Island Hopping and Globe Trotting | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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Jeff Lutz took a few minutes Thursday to show how being in the cold weather isn’t so bad as he sat on an ice chair at the ice sculpture area in Rice Park in downtown St. Paul, Minn. Lutz, who loves ice fishing, said the key to staying warm is dressing in layers and embracing the Minnesota outdoors.

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Bourbon trail attracts record crowds

FRANKFORT, Ky. » A record-breaking 500,000-plus people visited distilleries along Kentucky’s bourbon trail in 2012, marking a 15 percent increase over the year before.

The director of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail tourism attraction said in a news release Monday that the new attendance record was 509,292. It is the first time since the trail opened in 1999 that the number of visitors broke the half-million mark.

Adam Johnson says visitors came from all 50 states and more than 50 countries.

The Kentucky Bourbon Trail is a distillery tour that features Four Roses and Wild Turkey in Lawrenceburg, Heaven Hill in Bardstown, Jim Beam in Clermont, Maker’s Mark in Loretto, Town Branch in Lexington and Woodford Reserve in Versailles.

Gymnast’s Olympic items will go on display

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WASHINGTON » Olympic gymnast Gabrielle Douglas is donating personal items to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Douglas won Olympic gold at age 16 in the 2012 London games. She was the first African-American woman to win gold in the individual all-around competition. The U.S. women’s team also won gold.

The Virginia Beach, Va., native is giving the museum the leotard she wore during her first competitive season in 2003. She’s also giving the wrist tape and uneven bar grips she used in the 2012 Olympics, as well as her mother’s ticket to the games, personal photos and her Olympic credentials.

The items go on display Friday at the National Museum of American History. The black history museum is slated to open in 2015.

Spirit to link Vegas with Philly, Baltimore

LAS VEGAS » Spirit Airlines has announced new budget flights between Las Vegas and the East Coast.

The company said Wednesday that it will launch daily nonstop service April 25 between McCarran International Airport and Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in Maryland.

It’s also starting daily nonstop flights between Las Vegas and Philadelphia International Airport.

Officials who oversee McCarran say Baltimore and Philadelphia are already among its top 20 feeder airports.

The two airports combined have been sending about 1,300 travelers to Las Vegas each day in recent weeks.