In The News: Queen Mary 2 Gets A $130 Million Dollar Makeover

Queen Mary 2 is back on the open seas after a makeover to end all makeovers, costing in the region of $130 million.

The iconic ocean liner spent 25 days out of water at the Blohm and Voss shipyard in Germany, where 5,200 men and women worked over a million hours to overhaul her machinery, refresh the exterior of the ship and transform her reception rooms, dining areas and cabins.

The refurbishment, which is the biggest makeover Cunard has witnessed in its 176 year history, included adding 6,000 pieces of new furniture and 4,000 pieces of art to the cruise ship's rooms.

The ship also required an extensive lick of paint using more than 2,500 gallons in the refresh and almost 600,000 square feet of new carpet (the equivalent of 10 football pitches) were laid.

The Princess Grill restaurant has been remodelled with a Regency style, while the Queens Grill will now be sporting an Art Deco look. The buffet restaurant King's Court was also given a fresh makeover featuring more open plan cooking areas that are expected to showcase cooking demonstrations by kitchen staff.

Meanwhile, lovers of French food will be pleased to learn of the new Verandah restaurant, overlooking the ship's stern, which is replacing the specialty Italian restaurant masterminded by celebrity chef Todd English. 

There is also an extra dining venue for passengers to enjoy with a more relaxed feel in the form of the Carinthia Lounge, which serves breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and then tapas in the evening.

Alongside brand new dining experiences, guests can sample the delights of the world’s finest wine cellar at sea, with a unique collection of 486 fine wines and a stunning collection of Ports, dating back to 1840. Extracurricular activities have also been given a shine, including the Royal Court Theatre, which is now sporting a brand new 22-foot wide, high definition LED screen. 

Any pets making the voyage with their owners are also in for a treat, with the kennel area given a spruce up that included a lamp post from Liverpool and a fire hydrant from New York to make dogs feel at home in the world’s only transatlantic kennel service . 

Queen Mary 2 has also increased in size after 50 cabins were added to her inventory, including 35 pre-fabricated rooms that were hoisted onto one of her decks, as well as 15 cabins for solo travellers unveiled elsewhere on the boat.

But while the cabins were refreshed in the ship's signature colours and new soft furnishings, some of the biggest transformations took place in the communal areas.
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Off the Beaten Path – Hiking Ireland

The Emerald Isle can’t help but charm even the most jaded traveler with its wild, windswept landscapes, historic stone castles, quaint fishing villages, quirky local lore and immensely friendly people. Hiking its jagged peaks is a great way to gain an appreciation for the landscape and learn the history of this magical land, while earning an evening of pints down at the local pub. MTS designed this itinerary to mix both Ireland’s classic sites with its less-traveled hiking and pilgrimage routes, peppered with plenty of entertaining interactions with the locals.

Experience the history and scenery of the Emerald Isle, beginning in vibrant Dublin. We hike from the peaks of the Wicklow Mountains to the iconic Cliffs of Moher, with interludes at medieval castles and monasteries. Share good conversation and cold Irish beer in local pubs along the way. After we experience the rugged grandeur of the Beara Peninsula in County Cork, the natural wonders of Killarney National Park await. Walk through old oak forests, past idyllic Irish farmsteads and into remote mountain valleys.

Try to hike this inspiring walking adventure that takes you from Ireland’s vibrant capital city, Dublin, to some of the most scenic settings on the west coast. Journeying from the windswept MacGillycuddy's Reeks of Kerry, along the Pilgrim’s Path of Mount Brandon to the wild western shores of the Atlantic and the Aran Islands, and over the mountainous wildernesses of Connemara, you’ll get an insider’s look at the very best of Ireland. Along the way, you’ll see local abbeys, haunted castles and crumbling cottages, each with their own fascinating legends. At night, warm Irish hospitality and toe-tapping live music awaits as you join in the revelry at local pubs.

