has ence. But don’t write one of those ‘letters for travel purchases. Most credit about 1,000 properties in nearly 100 that drone:’ Keep the complaint concise, unions and many small banks charge a countries, is offering a room rate equal to and include vital information such as 1 percent fee on foreign transactions, the last two digits of your birth year for flight numbers and the names of employ- a processing charge that Visa and the second and third nights of your stay. ees to whom you have spoken. MasterCard pass onto them (bigger If you were born in 1965, you pay $65 Keep cool. Most companies ‘keep tabs banks such as Bank of America add each for the second and third nights. The on chronic complainers;’ so don’t another 2 percent as profit). Or first night’s rate varies by property. To aimlessly ramble or exaggerate. Rude consider using a credit card from Cap- get the special prices, you must book and threats are a waste of time. If your anger ital One (www.capitalone.com), which use the rooms before Dec. 31. Details: persists, try putting the letter aside for a has no foreign-transaction fee. www.starwoodpromos.com.payyourbirth day to regain composure. If the company year/ fails to reply within 60 days, try again Fined in Rome and include a copy of the original How to save a wet cell phone fast. complaint. Q: Back home after my trip to Rome, I Be real. ‘You’re not going to get two free got a letter saying I owe a fine of 99 Remove the battery and SIM where your first-class tickets to Hawaii because your euros ($137) for driving in central Rome personal information is stored. ‘Shake luggage was delayed.’ In fact, if you without a permit. I admit to this but do the phone gently to get rid of liquid, then want to get any results at all, you’ll need not understand how I could possibly blot off excess’ receipts, resourcefulness, and lots of have reached my hotel, dropped off Check the salt content. Seawater cor- patience. Source: National Geographic passengers and luggage, then parked rodes electronics. If the phone took an Traveler without driving through the city. My ocean dip, take it apart and ‘rinse it with hotel and its parking garage were literally fresh water’ before drying. Foreign-transaction fees in the center of Rome. Dry it out. Remove the casing and open any panels to expose circuitry. Place in Q: I recently bought an airline A: When in Rome, watch out for its strict an airtight container of uncooked rice, ticket online using my debit card. ZTL city-center restricted-driving zones. which will draw out water overnight. (British Airways Seattle-London No permit? You’re fined. However, your Suck it up. A hand vacuum cleaner can round trip). Bank of America charged case has a loophole. You are allowed to suck out moisture. Don’t try a blow dryer; me an international transaction fee of drive to a hotel to unload/load luggage or it will only ‘force water deeper inside.’ $24.81. They tell me that there is a 3 get to its parking garage within the ZTL Give it juice. If the phone doesn’t turn percent fee because British Airways is without penalty – but only if your hotel on after being reassembled, plug it in to a foreign company. remembers to send your license-plate recharge. ‘Still dead as a doornail? Rep- British Airways told me that this number to the traffic police to make sure lace the battery and keep your fingers is illegal. Prices are quoted in dollars, you don’t get a ticket. crossed.’ Source: Ladies’ Home Journal and paid in dollars, into their office in In your case, you finally got the hotel to New York. There should be no trans- send you a copy of your receipt, which Dreamliner woes action fee. Who is correct? you forwarded to the collections agency. That should do the trick. To avoid this Boeing has revised the production sched- A: Many credit- and debit-card problem again, call the hotel ahead of ule of its 787 Dreamliner, which is al- issuers, including Bank of America, time to get its promise of assistance – or ready almost three years late, says Roger charge a foreign-currency transaction park outside the ZTL and take a taxi or Yu in USA Today, The latest production fee on purchases made or processed walk to your hotel hiccup follows an onboard electrical fire outside the United States, including during a November test flight. Boeing is those made online in U.S. dollars. It's Older you are, the less you pay staking its future on the Dreamliner which likely that your payment was pro- is built from composite materials “to cessed in the United Kingdom, rather As the U.S. recession deepened last year, make it more fuel-efficient and appeal to than in New York, even though the desperate hotel owners offered some customers seeking fuel savings.” But transaction might have been handled zany deals to fill empty rooms. One engineering flaws and problems with the by British Airways' New York office. downtown Los Angeles hotel offered quality of some components have forced If not, of course, you should not have daily room rates that were tied to the Boeing to postpone the plane’s scheduled been charged the fee. high temperature for the day. If the high delivery several times. If you want to avoid paying these was 85 degrees, you paid $85 that night. Page 5 The Newsletter for Travel Professionals Winter 2010 A personal note from Jo farmers buy the altered seed and huge Roundup causes birth defects amounts of weed killer and pesticides to As some of you already know, I am once use on the crop, but despite the extra A major new study has found that again living with Cancer. I had a go- financial outlay, expect that the improved glyphosate, the active ingredient in the round with it 7 years ago, and surprised crop yield will give them more money in weedkiller Roundup, is linked to human the docs by surviving the ‘very agg- the bank at the end of the season. birth defects, Researchers at the Uni- ressive’ radiation and chemo treatment. I Many of these crops form the versity of Buenos Aires began a study have no doubt that if I had not had this foundation of our diets. According to the with animal embryos after learning about treatment, I would not have survived. Grocery Manufacturers of America 70 - high rates of human birth defects in rural However, the treatment is, by design, 80 percent of American non-organic Argentina, where genetically engineered poisonous. So, to help my body survive processed foods contain genetically soybeans are grown and regularly the onslaught, I became very vigilant engineered ingredients. A large percen- sprayed with Roundup from airplanes. about what I brought my body in contact tage of the cotton in our clothes and They found birth defects and mal- with, especially food. Ever since then, homes begins in Monsanto’s labs. formations from doses in the lab far except for the few occasions when I eat Probing a little deeper, I learn that Mon- lower than those for agricultural spraying, out, my nourishment has to be organic. I santo’s genetically modified plant crops Genetic Engineering News List) believe that if I had not done this, my also have an enormous influence on body would have proved the docs correct, America’s meat industry. Sixty percent rBGH-free dairy labels and I would be just a memory to IATM of genetically modified corn goes to feed A federal court has struck down an old timers. America’s beef cattle at concentrated Ohio state ban on dairy labels such as Obviously when you are on tour, you animal feeding operations (feed lots). ‘rBGH-free.’ The court ruled that such have little to no influence over the source Monsanto’s recombinant bovine growth labels are legal and that ‘a compositional of your food. But when you are off the hormone (rBGH) is used to increase milk difference does exist’ in milk from cows road, then you do have choices. production in a good many of our dairy treated with genetically engineered, With this in mind, I beg your under- cows. artificial growth hormones (rBGH). The standing when in this newsletter I inc- For the last 10 years, Monsanto has court found that using rBGH elevates lude some short articles on maintaining a bought up seed companies around the levels of an insulin like growth factor healthy environment. globe. It now owns a majority of the seed (IGF 1), which is linked to several types Jo Curran lines in America, including a large per- of cancer, and that rBGH milk turns sour Editor centage of organic seeds! more quickly. Even though cotton makes up only 2.5

