http://www.post-gazette.com/ Travel news and features en-us Copyright 2012, post-gazette.com. Wed, 8 Feb 2012 23:39:42 -0500 15 http://www.post-gazette.com/includes/2007design/images/150x30pg_now_logo.gif http://www.post-gazette.com/ 144 39 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207910-140-0.stm?cmpid=travel.xml With Valentine's Day right around the corner, people everywhere are preparing to ignite, rekindle or fan the flames of love. While chocolate, jewelry and roses are popular ways to say "I love you," other species are also feeling amorous and preparing to perform their own courtship rituals. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 09:27:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207911-140.stm?cmpid=travel.xml Outdoor enthusiasts who traverse the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail are hiking, skiing and snowmobiling for joy. They are celebrating the Jan. 28 completion of a new bridge that spans the Pennsylvania Turnpike and rejoins the 70-mile trail stretching along Laurel Mountain from the Youghiogheny River at Ohiopyle to the Conemaugh Gorge near Johnstown. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207912-140.stm?cmpid=travel.xml The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) marks its 15th anniversary Feb. 17-20. Coordinated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and several partners, the GBBC is a great opportunity for anyone to become a weekend "citizen scientist." The GBBC enlists birders of all skill levels in an effort to keep common birds common. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207913-140.stm?cmpid=travel.xml When Mother Nature can't provide stable skating ice, try Mt. Lebanon Park. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207914-140.stm?cmpid=travel.xml Saturdays: Family Nature Hour. Powdermill Nature Reserve, Rector. Nature stories, outdoor exploration of trails. Free, 1 p.m. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207915-140.stm?cmpid=travel.xml Elyse Eshelman, 16, Shaler Area High School Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207916-140.stm?cmpid=travel.xml Tons of coal Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207932-37.stm?cmpid=travel.xml It was an offer I couldn't turn down: An invitation to share a house here with three longtime ski companions and an opportunity to conduct some "product evaluation" at three snow- and sun-blessed New Mexico resorts. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207979-140-0.stm?cmpid=travel.xml Managing wildlife is a tricky business. It's tough enough for trained biologists to come up with management plans the public supports, but when the non-hunting public gets involved, look out. In May 2010, three elk escaped from a private captive facility owned by George Richter of Aleppo, Greene County. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1208344-37-0.stm?cmpid=travel.xml Correction Appended Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1208345-37-0.stm?cmpid=travel.xml AS a child, Allegra McEvedy spent holidays being carted to temples and ruins with her father, a historian. "Where my friends were all lying on beaches in the Mediterranean, I was clambering over ruins in Turkey. I'd seen every outpost of the Roman Empire by the time I was 16," she said. When her parents suggested the children keep travel diaries, she began a lifelong fascination with collecting recipes. "My sister would faithfully reproduce the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul," she said. "Mine was all about what w Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1208346-37-0.stm?cmpid=travel.xml Correction Appended Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1208347-37-0.stm?cmpid=travel.xml GRATEFUL for rain on a Caribbean vacation? You bet I was. And you might have been, too, had you just escaped from a mob of bronzed bodies dancing under the stars in whipped-up, blissed-out unison to a 1980s disco hit. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1208348-37-0.stm?cmpid=travel.xml WE were driving through the back alleys of Ouidah, a sultry former slave port in the West African nation of Benin, when we spotted him: a figure in robes and leather gloves. His face was hidden by a burlap hood studded with beads and cowrie shells. A teenage boy carrying a wooden stick was leading him past peach-colored houses shaded by coconut palms and mango trees. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500