BAR HARBOR, Maine – Serving as a summer retreat for Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and Morgans, this town and the surrounding area have long been known as a place where well-heeled and well-known visitors could beat the heat - and have their privacy respected.

BAR HARBOR, Maine – Serving as a summer retreat for Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and Morgans, this town and the surrounding area have long been known as a place where well-heeled and well-known visitors could beat the heat - and have their privacy respected.

President Barack Obama is the latest influential visitor to flee to Maine in search of a cool ocean breeze. When he arrives Friday for a three-day visit, he"ll be the first sitting president to visit Mount Desert Island since William Howard Taft a century ago.

People in Bar Harbor, a town of 5,000 residents that bustles with tourists in the summer, say they are excited about Obama"s visit.

But with the area"s history of business barons, political power brokers and famous actors among them for generations, they"re used to having the rich and famous in their midst. People in Maine, they say, aren"t likely to get too flustered by the presidential visit.

"There are still famous and wealthy people all over the island, and their privacy is very much respected," said Craig Neff, owner of The Naturalist"s Notebook, a shop in Seal Harbor village not far from where lifestyle maven Martha Stewart owns an estate originally built for automobile tycoon Edsel Ford. "If I were a billionaire, I would certainly appreciate it. It"s always been that way."

Beginning in the late 1800s, well-heeled families from New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago and elsewhere came to Mount Desert Island, where they built summer homes to escape the city heat. The 108-square-mile island, located 3 1/2 hours northeast of Portland, is connected to the mainland by a causeway.

There are four towns on the island - Bar Harbor is the largest - and much of the land is owned by Acadia National Park, which was established in 1916 and draws visitors with hiking trails, spectacular scenery and ocean views.

Obama will be the fourth sitting president to visit the island, said Debbie Dyer, curator of the Bar Harbor Historical Society. Chester Arthur visited in 1882, Benjamin Harrison in 1889 and Taft on July 18, 1910, nearly 100 years to the day before Obama"s visit, she said.

Dyer has a newspaper clipping with an old photograph showing Taft playing golf at the island"s Kebo Valley Golf Club, where the newspaper reported the president ending the day with a score of 100. Maybe Obama, who has a fondness for golf, will play at the club, she said.

If he doesn"t play golf, he could hike any of the park"s 125 miles of trails, bicycle its carriage roads or go boating in the cold waters off the island, Dyer said.

"I"m so glad they"re coming to enjoy the beauty of the island so we can share our little neck of the woods," she said.

Earlier this week, there weren"t any signs in the windows of the numerous shops in Bar Harbor acknowledging the president"s upcoming visit. No restaurants were offering Obama Burgers or the like on their menus. That would be so unlike Bar Harbor, which tries to maintain a somewhat dignified and low-key demeanor.

Residents respect the privacy and space of the well-known people when they come to visit. Stewart can often be found at the Bar Harbor farmer"s market, and the late actor Paul Newman and his wife, Joanne Woodward, enjoyed quiet breakfasts at a local spot when visiting their daughter when she attended Bar Harbor"s College of the Atlantic years ago.

Last summer, Susan Sarandon visited the Sherman"s Books & Stationery bookstore without any fanfare, said Laurie Cote, who works there. People in town treat celebrities just like everybody else, she said, although she admits she"d like to see Obama.

"All that being said, I still hope I get my picture taken with him," she said.

Still, there"s a certain excitement that the president has chosen the island for his vacation. If he walks the streets of Bar Harbor, he"ll be able to buy Maine gifts ranging from place mats with directions on how to eat a lobster and jars of blueberry jam to wooden models of sailing ships or baseball caps with moose or pine trees on them.

Lou Zawislak, 65, lives in New Orleans and is renting a cottage in Bar Harbor for the summer. As a Maine native, he knows that the culture in Bar Harbor "is to give people their space." But that"s not dampening the chatter he"s hearing about Obama"s visit.

"People are wondering where will he stay and what will he do," Zawislak said. "And will there be a sighting?"

LOS ANGELES – Part of the oldest museum in Los Angeles County has been turned into a home for the aged — and the ages.

LOS ANGELES – Part of the oldest museum in Los Angeles County has been turned into a home for the aged — and the ages.

With specimens that date back 4 billion years, the Age of Mammals exhibit opens Sunday in the north wing of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

It"s the first permanent museum exhibition in the world to trace 65 million years of evolution based on geology and climate, said curator John Harris.

"We are trying to figure out why the change took place, not just describe how the change took place," he said.

"Normally, mammals evolve to adapt to their surroundings. If that were the simplest part of it, after the dust cleared, after the asteroid exploded and the dinosaurs had been wiped out, then mammals would have filled the habitats left vacant by the demise of the dinosaurs and that would have been the end of the story. But it wasn"t."

That"s because a restless Earth wouldn"t allow it.

"We"ve seen that humans themselves are a product of climate change. Now we are at the point where we are causing and contributing to climate change," Harris said.

The centerpiece of the exhibit is a 20,000-year-old mastodon found in Simi Valley, just 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles. A relative of the elephant, it is also the exhibit"s largest complete specimen, standing 8 feet, 9 inches tall.

There is a paleoparadoxiid, an extinct relative of elephants and sea cows, that lived on the California coast about 11 million years ago. And there is an ancient species of sperm whale whose fossilized bones have been assembled for the first time by any museum and seems to float above the exhibit.

"Mammalian history is full of remarkable creatures on land and in the sea and it is terrific that the museum chose to emphasize the role of climate change and shifting continents in the history of mammals," said Blaire Van Valkenburgh, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Los Angeles and a member of the exhibit"s steering committee.

"It should help people understand the connections between the rocks beneath their feet and the history of life on the planet."