On Monsanto and GMOs percent of the world’s crops, it is doused Bad news for vampires by Jo Curran with 16 percent of the world’s pesticides. Cotton pesticides, most of which are Most garlic sold in the U.S. now comes GMO stands for Genetically Modified listed as ‘extremely hazardous’ by the from China. Since 2003, the amount of Organisms. Why modify things like corn, World Health Organization, turn up garlic imported from China has nearly soy, sugar beet and cotton? They are fine regularly in water sources around the tripled, because it is less expensive to as they are, aren’t they? Well, yes, of globe. course they are, but if you are a seed, ship the garlic thousands of miles than to pesticide, weed killer and fertilizer man- grow it and harvest it in California. Los ufacturer, you want to sell more of your Monsanto hired Blackwater Angeles Times product. If you use too much pesticide on Documents obtained by an investigative Health Networking regular (non GMO) crops, you poison journalist reveal that the security firm, the crop as well as the pests and weeds Blackwater, provided intelligence reports, 8 years ago when I had an accident in which you are trying to get rid of. The training and security services for biotech Ghana, it was an unknown (to me) Israeli more weeds and pests that the farmer can giant Monsanto. A Monsanto spokes- IATM member who saw something kill using your product without pois- person has confirmed that Monsanto about the accident in the International oning the crop, the less work (and paid a Blackwater subsidiary Total Intel- newsletter, and passed on to me via therefore expense) and more profit the ligence, $232,000 in 2008 and 2009 for London information which saved me farmer earns. intelligence on activities of groups or from having to have my leg amputated. So Monsanto (and some others) have individuals that could pose a risk. Citing Networking at its very best. genetically altered the seed of these crops the movement to destroy genetically with bits of DNA from other organisms, engineered crops, some critics say Mon- Now, with great pleasure I am so that they can tolerate huge doses of santo apparently is hoping to quell forwarding to you information on a pesticides and weed killers without the dissent by infiltrating activist groups. The stem-cell transplant which Denver Area crops being adversely affected. The National Digital Journal. Affiliate member Roxanne Snell has just Page 6 The Newsletter for Travel Professionals Winter 2010 undergone in Peru for a heart condition streets. It’s ‘like emancipation day’ for which was beyond the help of American Canadian Interest sex workers, she said. The ruling takes

Medicine. Why can’t our leader get a dog? effect in a month if the government doesn’t appeal. Dear Jo, Wanted you to know that the trip Canadian voters are ‘willing to put up to Lima seems to have been an amazing with a lot,’ said Scott Feschuk in Mac- British Columbia’s wine country success! I had the procedure on Thursday, leans. We are, after all, a generous Viniculture is flourishing in B.C., thanks Oct. 21, and on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. people. But ‘this is just too much: No to glacier-tilled soil, varied micro- 23 & 24, I was taking a 3-hour city tour of nation should have to endure a choice climates, and a surfeit of sunshine (by Lima on Sat., and a 3-hour Gold Museum between two cat lovers for prime min- Canadian standards, at least),’ said Sara tour on Sun! I walked for over two hours ister.’ Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Dickerman in The New York Times. on each tour, climbing stairs, etc., and not ‘affection for felines’ is well documented. having to stop once to gasp for breath! I Some of the ‘breathlessness about British An outspoken proponent of adopting Columbian wine comes from the glory’ am feeling stronger and stronger each day strays, the most powerful man in Canada and have literally gotten a new lease on life. of the province’s landscapes. The has ‘often been photographed cuddling southern parts, near the town of Osoyoos, The procedure involved, first, taking one with kitty cats.’ More recently, Canada’s cup of bone marrow from my hip (they boast an arid but ‘ultimately bewitching’ opposition leader, Liberal Party leader went in through the lower back). It took 14 terrain where ‘many of the most coveted Michael Ignatieff, has come out as a cat minutes to harvest the stem cells and grapes are being grown, even the sun- coronary repair tissue in a machine made lover. Ignatieff has taken to giving loving Syrah.’ Estate wineries, like the in the U.S., but the FDA bans its use interviews with his cat planted on his lap, ‘stunningly sited Burrowing Owl Estate,’ here! In the U.S., the culturing of the stem ‘presumably for stroking-based reasons.’ proliferate. Farther north, the wine- cells would have taken 10 to 12 days!! The It’s simply not masculine. The only time making region resembles northern Eur- doctor inserted a catheter tube into my a real man should be seen with a cat on ope. Near Penticton and Kelowna – heart through a vein, rather than an his lap is when he is ‘plotting the towns ‘high in both altitude and latitude’ artery. He put a balloon in my heart to destruction of the world and the – Pinot Noirs and Germanic whites block the outflow of blood from my needlessly complicated death of James thrive amid ‘broad-shouldered moun- heart. He then inserted an injector into my Bond.’ U.S. presidents know this. They tains.’ On Okanagan Lake sits Naramata heart through the catheter tube and keep dogs, which ‘project an image of Bench, ‘a gloriously scenic highland’ injected 4 Billion stem cells directly into vitality and loyalty.’ Cats, by contrast, dotted with small wineries. Contact: my heart! I had to spend 7 hours in ICU make their owners look either aloof and Okanagan.com/wine not moving my leg where the catheter had snobby or just plain kooky. But get used been inserted, but then was able to return to it; apparently this is the new face of Quebec’s wine country to our hotel room. Did not even one night Canada. In the next general election – to in the hospital and was awake and alert be called sometime between now and Take a drive through Quebec’s Eastern during the entire procedure. They only 2012 – Canadians will again end up with Townships region and sample ‘serene used a local anesthetic! Just amazing! Jo, a leader who leans feline. countryside’ and some of Canada’s best I can actually climb stairs and bend over wines, said Sarah Staples in the Los without gasping for breath! I am still in Angeles Times. A self-guided driving shock. We flew overnight Sunday and got Green light for Ottawa red lights tour through the region begins about 40 home to Denver Monday afternoon The ‘Bondage Bungalow’ and other miles southeast of Montreal and contin- Take care, brothels across Ontario were effectively ues along 82 miles of country roads. The Roxanne Snell decriminalized, after an Ontario judge journey wends ‘past burnt-straw-colored

