Wichita Eagle: Travel

Fascinating and feisty Bucharest: Romania’s capital rises from its past

Laurie Hertzel — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:35 CST

BUCHAREST, Romania — On Sunday morning in Bucharest, I knew just what I wanted to do: I wanted to go to church. I also wanted to go down to the Old City, visit a few museums and buy a warm pretzel from a sidewalk stand. But mostly I wanted to go to church.

Bucharest is studded with nearly 300 exquisite churches, some dating to the 1500s. During Communist times, Nicolae Ceausescu tore some of them down, and he hid others inside mammoth apartment blocks, but Romania has always been a religious country and even he knew he couldn’t obliterate them.

My plan was to find St. Nicholas, a Russian Orthodox church with seven onion domes, which I had happened upon a few nights before in the rain. I had peered inside and watched a dark-clad figure light candles and was captivated by the gold and icons and extravagant, over-the-top beauty.

Off-the-beaten path in Maui

Carol Pucci — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:53 CST

MAUI, Hawaii — Sample the cream puffs at a historic Japanese bakery.

Test your driving skills on a one-lane stretch of mountain road that weaves along coastal cliffs.

Buy a pineapple at a roadside stand. Watch the owner slice it with his machete. Then eat it as the juice drips down your chin.

Milwaukee’s indoor ‘mountain’: Weatherproof biking complex tests your fortitude

Julie Deardorff — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:53 CST

MILWAUKEE — If you can ride a two-wheeler, you’re qualified to hit the timber and rock “trails” at Ray’s Indoor Mountain Bike Park in Milwaukee. But don’t be fooled: Ray’s isn’t your average family entertainment venue.

Located inside a shuttered 110,000-square-foot Menard’s home-improvement store, Ray’s does not feature inflatable slides, kid-friendly padded walls, video games or ball pits. Instead, as the company stresses, the indoor mountain bike playground is built of wood, nails and concrete, and it involves some risk. And that’s exactly why this plywood-scented bike park is so much fun.

Though I haven’t yet hit the outdoor mountain bike trails, I showed up at Ray’s on a recent weekend with three other newbies: My two boys, ages 7 and 5, and my 14-year-old niece. The park is designed primarily for adult mountain biking (and, secondarily, BMX) enthusiasts, but there’s plenty for adventurous children. Just make sure that they aren’t on training wheels or striders and that those younger than 8 are accompanied by an adult at all times.

A hodad’s tale: 20 years at Pipeline

Gary A. Warner — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:53 CST

My name is Gary Warner and I am a hodad.

For those who aren’t familiar with archaic surfer slanger, a hodad originally was the kind of Southern California guy who greased his hair and wore white T-shirts and cared more about working on his hotrods than hanging 10 at the beach.

That’s not me. I grew up in the blow-dry era and drove a yellow Ford Pinto in high school.

Tour historic Fort Vancouver by lantern light

Brian J. Cantwell — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:20 CST

It was a December night, around the mid-1800s from the look of it, in a cozy candlelit parlor. I was eavesdropping on a teatime conversation between James Douglas, Fort Vancouver’s bow-tied chief trader, and Narcissa Whitman, another famed pioneer of the era. The topic: “country marriages.”

That was the euphemism of the day for pairings between local Native American women and the fort’s male employees, brought to the edge of a wild continent on contract with the fur-trading Hudson’s Bay Co.

These “marriages” — made without chapel or pastor — often lasted only as long as the man’s posting at the fort, after which he might return to his original wife and family, closer to the Atlantic.

Iowa polishes its Frank Lloyd Wright gem

Josh Noel — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:06 CST

MASON CITY, Iowa — This town of 28,000 knew it had something special in the world’s last standing Frank Lloyd Wright-designed hotel, but it also had a problem. The hotel was a decrepit shell.

For years no one quite knew what to do with the building that had slid slowly into decline since its heralded opening in 1910: from a hotel to stores and offices to apartments and, finally, by the 1970s, a shuttered mess.

There was talk of knocking it down. There was a suggestion — and failed attempt — to sell it on eBay. Finally, a group of locals created a nonprofit group and pledged to restore the building to his early glory. The city sold it to them for $1 and bid them luck.

A green, clean recycling machine

The Washington Post — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:42 CST

Let’s take a moment to consider the afterlife of hotel bathroom amenities.

Some soaps and toiletries are adopted by guests, transported in cosmetics bags and dopp kits to new sink countertops and shower caddies. Most, however, are hoisted by housekeeping into trash receptacles, a one-way ticket to the landfill.

But then there’s a third way, a winding journey slick with suds and good intentions.

At Tanque Verde Ranch in Arizona, a longtime horse lover regains his galloping stride

Jim Buchta — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:41 CST

TUCSON, Ariz. — Gene Autry I wasn’t. Barely an hour into an all-day trail ride, my hiking boots felt like ovens and my baseball cap barely shaded my face.

It was no better for my horse, Cutter. The low Arizona sun lit his red mane like flames. We were climbing, and Cutter struggled to get his footing on the rocky, steep trail. Sweat trickled down his shoulders as a dozen wannabe cowboys plodded along nose-to-tail behind a real cowboy named Joe.

I could taste the desert. I was last in line, caught in sporadic clouds of dry, chalky dust on the trails of the Tanque Verde Ranch. Miles beyond the ranch’s squat pink casitas and rusty-metal-roofed barns, I spied the modern sprawl of Tucson, a green oasis fed by the rainwater and snowmelt of the Catalina and Rincon ranges.

