SPECTRUM: Press-Republican goes globe trotting

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September 23, 2007

By GERIANNE WRIGHT The Press Republican Sun Sep 23, 2007, 08:27 AM EDT

PLATTSBURGH — From the sun-bleached pillars of the Acropolis to the globally warmed glaciers of Alaska, vacationers proved they can’t leave home without their Press-Republican.

About 50 readers submitted vacation photos in which they’re shown holding a copy of the paper for the annual “Take Your Press-Republican on Vacation” contest.

Several of the entrants are no strangers to the contest. Laura Jennings of Cadyville, whose husband, Howard, is a photographer and teacher at Northern Adirondack Central, has submitted a number of entries in the past. This year, the school nurse at Morrisonville Elementary School had the idea to drag a laurel wreath and toga along when the couple took a 35th-anniversary trip to Greece June 25 to July 8.

“We have fun bringing our paper and figuring out what do for a photograph,” she said. “Greece was amazing, just amazing. To think we were walking among the archeological remains from the 4th and 5th centuries B.C., that you’re walking the same path as Socrates and Plato — it’s just awe-inspiring.”

The trip to Greece marked the first time abroad for the couple but not the first vacation with their Press-Republican. They previously submitted one of Laura in snorkeling gear in Hawaii.

“We really enjoy the contest,” she said. “And no one seemed to think it odd that we kept taking photos of me in this toga holding a newspaper.”

Jennings won the judges award for the best photo. She will receive a $50 restaurant gift certificate.

Bertha “Bert” Pombrio has also previously submitted to the contest, sending in a group shot from her tour to the Holy Land last year. But this year, the Dannemora resident decided to leave the North Country’s brief summer for the glaciers and cold of Alaska.

“It’s their summer, and they only have a few hours of darkness,” the 76-year-old Pombrio said.

She submitted a photo of herself with the Press-Republican as she waited to board a helicopter back to Denali following an aerial tour of Yanert Glacier in the Alaska Range.

Pombrio and a group from CVPH Medical Center took a 12-day tour that included a seven-day cruise and five-day train ride through the area.

“The photo was taken outside a helicopter by the helicopter pilot,” Pombrio said. “On the glacier, you’re limited how far you can walk about, so while we stood by waiting for the ride, I cracked open the Press-Republican and asked if he would take the picture.”

Pombrio and two couples took the helicopter ride as a side excursion to the cruise.

“The pilot pointed out different sites and got frightfully close to the cliffs,” she said. “We saw different animals down below, like a herd of caribou. It was really neat; I truly enjoyed it.”

Marian Atkinson, along with her brother and sister, took a family vacation to Alaska in August. Her brother, Michael Brown, and sister, Carol Barrett, are both from Long Island and met up with the Saranac resident in Vancouver, where they took an Alaskan cruise up the inside passage.

“The trip, the scenery and the wildlife is amazing,” Atkinson in her submission. “Hubbard Glacier is behind us (in the photo of herself and her brother). We witnessed the ‘calving,’ where an iceberg falls off the glacier into the water. It sounded like thunder when it happened.”

Press-Republican editors gave Linda Harwood extra points for extra effort, sporting what looks like a laminated Press-Republican during a snorkeling expedition at Horseshoe Reef in Belize in the Caribbean.

And 14-year-old Kelsey Burdo, 14, of Peru displayed the Press-Republican in “the City of Lights,” Paris, at the Eiffel Tower in August. With more than 275 monuments, hotels, churches, fountains, bridges and canals, it’s no wonder Paris is awash in light every night.

The Eiffel Tower was also chosen by Lauren Merkel, a student at the University of Richmond majoring in journalism with minors in French and business. She and the Press-Republican also made an appearance at the Eiffel Tower while Merkel was spending her fall semester studying in Paris.

This year, the Press-Republican received an unusually large number of entries, many via e-mail, that had to be disqualified for failure to follow the rules; namely, they forgot to include names, addresses; the file size was just too small to use; or the entries arrived too late.

But all the folks who can follow directions were entered in a random drawing for another $50 restaurant gift certificate. Jim Morse of Willsboro won for his photo at the Grand Canyon Skywalk.

Planning a vacation this year? Grab your paper because the contest will resume in 2008.