Program 260b: Western Whitewater Adventures; A Readers Grand Tour; Tapas in Spain

A seasoned river guide explains how a camping trip down the Colorado River can be a life-altering experience. 

Library maven Nancy Pearl recommends some of her favorite books for armchair adventures. And guides from Madrid help Rick with the protocol for ordering and enjoying the local specialties in Spain's tapas bars.  

 Get your thrills on a whitewater river raft, in the pages of a great novel, or finding out what you just ordered at a tapas bar in Spain, on this week's Travel with Rick Steves.

• Jeffe Aronson, river guide with O.A.R.S
• Nancy Pearl, author of "Book Lust to Go" (Sasquatch)
• Feature essay from adventure cyclist Willie Weir
• Madrid-based tour guides Federico Garcia Barroso and Amanda Buttinger

• Jeffe Aronson is a river rafting guide for O.A.R.S.
• Susan Osborn is the friend Jeffe mentions who wrote a song called "Bright Angel" about her experience in Grand Canyon. It's available as a free download from the "Music" link on the artist's website (scroll down to the songs from 1986).
• Nancy Pearl recommends literature "for every mood, moment, and reason" in her "Book Lust" series. She also co-authored "The Writer's Library," in which 23 contemporary writers describe their own literary influences.
• Willie Weir includes many of his cycling travel tales on his website.
• Amanda Buttinger offers tours of Madrid and surrounding areas.
• Tour guide Federico Garcia Barroso is also based in Madrid.
• Rick includes photos in his 2013 blog entry about dining on tapas in Seville.

• "We love tapas and eat them all the time in Chicago, so we couldn’t wait to try them in Spain. The first trip was a bust. We were intimidated and didn't enjoy it. But for the second trip, we did much more research and pretended we were locals. Such a different experience!" (e-mail from Jessica in Chicago)

• BRU_BTV_0260_00801_Gentle_Rivers_APM
• Mark Isham, "A River Runs Through It," A River Runs Through It (Silver Screen edition soundtrack) / Milan Records
• Gary Stroutsos, "Along the River (The Shoshones)," Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (soundtrack) / RCA
• Narration by Adam Arkin from the diary of Meriwether Lewis, "One of the Fairest Portions of the Globe," original soundtrack to Ken Burn's "Lewis & Clark" / Columbia-Legacy
• Susan Osborn, "Bright Angel,"  (out of print - available as a free download - http://www.susanosborn.com/?section=bio )
• * David Chevan and Warren Byrd, "Waters of Babylon," This is the Afro-Semitic Experience / Reckless Do Music
• CEZ_CEO_2142_00401_El_Camino_De_La_Creacion_APM
• Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, "'Rondo' from ‘John Field Suite,'" (Sir Herbert Hamilton Harty), Orchestral Suites of the British Isles / CBC Enterprises 
• Christophe Beck, "Olive Harvest," Under the Tuscan Sun (soundtrack) / Hollywood Records
• Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Erich Kunzel, conductor, "Blow the Man Down," Sailing / Telarc
• SOHO_SOHO_0171_01801_Atlantis_APM
• Capitol Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Carmen Dragon, "'Song of India' from ‘Sadko' (Rimsky-Korsakov)," The Very Best of the Five (collection) / Discover Classical
• Nacho Sotomayor, "Sometimes," Nirvana Lounge by Claude Challe & Ravin (collection) / Challo Music (France)
• Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, "Kinna Sonha," Magic Touch / OSA
• * Les Negresses Vertes, "Face a la mer (Massive Attack remix)," Cafe de la Noche (collection) / Sunswept
• Chabo, "Sueño," Les musiques du Sud (sampler) / Al Sur  (France)
• Angel and Celedonio Romero, "Jota ('Rondalla Aragonesa,' composed by Granados)," Bella España (collection) / Telarc 
• Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, dir. Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos,  instrumental intro to "'Rutas' from ‘Cinco canciones playera españolas' (Oscar Esplá),"  The Fabulous Victoria de los Angeles / EMI Classics
• CEZ_CCB_1018_00201_Hacia_Compostela_APM
• Paco de Lucía, "Rio Ancho," Nueva Antología / Universal

• At 9:00, Jeffe responds to Rick’s question about the statistics of river rafting fatalities, comparing it to fatalities experienced among golfers.  Rick then mentions a series of fatal accidents among adventure sports venues in Switzerland, which resulted in more careful operations, so that adrenaline sports operations there have “been safe ever since.”
• Jeffe notes at 12:00 that 7 is the minimum age for children boarding the OARS boats on Oregon’s Rogue River, 12 years old on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, and adds that 9 is the minimum age for participants on the middle fork of the Snake River in Idaho.  The individual rafting companies set their own minimum age requirements.
• At 13:20, Jeffe says Idaho's Frank Church Wilderness Area is the largest contiguous wilderness area in the lower 48 states. 
• Federico notes at 47:15 that Madrid is rated the second-largest seafood "port" in the world, after Tokyo.