The Age of Mammals uses a mounted saber-toothed cat, a giant jaguar, a brontothere or thunder beast that resembles a dinosaur more than a mammal to help tell its evolution story. The largest animal represented in the collection is a Columbian mammoth. A jaw from the 14-foot tall mammal will be on display and stands 2.5 feet high.

The first ever display of a bone-crushing dog"s complete skeleton is part of the show. The 8 million-year-old species represents the largest dog family ever evolved. With its powerful jaws and teeth, the bone-crushing dog could crack the bones of its prey, like a modern hyena.

Big makes bold statements in the exhibit, but little is there, too. The smallest mammals represented are an extinct mouse and the shell of a fossil land snail.

The museum, with its trademark rotunda and three wings, opened on Nov. 6, 1913, as the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art. Through the years, it has collected more than 35 million objects, some as old as 4.5 billion years.

Now called the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, it includes the 1913 building, the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits and the William S. Hart Park and Museum in Newhall. In the early 1960s, the art portion of the museum moved out and became the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Renovation of the 1913 building is part of a $107 million project that will include two more exhibitions (including Dinosaur Mysteries), a demonstration center, a nature lab, pedestrian bridge, a park and nature space, more gallery space, new stores and a cafe.

Because it"s in the heart of earthquake country, the building had to undergo a seismic retrofit. Heavy concrete rooftops had to be replaced, the exterior dome had to be reinforced with steel and hairline cracks from past quakes were filled with epoxy to prevent water damage.

The north and south wings have glass roofs.

"It"s rather wonderful," Harris said. "You can see the girders, the rafters in the building. You can see the skeleton on the floor and look up and see the skeleton of the building."

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Online:

Natural History Museum:

BETHLEHEM, N.H. – To know Charlie Stewart was to know his maple collection.

BETHLEHEM, N.H. – To know Charlie Stewart was to know his maple collection.

Old sap buckets and yokes, sugar molds, spouts, yards of tubing, tin syrup containers — he had it all. Along with old postcards and bottle memorabilia, the longtime Sugar Hill syrup farmer gathered hundreds of maple-related items throughout his lifetime. Many date back to the 1800s.

Stewart, who died in 2006 at age 77, frequented farm auctions and antique shops and put ads in local weekly papers in pursuit of anything maple. He paid whatever it took for an item "so that it didn"t end up on a wall in a house in California," said friend and fellow maple farmer David Fuller of Lancaster.

Stewart, who left his collection to the New Hampshire Maple Producers Association, wanted to preserve the past and hoped to feature his collection in a museum one day. Now, it is.

A sampling of the many items — they have yet to be catalogued or appraised — are on display at the new maple museum in the White Mountains town of Bethlehem. The museum tells the story of the enterprise, innovations that have improved the process through the years, how to recognize different maple trees and facts about sap gathering and tree age.

To Stewart, "each one of these artifacts had a story," said David Scanlan, a maple producer in Canaan for 23 years, now New Hampshire"s deputy secretary of state. "He could tell you who owned it before he did, what they used it for."

Scanlan, the museum president, said a videographer shot footage of Stewart talking about his collection a while back, and there has been discussion about including it in the museum, one of several in the region. Vermont, which produces the most maple syrup in the area, has the New England Maple Museum in Pittsford. There"s also the American Maple Museum in Croghan, N.Y.

New Hampshire"s museum, which debuted during maple season and reopened for the summer and fall, comes as the state has been working in recent years to boost its image as a maple syrup producer. It usually is listed as third in New England, behind Vermont and Maine. Nationally, it is listed fifth.

New Hampshire promotes maple season nationally through print and online ads and advertises maple sugar hotel and activity packages on its travel and tourism website. The Maple Producers Association publishes articles in specialty consumer newspapers distributed nationally about visiting its sugar houses. Barbara Lassonde, association spokeswoman, said the spring Maple Weekend, in which sugar houses statewide have open houses, has grown more popular in recent years.

"We"ve really promoted that a lot and encouraged people to get out and learn how maple syrup is made so they know the source of their food, and that has been quite effective," she said.

Lassonde said the association has about 350 members, and there are probably an equal number of commercial producers who are not members. She said many more residents probably do their own syrupmaking on a small scale.

Maple syrup production was down 19 percent nationally this year, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. High temperatures were the culprit. In New Hampshire, production was estimated at 87,000 gallons, down 7 percent from last season. Vermont, which produced 890,000 gallons, had the smallest decrease since 2009, at 3 percent; Pennsylvania, which produced 54,000 gallons, had the biggest drop, 41 percent.

New Hampshire"s museum is in a 1906 building, now renovated, that originally housed a sawmill and a pigpen on The Rocks Estate, a former self-sustaining farm that serves as a conservation and education center for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. Part of the building is a working sugar house in which sap from the estate"s 1,000 taps is boiled down in an evaporator, a pan-lined box. It eventually thickens and sweetens.

Starting next month, visitors to the building will be able to see a DVD on the syrup-making process. They can lift stones into a hollowed-out log to pretend to boil sap, like the Native Americans did, hang up a bucket and try on a yoke. Outside, they can see stunning views of the Presidential Range of the White Mountains and walk along a maple orchard trail.

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If You Go...

NEW HAMPSHIRE MAPLE MUSEUM: The Rocks Estate, 4 Christmas Lane, Bethlehem, N.H., off Route 302, 1/2 mile from Exit 40 of I-93; or 603-225-3757. Open daily through Columbus Day, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Self-guided tour. Free admission; donations welcome.

ALTAUSSEE, Austria – Dirndls, lederhosen, an oom-pah-pah band and beer: It doesn"t get more traditional than this when the sleepy Austrian village of Altaussee wakes up for a nonstop beer party, Sept. 4-6.

