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After hiking, skiing, or Grand Canyon gawking, what better way to spend an evening than in Flagstaff’s oldest microbrewery? Wood-burning stoves in the entryway will keep you warm if the wait is long in this family-friendly brewpub. In addition to the handcrafted beers, you will find wood-fired pizzas, fondues, and apple cake made with oatmeal stout. I opted for the “Brewer’s Platter": bratwursts and spicy southwest sausage braised in their Railhead Red Ale, with caramelized onions, red cabbage, cinnamon apples, and skin-on mashed potatoes. So glad I listened to the guys in the mountain-gear-store up the street who recommended the place. For two decades, Beaver Street Brewery has been a Flagstaff institution, its sign a beacon on foggy winter nights... (Just remember, at 7,000 ft. above sea level, the brews go to your head much faster...so eat up!)

Overlooking Chesterman Beach, the Wickaninnish Inn, or “the Wick,” as locals call it, offers 75 cabinlike rooms with Adirondack-style furnishings. Amenities include a library stocked with board games and movies, a spa that offers West Coast–inspired treatments, and guided hikes to nearby tide pools every Saturday morning. Swing by the Henry Nolla Carving Shed on the beach, where local wood carvers⎯“Feather” George Yearsley, for one⎯craft wooden objects such as eagle feathers, dugout canoes, jewelry boxes, and First Nations masks. From $460. 500 Osprey Ln., (250) 725-3100. Image courtesy of Wickaninnish Inn

We hiked along a rocky trail starting at Playa La Ropa to get to Playa Las Gatas. You can make it in sandals although it’s not a walk in the park. Once we arrived we were met with a crowd of locals enjoying their weekend. As you stroll the beach you’ll be greeted by many who want you to sit at their tables. If you can resist the cold beer and fun atmosphere at first try to make it to the end of the beach where there is an old hostel and a small grove of mangroves. You’ll know you’ve arrived when you see the sign: “Leave nothing but footprints. Take nothing but pictures. Kill nothing but time.” A wonderful daily reminder. Now you can have that icy cold beer and ponder why you don’t come to Mexico more often.

Though my favorite Provencal hotel is now gone from Saignon, it is still the quintessential, hilltop town worth visiting when you’re biking, hiking or driving through this area of France. The dreamy town center (all of three streets) will provide you with views of this fountain, as well as the gorgeous Luberon Valley. The small church in town is a pilgrimage stop for those walking from Rome going to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. No place in Provence ever stole my heart quite like Saignon did. It’s a quiet place with just one bakery in town and only a handful of restaurants, but it has plenty of charm. For a great walk and the best view around, follow the sings for ‘the rock’. Due to its height and location in the valley on this rock formation, Saignon was used as an ancient observatory and a signal station.

Little needs to be said about Paris‘s peerless art scene and the iconic museums that greet throngs of visitors each day but we hear very little about spaces like the non profit Fondation Cartier for Contemporary Art nestled in the 1'4th arrondissement, a hike from the city’s artistic epicenter. My enthusiasms run more toward the impressionist era so the offbeat styles housed within the Centre Pompidou and countless galleries across the city are often lost on me. Gearing up for my first visit to the Fondation Cartier several years ago, I expected much of the same. Instead I found myself surrounded by fascinating and evocative works spanning multiple disciplines, from photography to performance art. An exhibit on street art and graffiti hooked me in and I’ve been a fan ever since. Creative workshops and family visits are also offered (kid friendly!)

Just a short drive north from downtown San Diego, the 2,000-acre Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve offers an idea of what Southern California looked like before its coastlines were developed. Experience the area by taking a short walk from the parking lot to the bluffs overlooking the ocean, or hike a longer loop around the entire reserve. You can enjoy great views of La Jolla from here—sometimes you can even spot hang gliders or pods of dolphins swimming along the coastline. If you’re lucky, you might even see the peregrine falcons that keep a nest in the cliffs. Note: If you’re hanging out at the base of the cliffs by the ocean, heed the KEEP AWAY FROM CLIFF signs. They’re made of sandstone and do crumble.

Movie director Francis Ford Coppola had traveled the world, but when he visited Belize in the 1980s, in search of a “jungle paradise” like the one where he had filmed Apocalypse Now, he was taken by the untamed land and bought Blancaneaux, the first of two resort properties he would eventually own in Belize. (The other is Turtle Inn.) Initially, Blancaneaux was a family retreat, but by the early 1990s, Coppola decided to turn it into a small luxury resort. Today, guests with deep pockets enjoy visiting Blancaneaux for its sense of exclusivity; travelers have to really want to stay here. An hour’s drive down a bone-jarring road away from civilization, one doesn’t just happen upon the resort. Accommodations are gigantic villa- and cabana-style lodgings lavishly decorated with handmade furniture, textiles, and crafts. Hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, and swimming are a few of the activities for guests on-site at Blancaneaux.

