Death Valley May Make Photographers Shutter

Journeys Etc. is offering a photo tour to Death Valley that will include two nights at Stove Pipe Wells Village, five meals and plenty of photo tips from tour leader/photographer Carol Leigh. The motor-coach tour from Los Angeles, set for Dec. 1-3, is priced at $214 per person, double occupancy.

Among the many day-tours offered by Journeys Etc., in cooperation with Los Angeles Valley College Community Services, is one to Edwards Air Force Base and the NASA Flight Research Center on Nov. 1.

In addition to a tour of the Edwards AFB flight line, there will be an inspection of the supersonic B-1 bomber, complete with a question-and-answer session, plus a tour of the NASA research facility.

Tour price for the trip, which lasts from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., is $26.

Other day-tours include an Oct. 29 trip to the Railway Festival at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, one of the largest historical railroad and trolley museums in the nation (cost: $31); a motor-coach and walking tour of Victorian homes of Los Angeles, visiting Carroll Avenue, Heritage Square and West Adams mansions, Oct. 18 ($55, including lunch), and a trip to the Santa Paula Homes Tour in the Santa Clara Valley, including the grand old Railroad Depot, which was used during filming of “The Thorn Birds.” The trip is set for Dec. 10 ($55, including lunch).

Many other day-trips and longer tours are described in a free brochure. For more information on any or all tours, contact Journeys Etc., 313 S. Robertson Blvd., Beverly Hills 90211, (213) 855-1335.

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Great Western Tours serves Thanksgiving in Death Valley, a four-day motor-coach tour departing Nov. 21. Included are a night at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas and two nights at Furnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley.

There will be two sightseeing tours of the Death Valley area, including Scotty’s Castle, plus Thanksgiving dinner at Furnace Creek Ranch. The price, including another dinner and picnic lunch, is $298 per person double or $398 single.

For more information on this tour, plus many others geared especially for mature travelers, call Great Western Travel toll-free at (800) 344-7090 or (818) 578-1161.

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Marlene Gordon of The Next Stage offers up some of the most imaginative trips around. Many feature rail travel, plus other unusual day-tours such as a Pauper’s Tour of Beverly Hills or the Solstice Magical Mystery Tour.

Coming up Oct. 21-22 is an overnight van tour that explores the rich culture of the Chumash Indians, with an archeologist leading visits to some cave paintings. Also included are dances by Chumash Indians and visits to La Purisma, Lompoc and Solvang.

Gordon also has a rail tour to the Balloon Festival in Albuquerque Oct. 12-16 that rides the Southwest Chief, with accommodations at the Clarion Four Seasons, plus canyon tours to off-beat sites and a drive up to Sandia Peak for a sunset dinner. The tour will cost $550 per person, double.

The fall and winter tour schedule for The Next Stage also includes a Thanksgiving rail trip to San Francisco using private railroad cars, a one-day Jazz and Ghost and Halloween Party Amtrak tour to San Juan Capistrano (Oct. 28), plus many other day and overnight trips.

A departure from Gordon’s usual tours will be a weeklong Caribbean Cruise on the Seaward, a New Year’s party trip leaving Dec. 31. It runs $1,595 per person double for the four-port cruise, including air fare.

For more information: The Next Stage, P.O. Box 35269, Los Angeles 90035, or call (213) 939-2688.

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For more adventurous mature travelers, Lee Klein of The California Native, who runs soaring, ballooning, caving, cross-country skiing and similar tours, offers New Year’s Eve at Yosemite Dec. 30 to Jan. 1.

Priced at $230 per person, it includes accommodations in rustic cabins (with private bath), loads of hiking, cross-country skiing or other personal pursuits, plus a New Year’s Eve party in majestic Yosemite Valley.

For more information on this and other tours, including some to Mexico’s Sea of Cortez and whale-watching trips, contact The California Native, 6701 West 87th Place, Los Angeles 90045, (213) 642-1140.