The May issue of Sunset magazine has a list of Top 10 Rafting Trips and #1 is a journey down the Colorado River with a string quartet. Yes a cellist actually carts her (or a rental) instrument down the Grand Canyon along with the violins and viola for rafters to enjoy the natural acoustics. A similar trip is chronicled in this 1998 article where the musicians battled against mosquitos along Utah’s Green River. One morning cello solo was called on account of bugs.

There’s a house going up in Walnut Creek, CA that was manufactured in Austria. The prefabricated structure is composed of European Larch panels, twelve inches thick, fixed together with dried wooden dowels that will absorb moisture from the panels and expand to keep it all secure. Architect Gordon Pierce is building the home for his daughter’s family. He’s President of Pure Wood Solutions, which hopes to raise U.S. interest in this patented prefab system known as Thoma Holz100. It’s quick (a house can be assembled in 3 days) and green (the European Larch is easy to grow, no glues or chemicals are used, and the factory is fueled by wood waste).

At center stage on the front page of Saturday’s Seattle Times was an article on big budget local high school musicals. Many local drama departments are going all out, licensing Broadway shows whose royalty fees alone exceed the budget of most high school productions. Ticket sales and donations make up the bulk of these ambituous shows’ costs which run $25,000 and up to $90,000 (Bishop Blanchet High’s “Barnum”). Elaborate sets are constructed, costumes custom-made or rented, fight choreographers hired. Pros (aka “ringers”) are even hired to plump up the pit orchestra. The kids of course have a magnificent experience, but I wonder if they’d be better off learning how to gather the forces needed to put a play on in a barn.

A city audit reveals that San Francisco cable car riders have a 40% chance of riding free. Conductors didn’t collect fares in 17 out of 42 undercover boardings. “San Francisco’s public transit system raises only 22 percent of its operating expenses at the fare box.” A cable car ride costs 5 bucks.

The first big trailer for the movie-based-on-the-musical-based-on-the-movie Hairspray is out. Pick your poison: Youtube, AOL, official site. Michelle Pfeiffer, Allison Janney, and Christopher Walken!

Here are some amazing sculptures made out of books. Each artist has a unique approach to shaping art from bound pages. There’s even a functional lamp!

In 2003, archeologists in Cyprus unearthed the oldest known perfume factory, dated to 2000 B.C. They extracted fragrances from the containers found at the site and used them as the basis for four perfumes. Visitors to Rome’s Capitoline Museums can smell these ancient concoctions of spices and oils at a special exhibit.

Hello Kitty obsessed brides can now don real (i.e. not plastic) bridal jewelry featuring their heroine with a new pink hairdo. There are glass pearl necklaces and bracelets, a collar, a belt, and, of course, a stunning tiara with Swarovski crystals and three lucite cameos of the Kitty herself. I think I’d almost rather wear the Hello Kitty Wedding Dress. (via Fashionista)

Oklahoma is about to declare the watermelon to be the official state vegetable. They already have a state fruit, the strawberry. Watermelons fit into both fruit and vegetable definitions depending on what perspective you have.

The San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects came up with a “semiofficial list” of their top 25 buildings in the area. Chapter Executive Director Margie O’Driscoll’s original goal was a top five list but they ended up with five categories with five each instead. Some are obvious, some surprising.