ALTAUSSEE, Austria – Dirndls, lederhosen, an oom-pah-pah band and beer: It doesn"t get more traditional than this when the sleepy Austrian village of Altaussee wakes up for a nonstop beer party, Sept. 4-6.

The annual three-day beer fest is sometimes described as a more intimate and less commercial version of Germany"s Oktoberfest. It marks its 50th anniversary this year in Altaussee, a quaint hamlet located 186 miles (300 kilometers) west of Vienna.

Showing up in traditional garb is a must. So if you"ve ever wanted to don an Austrian dirndl or lounge around in lederhosen and knee socks for a few days — this is your chance.

Organized by the local fire department, the annual beer fest draws both droves of locals and a large crowd from the Austrian capital.

It was with one of these Viennese groups that I decided to make the trip last year.

Within minutes of our arrival, the owner of the inn we stayed at welcomed us with a hearty "Griass eich!" (an informal greeting in the local dialect). We had entered another world where talk revolved not around politics or the financial crisis but about the strength of the local schnapps.

The epicenter of the event is the so-called beer tent ("Bierzelt" in German) crammed with wooden benches, tables and counters selling sausages, roast chicken and, of course, beer. From a stage in the center, bands pump out "oom-pah-pah" tunes that, in the early hours of Sunday morning, oddly enough included an Austrian rendition of "The Final Countdown." A small fairground lies to one side the tent, complete with rides and stalls selling sweets and gingerbread hearts.

As the tent fills up to maximum capacity, you might consider securing a spot at the Wirtschaft Altaussee, an inn a stone"s throw away where, as the night wears on, patrons are known to dance on tables to Austrian and German pop songs. Or for a more formal dinner, try the restaurant at the Gasthof zum Hirschen where we spotted Hannes Androsch, a well-known entrepreneur and former Austrian finance minister.

The festivities also attract people from farther field.

Take Ronnie McGeehan for example, a Scotsman who lives in the German city of Erlangen.

"There"s a great atmosphere here," he said while waiting in line to try the tent"s much-touted chicken.

Or John Semone, from San Francisco, who described the weekend as "something quite different and traditional."

"You see a lot of pretty girls — and good-looking guys too," he added.

Which brings us back to the all-important dress code.

Although I"m half-Austrian, I have to admit that the idea of squeezing myself into a dirndl didn"t entice me much at first. But ladies, let me tell you — the outfit flatters any body type. Granted, the tight-fitting bodice does make it a tad tough to breathe but after a while, well, you adapt!

Guys can choose between above-the-knee or somewhat longer knickerbocker-style lederhosen. But even a traditional green blazer paired with long leather pants or dark jeans does the trick.

If late-night carousing in green socks isn"t your thing, Altaussee has other attractions.

Located on a shimmering lake and surrounded by majestic mountains, it"s paradise for people who like the outdoors. A perfect way to soak in the area"s beauty is to hike to the Jagdhaus Seewiese, a hunting lodge known for its homemade pastries. Less athletic types can opt for a scenic boat ride there and back.

Altaussee also boasts its fair share of beautifully maintained old farmhouses, so strolling the streets gives you a sense of what life was like in times past.

A perfect time for traipsing through town is Sunday when dozens of booths line the main drag to the beer tent, offering goodies that range from toys and handmade jewelry, to herbal remedies and hiking boots.

About those hiking boots: While it may sound like a complete fashion faux pas, they are the perfect footwear for dirndl-wearing women since the weather in this part of Austria can quickly turn wet and chilly. I learned this lesson firsthand when it took me days to scrape the mud off my moccasins.

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If You Go ...

ALTAUSSEE: Located about a three-hour drive from Vienna along the A1 Westautobahn. You can also take the train to nearby Bad Aussee but be prepared to switch at least once if you"re coming from the Austrian capital. While the ride takes almost four hours, the train winds its way through stunning landscapes. Salzburg is about 100 kilometers (62 miles) or an hour"s drive, away.

LODGING: The Gasthof zum Hirschen — with nightly rates beginning at $92 or 73 euros through early September — is just steps from the beer tent. It has clean, modern rooms with solid windows that keep out the noise for those who choose not to party all night. The staff is friendly and served breakfast for late risers last year well after 11 a.m., which is unheard of in Austria. If you"re looking for lodging with lake and mountain views, try the upscale Hotel am See with nightly rates beginning at $94 or 75 euro through early September.

OTHER AREA ATTRACTIONS: Take a tour of a salt mine in the nearby town of Hallstatt followed by lunch or dinner on the local lake.

DIABLO, Wash. – For their 10th wedding anniversary, Kori Crane"s husband handed her a check and told her she could only spend it on an art class.

DIABLO, Wash. – For their 10th wedding anniversary, Kori Crane"s husband handed her a check and told her she could only spend it on an art class.

Not just any art class.

Crane designed and painted silk scarves in the remote wilderness of North Cascades National Park, drawing on the majestic mountains and towering pines for inspiration.

Nestled at the foot of Sourdough Mountain and on the shore of Diablo Lake, the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center is home to fine arts, writing, cultural and natural history courses, as well as family weekends that include kayaking, hiking, boating and fun.

Front and center, though, is the wilderness. One of the most remote national parks in the U.S., North Cascades offers miles of hiking trails, abundant wildlife and panoramic views of rugged peaks and glacier-fed lakes far from an urban center.

Crane, 39, of Mount Vernon, Wash., had visited the lodge once before for a hiking day. Already an active quilter and fiber artist but recovering from a recent shoulder injury, she made the trip to the North Cascades last year aiming to try something new.