overturned laws prohibiting bawdy fields; Anglican, Methodist, and Catholic Doctors lack nutrition training houses, saying that they endanger pros- one-room churches; covered bridges; and A study published in ‘Academic titutes by forcing them to work on the old saw-mills.’ Seventeen wineries dot Medicine’ reveals that a vast majority of streets. Judge Susan Himel ruled that the the route, which some weekenders tour medical schools still fail to require the national criminal code on prostitution, by bicycle. Les Pervenches, near the minimum 25 hours of nutrition instruc- which also prohibits solicitation and town of Farnham, produces Quebec’s tion recommended by the National procuring, violated the constitutional only Chardonnays and is a favorite of Academy of Sciences in the 1980s. Only right to life, liberty, and security. Pros- sommeliers and celebrities. Quebec’s 25 percent of medical schools require titution is legal in Canada, but most act- oldest township, Dunham, is home to taking even one nutrition course. Only ivities facilitating it had been prohibited. Val Caudalies vineyard, which encour- 27 percent of medical schools meet the Bondage Bungalow dominatrix Terri- ages visitors to stop in for a tasting after recommended minimum 25 hours.. Jean Bedford, one of three Toronto-area hiking or cross-country skiing its fores- (Academic Medicine) plaintiffs, said she had been beaten and ted trails. Contact: Laroutedesvins.ca raped many times while working the Page 7 The Newsletter for Travel Professionals Winter 2010 The Lynx Column American Travel Steinbeck’s California John Steinbeck may have made Salinas, A new feature of links to articles of The ancient ruins of Arizona Calif., famous, but the residents of this rural town weren’t always his biggest interest. If you find Flagstaff has long been considered the something really fans, said Jay Clarke in the Contra-Costa, interesting online, ‘hub of northern Arizona’s natural and Calif., Times. While the novelist was forward the link to historical attractions,’ said Anne Z. alive, some citizens of his native town Jo and share it with Cooke in National Geographic Traveler. the rest of us. burned his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Past the pioneer town’s pine forests and Grapes of Wrath and cringed when he ‘rolling ranch land’ sit two ancient Chinese workers build 15-story hotel in nosed around Salinas Valley in search of monuments that offer a rich window into material for East of Eden. But that all just six days http://news.yahoo.com/s/ the Southwest’s history. Just northeast of yblog_upshot/20101112/bs_yblog_upsh changed after his death in 1968. Today, town, the Wupatki National Monument Steinbeck is a ‘revered figure’ here. His ot/chinese-workers-build-15-story-hotel- is the largest and most well-preserved in-just-six-days family home, now a restaurant, not only Native American pueblo standing. Dat- displays artifacts linked to the author but ing back some 850 years, the ruins were Antenna servicing needs a head for also bears his name – the Steinbeck once home to the ‘ancestors of today’s House. Nearby, the National Steinbeck heights! http://www.liveleak.com/e/07b_ Hopi, Zuni, and other Pueblo people.’ 1284580365 Center attracts thousands of visitors year- The park’s ‘centerpiece’ is a 100-room round. Literati can wander through pueblo with sandstone walls that cont- America’s Top 10 Healthiest Fast Food themed galleries, listen to excerpts of rolled temperature extremes and flat works, or view clips from films of his Restaurants – Macdonalds is one of them! roofs that funneled rain into clay jars. http://www.health.com/health/article/0,,2 books, such as Of Mice and Men and Farther east, the Walnut Canyon Nat- Tortilla Flat. They can also hang out 0411588_6,00.html ional Monument hints at how the inside Rocinante, the pickup camper in Sinagua people thrived in the high desert. which Steinbeck traveled the country The World’s Most Remote Hotels Descending 185 feet, the Island Trail (http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests- with his poodle Charley. passes by 25 different rooms cut into Contact: Steinbeck.org 35991768) cliffs. The ‘scenic but strenuous’ hike

