NEW YORK – Spring is the time when many travelers plan their biggest vacations of the year: Leisurely road trips, family getaways with kids out of school, and travel abroad over the peak summer season. Here are some of the new guidebook releases from this season to inspire you and help plan your itineraries. They include titles from Lonely Planet, Frommer"s, DK Eyewitness, a luxury hotel group, and Budget Travel.

NEW YORK – Spring is the time when many travelers plan their biggest vacations of the year: Leisurely road trips, family getaways with kids out of school, and travel abroad over the peak summer season. Here are some of the new guidebook releases from this season to inspire you and help plan your itineraries. They include titles from Lonely Planet, Frommer"s, DK Eyewitness, a luxury hotel group, and Budget Travel.

LONELY PLANET"S DISCOVER SERIES: Once upon a time, the stereotypical Lonely Planet reader was an adventurous young backpacker on a budget, ready to rough it and explore. But today Lonely Planet fans include older travelers, travelers who don"t mind spending more for comfort, and travelers looking for advice about basics and must-sees, not just offbeat adventures.

To cater to this audience, Lonely Planet has launched a new series called "Discover," with thick $25 paperback books just released on Australia, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Spain and Thailand. The books are ideal for planning one- to two-week trips.

"Discover Europe" will be added to the series May 10.

The full-color books include maps, best-of lists, recommendations for a variety of budgets, tips from locals on visiting major attractions, and suggested itineraries organized by region, theme and length of trip. One especially nice touch: "If You Like" features direct readers to less well-known attractions by comparing them to better-known places. For example, the Venice section of the Italy guide says that "If you like the masterpieces of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, we think you"ll like these other modern art gems," and it goes on to list Ca" Pesaro and Museo della Fondazione Querini Stampalia.

FROMMER"S DAY BY DAY GUIDES: Frommer"s "Day by Day" city guides have been among the brand"s best-selling books for years. Earlier this year, Frommer"s launched full-size "Day by Day" guides to countries, states and other large regions. The full-color books are itinerary-based, include more than 100 maps and a pocket with a large pullout map, and are chock-full of photos.

"Frommer"s Italy Day by Day," "Frommer"s Ireland Day by Day" and "Frommer"s Hawaii Day by Day" are available now, while Costa Rica and Spain are due out in October.

The guides, all under $30, include easy-to-use features like what to see if you have a day, three days or a week, and "best-of" lists for lodging, dining and shopping. The Ireland guide, for example, includes a list of favorite moments (taking afternoon tea at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin, visiting the Giant"s Causeway, and seeing the murals of the Belfast peace wall), along with a list of favorite small towns (Carlingford, Inistioge, Kinsale, Kenmare, Dingle).

Also new from Frommer"s is "500 Adrenaline Adventures," providing inspiration for daredevils, geeks and other travelers with a taste for unusual, wacky and heart-racing experiences. Among the ideas listed in the $20 paperback: ziplining, wildlife encounters, extreme eating contests, like the famous Coney Island hot dog competition, and the annual Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling Race in England.

DK EYEWITNESS TRAVEL"S BACK ROADS: Road trips are a beloved way to explore America, but DK Eyewitness Travel has launched a new series this spring to inspire road trips in Europe. The "Back Roads" series includes guides to France, Italy, Great Britain, Ireland and Spain. Each $25 paperback describes two dozen "leisurely drives" designed to take anywhere from a day to a week. Tours outlined in the France book, for example, include the Alsace wine route, Obernai to Eguisheim; the Champagne route, Reims to Montagne de Reims; Normandy, from Giverny to Varengeville-sur-Mer; and the Pyrenees, from Collioure to St-Jean-de-Luz.

Other features include mapped itineraries with highlights, detours and activities; "where the locals go" listings of small hotels and restaurants with regional cuisine; a pullout country map; zip codes to make it easy to coordinate the text with a GPS; and practical information on driving conditions, road signs and parking.

LUXURY COLLECTION DESTINATION GUIDES: This set of six paperbacks from The Luxury Collection Hotels & Resorts, a group of more than 70 hotels and resorts in 30 countries, includes guides to India, Italy, the U.S., Spain, Argentina and Greece. The slim paperbacks do not offer the detailed content of traditional travel guides but do have lush photographs, inspirational quotes and a few pages of highlights listing select museums, cultural institutions, shops and restaurants in each destination.

Each guide also includes commentary from celebrity chefs, with Mario Batali providing his thoughts on Italy, including a recipe for tortelloni with sage butter and his recommendations for favorite restaurants: Cibreo and Teatro del Sale in Florence; Al Covo, Da Fiore and Lina d"Ombra in Venice, and Ristorante Matricianella, Roscioli, Antico Forno and Checchino in Rome.

The set of six, packaged in a beautiful oversized box, costs $140. The books will be available in Luxury Collection guest rooms, in Assouline Boutiques in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York, and online at and other retailers.

