Travel briefs

What are the best places to live, play and seek adventure?

National Geographic Adventure magazine’s September issue includes a list of the best towns nationwide, one in each state.

Best wilderness towns – meaning they offer access to forests, canyons, swamps, grasslands, prairies and other wild places – are Homer, Alaska; Cody, Wyo.; Flagstaff, Ariz.; Valdosta, Ga.; Medora, N.D.; Rochester, Minn.; Alexandria, La.; Valentine, Neb.; and St. George, Utah.

Best small towns on the list were Spearfish, S.D.; Bloomington, Ind.; Iowa City, Iowa; Northampton, Mass.; Lynchburg, Va.; Marietta, Ohio, Fayetteville, W.Va.; Bowling Green, Ky.; Chatsworth, N.J.; Hot Springs, Ark.; and Smyrna, Del.

Best mountain towns, according to the magazine, are Bishop, Calif.; Gunnison, Colo.; Missoula, Mont.; Hanover, N.H.; Wenatchee, Wash.; Hood River, Ore.; Boone, N.C.; Jim Thorpe, Pa.; Montpelier, Vt.; and New Paltz, N.Y.

Best waterfront towns are Waimea, Hawaii; Fond du Lac, Wis.; Newport, R.I.; Rockland, Maine; Mystic, Conn.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Annapolis, Md; Beaufort, S.C., and Lewiston, Idaho.

Old paddle-wheeler may have to retire

Next year might bring the last dance of the Delta Queen, the 81-year-old doyenne of American paddle-wheelers.

Its new owner says the boat’s exemption under a 1968 law that bans wooden superstructures in some bigger passenger vessels expires in November 2008, and Congress is unlikely to extend it.

The ship, on the National Register of Historic Places, will make its last scheduled Mississippi sailing from Memphis, Tenn., on Oct. 31, 2008. Then its future is unclear.

Joe Ueberroth, president and chief executive of Ambassadors International in Newport Beach, Calif., which bought the boat last year, said it might see service abroad or become a floating hotel and museum.

Information at 800-434-1232, www.majesticamericaline.com.

Disney raises ticket prices

Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., has raised ticket prices for third time in two years, company officials announced.

An adult one-day, one-park pass increased 6 percent, $67 to $71. Discount packages also will be affected, but the per-day cost could be less than $23 for adults who buy as large as a 10-day package.

The change is due to an annual planning cycle of travel wholesalers, tour organizers and commercial publications, Disney officials told the Orlando Sentinel.

Disney last raised prices last August when a one-day, one-park ticket went from $63 to $67.

Alaska zip-line long and high

Heading to Alaska for an end-of-the-summer cruise?

One of the most unusual shore excursions is the Icy Strait Point ZipRider, which bills itself as the longest and highest zip-line tour in North America.

The 5,330-foot-long zip line runs from the heights of a mountaintop to the beach below.

The launch pad is located amid the dense forest 1,330 feet above sea level. Riders are buckled in and reach the bottom in 90 seconds.

Riders must be at least 90 pounds, maximum 275 pounds.

You can reserve the zip-line tour through your cruise or upon arrival at Icy Strait Point, if space is available. The zip-line rider is open each day that a ship is in port, with Sept. 26 the last day this season.

Icy Strait point is 50 miles west of Juneau and a mile and a-half from the Tlingit village of Hoonah.

For details, visit www.icystraitpoint.com.

Travel classes, seminars

Rick Steves’ Europe Through the Back Door hosts free travel classes from 10 to 11:30 a.m. most Saturdays at the Edmonds Theater, 415 Main St., Edmonds.