feels like a pathway into the past. Miami’s Design District Internet sites for planning Contact: Flagstaffarizona.org a family road trip South Beach isn’t the only place to be The solitude of Joshua Tree seen in Miami, said Necee Regis in The Roadtripamerica.com erases the guess- Washington Post. The Design District, a work from long-distance driving with a Go to Yosemite for the crowds, but come new hot spot in the Buena Vista calculator that estimates the cost of gas. to Joshua Tree for the quiet, said Tom neighborhood, has been attracting It takes into account gas prices, your Uhlenbrock in the St. Louis Post- everyone interested in ‘high design, good trip’s length, and ‘your car’s average fuel Dispatch. Though it’s the lesser known food, fashion, and fine art.’ In the past efficiency’ Roadsideamerica.com lets of the two national parks, Joshua Tree is few years, the city’s biggest names in you know which ‘offbeat attractions’ fall just as spectacular. This ‘eerie expanse of restaurants and retail have set up shop in along your route. If you hanker to see cactus-studded sand’ spans six mountain the 10-block radius north of Midtown ‘the world’s largest ball of stamps’ or ‘a ranges, encompasses parts of the Mojave Miami. The first was chef Michael history-of-cheese-making mural’ this site and Colorado deserts, and is home to Schwartz of Michael’s Genuine Food will help plan your detour. hundreds of species of flora and fauna. and Drink, named one of the top 10 Thebathroomdiaries.com locates ‘safe, Joshua Tree’s allure derives from the restaurants outside of Manhattan by The clean restrooms’ en route. With ratings sense of solitude it offers visitors amid its New York Times. Other culinary staples, for 9,000 domestic bathrooms and an nearly 800,000 acres. On an eight-mile such as Pacific Time, were quick to additional 3,000 international toilets, it’s hike to Lost Palms Oasis – a sheltered, follow. Next came the design houses, the world’s largest guide to roadside steep-sided ravine with ‘the park’s clothing retailers, and gallery owners. commodes. Source: Real Simple largest grove of stately fan palms’ – the After a day trolling its streets, the ‘lines only sounds were the ‘rustling of the between food and design, design and art, Swiss statistic palm fronds and the song of a cactus and art and fashion begin to blur.’ It’s wren.’ When I climbed the craggy sides easy to forget South Beach entirely. Foreigners make up over 20% of the of Ryan Mountain for a panoramic view Contact: Miamidesigndistrict.net population of Switzerland – and over of the desert, I shared the summit with 70% of its prison population. The only two other hikers. Week Contact: Nps.gov/jotr/ Page 8 The Newsletter for Travel Professionals Winter 2010 Grizzlies thriving at Yellowstone plate after plate of crunchy, moist pork make side deals, rather than follow set shoulder, chicken stew thick with the rules. Interactions with government Grizzly bear numbers in and around local leafy green, and a manioc flour and officials and police are seen as Yellowstone National Park have hit their bean purée known as tutu de feijao. I opportunities for negotiation, which highest level in decades, driving in- kept room for dessert – farmer’s cheese many times involves money. For us, creased conflicts with humans as some drizzled with a creamy caramel made by it's just how we operate--but for bears push out of deep wilderness and women who spend hours stirring milk Westerners, it's corruption. Balkan into populated areas. and sugar over a crackling fire. I left countries have been shedding these Scientists from a multiagency research sated, and convinced I had just found the habits and working their way toward team said at least 603 grizzlies now roam ‘greatest lunch deal in the Western ‘the liberal, Western model.’ But the the Yellowstone area of Wyoming, Mon- Hemisphere.’ process is slow and awkward, which tana and Idaho. That’s more than three Driving even farther away from Rio, I is why many of us have yet to join the times the number in 1975, when hunting stumbled upon Catas Altas, a ‘sleepy European Union. At least the Turks was outlawed and the species placed on village in the foothills of southeast left us with ‘excellent coffee.’ the endangered list. Brazil.’ The only other visitor appeared More bears also means more run-ins to be a white horse chomping on some with humans, although bear biologists grass. The town square was studded with Around America are quick to point out that visitors are baroque-style churches, whose ‘over-the- more likely to die in a vehicle crash than top ornamentation’ contrasted surpris- What is America's a grizzly mauling. However, two people ingly with the region’s simple beauty. I TRUE national pastime? have been killed by grizzlies in the headed to a nearby waterfall to take a dip. Yellowstone region this year, one near The ultimate American game isn't ‘Neither huge nor stunningly beautiful,’ Cody, Wyo., and another near Cooke baseball and isn't football, said James the waterfall was simply a ‘quaint City, Mont. McManus in The Chronicle of Higher swimming hole’ that transformed the Education. It's poker. Poker has been ‘otherwise still-life mountain landscape integral to ‘our national experience for into a motion picture.’ This was the a couple of centuries now,’ influ- Foreign Travel perfect place to spend an afternoon, and, encing everything from politics to Getting lost among if I didn’t have to get back to the real business and literature. How did an world, I would have stayed much longer. Brazil’s sleepy villages ‘ink-stained, poshly-educated green- Contact: horn’ named Barack Obama ingratiate There’s the Brazil known for golden V-brazil.com/tourism/minas-gerais himself with the ward heelers of the beaches, tropical rain forests, and the Illinois legislature? ‘By playing poker urban centers of Rio and Sao Paulo, said Macedonia – still more with them, of course.’ In addition to Seth Kugel in The New York Times. But Ottoman than European being a superb networking tool, poker there’s also a Brazil that ‘lies beyond the The Balkans are irredeemably Turkish is educational, teaching players how Christ on the hill in Rio, the eco-lodges in culture, said Atanas Vangeli in to assess risks and other people's of the Amazon, and the model-flecked Globus. Five centuries of Ottoman thought processes. At Harvard, Bill beaches of Florianopolis.’ Its name: rule shaped the cuisines and languages Gates says, he learned more in all- Minas Gerais. The South American of Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and night poker games than he did in country’s second-most-populous state is the former Yugoslav republics. business classes. Their experience as also its ‘rural heartland,’ a ‘sloping Ottoman influence is also deeply en- superb poker players helped pres- landscape’ speckled with quiet colonial trenched in our behavior, giving idents Harry Truman, Dwight Eisen- towns. Instead of Rio’s Christ the Macedonians mannerisms ‘that are hower, and Richard Nixon ‘think Redeemer, Minas has baroque churches completely incomprehensible to through every nuclear standoff.’ And with spires ‘visible in all directions.’ Westerners,’ like our tendency to sud- where would we be if JFK hadn't Instead of vast rain forests, Minas has denly spit and shout yazik! (calamity) called Khrushchev's ‘bluff’ in the soothing waterfalls hidden amid fertile to show disappointment. Western Cuban missile crisis? Like the sierras. Best of all, Minas cooks up a cui- Europeans don't know how to American DNA, which is drawn from sine that’s famous across the nation. interpret the ‘subtleties of Oriental an immigrant population ‘dispropor- I was four hours north of Rio when I body language,’ such as how we lean tionally inclined to take chances,’ came upon Tiradentes, a romantic little our weight on one knee to show we poker ‘combines Puritan values – self- town tucked into the São José mountains. are serious. Perhaps most off-putting control, diligence,’ and saving – with It was here that I first encountered Min- to Europeans, though, is the social the ‘open-market cowboy's desire to eiro cuisine. At Tempero da Angela, a order we inherited from the Turks. get very rich very quickly.’ Those no-frills open-air restaurant, I ‘feasted on Balkan peoples prefer to bargain and braided values – so perfectly Page 9 The Newsletter for Travel Professionals Winter 2010 expressed in poker – have made us feet into the Hudson River, part of the percent for various high-tech devices. ‘who we are as a country.’ remaking of Manhattan’s far West Side. ‘Dogs are the best detectors,’ said Lt. With an adjacent area, the pier is part of Gen. Michael Oates. Wired.com Leave it to Beaver a new section of Hudson River Park (www.hudsonriverpark.org) that offers 2nd amendment update New York City’s Bronx River has seen an 18-hole miniature golf course, beach better – and cleaner – days. So 3 years Guns sold by a single Maryland gun volleyball, playground, views of the ago, when a beaver was spotted plying shop have been linked to 2,500 crimes, Statue of Liberty and more. the Bronx’s waters, environmentalists including 86 homicides and 300 nonfatal Pier 25 is the latest attraction on the deemed it a hopeful omen. Beavers were West Side, which already lures visitors shootings, assaults, and robberies. The once central to New York’s economy – a with a bike path along the Hudson River Washington Post pair even grace the city’s official seal. Greenway and the High Line, a park 30 But they were hunted to extinction in the feet up from street level that’s built on an Best democracy money can buy early 1800s, and deforestation and heavy abandoned elevated rail line. Three Republicans — gubernatorial can- pollution kept them from returning. A didates Meg Whitman in California and second beaver has recently been spotted, Space travel’s dark cloud and conservationists believe the river Rick Scott in Florida, and senatorial may be coming back to life. ‘We’ve Space tourism is heating up, but will it candidate Linda Mahon in Connecticut – have collectively spent $243 million of doubled the population of beavers in scorch the planet too? Within three years, their own money on their campaigns. New York City:’ said John Calvelli of New Mexico’s Spaceport America, That’s more money than the U.S. Cham- the Wildlife Conservation Society. which opened its first runway in October, expects to launch two flights a day into ber of Commerce, Karl Rove’s group American Crossroads, and the American Home-schoolers granted asylum suborbital space for citizens and Federation of State, County, and Munic- researchers with a hankering for high- In a highly unusual immigration case, a ipal Employees have pledged to spend – altitude travel. But increased rocket federal judge has granted asylum to a combined. Politico. Com exhaust from such trips could alter the devoutly Christian German couple who climate, a new study warns. The problem want to home-school their five children. is twofold: First, the rockets spew black Hustling Uncle Sam In 2008, Uwe and Hannelore Romeike carbon, which absorbs sunlight and emigrated from Germany, where home- More than $3.47 billion was spent lob- warms the atmosphere; second, the heat- schooling is illegal, settling in Tennessee bying the federal government in 2009, a trapping rocket exhaust is injected 5 percent increase over 2008. ‘Lobbying with their children. With the help of a directly into the stratosphere, where it appears recession-proof,’ said Sheila Virginia-based home-schooling advocacy lingers for years, accumulating with each Krumholz, the executive director of the organization, they sought formal asylum additional space trip. The study estimates in the U.S., arguing that German penal- Center for Responsive Politics, a watch- that the emissions produced by 1,000 ties for home-schooling, which range dog group. The Hill. suborbital flights a year – the likely from heavy fines to the forcible separ- traffic in 2020 – would produce a black ation of children from their parents, Research Priorities cloud that could alter wind patterns, raise amount to persecution. A federal judge temperatures at the poles, and accelerate The US spends $5.6 billion a year on agreed. ‘It was a good learning experi- the melting of sea ice. More research is cancer research, $1 billion for heart- ence,’ Uwe Romeike said. needed, but the study clearly identifies a disease research, and just $500 million

potential problem for the industry, on Alzheimer’s research – even though Americans shun agriculture jobs Martin Ross, a researcher at the Aero- Alzheimer’s affects one in three people over 80. Time In California, where one of every eight space Corporation and the study’s author, people is unemployed, U.S. workers tells Nature News. ‘There are funda- don’t want agricultural jobs commonly mental limits to how much material Soda sales lose sparkle filled by immigrants, Analysis of data for human beings can put into orbit without A national campaign to improve nut- a farm worker program shows U.S. having a significant impact.’ rition in schools has made a sharp dent in workers don’t even apply for jobs to soft-drink sales by Coca-cola, Pepsi and harvest fruits and vegetables, even when TSA – take notice! other beverage companies. Soft-drink referred by unemployment offices. Only The U.S. military has found that the most sales to schools have fallen 72 percent 233 people applied for 1,160 farm jobs in effective way to detect improvised since the 2004-5 school year, an industry California. (Associated Press) explosives in Afghanistan, is to use report found. The Wall Street Journal Westside attraction in New York bomb-sniffing dogs. The success rate of New York’s new Pier 25 stretches 1,000 dogs is 80 percent, compared with 50

