Reviews of Vacations

For the first time in more than a decade, a tourism marketing partnership in the United States has produced a vacation guide targeted at Europeans that features all 50 states.

A million issues of "Discover America - USA Travel Guide" are being distributed in Western Europe in English, French, German and Italian.

The guide is the lastest tactic from the tourism industry to shore up sagging overseas visitorship, which is so coveted because Europeans tend to stay up to seven times longer and spend up to four times more than domestic tourists.

Since 1992, the U.S. has seen its market share of international travelers fall 36 percent.

"Our guide is one way to help regain market share, and Europe is the right place to start," said John DeLeva, publisher of the guide.

No time for a full-blown getaway over spring break? No problem. Take your family on a mini-vacation instead.

Silver Dollar City opens for a limited time starting Thursday, and there's lots more in the Branson area for kids to enjoy.

Although Worlds of Fun in Kansas City and Six Flags in St. Louis don't open until April, there are loads of kid-friendly attractions in both cities to keep kids entertained for a long weekend jaunt.

Kansas City

Expose your kids to a little history, or take advantage of kid-friendly activities at Hallmark's Crown Center and the renovated Union Station, connected with an enclosed walkway.

Crown Center, 2450 Grand Blvd., (816) 274-8444, www.crowncenter.com. The three-level shopping, dining and entertainment center is connected to the Westin Crown Center and Hyatt Regency Crown Center hotels at the Hallmark Cards headquarters complex.

Union Station, 30 W. Pershing Road, (816) 460-2020, www.unionstation.org. The renovated railroad station includes a children's science museum, planetarium, movies, exhibits and more. Open Tuesday through Sunday. Tickets can be purchased individually, or as passes, $8.95-$13.95, for several activities. Kids 3 and younger get in free.

National WWI Museum at Liberty Memorial, 100 W. 26th St., (816) 784-1918, www.nww1.org. Open 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday. Tickets are $4-$8. The only national museum dedicated to the Great War features more than 49,000 artifacts.

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and American Jazz Museum, 1616 E. 18th St., (816) 221-8424, www.nlbm.com or (816) 474-8463, www.americanjazzmuseum.com. Open Tuesday-Saturday. Tickets are $2.50-$6 for one museum; $4-$8 for both. The baseball museum features video and memorabilia chronicling the history and heroes of the Negro Leagues. The jazz museum includes interactive exhibits and educational programs.

Known for its free activities, including the zoo and science center in the Forest Park area, St. Louis is packed with family options.

The Magic House, St. Louis Children's Museum, 516 S. Kirkwood Road, (314) 822-8900, www.magichouse.org. Admission $7; free for children younger than 1. The hands-on museum has more than 100 exhibits, a three-story slide, Children's Village and Math Path.

City Museum, 701 N. 15th St., (314) 231-2489, www.citymuseum.org. Open daily from Sunday through March 31 for spring break. Tickets are $12. Created from recycled materials, the museum is chock full of climbing, sliding and interactive activities. The World Aquarium, inside the City Museum, (314) 647-9594 or www.worldaquarium.net, is $6 in addition to the City Museum fee.

Saint Louis Science Center, 5050 Oakland Ave., 1-800-456-7572 or (314) 289-4400, www.slsc.org. Free admission to the main museum which includes more than 700 exhibits. Also on hand for extra fees are the OMNIMAX Theater and Planetarium.

St. Louis Zoo in Forest Park, (314) 781-0900, www.stlzoo.org. Free admission. Home to more than 11,400 animals representing the major continents and biomes of the world.

Gateway Arch — Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St. Louis Riverfront, 1-877-982-1410, (314) 923-3048, www.gateway arch.com. Open daily; ticket prices vary. Go up in the 630-foot arch, watch a movie on a giant screen and soak in history with the Lewis & Clark and other exhibits. After your visit, take a cruise on one of the Gateway Arch Riverboats.

An Arizona ski resort's plan to spray artificial snow made with treated sewage on mountains and parkland revered by Native American tribes is unlawful, a US federal court has ruled.

In a 64-page judgement, a three-member panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals found that the proposal by the Arizona Snowbowl resort violated laws governing religious freedoms.

"We hold that the Forest Service's approval of the proposed expansion of the Snowbowl, including the use of treated sewage effluent to make artificial snow, violates RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act)," the judgement said.

The plans by operators of the 777-acre (314-hectare) Arizona Snowbowl in the San Francisco peaks, 240 km (149 miles) north of Phoenix, had appalled Native American tribes who argued the area has precious spiritual significance.

The Navajo Nation, which led the legal action, said the lands in question are sacred to more than 13 Native American tribes.

The Snowbowl ski resort said the use of artificial snow was necessary to guarantee skiing during winter months, arguing the move was crucial to preserve its economic survival. The resort had also sought to clear around 100 acres of forest and add an extra chairlift at the facility.

A court last year had backed the resort's plans, including the use of treated sewage water to make snow, but ran into a coalition of Native American and environmental groups opposed to the renovations.

The appeals court accepted the religious significance of the San Francisco Peaks to the Navajo, Hualapai, Hopi and Havasupai tribes, comparing the snow-making scheme to using sewage water in Christian baptisms.

"The record supports the conclusion that the proposed use of treated sewage effluent on the San Francisco Peaks would impose a burden on the religious exercise of all four tribes discussed above -- the Navajo, the Hopi, the Hualapai, and the Havasupai," Judge William Fletcher wrote in his ruling.

"We are unwilling to hold that authorizing the use of artificial snow at an already functioning commercial ski area in order to expand and improve its facilities, as well as to extend its ski season in dry years, is a governmental interest of the highest order."

Wrapped in blankets and tired from a late-night brush with danger, eight spring breakers didn't expect to make national headlines in the middle of their vacation.

In fact, their plan didn't even include being on shore.

'We had all our snorkel gear, scuba gear ready,' said boater Dan Price. 'Everything was running fine and everything was good to go.'

The group of college students from Alaska and New York were prepared for nearly two weeks at sea, their 36-foot rented catamaran fully equipped.

But their trip got cut short late Monday night when the boat began taking on water off of Elliot Key, about 10 miles from Biscayne National Park.

Price, the 25-year-old owner of an Internet travel agency, said he and his boating buddies were relaxing and sleeping when they noticed the boat rapidly filling with water.

The boaters had only about 20 minutes to act. They used a two-way radio to make their distress call.

'We put our cellphones, passports and a computer in a dry bag,' Price said.

The Coast Guard diverted one of their falcon jets from routine law enforcement duty to swing by and drop the boaters a life raft. Within a half hour, one of the Coast Guard's rescue vessels arrived.

By that time, the boat was 95 percent submerged.

A second rescue boat soon arrived to break up the large party and take the spring breakers safely to the Coast Guard base off of Miami Beach.

The group began their ill-fated journey four days ago on Florida's Gulf Coast in Port Charlotte, where they rented the catamaran together.

They had been planning the 'semi-annual' trip for months.

'We just wanted to relax and sail around,' Price said. 'We're not really too picky.'

One of the perks of a spring break on the water, he said, was the nonexistent room and board costs and car rental fees one can expect with a land vacation.

The Coast Guard allowed the stranded group to use their unaccompanied personal housing quarters at the base in Miami Beach to shower and put on some fresh clothes.

For now, the spring breakers will spend the rest of their vacation hopping between friends' houses in Fort Lauderdale and Naples, Price said.

A commercial salvage service brought the sinking boat to shore.