THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 7, 1994 TAG: 9408050123
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STEPHEN HARRIMAN
LENGTH: Long : 158 lines
IT'S NEVER too early to think about planning a foliage tour. In New England, hotels and inns can be sold out during peak season between mid-September and mid-October.
Here's a sample of the sort of packaged tours available (this one from Maupintour): A nine-day fall foliage motor coach tour of New England leaves from Boston on various dates between Sept. 24 and Oct. 10. After a night in Boston, the group leaves for Bar Harbor, Maine, and Acadia National Park to see the leaves, have a lobster cookout and stay in an inn. The tour moves on to New Hampshire and Vermont through the White Mountains and then to Lake Placid, N.Y., to visit the Olympic village. The trip ends at Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, a historic village with spinning, weaving and candle-making exhibits, and a tour of Boston. Cost: $1,598 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, most meals, admissions and ground transportation.
Contact: A local travel agent or Maupintour, 1515 St. Andrews Drive, Lawrence, Kan. 66047, (800) 255-4266.
Want to do your own planning? There's no better single source than Travel Guide to New England, published by the people who produce the great Yankee Magazine. Newsstand price is $4.95. Better yet, call (800) 685-3376 and order (for $12.95) the Yankee Travel Kit, which includes the Guide, Yankee Magazine's B&B/Small Inn Directory and a New England Innkeepers Association map. ELVIS ALERT
With all the to-do over Lisa Marie and Michael - have you sent a wedding gift yet? - you may have overlooked this:
Elvis International Tribute Week '94 begins Monday and runs through the Aug 16 (the anniversary of his death in 1977). The annual celebration at Graceland, his Memphis home, and elsewhere includes a candlelight vigil at his grave (Aug. 15 at 9 p.m.), concerts, dances, bus tours to Tupelo, Miss. (his birthplace), and mansion tours.
If you go to Tupelo, you'll see just how far up the social food chain Elvis climbed. They've got that other-side-of-the-tracks place all prettied up now - a lot better than it was back in the '50s. People walk through the two-room birthplace house with a hushed reverence you see at religious shrines in Jerusalem. Amazing.
Tickets range from about $15 to $30, with some events free. Info: (800) 238-2000. MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Wednesday-Sunday. The 59th annual Old Time Fiddlers Convention at Galax, about 250 miles west of South Hampton Roads on U.S. 58. This is serious fiddle playing; it doesn't get any better. Accommodations will be hard to find at this late date, but it's worth a try. Info: (703) 236-0668.
Aug. 27-28. Virginia's burgeoning wine industry celebrates with the 19th annual Virginia Wine Festival at The Plains, in Northern Virginia (just north of Warrenton, less than an hour west of Washington off I-66). More than 35 state wineries offer tastings, and connoisseurs will enjoy lectures and special exhibits. Also, nonstop entertainment, arts and crafts displays. Info: (301) 261-2180. FROM HERE TO THERE
The Adventure Life Program of the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Hampton Roads still has a few openings for travelers interested in hiking the Grand Canyon. The trip is Sept. 16-27. Price of $595 per person includes transportation, equipment, fees and overnight gear. It's a real bargain for the adventurer. Info: 853-5632.
Old Dominion University is sponsoring a 13-day tour of the American Southwest Sept. 25-Oct. 8, featuring many of that region's spectacular National Parks and Monuments. Cost: $1,499 per person double occupancy, $2,229 single, $959 ages 2-21 when sharing with two adults; air transportation to Salt Lake City is additional. Info: 683-5101. STILL HAVE VACATION LEFT?
Here are some soft, and not-so-soft, adventures:
Half-price Caribbean: Windstar Cruises is discounting its seven-day Caribbean cruises aboard the Wind Spirit by 50 percent for Virginia residents booking through in-state travel agents, from now through Sept. 18. That comes to $1,448 per person, double occupancy on the four-masted, 147-passenger (plus crew of 91) sailing ship. Windstar Cruises was named one of the top five cruise lines in the world by a Conde Nast Traveler readers' choice poll. Info: Your local travel agent.
Oktoberfest on bike: In time for Munich's famed Oktoberfest, a 15-day bicycle tour of Germany's Bavarian region leaves Sept. 9 for an easy-paced trip through the Tauber Valley and along the Romantic Road to Heidelberg before partying in the beer gardens of Munich. Cyclists will stay at ``gasthauses'' (inns) after stops at such sites as ``Mad'' King Ludwig's castle, the Roman ruins of Regensburg, craft shops and rococo churches. The tour is suitable for people of every cycling ability and van support is available. Bikes for rent are 21-speed Kogo Miyatas. Cost: $2,745, including accommodations, most meals and guides. Not included: Round-trip air fare to Munich. Info: Euro-Bike Tours, P.O. Box 990-NP, DeKalb, Ill., 60115; phone (800) 321-6060.
