Briefs

Winter truckin’ in Iceland

Here’s a new trip for inveterate road warriors: an “Icelandic Monster Truck Safari” that makes use of modified Land Rover Defenders to reach Iceland’s iconic waterfalls and hot springs via special tracks and mountain roads. Each Friday through April, a driver-guide and two “monster trucks” meet travelers at Keflavik Airport for this three-night, off-the-beaten-path tour of Iceland’s volcanic landscape.

Offered by Iceland Experience, a division of the Great Canadian Travel Co., the road trip is priced at $2,749, including accommodations, most meals, services of the driver-guide and trucks. International airfare is additional.

Participants may take a turn behind the wheel or just go along for the big ride. (866-949-0129; www.iceland-experience.com)

Bird-watching in Honduras

Our fine-feathered friends are the subject of the first annual Mesoamerican Birding Festival, to be held in Honduras’ Lake Yojoa region.

The Feb. 23-26 event features daily field trips, presentations and bird-watching with neotropical ornithologist Robert Ridgely.

A Feb. 22-27 festival package covers all the activities, plus lodging at Hotel Las Glorias, all meals, a bird guide to the region and ground transportation, including round-trip airport transfers from San Pedro Sula, for $365. Airfare is additional.

Organized by the Mesoamerican Ecotourism Alliance, the festival will be held in a different Central American country each year. (1-800-682-0584; www.travelwithmea.org)

Find savings with Honest Abe

Next year our nation’s capital marks the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth with the rededication of the Lincoln Memorial, a re-enactment of Marian Anderson’s concert at the memorial and other festivities. Keeping up with the Lincoln Bicentennial is the Honest Abe Package at the Fairmont Washington, D.C.

Starting at $299 per night for a family of four, the Lincoln package covers one night’s accommodations, a map of the city and Lincoln Logs for the kids. With the package, the hotel’s sumptuous breakfast is available for $5 per person, payable —- preferably —- with Abraham Lincoln $5 bills.

“Honest Abe” remains in force Jan. 1-April 30. (800-441-1414; www.fairmont.com/washington, click on Packages, then under Celebration click “Honest Abe Package”)

Colorado resorts prepare for layoffs

Ski resort workers at three Colorado mountains are bracing for layoffs as a Canadian resort operator says the poor economy will force job cuts.

Intrawest Corp. did not say exactly how many jobs will go at its three owned or operated Colorado resorts —- Copper Mountain, Steamboat Ski & Resort and Winter Park. But the Vancouver-based resort operator said the drop in business at its resorts is unlike anything it has experienced in recent years.

The company employs 22,000 workers during the peak winter season in Canada and the United States.

Intrawest also operates Canada’s Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort, a major venue for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

Bronx Zoo turns off its holiday lights

The Bronx Zoo is bringing in reindeer and turning off the lights at its annual evening holiday light show.

Zoo officials have decided to hold a daytime Wild Wonderland instead of the usual nighttime event. On hand will be Clydesdale horses, reindeer and craft workshops where children can make eco-friendly tree ornaments.

By keeping the lights off, zoo officials hope to reduce the zoo’s carbon footprint, which is a measure of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity.

The zoo says moving the event to the daytime will reduce its carbon footprint by an amount equal to the annual emissions of a three-person household.

Winter Wonderland will be open beginning Dec. 6 from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Details at www.bronxzoo.com.