Travel briefs
NATIONAL PARKS
PETRIFIED FOREST BUILDINGS NAMED NATIONAL TREASURE
The buildings at Petrified Forest National Park are held up as an example of modern architecture with their flat roofs, low silhouettes and large windows that open up to the vast expanse of rainbow-colored Arizona desert.
Spanning dozens of acres, the structures provided everything the park staff and visitors would need: a gas station, restaurant, community building, maintenance shop, housing, even a two-room elementary school.
The National Park Service entrusted the design to prominent architects Richard Neutra and Robert Alexander ahead of the agency’s 50th birthday, and it’s the only project of theirs still standing within the Park Service.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation recently designated the Petrified Forest compound a national treasure because of its architectural significance.
Outside national park boundaries, saving midcentury modern structures has been a chore. There are plenty of examples that have been threatened by the wrecking ball, including a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home in Phoenix and Philip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut.
The Petrified Forest complex was on track to be demolished in 1993, but lack of funding derailed that plan and it was declared safe in 2004, said park Superintendent Brad Traver.
AIRLINES
NEW SERVICE
▪ Aeromexico said it will expand service from Miami International Airport next month, adding a fourth daily flight to Mexico City on Nov. 1 and a fourth weekly flight to Merida on Nov. 8.
▪ Charter airline operator Meregrass said it will begin offering scheduled service between Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and five destinations in the Bahamas next year. The Texas-based company said it will use Saab 2000 aircraft in a 30-seat configuration beginning in April to Marsh Harbour, Grand Bahama, Bimini, Georgetown and North Eleuthera.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
PLANS AFOOT TO FIX HISTORIC SKI JUMP
A historic ski jump that once attracted up to 30,000 spectators and made New Hampshire an important winter sports destination after it opened in 1938 is getting a chance to soar again.
The Nansen Ski Jump in Milan lured some of the biggest names in jumping to the state’s North Country for decades and was host to Olympic tryouts, World Cup competitions and four national championships before the last jumper flew off it in 1985.
Now, an effort is underway to revive the dilapidated jump and make it a tourist attraction featuring story boards, a picnic area and observation platform at the takeoff point so visitors can get a jumper’s eye view of the seemingly bottomless panorama.
Miami Herald
wire services
This story was originally published October 17, 2014 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Travel briefs."