Staying on Top of the World--by Getting Away

Even as Halley’s comet hurtles away from the sun, heading once more for deep space, Earthlings’ thoughts also turn again to the perennial question: “Where shall we go this summer?”

The comet has returned to the sun every 76 years for as long as anybody has noticed, not unlike the folks who return each summer to their cottage by the lake or a cabin in the hills.

Perhaps it matters less where we go than that we go somewhere. The men at Zephyr River Expeditions like to recall this quote from T. S. Eliot:

“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time.”

On the Mightiest Rivers

Zephyr heads for the white-water rapids of California’s mightiest rivers. These include the Tuolumne River, putting in near the Sierra town of Groveland for a thrilling 18-mile run through narrow gorges and incomparable rapids. They also navigate the Kings River southeast of Fresno, largest of the Sierra rivers; the mighty Merced out of Yosemite National Park; the south and middle forks of the American River.

The guides double as gourmet cooks once they’ve maneuvered the small rafts to safety. Trips cost up to $474 for a five-day itinerary. (Zephyr, P.O. Box 3607, Sonora, Calif. 95370, phone (209) 532-6249.)

One adventurer who has already battled the wildest rivers and climbed some of the highest mountains in the world is John Goddard, world explorer and film lecturer.

This summer Goddard will lead a white-water raft trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, Aug. 12-18. His group will start with a briefing and a party in Las Vegas. From there they’ll fly to Page, Ariz., and head for the river to board an 18-passenger J-Rig operated by Western River Expeditions.

The trip will cover 188 miles and go over 60 rapids. The cost is $1,195 from Las Vegas including meals and equipment. (Newporter Travel & Tours, 400 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach 92660, phone (714) 644-0360.)

The Expo Alternatives

Expo in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, is the destination for dozens of organized tours this summer. They offer an alternative to buying a plane ticket, dodging the traffic in a rental car and battling the crowds in the search for an empty hotel room.

A sampling:

--Friendly Excursions of Alhambra, phone (818) 289-3640, heads for Vancouver and Expo on June 27. The eight-day tour also takes in Seattle and Victoria. The price tag of $899 buys air fare to Seattle, motor-coach transportation between cities, a tour in each city, a three-day pass to Expo, an outing to Butchart Gardens in Victoria and some meals.

--Sunset Travel in Los Angeles, phone (213) 652-3044, waits for midsummer to do a Seattle-Victoria-Vancouver run. They depart July 15 for seven nights, charging $725 for air fare, first-class hotels, ferries, two dinners at the Empress Hotel and one day at Expo.

--At summer’s end, McHugh Travel Associates, North Hollywood, phone (818) 506-3245, tosses in a homebound cruise aboard Holland America’s Noordam after three days at Expo. Their group leaves Los Angeles Sept. 20, returning Sept. 26. Cost: $615 to $795.

Whodunit in Santa Barbara

Closer to home, the plot thickens mysteriously, very mysteriously. UC Santa Barbara, of all places, has devised a whodunit for amateur sleuths and mystery writers, starting (when else?) Friday the 13th.

The June weekend outing to the Inn at Morro Bay will be an attempt to solve the “murder of Laura Finch.” Participants will “witness” provocative scenes of mayhem, betrayal and . . . murder. Who knows? They might even become suspects themselves. Published authors are in on the plot and they’ll also address the assembled multitude on the “how to’s” of mystery writing. It’s all devilishly clever. A clue: The cost is $225 (for program, three meals and reception) plus hotel accommodations. (UCSB Extension, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93106.)

An Impressive Anniversary

Uniglobe Commerce Travel of Newport Beach, phone (714) 476-8383, has a pair of weekend tours in May and June to San Francisco to view the exhibit, “The New Painting: Impressionism,” at the Fine Arts Museum, marking the 100th anniversary of the first Impressionist shows in Paris.

The 150 masterworks from private collections from around the world include paintings of Cezanne, Gauguin, Degas, Pissaro, Renoir, Cassat, Seurat and Monet. The cost is $286 including air fare, two nights at the Hotel York, lunch at the Cliff House, breakfasts, a cocktail party and limousine service. Dates are May 16-18 and June 20-22.

Ron Steen, art historian and educator, has another trip to San Francisco for the Impressionists. His is in conjunction with the Automobile Club of Southern California, 801 E. Union St., Pasadena 91101. The group leaves Los Angeles the evening of July 3 and spends three nights at the Sheraton Hotel at Fisherman’s Wharf.