"I enjoy color a lot, so really being able to play with color on a grand scale is wonderful," she said. "The atmosphere is inspiring for art."

Seattle City Light built the five-acre facility as part of its Skagit River dam license for hydropower. The nonprofit North Cascades Institute manages the 16-building campus, which opened in 2005, and its adult course offerings help finance youth education programs.

Molly Hashimoto has traveled to the lodge for six years to teach watercolor classes, and the getaway hasn"t lost its magic.

"For me, it"s the ease of getting outdoors, and the beauty is unparalleled. The scale — it"s awesome," she said. "You wouldn"t find that many places in the country where you can see from sea level to a mountain peak, almost a vertical mile. It"s awe-inspiring."

The center"s wood floors and cedar walls are warm, earthy and inviting, with buildings named after trees found in the nearby woods: pine, maple, cedar, fir. The dining room overlooks the lake, where boat tours glide by. Meals are included and feature local, often organic, ingredients.

It"s already drawn visitors from across the country.

Donna Woodland, 49, of Montoursville, Pa., traveled with a friend from Oregon to work on watercolor landscapes, a progression from her nature journals and sketches at home.

"If I don"t draw for a few days or weeks, I find it affects my mood," she said. "This forces me to draw around other people. Otherwise this is a solitary thing, and everyone sees things differently. You get feedback."

Gazing across Diablo Lake at Colonial and Pyramid peaks, Hashimoto said she"d like to see more young people sign up for art courses. People with young families tend toward the family getaway weekends, she said, and people without families "are just working too hard."

"Art is one of those things people should splurge on for themselves," she said.

One of her regular students, Len Eisenhood of Seattle, also made the trip with his wife for their 40th wedding anniversary. She took a journaling course, while he focused on his watercolors.

"We love the Northwest, and to have this time dedicated to being in this gorgeous setting dawn to dusk was something to say yes to," he said. "It"s a privilege to be here and have this time."

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If You Go...

NORTH CASCADES INSTITUTE: Diablo, Wash.; or 360-854-2599. Space is still available in North Cascades Institute courses this summer, including writing about the outdoors, wildlife tracking and autumn watercolors. Loosely structured outdoors weekends for adults, called "Diablo Downtime," are scheduled at least once a month through October. A new base camp program allows visitors to extend their visits with daily activities, including natural history instruction, games, presentations, campfires, night hikes and wilderness skills.

ACCOMMODATIONS AND RATES: Prices vary by course, with a three-day class, including a two-night stay and all meals, averaging about $215 per person for a three-person room, $295 per person for double occupancy, and $455 for a single private room. Guest lodge rooms include one twin bed and a set of twin bunk beds. Bring your own bedding and towels.

GETTING THERE: Diablo Lake, just off the North Cascades Highway in north-central Washington, is about a three-hour drive from Seattle. Travel north on Interstate 5, then east on Highway 20, which becomes the North Cascades Highway.

NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK:

BAHIA DE LOS ANGELES, Mexico – Everyone got excited when the 20-foot-shark, inches below the surface of the water, started circling slowly under our little fiberglass boat and wouldn"t leave.

BAHIA DE LOS ANGELES, Mexico – Everyone got excited when the 20-foot-shark, inches below the surface of the water, started circling slowly under our little fiberglass boat and wouldn"t leave.

What to do? Get in the water, of course.

"This is special," said our guide, Christina Colpitts, as three passengers from our boat eased into the tepid Sea of Cortez and swam carefully toward the creature to get a snorkel-eye view.

Anyone who saw a "Sharks of the World" poster as a youngster surely felt the mystique of the whale shark, largest shark in the world and biggest fish in the sea. Lurking behind the other shark species — bigger, even, than the mighty great white — the enormous size and peculiar spots of the whale shark stood out.

Very definitely the whale shark was coolest of all sharks.

The Sea of Cortez, a three-hour flight south of San Diego, is one of the few places in the world where whale sharks congregate predictably. They start showing up in summer, with peak season for whale shark-watching from the start of September through the end of October. My trip was run by a small San Diego-based company called Baja Airventures.

"We"ve had a lot of people who"ve gone on our trips and they"ve been down to Australia, they"ve been off of Belize and they"ve been all over the place and had yet to be able to snorkel with whale sharks," said Baja Airventures owner Kevin Warren. "Our last five years in a row, every one of our trips we saw them throughout the trip."

Baja Airventures flies its guests in single-engine planes to the remote Mexican fishing village of Bahia de los Angeles, population 500. From there, basic but powerful and seaworthy 26-foot boats shuttle guests another hour south to the rustic Las Animas Wilderness Lodge on a turquoise cove.

The Baja Airventures pilots also serve as knowledgeable guides, leading guests in small groups to kayak, fish, hike and snorkel with whale sharks and the other abundant sea life in the area.

Just be ready to rough it. You must enjoy sleeping in little more than a tent and doing without electricity and running water — not to mention no television, Internet or cell phone service.

"I want to be completely self-sustaining out there," said Warren, adding that he would like to install a desalination unit to supply water and intends to replace the resort"s only generator with solar panels.

Whale sharks grow up to 40 feet but have very small teeth and aren"t predatory. That means they won"t try to eat you. Gentle giants, they gather each fall at Bahia de Los Angeles — almost halfway down the Baja Peninsula on the Sea of Cortez — to filter-feed on microscopic organisms called plankton.

The sharks swim slowly near the surface, keeping their large mouths open to gorge on the clouds of plankton that color the water jade that time of year.

"Absolutely mysterious and absolutely still very rare," said Jason Holmberg with the Ecocean Whale Shark Photo ID Laboratory. "The more we discover about them, the more our preconceptions about them, even from a few years ago, are shattered."