THE SMART FAMILY"S PASSPORT: This book from Budget Travel, $14.95, is subtitled "350 Money, Time & Sanity Saving tips." Among the suggestions: Bring powdered iced-tea or fruit-punch packets to theme parks and add them to cups of water to save money on expensive drinks; find out if a membership to your local museum has reciprocal privileges at other institutions where you can get in free when you travel; and make your own picture dictionary. That way, if you don"t know a foreign word for bathroom or taxi, you can get help from a local wherever you are just by pulling up the picture of the object on your phone or camera.

When she was traveling in India with her sister last year, Katie Reed, a 21-year-old who lives in Miami, described her 1,000-page travel guide as "monstrous" in size.

When she was traveling in India with her sister last year, Katie Reed, a 21-year-old who lives in Miami, described her 1,000-page travel guide as "monstrous" in size.

But it was too handy to toss.

"It was invaluable," said Reed, a budget traveler. "We would read it on the train."

Even as more and more guidebook publishers, travel websites and others make travel information available online, publishers say they expect sales of guidebooks — the paper-and-ink kind — to remain strong.

"The book is such a great technology. It"s lightweight, it"s mobile and the battery never runs out," said Matt Goldberg, the CEO of Lonely Planet, an Australian travel guide publishing company that covers the world with more than 600 guidebooks in 17 languages.

But travel guide publishers and a host of other providers are also making information available online and through applications that can be downloaded to smart phones and other devices.

Like many other publishers, Lonely Planet, at , offers some of its guides online and is working to dramatically increase that presence. Lonely Planet also offers location-aware maps that steer smart phone users to restaurants and other sites recommended by the guide.

"What we"re witnessing right now is an explosion in mobile applications," said Goldberg.

You can also see that trend at , a site operated by the Eyewitness Travel Guides publisher Dorling Kindersley, where users can design their own guidebooks to be downloaded for free or mailed to them as a bound book.

"Let"s say you"re staying with a friend and don"t want to cart around a book with hotels in it," said Katy Ball, a publicity manager for DK Eyewitness Travel and for Rough Guides, both travel publications. "You can select restaurants, shops and maps - so you have only what you need."

As for whether online applications will supplant the traditional book, publishers and booksellers alike say it"s too early to tell.

"I don"t really think we"ve got much empirical evidence as to who is using what at the moment," said Rob Flynn, global travel publisher for Frommer"s, which publishes 350 guides and sells 2.5 million guides each year. "Until smart phones become universal, and roaming charges for data become relatively cheap, we"re going to see people continue to use guidebooks . as the mainstay of their travel information."

Flynn recently watched his visiting 30-something nephew from Melbourne, Australia, navigate Manhattan with an iPhone.

"I would have pulled out a guidebook and looked at a map, but he was relying on Google Maps and Yelp and other local services," said Flynn, 53. "It probably took him five times, 10 times as long to come up with a plan as somebody who was using a more traditional printed product. But that didn"t bother him."

Frequent travelers often say they use printed guides for foreign travel, where roaming charges are high and Wi-Fi coverage can be sketchy — but rely on smart phones for U.S. travel. The U.S. is well covered by restaurant-review sites like Yelp, .

"America is more developed in terms of apps," said Kanika Bhatia, a senior at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., who lives in India and travels all over the world with her parents.

"If you do use Google Maps in New York City, it will tell you exactly where things are, whereas internationally I don"t think those services are available yet," said Bhatia, 22. "Also, the phone fees would be way too high if we decided to surf the Internet while we were abroad."

A printed guidebook serves as "a real jumping-off point and gives me a lot of confidence when I travel," said Reed, a Web developer who used the Lonely Planet guide to India on her trip last year. "I often find out things that I would not think to look for when searching online because of the way they are structured, which is helpful when you have no reference point in a new place."

A Rough Guides book was invaluable recently in Jamaica, too, Reed added.

"I just couldn"t find any good maps to Jamaica online," she said.

But she wouldn"t use a guidebook to travel in the United States.

"I have an iTouch to navigate and use Yelp," she said.

Book publishers are reluctant to speculate on how online applications have affected travel guide sales. The picture is also muddied by the recession.

"Last year was a horrible year, but we"re happily rebounding," said Pat Carrier, who owns The Globe Corner Bookstores, a travel bookstore, in Cambridge, Mass.

Carrier has tried to plan trips without using guidebooks, but he always ends up turning to them.

"I still find it a lot more work to try to plan a trip, especially to a place I"m not familiar with, doing it online than using a well-researched and written guidebook," said Carrier, who is in his 50s. "I just find it exhausting, the endless skimming from site to site."

Chris Morrow, who owns Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vt., said his customers have told him they don"t want to print out sheets of paper and carry them around.

"I think they"re buying a lot more travel books than people had predicted," said Morrow. "They want something that"s portable and compact and concise, and a book is that. The actual technology of the book is still appropriate."

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, Mont. – Age has not been kind to Glacier National Park.

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, Mont. – Age has not been kind to Glacier National Park.

The gorgeous million-acre park in northwestern Montana celebrated its 100th birthday on Tuesday. But many of its glaciers have melted, and scientists predict the rest may not last another decade.

