Canada's national sport, ice hockey, is a major attraction, with seven NHL teams representing cities across the country. Experiencing a live hockey game in historic rinks is highly recommended.
For decades, whale watching has been a seasonal ritual along the Sonoma Coast, drawing locals to wind-swept bluffs, binoculars in hand. Now the pastime has earned national notice: Travel + Leisure has declared Sonoma County the best place in the country to see whales. In a story published Feb. 3, the magazine said there is no better place in the United States for whale watching than the stretch of coastline from Bodega Bay to Gualala and no better time than now.
I'd been on the island for less than a week when I opened my glove box looking for sunglasses, only to find the wrapper of my emergency granola bar torn open and the corner nibbled, right next to a neat little pile of mouse droppings. As I inspected the rest of the car, I was mortified to realize it was likely more than a single mouse. I texted the friend I was housesitting for in disbelief. "Ugh, I'm sorry! That's so island," she wrote back.
For travelers looking to get to know the many-varied charms of the Golden State, discovering it through the best beaches in California is never a bad idea. The state's coastline spans a vast 3,427 miles after all. Among its 420 public beautiful beaches are plentiful opportunities to swim, lay out, look at tide pools, surf to your heart's content, or watch the sunset.
Archaeologists estimate that fishers in Peru have been using the reed boats for approximately 3,500 years. Elaborate ceramics dating back to the sophisticated Moche culture (AD100-800) and the later Chimu civilisation (900-1470), depict figures astride the craft, which was called a tup in the now-extinct Mochica language. They are believed to be among the first crafts to be used for riding waves, possibly predating Polynesian proto-surfing in Hawaii.
About fifteen kilometres northwest from Kitamaat is Kitimat, the industrial town that the global mining group Alcan (acquired by Rio Tinto in 2007) carved from the rainforest in the 1950s to house workers and support the needs of its aluminum smelter.
Conditions delivered a glimpse of for what Fernie is known. Soft snow lingered across much of the mountain, especially on shaded aspects and in the trees, where cold temperatures preserved quality turns and wind pushed snow into healthy pockets. Visibility fluctuated at times, but when the clouds lifted, the terrain revealed itself in layers-bowls feeding into glades, ridgelines spilling into natural halfpipes, and sustained fall lines that can keep a rider's legs burning.
Every single one of the resort's 116 runs was open, and all 16 lifts were spinning. In early March, that's a big deal. Arriving at a mountain firing on all cylinders-with no closures shrinking the map, is a decadent experience during this trying winter. Big White provided wide-open freedom across five alpine bowls and perfectly spaced glades.
"Hey, a rainbow!" I, the lone passenger on a Mount Adams Transportation Service (MATS) bus that just crossed the Columbia into Hood River, exclaim. "Oh, yeah, I get to see those all the time," the driver responds. "Last week I saw two double rainbows." My inner 5-year-old is envious. A few hours later I see my second rainbow of the day-it's not a double arch, but the tally is still pretty cool.
"I've had my fair share of beach vacations, but I'm telling you, there's no place like Margaret River," Hardy, the vice president of Friends of the Cape to Cape Track, shares in his tour of his home region. "You don't have access to waves like this anywhere else in the world." While Hardy happens to be a seasoned local, he explains that it's still a wave for everyone, especially at spots like Gnarabup Beach, with plenty of surf schools around to show you the ropes.
Greenland is currently making headlines, much to the chagrin of Greenlanders. U.S. President Donald Trump's ambition to seize this island, an autonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO founding member, has turned global attention to a corner of the planet they probably hadn't considered before, or to Wikipedia or AI tools, to find out who lives on that enormous white patch in a corner of the American continent, and how.