The Portland, Ore.-based nonprofit is deciphering the migration patterns of whale sharks. To do that, the group collects and catalogs underwater photographs of whale sharks taken by divers and snorkelers.

Holmberg employs sophisticated software to examine the light-colored spots unique to each shark. He then looks for matches among the more than 10,000 photos in his database. When he finds a match, he notes where that shark has been photographed before.

"Tourism definitely helps with the conservation, because it"s only through large-scale data collection that we can get a picture of the species," Holmberg said.

The Mexican government also seems concerned about whale sharks, marking off with buoys the part of Bahia de los Angeles where whale sharks congregate and enforcing rules for interacting with the animals. Chasing or herding sharks isn"t allowed. No more than three people per boat may be in the water at any time. Touching sharks is prohibited.

Whale sharks have recently been in the news because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, with some seen swimming near and through the oil in the Gulf of Mexico. But the Sea of Cortez population is off the west coast of Mexico, while the Gulf waters are on the other side, well east of Mexico.

Those who make the trip with Baja Airventures must be willing to rough it a bit. Accommodations are in spacious yurts — a type of large, round tent with a conical top, traditional housing of Mongolian nomads. Baja Airventures has eight beachside yurts for lodging plus a larger, central yurt for dining and entertainment at its Las Animas Wilderness Lodge.

The yurts have no electricity. And there"s no running water — guests carry water for their showers in 5-gallon bags and set them in the sun to warm up. There are composting toilets.

The single-engine Piper Cherokee planes Baja Airventures operates are comfortable and smooth-flying but small, able to carry no more than six passengers plus the pilot. For an entire week, guests are limited to no more than 15 pounds of tightly packed clothes, toiletries, camera gear and anything else they think they might need.

In other words, don"t expect to dress to impress.

"We strive to make it more like a trip you would make with friends and family," said Warren, who began flying to Baja to explore surfing opportunities on the peninsula"s west coast and has been in business 20 years.

While the accommodations are primitive, the food at the lodge is not. Two outstanding cooks prepare authentic Mexican meals, often using fresh fish caught right offshore. And the camp"s remoteness doesn"t impede its ample supply of Mexican beer — which always tastes better in Mexico — and Colpitts makes a mean margarita.

Best of all, though, is the scenery and wildlife. The desert landscape roughened by volcanic rock and 30-foot cardon cactus tumbles unimpeded into the ocean from nearby mountaintops. Cliffs that seem about to crumble into the water at any moment host crowds of pelicans and boobys while osprey and frigate birds circle above.

And there is nothing like the experience of floating still next to a creature many times your size, hearing the soft swish of water and wondering what this mellow fish might be thinking with its beady eye watching you.

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If You Go...

BAJA AIRVENTURES: or 800-221-9283. Packages start at $1,595 for four days, including all lodging, meals, drinks and frequent excursions to see whale sharks and other adventures. Whale sharks can be seen throughout the summer but peak season is beginning of September through end of October. Baja Airventures offers whale-dolphin and sea-lion watching tours in February and March.

GETTING THERE: Baja Airventures trips depart from Brown Field, a small airport in San Diego right across from the Tijuana border. The planes refuel at San Felipe, Mexico, about halfway to Bahia de Los Angeles. Pack lightly: The company requires guests to sign an agreement to honor its 25-pound luggage limit.

BAHIA DE LOS ANGELES:

WHALE SHARK TRACKING:

STOCKHOLM – Fans of the late crime novelist Stieg Larsson are getting lost in the Swedish countryside, searching for the quaint town of Hedestad featured in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."

STOCKHOLM – Fans of the late crime novelist Stieg Larsson are getting lost in the Swedish countryside, searching for the quaint town of Hedestad featured in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."

The problem is, it doesn"t exist.

But international readers of Larsson"s best-selling Millennium crime trilogy could be excused for thinking otherwise, because most locations in the books are authentic.

Some of them include the Kaffebar cafe in Stockholm — a favorite haunt of Larsson"s fictional journalist Mikael Blomqvist — and the Kvarnen bar, where Larsson has tattooed computer hacker Lisbeth Salander spending evenings with her friends from the rock band Evil Fingers.

Both places are located on the trendy island of Sodermalm, a former working-class area with narrow streets where old wooden cottages are squeezed between 20th century stone houses.

The hilly Stockholm district — with popular bars, fashion stores and art galleries — is one of many islands that form the city center and the home of Larsson"s characters.

Blomqvist and Salander, the trilogy"s main characters, both have apartments there. Salander"s friendly first legal guardian Holger Palmgren also lived there before he was hospitalized.

Eager Millennium fans can take the Stockholm City Museum"s Larsson tour, an increasingly popular pastime for aficionados who visit the Swedish capital. Or they can venture out on their own, visiting the scenes of Blomqvist"s and Salander"s exploits with maps provided by the tourist office.

Starting with Blomqvist"s small apartment in the brown 19th century building at 1 Bellmansgatan, Millennium fans can relive the books" plots in the real settings, while listening to the guide"s detailed descriptions.

"It is great to identify the addresses and see what the buildings look like," said Roland Ojeda, a retired banker from San Francisco, who took the tour in June with his wife, Linda. "I think it brings it to life."

Larsson"s books about a darker side of Sweden, where Blomqvist and Salander become involved in murder mysteries, sex trafficking scandals and a secret government department, have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.

The tour has attracted visitors from as faraway as Japan, Canada and Australia, said Eva Palmqvist, who leads the museum"s tour.

"I think a lot of people want to savor the experience, the story and the characters," Palmqvist said. "I think they want to see this and feel the atmosphere."

