What's New in the West: November 2009

• Hobnob with luminaries at Journey to the Stars, a new all-digital planetarium show at San Francisco's California Academy of Sciences through fall 2010. calacademy.org [2].
• Seeking a stocking stuffer? Try The California Missions, a 276-page book rich with amazing factoids, color photos, period illustrations, and paintings. $40. getty.edu [3].
• Las Vegas's CityCenter at MGM Mirage, an 18-millionsquare-foot vertical city, opens December 16, featuring boutique hotels, a retail district, and art by Maya Lin, Jenny Holzer, Henry Moore, and others. citycenter.com [4].
• Some 600 color maps fill the new Historical Atlas of the American West. Author Derek Hayes shows knowledge expanding map by map: Native pueblos, early trails, railways, highways, parks, and cities. $40. ucpress.edu [5].
• A petulant French emperor invades North America on October 11 when Treasures of Napoléon opens at the Muzeo in Anaheim, Calif. On display are more than 300 artifacts, including a hat the ruler wore in 1809. muzeo.org [6].
• Love riding the rails? Pick up the revised Tourist Trains Guidebook, 336 pages of color photos, listings, and reviews of locomotive museums and excursion trains. $20. AAA.com/barnesandnoble [7].
• Opening on Thanksgiving Day in Sun Valley, Idaho, the River Run–Roundhouse Gondola hauls 56 cars carrying eight riders each some 2,000 feet up the side of Bald Mountain. sunvalley.com [8].
• Travelers visiting Portland by train can now reach downtown's hotels on the Green Line, a new MAX light-rail link between Amtrak's Union Station and Portland State University. trimet.org [9].
• Guests at Hotel 43 in Boise receive a complimentary Arts Passport that guarantees free admission to Boise Art Museum and discounts to some performances including Opera Idaho. hotel43.com [10].
• Restorations are winding up on the 1888 Atlas Theatre in Cheyenne, Wyo., a 2009 winner of Hampton Hotels' Save-A-Landmark program. The resident Cheyenne Little Theatre Players will present Many Moons(a play for children), November 18–22, and It's a Wonderful Life Radio Drama, December 18–20. cheyennelittletheatre.org [11].
• Fairbanks International Airport's new terminal treats travelers to built-in artworks, including David Ruth's Tanana, a tall, 13-panel lattice of glass and steel that represents the frozen Yukon River near a remote Alaskan village. dot.state.ak.us/faiiap [12].
• Avid skiers who purchase the Bigger Sky Card from Montana's Big Sky Resort by November 25 get $20 off daily lift fees in peak season and 46 free days at off-peak times. $399. bigskyresort.com [13].

This article was first published in November 2009. Some facts may have aged gracelessly. Please call ahead to verify information.