Travel Briefs

CLEVELAND

Surf Ballroom named rock landmark

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has added the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, to its list of designated rock 'n' roll landmarks.

The Surf was where Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens played their final gig on Feb. 2, 1959. The three died in a plane crash after the performance. The anniversary is being marked with a weeklong commemoration culminating in an anniversary concert Monday at the Surf.

Other sites in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Landmark Series are the Whisky-a-Go-Go in Los Angeles where the Doors were resident performers; Brooklyn High School in Brooklyn, Ohio, where Elvis played his first concert north of the Mason-Dixon line; and The Crossroads in Clarksdale, Miss., cradle of the blues.

For more information about the Surf anniversary event, which is called "50 Winters Later," visit www.50winterslater.com. While the Surf Ballroom is still a venue for concerts and other events, there is also a museum at the site dedicated to preserving musical history. Details at www.surfballroom.com.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is located in Cleveland but recently opened an annex in New York City at 76 Mercer St.; details at www.rockhall.com.

CHICAGO

Travel guide names five-star properties

The 2009 Mobil Travel Guide honored three of Steve Wynn's Las Vegas properties -- Tower Suites Las Vegas, Alex restaurant and the Spa at Wynn -- with five stars.

Sea Island Resorts also won multiple five-star awards from Mobil -- for its hotels, The Cloister in Sea Island, Ga., and the Lodge at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Ga., as well as for its Georgian Room restaurant and the Cloister Spa.

The complete list of Mobil Travel Guide winners and reviews is at www. mobiltravelguide.com. The 2009 awards were announced Jan. 22.

Mobil awarded five stars to 44 hotels in all. In addition to The Cloister, properties appearing on the list for the first time included The Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary, N.C., and Skylofts at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Four new restaurants earned five stars, bringing the total earning Mobil's highest rating in the U.S. and Canada to 20. The new additions include Kai Restaurant in Chandler, Ariz., Lautrec in Farmington, Pa., Studio in Laguna Beach, Calif., and Addison in San Diego.

Spas added to Mobil's five-star list for the first time, in addition to Wynn's and the Cloister, are Spa Gaucin at St. Regis Monarch Beach in Dana Point, Calif.; The Spa at Mandarin Oriental in Miami, and The Mayflower Spa at The Mayflower Inn in Washington, Conn.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

Ski areas all offering ski helmet rentals

All of New Mexico's ski areas will now offer helmet rentals for skiers or snowboarders under age 18.

State Sen. Eric Griego had been planning to introduce legislation to require slopes around the state to offer the rentals, but the ski industry beat him to it.

The issue became moot after Griego approached ski industry officials. He learned that only three of New Mexico's eight downhill ski areas -- Santa Fe, Sandia Peak and Pajarito Mountain -- didn't already offer such rentals.

The three ski areas have since agreed to begin renting youth helmets, said George Brooks, executive director of Ski New Mexico.

"The senator and the ski areas in New Mexico have the same interests," Brooks said. "We all want the consumers, our guests, to be safe and enjoy the sport."

Geraldine Link, director of public policy for the National Ski Areas Association, said no states mandate youth helmets on the slopes but most ski areas nationwide offer rental helmets and many parents choose to purchase helmets for their children.

"Through voluntary measures, we have achieved high usage rates," she said.

Griego became concerned about the availability of children's rental helmets after taking his godson skiing at Santa Fe Ski Basin on Dec. 30. He had promised the boy's parents he would put the kid in a helmet.

"I got up there and found out they didn't rent helmets," Griego recalled.

So he purchased a $70 helmet, the cheapest model offered. Griego said some were selling for as much as $300.

On the same day at the ski area, a 10-year-old girl from Bushland, Texas, died after crashing and sliding into a tree. She wasn't wearing a helmet; investigators said she sustained head trauma.

For more information, visit Ski New Mexico at www.skinewmexico.com/ or the National Association of Ski Areas youth helmet site: www.lidsonkids.org.

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind.

Casino hopes hotel will boost crowds

Fireworks marked the grand opening of Blue Chip Casino's new 22-story hotel tower, which it hopes will make it stand out among the area's gambling destinations.

The new hotel opened Jan. 22 in Michigan City. It cost $130 million to build and its 302 rooms join the 184 rooms in the original eight-story Blue Chip Tower.

The hotel overlooking Lake Michigan has a 1,200-seat theater, a luxury spa and new bars and restaurants.

Michigan City Mayor Chuck Oberlie says he expects the hotel to draw more people to the community, including its outlet mall and zoo and the neighboring Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

Blue Chip's business has dropped about 40 percent since the 2007 opening of the Four Winds Casino Resort in nearby New Buffalo, Mich.

HANOVER, N.H.

Club celebrates with Winter Carnival

The Dartmouth Outing Club is celebrating its 100th anniversary during Dartmouth's annual Winter Carnival on Feb. 13-15.

The free event is open to all, not just students.

The carnival will include a polar bear swim, ice skating, maple-syrup covered snow cones, sleigh rides and a human dogsled race, in which humans harnessed to sleds pull other people.

A near-lifesize ice sculpture of the Outing Club's Ravine Lodge also will be on display. The real lodge is 40 miles from Dartmouth on Mount Moosilauke.

The Dartmouth Outing Club was founded in 1909 by a Dartmouth student to "simulate interest in out-of-door winter sports." A winter field day was held in 1910, with snowshoeing and cross-country skiing, and the first carnival was held in 1911.

The carnival experienced its heyday in the 1930s when Boston ran special trains to Hanover for the event. It was even featured in a 1939 film called 'Winter Carnival."

Details at www.dartmouth.edu/sao/events/carnival/index.html.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad

Trinidad goes all out for Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras in the U.S. means New Orleans. In South America, it's Brazil, and in Europe, it's Venice.

But in the Caribbean, Trinidad is the place to be for carnival, with a celebration of culture, calypso and cuisine, complete with parades, elaborate costumes, bands and masquerade balls.

Carnival events begin in the days leading up to Mardi Gras, which falls on Feb. 24 this year. Festivities include Kiddies Carnival, where children and teenagers dress up and dance; the Panorama steel pan competition; a themed Masquerade Band of the Year contest with elaborate costumes and dancing; and Kings and Queens Costume Competition, where costumes of dragons, butterflies or insects can weigh up to 200 pounds and usually are attached to wheels for mobility, with special effects like fog, light shows and fireworks to impress the judges.

Another event, J'Ouvert, takes place before dawn on Carnival Monday. Revelers dress in old clothes and cover themselves in oil, grease, paint, chocolate or mud before parading to soca and calypso until the sun comes up.

Details at www. goTrinidadandTobago.com.