English countryside: A fall travel package from Country Cottages in Boca Raton, Fla., offers travelers a seven-night stay in England's heartland, including airfare and a rental car, for $699 person, after Sept. 15, based on four people sharing a two-bedroom house. Travelers stay in a choice of fully furnished and equipped country homes in almost every region of Great Britain drawn from a data-base of more than 6,000 individual properties throughout England, Scotland and Wales. All you have to do is specify the number of bedrooms needed and dates of travel and the computer will do the rest. Prices from now to Sept. 15 are slightly higher, and there is a $200 extra charge, per person, if only two people take the trip. Info: (800) 674-8883.
Beer here: Did you know that Belgium is home to more than 400 kinds of locally produced beer? You will, if you take one of two beer seminars scheduled for Oct. 29-30 and Nov. 19-20, in Bruges. Participants will receive a ``beer menu'' followed by a series of cafe visits to sample their brews and squeeze in stops at some local breweries as well as tour Bruges' old city center. Oh, yes, food is also served. Price for weekend trips is $257 per per person, double occupancy. Contact your travel agent or Belgian National Tourist Office, 780 Third Ave., Suite 1501, New York, N.Y. 10017, (212) 758-8130.
Heli-hiking: It's a sort of 21st century way to hike, offered by Canadian Mountain Holiday Heli Hiking. At the end of a day's walking, helicopters will pick you up and bring you back to one of four mountain lodges, complete with hot tub, fireplace and a great dinner. Your day can be as strenuous or as relaxing as you like within your group as you explore the Cariboo, Monashee and Selkirk Mountains west of Calgary. Lunch might be a barbecue or a picnic beside a river or a lake. At day's end, you'll fly back to your lodge and then be flown back the next morning to pick up your trek. Trips run from two to six days and prices range from $580 per person, double occupancy, to $1,700, depending on trip length. Airfare to Canada is extra. Info: (800) 661-0252.
Down under: Qantas Vacations offers a series of 10-day Australian tours including round-trip airfare, hotels, sight-seeing and tours, priced from $1,159 per person, double occupancy through the end of 1994. Among the ``Weekend to Weekend'' itineraries are: ``Fly/ Drive Australia'' to either Cairns, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney, from $1,159; ``The Outback and the Reef,'' to Sydney, Ayers Rock, Outback territory and Cairns, from $1,729, and ``Where the Rainforest Meets the Reef,'' to Cairns for diving the Great Barrier Reef and exploring Daintree National Rainforest, from $1,329. Call your travel agent or Qantas Vacations (800) 523-5272.
Grand Canyon rafting: A four-day rafting expedition of the Grand Canyon leaves from Las Vegas on various dates until Sept. 17. Participants take a scenic one-hour flight to the Grand Canyon and stay one night at a working cattle ranch, where guests can horseback ride, play horseshoes or go hiking. The next day the group will fly by helicopter to start the easy-rapid rafting trip on the Colorado River. Participants will camp and eat their meals along the river before being picked up at the end of the trip in Lake Mead for a motor coach ride back to Las Vegas. Cost: $885 per person, including flight from Las Vegas, all meals and equipment. A discount of $90 is available on Aug. 22 and 28 and Sept. 4 and 5. Not included: round-trip transportation to Las Vegas. Info: Western River Expeditions, 7258 Racquet Club Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah; (800) 453-7450.
Grand Teton kayaking: From an island base camp on Jackson Lake in the Grand Teton National Park, participants can take three-day kayaking trips through Sept. 15, stopping along the forest's edge to hike, fish and view wildlife. Those who don't want to paddle their own kayak can ride in a support boat. Participants camp out in two-person tents. Cost: $290 for adults and $190 for children 15 and under, including camping equipment (sleeping bags can be rented) and meals. Not included: air fare to Jackson Hole, Wyo. Info: O.A.R.S., P.O. Box 67, Angels Camp, Calif. 95222; (800) 346-6277. MEMO: Travel-wise is compiled from wire-service reports, news releases, trade
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Virginian-Pilot/The Ledger-Star, P.O. Box 449, Norfolk, Va. 23501-0449. by CNB