The forests are drier and disease-ridden, leading to bigger wildfires. Climate change is forcing animals that feed off plants to adapt.

Many experts consider Glacier Park a harbinger of Earth"s future, a laboratory where changes in the environment will likely show up first.

"What national parks all give us is, in effect, a controlled landscape where we can see the natural and climatic processes at work," said Steve Running, a University of Montana professor and co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in 2007 for his work on climate change.

Average temperatures have risen in the park 1.8 times faster than the global average, said Dan Fagre, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist.

The change is visible to the naked eye, with the vast moraines left behind as the giant glaciers melt away. Climate change is blamed for the increasing size and frequency of wildfires, and lower stream flows as summer progresses.

What this all means for the bears, wolves and other big predators in the park is unclear, Fagre said.

A birthday ceremony Tuesday focused on the wonders of the nation"s 10th national park. Several hundred tourists and employees listened in the crisp mountain air as speakers extolled its virtues as one of the most intact and diverse ecosystems in the world.

"Glacier connects us to the very core of our nature," park superintendent Chas Cartwright said.

Glacier remains perhaps the only place in the Lower 48 where all the big wild animals that Lewis and Clark saw in 1804 can still be seen, Running said.

"Our landscapes are still wild and pristine and clean," he said. "When you start looking globally at how many clean, wild landscapes are still around, Glacier is doing pretty well."

Glacier, signed into law on May 11, 1910, by President Taft, draws 2 million visitors per year to see its sawtooth peaks, clear lakes and wildlife. Nearly all come in the summer, jamming the signature red buses on Going-to-the-Sun Road, the dizzying roadway that bisects the park.

"We come to Glacier as often as we can," said Shirley McLaughlin of Missoula. "I have a real sense of ownership."

The park drew 4,000 visitors in 1911, when tourists would ride the train to Glacier and travel by horseback to stay at chalets in the high country, said Amy Vanderbilt, park spokeswoman. Visitors come to see predators like grizzly bears, which are now stable at around 300, she said.

But the same cannot be said for the park"s iconic glaciers, giant slabs of ancient ice that crawl slowly down the face of mountains, gouging spectacular landscapes.

Fagre said that based on geologic evidence, the park had about 150 glaciers in 1850, the end of the so-called Little Ice Age. Most would have still been around when the park was established in 1910.

Only about 25 named glaciers are left, and they could be gone by 2020, Fagre said.

Rising temperatures also mean spring is arriving about three weeks early, which causes winter snow to melt earlier and forests to become drier as the summer progresses, said Jack Potter, chief of science at the park.

That has led to bigger and more destructive fires, in part because insect infestations have weakened trees, Potter said. There are now fires at higher elevations, too, because the tree line is moving higher as temperatures rise, he said.

Less moisture means lower stream flows, which endanger fish species, he said. The vegetation is changing, providing less food and protective cover for animals.

The chance to see the glaciers that are now disappearing is what lures many visitors to the remote park.

But tourists won"t necessarily notice the glaciers are gone, because there will still be snow on the peaks of many mountains, Running said. And most of the remaining glaciers are located in the back country, far from visitors who stick to the main roads and lodges.

But it"s hard for people to imagine Glacier National Park without glaciers.

"The day that Glacier National Park officially announces there are no glaciers left, it will make worldwide headlines," Running said. "When people find out I am from Montana, that is the first thing they ask me: "Is it true about Glacier National Park?""

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On the Web:

POLLEPEL ISLAND, N.Y. – The castle on the Hudson River is crumbling.

POLLEPEL ISLAND, N.Y. – The castle on the Hudson River is crumbling.

One of the stranger sights on the river, Bannerman"s island castle is a high-walled ruin topped with turrets that looks like it was built to repel catapult attacks. In reality, the century-old structure off the river"s eastern shore was a warehouse for bayonets, pith helmets, rifles and other military relics.

The island has had a second life in recent years as a summer tourist attraction. Visitors — many who know the castle from their daily train commute to New York City — can take a tour boat or a kayak for guided tours of the island. But hard hats must be worn. Big chunks of the castle tumbled down this winter and more could fall at any time.

"Every year, something deteriorates and comes down on us," Neil Caplan of the Bannerman Castle Trust said as he gave a tour of the island recently.

The castle looks both majestic and precarious, and Caplan and the trust are scrambling to raise money for repairs before it"s too far gone. This past winter was especially rough: Two walls fell down, including one facing the river bank with "BANNERMAN"S ISLAND ARSENAL" emblazoned across the top. Vegetation sprouts from the walls and the crenelated top is so degraded it looks like it"s missing teeth.

The structure is named for Francis Bannerman VI, who bought the rocky, 6 1/2-acre island in 1900 as a place to warehouse items sold in his war relic store in Manhattan, some 50 miles south. (City fathers did not want him to store munitions locally.) Bannerman was an amateur architect with a touch of P.T. Barnum. He modeled his warehouse after castles in his native Scotland, giving it a siege-ready look with a moat and turrets.