During the two-hour walk, Palmqvist guides the group past the scenic Monteliusvagen, a promenade overlooking other islands that are home to some of the more dubious characters in the book. The guide makes the point that Larsson"s good characters live in one area, while the evil ones live elsewhere.

"When Stieg Larsson started to write the story in 2001, he decided that Sodermalm, where he also lived, was to become the land of the good people," Palmqvist says, smiling.

"Those that are not presented so nicely, they live in other parts of Stockholm, like Ostermalm, for example," she adds, pointing to the east.

Palmqvist also points out the courthouse where Blomqvist is put on trial in the first book and the home of Salander"s second guardian, the evil Nils Bjurman, located in the northern part of Stockholm by Odenplan.

The group continues past a small Lebanese eatery on 22 Tavastgatan, which is believed to be the inspiration for Samir"s, the restaurant where Blomqvist dines several times.

From there, it"s just a short walk to Kaffebar on the wide, bustling street of Hornsgatan.

The cafe, renamed Mellqvists Kaffebar in 2008, is frequently visited by coffee-quaffing Blomqvist and was also one of Larsson"s favorite spots, before he died of a heart attack in 2004 at age 50.

"This is where Lisbeth Salander will ask Mikael for a loan so that she can go to Zurich," Palmqvist chuckled.

The picturesque, hilly streets of Sodermalm have also inspired other writers.

Leading Swedish 20th century authors, such as Ivar Lo Johansson and Per Anders Fogelstrom, both lived here and described the neighborhood"s working-class history in classics, including Fogelstrom"s "City of My Dreams."

Playwright August Strindberg"s famous novel, "The Red Room," also describes Stockholm as seen from a spot in Sodermalm near Salander"s 21-room luxury apartment on Fiskargatan 9, where the tour ends.

The tour doesn"t quite stretch to Salander"s other, gloomy, apartment on Lundagatan at the western end of Sodermalm, or to the Kvarnen bar on Tjarhovsgatan, which Salander regularly visits and where she once kisses another character, Miriam Wu, in front of Blomqvist.

But the places are marked on the map and are worth a visit.

Kvarnen, with its tall ceilings and arched windows, has been in the same spot for more than 100 years. A popular working-class bar and home drinking hole for fans of Hammarby football club, it serves traditional Swedish fare like pickled herring, deer stew and meatballs.

Dedicated Larsson fans may also want to visit Sandhamn in the outer Stockholm archipelago, where Blomqvist has a small cottage that acts as a refuge from his hectic city life.

Boats to the popular resort island, with its red fishing huts, bare cliffs and small sand beaches, depart daily from Strandvagen in downtown Stockholm and take roughly two hours.

Then there is always Hedestad — often vividly imagined by Larsson"s readers but nowhere to be found along the coast north of Stockholm, as described in the books.

Still, there is one way to get to know Hedestad — the sleepy town of Gnesta, 45 miles (70 kilometers) south of Stockholm.

This is the place used to illustrate Hedestad in the Swedish movie of Larsson"s books, with signs about the town showing filming locations.

"Last year, some Italian guys came here just because of the books," says Jonathan Olsson at Gnesta"s tourist office. "We have printed a brochure about the sites."

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If You Go...

MILLENNIUM TOUR: . Two-hour tour of sites associated with the Stieg Larsson Millennium crime trilogy, including "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." Offered Wednesdays at 6 p.m. or Saturdays at 11 a.m., departing from 1 Bellmansgatan. Tickets are $16 or 120 Swedish kronor and can be purchased at Stockholm City Museum, the Stockholm Tourist Centre, or online at .

WALKING ON YOUR OWN: Buy the Millennium map for $5 or 40 Swedish kronor at the Stockholm City Museum, or the Stockholm Tourist Centre.

PARIS – It was a family vacation that required more preparation and planning than any other trip my husband and I had ever taken: 16 days, five countries, and four kids, ages 22, 19, 13 and 8.

PARIS – It was a family vacation that required more preparation and planning than any other trip my husband and I had ever taken: 16 days, five countries, and four kids, ages 22, 19, 13 and 8.

The six of us visited Luxembourg, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. We mostly rode trains, including one overnight trip, and we stayed in hotels and apartments.

It was the first time any of us, minus our oldest, had visited Europe, so family and friends offered valuable advice, hoping we"d enjoy the same experiences they"d had and avoid making their mistakes. We learned our own lessons as well, since no one we knew had traveled with six, and only one family we knew had taken children along.

We aren"t calling our vacation the "trip of a lifetime," because we certainly will go back again. But we did learn a few practical things about how to travel. Here are eight tips for a family vacation in Europe — four things we"d do again, and four we"d do differently, based on our experiences.

FOUR THINGS WE WOULD DO AGAIN:

_Pack light. I early on had made a rule, which I secretly doubted we could follow. Everyone would bring only carry-on luggage, a quality backpack that did not have to be checked.

Having minimal luggage made switching trains less hassle and also made everyone responsible for their own stuff. Another benefit was that my husband and I always had a free hand to hold onto our 8-year-old when making those train switches. We also thought we might be less of a target for thieves because we didn"t have to set our luggage down while checking the details of our next train ride.

Everyone brought just five or six shirts and several pairs of pantsYou can always handwash or do a laundry if you need to. With six of us, there were more than enough people to carry 3-ounce bottles of shampoo and other toiletries through the airport security. If we needed anything more, the experience of shopping at foreign markets was part of the adventure.

When our flight arrived about 40 minutes early in Zurich, Switzerland, we had four minutes to catch a train to Luxembourg City that cut our travel time from five hours to three. We did it, but checked luggage would have prevented this.

