Sticker Shock at the Pump

Travelers who plan to hit the road over the Fourth of July weekend should be forewarned: The average price of a gallon of gasoline will hit a 10-year high for the holiday, according to the American Automobile Assn.

A gallon of self-serve regular unleaded gas will cost almost $1.23, the most for July 4 since 1985, AAA said. The price jumped 11.3 cents a gallon over last year and 3.2 cents from last month.

Self-serve regular unleaded is most expensive in the West at $1.28 per gallon, up 2.2 cents from last month and 6.1 cents from a year ago. It is least expensive in the Midwest, at about $1.19 a gallon.

Encountering UFOs in New Mexico

Around Roswell, N.M., flying saucers, extraterrestrials and things that go bump in the night are hardly alien ideas. The town of 45,000 (pictured below) earned its star in the UFO galaxy in 1947, when, some theorists believe, debris from a spaceship crashed to Earth here.

What better place for the first UFO Encounter Festival Saturday and next Sunday?

Festival attendees will have a broad agenda from which to choose, including some distinctly earthbound events: 5K and 10K walks and runs (“Alien Chases”), a “UFO Float Race” and a two-day Arts and Craft Festival and Trade Show for the first 60 vendors who can guarantee that “all items for sale will be related to UFOs, aliens or extraterrestrial activities.”

The UFO Enigma Museum and the International UFO Museum & Research Center will be open throughout the weekend and tours of the alleged 1947 UFO Impact site, 45 minutes northwest of town, will be offered both days for $15 an Earthly head. Roswell is 200 miles southeast of Albuquerque. Festival information: (505) 623-5695.

United Offers Service to Vail

United Airlines will begin daily nonstop flights between Los Angeles and Vail/Eagle County Airport in Colorado on Dec. 23.

The service, which will continue through March 23, will leave Los Angeles at 12:40 p.m. and arrive in Eagle at 4 p.m.; the return flight will depart Eagle at 4:40 p.m. and arrive at LAX at 6:09 p.m. An additional Saturday-only flight will leave Los Angeles at 7 a.m., arriving in Eagle at 10:11 a.m., and an additional return flight on Sunday will depart Eagle at 8 a.m. and arrive in Los Angeles at 9:19 a.m. Round-trip fare, purchased 14 days in advance, is $423.

United also will introduce weekly nonstop service between Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C., and Eagle on Dec. 23. Information: (800) 241-6522.

1995 Debut for Drama Directory

The 1995 “Directory of Outdoor Drama in America,” a 22-page guide to the offerings at 96 outdoor theaters in 33 states and the District of Columbia, is new from the Institute of Outdoor Drama. The directory, which includes history plays, religious dramas and 38 Shakespeare festivals, is available by sending $5 to the institute, University of North Carolina, CB No. 3240 NationsBank Plaza, Chapel Hill, NC 27599; tel. (919) 962-1328.