Besides the Fine Arts Museum, they’ll visit the Oakland Museum and the Palace of the Legion of Honor to view their collections of French and California Impressionism. The tour costs $498.

Ellis Island and Beyond

The Veracruz (Bahama Cruise Line) will depart New York July 5 after the celebration of the Statue of Liberty’s centennial anniversary. La Crescenta Travel, phone (818) 248-9292, is making arrangements for a group of West Coast passengers.

Ports of call on the one-week voyage are Newport, R.I., and Sydney, Nova Scotia, then along the St. Lawrence and Saguenay rivers to Quebec and Montreal. Prices range from $716 to $826 plus air fare from the West Coast. Extensions can be arranged in Montreal or New York.

Canada’s Maritimes are featured in Air Canada’s summer vacation program with 20 departure dates scheduled for tours of the Atlantic Coast provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Corliss Tours, of Monrovia, has 12-day escorted tours and UTL Holiday Tours has eight-day fly-drive programs.

Both tours include Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton Island, Peggy’s Cove and the most photographed lighthouse on the eastern seaboard, the Evangeline Trail, Baddeck (home of Alexander Graham Bell) and Prince Edward Island.

The UTL tours include seven nights’ hotel accommodations and use of a Tilden rental car. The price is $1,084 per person double occupancy, including air fare from Los Angeles.

The Corliss Tours include a tour director, hotel accommodations, local guides, motor-coach transportation, admissions to attractions and some meals. The cost is $1,731 per person double, including air fare. Phone Air Canada, (800) 422-6232, for details.

Cruising to the South

You can take a cruise aboard the Colonial Explorer, a 102-passenger vessel that cruises through the New England of the Pilgrims and patriots, the romantic Chesapeake Bay to Washington, and Colonial Williamsburg, or through the Old South with its pre-Civil War cities and contemporary sea-island resorts.

Colonial America cruises are the offering of Exploration Cruise Lines. The ship has all outside staterooms with twin- or queen-size beds and big windows. Its interior is designed in early American style and furnished with authentic reproductions, for a visual reminder of what life was like aboard the steamships that plied the eastern seaboard in the 1930s.

Departing Boston’s historic harbor, one-week New England cruises head for Nantucket, Mystic Seaport, Martha’s Vineyard and Plymouth.

Ten-night cruises use the Intracoastal Waterway between Florida and Washington and include stops for golf, shopping and swimming at sea islands dotted with luxury resorts as well as wild marshlands and piney woods. There’s also time to visit historic landmarks dating from Revolutionary days to the Civil War.

Exploration Cruise Line prices range from $1,395 to $3,395, with add-on air fare from Los Angeles of $335. Travel agents make the arrangements.

Closer to Home

In the Golden State, this season marks the 23rd year that river-boat service has been back in operation between San Francisco Bay and Sacramento.

The 500-passenger Prince docked at the Port of Sacramento on May 11, 1963. In 1968 a second vessel, the 500-passenger Emperor also began making the eight-hour cruise. Starting Saturday, and every weekend through October, the Emperor leaves San Francisco at 9 a.m. for the 91-mile trip that passes through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta with its myriad islands (886 in all) and more than 1,500 miles of inland waterways.

The river boat wends through three bays, past refineries, lighthouses, freighters and bridges, on a trip that’s fully narrated by a “Delta historian.” Two-day trips return to the Bay Area on Sunday.

One-way tickets cost $43. The round-trip cost is $99 including an overnight at Days Inn in Sacramento. (Delta Travel, phone (916) 372-3690.)

By Land and by Sea

Packages combining cruises and land arrangements are available through Mexico Travel Advisors, in cooperation with Princess Cruise Lines’ Island Princess and Sundance Cruise Lines’ Stardancer, with add-on air fares available.

The Island Princess sails on eight-day voyages between Los Angeles and Acapulco. A typical itinerary is the “Gran Colonial,” combining the cruise with a week’s tour from Acapulco to Taxco, Mexico City, Queretaro, San Miguel Allende, Guanajuato, Morelia, Patzcuaro and Guadalajara. Prices range from $1,749 to $2,039.

The “Colonial Stardance” tour, priced from $1,169 to $1,559, starts with an 11-day tour from Mexico City through the colonial belt to Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta. Following two days in Puerto Vallarta, passengers board the Stardancer for a five-day cruise to Los Angeles. (Mexico Travel Advisors, 1717 N. Highland Ave., Los Angeles 90028, phone (800) 682-8687.)