Travel

Little Souvenirs

It’s a dry heat – a boulder-studded, wind-raked Mojave heat in which rock stars lie low, artists think big, Marines train, weird plants jut toward the sun like beseeching biblical figures, and climbers cling to granite walls like insects stuck to flypaper, except the climbers are way happier. That’s a notable thing about Joshua Tree National Park and the towns around it. While legions of Californians keep their faces toward the beach no matter the season, a certain stripe of traveler is powerless to resist the desert, especially in cooler months. They come for the wide-open spaces and quirky lodgings. They come for the bands at Pappy & Harriet’s, for the steaming pools of lithium-rich water at Desert Hot Springs or for a sound bath (to be explained soon) at the Integratron in Landers.

LAS VEGAS – He had a Las Vegas wedding to attend, but Bryan Dalia was hung over from some marathon partying the night before. “I did two bachelor parties, back-to-back,” Dalia said, putting his hand to his forehead as he recalled steins of beer and shots of alcohol the previous afternoon at the Hofbrauhaus Las Vegas, then gambling, dining and drinking martinis at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas resort. He remembered “getting a little lost and finding myself on the floor of the Paris” hotel-casino, then “a few more martinis as I gambled my life away.”

BIG RAPIDS, Mich. – The objects displayed in Michigan’s newest museum range from the ordinary, such as simple ashtrays and fishing lures, to the grotesque – a full-size replica of a lynching tree. But all are united by a common theme: They are steeped in racism so intense that it makes visitors cringe. That’s the idea behind the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, which says it has amassed the nation’s largest public collection of artifacts spanning the segregation era, from Reconstruction until the civil rights movement, and beyond.

KYOTO, Japan – Kyoto is a place that embodies everything I love about Japan: Serene ancient beauty mixed with already-tomorrow modernity. Many visitors arrive on the platypus-nosed Nozomi bullet train from Tokyo. The countryside in between is a blur and often blocked by walls to keep the roar of the train away from locals.

BEND, Ore. – It was when the 20-something guest-of-honor in a beer-saturated bachelor party aboard the Cycle Pub mooned a passing limo that Bend really proved that, if anything, it’s not boring. If there’s any doubt that this Central Oregon city of 81,000 has become the ultimate destination for combining outdoor recreation with beer tourism, the Cycle Pub should cinch it.

Dressing the Table With Vintage Linen

Within a day’s drive of Spokane, there are seven national parks – Rainier, Olympic and North Cascades in Washington, Glacier in Montana, Crater Lake in Oregon, and Grand Teton and Yellowstone in Wyoming. Yet many people avoid these treasures of the West, fearful they’ll be overrun with tourists. Still, tourists or no, the region’s national parks offer myriad opportunities for authentic wilderness encounters. Driving into a park and especially hiking into a remote area provides a more simple time filled with natural sights and sounds to be enjoyed now and remembered forever.

Flying Deep Into Kaua'i

SAN ANTONIO – This city is known for the Alamo and the River Walk, and rightly so, but don’t stop there. The small downtown is packed with interesting sites, and visitors can easily get around by trolley and river taxi. Beyond the city limits, Texas Hill Country beckons those with access to a car. Step into the past

LONDON – It’s the past home of Queen Victoria and Princess Diana, the future residence of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge – and, it’s hoped, a stop on tourists’ London itineraries. Kensington Palace – part museum, part royal abode – is reopening to the public after a two-year, $19-million makeover designed to give visitors a sense of what it is like to live in a centuries-old building that has witnessed both affairs of state and affairs of the heart.

The Things That Hold Us

Parlez-vous Junque?

BELFAST, Northern Ireland – To most of the world, the name Titanic means tragedy, spiced with romance, sacrifice and luxury. But in Belfast, where it was built, the doomed ship is a triumph of industry, enterprise and engineering. The city hopes the rest of the world will soon see it that way, too.

Vintage Masquerade

The Pull of the Moon and the Call of the Sun

Lightning McQueen and friends are about to get the green light at Disneyland. The park announced Wednesday that Cars Land, based on the Disney-Pixar “Cars” movies, is the headliner of four new attractions opening June 15 at Disney California Adventure Park after a five-year expansion.