JOTTINGS IN A JOURNAL SEE THE WATERFRONT IN CABLE CAR STYLE.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

San Francisco's cable cars still make the run to Fisherman's Wharf, but now there's another way to get to the waterfront: vintage electric streetcar running along a palm-lined boulevard beside the San Francisco Bay.

Last month, the San Francisco Municipal Railway opened an extension of its above-ground F line, which since 1995 has used a small fleet of streetcars from the 1920s, '30s and '40s on a round-trip route along Market Street between Castro Street and the Transbay Terminal downtown.

The new two-mile extension continues the line to the end of Market, then north along the Embarcadero, ending at Jones and Beach Streets in the heart of the Fisherman's Wharf district.

Fares for the F-line are $1 and 35 cents for seniors and children 5 to 17. Information: [phone].

< Bad press for falling rocks

A rock slide along the Kamehameha Highway near Waimea Bay, Hawaii, on March 6 hit a car and led to the closure of a quarter-mile section of the road while officials remove boulders. The road is a popular tourist route around the island of Oahu, but the closing shut it off to drivers as well as tour operators with circle-island tours.

``Geologists have confirmed that additional cracks on the rock ledge above the road could lead to large boulders (4 to 5 feet in diameter) falling onto the road surface,'' according to a notice on the Hawaii Department of Transportation Web site. ``This material must be removed before the road can be reopened.''

Work on the main highway is expected to take weeks or longer, and a temporary two-lane beach road has been constructed. For the road status, go to www.hawaii.gov/dot and select the ``rock slide'' notice, then ``press releases.''

Holy guacamole! Sports get fruity

A contest to see how far avocado pits can be spat? Avocado golf? They are just two of the ``Olympic'' events scheduled for the 14th annual Avocado Festival, which is expected to attract 75,000 people to the north San Diego County community of Fallbrook on April 16.

Admission is free for the event, which runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be 300 booths, 40 of them devoted to food.

The festival doesn't take itself too seriously. In addition to the Olympics, a Kids' Avocado 500 race will feature cars made from avocados. There are also plans to turn 1,300 pounds of the fleshy, pear-shaped fruit into guacamole.

Information: [phone].

Making a splash at the aquarium

``Splash Zone: Rock and Reef Homes,'' a family-oriented special exhibition at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, is scheduled to open Saturday.

The exhibit will feature 50 live animals, including black-footed penguins, monkeyfaced eels, leafy sea dragos and three species of tropical sharks - blacktip reef, bamboo and wobbegong.

Splash Zone, designed for families with children up to age 9, features more than 30 hands-on exhibits, educational programs and play areas.

Information: [phone]; www.mbayaq.org.

Big Red Boat gets three more ports

Premier Cruise Lines, known for Big Red Boat cruises to the Bahamas from Port Canaveral, Fla., and for its emphasis on children's programs, has announced plans to add a fourth ship and sail from three more American ports starting in May.

The company will base ships in Los Angeles, New York and Houston. Late this year, it plans to base ships in either Seattle or Vancouver, British Columbia. It will rename all its vessels Big Red Boats and will continue to offer year-round three- and four-night cruises to the Bahamas from Port Canaveral.

In November, three- and four-night cruises begin from Los Angeles to Catalina Island, San Diego and Ensenada, Mexico. Information: [phone].

It's a small world in Germany after all

``Humankind-Nature-Technology: The Emergence of a New World'' will be the theme of the world's fair in Hanover, Germany, scheduled to run from June 1 through Oct. 31.

The fair will have several parts: a theme area looking at life and progress in the 21st century, pavilions of 190 nations and live cultural events, including rock concerts, music, dance and theater.

Ticket information and tour operators offering packages to Expo 2000, as it is known, can be found on the Web at www.expo2000.com or by contacting the German National Tourist Office at 122 E. 42nd St., New York, N.Y., 10168. Phone: [phone].

Spas find ways to woo new customers

Spas are not only the new hot spots, but according to a recent survey they're no longer just for women or the rich.

A spa ranking by Conde Nast Traveler found that 35 percent of 6,000 survey respondents were men and that 25 percent made less than $30,000 per year. Spa visits increased by 16 percent over last year, the magazine reported in its April issue. It also found a huge increase in the number of day spas available.

The top two resort spas were in Hawaii: Four Seasons Resort Hualalai on the Big Island and the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa on Maui.

Discovering the Navajo Nation

The Navajo Nation's new tourist guide offers 36 points of interest on the sprawling reservation in the Southwest, from national monuments and tribal parks to museums and historical sites.

The 30-plus page ``Discover Navajo'' guide, prepared for the Navajo Department of Tourism, includes a brief history, ``fast facts'' and a small road map to give visitors insight into each point of interest.

For the first time, it offers histories and descriptions of Chaco Culture National Historic Park and the Bisti Badlands, said Bobby Martin, who designed the guide's front cover, a portrait of an early, unknown Navajo warrior.

For information on the Navajo Nation visitor guide, call [phone], 871-6393 or 871-7371.

Parisian painters Met in New York

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has just opened ``Painters in Paris: 1895-1950,'' an exhibition of some of the greatest modern masterpieces of that period. Among them is Pablo Picasso's ``Portrait of Gertrude Stein,'' a work she donated to the museum and one of 23 Picasso pieces in this marvelous show.

In all, there are more than 100 paintings by 36 artists, including Pierre Bonnard, Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Andre Derain, Jean Dubuffet, Alberto Giacometti, Juan Gris, Roger de La Fresnaye, Fernand Leger, Henri Matisse, Juan Miro, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Jules Pascin, Diego Rivera, Henri Rousseau, Maurice Utrillo and Edouard Vuillard.

The show is scheduled to run through Dec. 31. The museum is located at 1000 Fifth Ave. Phone: [phone].

Frequent fliers gain online

America Online's AOL Rewards program has formed a partnership with American Airlines' frequent-flier program, AAdvantage, and expects to start AOL AAdvantage by late May.

Miles will be earned in the usual fashion through American Airlines and its airline, hotel and car-rental partners. But members also will be able to earn miles through an off-line network of airline, hotel, restaurant, rental car agencies and other merchants, by buying certain products and services through AOL, by enrolling in various services available on AOL, and by participating in surveys.

A preliminary version of the Web site, www.aolaadvantage.com, contains information about the new program.