Travel News - AP

PORTLAND, Ore. - In the candy-hued series of travel guides curated and published by Portland graphic designer Kaie Wellman, there are no dutiful descriptions of natural history museums, no boilerplate on how to get to and from the airport, or where to cash a check.

MONTREAL - For the last three years, thousands of travelers around the globe have used a Web site called CouchSurfing.com to find like-minded folks who would let them sleep on a couch or in a spare room so they wouldn't have to stay in a hotel when they traveled.

LITTLE ROCK - The U.S. Corps of Engineers has banned kite tubing, a new extreme water sport, on its lakes in Arkansas and Missouri.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. - The famed Greenbrier is closing to guests for three months in its traditionally slow winter season, from Jan. 2 to April 2, for a $50 million makeover.

JAY, Vt. - For 50 years managers of Jay Peak Resort have talked about and planned for a golf course. Now, the first nine holes are open.

NEW YORK - It's not too late to plan a quick summer getaway. The July issue of Travel + Leisure magazine suggests 15 destinations you can fly to for a weekend or weeklong trip on the spur of the moment, including tips on getting there, where to stay and what to do.

TUPPER LAKE, N.Y. - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Gov. George Pataki helped celebrate the July 4 opening of a new museum in the Adirondacks.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A Lake Tahoe ski resort's plans to cut 230 old-growth trees to make room for a high-speed lift are under fire from environmentalists and some skiers.

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. - There won't be any more giant-sized cups of Madeira wine at next month's Feast of the Blessed Sacrament.

HANKINSON, N.D. - Officials have opened the first designated campground in the Sheyenne National Grasslands of southeastern North Dakota.

HONOLULU - Visitors to Hawaii may be in for a surprise — the high cost of getting around doesn't end after that long and expensive airline flight from the mainland.

TRENTON, N.J. - Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed a compromise budget on Saturday night, formally ending a fiscal and political impasse that spurred a weeklong government shutdown and shuttered Atlantic City's 12 casinos.

PAMPLONA, Spain - A New York man suffered potentially paralyzing injuries when he was thrown by a young cow in a mock bull fight Friday at the end of the first day of Spain's famed running of the bulls.

CHICAGO - About 69 percent of the flights leaving O'Hare International Airport took off on time in May, putting the airport in last place in the country for on-time departures, according to government data.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - The 28th edition of Copenhagen's Jazz Festival was set to kick off Friday, filling the capital city's streets and squares, pubs and concert halls with swing, bebop, Brazilian and African rhythms and avant-garde tunes.

WASHINGTON - If the people can't come to the National Archives, the National Archives will come to the people.

DUBLIN, Ireland - Three major airports suffered disruption and delays Thursday when members of Ireland's largest labor union staged a 90-minute work stoppage over plans to privatize the Aer Lingus airline.

BERLIN - The foyer in Berlin's biggest brothel sports beer flagons shaped like soccer balls and its big screen theater showed live World Cup matches — but for all the anticipation, the tournament has not led to the huge spike in business the German sex industry had hoped for.

WASHINGTON - The National Zoo is planning a first birthday bash Sunday for Tai Shan, its giant panda cub.

ALGONAC, Mich. - A replica of the Nina, one of the three ships that Christopher Columbus sailed from the Old World to the New in 1492, visits Michigan this week as it continues its 13-year world tour.

ABOARD THE BEIJING-LHASA EXPRESS, China - China's first train from Beijing to Tibet made the final leg of its journey Monday on the world's highest railway, climbing to such high elevations that ballpoint pens and packaged foods burst in the thin air.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Slot machines could be ringing and dealers could be shuffling again in New Jersey's casinos as soon as Friday evening after lawmakers and Gov. John S. Corzine reached a state budget deal that could end a six-day government shutdown.

WASHINGTON - One week after the nation's capital experienced some of its worst flooding in more than a century, museums and other attractions were dried out and open for the long July Fourth holiday weekend.

NEW YORK - Few Americans have visited North Korea not because of restrictions by the U.S. government but because North Korea does not usually permit them in.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Anyone looking recently at the Internet webcam showing Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park might think the geyser had lost its world-renowned reliability.

NEW YORK - What's being billed as the first major exhibit in New York City of Dale Chihuly's colorful glass sculptures is on view at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx.

LAS VEGAS - The Beatles are back, not in the USSR, not on "The Ed Sullivan Show" or even at Shea Stadium — but on the Las Vegas Strip as the focus of international theater troupe Cirque du Soleil's surrealistic portrayal of the Fab Four's career.

PARIS - Visitors to Versailles now have access to attractions related to Marie-Antoinette that are newly restored or have not previously been open to the public.