Bannerman also built an island residence much smaller than the warehouse but with the same castle motif. It"s on a high spot of land and commands the sort of sweeping view of the Hudson Highlands that hedge fund managers pay millions for.

The Bannerman family enjoyed an island retreat that was a world unto itself. They could spend idle days by the gardens, watch the ferries go upriver or sail. Down the hill was the castle and a separate powder house, which blew up spectacularly in 1920.

Family members continued to frequent the island for decades after Francis Bannerman died in 1918. The island was sold to New York state in 1967, two years before a fire gutted the castle. Left standing were the high walls familiar to Metro-North and Amtrak passengers.

Bannerman Castle Trust formed in 1993 to turn the scenic ruin into a proper attraction. Caplan, a local real estate agent and bed-and-breakfast owner, has headed the trust since the beginning. The pay is modest, but he"s passionate. During a recent tour of the island for tourism industry officials and the press, he stopped a couple of times to pull weeds from the winding walking paths and actually shouted once: "This is still important to save!"

Visitors can get close-up looks at the castle ruins, but must stay back because of the threat of a fresh collapse. The tour also includes a ramble through island paths that wind through rehabilitated gardens and to the house.

The residence is scheduled for roof, floor and other stabilization work this summer with the help of donations and state and federal grants. More ambitious — and expensive — work on the castle is still in the future.

Though the island is part of nearby Hudson Highlands state park, the trust is responsible for raising money for its rehabilitation. Caplan praises parks officials as wonderful partners, but the state agency has already closed dozens of parks and has little money to spare. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer has applied for $1 million through the "Save America"s Treasures" historic preservation program, but that money, if it comes, is not expected until next year.

The castle could face more danger if the Hudson Valley gets another winter with cycles of freezing and warmer weather — which pretty much describes every recent winter here. There are fears the island"s signature feature could become a rock pile. That would leave the trust with an even more expensive choice of whether to reconstruct a faux-castle. Caplan hopes to raise enough money before it gets to that point.

"I just get antsy," Caplan said in the shadow of the castle, "because it can come down at any time."

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If You Go...

BANNERMAN CASTLE: Located on Pollepel Island, N.Y.; .

TOURS: With cooperation from state parks, Hudson River Adventures and the Bannerman Castle Trust run boats to the island for 2 1/2-hour guided tours, May 1-Oct. 31, weekends and some weekdays, adults $30, children 11 and under, $25; or 845-220-2120. Advance ticket purchase suggested. Boats leave from Front Street in Newburgh, N.Y., and the commuter ferry dock in Beacon, right by the Metro-North station. Wear shoes appropriate for trails.

Two companies run kayak tours on selected weekend dates. Hudson Valley Outfitters, 63 Main St., Cold Spring, N.Y., runs five-to-six-hour tours for $120, which includes kayak, equipment and lunch; or 845-265-0221.

Storm King Adventure Tours, 178 Hudson St., Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y., runs a four-hour tour for $120, which includes kayak and equipment; or 845-534-7800.

MAKHTESH RAMON, Israel – I was enjoying a serene moment of yoga in the desert, my dusty hiking boots resting nearby, when a squadron of fighter jets roared overhead and reminded me — eight days after I last saw civilization — that I was still in Israel.

MAKHTESH RAMON, Israel – I was enjoying a serene moment of yoga in the desert, my dusty hiking boots resting nearby, when a squadron of fighter jets roared overhead and reminded me — eight days after I last saw civilization — that I was still in Israel.

Many countries have hiking trails. But few are so small that you can walk clear across them in two months or less, and even fewer have landscapes so varied that they allow a hiker to pass from desert hills of red stone to flat wastelands to green forests and lakes and rugged mountain tops in such a short period of time. For those willing to invest time, sweat and blisters, the Israel Trail, a 620-mile route running the length of the country from the waters of the Red Sea to the Israel-Lebanon frontier, offers an incomparable way to see one of the world"s most interesting places.

There are no buses, no guided tours, no crowds, and often no cell phone reception or running water. Instead, there is a chance to discover Israel"s people, history and culture on the country"s less-traveled paths.

The trail is beginning to catch on with Israeli hikers, but few foreign travelers have discovered it yet.

On a rare cold day last winter, I followed the footsteps of caravan traders along the ancient Perfume Road in southern Israel"s Arava wilderness as the movement of clouds dotted the mountains with light. I took a break where those forgotten merchants would have — at the stone ruins of the Moa station, an inn built here by Nabateans two millenia ago for weary wayfarers bringing their wares from the interior to the bustling cities and ports of the Mediterranean coast.

Equally interesting was the human landscape. I joined a group of Israelis who walk the trail together every year, including a girl who grew up in a heavily guarded enclave of Jewish settlers in the West Bank city of Hebron, a farmer who grows date palms near the Sea of Galilee, and a 76-year-old kibbutz member with a passion for erotic poetry. They had little in common except for the love of nature and hiking.

The group is organized by the parents of an Israeli soldier who died in a helicopter accident in 1997, and who believe the best way to commemorate their son is to bring people together and walk.