Details: Clean the World, Orlando, Fla.

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:27 CST

WHERE TO STAY

More than 150 Florida hotels partner with Clean the World, including 32 in Orlando. For a list, see cleantheworld.org/participating-hotels.asp#.

Filling the Empty Spaces in Guangzhou, China

Necee Regis — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:01 CST

We pile into the minivan: three adults and four children under the age of 8. We squeeze in a jogging stroller, three Razor scooters and seven bottles of ice water, and we’re off.

I’ve just arrived in Guangzhou, China’s third-largest city, and my niece, Jenny, and her family are eager to show me the sights. It’s my first trip to China, and I’m their first visitor in the two years since they moved here from Washington for my nephew-in-law’s State Department job. No matter that it’s dusk.

My nephew-in-law, Brian O’Connor, parks in a crowded outdoor shopping district — think of New York’s Canal Street on steroids — and we emerge like circus clowns with props and squeals and manic American manners.

Details: Guangzhou, China

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:02 CST

WHERE TO STAY

The Garden Hotel

368 Huanshi E. Rd.

In Charleston, S.C., Two Houses and Two Ways to View History

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:11 CST

By Becky Krystal

The Washington Post

For anyone who's ever been chided with “why can't you be more like your sister,” the Aiken-Rhett House in Charleston, S.C., feels your pain.

Details: Charleston, S.C.

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:12 CST

Aiken-Rhett House

48 Elizabeth St., Charleston, S.C.

843-723-1159

Cascades waterfall worth the hike

Bob Downing — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:51 CST

PEMBROKE, Va. — It is an impressive waterfall hidden deep in an Appalachian gorge.

The Cascades drop 66 feet on Little Stony Creek in the Cascades Recreation Area of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest in southwestern Virginia.

There’s only one way to get to the photogenic falls: hike. It is an easy two-mile one-way hike along the gurgling stream that begins on Salt Pond Mountain and drains to the New River.

Make up your own star tour: A step-by-step guide to Hollywood

Christopher Reynolds — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:52 CST

LOS ANGELES — Pity the rubes. Those wayward tourists who dawdle in their cars and tour buses along Beachwood Drive, enraging the locals as they haltingly seek that perfect Hollywood sign photo op — they know not what they do. Maybe you’re not from this neighborhood either, but you have savvier Hollywood plans.

They involve horse trails, hidden hotels, a magic castle, a monastery — and that’s just a start. To close out our yearlong series of Southern California Close-Ups, here is a set of 10 Hollywood micro-itineraries, suitable for visitors from across town or across the planet.

(To see the previous 11 installments in our multimedia tour of Los Angeles and Orange counties, go to latimes.com/socalcloseups.)

Palaces, Harry Potter sites and WWII reminders line Germany’s Romantic Road

Ellen Creager — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:56 CST

HOHENSCHWANGAU, Germany — I was driving along the Romantic Road when I realized a few things. For one, bombs cannot kill cities. For another, eccentrics sometimes create masterpieces. For a third, except for the plague and witch hunts, the olden days seem awfully recent here.

Created in 1950 as a marketing tool to attract U.S. servicemen and their families stationed in Germany, the Romantic Road stretches 217 miles between Fussen and Wurzburg. Today, it attracts visitors lured by medieval villages and castles that appear more like movie sets than real places.

Yet what you see today is only an echo of a thousand years of history. Behind every flowerbox and window pane is an incredible story.

Plunging into Paradise at Atlantis Paradise Island resort

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:44 CST

Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — My daughter circled the sun, bobbing around the yellow mosaic tile work at the bottom of the pool. Everywhere in the Royal Baths, the water was no deeper than 3 feet, which meant that my 9-year-old could touch the bottom wherever she happened to float.

I felt no need to play lifeguard. My iced coffee was within arm's reach. A newspaper, unopened, lay at the foot of the lounge chair. I closed my eyes, preparing to take my own dive, not into water but deep relaxation, the tropical kind that leaves you sweating, listless and absolutely blissful.

All fun and Games: London’s East End, Olympics-close, invites a fresh look

Christopher Reynolds — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:43 CST

LONDON — Never mind the sprints, relays and marathons coming to London this summer. Look at the competition now among the flower vendors of Columbia Road.

“Who’s got a fiver?” hollers one grizzled man with a fistful of roses.

“Four for 2 quid!” bellows another.

Christopher Elliott: Hotel claims resort fee is required by state law

CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 10:03 CST

Q: I checked into the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort recently, and was unexpectedly charged a resort fee. I had booked the stay with my Starwood Preferred Guest points.

The desk staff could not have been less helpful when I questioned the fee. They advised, “It is mandatory on all rooms, whether paid with cash or points, and clearly indicated during booking.”

They also said the resort fee was required by Florida state law.

The white zone is for snow play: When skiing isn't enough

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:42 CST

PARK CITY, Utah — The Porter clan, 14 strong, were assembled at Park City Ski Resort for the last ski run of the family's annual winter reunion. But Nick, 14, and Andrew, 12, oldest of the cousins, had other ideas.

“Aw, Mom, this is our last chance to do the Alpine Coaster,” begged Nick, putting on a woeful face. “We'll meet you later, I promise.”

“Yeah, Mom,” echoed Andrew.