I discovered this Marin Headlands view of the Golden Gate Bridge on one of my very first trips to San Francisco. In my three-plus years living in the Bay Area, I still haven’t found a view to top it. My favorite time to visit is just after sunset, when most tourists are fleeing from the evening breeze and the lights from the Golden Gate are just beginning to glow. If you’re lucky, you might witness an illuminated container ship as it exits the Bay on its way to Asia. This vantage point is on the North side of the Golden Gate—for the active traveler it’s a lovely green hike after a stroll across the bridge but alternately you can dive up. There’s also a closer view at the base of the hill.

Last April, I spent a morning hiking along the San Pedro River, just NW of Bisbee, AZ; the caterpillars were astoundingly abundant. When I stopped, I could hear them munching on leaves all around--a surround-sound of crunching, the aural fecundity of spring. Between Sierra Vista and Bisbee, the high grassland highway slowly slopes down to this cottonwood-lined river--one of the few free-flowing rivers left in the Desert Southwest. This ribbon of forest stretches from the Mexican border up towards the lower-elevation desert, providing a flyway for migrating birds and even habitat for the occasional jaguar (very rare). In the late 1980’s, this area was made a National Conservation Area, and it’s a nice shady walk in what can often be sun-blasted country.

Glendalough, or Gleann Dá Loch in Irish (which means “valley of two lakes”), is a quiet, picturesque valley near the Wicklow Mountains. Its 6th-century monastic settlement founded by St. Kevin is one of the most important in Ireland, and it’s surrounded by dewy grass and heather, lush hills, mossy rocks, and an impressive variety of wildlife. Monastic City itself includes the remains of ancient stone churches, a priests’ house, a stone fort, and a 100-foot round bell tower. The cemetery is fascinating with its lichen-covered headstones tilted every which way amid unkempt vegetation. Generations of Irish family histories are contained in this small plot of land, which is an integral part of this site. Glendalough is about 90 minutes’ south of Dublin and makes for a worthwhile day tour that includes sightseeing and hiking followed by a visit to a cozy local pub.

With no sign above its unassuming storefront, Tartine is most easily recognized by the line that snakes out its door and down Guerrero Street. People patiently wait for flaky pains au chocolat (the best outside Paris, in my opinion), decadent banana cream tarts, and hot-pressed sandwiches stuffed with fillings like smoked sheep cheese and quince jam. The bakery’s James Beard Award–winning pastry chefs also turn out loaves of stone hearth–baked bread, available every day after 4:30 p.m. Nurse a coffee and nibble on a croissant at the communal table, or take picnic provisions to nearby Dolores Park.

Sprawling over 10,000 acres in Lampe, Missouri, Dogwood Canyon Nature Park was established by Johnny Morris—founder of Bass Pro Shops and nearby Big Cedar Lodge—as a place for families to spend time in nature. Elk, bison, Texas longhorn cattle, and whitetail deer roam the property, which is dotted with soaring bluffs and cascading waterfalls that can be explored via Jeep, tram, and Segway tours. There are also paved paths for biking and leisurely strolls, rugged trails for horseback riding and challenging hikes, and spring-fed waterways filled with rainbow trout for catch-and-release fishing. When hunger strikes, head to the on-site Mill & Canyon Grill Restaurant, where you can eat an excellent bison burger while gazing at the blue-green Little Indian Creek and a 120-foot waterfall.

Montauk State Park sits at the head of the Current River, where seven springs converge to form a breathtakingly beautiful area. The park is popular with anglers who come to fish for rainbow trout in the cool waters, but also offers ample opportunity for hiking, biking, and picnicking in shady groves. Visitors can even learn a bit of history during tours of the old gristmill, built in 1896 at the center of what was once a thriving community. For a relaxing day in nature, follow the locals to the river, where they float in canoes with coolers of cold drinks in tow, then spend the night at one of the modern campgrounds, rental cabins, or motel rooms that dot the park grounds.

Ferries between St. Vincent and Bequia run frequently, all day and evening. The one-way trip takes about an hour, and the fare is about $10 each way or $17 round-trip. En route, passengers have breathtaking views in all directions, including volcanic St. Vincent and Kingstown Harbour, Young Island, Mustique and Canouan in the distance, and Bequia’s lovely Port Elizabeth. Once on Bequia, take an island tour, have lunch, go for a swim, or explore Port Elizabeth before heading back to St. Vincent at sunset. If you’re traveling in the other direction, spend the day on St. Vincent walking around historic Kingstown, touring the Botanical Gardens, or hiking the Vermont Nature Trail.

Tannersville’s Deer Mountain Inn looks more like a gigantic personal home than it does a hotel, but therein lies its charm. Set on 168 acres in the Catskills, the gorgeous property features six rooms in an Arts and Crafts-style summer home dating back to 1880, along with a couple of cottages for groups or those seeking extra space. Each room is individually decorated with details like big stone fireplaces, wood-paneled ceilings, and wainscoating, and most have lovely views of the surrounding lawn and forest. There’s no shortage of hiking trails on and around the property and the hotel can arrange bicycle rentals on request. For something a bit more relaxed, there’s a cozy game room with an antique pool table, and regular outdoor painting sessions for the artistically inclined.