Texas P&W's Offer Means Two Gifts
Travel Briefs
From Local, Wire Reports
AUSTIN - Give a gift of the outdoors this holiday season to that favorite someone on your shopping list and you'll also get a present thanks to a special Texas Parks and Wildlife Department promotion.
If you order a Texas State Parks Pass certificate before Dec. 31, you will receive a commemorative Texas State Parks holiday tree ornament. The Texas State Parks ornament also can be purchased separately for $4.95, plus taxes and shipping.
The 2008 version of the annual Texas State Parks brass-plated tree ornament pays tribute to the Sebastopol House and Dinosaur Valley among other state parks and historic sites. Parks Pass certificate sales benefit state park operations.
The parks pass-ornament offer is just one of a number of conservation-themed gifts available through on-line shopping on the TPWD Web site. Texas State Parks Pass gift certificates can only be ordered by calling the TPWD Customer Service Center in Austin at (512) 389-8900.
The $60 parks pass entitles the pass holder and persons riding in the same non-commercial vehicle to free entry at more than 90 state parks for 12 months, as well as provides discounts on state park store merchandise, recreational equipment rental, camping and more. Pass holders also can order a year's subscription to Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine at a special rate of $9.95.
In addition to the parks pass certificate, holiday shoppers can visit TPWD's "Shop the Outdoors" Web page to choose from a variety of other conservation gift items.
Featured products this year are "Life's Better Outside" t-shirts and bumper stickers; Texas Parks & Wildlife Expo fine arts posters; the 2007 Collector's Edition of fish and wildlife stamps; Texas Wildlife Trail maps; five different conservation license plates; and a colorful Hummingbird Wheel featuring the 16 species documented in Texas.
Online shoppers who order two gift subscriptions to Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine for $24.95 (74 percent off the regular newsstand price) will receive a bonus gift of either The Saltwater and Freshwater Fish Pocket I.D. Guides or the Go Fish Texas map.
If the person on your shopping list is an avid reader, order from a number of books with nature themes or the Official Guide to Texas State Parks.
The official Web sites for TP&WD are: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/parkinfo/passes and http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/business/shop
'Falling' For New Year's
NEW YORK - A glittering ball in Times Square is not the only thing that drops at midnight on New Year's Eve.
In Key West, Fla., a 6-foot-tall manmade conch shell descends to the roof of Sloppy Joe's Bar to mark the new year. But the island is also home to two other midnight descents on Dec. 31: a super-sized red high-heel shoe carrying drag queen Sushi at the Bourbon Street Pub-New Orleans House complex; and a pirate wench who descends from the top of the mast of the tall ship Liberty Clipper at the Historic Seaport.
In Atlanta, the 19th annual Peach Drop features an 800-pound peach made of fiberglass. The event, held in Underground Atlanta, a six-block retail and entertainment district, will be followed by fireworks and an explosion of confetti. Country singer Miranda Lambert will be on hand to entertain the crowd. Festivities start at noon that day for families, and continue until 4 a.m. as restaurants, bars and nightclubs in Kenny's Alley stay open to accommodate all-night revelers. Details at http://www.peachdrop.com.
In New Orleans, the celebration starts at 8:30 p.m. with partying and music in Jackson Square. At midnight a lighted gumbo pot drops from atop the Jax Brewery. Then a fireworks display lights up the night skies over the Mississippi. The revelry continues overnight in the nearby French Quarter, followed by college football on Jan. 1 with the Sugar Bowl game between Hawaii and Georgia.
Offbeat Holiday Attractions
NEW YORK - If you're looking for something a little different to do over the holidays this year, here are a few offbeat attractions from the Hampton Hotels Hidden Landmarks Web site.
-Visit West 11th Street in Cleveland (across from Rowley's Inn) where the 1983 movie "A Christmas Story" was shot.
-Check out Bronner's, which calls itself the "World's Largest Christmas Store," in Frankenmuth, Mich. The store stocks 50,000 Christmas-related products and says it gets 2 million visitors a year, including 2,000 tour groups.
-Go to a reindeer park. Operation Santa Clause at The Reindeer Ranch near Redmond, Ore., bills itself as the home of the country's largest herd of domesticated reindeer.
-Be dazzled by Denver's Christmas display of more than 40,000 colorful lights on the City and County Building on Bannock Street.
For more ideas and information, go to http://www.hamptonlandmarks.com and type "holiday" in the search box.
'National Treasure' Debut
PIERRE, S.D. - Tourism officials believe that the new Nicolas Cage movie, "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," could bring more visitors to South Dakota.