Page 10 The Newsletter for Travel Professionals Winter 2010 How would Jesus stretch? Over-qualified? Me? of $18.6 million in all, the IRS says. Unlike need-based programs such as The Southern Baptist Theological Sem- More than 6,000 janitors and 8,000 welfare, unemployment benefits are pay- inary is warning Christians against prac- waiters and waitresses earned Ph.D.s or able to anyone suffering an insured loss, ticing yoga. Seminary president Albert other doctorates before settling on their regardless of income. Bloomberg.com Mohler called the current US fascination current jobs. Overall, 17 million Amer- with the ancient Eastern mind-body icans who have completed college are practice ‘a symptom of our postmodern employed in jobs that do not require a The world is going gray spiritual confusion,’ saying ‘Yoga begins bachelor’s degree. The Chronicle of As a result of low birth rates and the and ends with an understanding of the Higher Education aging of the baby boom, the global human body that is, to say the least, at population of children under 5 will actu- odds with the Christian understanding.’ High-rollers roll away ally drop by 49 million by 2050, while the population of people over 60 will The recession has left Las Vegas in its NYPD feeling frisky grow by 1.2 billion. deepest slump since its casino industry Foreign Policy Every year, police in major US cities was founded by organized crime in the stop and question more than a million 1940s, with gambling revenues dropping people, frisking many of them. A recent and unemployment rising to 14.7 percent. It’s a Boy’s World study found that in New York City, 51 ‘The big players, the ones who gamble In recent decades, more than 100 million percent of those stopped were black, 32 the big money, I’m not sure they have it female fetuses have been aborted in percent were Hispanic, and 11 percent any more,’ said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar China, India, and other Asian nations were white. Associated Press Goodman, an admitted former Mob with a historical preference for male lawyer. The New York Times offspring. The Economist. Working thru flu Nearly half of all US workers do not Exploiting alumni Tiger, tiger, burning dim receive paid sick days, making it unlikely Credit card companies last year paid $83 The tiger population of Asia has they’ll stay home if they feel early million to colleges and alumni groups to plummeted from 100,000 tigers in 1990 symptoms of the flu. The Boston Globe. market cards to students and graduates. to just 3,200, according to the UN.

In exchange for their payments, the card Tigers are illegally hunted for their skins Happiness is Western companies gain access to the names, and for body parts used in traditional Eight of the top 10 cities in a survey of addresses and phone numbers of millions medicine. Associated Press Americans’ satisfaction with their lives of potential customers. Chicago Tribune and optimism for the future are in Western states, with Boulder, Colo., Quotations coming in first. Huntington, W.Va., was The White Minority ‘The best car safety device is a rearview last. Gallup. About 48 percent of the children now mirror with a cop in it.’ Dudley Moore

born in the US are nonwhite and dem- ‘If I were two-faced, would I be wearing Urban Deodorant ographers say 2010 could be the ‘tipping this one?’ Abraham Lincoln To reduce the smell of stale booze, vomit, point’ when the number of babies born to urine and garbage during Mardi Gras, a Hispanics, blacks and Asians collectively ‘Old age is like climbing a mountain. New Orleans sanitation company now surpasses that of babies born to whites. The higher you get, the more tired and sprays Bourbon Street with a solution of Associated Press breathless you become, but your view lemon fragrance and enzymes called becomes more extensive.’ Ingmar ‘Superfresh.’ ‘They keep it as clean as Anti-social businesses Bergman. Disney World,’ one bar owner said. ‘It’s Companies that bar employees from helped out business tremendously.’ USA ‘If you hate a person, you hate something using social networks such as Facebook Today. in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t are 1.5 percent more productive than part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us.’ firms that don’t, says research firm ‘Hi, Mom ‘n’ Dad, I’m back!’ Hermann Hesse Nucleus Research. The Economist. With the job market tough to crack, 85 ‘The most exhausting thing in life is percent of recently surveyed college Millionaires on the dole being insincere.’ Anne Morrow seniors said they planned to move back Lindbergh In 2008, nearly 3,000 households rep- home with their parents after graduation. orting income of $1 million or more CNNmoney.com claimed unemployment benefits – a total Page 11 The Newsletter for Travel Professionals Winter 2010 ‘The heart of a fool is his mouth, but the to more emphasis on physical fitness and The Smithsonian – A mouth of a wise man is his heart.’ dressing well, men remain physically Nation’s Treasure Trove Benjamin Franklin attractive to women up to age 55 – at least a decade longer than in the past. ‘True terror is to wake up one morning CHARLES DICKENS SHOULD have and discover that your high school class GENDER EQUALITY, after Nevada plotted the story behind the founding of is running the country.’ Kurt Vonnegut changed language in its prostitution laws America’s Smithsonian Institution, the to allow for male prostitution. story of a wronged man who battles ‘The art of taxation consists in so against the circumstances of his birth and plucking the goose as to obtain the It’s a Bad time for … ultimately achieves honor and lasting largest possible amount of feathers with recognition. the smallest possible amount of hissing.’ VOLVO, which tested a new pedestrian- It’s the story of James Smithson who J.B. Colbert, Finance Minister to French avoidance system in front of an audience once reflected, ‘The best blood of Eng- King Louis XIV. of journalists in Italy, only to see its car land flows in my veins; on my father’s run over three test dummies. side I am a Northumberland, on my ‘In order to succeed, your desire for mother’s I am related to Kings, but this success should be greater than your fear CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, after seven avails me not. My name shall live in the of failure.’ Bill Cosby retired US and British air force officers memory of man when the titles of the came forward to say they’d witnessed ‘We are all born ignorant, but one must Northumberlands and Percys are extinct UFOs investigating, and sometimes work hard to remain stupid.’ Benjamin and forgotten.’ tampering with, nuclear-weapons sites. Franklin The world does remember Smithson, ‘There’s a strong interest in our missiles not because of who his parents were, but Keep your friendships in good repair. by these objects, wherever they come because of his extraordinary gift to the Samuel Johnson. from,’ said former US Air Force Capt. United States – the Smithsonian Instit- Robert Salas. ution, an establishment which Smithson ‘By all means marry. If you get a good decreed would be ‘dedicated to the wife, you will be happy. If you get a bad CALIFORNIA WELFARE recipients, after increase and diffusion of knowledge wife, you can be a philosopher.’ Socrates. Gov. Arnold Schwarznegger banned the among men.’ use of state-issued debit cards at psychics, Today the Smithsonian is not only a It’s a Good time for … medical marijuana shops, bingo parlors, collection of the greatest achievements in tattoo parlors and cruise lines, all of science, art, aviation and other fields, but which have shown up as businesses PAMPERED PETS, after a $4.4 million pet it has also engendered an assortment of where the recipients are spending their hotel opened in Fort Worth. The Spa related support material ranging from benefits. Smithsonian Magazine and Air-Space Paws Hotel features custom upholstered beds, satin blankets, a wellness center, TEMPTING FATE, after ship cabins for a Smithsonian (magazine) to musical tapes and 18-inch flat-screen TVs. Rooms rent 100-year anniversary cruise that will and records, special books, a catalog for up to $200 a night. follow the Titanic’s path nearly sold out. featuring an array of gifts that would

The cruise will depart April 8, 2012. have awed Aladdin, and a series of educ- SENDING A TEXT at 29,035 feet, after ational-adventure tours guaranteed to Ncell, a Nepali telecom, constructed a EVERYONE WHO BOUGHT one of those expand anyone’s grasp of history, culture new 3G facility on Mount Everest, 2012 books, after new research found an and geography. allowing climbers of the world’s tallest error in the conversion of Mayan to To more fully appreciate the Smith- mountain to make cell calls, send videos, modern calendars, and that the ‘end of sonian, it helps to know about the man and access the internet on the way to the days’ predicted by the Mayan calendar is who made it all possible. James top. not Dec. 21, 2012, but may be 50 to 100 Smithson was born in 1766, the illeg-

years later. itimate son of Hugh Smithson, who TEXANS, after Men’s Health magazine became the esteemed First Duke of rated American cities according to how Northumberland. His mother was Eliz- much sex takes place in them, and 7 of Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely abeth Macie, a widow of substantial the top 15 cities were in Texas, including exercised for the good of its victims may wealth and stature in English society, No. 1 Austin. The magazine took into be the most oppressive. Those who tor- whose idyllic life was upended when she account condom sales, birth rates, sex- ment us for our own good will torment found out she was carrying Smithson’s toy sales and STD rates. us without end, for they do it with the child. She moved to Paris where she SILVER FOXES, after a survey by a approval of their own conscience.” gave birth to a boy whom she named British department store showed that due C.S. Lewis James Louis Macie. (When he was 36