Explore coastal footpaths and castle ruins on your way to the Dingle Peninsula. When you arrive, revel in music and merriment at this epicenter of Gaelic culture. Our adventure concludes in Ennis, a market town steeped in medieval heritage and renowned for its traditional music scene and festive atmosphere. Lovers of adventure, history and vibrant culture will find Ireland’s spirited ambience and rich landscapes are not to be missed.

Let Rawhide Travel and Tours help you with all your business and leisure travel needs. Call us at (602) 843-5100 or visit our website: rawhidetravel.com

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Rawhide Travel and Tours Inc.

6008 West Bell Rd # F105

Glendale, Arizona 85308-3793

602-843-5100

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Irish Corned Beef and Cabbage Recipe

Corned beef and cabbage is, hands down, the most requested Irish dish recipe. Corned beef is simply a beef brisket soaked in brine, giving the meat a deliciously flavorful pickled taste. The best thing about this recipe is that you can do it all in your slow cooker.'

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes

4 garlic cloves, peeled

1 (4 lb.) corned beef brisket with seasoning packet, rinsed, trimmed

2 whole cloves

1 small onion

24 baby carrots

1 small white cabbage, cut into 8 wedges

Directions

Arrange potatoes and garlic on bottom of slow cooker. Place corned beef on top of vegetables and sprinkle with seasoning from packet. Push cloves into onion and add to cooker. Add enough water to just cover meat; cover and cook on low until tender, 6 hours and 30 minutes to 8 hours.

Transfer meat to cutting board and cover with foil to keep warm. Transfer potatoes to bowl and cover with foil to keep warm. Add carrots and cabbage to cooker, turn to high, cover and cook until just tender, about 30 minutes.

Slice beef across grain and serve with potatoes, carrots and cabbage.

Let Rawhide Travel and Tours help you with all your business and leisure travel needs. Call us at (602) 843-5100 or visit our website: rawhidetravel.com

Presented By:

Rawhide Travel and Tours Inc.

6008 West Bell Rd # F105

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602-843-5100

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Travel To Hollywood On Location

Thanks to digital effects, filmmakers today can create almost anything -- monsters, aliens, tornadoes, tsunamis -- on movie screens.

But when it comes to spectacular natural scenery, it's hard to replicate the pristine beauty and wonder of real-life wilderness.

Ask the makers of "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier": A computer-generated rock face can't measure up to the grandeur of Yosemite's El Capitan.

Or George Lucas, who used Death Valley National Park, along with Tunisia, as scenery for the desert planet Tatooine in the first "Star Wars."

Or the makers of the original "Planet of the Apes," who thought the red-rock landcape of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area would make a neat monkey planet.
10 historic national park lodges

So when Hollywood needs a gorgeous or otherworldly backdrop, it has long turned to federally protected wilderness.

Over the past 50 years America's natural wonders have filled in onscreen for the Old West, for wintry Siberia and even for planets in a certain galaxy far, far away.
Here's a look at some of their most notable movie cameos.

'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'
Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming

Many Americans weren't aware of this strange geological feature until Spielberg spotlighted it in the climax of his 1977 movie about friendly aliens who decide to touch down on Earth -- in northwestern Wyoming.

Devils Tower, a dramatic butte that rises 1,267 feet above the surrounding hills, is popular with climbers and is a sacred site to some Native Americans.

'Dances with Wolves'
Badlands National Park, South Dakota 

Most of this Kevin Costner epic Western was shot on private ranchland in South Dakota, although the Badlands makes a brief early appearance on Lt. Dunbar's wagon train ride from Fort Hays to his lonely frontier outpost.

The park's trippy landscape also became an alien planet filled with giant warmongering insects in "Starship Troopers."

'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'
Arches National Park, Utah

One of the highlights of the third movie in the Indiana Jones series was the prologue sequence, which explained how young Indy (River Phoenix) got his fedora, his chin scar and his fear of snakes.

The scene opens in Arches National Park, where Indy encounters a band of grave robbers in a cave before a madcap chase on a circus train.

