Follow U.S. History Along Nez Perce Paths

Follow the paths of the Nez Perce and Lewis and Clark on a tour through Idaho, Montana and Wyoming with historian-guide Jack McDermott. The nine-day tour starts in Lewiston, Mont., Aug. 1.

Guests visit the Nez Perce Visitor Center in Spalding, Idaho, then walk the ground of the Battle of White Bird Canyon, where the first Nez Perce war with the settlers took place. The tour visits the site of Lewis and Clark’s camp while they were en route to Weippe Prairie, Idaho.

Guests also see the site of Ft. Lemhi, Idaho, en route to Bannock Pass, Idaho. Participants will continue through Yellowstone National Park to Clark’s Fork Canyon, Idaho, where hundreds of Nez Perce men, women and children escaped U.S. troops by scrambling down the steep canyon walls in 1877.

Cost: $1,195 per person, double occupancy, including ground transportation, admissions, hotels, eight breakfasts, three lunches, five dinners. Air fare to Idaho is not included.

Contact: History America Tours, P.O. Box 797687, Dallas, TX 75379; telephone (800) 628-8542.

Spanish Steps

Hike through the northwest section of Spain to the city of Santiago de Compostela on eight- and 12-day treks scheduled for spring and fall. The tour has a daily hiking pace of nine to 12 miles and is open to both novice and seasoned hikers.

Known as the Camino de Santiago, this ancient route winds through villages, vineyards and scenic terrain from the Pyrenees to Galicia in the northwest corner of the Iberian Peninsula. Guests will sample local foods and wines of the Basque, La Rioja, Castilla, Leon and Galicia areas.

Cost: $1,595 for eight days and $2,295 for 12 days per person, double occupancy, including guides, lodging, all meals and ground transportation.

Contact: Spanish Steps, Judy Colaneri, P.O. Box 8653, Aspen, CO 81612; tel. (970) 923-6859.

Theater in England

Contemporary and fringe theater mixed with a smattering of early British and Elizabethan theater are the major ingredients of a two-week study tour in England July 7 to 21. Highlights will be four days in Stratford-upon-Avon, historical home of Shakespeare and the Royal Shakespeare Theater, and 10 days in London, touring the Globe, National and Haymarket theaters; visiting the British Theatre and the Victoria and Albert museum, among others; discussions about West End and off-West End theater; and attending and critiquing six representative theater performances. In Stratford, lodging will be in B&Bs; in London, the cross-cultural experience will be home stays with British families.

Cost: $2,500 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, lodging, daily breakfasts and dinners. Two units of college credit are also available from the International Education Institute of the Los Angeles Community Colleges and the American Institute for Foreign Study.

Contact: Bill Thomas, tour operator; tel. (818) 884-2692.

Asia by Horseback

The opportunity to see Central Asia by horseback is available from Boojum Expeditions. A June 25 to July 13 trip to Tibet offers sightseeing in Beijing and Chengdu on the way by plane and coach to Zoergai in Tibet’s Min Shan Mountains and eight days of horseback riding and camping.

Cost: $3,725 to $3,950 per person, double occupancy, including 17 nights’ lodging in hotels, a Tibetan guest house and tents, all meals on tour, an interpreter and a flight to Hong Kong. Air fare to China is not included.

A July 9 to 26 expedition to Mongolia offers a day at the annual Naadam summer festival--horse racing, wrestling, archery and music--in Ulan Bator, a flight to Moron, two days’ riding to Boojum Lodge at the merging of the Shishgid and Tengis rivers and a four-day pack trip to visit the Tsataan reindeer people.

Cost: $4,175 to $4,375 per person, double occupancy, including 16 nights in hotels and camps, all on-tour meals, an interpreter and exit flights to Beijing. Air fare to China is not included.

Contact: Boojum Expeditions; tel. (800) 287-0125.

Pearls of Italy

A 15-day tour, “Cinque Terre and the Best Hill Towns of Tuscany and Umbria,” is being offered twice: June 4 and June 23. Highlights of the tours are the Cinque Terre, Portofino, and the best medieval and Renaissance hill towns of Tuscany and Umbria. Participants will also visit Florence, Rome, Siena, Pisa, Lucca, Porto Venere and Lake Bolsena.

Cost: $2,795 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, first- class hotels, daily breakfast and dinner, air-conditioned bus, luggage handling.

Contact: Albert Benzie Cultural Tours and Cruises, 800 Prospect St., 3-A, La Jolla, CA 92037; tel. (619) 454-1434.

Lake Tahoe

Six-day mountain biking trips from inn to inn around Lake Tahoe begin July 26, Aug. 2, 9 and 16. Bicyclists hit the dirt at Northstar, Squaw Valley and in Tahoe National Forest, riding fire roads and optional single-track trails through pine-fringed meadows and along the Flume Trail--a popular mountain bike route with views of Lake Tahoe. When not biking, travelers kayak to Emerald Bay and hike the scenic Rubicon Trail to D.L. Bliss State Park. Mountain lodgings include the Plump Jack Hotel in Squaw Valley and the Northstar Hotel, set at the base of Mt. Pluto.

Cost: $1,598 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, some meals, van support and sightseeing.

Contact: Backroads; tel. (800) 462-2848.

Japan’s Countryside

Visit Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto, loll in a hot-spring bath on the Japan Sea, tour one of the three most celebrated gardens in the country, and wend your way through villages of the Japan Alps on a tour that leaves June 26 for nine days. With a bilingual guide, guests tour the inside of the Imperial Palace of Kyoto and visit the garden at Ryoan-ji temple. Participants also will visit a farmhouse in Shirakawa and the rural art centers of Takayama and Matsumoto. A chartered plane to Tokyo will be taken for a day trip to Nikko in the National Park, and time to go shopping.

Cost: $2,395 per person, double occupancy, including lodging, some meals and sightseeing. Air fare is extra. Contact: Gurnham Group; tel. (800) 475-0004.

Spring in Provence

Discover Provence with a native and combine three of France’s most important attractions--wine, food and art. The tour, “A Week of Cultural and Gourmet Delights in Provence,” is designed for eight guests and runs weekly from April 18 to May 30 and Sept. 19 to Oct. 31.

Participants will visit wineries in the Cha^teauneuf-du-Pape and Co^tes du Rho^ne regions; sample local fare; explore villages, cha^teaux and abbeys in the Luberon countryside, the Palace of the Popes in Avignon, and such ancient Roman wonders as the Pont du Gard. Also scheduled are visits to local markets, the fishing port of Cassis, and a boat trip. Guests stay in a newly restored 18th century house in the Luberon Natural Park.

Cost: $1,795 per person, double occupancy, including seven nights’ lodging, 15 meals, wine, guides, ground transportation and transfers from Avignon. Air fare is not included.

Contact: French Vintage Vacations; tel. (602) 953-3173.

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