AirTran Fare Lowerfor “Rock’ Cruise

By Scott Richardson

AirTran fare lower for Rock’ cruise

AirTran Airways, which serves Bloomington-Normal, is the official airlines of the Rock the Boat Cruise from Miami to the Caribbean over the Martin Luther King holidays, Jan. 19-24.

Sail with Sister Hazel, Alternate Routes, Aslyn, Marc Broussard, Zac Brown Band, Andy Davis, Brett Dennen, David Ryan Harris, Keith Kane of Vertical Horizon, Josh Kelley, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers, Bain Mattox, Jon McLaughlin, Matt Nathanson, Glen Phillips, Sons of William and more.

Rock the Boat will visit Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

AirTran Airways offers guests of Rock the Boat a 10 percent discount on the lowest available one-way fare.

Call (866) 683-8368 and use the code MIA010608 for additional savings, including January and February Sixthman cruises.

For age restrictions and other information, check out www.therockboat.com.

Beauty on the wing

National wildlife refuges are inviting travelers to visit to see the annual fall migration of monarch butterflies.

The orange and black butterflies travel thousands of miles from where they first emerge from cocoons to a handful of overwintering sites in Central Mexico by mid-to-late October.

St. Marks Refuge on Florida’s Gulf Coast south of Tallahassee hosts the annual Butterfly Festival on the fourth Saturday of October each year, which is Oct. 27 this year.

Refuge Ranger Robin Will says the butterflies know to drop down and feed on salt bushes that bloom about the time they arrive. They wait there for the wind to shift offshore and carry them toward Mexico. The daylong festival has a tent filled with live butterflies and offers demonstrations of butterfly tagging, guided butterfly walks, butterfly talks and more.

St. Marks Refuge stretches 43 miles along the Florida coastline.

The refuge charges a $5 entry fee per vehicle. For more information call (850) 925-6121 or visit www.fws.gov/saintmarks.

Other refuges hosting butterfly events include the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge, which had 100,000 monarchs in one night; Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge in Texas; Quivira National Wildlife Refuge in Kansas; and Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Iowa.

Volunteers needed

The 14th annual National Public Lands Day is Sept. 29. Volunteers and tourists will work to improve the nation’s parks, forests, rivers, lakes and wetlands.

Federal officials say National Public Lands Day began in 1994 with three federal agencies and 700 volunteers. Last year, nearly 100,000 volunteers worked in 1,100 locations and in every state. Now, nine federal agencies and many state and local groups participate. The day is modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps that worked from 1933 to 1942 to preserve and protect America’s natural heritage.

Volunteer tourism is growing fast. Travelocity’s travel Web site reports a recent survey showing the percentage of travelers planning to volunteer during vacations this year nearly doubled over 2006, to 11 percent, and a Travel Industry Association survey showed one in four adults is interested in taking a volunteer or service-based vacation.

Check in with your favorite national park. Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois is looking for volunteers to work from Oct. 7 to 12 on trail maintenance and other jobs. Call (618) 687- 1731.

Disney prices rise

Walt Disney World raised ticket prices for third time in two years. An adult one-day, one-park pass increased 6 percent from $67 to $71. Discount packages also will be affected, but the per-day cost could be less than $23 for adults who buy as large as a 10-day package.

Disney officials told the Orlando Sentinel the change is due to an annual planning cycle of travel wholesalers, tour organizers and commercial publications.

The last price increase came about a year ago when a one-day, one- park ticket went from $63 to $67.

(c) 2007 Pantagraph. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.