Grand Canyon

For Californians, Ken Burns' gorgeous and exhaustive six-part documentary on the National Parks poses something of a dilemma. In the 12 hours it takes for "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" to unfold, an Angeleno could easily visit any of a half dozen national parks. Without traffic, you could conceivably get to Yosemite, where it all started, tour the valley floor and be back before narrator Peter Coyote stopped talking. No doubt the various men behind the National Parks system, from mountain prophet John Muir to the touring-car-bound Franklin Delano Roosevelt would recommend you do just that.

The pilot and five passengers were killed Friday afternoon when a helicopter crashed while returning from a tourist flight over the Grand Canyon. A 23-year-old woman survived the crash. She was listed in critical condition after being airlifted to the University Medical Center in Las Vegas with burns over 80% of her body. The passengers were family members from the New York City area vacationing here together, according to sources close to the investigation.

Any remembrance of Holocaust victims is, of course, a worthy endeavor and a historical priority. Thus, "As Seen Through These Eyes," Hilary Helstein's brief documentary, serves as another critical reminder of one of the world's most horrific periods, even if, cinematically, it's an affecting collection of stories and images in search of an actual center. Over the last decade, Helstein interviewed various Holocaust survivors (some of whom have since died) who recounted how they created art and music as a form of expression, control and diversion.

On a day that would transform aviation history, fog hung over Los Angeles International Airport. But it did nothing to dampen the festive mood as passengers lined up eager to start their Fourth of July holiday. At one ticket counter, 64 checked in for Trans World Airlines Flight 2 to Kansas City, Mo. Next door, 53 registered for United Airlines' Chicago-bound Flight 718.

In the elite circles of private schools in Washington, D.C., globe-trotting vacations are common, but it is hard to imagine that many schoolmates of Malia and Sasha Obama will be able to rival their summer adventures. Although the White House zealously guards many of the details of the Obamas' private family time, the public caught a glimpse Sunday of the girls' sightseeing tour of the Grand Canyon, and a day earlier, of their visit to Yellowstone National Park. Earlier this summer, photographers captured visits by the first daughters to the Eiffel Tower and the Pompidou Center in Paris, a slave dungeon in Ghana, and the Kremlin in Moscow.

They climbed down from the Las Vegas charter bus, a group of mostly middle-aged, none-too-fit vacationers, glancing eagerly at the river on which they would spend the next eight days. The Colorado glistened in the hot morning sun, ready to carry them more than 200 miles through the Grand Canyon, a trip that once was an exotic adventure for the hardy but now requires little more than money and plenty of suntan lotion.

David Hockney, renowned chronicler of Los Angeles' sun-drenched life and landscapes, hasn't been around much lately. He's much more likely to be painting these days in his native Yorkshire than in his adopted Southern California. But unlock the studio door of his secluded Hollywood Hills house and see what you find. Just inside the door stands a row of white, untouched canvases of varying sizes, each on its own easel. Ready on trays nearby are fresh white palettes and neat rows of paints and brushes.

In summer, the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River can be a slice of hell. Not because of the heat, although it's plenty hot in the high desert. The canyon takes on a hellish aspect thanks to grinding tour-bus transmissions, honking horns, low-flying aircraft and the oohs and ahs and say cheeses of about 5 million tourists jamming into northern Arizona for a glimpse of eternity. But in the wintertime, when piercing cold settles in the high country, the Grand Canyon takes on a different aspect.

It's been 73 years since Glen and Bessie Hyde vanished on a honeymoon voyage through the Grand Canyon, but what exactly happened to them is still a mystery. On the Colorado River on summer nights, passengers on commercial rafting trips stand around campfires while boatmen speculate about the young Idaho bean farmer and his bride. They say Bessie wanted to be the first woman to boat through the Grand Canyon. She almost made it.

The Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team can improve its record to .500 with a victory over Grand Canyon College at 7:30 tonight in Phoenix, but that does not figure to be an easy task. Grand Canyon has a 6-0 record and is ranked No. 5 in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics. The Antelopes won the NAIA championship last season. The Antelopes also have an emphasis on experience with five seniors in their starting lineup including 6-3 forward Danl Williams, who averages 23.8 points.