The unique red-rock formations of Arches, in southeastern Utah, also hosted the cop-in-the-trunk scene in "Thelma and Louise." 

Let Rawhide Travel and Tours help you with all your business and leisure travel needs. Call us at (602) 843-5100 or visit our website: rawhidetravel.com

Presented By:
Rawhide Travel and Tours Inc.
6008 West Bell Rd # F105
Glendale, Arizona 85308-3793
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Consider An American River Cruise

More than just the Country Music Capital of the World, Nashville, TN is a city that typifies the American Heartland. We offer two intriguing cruises, Nashville to St. Louis and Memphis to Nashville that journey along the Cumberland and Mississippi Rivers, showing off the rustic beauty of lands virtually untouched since the early days of American history. These cruises offer the distinct sounds of Nashville, St. Louis and Memphis, three of the country's most important music centers. Is it time for you to cruise America's Heartland rivers? River cruises are a very special kind of adventure.

Personal Service is a hallmark of distinction for American Cruise Lines. Each member of their staff is ready to create an exceptional cruise experience for you. Their guiding principle is simple; if it’s important to you, it’s important to them. An all-American crew will get to know you by name and quickly learn your preferences. They may even surprise you with your favorite snack when you return to the ship after a day of exploring the local culture. Their culinary team is ready to serve you the finest local cuisine plus your personal menu favorites, while meeting all dietary requirements.

Let them help you celebrate a special event in unforgettable style. Or, invite your friends to join you for dinner aboard the ship when they dock near them.

Cumberland River Cruise
The American heartland is a storied region steeped in history and culture. Relax on a first-class paddlewheeler as you pass rolling farmlands and tree-lined riverbanks as the leaves begin to change in September. Enjoy guided shore excursions including a tour of the River Heritage Museum in Paducah, KY and a walking tour of Chester, IL, situated atop the bluffs of the Mississippi River Valley offering unparalleled views.

Ports of Call - Nashville, TN - Clarksville TN - Dover, TN - Lake Barkley, KY - Paducah, KY - Cape Girardeau, MO - Chester, IL - St. Louis, MO  

Memphis to Nashville Cruise

A journey from Memphis to Nashville not only retraces the voyages of intrepid pioneers of American history but also features two cities known for great contributions to our nation's music heritage. From the rhythm and blues of Memphis to the bluegrass country style of Nashville, this river cruise traverses the Mississippi and Cumberland Rivers offering amazing scenery and lively entertainment. Explore the fascinating history of Cape Girardeau and its significance in the American Civil War and learn about the art of wine making during a visit to Clarksville. 

Ports of Call - Memphis, TN - Cape Girardeau, MO - Paducah, KY - Dover, TN - Clarksville, TN - Nashville, TN

Let Rawhide Travel and Tours help you with all your business and leisure travel needs. Call us at (602) 843-5100 or visit our website: rawhidetravel.com

Presented By:
Rawhide Travel and Tours Inc.
6008 West Bell Rd # F105
Glendale, Arizona 85308-3793
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What Does Father’s Day Mean To You?

Father's Day was founded in Spokane, Washington at the YMCA in 1910 by Sonora Smart Dodd, who was born in Arkansas. Its first celebration was in the Spokane YMCA on June 19, 1910. Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who raised his six children there. After hearing a sermon about Jarvis' Mother's Day at Central Methodist Episcopal Church in 1909, she told her pastor that fathers should have a similar holiday honoring them. Although she initially suggested June 5, her father's birthday, the pastors did not have enough time to prepare their sermons, and the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday of June.

Father's Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. The tradition was said to be started from a memorial service held for a large group of men who died in a mining accident in Monongah, West Virginia in 1907. It was first proposed by Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington in 1909. It is currently celebrated in the United States annually on the third Sunday in June.