_Bring walking shoes, not sneakers. We all were thankful for our "adventure shoes" with Vibram or Vibram-type soles when climbing rain-slicked hills and mountains to see sites such as King Ludwig II"s Neuschwantstein castle near Fussen, Germany, and the Hohensalzburg Fortress in Salzburg, Austria. And of course we walked miles daily in addition. The adventure shoes provided the traction and support needed for exploring.

Despite their less-than-stylish appearance to my 13-year-old, they were much more comfortable and practical than tennis shoes. She wore them every day.

_Rent apartments. Many hotels in Europe did not have family rooms or quads available, and we had trouble even finding hotels with three doubles to book.

But apartments were the perfect alternative. In Paris, we rented an apartment for five nights, and in Munich, we rented another for six nights. The Paris apartment cost slightly less than hotels, and it was just a half-block from Notre Dame Cathedral, in the heart of the city. We had the convenience of a kitchen for breakfast and a few other meals, while also being able to regroup around the table each night.

Our apartment in Munich, which accommodated eight, was even larger than we needed and provided the same conveniences. It also was near the train station, where all of our tours departed, and was within walking distance of most major sights.

To connect with apartment owners and preview our lodgings, we used two of the many online vacation rental sites: Paris Attitude, and HomeAway, .

_Arrive early for train travel. We arrived 20-30 minutes before our departure times to make sure we could sit together. Trains with the most direct routes were especially likely to be crowded.

We took our seats early as well for the TGV or high-speed train from Metz, France, to Paris, even though we had reservations. We were thankful we had after another traveler showed us the same ticket for one of our seats; apparently the train had been double-booked.

FOUR THINGS WE"D DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME:

_Trust train-station storage for those backpacks. In Luxembourg City, our first stop, my husband and I weren"t completely comfortable locking up our packs in storage because the building was separate from the station.

After checking out of our hotel, we had four hours before our train left for France. The six of us walked around the city with our packs, preventing all of us from checking out a store together or sitting down at a cafe in the shopping area because we were so bulky.

But in Munich, when we arrived about five hours before we could drop off our packs at our apartment, we stored our luggage at the train station. It gave us more flexibility and our children thanked us.

_Ask for children"s portions at restaurants. A number of restaurants offered children"s portions or even a children"s menu, even though the regular menu never indicated such. We learned to ask in part because waiters often were reluctant to take my 8-year-old"s plate if any food was left, even when it was clear she and the rest of us were done eating.

_Carry small bills and enough cash to cover a meal. We used ATMs throughout Europe to get cash frequently in increments of 70 or 100 euros. We often received 50 euro bills, which some merchants would not accept unless our bill was close to that amount.

Also, some restaurants do not accept Visa or MasterCard. At a restaurant in Berchtesgaden, Germany, we were caught off-guard when we were told that credit cards were not accepted. We covered the bill for our meal by dipping into our 8-year-old"s birthday-present euros in my bag. We later repaid her.

_Stick to traditional-sized postcards for writing home. We had sent e-mails updating family on our travels, but my children wanted to send postcards to a few friends and their grandparents, mainly because the large cutout postcards of beer and pretzels at the Hofbrauhaus were so fun. The larger postcards cost 6 euro, or nearly $8, to mail in Munich, while regular postcards cost 1 euro. We spent 20 euros — $25 — mailing five postcards.

MIAMI – It"s not the largest cruise ship in the world, but the newly launched Norwegian Epic, making its maiden port call to Miami this week, has plenty of firsts and superlatives to brag about.

MIAMI – It"s not the largest cruise ship in the world, but the newly launched Norwegian Epic, making its maiden port call to Miami this week, has plenty of firsts and superlatives to brag about.

It"s the first ship to offer studios for single passengers. It has the largest spa on any cruise ship. And its entertainment and lifestyle options make it a floating Las Vegas, where passengers can go from getting a shot of Botox to front-row seats to see Blue Man Group or a circus called Cirque Dreams and Dinner. Elsewhere on board, there are 20 restaurants to choose from.

Epic debuted last month, leaving England for its first trip across the Atlantic. The ship spent July 4 in New York City and arrived in Miami Wednesday. It is due to set sail Saturday on its first official cruise to the Caribbean.

The 1,081-foot-long ship weighs in at over 150,000 tons, has a capacity of 4,100 passengers, and is the latest in a string of enormous new megaships ordered by the ambitious cruise industry.

Andrew Stuart, executive vice president for global sales and passenger services with Norwegian Cruise Line, is confident Epic will do well despite the lagging economy.

He said what sets Epic apart from even larger ships like Royal Caribbean"s Oasis of the Seas, which launched last year, and Allure of the Seas, launching later this year, is its wide-ranging entertainment options.

"The brands tell the story," Stuart said, pointing out the cruise line"s exclusive agreement with Nickelodeon to have characters like SpongeBob SquarePants aboard, and the presence of established acts like Second City comedy and Blue Man Group.

"We"ll attract people by having the most exciting ship in the industry," he said.

This is a ship full of mosts, firsts and other superlatives.

It has more than 2,100 guest rooms, including 128 single-occupancy rooms — the first ship to provide rooms designed for one.

For kids, it has a rappelling wall, the biggest slides in its on-deck waterpark, and the most bowling lanes at sea.

For adults, the spa offers three different kinds of massages, teeth whitening, acupuncture and a medi-spa doctor on hand to administer Botox and other cosmetic injections. Its casino is Norwegian Cruise Line"s largest, with additional slot machines lining the entrances of many of the ship"s 20 bars and lounges.

For foodies, restaurants include a sushi bar, steakhouse and French cuisine.

The all-inclusive atmosphere is what travel agents say is sustaining the expansion of the cruise industry in a time when most industries are cutting back.

Wes Rowland, president and CEO of the online travel agency , said bigger ships like Epic are filling a niche in the market for those who like all the onboard options and amenities.

