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CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview With James Vlahos
Aired July 06, 2002 - 09:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ROBIN MEADE, CNN ANCHOR: If you're looking for a quick escape for summer this year, there are some adventure destinations that are real timesavers, apparently.
Let us talk to National Geographic's "Adventure" magazine, somebody from that. What the magazine does is, it takes a look at the 32 of America's best spur-of-the-moment spots.
And now from New York is a senior editor for that magazine. He is James Vlahos. James, nice to have you with us.
You know, when it comes to spur-of-the...
JAMES VLAHOS, "ADVENTURE" MAGAZINE: Thanks for having me on the show.
MEADE: Yes, when it comes to spur-of-the-moment getaways, the best I could do yesterday was getting out to a suburb of Atlanta and looking at an RV. Then I got called back to work.
What do you mean (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
VLAHOS: Something's better than nothing, though, right?
MEADE: Yes. What is the science of trying to find a spur-of- the-moment getaway, and a good one at that?
VLAHOS: I think the science is really about the spirit. The simplest way to do it is to grab a map, flip it open, and look for a green spot on the map and one of those little tent triangles, and that's all you really need to do. And it could be an hour away, it could be four hours away. And it's just having the spirit that you're going to find something if you just get moving.
MEADE: Well, my spirit couldn't find anything yesterday. So what about the people who say, I've thrown up my hands too, what can I do? You have ideas for them, in four categories.
VLAHOS: Yes. Well, whitewater rafting, hiking, mountain biking, camping. We looked all over the country at National Geographic "Adventure," and we found 32 of the best of these escapes. And there's really some close to every city, and you don't have to go very far. Atlanta, for instance, you mentioned. There's great whitewater rafting. It's on the Okoe (ph) River, which was the site of the 1996 Olympic whitewater games.
MEADE: You know, for people who say, Well, OK, that's whitewater rafting, but what do I know about whitewater rafting? Can you do it if you're a novice and you don't know much about it?
VLAHOS: Whitewater rafting is a great sport for -- it's a thrill sport that everybody can do. And you don't need a lot of training. You want to be comfortable with water. But you go with guides, and they're going to show you, you know, Here's how you put on the life vest, here's your helmet, here's your paddle, here's where to sit, here's what you do if you fall out, in the unlikely event that you fall out.
So it really is an accessible thrill sport.
MEADE: Right, it looks like a roller-coaster on water. Someone asked me to go yesterday, and I said, "Well, I'm sorry, I don't know how to swim." And they said, "Oh, it's not a problem." But I think it probably would be.
Talk to me about mike -- mountain biking B&B's. Would that be a mountain biking bed and breakfast? Who knew?
VLAHOS: That would be. It's kind of a new spin on the traditional bed and breakfast. There's a great one that's about five hours from Washington, D.C., it's the Elk River Touring Center. And this is a place where you can have just great mountain biking in the mountains, by rivers, through the forest, come back at the end of the day, and you've got a farm to stay on. They have a lodge there, hot tub on site, restaurant on site, great place for a weekend vacation.
MEADE: OK, we talked about whitewater rafting. Tell me what is car camping? I know about camping, and to me car camping would mean throwing your tent in the back of the car and then getting it out when you get there. What is car camping to you?
VLAHOS: That's basically it. It's camping when you don't have a lot of time. It's camping when you don't want to have a heavy backpack and, you know, slogging through the woods and a lot of weight. You just drive, and you show up, you set up your stuff, you do whatever it is you want to do, go biking, go hiking, take a swim.
But you come back, and you have your -- all your gear right there.
MEADE: You know, I know what we're talking about, different things that you know are in other cities as well around the nation as people are watching from their hometowns here.
Rock climbing, where would be a good city to find something to go rock climbing at the spur of the moment?
VLAHOS: A destination that we found that is just fantastic is the Alabama Hills. It's near Los Angeles, also near San Francisco, kind of midway between the two. And this is a fantastic setting, big boulders, desert boulders, set at the base of the Sierras. Looks almost like the Himalaya where you are.
And rock climbing, that's another sport that some people think, Oh, I can't do, you know, that's dangerous. And scrambling is a variation of rock climbing, where you're not roped up, you're not high on a cliff somewhere, but instead you're just crawling up and over and around boulders. It's like a big outdoor jungle gym, basically.
MEADE: You know, you see people doing that, and obviously they're wearing some equipment there. What if you don't have equipment? This is a spur-of-the-moment thing you haven't planned. Can you rent some of these equipments, and mountain bikes and equipment for your whitewater rafting included?
VLAHOS: Certainly. Almost any place you go, you're going to find outfitters. You want to check beforehand, find somebody who's been in business for a while. But they're really good at taking people from the ground up and getting you into it, and making sure you're comfortable, making sure you're safe. These mountain biking B&B's that we've talked about, they have the bikes, the maps, everything on site, someone who can show you around if you don't know where to go.
MEADE: Again, that is James Vlahos with "Adventure" magazine. I imagine that information is in "Adventure" magazine. You take care, and I hope whatever you do at the spur of the moment this weekend is a good one. Thanks, John. James.
VLAHOS: You're welcome.
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