Although the distance between Israel"s northernmost and southernmost tips is 292 miles (470 kilometers), the footpath includes approximately 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) of marked trails, snaking between the desert in the south and the hills near Jerusalem, the Mediterranean coast, and the northern Galilee region.

The trail tells the story of the history of this land starting from long before Israel"s current conflicts: The Romans, the Ottoman Turks and the British are all in evidence. To avoid modern-day frictions, the trail"s planners made sure it would go through only land that is not in dispute, leaving out the West Bank and the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in 1967.

The route, especially in the largely arid south, was also influenced by the need to skirt army training grounds, which take up around 60 percent of the Negev desert.

Inspired by the Appalachian Trail in the U.S., the trail was officially marked in 1995. Largely patched together by linking existing trails throughout the country, it is marked by distinctive white, blue and orange-striped trail markers. Parts of the trail follow camel or goat paths, while others follow dirt roads and others follow no recognizable path at all.

Recognizing that few will be able to hike the trail in its entirety, the route"s planners divided it into smaller sections which can be hiked separately, depending on the season and time constraints. Some sections can be completed in day trips or brief weekend excursions.

Several weeks of walking brought me into Israel"s heavily populated center. There were blooming fields and sandy beaches, and also bustling cities, highways and high voltage electricity poles, which seemed strange after so long in the desert. This, I thought, reflects the country"s human landscapes, colorful, conflicted and condensed.

___

If You Go...

WHEN TO GO: The recommended time to start is either February or October, when the temperatures are mild. Hikers planning to embark on the entire journey should prepare for a two-month hike, depending on their fitness level. One can choose whether to carry several days of supplies or to stock up in villages along the trail every day or two.

Trail Angels, people who help hikers along the trail, offer services like rooms for the night, warm showers, a place to cook and Internet connection for free or a low fee.

For more information, see or

(in Hebrew but has many pictures). Or read "Hike the Land of Israel: A Complete Guide to the Israel National Trail" by Jacob Saar.

WASHINGTON – When chunks of plaster began falling from the ceiling of the national cathedral of African Methodism last year, one of Washington"s oldest black congregations nearly had to abandon its sanctuary.

WASHINGTON – When chunks of plaster began falling from the ceiling of the national cathedral of African Methodism last year, one of Washington"s oldest black congregations nearly had to abandon its sanctuary.

Instead, the people of Metropolitan A.M.E. Church — where funerals were held for member Frederick Douglass and, a century later, for Rosa Parks — have begun emergency repairs. They brought in a scaffolding with wood planks to block falling debris. Now they worship with yellow construction lights strung overhead.

On Wednesday, the church was among the sites named America"s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places because it needs $11 million in critical repairs.

Also, for the first time, one spot on the list was reserved for all of the state parks and state-owned historic places in the country — a nod to widespread budget cuts affecting such sites.

Metropolitan A.M.E., an 1886 red brick Victorian Gothic-style church, was once among the largest integrated meeting halls in the segregated nation"s capital. It deterioriated over time, suffering cracks and water damage as its residential neighborhood a few blocks from the White House was swallowed by downtown development.

"It"s an expense the congregation by itself simply cannot afford," said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. "We all need to help."

State-owned properties are also among those listed as needing help, as about 30 cash-strapped states turn out the lights on as many as 400 sites and slash their budgets.

New York state alone is shutting down dozens of parks and sites, including abolitionist John Brown"s farm where he is buried near Lake Placid. It has been open to the public since 1895.

Vandals could cause costly damage at such sites if states turn off the heat and water and abandon aging structures, Moe said.

"This is really an alarm bell to call on Americans to realize the places they love are in trouble," he said.

Some states have cut their budgets for state parks and sites by as much as 75 percent in recent years, he said, threatening sites from New Jersey to Arizona.

The group is urging states to follow Ohio"s example by pursuing public-private partnerships to keep sites open with fewer tax dollars.

Among the most endangered sites on the 2010 list is one of the last surviving Negro League ballparks, Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, N.J. The 10,000-seat Art Deco stadium was home to the New York Black Yankees.

In Lincoln, Neb., the Industrial Arts Building could meet the wrecking ball. And in the Silicon Valley, the oldest structure in Palo Alto, an 1844 adobe home built by one of the original Hispanic residents of San Francisco sits abandoned and could be demolished. The Juana Briones House recalls California"s Spanish and Mexican heritage.

In addition to the church, the state park and historic sites, the ballpark, the adobe home, and the Industrial Arts Building, other endangered sites on the National Trust list are:

• Black Mountain in Harlan County, Ky. The historic mining towns of Benham and Lynch have built up heritage tourism that is now threatened by possible new deep mining permits around Black Mountain.

• Merritt Parkway in Fairfield County, Conn. The National Trust said Connecticut has neglected maintenance on the scenic roadway with its decorative bridges and landscaping.

• Pagat in Yigo, Guam. A large military buildup in the westernmost U.S. territory is threatening remnants of the ancient settlement of Pagat, home to the Chamorro people.

