Same-sex getaways, wed or not

Honeymoon hotel packages for lesbians and gay men, which flourished earlier this year when local officials in several states began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, are persisting even though such licenses in the U.S. were being issued only in Massachusetts, as of the Travel section’s press time Tuesday.

Among the packages:

* MacArthur Place in Sonoma, Calif., offers “Adam & Steve” packages for male couples, with a eucalyptus body scrub and rosemary massage; and “The Rose Garden” for women, with a rose-petal bath and rose essential-oil massage. Prices for either, including room and champagne on arrival, start at $998 for two nights. (800) 722-1866, www.macarthurplace.com.

* Creekside Inn & Resort in Guerneville, Calif., includes a canoe trip down the Russian River in its gay honeymoon packages, which begin at $330 for two nights. (707) 869-3623, www.creeksideinn.com.

* A riverside dinner is on the honeymoon menu at the Village Inn & Restaurant in Monte Rio, Calif., where two-night packages start at $475. (800) 303-2303, www.villageinn-ca.com.

* Kimpton Hotels still offer same-sex honeymoon packages at about a dozen of its 40 establishments, said spokesman Andrew Freeman. Last week it added a “GLBT” section to its website, www.kimptonhotels.com. (Click on “Hotels and Restaurants,” then “Hotels,” then “GLBT.”)

Marketing can be coy. Although “rainbow” or “proud” appear in some package titles, you usually won’t find “gay.” Freeman said the chain’s marketing consultants said lesbians and gay men didn’t “necessarily need to be recognized in the title.”

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Slide shuts park road

The eastern entrance to Yellowstone National Park at Sylvan Pass was closed indefinitely last week after mudslides trapped several vehicles. No one was injured.

The slide, from an area stripped of vegetation last year by forest fires, is seven miles west of the eastern entrance to the park, which sprawls across Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. It washed away guardrails and part of the roadbed and may have carried down unexploded artillery shells employed in avalanche control, officials said. Other entrances remained open. For updates, visit www.nps.gov/yell.

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Packager to quit Caribbean

Pleasant Holidays, a budget-tour packager based in Westlake Village, is pulling out of the Caribbean market after less than two years. Reservations to the region are being accepted for travel only through Dec. 15.

Bookings from the West Coast, where Pleasant bases 80% of its packages to the Caribbean, were lower than hoped for, said spokesman Ken Phillips: about 7,000 last year and 8,000 so far this year. The company sends nearly 600,000 people a year on trips, mostly to Hawaii. Funjet, Apple Vacations and other discounters continue to serve the Caribbean.

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Hertz adds 18 new high-end car rentals

Citing a sharp increase in demand for luxury cars, Hertz has added 18 locations, eight in California, to its roster of Prestige Collection rentals. It offers Cadillacs, Jaguars, Land Rovers and other high-end models at more than 50 places. The new California sites are on Mason Street in San Francisco and at Bob Hope (Burbank), Long Beach, Oakland, Ontario, Palm Springs, Sacramento and San Jose airports. (800) 654-2250, www.hertz.com.

-- Compiled by Jane Engle