Wishlist

Everything is bigger in Dubai, and this aquarium is no exception to that rule. With offerings like glass bottom boat tours, cage snorkeling, and shark diving, it's perhaps among the most interactive aquarium's out there as well! Still, if you'd...

You may have already seen photos of Dubai Mall on social media, but to visit is more of an experience than just a trip to a mall. While the mall has a lot to offer avid shoppers, other visitors may instead choose...

Admit it; you're curious. A ski hill in the middle of the desert, on the Persian Gulf, no less, is as wild an idea as humankind has ever concocted—but isn't dreaming big what Dubai is all about? The slopes at Ski Dubai are no substitute for...

Mall of the Emirates is where Dubai meets, eats, entertains, and goes ski driving. In summer the temperatures outside are so warm, if you stay there or have a stay over—here is where to meet. Most of the hotels offer a shuttle. For breakfast,...

Dubai is known for doing things on a grander and bigger scale, and Wild Wadi Waterpark is no exception. When it was built, it had the tallest water slide outside of North America. That slide has since been replaced, but Wild Wadi is wilder than...

The Atlantis Hotel is the focal point of Dubai's giant cluster of man-made isthmuses that jut out into the Persian Gulf. Even if you can't afford to stay at this spectacular hotel, you can still go see what the decadent expat lifestyle feels like...

After spending an afternoon baking under the Arabian sun on Dubai’s Kite Beach, nothing quite satisfies an appetite like a Wagyu beef slider served up seaside. Salt started out as a roving food truck and fans had to check its...

Going around the rocky mountains on a dog-sled is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The scenery was simply breathtaking, not to mention that my dogs were adorable. After this experience, you'll have a better appreciation for the world we...

Climbing the Colorado 14ers (14,000 foot or higher peak) is a rewarding summer and early fall activity. Set out early Saturday morning, bring water, snacks, layers, and a camera. Mount Democrat is a 4-mile round trip with over 2,000 feet of...

The shuttle van pulls up to a small wooden cabin in the middle of a snow-laden forest, where snow hangs heavy on the boughs of pine branches. There's a faint hum of engines purring, a line of snowmobiles warming up for their afternoon excursion....

Just outside of downtown Denver, Red Rocks Amphitheater is the only naturally-occurring acoustically perfect amphitheater in the world. Since it first opened in 1941, it has been home to iconic music performances, from opera to rock. The stage is...

Starting this past winter on Friday Nights the Snowmass Gondola and Elk Camp Restaurant stayed open later for Ullr Nights in the Winter and Valhalla Nights in the Summer, both named after Norse mythology. For Ullr Nights, people can partake in...

We are exploring Cheyenne Mountain Zoo on a 24-hour getaway to Colorado Springs. Its brochure proclaims they are “America’s Only Mountain Zoo,” but that only goes part of the way to describing the uniqueness of this place. In only a couple of...

Colorado National Monument is one of those places that many of us drive by a hundred times (it's right between Denver and Moab, Utah) before finally entering the protected area and discovering the extent of this national treasure—that is so easily...

Just beyond the western edge of Tucson, you'll find these Hohokam petroglyphs in Saguaro National Park. No one knows precisely when they were carved into the rocks, but Hohokam settlements in the Sonoran desert date back almost two thousand years....

If you know your flight path is going to go over the Grand Canyon, get a window seat. Even from thirty-some-thousand feet above, the chasms within chasms stretch on to the horizon...

Just to the southwest of Tucson, on the San Xavier Reservation, sits the late XVIII-century Mission San Xavier del Bac, one of the finest examples of Spanish colonial architecture in the U.S. The combination of late Baroque and Moorish-inspired...

Mountain Lion. Cougar. Puma. Panther. Any way you call it, it's majestic but fear-inspiring... At the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, on the western edge of Tucson, you can get face-to-face with one of these massive felines; their well-designed...

I saw this place in so many photos before but when I got there and saw it in person it was such an overwhelming experience. Getting there is easy. You take the Interstate 89 South from Page and after 7 minutes you get to the parking lot. The road...

An hour east of Phoenix, or just 90 minutes north of Tucson, is the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona's oldest and largest botanical garden. No matter which city you might be visiting, this desert oasis is one of the best day-trips you can take....

