Denver Museum gets ready for convention

DENVER (AP) -- The Denver Art Museum is getting ready for conventioneers with a digital exhibit of political posters.

The Democratic National Convention takes place in the Mile-High City Aug. 25-28.

Digital images of designs created for a ''Get Out the Vote'' campaign sponsored by the professional design association AIGA will be on display in the museum's lobby throughout August.

AIGA was founded in 1914 as the American Institute of Graphic Arts.

Also on exhibit at the museum: ''Focus: the Figure,'' modern and contemporary works by Bruce Nauman, Red Grooms and many others.

The museum will offer free admission on Aug. 25 to conventioneers and anyone else interested in visiting that day.

If you miss the convention but you're planning a trip to Denver later this fall, the museum has a show of paintings by the German artist Daniel Richter opening Sept. 6; an exhibit of sculptures by Jean-Antoine Houdon, on loan from Louvre, opening Oct. 11; and paintings by Ernest Blumenschein, who lived in New Mexico and was known for his paintings of the West, opening Nov. 8.

Parents magazine lists best science centers

NEW YORK (AP) -- Is a family trip to a science center worthwhile with prekindergarteners? Yes, according to Parents magazine, which conducted a survey of the more than 150 science centers in the U.S. and discovered that about a third of them have galleries designed for kids 6 and under.

The magazine's September issue also came up with a list of the country's 10 best science centers, with an emphasis on those catering to younger children with hands-on exhibits and family-friendly experiments.

They are the Center Of Science and Industry (COSI) in Columbus, Ohio; the Exploratorium in San Francisco; the Museum of Science in Boston; Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, N.J.; the St. Louis Science Center in St. Louis, Mo.; the New York Hall of Science in Flushing, Queens, in New York City; the California Science Center in Los Angeles; the Sci-Port Discovery Center in Shreveport, La.; the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia; and the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore.

Parents magazine also identified 15 runners-up: Discovery Science Center, Santa Ana, Calif.; Detroit Science Center, Detroit; Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh; the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center, Mobile, Ala.; the Louisville Science Center, Louisville, Ky.; Pacific Science Center, Seattle; Wonderlab Museum of Science, Health, & Technology, Bloomingtown, Ind.; Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago; Discovery Place, Charlotte, N.C.; and The Children's Museum of Science and Technology, Troy, N.Y.; Sci-Works, Winston-Salem, N.C.; Science City at Union Station, in Kansas City, Mo.; Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley, Calif.; Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, Vt.; and Discovery Science Place, Tyler, Texas.

Georgia Aquarium to host Titanic exhibit

ATLANTA (AP) -- An exhibition of artifacts from the ill-fated ocean liner R.M.S. Titanic is opening at the Georgia Aquarium.

The exhibition will include interactive displays, videos and recreations of rooms aboard the ship. The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in 1912.

More than 190 artifacts recovered from the area where the ship sank will be put on display. The exhibition will tell a chronological story of life aboard the ship.

The exhibitor, RMS Titanic, has conducted seven search and recovery expeditions to the ship's wreckage. The exhibition was scheduled to open Aug. 22.

Finger Lakes wine trail celebrates 25 years

CORNING, N.Y. (AP) -- Let's have a toast! The Cayuga Wine Trail in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York is celebrating 25 years this September.

The trail started in 1983 with five wineries. Today the trail consists of 16 family-owned wineries, and is part of Finger Lakes Wine Country, the largest producer of New York wines.

During the monthlong celebration, each of the 16 wineries will host an event to celebrate harvest season.

Events include a ''Some Like it Hot'' festival at the Hosmer Winery, Sept. 6, with spicy and savory local food to complement the wines, http://www.hosmerwinery.com; a fall art festival, Sept. 6, at King Ferry Winery, which makes Treleaven wines, www.treleavenwines.com; and a wine and music festival at Goose Watch Winery, Sept. 6-7, www.goosewatch.com.

