Letters: Christian symbolism, traveling with a toddler, barbed wire museum and more

Yikes, alert the media! Oh. Wait.

I was shocked, shocked, I tell you. There, not only on the front page of the Sunday Times, but on the front page of the Travel section as well, a color picture showing a huge Christian cross on a German mountain top [“In the Alps, a Saving Grace” by Susan Spano, June 6].The cross evidently symbolizes the village of Oberammergau’s Roman Catholic ties and heritage. Egads! Christian symbolism. Prominently displayed in a U.S. newspaper no less. Oh, the weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Where is the ACLU when you need it?

Joseph A. Lea, Mission Viejo

Spontaneity + desert = bad idea

I had to laugh at Scott Timberg’s pathetic trip to the desert [“Chasing Down Echoes and a 3-Year-Old Boy, June 6]. Why is it that people think the desert is a great place to be spontaneous in trip planning? For parents who wish to plan a trip that will inspire their kids and their spouses, I suggest camping in Joshua Tree National Park (Jumbo Rocks is most accessible, but down south at Cottonwood is nice if you really need running water). In addition to the hikes Timberg mentioned, visit the park visitor centers, which have lots of hands-on exhibits, and take the ranger talks and walks, often geared toward kids. We’ve frequently ended up on a private tour scaled to our needs because no one else showed up for the ranger program. If your kids are older than 5, don’t miss the living history tour at the Desert Queen Mine (you do need advance reservations).

I hope that many more Californians will come to love our deserts. My fears of overcrowding in Joshua Tree and its environs are far outweighed by my desire to raise new generations of people who care about the desert landscape and the critters that live there.

Kathy Green, South Pasadena

Another trap in the name game

Regarding “Passports Rule” [On the Spot, May 30]: There is a further wrinkle about the name used for travel — the name on your frequent-flier mileage programs.

A friend of mine is a resident alien with a green card and a passport from Costa Rica. The name that he uses in the U.S. and that is on his driver’s license is similar to, but not identical to, the name on this passport. The passport has “de la Cruz” added at the end.

For a recent trip to Europe, he used the name on his passport for the first time in order to not run afoul of the new U.S. regulations, and encountered two problems.

1. The name on his passport was too long to fit in the spaces provided on the website he used to book the travel. He had to call and have it manually set.

2. United refused to give him credit for the miles because the name on the United Mileage Plus account did not match the name on the reservation.

He changed the name on the United Mileage Plus account, but that means that from now on when he flies domestically he must use his passport for ID and book flights under the passport name.

Jack Johnson, Westchester

Devil’s Rope Museum

Thanks to Jay Jones for the article about the Devil’s Rope Museum [“Do Fence Me In,” May 30]. My wife and I attended Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill., a city that played a prominent role in the development of barbed wire. That alone made a stop in McLean, Texas, a must when we drove Route 66 in May 2008.

The museum exhibit item I was most surprised to see is a letter purportedly from outlaw Clyde Barrow to Henry Ford that says, in part, “While I still have got breath in my lungs, I will tell you what a dandy car you make.” What does a 1934 letter from Clyde Barrow to Henry Ford have to do with barbed wire? Seemingly well out of place, though certainly interesting and amusing.

Allen Skyler, Valencia

Avoid money woes in Europe

I have just returned from England. When I travel, I rely on credit cards and my personal bank card for cash withdrawals, a system that has saved me from carrying a lot of money and, of course, produces a record of my spending. However, England — and I believe most of Europe — is now using cards that have a chip and require a PIN number for verification. These are much more difficult to steal, but left me with a dilemma. Restaurants would not accept my credit card, and banks would not acknowledge my bank card. Some places still have the ability to swipe cards, but I had to ask about this first before deciding to buy or eat! Had I not had family, friends and a small British account, I would have been without means after my small cash fund had run out. Travelers should be aware of this problem and make alternative arrangements for finances.

Elizabeth Richell, Santa Ana