Crazy symphonies of prickly arms--nowhere else in the United States can you find these unique living sculptures, Unlike their more well-known Saguaro cousins, Organ Pipe cacti branch out from ground-level. They can grow to the height of nearly a...

Why, Arizona. You just have to stop. And even though it feels like it's in the middle of nowhere, in one of the hottest deserts in the U.S., it's on the way if you're headed to see the natural wonders of Organ Pipe National Monument...or if you're...

Hard to definitely pinpoint on a map, the Wave is a gorgeous rock formation near the Arizona and Utah part of the Coyote Buttes, in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness. Don't rush off there expecting to just show up and visit, as this...

My uncle and I stood with my tripod on the lakeshore behind our houseboat, trying desperately to capture the massive red rock wall before us. It was one of my first lessons in night photography, and it wasn't going great: there just wasn't enough...

Antelope Canyon has been on my "must see" list for a very long time so you can imagine my excitement when I got there. I love how the lighting and shadows made the most interesting palette of colors hug the sexy curves of the canyon. The land...

Nuzzled up against the Arizona border about 100 miles west of Four Corners are some 30 square miles of the most iconic scenery in the American West. Monument Valley is one of those places that you’ll recognize as soon as you see...

Escaping the lower elevation heat of a southern Arizona summer, my wife and I headed up to the mile-high red-rock country around Sedona. This was the view from our hotel: red rocks all around... Sky Ranch Lodge is perched on the summit of...

Few things are as evocative of the American Desert Southwest as the saguaro cactus. One of the best places to get up close to these spiky giants (as tall as 60 ft, as old as 200 yrs, as heavy as 2 tons!) is near Tucson. Arizona's second largest...

There’s a reason this is one of the most iconic spots along the Grand Canyon. Located on the Havasupai Indian Reservation and hidden deep within a 20-mile round-trip hike, Havasu Falls’ sparkling turquoise waters are a popular...

When you think “Dubai,” do you think subzero temperatures, designer parkas, and furniture made of ice? No? Well, maybe you should. Scandinavia might have Ice Hotels, but now Dubai has the Chill Out Bar, where they take cooling off from the Arabian...

I decided to take a day trip to Sintra; which, I was told was kind of touristy, but worth the trip. So my expectations of the place were pretty low. After a short 40 min train ride from Lisbon and we arrive just in time to walk through the Pena...

While the tourist hordes in beautiful Sintra, Portugal, are flocking to Pena Palace, head instead to Monserrate. The gardens here are massive and have been recently restored. We wandered here for hours without hardly seeing another person. The...

Valley of Fire is the oldest state park in Nevada, and a great place to see 3,000-year-old Indian petroglyphs and explore the red sandstone formations created during the age of the dinosaurs. Bring your camera to photograph the landscape while...

Le Rêve (the dream) show at the Wynn in Las Vegas is a must-see show. Not only the special effect with the water, but also the beautiful stage design. The VIP seats can have an extra view of what's going on under the water...

Cirque du Soleil's newest show in Las Vegas, Michael Jackson ONE, is part tribute, part acrobatic performance, part dance show and all around outstanding. The show features a number of Michael Jackson's best known songs, and together they tell the...

The Thompson Hotel, Toronto, opened in 2010 as a modern, translucent glass building soaring above its low-rise, red-brick neighbors and staking a claim as a symbol of glitz and glam in the King West neighborhood. Thanks to its fashionable in-house...

A stroll down Bourbon Street is a quintessential New Orleans experience. While you probably won't find many locals wandering the area for nightlife, you can't visit New Orleans without at least taking a stroll down the iconic street. The later it...

Café Du Monde is always open; it’s the clientele that changes—from visiting families and local pensioners early in the morning, to couples in the evening, to Bourbon Street refugees looking for coffee and ballast in the...

Little-known fact: New Orleans was the first place in North America to license pharmacists (starting in 1769, when the city was still under Spanish rule). After Louisiana became a territory, the U.S. governor extended the requirement, also...

A Brooklyn transplant who we met on our last day in the Quarter said it best: "Look up, and the beauty you see is magic. Look down, and you see the filth that lies at our feet...vomit, cockroaches...you just have to stop looking down." The people,...

Audubon Park sits on the site of a former sugar plantation—the only plantation in the city that wasn’t subsequently developed for homes or businesses. It’s about 25 minutes via streetcar from downtown, but feels a world apart,...