Travel

VANCOUVER, Wash. -- 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 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.

LOS ANGELES -- Every tourist destination has its so-called hidden attractions: off-the-beaten-path sites that visitors have to put some effort into finding. Several such locations are in Los Angeles, but it's impossible not to stumble across them.

They're the staircases woven through the hilly areas adjacent to downtown Los Angeles. Some are only a few steps, some are hundreds, and there may be upward of 400 staircases.

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.

That's when I heard the shriek.

A few cool travel websites:

www.drive-alive.co.uk/fuel_prices_europe.html

Before you plan a driving trip in Europe, get a feel for how much fuel will cost. This site posts regular updates on prices for gasoline and diesel in European countries and the United Kingdom.

www.cruisetimetables.com

Check which ports are visited by which ships, and on what dates. You can search by port of call or departure port. If you really want to stop at a certain spot, this tells you which cruise

For folks who vow that the New Year will include more exercise and fewer calories, Las Vegas can be a place where good intentions disappear like a $20 bill into a slot machine.

However, for those determined to keep those resolutions, a few resorts and restaurants have come up with ways to make it more fun and tasty to honor those earnest pledges of better fitness and nutrition.

Downward dolphin

SALT LAKE CITY -- Over the river and through the woods, Utahns are planning to hit the road for Thanksgiving.

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. -- Their Yosemite Valley tour was nearing its end, and the church ladies and gents from South Los Angeles had heard enough. Almost.

"He's been telling us stories he thinks we want to hear for two hours," said Ann Hale, 70, heaving a sigh of frustration from the back of the tram.

In fact, guide William Fontana had been regaling his listeners -- most of them white -- with stories about John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt, about fur trappers and rock climbers.

"We're still waiting for at least a few words about Yosemite's African-American Buffalo Soldiers," Hale grumbled to a fellow passenger.

After filing off the tram, some women from Grace United Methodist Church surrounded Fontana on the sidewalk outside the Yosemite Lodge.

"Questions, ladies?" he asked.