Washington launches ’Lost Symbol’ Web site

Washington launches ’Lost Symbol’ Web site

WASHINGTON — Washington is anticipating a flurry of visits from fans of Dan Brown’s new thriller, “The Lost Symbol.”

Fans of “The Da Vinci Code” novelist flocked to the Louvre in Paris and other sites in Europe that were featured in that book. One church in Scotland, the Rosslyn Chapel, saw a threefold increase in visitors after the book became a bestseller and movie.

Destination DC has launched a Web page at www.Washington.org/lostsymbol to help readers explore some of the places and themes that are expected to receive attention from “The Lost Symbol.”

New items at Odd Wisconsin exhibit

MADISON, Wis. — An original script from the movie “Casablanca,” a journal from the Lewis and Clark Expedition and one of the world’s first atlases are among the new items at the Wisconsin Historical Museum’s exhibit of odd items.

“Odd Wisconsin” opened last fall at the Madison museum, with more than 60 artifacts. Museum officials recently swapped out about 40 percent of the exhibit to replace fragile or sensitive items with different ones.

Some of the other new items include the banjo-ukulele used to record the “Oh I Wish I Were an Oscar Mayer Wiener” jingle, a collection of the creepiest of dolls and toys and the blanket under which Abraham Lincoln purportedly died.

Museum spokesman John Lemke said the exhibit will run at least through the summer 2010.

For more information, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum.

Magazine celebrating ’America’s Best Idea’

NEW YORK — Conde Nast Traveler is marking Ken Burns’ new PBS series about the national parks, “America’s Best Idea,” with a look at 10 national parks and recommendations for how to see them.

The magazine looks at five parks in its September issue and another five online at www.cntraveler.com/nationalparks.

In print, Conde Nast Traveler mentions Glacier National Park in Montana, known for its Going-to-the-Sun Road; Great Smoky National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee, 75 years old this year and the most popular national park in the country, with 9 million visitors; Olympic National Park in Washington, with glacier-capped mountains and temperate rainforests; Yellowstone National Park, in Wyoming, known for wildlife like bison and elk as well as spectacular geothermal features like its famous geysers; and Yosemite National Park in California, where the 2.2-mile hike up to Sentinel Dome provides a 360-degree view of the scenery.

Online, Conde Nast Traveler has more information on five other parks: Acadia in Maine, Grand Canyon in Arizona, Denali in Alaska, the Rockies in Colorado and Volcanoes in Hawaii.

Associated Press