TheBuzz Erika Engle

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Post-quake publicity plugs paradise

HAWAII has received some fortuitously timed exposure in the wake of last Sunday's earthquakes, and more is to come.

Friday morning, Lisa Atwood won a trip to Hawaii during a live broadcast of a CBS Early Show segment with weather anchor Dave Price.

Price left Seattle immediately following the broadcast with Atwood, who had packed a bag in advance when she was named a finalist in the contest.

On the Net: » CBS News story online

Sponsors included the Oahu Visitors Bureau, Hawaiian Airlines and the Halekulani hotel as part of CBS News' All Access promotion, giving viewers chances to win trips by writing in, or by answering questions about other winners' travels. Price and his winners have been to destinations including England, Ireland and Argentina. A Super Bowl trip is also on the line.

Atwood and Price were to depart "the drizzle of the Pacific Northwest," he said on the air, soon to be "drenched by the waters of the Pacific."

That may have been weather-guy code for "Don't expect picture-perfect weather."

Atwood may not have known she was destined for possible Central Pacific drizzle and a flash-flood watch.

"This is the great thing about traveling with a weatherman," Price told TheBuzz Friday. "You are guaranteed at least one great day of weather and today was beautiful. It was gorgeous on this (Waikiki) side of the island."

Atwood is a homemaker and serves as bookkeeper for Atwood Fabricating, her husband's Seattle-based business. She also has two grown daughters, and laughed that her family was sending jealous text messages to her mobile phone. Of course, the camera-phone photos of Diamond Head, shot from the lanai of her Halekulani suite and sent to Seattle, might just have spurred such communications.

Atwood and Price received a hula lesson from longtime Halekulani dancer Kanoe Miller.

"Dave doesn't hula very well," Atwood said.

A publicist referred to it as a private lesson, but whaddayawanna bet there'll be some video that winds up on TV? "There will be," Atwood laughed. "Only the good shots," she hoped.

Friday afternoon she and Price were en route to the Paradise Cove Luau, and that was all she knew. She didn't know they would be expected to demonstrate the hula they learned earlier. Another national-photo-op, it would seem, as would a surf lesson from former pro surfer and model Hans Hedemann and a ride on the Island Seaplane.

The Hawaii segment is to air Tuesday on the CBS Early Show which starts at 7 a.m. on KGMB-TV.

Everybody gives away trips to Hawaii, and while Price's trip brought him to Oahu, there was no plan this time to choose a Hawaii winner for a trip to some far-flung place.

Price pledged, upon his return to New York, to "volunteer to come back to Hawaii," because he is, "a big supporter of ensuring that a resident of Hawaii gets the same opportunity," he laughed.

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Travelocity taps Lahaina

Online travel portal Travelocity. com has chosen Lahaina, Maui, for its legendary Oct. 31 revelry, as one of the world's nine best Halloween destinations.

Halloween is not just for kids, said Senior Editor Jen Catto.

Anything from "diet-breaking candy binges to daring costumes" would be perfectly acceptable for grown-ups, she said.

Her top Halloween picks included some that would appeal to families, but most were adult-oriented. They included the Haunted Village at Orleans Arena and Halloween-themed wedding chapel services in Las Vegas; Miami, for the elite costume party at its Vizcaya Museum and Gardens; and London's Highgate Cemetery, where royals and other celebrities are buried.

As for Lahaina, its annual celebration draws more than 30,000 partiers, either costume-wearing or costume-gawking, to Front Street each year.

"Once billed as the 'Mardi Gras of the Pacific,' Halloween in Lahaina ... has grown into a well-rounded festival that offers something for revelers of all ages," said Karee Carlucci, executive director of the Lahaina Town Action Committee.

Festivities begin at 4:30 p.m. with a costume parade for kids and their parents, but once the sun goes down, it's grown-up time, with music stages and a costume contest offering a $1,000 grand prize.

"West Maui hotels are usually at full occupancy during this time, with many rooms having been booked a year in advance," Carlucci said.