Page 12 The Newsletter for Travel Professionals Winter 2010 years old the Crown granted him he considered war-ravaged Europe too located in the National Mall between the permission to use his father’s surname, unstable for an institution such as he Washington Monument and the Capitol Smithson.) envisioned. Others say his interest in and together they constitute a collection In 1774 Elizabeth petitioned the America was stirred by his friendship so vast that probably no one has seen British Crown to permit James, then nine, with Benjamin Franklin and other Amer- everything the Smithsonian has to offer. to become a naturalized citizen. The ican members of the Royal Society. This It has been called ‘the attic of the nation,’ request was granted, but the natural- faction contends that Smithson saw but Margo North of Smithsonian ization document contained an unusual America as a land of democratic oppor- Magazine is one who opposes that proviso. In part it read, ‘That the said . . . tunity in contrast to Europe where nickname. She says she prefers a writer’s James Louis shall not be hereby enabled aristocratic privileges took preference definition: ‘It’s not an attic collection, it’s to be of the Privy Council or a member over innate ability. a treasure trove of the world.’ of either House of Parliament or to ‘take When his nephew died in 1835, All of these tours, all the other any office or place of trust either civil or Smithson’s bequest of approximately programs, the lectures, the magazines military or to have any grant of lands, 100,000 pounds was offered to the Uni- and catalogs all are part of the grandeur tenements or hereditaments, any inherit- ted States but this country did not of the Smithsonian which fulfills the able property from the Crown to him or immediately welcome the gift. Oppos- vision of James Louis Smithson, a man any person or persons in trust for him .... ition came from such stalwarts as Sen. figuratively without a country who came Historians have speculated that John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, and to believe, as he himself declared, ‘The someone who had great influence with may have been influenced by bitter man of science is of no country, the the Crown made sure that James would feelings that still lingered from the war of world is his country, and all mankind his never be able to hold a responsible post 1812 and even the Revolution. Support countrymen.’ in the government, military or other posts for accepting Smithson’s gift arose from Scott E. Dial is the features writer open to sons of nobility. Some say that former President John Quincy Adams. for Destinations. the Duke of Northumberland himself He and his faction finally prevailed and feared that James might overshadow the 26 years after Smithson’s death, Pres- Food & Drink status of his legitimate son, or even ident James K. Polk signed a bill auth- become a rival to himself. orizing the establishment of the Smith- Dining in Charleston, S.C. Barred from the traditional posts sonian. open to most young men of noble birth, The first Smithsonian Institution Po Pigs Bo-B-Q Restaurant James turned his attention to science. He Building, fondly known as the Castle, Charleston has long been a draw for its explored virtually every phase of science was completed in 1855. Today the Castle ‘graceful, grand homes and hauntingly and made considerable contributions to houses a visitor’s information center, and beautiful gardens,’ said Jessica Garrison its advancement. He was so well re- James Smithson’s tomb, brought to in the Los Angeles Times. More recently spected in scientific circles that he Washington from Genoa with much it's also become a regional hot spot for became the youngest person admitted to pomp and circumstance, while a myriad food, as the ‘rich and varied cuisine of the the prestigious Royal Society of London. of other buildings have mushroomed region undergoes a renaissance propelled Founded in 1662, the Royal Society was near it. Opposite the Castle stands the by an interest in locally grown ingredi- the oldest and most esteemed scientific Arts and Industries Building housing the ents.’ Po Pigs is one example of a place group to which English ‘philosophers’ National Museum of American History taking traditional Southern fare to unlikely and men with interests in science could where visitors are greeted by the flag that heights. At first glance, this roadside joint aspire. inspired Francis Scott Key to write the next to a gas station on an empty stretch James traveled extensively through Star-Spangled Banner. Also on display of highway might seem unpromising. Europe and in 1827 settled in Genoa, are Gen. George Washington’s Contin- Take a closer look, though, and you'll dis- Italy. There he drew up a will in which ental Army tent and other military cover the reasons why locals flock to this he bequeathed the bulk of his estate to paraphernalia that traces the country’s place. Dishes that embody the region are his nephew and any heirs the nephew history through its most dramatic mil- featured – ‘chicken stew, pork hash, red might have. Then he added a proviso that itary episodes. rice, lima beans, and yes, of course, hush stipulated in case his nephew died child- A short walk away lies the National puppies.’ The fried chicken was ‘so less (as he did), the money should go to Air and Space Museum in which the perfectly prepared, the skin so crispy and the United States to found an institution history of aviation is delineated in air- salty, the meat so tender.’ It's all served bearing Smithson’s name. Thereby he craft that range from the Wright buffet-style, so be careful to leave room gave the greatest part of his wealth to a Brothers’ Flyer or the Spirit of St. Louis on your tray for the pecan pie, caramel country he had never seen. to John Glenn’s space capsule and the zebra cake, or banana pudding. 2410 Speculation about the bequest still latest space craft. Highway 174, Edisto Island, (843) 869- stirs debates among scholars. Some say Altogether there are nine museums 9003

Page 13 The Newsletter for Travel Professionals Winter 2010 McCrady's The food scene in Char- Venice Beach's bustle from Latin America, Scandinavia, Asia, leston has become so good,that ‘you and the Middle East. 920 E. Lake St.; Abbot Kinney Boulevard has long could stay for a week and still not (612)872-4041; idtownglobalmarket.org drawn shoppers to California's Venice discover all the great meals,’ said Midtown Global Market Beach, said Keith Mulvihill in The Warner McGowin in Southernliving. New York Times. ‘High- and low-end com. That's partly due to the top-notch Eating in Faulkner’s hometown stores mix easily’ on the sun-filled chefs who have migrated to the city. strip. Though ‘the street's spark never Oxford, Miss., is not only the longtime McCrady's Sean Brock, for instance, seems to dim,’ its appearance does home of novelist William Faulkner, said left Nashville for Charleston in 2006 and has since ‘established himself as constantly change, as new stores and Nathalie Jordi in BonAppetit.com. It’s one of the most creative chefs in restaurants keep popping up. The past also one of the South’s top dining dest- year, in particular, has brought a inations. Rowan Oak, an 1840s Greek town--or anywhere.’ Brock's menus ‘fresh crop of worth-a-visit places.’ Revival mansion where Faulkner once emphasize fresh local foods, many of Feeling like a ‘1970s surfer pad,’ the lived, is among the city’s top tourist which come from a farm that he manages for the restaurant. Choice clothing store Aviator Nation attractions. Here are the best places to examples of his ‘inventive prepar- ‘channels old-school’ Venice Beach, savor the local cuisine. while Mona Moore sells designer Big Bad Breakfast John Currence is the ation’’ meltingly tender braised short duds, such as gladiator-style peep-toe reigning James Beard Award winner for ribs that he cooks using the trendy boots by Ann Demeulemeester. Best Chef: South. Among the New sous vide technique, in which the meat is ‘sealed in plastic then cooked at low Lemonade, a cheery cafe decorated in Southern specialties he serves up are temps in a warm water bath.’ 2 Unity green and yellow, is a ‘punchy take on Coca-Cola-brined fried chicken and a grade-school cafeteria,’ serving up home-cured Tabasco bacon. 719 Alley, (843) 577-0025 ginger-peach lemonade and N. Lamar Blvd., (662) 236-2666