Locations where filming took place include Mount Rushmore and Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park, in the Black Hills. The state has posted information about the sites, along with movie trailers and interviews - on the state tourism Web site, http://www.TravelSD.com/nat-ionaltreasure.
The film is a follow-up to the 2004 movie "National Treasure" and is scheduled for release later this month.
"The release of 'National Treasure: Book of Secrets' is a big deal for South Dakota and we want to reflect that on our Web site," Richard Benda, Tourism and State Development secretary, said in a release. "Not only will this movie give exposure to our state in terms of attracting tourists, but it also had a $3.9 million economic impact on our state during filming."
"South Dakota is known for its amazing landscapes and beautiful scenery," said Billie Jo Waara, director of the Office of Tourism. "This (Web) page allows visitors to go behind the scenes and experience what the film's cast and crew did while filming on location in South Dakota."
ABBA Museum In Stockholm
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - ABBA fans may want to book a trip to Stockholm on in June 2009, for the opening of a museum dedicated to the Swedish pop group.
Organizers unveiled drawings for the ABBA museum to be built in the Swedish capital, which will chronicle the quartet's journey toward global stardom in the 1970s and their split in the early '80s.
The band members - Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Reuss - are not participating in the project, but have donated their costumes and material for the exhibits.
The 70,000-square-foot museum will include a dance floor, recording studio and wardrobe for visitors to get a sense of what it was like to be an ABBA member. Karaoke-singing of ABBA songs will be part of the experience, organizers said.
The museum will open with a five-day festival starting June 3, 2009, said the founders - Ewa Wigenheim-Westman and her husband Ulf Westman.
ABBA is one of world's most successful bands with album sales of more than 370 million. The group has not performed together since 1982, but continues to sell nearly 3 million records a year.
Disney Cruise Includes St. Croix
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - St. Croix is readying its brightly painted colonial buildings and centuries-old sugar mills to welcome cruise ship passengers again.
Disney Cruise Line announced new eastern Caribbean itineraries for 2009, with one seven-night cruise featuring a day stop in St. Croix, the largest of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Tourism provides much-needed income on the island, and locals greet passengers with a fair of crafts and music.
Most major cruise lines suspended visits to St. Croix five years ago, citing crime and a lack of consumer demand. The director of the St. Croix Chamber of Commerce, Michael Dembeck, said robberies have become far less frequent on the island - the poorest in the three-island chain - while adding that safety concerns were "overblown" by the cruise ship industry back in 2002.
"I think the entire community has become aware and very cognizant of the importance of combating crime," Dembeck said. "There is a real commitment here to keeping our streets safe."
Cruise ship cancellations were estimated to cost roughly $50 million a year in lost revenues in St. Croix, which went from hosting about 230,000 passengers a year to a couple thousand from lines that made short nighttime stops to refuel.
Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson Doty said the Disney stopovers will be a significant boon for St. Croix, which has long stretches of scenic coastline, Danish facades and historic sites including plantation ruins that were once home to U.S. founding father Alexander Hamilton.
The U.S. Caribbean territory's governor, John deJongh Jr., said the introduction of St. Croix visits by Disney was an important first step.
"St. Croix is poised to become a port of call for other cruise lines as well," said deJongh.
The United States purchased St. Croix in 1917 from Denmark along with St. Thomas and St. John - the other two islands in the U.S. Caribbean territory of roughly 110,000 people.
Travel Secrets For Bargain-Hunter
NEW YORK (AP) - Looking for a hotel bargain?
Then heed the findings of CheapTickets.com's "Cheapometer," which offers month-by-month projections for when hotel rates will be cheapest in 2008 in popular destinations around the world.
For example, hotels in Athens will be 68 percent cheaper in January than at its peak tourism period, the Web site said.
Other January bargains include Jackson Hole, Wyo., 64 percent cheaper than peak, and Paris, 48 percent cheaper, the site said.
Hotels in California's wine country in Napa and Sonoma is 47 percent cheaper in February than peak, CheapTickets said, and London is 35 percent cheaper in February.
Venice hotels are 55 percent cheaper in March than what you might pay other times of year, and Montreal is 40 percent cheaper that month.
Hotels in Hawaii are 22 percent cheaper in May than in peak season, according to CheapTickets.