• Saugatuck Dunes in Saugatuck, Mich. About 2,500 acres of natural sand dunes and wetlands along Lake Michigan are threatened by a proposed 400-acre development of homes, hotels, restaurants and shops.

• Threefoot Building in Meridian, Miss. A 16-story Art Deco building lavishly decorated but vacant since 2000 could face demolition after the city has been unable to deliver financing to help a developer restore the 80-year-old structure.

• Wilderness Battlefield in Virginia. Near the site where Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant first met in one of the bloodiest Civil War battles, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. intends to build a Supercenter. Preservationists are fighting the plan in court, saying it will attract more sprawling development within the battlefield boundaries.

In Washington, members of the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church gathered Wednesday to sing hymns with hopes their building can be saved.

Johanna N. Green, 77, is the fourth generation of her family to attend the church her grandmother helped build. "I come in here, and I can feel her presence," Green said.

James Davis, one of the bishops, said the church has a prominent place in history, calling it a "birthing place for liberators."

"It is not just a church," he said. "It is a place where history is intermingled with the Gospel."

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Online:

National Trust for Historic Preservation: .

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, Mont. – Age has not been kind to Glacier National Park.

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, Mont. – Age has not been kind to Glacier National Park.

The gorgeous million-acre park in northwestern Montana celebrated its 100th birthday on Tuesday. But many of its glaciers have melted, and scientists predict the rest may not last another decade.

The forests are drier and disease-ridden, leading to bigger wildfires. Climate change is forcing animals that feed off plants to adapt.

Many experts consider Glacier Park a harbinger of Earth"s future, a laboratory where changes in the environment will likely show up first.

"What national parks all give us is, in effect, a controlled landscape where we can see the natural and climatic processes at work," said Steve Running, a University of Montana professor and co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in 2007 for his work on climate change.

Average temperatures have risen in the park 1.8 times faster than the global average, said Dan Fagre, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist.

The change is visible to the naked eye, with the vast moraines left behind as the giant glaciers melt away. Climate change is blamed for the increasing size and frequency of wildfires, and lower stream flows as summer progresses.

What this all means for the bears, wolves and other big predators in the park is unclear, Fagre said.

A birthday ceremony Tuesday focused on the wonders of the nation"s 10th national park. Several hundred tourists and employees listened in the crisp mountain air as speakers extolled its virtues as one of the most intact and diverse ecosystems in the world.

"Glacier connects us to the very core of our nature," park superintendent Chas Cartwright said.

Glacier remains perhaps the only place in the Lower 48 where all the big wild animals that Lewis and Clark saw in 1804 can still be seen, Running said.

"Our landscapes are still wild and pristine and clean," he said. "When you start looking globally at how many clean, wild landscapes are still around, Glacier is doing pretty well."

Glacier, signed into law on May 11, 1910, by President Taft, draws 2 million visitors per year to see its sawtooth peaks, clear lakes and wildlife. Nearly all come in the summer, jamming the signature red buses on Going-to-the-Sun Road, the dizzying roadway that bisects the park.

"We come to Glacier as often as we can," said Shirley McLaughlin of Missoula. "I have a real sense of ownership."

The park drew 4,000 visitors in 1911, when tourists would ride the train to Glacier and travel by horseback to stay at chalets in the high country, said Amy Vanderbilt, park spokeswoman. Visitors come to see predators like grizzly bears, which are now stable at around 300, she said.

But the same cannot be said for the park"s iconic glaciers, giant slabs of ancient ice that crawl slowly down the face of mountains, gouging spectacular landscapes.

Fagre said that based on geologic evidence, the park had about 150 glaciers in 1850, the end of the so-called Little Ice Age. Most would have still been around when the park was established in 1910.

Only about 25 named glaciers are left, and they could be gone by 2020, Fagre said.

Rising temperatures also mean spring is arriving about three weeks early, which causes winter snow to melt earlier and forests to become drier as the summer progresses, said Jack Potter, chief of science at the park.

That has led to bigger and more destructive fires, in part because insect infestations have weakened trees, Potter said. There are now fires at higher elevations, too, because the tree line is moving higher as temperatures rise, he said.

Less moisture means lower stream flows, which endanger fish species, he said. The vegetation is changing, providing less food and protective cover for animals.

The chance to see the glaciers that are now disappearing is what lures many visitors to the remote park.

But tourists won"t necessarily notice the glaciers are gone, because there will still be snow on the peaks of many mountains, Running said. And most of the remaining glaciers are located in the back country, far from visitors who stick to the main roads and lodges.

But it"s hard for people to imagine Glacier National Park without glaciers.

"The day that Glacier National Park officially announces there are no glaciers left, it will make worldwide headlines," Running said. "When people find out I am from Montana, that is the first thing they ask me: "Is it true about Glacier National Park?""

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – As a new iPad owner, many of my iPad fantasies involved using the device for entertainment while traveling.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – As a new iPad owner, many of my iPad fantasies involved using the device for entertainment while traveling.

