Tour du Jour 1993
Sampling the Tour du Jour: Isn’t that Special
By Mary Forgione, Daily News Staff Writer
Sunday, May 30, 1993 Travel Section, Daily News (edited version).
Members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic perform concerts in the wild on a Colorado river rafting trip.
To tour or not to tour, that is the question.
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and arrows of outrageous traveling companions Or to take arms against a sea of troubles.
And by opposing – stay home.
If you like the notion of traveling with a tour group but are wary (or weary) of sharing your hard-earned vacation with 30 strangers whose interests are limited to grabbing gift-shop glitz, take heart.
Special interests may be a dirty word on Capitol Hill but tour operators find that trip, cruises and workshops pegged to a particular theme or pastime make tour groups more compatible. And though theme trips appeal to narrower audiences, they also provide a creative market niche for companies that want to offer more than run-of-the-mill tours.
For example, river rafter Bill Dvorak discovered that the red rock canyons of the Dolores River in southwestern Colorado is the perfect setting for challenging rafting – and Mozart.
In early June, he will load a cello, chairs, violins, violas, music stands and a flute into an enormous cushioned box, strap it to a raft, and proceed down the river with five classical musicians (led by Los Angeles Philharmonic violinist Roy Tanabe) and 15 participants.
“There’s music every day,” said Dvorak, who has been combining live music with rafting trips for the past eight years.
For information, contact Bill Dvorak’s Kayak & Rafting Expeditions, 17921 U.S. Highway 285, Nathrop, Colo., 81236; (800)-824-3795. Dvorak will lead a rafting trip featuring four members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and a flutist from the Santa Fe Symphony. Participants on the June 4-11 Dolores River trip in southwestern Colorado will hear four private concerts as well as other rehearsal sessions on their trip down the river. Cost is $1,450 per person.