For Las Vegas, the best time of year for snagging a cheap hotel room is June, when prices are 26 percent lower than peak, the Web site said,
And if you're looking for cheap in Miami, Jamaica or Cancun, try September, when prices are around 50 percent what you might pay otherwise. The tradeoff: You'll have to deal with hot weather and take a chance on a stay at the height of hurricane season. CheapTickets calculated the differential by taking the average price of three-star hotels by month in each destination, and comparing the lowest monthly rate with the highest monthly rate over 12 months.
Shenandoah Park Road Face-Lift
LURAY, Va. (AP) - One of Virginia's most scenic roads is getting a face-lift.
Shenandoah National Park has begun a yearlong construction project to rebuild portions of the 105-mile Skyline Drive. The work will be done on a 34-mile stretch between the Thornton Gap entrance station at the road's intersection with U.S. 211 and at the Swift Run entrance station at the road's intersection with U.S. 33.
Park spokeswoman Karen Beck-Herzog said the reconstruction is expected to cost about $1.9 million.
Beck-Herzog said visitors can expect delays throughout the year. About 400,000 vehicles and 300 buses entered the park from January through October.
Skyline Drive was built in the 1930s. It was last reconstructed in the 1980s.
---
S. Idaho zip line part of planned adventure park
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) - A motorized zip line that propels riders 3,000 feet at up to 55 mph could open near the Snake River Canyon in February as part of a proposed thrill park.
"You'll fly like a bird," Martin Tilley, the project's engineer, told The Times-News. "There's nothing like it in the world."
The already completed zip line, called the Flight Stimulator, is part of the proposed Devil's Corral Adventure Park that may eventually have 12 of the motorized zip lines.
However, that depends on whether the landowner in Jerome County and Meridian-based Flight Stimulation agree to a contract, company owner Dennis Huntting told The Associated Press.
"This is not a typical zip line," he said. "This is an electric trolly cable running on a zip line. It's the world's first powered zip line."
A high-tension cable Huntting said is rated at 89,000 pounds crosses a small feeder canyon to the Snake River called Devil's Corral, The line is 160 feet above the ground.
Power comes from a battery pack attached to a device that moves the rider along the cable. Huntting said the three-minute ride will likely cost $35, and if the park is built it will cost $100 to ride all 12 zip lines.
The region is already popular among thrill seekers, notably BASE jumpers who free fall off Perrine Bridge over the Snake River Canyon and rely on parachutes to land safely.
Zip lines typically rely on gravity, but Tilley's design can propel people across flats or even uphill, Huntting said.
He said he's been looking at other sites for similar projects in Oregon, Washington, Nevada, California, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Missouri.
---
Grand Canyon park closes North Rim roads, overlooks for season
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) - Scenic roads and overlooks at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon have been closed for the winter season.
The closures follow the first snowfall of the season.
Grand Canyon National Park officials said that areas of the North Rim accessible by way of State Route 67 will remain open until more snow forces the seasonal closure of that road.
The more popular South Rim of the canyon remains open year-round.
---
Caspian Sea resort lastest effort to open up reclusive Turkmenistan
TURKMENBASHI, Turkmenistan (AP) - A multibillion dollar project has been launched to create a major tourist resort in Turkmenistan on the Caspian Sea.
It's the latest effort to open up the energy-rich Central Asian nation to the outside world. President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov told an investment forum in the port city of Turkmenbashi that several foreign companies will be investing as much as $4 billion into the project.
Plans call for building 60 hotels, restaurants, a 3,000-seat stadium, sports facilities and shopping centers. International oil and gas companies have been intensifying competition for access to the country's vast energy resources.
---
United expands service to W.Va., Virginia
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - United Airlines plans to begin offering direct flights in January between Washington, D.C., and nine East Coast cities, including four in West Virginia, the company announced.
Though touted as opening up the world to travelers in Beckley, Clarksburg, Morgantown and Parkersburg, the new service does not include Mercer County Airport, which lost its commercial air service last month.
Beginning Jan. 7, United Airline Express, through its regional partner Colgan Air, will begin offering flights aboard 34-seat Saab SF-340 aircraft between Washington-Dulles International Airport and Parkersburg, Bradford, Pa., and Jamestown, N.Y., the airline said.
Service to and from the nation's capital and Clarksburg and Morgantown is set to begin Jan. 21, followed by service with Altoona, Pa., and Johnstown, Pa., on Feb. 4; and Beckley and Virginia's Shenandoah Valley on Feb. 18.
Tickets are now for sale for all flights.
At the behest of Gov. Joe Manchin, state officials are still trying to line up an air carrier to serve the Bluefield airport after Colgan Air discontinued its three daily flights at the Mercer County Airport on Nov. 12.