"Some people love megaships and some people love smaller ships," he said.

Rowland said the new megaships don"t risk crowding the market because much of its potential remains untapped, with 85 percent of the public never having gone on a cruise.

Andy Melilli, vice president of the same company, said Epic"s entertainment options and other attractions will generate bookings.

"I think people want to take a vacation, and they want to have it all," he said. "That"s what these ships are trying to provide, they"re like a floating resort. You can do it all, or do nothing."

The ship was launched with a string of high-profile inaugural ceremonies. It hosted the live TV broadcast of Macy"s July Fourth fireworks in New York and was christened by country music star Reba McEntire, who was named the ship"s godmother.

Dwain Wall, senior vice president and general manager of CruiseOne travel agency, said the fanfare helps attracts customers. "When you"re dealing with frequent cruisers, they always want to be on the newest ship."

Wall, a 30-year veteran of the industry, said cruising keeps getting bigger and bigger.

"Millions more people cruise now," he said. Once you"re on board, "you don"t have to worry about what you"re going to spend on food, on entertainment. It"s a great value."

(This version corrects name of circus in second paragraph to Cirque Dreams and Dinner)

CLEWISTON, Fla. – The Florida Everglades are home to snakes and gators, and now they"re the setting for a cable show called "Swamp Men."

CLEWISTON, Fla. – The Florida Everglades are home to snakes and gators, and now they"re the setting for a cable show called "Swamp Men."

The show takes viewers behind the scenes of an eco-tour company, Billie Swamp Safari, as the staff rescues and relocates wildlife on the Big Cypress Seminole reservation.

But visitors can explore the almost-untouched swamp firsthand on both land and water, with Billie Swamp Safari"s airboat tour and swamp buggy ride. Tourists can also watch a critter show and sample traditional Seminole fry bread and even gator nuggets at the Swampwater Cafe.

"Swamp Men" began airing on the National Geographic Wild channel in May. New episodes will begin airing in the fall.

But the swamp tours date back to 1992, bringing in student field trips from local schools and tourists from all over. Tour participants on a recent summer day came from not just South Florida, but as far away as Virginia, Hungary and Pakistan.

Tour guide Hans Lago has something to say about almost every living thing in the swamp as he navigates his airboat through the water. Lago stops the ride to point out the kind of cypress trees from which the Seminoles traditionally carved canoes. He says the elusive ghost orchid really isn"t all that hard to find — if you know where to look. And when large gators start swimming up to the boat, he explains the reptiles never stop growing until they die.

Joe Casey came to the park from New Jersey with his wife, son and daughter. He said it"s different from the parts of Florida he"s seen before — Walt Disney World and the beach.

"You gotta see the alligators," he said. "You see them on TV, but you don"t see them on the beach, you see them here."

There are plenty of alligators to be seen during one of the park"s 20-minute airboat rides.

Lago said he can never predict what he"ll see each time he takes a group out.

Around the first bend might be a school of fish, some lazing turtles or a rare Florida panther skulking. Or there might be a water buffalo chewing on mangrove cud — although water buffalo, along with some of the other animals you might encounter like bison and ostriches, are not native. They were taken in from exotic animal farms, where some, like the ostriches, might have been killed as surplus.

On parts of the tour, the water is as slick and smooth as mirrored glass, not the brackish muck you"d expect to find in the Everglades. On others, it"s exactly as imagined: dark, dank and full of gators.

The buggy tours are a different type of excursion. Here the tourists are caged in and the animals roam free. Each buggy is as tall as a house, with a waist-high frame of latticed iron surrounding the elevated seats.

At one point, guide Matthew McLean got out of the buggy to demonstrate how the sabal palm, Florida"s state tree, could be used to make shelter, a fishing harpoon and even dinner — hearts of palm, anyone?

And that"s not the only edible here. There"s also the shoestring fern, which can be boiled to make a stomach-calming tea, and marshmallow plants, which yield a sweet treat after growing in — you guessed it — the marshes (though today"s confections are usually made with substitute ingredients).

McLean also pointed out a murky, albeit innocuous-looking pool of water. Surrounded by pop ash trees, it"s actually a patch of a quicksand-like substance. Past excavations of the small pond have yielded centuries-old Spanish armor.

McLean said the Seminoles also used the treacherous bits of swamp to trap U.S. soldiers while fighting to retain control of their land. The outnumbered tribe fought the U.S. Army three times between 1817 and 1842. In the end, about 3,800 Seminoles were forcibly removed to Oklahoma but the 500 who remained never signed a peace treaty with the federal government. To this day, their descendents call themselves the "Unconquered People."

Ed Woods, park director at Billie Swamp Safari, said he hopes both the "Swamp Men" show and park tours help educate people about Florida wildlife. But he doesn"t want kids to think that they should be handling snakes or alligators the way the staff does in their show. He doesn"t like the term "alligator wrestling," and he points out that the handlers here wears special safety gear.

"We"re not here to show, we"re here to educate," Woods said, adding: "There ain"t no reason to stick your head into an alligator"s mouth."

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If You Go...

BILLIE SWAMP SAFARI: Everglades eco-tour, Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation, Clewiston, Fla.; or 863-983-6101. Airboat rides run daily every half-hour from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; $15 a person. Swamp buggy tours run every hour from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; adults, $25; children ages 4-12, $15. Alligator and snake shows run daily, 2:15 p.m.; adults, $8; children, $4 (free for 3 and under).

GETTING THERE: From Miami, take Interstate 95 north to 595 west to Interstate 75 (Alligator Alley) north. Take exit 49 and follow signs 19 miles to park entrance.

SWAMP MEN CABLE SHOW: