SUNDAY JUNE 27 2010

By JAMIE STENGLEOf The Associated Press

UNCERTAIN, Texas (AP) — As Capt. Ron Gibbs navigates his pontoon boat down a narrow waterway lined with

bald cypress trees dripping Spanish moss, he shuts off the motor. The only noise punctuat-ing the silence is birds calling as the boat glides under the bright summer sun on Caddo Lake.

A boat tour of the lake takes visitors through seas of bright green water lilies, down shaded watery avenues and past islands of dense forest.

“There are some areas that are so primeval it’ll make the hair on the back of your neck stand up,” said Gibbs, whose Graceful Ghost Steamboat Company Inc. is one of several outfits offering boat tours of the lake. “It’s a supernatural feeling. It’s downright spooky in some areas.”

“It’s hauntingly beautiful. It’s an enchanting lake,” Gibbs said.

The lake’s “flooded forest,” which has trees that are more than 400 years old, was cre-ated when the lake level rose after bald cypress trees germi-nated on the dry lake bed in a low-water period, said Todd Dickinson, park manager of the state’s 484-acre Caddo Lake State Park.

Tourists are drawn to the lake and state park, which is bordered by the 8,000-acre Caddo Lake Wildlife Management Area and the 7,000-acre Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge, for the camp-ing, boating, kayaking, bird watching, hik-ing, fishing and hunting.

The 27,000-acre lake about 170 miles east of Dallas straddles the edge of Texas and Louisiana, where it becomes open water.

Dickinson said each season offers something new on the lake. In the summer, the lake shimmers under the hot sun and the vegetation is in full bloom, showing off bright greens and colorful flowers. By fall, the bald cypress trees are turning a rusty red, and when the temperature drops in the winter, the lake takes on a silvery glow as the trees lose their leaves. In the spring, more fisherman appear and the lake begins getting greener.

“This lake just comes alive with something new each week,” Gibbs said.

A first glimpse of the lake can be bewitching.

“It looks very prehis-toric. Really magical, enchanting, otherworldly,” said Vanessa Adams, a biologist for the wildlife management area.

Bird watching can be especially interesting, said Adams. On a recent summer afternoon, there were great blue herons wading in the water.

Adams said that in the fall, when wading birds are doing their “post-breeding wander-ing,” there can be some unex-pected sightings in the swampy lake.

English sisters Marilyn Jones and Anita Harris from Liverpool made a stop on Caddo Lake as part of a tour of Texas after reading about it in a guide-book. They said the lake did not disappoint, with Jones describ-ing it as “brilliant, beautiful.”

“The atmosphere is just com-pletely different,” Harris said.

About 17 miles west of the lake, visitors will find the gen-teel town of Jefferson, which

has its own historical ties to the flooded forest.

Now a small community of elegant homes, antique stores and bed and breakfasts, Jefferson was once a bustling river port, with steamboats traveling up the Mississippi River from New Orleans to the Red River, through Caddo Lake and down Big Cypress Bayou to Jefferson. But in the 1870s, a “log jam” on the Red River above Shreveport, La., was broken up, opening up the main course of the river and lowering water levels so much that steamboats could no longer make it through to Jefferson.

With its tree-lined lanes of antebellum homes and a downtown square near the Big Cypress Bayou, the town makes a relaxing stop. For elegant din-ing after a day on the lake, try the Stillwater Inn, located in an old Victorian home.

“The beauty of coming to Jefferson is you can come in, park the car, throw away the keys and walk everywhere,” said Juanita Wakefield Chitwood, executive director of the Marion County Chamber of Commerce.

Far away from the bustle of Texas’ big cities, and a marked difference from the open prairie and desert that people often associate with the state, Caddo Lake and its surrounding for-

ests offer something different.“It’s not like anything else

in Texas, that’s for sure,” said Rick Lowerre, president of the Caddo Lake Institute, a non-

profit founded by musician Don Henley to help protect the lake.

“That flooded cypress for-est, thousands of acres of it, is pretty magical,” Lowerre said.

Texas’ mystical, otherworldly Caddo Lake beckons visitors

On the WebGo to theoaklandpress.com/

life for additional travel stories from around the world, including:■ New York City considers adding more car-free zones.■ Travel briefs highlight museum additions and exhibits.

The Associated Press/JAMIE STENGLE

A water lane runs through tall cypress trees covered with Spanish moss on Caddo Lake near Uncertain, Texas. Visitors to this lake tucked away in Texas’ forested northeast corner fi nd a mysterious labyrinth of swamps, sloughs, and bayous that are home to a vast array of wildlife, anything from owls to eagles to alligators.

Flooded Forest

The Associated Press/JAMIE STENGLE

A Great Egret stands on the limb of a cypress tree.

If you goCADDO LAKE STATE

PARK: www.texasstate parks.org

GETTING THERE: Uncertain, Texas, located on Caddo Lake, is about a three-hour drive from Dallas or an hour from Shreveport, La.

GRACEFUL GHOST STEAMBOAT COMPANY INC.: www.gracefulghost.com or 877-894-4678. Boat tours offered Tuesday-Saturday (closed Sunday-Monday except holidays). Adults, $20; children through age 15 are charged $1 for each year of age. Graceful Ghost is one of several boat tour companies in the area.

JEFFERSON: www.jeffer son-texas.com/

STILLWATER INN: 203 E. Broadway, Jefferson, Texas; http://stillwaterinn.com/ or 903-665-8415. Dinner reservations required Friday and Saturday nights; recom-mended Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. (Dining room closed Sunday and Monday.) Cottage rental, $130 a night.

CADDO LAKE WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA: http://tinyurl.com/32qkero

TRAVELPAGE 2 ✩✩✩ SUNDAY JUNE 27 2010

Museums honor summer, POWs and sculpture artGrand Rapids Public Museum plans “Summer Fun Days”

GRAND RAPIDS (AP) — The Grand Rapids Public Museum is kicking off nearly three months of activities for “Summer Fun Days.”

Since Monday, hours and admissions prices have changed. Carousel rides — usually $1 — will be free and visitors may take part in special daily activities. Regular hours and admission rates resume Sept. 5.

Story Time Mondays will include three read-ing presentations, Treasure Tuesdays will focus on fun with the museum’s collections and Weird Wednesdays will offer crafts and science activi-ties.

Behind the Scenes Thursdays will include tours of parts of the museum that aren’t generally open to the public, Old Fashioned Fridays offer a step back in time and Silly Game Saturdays include diversions like six-pin bowl-ing.

Details are on the museum’s website, www.grmuseum.org.

U-M art museum hosts Corita Kent prints

ANN ARBOR (AP) — The University of Michigan Museum of Art is hosting an exhibi-tion of prints from artist Corita Kent, whose works include the “Love” stamp that she designed for the U.S. Postal Service.

The traveling exhibit “Sister Corita: The Joyous Revolutionary” has just opened and runs through Aug. 15 at the museum in Ann Arbor. The exhibit includes 44 prints, from early reli-gious pieces to the popular stamp.

She was born Frances Kent in Fort Dodge, Iowa, was educated in Los Angeles and joined the sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1936, taking the name Sister Mary Corita. She left the order of nuns in 1968 and moved to Boston. She died in 1986.

The exhibit is from Mid-America Arts Alliance’s ExhibitsUSA division and the National Endowment for the Arts.

West Virginia library plans museum to display POW items

WELLSBURG, W.Va. (AP) — The Brooke County Public Library has more than 100,000 items related to American prisoners of war in the Philippines during World War II.

But there’s not enough space to display the entire collection.

Library officials want to ensure that these POWs aren’t forgotten. They’re studying the feasibility of building a museum to preserve and exhibit the collection.

Library director Mary Kay Wallace says plan-ners expect to present the study to the library’s board of director in six to eight weeks.

The next step would be raising funds for the project. The museum is expected to cost $2 mil-lion and Wallace hopes to secure another $2.5 million in endowment funds.

Thousands tour Indianapolis museum’s outdoor park

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Thousands of people toured the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art as it opened its new outdoor sculpture and nature park.

The outdoor area dubbed 100 Acres opened to the public last weekend, featuring eight large works of art throughout woodlands, wetlands and a meadow.

Museum officials estimated at least 8,000 people visited the area on opening day, with most of the museum’s parking lot filled up by early afternoon.

Elayne Lewis of Indianapolis said she was impressed by the sculpture park and that it’s something visitors will have to tour more than once.

Yellowstone County Museum gets security system

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Yellowstone County Museum officials have unveiled a new security system they say will help encourage people to entrust their valuable historic items to the museum.

Museum Director Chas Weldon says the $30,000 security system finished in May was paid for by the county and comes with 19 sur-veillance cameras.

Weldon also announced two remodeling proj-ects and the hiring of a collections manager.

One project will create a new photo archive lab, and the second is the building of a secure vault exhibit room so the museum can expand its firearms collection.

Weldon says the museum has about 20,000 artifacts in all, but only a fraction are on dis-play.

Jimmy Buffett plans free concert on Alabama beach, live on CMT

GULF SHORES, Ala. (AP) — Jimmy Buffett and a few of his friends plan to give a free con-cert on the Alabama coast to show support for the Gulf region.

Alabama tourism director Lee Sentell says show will be July 1 on the beach at Gulf Shores.

Buffett’s website says the concert is meant to demonstrate support for the people, businesses and culture of the Gulf Coast. It will be broad-cast live on CMT.

Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band will be joined in Gulf Shores by Sonny Landreth, Zac Brown Band, Kenny Chesney, Jesse Winchester and Allen Toussaint.

A special souvenir T-shirt will be designed for the concert. It will be available online and at the show.

For more information, visit www.margarita-ville.com.

Enchantment of the Seas cruise ship makes port call to Portland

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s largest port is getting its first visit of the season from a large cruise ship.

Enchantment of the Seas is due to arrive in Portland late Sunday morning and depart early in the evening.

The 916-foot Royal Caribbean ship carries nearly 1,950 passengers and 760 crew. After departing Portland, the vessel goes to Saint John, New Brunswick, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, before stopping in Bar Harbor.

Other cruise ships have already made port calls in Portland this year, but they were of the smaller variety.

Jackson 5 exhibit on display at Motown Historical Museum

DETROIT (AP) — A Jackson 5 exhibit opened at the Motown Historical Museum in Detroit, marking the one-year anniversary this week of Michael Jackson’s death.

The public can view photographs, awards and uniforms the group wore throughout its career.

Museum chief curator Lina Stephens says the exhibit celebrates the life of Jackson and acknowledges the Jackson 5’s “contribution to the Motown story.” The exhibit will be open through October. Museum summer hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Oversized games open at Henry Ford Museum

DEARBORN (AP) — A new exhibit opening at Henry Ford Museum gives visitors a chance to get into the game in a big way.

“PLAY” has just opened at the museum in Dearborn and is scheduled to run through Sept. 19. It offers the chance to play in oversized ver-sions of games like bowling, billiards, dice, back-gammon, foosball and dominoes.

The exhibit’s big game sets are designed to help visitors explore friendship, collaboration and teamwork. They also integrate art, music, video and interactive technology to create an immersive experience.

Henry Ford Museum is part of The Henry Ford, a historical attraction that includes Greenfield Village.

For more information visit www.thehenry ford.org.

By MARC BEJAOf The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — After sev-eral hours of shopping, Gordy Lund didn’t want to move another step. So she and her daughter Tina sat down, iced coffees in hand — right in the middle of Broadway.

The Oshkosh, Wis., tourist sat at umbrella-covered tables at Herald Square in one of two pedestrian plazas that removed cars a year ago from two of the city’s most famous and congested locations. The plazas were inspired by similar streets-turned-walkways that are com-mon in Europe and are becom-ing more popular in places like California and Texas.

“A few years ago, you had to dodge traffic all the time,” said Lund, 74, in town visiting her daughter. “Now, it’s a great place to people-watch.”

More than a year after open-ing in the middle of Times Square and Herald Square in midtown Manhattan, Bloomberg administration offi-cials say the plazas have made the city safer, more livable and even sped up traffic. They’re soliciting applications to open others around the city and are looking closely at Union Square in downtown Manhattan.

Motorists and taxi drivers say traffic jams blocks away are worse, not better. And some business owners — particularly those around Union Square — say they’re worried about the plazas cutting off their access to customers and even a local fire station.

The midtown makeover is part of a longterm effort by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration to reimagine the street grid in one of the most traffic-dense areas in Manhattan. The goal has pri-marily been to improve traffic flow, although the first results have been mixed — a study released earlier this year by the city showed that new travel times were not as fast as the goals the city had initially set.

City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-

Khan said that data was mis-leading and that later studies have shown taxis and cars are either moving faster or at the same speeds in two main thor-oughfares parallel to Broadway.

“It’s a win all-around in terms of traffic,” she said.

Changing the flow of traf-fic goes hand-in-hand with Bloomberg’s overall environ-mental agenda, which was developed in 2007 and included a goal of reducing the number of cars on the road. He sought to put a toll on cars entering Manhattan’s most traffic-heavy areas, but that plan died in the state Legislature.

The plazas are showing up in places like Long Beach, Calif., Philadelphia, and Austin, Texas. Because of a greater dependence on cars elsewhere, the plazas might work best in Manhattan, said Jeff Speck, principal of Speck and Associates, a Washington, D.C., planning firm.

“In almost all American cit-ies, it’s a fool’s errand,” Speck said. “But if the stores are not dependent on vehicles for business, there is absolutely no down side to this transforma-tion.”

For taxi driver Javaid Tariq, the plazas have threatened busi-ness, diverting yellow cabs from some of the busiest parts of the city and making customers either walk blocks or go without cabs.

Tariq — co-founder of the New York Taxi Workers’ Alliance — said because streets are shut down, drivers are unable to get passengers all the way to their destination. People have to walk farther to get to cabs, and finding one in the plaza areas has become harder because taxi drivers try to stay away from their vicinities to avoid traffic.

“Passengers have been get-ting angrier and more frustrat-ed,” Tariq said. “They yell at the driver all the time.”

The city said information from taxis’ GPS consoles show that traffic has improved.

A Department of

Transportation study showed travel speeds improved 17 per-cent in west Midtown — west of Fifth Avenue — and was 8 percent faster east of the avenue going northbound. In southbound trips, cars drove 2 percent in West Midtown and 3 percent faster in East Midtown, the study found.

The city is considering mak-ing two blocks on the west side of Union Square car-free for part of the day and considering expanding traffic limits around Herald Square — blocking 34th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues to all traffic but buses.

It is also looking for nonprofit groups to propose smaller plazas in other areas of the city that don’t have much public space. The department — which spent $1.5 million creating the Times and Herald Square plazas — would pay to build the smaller plazas and the nonprofits would pay to maintain it. Applications are being accepted through the end of June.

Downtown businesses and leaders are concerned about blocking traffic at busy Union Square, and about a nearby fire-house that would have to send firetrucks along a slightly differ-

ent route.“I certainly am apprehensive

of what that would do to traffic patterns, what that would do to some of our emergency services like police cars, fire trucks and ambulances when some of our streets are cut off,” said Council Member Rosie Mendez, who rep-resents Union Square.

Jon Bloostein, owner of the Heartland Brewery restaurant on Union Square West, said a plaza there would make it harder for delivery drivers going to local stores, and guests would have a more difficult time get-ting to their destination.

“If people can’t get there easily or leave easily, they’ll go somewhere else,” Bloostein said.

Bloostein and other business owners are currently drafting their own proposal to bring to the transportation department in the next few months.

Though changes to Union Square were originally planned for this summer, Sadik-Khan now says there is no tentative completion date.

“We’re still in discussions with the community,” she said. “This is going to be tailored to the unique characteristics of Union Square streets.”

The Associated Press/MICHAEL CONROY

“Free Basket,” an installation in the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, which opened to the public last week.

Car-free zones please NYC walkers, concern businesses reliant on taxis

The Associated Press/FRANK FRANKLIN II

People frequent pedestrian plazas in Times Square/Herald Square in New York. The plazas are inspired by similar streets-turned-walkways that are common in Europe and are becoming more popular in places like California and Texas.

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