Straight shot on the Strip

Las Vegas has a new ride in town. Vegas.com, the comprehensive travel booking recognizable by its red, neon-studded arrow, is providing rides up and down the Strip, including downtown and Fremont Street, on the Arrow. What makes the Arrow different from the Deuce (the affordable double-decker public transport bus) is that you can book tickets to shows, tours and line passes to clubs right on the bus or trolley. Cost: $2.50 for a single ride, $10 for an unlimited daily pass, including rides on the Monorail. Buy your tickets online at www.vegas.com and at retail booths inside many Strip casinos.

-- Jen Leo

For skiing novices

Yes, lift tickets carry black diamond prices these days, but learning to ski or snowboard can be gentler on the wallet -- for one weekend anyway. At nine North Lake Tahoe ski resorts, first-timers who sign up for the eighth annual Learn to Ski and Board Weekend Dec. 8 and 9 get an all-day beginner lift ticket, a group lesson and gear rental for $25 a day. The deal is good at Alpine Meadows, Boreal Mountain, Diamond Peak, Granlibakken, Homewood, Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe, Northstar at Tahoe, Squaw Valley and Sugar Bowl. Reservations are not required, but the resorts advise getting there early. Contact the resorts or www.gotahoenorth.com (look under “event calendar”).

-- Vani Rangachar

Ready, Eloise?

New York City’s venerable Plaza Hotel is expected to reopen by the end of this month after a two-year, $400-million lobby-to-roof refurbishing. Besides guest rooms and suites, the Manhattan Beaux Arts landmark will have private residences (one recently sold for $50 million), a six-level retail area, restaurants and meeting and event spaces. The 282 guest rooms, designed to reflect the French Louis XV period, will have custom furnishings and 24-karat gold-plated sinks and fixtures; each room will have butler service. The famous Oak Room and Oak Bar will return, along with the Palm Court and two new public spaces: the Champagne Bar and Rose Club. The Plaza will be managed by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts; rates start at $735 per night. Info: (888) 240-7775 or www.theplaza.com.

-- Rosemary McClure

Daring canyoneer

There’s a special word for finding your own way around the Grand Canyon without following established trails: “butcharting,” an homage to Harvey Butchart, who covered 12,000 miles on foot, climbed 83 summits and found 108 approaches to the Colorado River from the North and South rims between the time he first saw the big ditch in 1945 and his death in 2002. “Grand Obsession,” a new book by Elias Butler and Tom Myers, tells the story of the mild-mannered math teacher who became a canyon legend (and, against all expectations, died in bed). Along the way, the authors chronicle some of Butchart’s most daring routes, such as Fossil Canyon and Wotan’s Throne. “Grand Obsession: Harvey Butchart and the Exploration of the Grand Canyon,” by Elias Butler and Tom Myers, $29.95, Puma Press, Flagstaff, Ariz.

-- Susan Spano