George Mallory Items On Display In Tacoma

Recently discovered artifacts of George Mallory, the legendary Mount Everest climber, will be exhibited Friday through January at the Washington State History Museum.

The museum in Tacoma and the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C., are the only venues in the country that will exhibit the Mallory artifacts before they’re delivered to the Royal Geographical Society in London.

In 1924, when Mallory and Andrew Irvine disappeared on the mountain, Mallory was Britain’s most famous and accomplished mountaineer. The men’s fatal trip sparked the longest debate in mountaineering history: Was Mallory or Edmund Hillary the first man to reach the summit via the North Face?

Mallory’s body, personal effects and climbing gear were discovered in May. Recovered were a pair of goggles found in the climber’s pocket, a cord around his body and calculations he made in margins of personal correspondence.

The Washington State History Museum is at 1911 Pacific in Tacoma, just off Interstate 5. It’s open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 11 a.m.to 5 p.m. Sundays. There’s free admission from 5 to 8 every Thursday. Admission is $20 for families; $7 for adults; $6 for those 60 and older; $5 for students and military personnel; and $4 for children between 6 and 12 years old.

History Channel tours

The History Channel, with its broad selection of all things historical, is a favorite at our house.

Now The History Channel is broadening even more. It’s venturing into the travel business.

HistoryAmerica Tours, now affiliated with The History Channel and The Civil War Trust, will escort travelers into the past, to the places where historical events happened (reminiscent of the long-gone TV program “You Are There”).

In 2000, the tours will include travel to Phoenix for “The Apache Wars, Cochise, Geronimo & Crook”; to Dallas for “The Assassination of JFK, Four Days in November”; to Atlanta for “Marching Through Georgia, the Strategy of Total War”; to Pennsylvania for “Lincoln at Gettysburg, a Proclamation of Freedom.” And there’s more.

Closer to home is “Lewis and Clark, In the Shadows of the Rockies” and “Nez Perce, Tragic Flight to Freedom.”

Each tour includes a historian guide - experts, scholars and authors - deluxe transportation, hotel accommodations and most meals.

The expert for the Lewis and Clark venture in August will be Gary Moulton, history professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and editor of the new edition of the explorers’ journals. Moulton has traced the party’s route and covered the Montana-Idaho portion of their trip time and again.

Sounds perfect to me: Learn some of our country’s history while traveling in comfort.

The Lewis and Clark trip is billed for active travelers who will find themselves in remote, hard-toreach locations where they will do some hiking, and boat through what Lewis called “Gates of Heaven.”

It’s not cheap, however. For nine days and eight nights, it costs $1,695 per person, double occupancy. Not all meals are included.

For a detailed brochure, contact HistoryAmerica Tours, P.O. Box 797687, Dallas, TX 75379 or call (800) 628-8542. The Web site is www.historyamerica.com.

Ski & Spa

From Wednesday through Dec. 22, and again in April and May, Chateau Whistler Resort in Whistler, British Columbia, has “Hit the Slopes” and “Ski & Spa Getaway” packages for skiers and snowboarders.

“Hit the Slopes” has a three-night minimum stay at $144 U.S. per person per night, before the Canadian discount. It includes lift tickets and buffet breakfast.

The second package costs $128 per person per night, also for a three-night minimum. It includes lift passes, breakfast and a one-hour spa treatment.

Whistler (don’t you just love that name?) Resort is a two-hour drive from Vancouver along the Sea to Sky Highway. And when you arrive, you’ll find it’s at the base of two world-class ski mountains, Blackcomb and Whistler, with two gondolas that service 7,000 acres with more than 200 trails, 33 lifts and North America’s longest vertical descent of 5,280 feet, called “the skiers’ mile.”

For more information and reservations, call (800) 606-8244.

Planning ahead

Now might be the time to plan a getaway to recover from the holidays that will soon be here. (It’s scary to think how close those holidays actually are.)

The historic Rosario Resort on Orcas Island in the San Juans has three seasonal packages available through next June.

“Destination Relaxation” offers two night’s accommodations, a $100 spa credit and a $150 dining credit. Prices begin at $200 per person.

“Orcas Island Escape” includes Friday and Saturday night accommodations and $150 food and beverage credit. During a seafood buffet at Rosario’s, guests can look out over Cascade Bay. Come Sunday morning, there’s a champagne brunch. Prices begin at $150 per person.

The “Island Midweek Getaway” includes one night’s accommodations between Sunday and Thursday and a $75 food and beverage credit. Rooms begin at $75 per person.

Rosario Resort has 127 deluxe guest rooms, all with splendid views of the water and mountains. The hotel, built in 1909 as a private residence, was turned into a resort in the 1960s. It’s listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is a member of the National Trust Historical Hotels of America.

Orcas Island is 80 miles north of Seattle.

For more info, call (800) 562-8820, or visit its Web site at www.rosarioresort.com.