watermelon-radish salads. On the first Big Bad Breakfast II Social Restaurant + Wine Bar Friday of every month, stores stay Ajax Diner ‘Oxford’s best plate lunch: Brad Ball admits that his ‘timing was mixed’ when he opened this place in open until 10 p.m., bands play free ‘Try the cheese-stuffed meatloaf, egg 2007, said Brys Stephens in Charles- shows, and Abbot Kinney turns into a rolls filled with red beans and rice, and ‘real street party.’ butter beans and turnip greens stewed in ton City Paper. The national wine bar ‘scandalous quantities of bacon and craze hadn't quite made it to Charles- Contact: Abbotkinneyonline.com sugar. ‘Then sample a Bloody Mary ton, and the food served at Social simply wasn't up to snuff. But these One-stop shopping and dining garnished with pickled okra. 118 days ‘Social is firing on all cylinders’ Courthouse Square, (662) 232-8880 At most shopping centers, dining options Taylor Grocery & Restaurant The sign – and benefiting from the ministra- are bland – think of your average food on kudzu-lined Old Taylor Road reads tions of newly hired chef Doug Svec. court, said Andrew Knowlton in Bon ‘Eat or we both starve.’ Among the Playful modern-American dishes are Appetit.com. But new retail-restaurant ‘sublime’ offerings are cornmeal-coated fused with ‘Asian and European flav- hybrids prove that ‘browsing need not be catfish, buttery hush puppies, and peach ors and French technique, all wrapped done on an empty stomach.’ up in the tradition of a Spanish tapas cobbler. It’s BYOB, and there’s often Bolsa Dallas. The ‘best new restaurant’ live music. 4 County Road 338, Taylor; bar.’ The salad of local heirloom tom- at the Oak Cliff farmers’ market, this (662) 236-1716 ato – with fennel panzanella, house café sells wine and local fare. ‘After ricotta, and tomato gelée – is a ‘well- shopping, opt for a Lone Star beer on tap Lesser-known Louisiana seasoned and thoughtful celebration’ and Jimmy’s sausage flat-bread:’ 614 W. of the main ingredient. A pan-roasted Davis St.; (214) 367-9367; Get a taste of a different Louisiana in local wahoo is ‘skillfully seared until Bolsadallas.com Lafayette, said Margie Goldsmith in barely translucent in the center,’ and Cane Rosso San Francisco. The Ferry National Geographic Traveler. Situated served in a lobster broth with crispy Building Marketplace is home to Sur La about 50 miles west of Baton Rouge, yucca pieces, melon, and fresh herbs. Table, Culinaire antiques, and Miette Lafayette is neither as busy as that crow- While the wine list ‘remains one of pastry shop, along with this quick-serve ded capital nor as touristy as New the most accessible and interesting in rotisserie and sandwich shop from chefs Orleans. But it’s the kind of town where town,’ Svec is finally providing the Daniel Patterson and Lauren Kiino. 1 you can hear ‘knee-slappin’ music from ‘kind of ingredient-focused cooking’ Ferry Building, the Embarcadero, (415) morning till night, all year long.’ Start that could make Social equally known 391-7599;Canerossosf. com the day at the ‘get-up-and-dance’ zydeco for its food. 188 E. Bay St., (843) 577- Midtown Global Market Minneapolis. breakfast at Café Des Amis, then set off 5665 The 40 independent shops at this ‘United to explore ‘one of the most culturally Nations of markets’ sell food and crafts unique cities in the South.’ Stop at

Page 14 The Newsletter for Travel Professionals Winter 2010 Vermilionville, a Cajun/Creole heritage Exploring the Mississippi Lodging: B&Bs and motels are located park that offers live music and cooking River Valley in 24 communities along the route, for classes, where you can learn to make example, Meyer’s Hilltop Farm B&B, ‘local temptations’ such as the pow- The upper-middle stretch of the Great Hermann. Comfortable rooms on 75 dered-sugar pastries known as beignets. River Road connects a bounty of family- acres, from $80; www.meyerhilltopfarm. You can catch a glimpse of an alligator friendly roadside attractions. Learn river com. Dining: Restaurants can be found in in a swamp at the University of Louis- lore at the Riverside Museum in La 30 communities along the route, for iana at Lafayette, then finish the visit Crosse. Envy the splendor of Victorian example, Augusta Brewing Company, downtown at McGee’s, dining on craw- America at Villa Louis, the former estate Augusta. Bratwurst and sauerkraut for fish étouffé, gumbo, and, yes, gator. of one of Wisconsin’s richest families. lunch; chicken dishes for dinner, www. Contact: Lafayettetravel.com Discover an ancient Indian culture at augustabrewing.com. Best link: Effigy Mounds National Monument, www.mostateparks.com/katytrail. Farm-to-table a mile high where you can walk among 4,000-year- old effigies of birds and bears. Hike the INDIANA ‘Denver chefs face special challenges, native-prairie trail in Nelson Dewey An old Spa Town Rejuvenates Itself cooking a mile above sea level;’ said Jay State Park. Ride in a 1931 mine car at the Cheshes in The New York Times. At an Mining Museum in Platteville. Tour the French Lick, blessed with natural sulphur altitude that high, meat and seafood dry Chicago Athenaeum Museum of springs, was a hedonistic mid-20th- out faster, baking methods need adj- Architecture and Design in Galena. Most century resort town, frequented by Chi- usting, and extreme winters and sum- of the town is within a National Historic cago gangsters and regular folk alike. mers create tough conditions for produce District. After decades of decline, the resort and livestock. Despite all that adversity, • LOGISTICS: This 135-mile stretch of properties reopened – consolidated, ren- the city’s restaurants have fallen in with the Great River Road runs from La ovated, and more extravagant than ever. the ‘farm-to-table ethos already consum- Crosse, Wis., to Galena, III. Lodging: Today the resort encompasses the French ing so many American cities. ‘These The Hancock House B&B Inn, Dubuque. Lick Springs Hotel and, a mile away, the spots are some of the best dedicated to Hilltop Victorian mansion overlooking West Baden Springs Hotel. ‘This is a ‘celebrating Colorado’s farmers, ran- the city, from $80. Dining: Vinny resort that has done everything right,’ chers, cheesemakers, and foragers:’ Vanucchi’s Little Italy, Galena. says a recent visitor from Indianapolis. • Fruition This casual place ‘doesn’t Homemade Italian cuisine in the old Gamble at the casino. Soak in the Pluto look like much’ but chef Alex Seidel downtown. Best link: mineral spring bath. Get a facial at the makes fresh produce and ingredients www ,experiencemississippiriver.com. spa. Play golf on PGA championship such as beef from nearby Nebraska courses. Feel pampered in an opulent ‘mesh beautifully.’ The eggs and pork MISSOURI setting. • LOGISTICS: French Lick is a belly come from local farms. 1313 E. Pedal the Katy Trail 2½-hour drive southeast of Indianapolis. Sixth Ave., (303) 831-1962 The nation’s longest developed rails-to- Lodging: French Lick Springs Hotel. 443 • Root Down This gas station-turned-top trails project, intended for hikers and restored guest rooms and suites and 24- city eatery boasts a ‘happy hour scene cyclists, follows the Missouri River hour casino, from $129. West Baden that seems to rage every night: ‘The through some of the state’s most Springs Hotel. Six floors with a total of small-plate fare, including hoisin duck picturesque countryside. Pedal west from 243 luxury rooms rise around a domed sliders and plump mussels with red curry St. Charles along the mostly flat former atrium, from $199; www.frenchlick.com. sauce, features herbs grown in the railbed, tunneling through forest canopy Dining: At French Lick Springs Hotel: planters that surround the restaurant. or along farm fields or scenic bluffs. Stop The Grand Colonnade Restaurant, buffet 1600 W. 33rd Ave., (303) 993-4200 in the German community of Hermann, with rotisserie and seafood specialties. At • The Squeaky Bean ‘Homegrown prod- which has ten wineries, as well as B&Bs West Baden Springs Hotel: Sinclair’s uce’ accents the quirky menu, whose fare and restaurants. Use the mileage chart at Restaurant. Pricey but satisfying meat includes polenta topped with morel the state park website to plan a trip and seafood dishes. Best link: mushrooms and ‘crispy ‘shake ‘n’ bake’ lasting a day or two or a whole week. www.frenchlick.com. sweetbreads with poached pineapple and ‘The towns are at convenient intervals,’ miniature basil:’ 3301Tejon St., (303) says writer Mel White, who has biked PENNSYLVANIA 284-0053 much of the trail. ‘That makes a Peaceful Land of the Plain People