David Hockney, renowned chronicler of Los Angeles' sun-drenched life and landscapes, hasn't been around much lately. He's much more likely to be painting these days in his native Yorkshire than in his adopted Southern California. But unlock the studio door of his secluded Hollywood Hills house and see what you find. Just inside the door stands a row of white, untouched canvases of varying sizes, each on its own easel. Ready on trays nearby are fresh white palettes and neat rows of paints and brushes.

Any remembrance of Holocaust victims is, of course, a worthy endeavor and a historical priority. Thus, "As Seen Through These Eyes," Hilary Helstein's brief documentary, serves as another critical reminder of one of the world's most horrific periods, even if, cinematically, it's an affecting collection of stories and images in search of an actual center. Over the last decade, Helstein interviewed various Holocaust survivors (some of whom have since died) who recounted how they created art and music as a form of expression, control and diversion.

The pleasure boats that cruise down the Elbe River in this historic city meander through an almost fairy-tale landscape of tree-shaded castles, gracious villas, peaceful glades and lazy vineyards. Photo-snapping passengers don't need to be told why the United Nations designated this 11-mile stretch of the Elbe Valley a World Heritage Site in 2004. But what the U.N. giveth, the U.N. taketh away. Dresden city officials are forging ahead with construction of a hulking four-lane bridge across the Elbe, which they say is key to solving the city's traffic woes.

I haven't seen the documentary yet, but one paragraph in Mary McNamara's review of "The National Parks" ["Burns' Majestic History Lesson," Sept. 25] really sets me off and epitomizes what I absolutely despise about the human race. She claims the real value of the film "is not its reminder of how beautiful the Grand Canyon is." No, she claims the real value lies in how Americans shaped the parks and were shaped by them. This is precisely what is wrong with the way humans view the entire natural world: only caring about it as it relates to them.

For Californians, Ken Burns' gorgeous and exhaustive six-part documentary on the National Parks poses something of a dilemma. In the 12 hours it takes for "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" to unfold, an Angeleno could easily visit any of a half dozen national parks. Without traffic, you could conceivably get to Yosemite, where it all started, tour the valley floor and be back before narrator Peter Coyote stopped talking. No doubt the various men behind the National Parks system, from mountain prophet John Muir to the touring-car-bound Franklin Delano Roosevelt would recommend you do just that.

In the elite circles of private schools in Washington, D.C., globe-trotting vacations are common, but it is hard to imagine that many schoolmates of Malia and Sasha Obama will be able to rival their summer adventures. Although the White House zealously guards many of the details of the Obamas' private family time, the public caught a glimpse Sunday of the girls' sightseeing tour of the Grand Canyon, and a day earlier, of their visit to Yellowstone National Park. Earlier this summer, photographers captured visits by the first daughters to the Eiffel Tower and the Pompidou Center in Paris, a slave dungeon in Ghana, and the Kremlin in Moscow.

Before he leaves for his summer break in tony Martha's Vineyard, President Obama will spend a weekend in the decidedly more populist, middle-American terrain of the national park system. No president can afford to look elitist amid an economic downturn, which makes the business of choosing a vacation spot a delicate one. Obama will be splitting the difference, in essence. He'll spend the last week in August at a $20-million estate in one of the most private spots on the Vineyard.

An Arizona road trip? Why not? Last winter, a college friend and I visited the Grand Canyon, one of the country's most celebrated treasures. In late April, we decided to return to check out Arizona's northeastern corner, which seemed speckled with less-visited wonders and, I hoped, a few hidden gems. I didn't have grand expectations for our itinerary. After all, what could be as breathtaking as the 6-million-year-old chasm, especially as I had seen it, dusted by snow and illuminated by the last rays of daylight?

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Monday called for a two-year "timeout" on new mining claims on nearly 1 million acres near Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizona. The move reverses a decision by the George W. Bush administration to open the land flanking the park to hard-rock mining.

Federal officials must reconsider how they release water from Glen Canyon Dam into the Grand Canyon in order to protect an endangered fish, the humpback chub, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. Environmental groups have long argued that the irregular releases from the dam just above the canyon damage the fish's native environment, erode beaches and wash away ancient ruins in the canyon. Nikolai Lash of the Grand Canyon Trust, which filed a lawsuit along with Earthjustice, said the U.S.