---
From Local, Wire Reports
AUSTIN - Give a gift of the outdoors this holiday season to that favorite someone on your shopping list and you'll also get a present thanks to a special Texas Parks and Wildlife Department promotion.
If you order a Texas State Parks Pass certificate before Dec. 31, you will receive a commemorative Texas State Parks holiday tree ornament. The Texas State Parks ornament also can be purchased separately for $4.95, plus taxes and shipping.
The 2008 version of the annual Texas State Parks brass-plated tree ornament pays tribute to the Sebastopol House and Dinosaur Valley among other state parks and historic sites. Parks Pass certificate sales benefit state park operations.
The parks pass-ornament offer is just one of a number of conservation-themed gifts available through on-line shopping on the TPWD Web site. Texas State Parks Pass gift certificates can only be ordered by calling the TPWD Customer Service Center in Austin at (512) 389-8900.
The $60 parks pass entitles the pass holder and persons riding in the same non-commercial vehicle to free entry at more than 90 state parks for 12 months, as well as provides discounts on state park store merchandise, recreational equipment rental, camping and more. Pass holders also can order a year's subscription to Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine at a special rate of $9.95.
In addition to the parks pass certificate, holiday shoppers can visit TPWD's "Shop the Outdoors" Web page to choose from a variety of other conservation gift items.
Featured products this year are "Life's Better Outside" t-shirts and bumper stickers; Texas Parks & Wildlife Expo fine arts posters; the 2007 Collector's Edition of fish and wildlife stamps; Texas Wildlife Trail maps; five different conservation license plates; and a colorful Hummingbird Wheel featuring the 16 species documented in Texas.
Online shoppers who order two gift subscriptions to Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine for $24.95 (74 percent off the regular newsstand price) will receive a bonus gift of either The Saltwater and Freshwater Fish Pocket I.D. Guides or the Go Fish Texas map.
If the person on your shopping list is an avid reader, order from a number of books with nature themes or the Official Guide to Texas State Parks.
The official Web sites for TP&WD are: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/parkinfo/passes and http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/business/shop
'Falling' For New Year's
NEW YORK - A glittering ball in Times Square is not the only thing that drops at midnight on New Year's Eve.
In Key West, Fla., a 6-foot-tall manmade conch shell descends to the roof of Sloppy Joe's Bar to mark the new year. But the island is also home to two other midnight descents on Dec. 31: a super-sized red high-heel shoe carrying drag queen Sushi at the Bourbon Street Pub-New Orleans House complex; and a pirate wench who descends from the top of the mast of the tall ship Liberty Clipper at the Historic Seaport.
In Atlanta, the 19th annual Peach Drop features an 800-pound peach made of fiberglass. The event, held in Underground Atlanta, a six-block retail and entertainment district, will be followed by fireworks and an explosion of confetti. Country singer Miranda Lambert will be on hand to entertain the crowd. Festivities start at noon that day for families, and continue until 4 a.m. as restaurants, bars and nightclubs in Kenny's Alley stay open to accommodate all-night revelers. Details at http://www.peachdrop.com.
In New Orleans, the celebration starts at 8:30 p.m. with partying and music in Jackson Square. At midnight a lighted gumbo pot drops from atop the Jax Brewery. Then a fireworks display lights up the night skies over the Mississippi. The revelry continues overnight in the nearby French Quarter, followed by college football on Jan. 1 with the Sugar Bowl game between Hawaii and Georgia.
Offbeat Holiday Attractions
NEW YORK - If you're looking for something a little different to do over the holidays this year, here are a few offbeat attractions from the Hampton Hotels Hidden Landmarks Web site.
-Visit West 11th Street in Cleveland (across from Rowley's Inn) where the 1983 movie "A Christmas Story" was shot.
-Check out Bronner's, which calls itself the "World's Largest Christmas Store," in Frankenmuth, Mich. The store stocks 50,000 Christmas-related products and says it gets 2 million visitors a year, including 2,000 tour groups.
-Go to a reindeer park. Operation Santa Clause at The Reindeer Ranch near Redmond, Ore., bills itself as the home of the country's largest herd of domesticated reindeer.
-Be dazzled by Denver's Christmas display of more than 40,000 colorful lights on the City and County Building on Bannock Street.
For more ideas and information, go to http://www.hamptonlandmarks.com and type "holiday" in the search box.
'National Treasure' Debut
PIERRE, S.D. - Tourism officials believe that the new Nicolas Cage movie, "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," could bring more visitors to South Dakota.