Knapp Vineyards is hosting a harvest dinner with regional food and wine, Sept. 13, www.knappwine.com, while the Cobblestone Farm Winery has a grape-stomping festival, Sept. 13-14, www.cobblestonefarmwinery.com

Lucas Vineyards has a German Festival, with music, polka contest and German food, Sept. 14.

Buttonwood Grove Winery hosts a fall festival with a band and tastings, Sept. 20, www.buttonwoodgrove.com, and Montezuma Winery has an old-fashioned hoedown with fiddlers and food, Sept. 20.

More events are scheduled at other wineries. Details at www.cayugawinetrail.com/ (click on ''trail events'').

Fall foliage tours by land and sea offered

NEW YORK (AP) -- Some 600,000 passengers are expected to sail to Atlantic Canada this year, a 40 percent increase over last year, according to the Atlantic Canada Tourism Partnership.

In previous years, there were only a couple of weeks of tours to Canada by major cruise lines as ships repositioned from their summer itineraries to winter destinations. But now a number of lines -- including Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Holland America -- are making numerous trips August-October. Carnival's trips to Canada now run June-October.

Other lines offering cruises to the region include Princess, Silversea, Cunard, Celebrity and Crystal.

The additional sailings have led several Canadian ports to expect major increases in visitors -- 68,000 expected this year in Charlottetown, up from 21,000 in 2007; 80,000 expected this year in Sydney, Nova Scotia, up from 43,000; 215,000 in Halifax, up from 177,000; and 187,000 in Saint John, New Brunswick, up from 134,000, according to statistics from the Atlantic Canada Tourism Partnership. Even Newfoundland and Labrador are seeing more port calls, although the ships tend to be smaller expedition vessels rather than large cruise ships.

Some of the cruises have last-minute rooms at moderate prices. A five-day Carnival cruise departing Sept. 1 from New York for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia still had rooms starting at under $500 per person in mid-August.

If you prefer to see your autumn color by land rather than sea, Globus tours offers a fall foliage trip by motorcoach that includes Quebec City and Montreal, Canada. Other itineraries stay south of the Canadian border in the New England states. The Globus fall foliage tours range from six to nine days, with packages beginning at $1,129. All trips start and end in Boston.

Itineraries on the Globus trips vary, but stops may include Portland, Maine; Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park in Maine; New Hampshire's White Mountains; the Berkshires in Massachusetts; and historic Newport, R.I. Other places on the list, depending on which tour you take, include Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, a maple syrup farm in New Hampshire, and the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory tour in Vermont. Details at www.globusjourneys.com/ or 866-755-8581.

Telluride Blues & Brews Festival is Sept. 12-14

TELLURIDE, Colo. (AP) -- Beer, music and mountain scenery: That's what you'll find at the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival, Sept. 12-14, in the historic Colorado town in the San Juan Mountains.

More than 50 microbreweries from the Southwest and elsewhere will be featured, including Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Aspen Brewing Co., Boulder Beer Co., Bristol Brewing Co., Bull & Bush, Cooper Smith's Pub & Brewing, Deschutes Brewery, Durango Brewing Co., Eske's Brewery, Flagstaff Brewing Co. and others.

Performers will include Etta James and the Roots Band, Gov't Mule, John Hiatt and The Ageless Beauties, Joan Osborne, Susan Tedeschi, The Derek Trucks Band, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Blind Boys of Alabama, G. Love & Special Sauce, John Butler Trio and Canned Heat.

Various travel deals are being offered. A new luxury boutique hotel called lumiere Telluride -- http://lumierehotels.com/telluride/ -- has an $1,100 four-night package that includes breakfast, local transportation, and a three-day festival pass and chair.

Elevation Vacations, which specializes in luxury lodging, homes and condos in the area, has a $100 fuel rebate toward a booking of three nights or more, along with a 20 percent discount on accommodations for stays booked through the company during the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival. Details at www.Elevation

Vacations.com.

If you're flying in through Denver or Boulder, you can take a round-trip charter on a motorcoach from the airport to Telluride on MrBusDriver, with fares starting at $115. Alternate city pickups are also available.Details at http://www.mrbusdriver.com.