Riverside’s Mission Inn Opens . . . Little by Little

You can’t get a drink there yet but you can get a deal at the history-laced Mission Inn in Riverside--the place where Richard and Pat Nixon were married and where Nancy and Ronald Reagan honeymooned. The inn recently reopened after a $50-million, three-year renovation, but only about 75 of its 240 guest rooms (including 30 suites) have been finished (others open daily), and only one of its two restaurants is open. The fare there, for the moment, is strictly buffet, and only nonalcoholic beverages are on tap in the hotel bar (the liquor license has yet to be issued). Thus, special introductory rates of $65 per room, per night are in effect until the official March 1 opening. After that, the price will rise to $145 for a double. The inn packs a historical punch. Located in downtown Riverside, it began as a two-story adobe guest house in 1876 and over a 30-year period expanded into a sprawling, Spanish-style hotel spiced with architectural flavors from the California missions and the Orient and with dozens of leaded-glass windows and more than 30 pianos, some of which are on display in the newly restored hotel. Over the years, the Mission Inn has hosted numerous dignitaries, including five sitting U.S. Presidents. It is a National and California State Historic Landmark, is on the National Register of Historic Places and, after the opening, may be more difficult to get into.

Travel Quiz: The islands of Ibiza, Majorca and Minorca are part of what island group that is a popular vacation destination for European travelers?

Ad Protests Alaska Boycott: The controversial (and just canceled) tourism boycott of Alaska--which began as a protest against the state’s plan to thin out its wolf population by shooting the animals from helicopters--found itself lampooned in a recent paid advertisement in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. The ad showed a picture of a masked man pointing a revolver down the throat of a stuffed wolf--with the caption: “Visit Alaska This Summer Or The Wolf Bites It. Clip this out and send to a prospective visitor.” The ad reflects local hostility toward the tourism boycott organized by opponents of the proposal to shoot wolves. The boycott was canceled last month when the state suspended its plans to shoot the animals from the air and began trying to work out another system more palatable to environmentalists and animal rights advocates for trimming the wolf population.

Members of the board of directors of Fairbanks’ tourism and visitors bureau have admitted one of their group placed the newspaper ad, but they won’t say who.

Same-Day Service for India Visas: On Jan. 23 the Indian Consulate will again offer its same-day visa service--this time in Upland--for Southern Californians who would prefer not to mail their applications to the consulate in San Francisco and wait the necessary one to two weeks for return of their passports and new visas. This month’s visa “camp,” as it is labeled by consulate officials, will be held at the office of Dr. Vinod Patwardhan, 918 W. Foothill Blvd., Suite B, Upland; telephone (714) 949-4435. Part of a program that has received little publicity, the consulate-staffed camps make it possible to apply for and receive a visa on the same day. Although generally held on the fourth Saturday of the month, the locations and dates change monthly to provide area residents with easier access to the service. Tourists take their passports and a passport-size photo to the specified consulate location between 9 a.m. and noon and pick up the passport and visa between 3 and 5 p.m. that day. Cost for the service is $10, which is added to the regular visa processing charge of $5 for a one-month visa, $25 for six months. For information call: Government of India Tourist Office in Los Angeles, (213) 390-8855.

Quick Fact: The Internal Revenue Service has announced a 1993 national per-mile driving rate of 28 cents (the same rate as 1992) as the amount U.S. taxpayers can deduct from their 1993 taxes for miles driven while on business.

A Tres Popular Place: France was the world’s most popular tourist destination in 1992 with more than 60 million foreign visitors, according to the French tourism ministry. Germany provided France with the most tourists, contributing 13.9 million, followed by Britain with 8 million and Italy with nearly 7 million. The result: Tourism was France’s leading industry in 1992, bringing in about $119 billion, including revenue from French citizens traveling in their own country. The revenue surplus, from more foreign tourists visiting France than French tourists vacationing abroad, was about $10.5 billion--a 13% increase over 1991. The United States provided 2.4 million tourists to France, and Japan 800,000.

Some Florida Spots Finally Reopening: Months after Hurricane Andrew battered southern Florida, some of the region’s attractions are finally opening for business. Among the recent openings are those for Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park, Miami Metrozoo, Miami Seaquarium and Miami’s Monkey Jungle.

For Those Wild About Wildlife: California is one of seven states addressed in new guidebooks in the “Watchable Wildlife Series”--a state-by-state listing of wildlife viewing sites on federal, state and private lands. The guides, which range in price from $5.95 to $7.95, locate and detail 80 to 130 easy-access sites per state and are published by the Washington-based Defenders of Wildlife organization in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service. Also new this year are guides to Colorado, Indiana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Texas and Arizona; current guides include Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Utah. For information: Falcon Press, (800) 582-2665.

Comparatively Speaking: States that used the greatest amount of motor fuel on highways in 1989, the most recent year for which figures are available: California, 14,920,400,000 gallons; Texas, 9,761,108,000; Florida, 6,690,708,000; New York, 6,254,558,000; Illinois, 5,839,278,000; Ohio, 5,789,546,000; Pennsylvania, 5,481,346,000. (Source: Federal Highway Administration)

Quiz Answer: The Spanish Balearic Islands, in the western Mediterranean Sea near the east coast of Spain.