Sep 28th, 2012 at 10:00AM: Even if you're not a spa junkie, it's hard to deny the appeal of a great massage or other self-indulgent treatment. I'm actually a massage school graduate, and although I ultimately decided not to pursue that career path, I've parlayed my experience into doing the odd spa writing assignment. Not surprisingly, I'm a tough judge when it comes to practitioners, facilities and treatments. I also don't ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Deserts posts
Great 'Cultural' Spa Experiences From Around The World
Sep 28th, 2012 at 10:00AM: Even if you're not a spa junkie, it's hard to deny the appeal of a great massage or other self-indulgent treatment. I'm actually a massage school graduate, and although I ultimately decided not to pursue that career path, I've parlayed my experience into doing the odd spa writing assignment. Not surprisingly, I'm a tough judge when it comes to practitioners, facilities and treatments. I also don't ...Archaeologists Discover Key To An Ancient City's Wealth
Sep 6th, 2012 at 2:00PM:
A couple of months ago we reported on how archaeologists discovered how the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria thrived in the desert. A complex system of canals and cisterns trapped the sparse but regular rainfall.
Residents of another ancient city, Petra in Jordan, appear to have taken advantage of desert water to support their civilization too. Jordanian and Dutch archaeologists have ...America's baddest badlands
Jan 17th, 2012 at 10:30AM:
One of the greatest things about the United States is its environmental diversity. From towering forests of pine to sun-hammered deserts, from snowy peaks to steaming swamps, this nation has it all.
Some of the most compelling places are also the harshest. Take this view of the sand dunes of Death Valley, taken by talented photographer John Bruckman. This is the worst part of the Mojave ...Cocktails, Chilean style
Sep 26th, 2011 at 9:00AM: A few weeks ago, I was sitting at the bar of the very lovely Alto Atacama Desert Lodge & Spa, outside of San Pedro de Atacama in Northern Chile. I'd just returned from an afternoon at 12,600 feet, exploring the Andean Altiplano Lakes of Miscanti and Miñiques, and I was feeling parched.
Small wonder I was thirsty; Atacama is the driest desert on earth. Visually and geographically, ...A Grand Tour of the American West
Sep 14th, 2011 at 10:00AM:
I could see the end of my road trip, on the other side of the deserts of the American Southwest, the sun-parched stretch of near nothingness that conceals some of the country's greatest natural wonders. So after leaving Spaceport America in New Mexico, I prepared for a ironman push to the West Coast, my ultimate destination Los Angeles. Along the way, I'd stop at the Four Corners and the ...Tim Cahill goes down Death Valley
Oct 23rd, 2007 at 3:30PM: If, in Tim Cahill's words: "the sight of Death Valley National Park is something akin to scientific pornography for hard-rock geologists," the piece he wrote on his travel there is soft-porn for the solitary adventure travel-writer. Metamorphosis used to vaguely tickle my curiosity in geography class at school, but other than that, I have absolutely no interest in geology. I still managed to read ...