Locations where filming took place include Mount Rushmore and Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park, in the Black Hills. The state has posted information about the sites, along with movie trailers and interviews - on the state tourism Web site, http://www.TravelSD.com/nat-ionaltreasure.
The film is a follow-up to the 2004 movie "National Treasure" and is scheduled for release later this month.
"The release of 'National Treasure: Book of Secrets' is a big deal for South Dakota and we want to reflect that on our Web site," Richard Benda, Tourism and State Development secretary, said in a release. "Not only will this movie give exposure to our state in terms of attracting tourists, but it also had a $3.9 million economic impact on our state during filming."
"South Dakota is known for its amazing landscapes and beautiful scenery," said Billie Jo Waara, director of the Office of Tourism. "This (Web) page allows visitors to go behind the scenes and experience what the film's cast and crew did while filming on location in South Dakota."
ABBA Museum In Stockholm
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - ABBA fans may want to book a trip to Stockholm on in June 2009, for the opening of a museum dedicated to the Swedish pop group.
Organizers unveiled drawings for the ABBA museum to be built in the Swedish capital, which will chronicle the quartet's journey toward global stardom in the 1970s and their split in the early '80s.
The band members - Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Reuss - are not participating in the project, but have donated their costumes and material for the exhibits.
The 70,000-square-foot museum will include a dance floor, recording studio and wardrobe for visitors to get a sense of what it was like to be an ABBA member. Karaoke-singing of ABBA songs will be part of the experience, organizers said.
The museum will open with a five-day festival starting June 3, 2009, said the founders - Ewa Wigenheim-Westman and her husband Ulf Westman.
ABBA is one of world's most successful bands with album sales of more than 370 million. The group has not performed together since 1982, but continues to sell nearly 3 million records a year.
Disney Cruise Includes St. Croix
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - St. Croix is readying its brightly painted colonial buildings and centuries-old sugar mills to welcome cruise ship passengers again.
Disney Cruise Line announced new eastern Caribbean itineraries for 2009, with one seven-night cruise featuring a day stop in St. Croix, the largest of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Tourism provides much-needed income on the island, and locals greet passengers with a fair of crafts and music.
Most major cruise lines suspended visits to St. Croix five years ago, citing crime and a lack of consumer demand. The director of the St. Croix Chamber of Commerce, Michael Dembeck, said robberies have become far less frequent on the island - the poorest in the three-island chain - while adding that safety concerns were "overblown" by the cruise ship industry back in 2002.
"I think the entire community has become aware and very cognizant of the importance of combating crime," Dembeck said. "There is a real commitment here to keeping our streets safe."
Cruise ship cancellations were estimated to cost roughly $50 million a year in lost revenues in St. Croix, which went from hosting about 230,000 passengers a year to a couple thousand from lines that made short nighttime stops to refuel.
Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson Doty said the Disney stopovers will be a significant boon for St. Croix, which has long stretches of scenic coastline, Danish facades and historic sites including plantation ruins that were once home to U.S. founding father Alexander Hamilton.
The U.S. Caribbean territory's governor, John deJongh Jr., said the introduction of St. Croix visits by Disney was an important first step.
"St. Croix is poised to become a port of call for other cruise lines as well," said deJongh.
The United States purchased St. Croix in 1917 from Denmark along with St. Thomas and St. John - the other two islands in the U.S. Caribbean territory of roughly 110,000 people.
Travel Secrets For Bargain-Hunter
NEW YORK (AP) - Looking for a hotel bargain?
Then heed the findings of CheapTickets.com's "Cheapometer," which offers month-by-month projections for when hotel rates will be cheapest in 2008 in popular destinations around the world.
For example, hotels in Athens will be 68 percent cheaper in January than at its peak tourism period, the Web site said.
Other January bargains include Jackson Hole, Wyo., 64 percent cheaper than peak, and Paris, 48 percent cheaper, the site said.
Hotels in California's wine country in Napa and Sonoma is 47 percent cheaper in February than peak, CheapTickets said, and London is 35 percent cheaper in February.
Venice hotels are 55 percent cheaper in March than what you might pay other times of year, and Montreal is 40 percent cheaper that month.
Hotels in Hawaii are 22 percent cheaper in May than in peak season, according to CheapTickets.