weekend ride possible without having to Going local around Lancaster and Leb- rough it.’ • LOGISTICS:The Katy Trail Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the anon means going Amish: These contig- runs 225 miles west from St. Charles, memory as the wish to forget it.” Michel uous counties in southern Pennsylvania Missouri (outside St. Louis) to Clinton. de Montaigne tout one of the world’s largest Amish The entire route is within a state park. populations. Begin with a tour of the Page 15 The Newsletter for Travel Professionals Winter 2010 countryside in an Amish-style buggy, by Frank Stella and Alexander Calder. olobium, also known as the whistling- offered by a number of Amish drivers, ‘Washington’s collector-patrons wanted thorn tree. When elephants start yanking includes farm chores; from $79. Then to remind the capital that life (certainly limbs off these trees, the ants swarm into visit area markets, such as New Holl- political life) is short, but art endures,’ the animals’ tender trunks and bite and and’s hometown farmers market, for says D.C. art collector Jean Cohen, editor sting – in effect, defending the tree. fresh local produce, pies, quilts, and of Where Washington magazine. University of Florida biologist Todd crafts. Pop by the Amish Farm and • LOGISTICS: The museums lie in D.C.’s Palmer has shown that elephants actively House for a glimpse into the lifestyle of Northwest quadrant. Lodging: Mansion avoid ant-infested branches; they likely the ‘Plain People,’ including a one-room on O Street. One-of-a-kind inn/museum detect the ants’ presence by their acrid schoolhouse. Stop in Lancaster’s Quilt with artifacts-filled rooms, from $350; odor. The ants’ impact is widespread. and Textile Museum to view a prime www.omansion.com. Dining: 1789 Rest- Satellite images have revealed that in collection of Amish quilts. Attend a local aurant. American cuisine in a Federalist clay soil, where ant-rich whistling thorn ‘mud sale,’ an outdoor auction market at residence decorated with antiques, period can grow, forest predominates, but in which furniture, livestock, even buggies artworks; www.1789restaurant.com. sandy soil, trees are eaten and savanna are sold. Then tuck into simple Amish Best link: www.washington.org. prevails, says Palmer’s colleague Jacob fare at Stoltzfus Farm Restaurant. Goheen. ‘These little tiny ants are • LOGISTICS: Lancaster and Lebanon How to shake that thing making a difference we can see from Counties lie 70 miles west of Philadel- outer space.’ For men, there’s a right and a wrong way phia. Lodging: Smucker’s Farm Guest dance – at least if the aim is to impress House. Amish-country farm run the trad- Champagne cheer - A perfect pour itional way. www.padutchcountry.com/ women, scientists say. Researchers in England scanned the dance movements If you like Dom Perignon, then treat it member-pages/Smuckers-Farm-Guest- of male volunteers and converted them like Budweiser, says Scientific American. House.asp. into computer-generated cartoons, or Carbon dioxide delivers a crucial Dining: Stoltzfus Farm Restaurant. avatars. Then women were asked to rate element of the Champagne experience – Family-style communal meals (candied sweet potatoes, homemade sausage, the figures’ dancing. Female viewers providing fizz, intensifying aroma, and pumpkin rolls) in an Amish farm house; consistently rated the men as good dan- sharpening the drink’s bite. But for every cers if there were major motions of the carbon dioxide molecule trapped in a www.stoltzfusmeats.com. Best link: www. head, neck, and torso timed to the music tasty bubble, four escape into the air, a padutchcountry.com. – ‘someone who is twisting, bending, team of French researchers has found.

moving, nodding,’ evolutionary psycho- What’s more, pouring Champagne into a

logist Nick Neave tells BBC.com. ‘It’s all glass accelerates the process by WASHINGTON, D.C. about big movements and variation.’ Not increasing surface area and turbulence. The Capital’s Treasure Houses so hot: twitchy moves in which the In order to reduce CO2 loss, food Ask Washingtonians where to see home- dancer does one thing over and over – chemists at France’s University of Reims grown modern art, and they’ll say the also known as ‘Dad dancing.’ For tested pouring methods: First the tradi- Corcoran, the Phillips, and the Kreeger – women, researchers concluded, dancing tional way, in which Champagne is naming just three of the notable small serves as an analog of the courtship poured straight into a vertical glass, and museums that grace the capital. Start at rituals common to the animal kingdom, then the beer-drinker’s method, which the Corcoran, one of the oldest private art where males preen, strut, display colors, entails pouring into a glass held at an museums in the U.S., founded in 1869 or engage in stylized battles to impress angle, so that the liquid slides down the by William W. Corcoran ‘for the females. Men who display core strength, side. Using infrared thermography to purpose,’ he said, ‘of encouraging physical vigor, and confidence in their map escaping carbon dioxide, the American genius.’ American art abounds, dancing are signaling women that they researchers concluded that a beer-style along with works by Picasso and other are fit and have good genes. pour preserves more bubbles. Given the international greats. The jewel-like high stakes, notes Gérard Liger-Belair Phillips Collection of contemporary art, Of ants, elephants, and trees and his French colleagues, ‘would not it housed in founder Duncan Phillips’ be pertinent to revisit the way mansion, showcases works by American Elephants love to eat trees; a herd can Champagne should be served?’ quickly ravage a small forest. Indeed, masters like Georgia O’Keeffe – and headliner Impressionist art such as ecologists have long wondered what keeps elephants from converting the IATM The Americas Courier is pub- Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s ‘Luncheon of lished for the sole use of its members. the Boating Party.’ End up at the Philip African landscape into pure savanna. Johnson-designed Kreeger Museum to The answer, a new study has found, is IATM The Americas, 9500 Rainier Ave view the personal collection of David ants. Ants inhabit a specific tree species S #603, Seattle, WA 98118. and Carmen Kreeger, including works that’s common in Africa: Acacia drepan- Page 16 The Newsletter for Travel Professionals Winter 2010