I could see the iPad on an airplane tray table feeding me movies, books and music. I imagined the iPad in Rome, offering me tidbits of Vatican history as I sipped espresso. Downloaded games would squash my boredom while waiting at the Miami airport. In Las Vegas, it could suggest where to eat during a convention.

But I hadn"t thought much about using the iPad as a travel-planning tool until I sat down to book a vacation to Italy. Instead of using a laptop to buy tickets, I decided to try doing it on the iPad. My goal was to find the cheapest tickets from Tampa or Orlando, Fla., to Rome, for September, and also to look at hotel options, car rentals and a guidebook. I decided to download some apps to try, all free except for the guidebook.

I could have done my booking and searching without downloading apps, by connecting directly to travel websites using the iPad"s Internet connection. But while some websites look virtually identical on the iPad compared to a conventional computer screen, other sites don"t display as well on the iPad. Naturally, apps designed specifically for the device format better, are easier to use, and take advantage of certain features.

Unfortunately, at the time I was planning my trip, many of the big travel sites like Expedia and Travelocity had not yet developed apps specifically for the iPad. As a substitute, I tried using iPhone apps for those sites.

The results were disappointing. Using iPhone apps for Expedia and Travelocity did not display the content at full-screen size, and magnifying it resulted in slightly fuzzy text. Navigating to screens where I could enter my destination, search for airfares and buy tickets was confusing. At one point, the Expedia app offered a phone number for assistance; when I called, I was told to book the trip through the website.

In contrast, an app for Kayak specifically created for the iPad was a joy to use, easy to view and intuitive. As with most flight-booking websites, I was immediately directed to type in airport names and dates and other basic choices. Other details that popped up in boxes on the screen included a map, hotel prices, my search history and "Hot searches from Tampa" with other trips being looked at in my area. I eventually booked a $714 one-stop round-trip to Rome on Delta.

Many hotel apps — Hilton, HotelsNearMe, HotelPal, HotelsByMe — created for the iPhone work fine on the iPad. They"re excellent for on-the-go travelers who want to book a room that night. All have a cool function that asks whether to use the current iPad location to find hotel rooms nearby; they instantly display price and whether there are vacancies on helpful maps. Future hotel reservations are also possible, and again, the interactive map features are wonderful.

Almost all the car rental apps I tried were excellent, too, even though they were apps for iPhone, not iPad. The Hertz, Budget and iPhone apps were are all easy to search with and user-friendly, displaying photos of cars and prices in both euros and dollars.

At the time I researched my trip, there was little content from traditional travel guidebook publishers designed for iPads. But I did look at a version of Lonely Planet"s "1000 Ultimate Experiences" created for the iPad. The "1000" book is not a regular destination guide; rather it"s a compendium of places and things for travelers to see and do. While some online commenters have criticized it for being light on content, I found it to be a fun, gorgeous and inspiring application.

The iPad version also has advantages over a bound book, offering web links and videos. Swiping and flicking through the virtual playing card-deck of locations, I found several Italy-related activities, including a Vespa ride through Rome. Lonely Planet plans to release entire guidebooks for download on the iPad, and I hope there will be a dedicated destination guide to Italy before I leave so I can use it on my iPad, on the plane.

As family, friends and that woman who sat next to me on my last flight all know, I"m a nervous flyer. My anxiety has gotten better over the years — I don"t weep openly anymore — but I still get sweaty palms and a racing heartbeat upon takeoff. When the engine noise changes, I go on high alert. On long-haul flights, I rarely sleep.

As family, friends and that woman who sat next to me on my last flight all know, I"m a nervous flyer. My anxiety has gotten better over the years — I don"t weep openly anymore — but I still get sweaty palms and a racing heartbeat upon takeoff. When the engine noise changes, I go on high alert. On long-haul flights, I rarely sleep.

So I"m always on the lookout for anything that might ease my anxiety. I"ve downloaded guided meditations for my iPod, brought along fear of flying self-help books and tried to keep my self occupied with a GameBoy. Those have all worked, with varying success.

But now that I travel with an iPad, I"ve found a couple of apps that help.

One is called "Flying Without Fear," produced by a company called Mental Workout in conjunction with Virgin Airlines. (Mental Workout has several well-designed lifestyle apps, many centered on meditation and well-being).

Formatted for the iPhone, this $4.99 app was easy to use on my iPad and even looked snazzy. It"s a condensed version of Virgin"s real-life "Fear of Flying" course. Using videos, audio meditations and even a Q-and-A with such queries as "What is turbulence?" and "What happens if both engines fail?" this app tries to allay a jittery flyer"s fear while in the air.

I tried it out on a recent flight once the plane reached 10,000 feet and I could turn on my iPad. There"s an interesting video narrated by a Virgin pilot which takes you on a "tour" of a typical flight; there are also various visualization, meditation and breathing exercises for specific scenarios, including links to tap if you are experiencing a panic attack at that moment.

I listened to the visualization exercise for the "turbulence" scenario when I was actually going through turbulence; the chirping bird-nature soundtrack and the narrator"s deep British accent were definitely soothing. Many of the meditations would be probably more effective if practiced several days, or even months, before the flight.

