Broncs, bull-riding and community service
Yee-haw! Git yer dogies rollin' down to Florida next weekend for the Silver Spurs Rodeo of Champions. Held in Kissimmee, Fla., this rodeo celebrates more than 50 years of all-American competition, culture and community service in the heart of one of the world's most popular tourist destinations.
Ranked in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's top 2 percent, the biannual Silver Spurs Rodeo draws 50,000 spectators and the world's top rodeo athletes in February and July. Cowboys risk their lives in classic rodeo events such as saddle bronc and bull-riding to compete for national rankings and a portion of the largest rodeo purse in the Eastern United States.
Despite its world-class sporting status, the rodeo remains rooted in its community. Entirely volunteer-run since 1944, the event has donated more than $1 million in cash and services to charity.
Running concurrently with and next to the rodeo is the Osceola County Fair. This old-fashioned festival features midway rides, country-western music, homemade food, livestock, juggling, arts and crafts and other down-home entertainment.
The rodeo competition takes place rain or shine Friday through Feb. 19; the Osceola County Fair runs Tuesday through Feb. 19. In the summer, the rodeo will take place July 1-2. The nearest airport is in Orlando. Tickets to the rodeo are $15, and are available by calling Ticketmaster at (407) 839-3900, or the Silver Spurs Rodeo box office at (407) 677-6336. Admission to the county fair is $3, $1 for ages 12 and under; call (407) 846-6046.
Anyone can bring home a T-shirt for a souvenir. But how about a monkey skull? Or a Soviet truck distributor cap? Weissman's Travel Reports, a trade publication, surveyed its on-line subscribers, editors and correspondents and came up with a lot of unusual items. Among them:
* An Ayatollah Khomeini photo coffee cup, given some years ago to a traveler en route to Kashmir, India, who had stumbled into a Shiite Muslim town.
* A 19th-century poster from a Paris zoo that housed not only animals but people of various lands.
* A bulbous figure made in Mexico of green metal, with a head crafted from the ball of a toilet tank.
* An "Americanisms" dictionary from China, with explanations of such memorable words and phrases as "freak out," "zit" and "tough nookies."
* Magic potions from San Antonio, including a floor wash designed to keep away evil.
As Arnie Weissman, the publication's editor, puts it: "It's amazing what people will display with pride on their mantels."
Meet Native Americans
Learn about Native-American beliefs, tribal ceremonies and dances, camp in tepees and share meals and daily life with Comanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Ojibwa, Pima and others tours arranged by Journeys Into American Indian Territory. The trips range from three days to a week and are led by anthropologist Robert Vetter and a staff of Native Americans. Scheduled through November, the tours focus on Native-American culture, past and present, in Oklahoma, Arizona, Wisconsin and Massachusetts. Itineraries may include a prayer circle ceremony in sacred sites in Sedona, Ariz., led by a Yavapai Apache elder; a Cheyenne powwow in Oklahoma; and a meeting of tribes in Massachusetts' Berkshires. Costs are $245 to $795, with lodging, meals, fees, lectures and tour transportation included; airfare is extra. Call Journeys Into American Indian Territory at (800) 458-2632.
New York honeymoon
Gray Line New York offers four-day, three-night honeymoon packages that combine a visit to Niagara Falls and a stay in New York. Couples can choose to split the three nights however they like -- for instance, first and last night in Manhattan, second night in Niagara Falls. Included is round-trip airfare between Niagara Falls and New York; airport transfers; a trolley tour of Manhattan or a harbor cruise; admission to a major attraction such as the Empire State Building or the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Broadway tickets or dinner at Tavern on the Green, Sardi's, the View or Sequoia; guided tour of Niagara Falls; Maid of the Mist boat ride; and buffet lunch. Prices start at $1,170 per person. For information, call Gray Line New York at (212) 397-2620.