It did not have much success initially. In the 1920s, Dodd stopped promoting the celebration because she was studying in the Art Institute of Chicago, and it faded into relative obscurity, even in Spokane. In the 1930s Dodd returned to Spokane and started promoting the celebration again, raising awareness at a national level. She had the help of those trade groups that would benefit most from the holiday, for example the manufacturers of ties, tobacco pipes, and any traditional present to fathers. Since 1938 she had the help of the Father's Day Council, founded by the New York Associated Men's Wear Retailers to consolidate and systematize the commercial promotion. Americans resisted the holiday during a few decades, perceiving it as just an attempt by merchants to replicate the commercial success of Mother's Day, and newspapers frequently featured cynical and sarcastic attacks and jokes. But the trade groups did not give up: they kept promoting it and even incorporated the jokes into their adverts, and they eventually succeeded. By the mid-1980s the Father's Council wrote that "(...) [Father's Day] has become a Second Christmas for all the men's gift-oriented industries."

A bill to accord national recognition of the holiday was introduced in Congress in 1913. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson went to Spokane to speak in a Father's Day celebration and wanted to make it official, but Congress resisted, fearing that it would become commercialized. US President Calvin Coolidge recommended in 1924 that the day be observed by the nation, but stopped short of issuing a national proclamation. Two earlier attempts to formally recognize the holiday had been defeated by Congress. In 1957, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith wrote a proposal accusing Congress of ignoring fathers for 40 years while honoring mothers, thus "[singling] out just one of our two parents". In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Six years later, the day was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972.

Talk to us about traveling to this exotic, adventure filled destination. Let Rawhide Travel and Tours help you with all your business and leisure travel needs. Call us at (602) 843-5100 or visit our website: rawhidetravel.com

Presented By:
Rawhide Travel and Tours Inc.
6008 West Bell Rd # F105
Glendale, Arizona 85308-3793
602-843-5100
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Visit Wolves At A Wolf Sanctuary

Are you looking for something different to do this summer? Would you like to do something very different and to have that in the cool pines and just 2 hours away from the Valley of the Sun?

Consider The Medicine Wheel Lodge. The Medicine Wheel Lodge invites you to go back in time listening to the stories passed down from. the Shamans while reconnecting with the Earth Mother and experiencing Harmony and Balance amidst a private ancient oasis. The Peace you will experience is the presence of those who have gone before, and those who are still present. It is their connection and reverence to the land that gifts all who visit, such tranquility. If you are very perceptive, you may see them or watch them dance or feel their energy.

The name and vision of the Medicine Wheel Lodge were given years ago, that the property would be shared with all who found their way to it.  The Shamans said that this would open the hearts of those who were drawn here so that they would be prepared to seek and embark on their own journeys.

The wolves are teachers and particularly get excited when the children come to visit. They are gentle and loving. The wolf medicine teaches us how to come together as family, how to rely on one another, and how to care for the young, old and sick.

The wolves are leaders, teachers, and protectors. The children learn much from them - respect for all animals and creations, respect for themselves, one another, their siblings, their parents, their teachers, their classmates, Mother Earth and all elements.

The Wolf Sanctuary has raised and rescued different types of wolves.  They are with me until they naturally cross over to spirit. They are not only ambassadors for their own kind, but for all animals, both wild and domestic. 

They are Medicine Wheel teachers! You will not only learn about them, and their  "medicine" but you will go into the their large habitat and will interact with them, while receiving many kisses and feeling their healing energy.   These Tundra wolves are very special, with a sweetness that exudes many healing qualities. 

If you are wanting joy, unconditional love, balance and harmony, seeking to learn how to love supernaturally and  successfully, these magnificent creatures will teach you about love, loyalty, learning, listening, trust, forgiveness, releasing fear, patience, living in the moment, and how to become one with nature and wildlife.

Talk to us about traveling to this exotic, adventure filled destination. Let Rawhide Travel and Tours help you with all your business and leisure travel needs. Call us at (602) 843-5100 or visit our website: rawhidetravel.com

Presented By:
Rawhide Travel and Tours Inc.
6008 West Bell Rd # F105
Glendale, Arizona 85308-3793
602-843-5100
rawhidetravel.com