Mental Workout promises a free update to this app soon.

If soothing meditations don"t work, there"s another option for nervous flyers: total distraction.

The iPad app "Tap Tap Radiation" is a touch music game formatted for the iPad, and it"s completely absorbing and addictive. I once passed an entire hour on a flight and didn"t even noticed my anxiety because I was so absorbed in this game.

Here"s how it works: You tap bubbles in time with music. Yes, it sounds totally simple and stupid, but it"s really fun. And the best part: it"s free.

Mental Workout and Virgin have another iPhone app worth checking out as well. Called "Jet Lag Fighter" ($1.99), it uses clinically proven techniques — sleep adjustment or light therapy — to minimize the effects of jet lag.

Similar to the "Flying Without Fear" app, there is an educational component, with a short video explanation of jet lag and its effects on the body and mind.

To use the app, you input some basic information about your flight departure and arrival times. It will then calculate when you need to be out in bright light, when to exercise and when to sleep. The best part about the app is that if you happen to skip your scheduled time in bright light — or go to sleep later than expected — you input that into the app and it will adjust the schedules for you.

To be most effective, you need to input your trip details before going on the trip, not when you are already traveling. I plan to use it during an upcoming trip to Europe.

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, Mont. – Age has not been kind to Glacier National Park.

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, Mont. – Age has not been kind to Glacier National Park.

The gorgeous million-acre park in northwestern Montana celebrated its 100th birthday on Tuesday. But many of its glaciers have melted, and scientists predict the rest may not last another decade.

The forests are drier and disease-ridden, leading to bigger wildfires. Climate change is forcing animals that feed off plants to adapt.

Many experts consider Glacier Park a harbinger of Earth"s future, a laboratory where changes in the environment will likely show up first.

"What national parks all give us is, in effect, a controlled landscape where we can see the natural and climatic processes at work," said Steve Running, a University of Montana professor and co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in 2007 for his work on climate change.

Average temperatures have risen in the park 1.8 times faster than the global average, said Dan Fagre, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist.

The change is visible to the naked eye, with the vast moraines left behind as the giant glaciers melt away. Climate change is blamed for the increasing size and frequency of wildfires, and lower stream flows as summer progresses.

What this all means for the bears, wolves and other big predators in the park is unclear, Fagre said.

A birthday ceremony Tuesday focused on the wonders of the nation"s 10th national park. Several hundred tourists and employees listened in the crisp mountain air as speakers extolled its virtues as one of the most intact and diverse ecosystems in the world.

"Glacier connects us to the very core of our nature," park superintendent Chas Cartwright said.

Glacier remains perhaps the only place in the Lower 48 where all the big wild animals that Lewis and Clark saw in 1804 can still be seen, Running said.

"Our landscapes are still wild and pristine and clean," he said. "When you start looking globally at how many clean, wild landscapes are still around, Glacier is doing pretty well."

Glacier, signed into law on May 11, 1910, by President Taft, draws 2 million visitors per year to see its sawtooth peaks, clear lakes and wildlife. Nearly all come in the summer, jamming the signature red buses on Going-to-the-Sun Road, the dizzying roadway that bisects the park.

"We come to Glacier as often as we can," said Shirley McLaughlin of Missoula. "I have a real sense of ownership."

The park drew 4,000 visitors in 1911, when tourists would ride the train to Glacier and travel by horseback to stay at chalets in the high country, said Amy Vanderbilt, park spokeswoman. Visitors come to see predators like grizzly bears, which are now stable at around 300, she said.

But the same cannot be said for the park"s iconic glaciers, giant slabs of ancient ice that crawl slowly down the face of mountains, gouging spectacular landscapes.

Fagre said that based on geologic evidence, the park had about 150 glaciers in 1850, the end of the so-called Little Ice Age. Most would have still been around when the park was established in 1910.

Only about 25 named glaciers are left, and they could be gone by 2020, Fagre said.

Rising temperatures also mean spring is arriving about three weeks early, which causes winter snow to melt earlier and forests to become drier as the summer progresses, said Jack Potter, chief of science at the park.

That has led to bigger and more destructive fires, in part because insect infestations have weakened trees, Potter said. There are now fires at higher elevations, too, because the tree line is moving higher as temperatures rise, he said.

Less moisture means lower stream flows, which endanger fish species, he said. The vegetation is changing, providing less food and protective cover for animals.

The chance to see the glaciers that are now disappearing is what lures many visitors to the remote park.

But tourists won"t necessarily notice the glaciers are gone, because there will still be snow on the peaks of many mountains, Running said. And most of the remaining glaciers are located in the back country, far from visitors who stick to the main roads and lodges.

But it"s hard for people to imagine Glacier National Park without glaciers.

"The day that Glacier National Park officially announces there are no glaciers left, it will make worldwide headlines," Running said. "When people find out I am from Montana, that is the first thing they ask me: "Is it true about Glacier National Park?""

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