For Las Vegas, the best time of year for snagging a cheap hotel room is June, when prices are 26 percent lower than peak, the Web site said,
And if you're looking for cheap in Miami, Jamaica or Cancun, try September, when prices are around 50 percent what you might pay otherwise. The tradeoff: You'll have to deal with hot weather and take a chance on a stay at the height of hurricane season. CheapTickets calculated the differential by taking the average price of three-star hotels by month in each destination, and comparing the lowest monthly rate with the highest monthly rate over 12 months.
Shenandoah Park Road Face-Lift
LURAY, Va. (AP) - One of Virginia's most scenic roads is getting a face-lift.
Shenandoah National Park has begun a yearlong construction project to rebuild portions of the 105-mile Skyline Drive. The work will be done on a 34-mile stretch between the Thornton Gap entrance station at the road's intersection with U.S. 211 and at the Swift Run entrance station at the road's intersection with U.S. 33.
Park spokeswoman Karen Beck-Herzog said the reconstruction is expected to cost about $1.9 million.
Beck-Herzog said visitors can expect delays throughout the year. About 400,000 vehicles and 300 buses entered the park from January through October.
Skyline Drive was built in the 1930s. It was last reconstructed in the 1980s.
---
S. Idaho zip line part of planned adventure park
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) - A motorized zip line that propels riders 3,000 feet at up to 55 mph could open near the Snake River Canyon in February as part of a proposed thrill park.
"You'll fly like a bird," Martin Tilley, the project's engineer, told The Times-News. "There's nothing like it in the world."
The already completed zip line, called the Flight Stimulator, is part of the proposed Devil's Corral Adventure Park that may eventually have 12 of the motorized zip lines.
However, that depends on whether the landowner in Jerome County and Meridian-based Flight Stimulation agree to a contract, company owner Dennis Huntting told The Associated Press.
"This is not a typical zip line," he said. "This is an electric trolly cable running on a zip line. It's the world's first powered zip line."
A high-tension cable Huntting said is rated at 89,000 pounds crosses a small feeder canyon to the Snake River called Devil's Corral, The line is 160 feet above the ground.
Power comes from a battery pack attached to a device that moves the rider along the cable. Huntting said the three-minute ride will likely cost $35, and if the park is built it will cost $100 to ride all 12 zip lines.
The region is already popular among thrill seekers, notably BASE jumpers who free fall off Perrine Bridge over the Snake River Canyon and rely on parachutes to land safely.
Zip lines typically rely on gravity, but Tilley's design can propel people across flats or even uphill, Huntting said.
He said he's been looking at other sites for similar projects in Oregon, Washington, Nevada, California, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Missouri.
---
Grand Canyon park closes North Rim roads, overlooks for season
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) - Scenic roads and overlooks at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon have been closed for the winter season.
The closures follow the first snowfall of the season.
Grand Canyon National Park officials said that areas of the North Rim accessible by way of State Route 67 will remain open until more snow forces the seasonal closure of that road.
The more popular South Rim of the canyon remains open year-round.
---
Caspian Sea resort lastest effort to open up reclusive Turkmenistan
TURKMENBASHI, Turkmenistan (AP) - A multibillion dollar project has been launched to create a major tourist resort in Turkmenistan on the Caspian Sea.
It's the latest effort to open up the energy-rich Central Asian nation to the outside world. President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov told an investment forum in the port city of Turkmenbashi that several foreign companies will be investing as much as $4 billion into the project.
Plans call for building 60 hotels, restaurants, a 3,000-seat stadium, sports facilities and shopping centers. International oil and gas companies have been intensifying competition for access to the country's vast energy resources.
---
United expands service to W.Va., Virginia
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - United Airlines plans to begin offering direct flights in January between Washington, D.C., and nine East Coast cities, including four in West Virginia, the company announced.
Though touted as opening up the world to travelers in Beckley, Clarksburg, Morgantown and Parkersburg, the new service does not include Mercer County Airport, which lost its commercial air service last month.
Beginning Jan. 7, United Airline Express, through its regional partner Colgan Air, will begin offering flights aboard 34-seat Saab SF-340 aircraft between Washington-Dulles International Airport and Parkersburg, Bradford, Pa., and Jamestown, N.Y., the airline said.
Service to and from the nation's capital and Clarksburg and Morgantown is set to begin Jan. 21, followed by service with Altoona, Pa., and Johnstown, Pa., on Feb. 4; and Beckley and Virginia's Shenandoah Valley on Feb. 18.
Tickets are now for sale for all flights.
At the behest of Gov. Joe Manchin, state officials are still trying to line up an air carrier to serve the Bluefield airport after Colgan Air discontinued its three daily flights at the Mercer County Airport on Nov. 12.
---
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