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CHASING MOUNTAINS

A family in search of the perfect weekend in the mountains learns to enjoy a new kind of adventure.

SHOULD YOUR DOG TRY CANNABIS?

My first dog was Abbey, a dumb-as-rocks black lab who was semi-patient with my desire to be a vet and practice medicine on her. Ten-year-old me would splint her leg with a ruler and proudly declare her cured of an imaginary broken bone. Turns out, Abbey wouldn’t be my last experiment with veterinary care. The medical marijuana movement emboldened me to try again, and I’m glad for that, because my results are improving.

HAVE FINS, WILL TRAVEL: THREE DIVE ADVENTURES TO PLAN TODAY

Disappearing from the every day grind into a world of underwater adventures, beachside resorts, and tropical drinks sounds like a pipe dream. It's not. Each of these three diving adventures, whether near, far, or halfway across the world, comes with its own unique draw and entirely feasible set of the essentials (stay, eat, do) for everyone from vets with vacation days to new divers with a long weekend free.

stay: alto atacamA

South America's second largest desert, the Atacama, spans some 41,000 square miles across Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina and is widely considered the driest place in the world. In mankind’s written history, rain has never touched some stretches. But in northern Chile, the high-altitude desert’s extreme hyperaridity has created a landscape that’s anything but barren. And at Alto Atacama Desert Lodge & Spa, an all-inclusive lodge nestled in the Salt Mountain Range’s lush Catarpe Valley.

STAY: tierra chiloé

The Isla Grande de Chiloé may be less than two miles across Chile’s Chacao Channel from its daredevil southern neighbor, Patagonia, but the 3,241-square-mile island is a world apart. Where Patagonia screams no-holds-barred adventure, Chiloé basks in its old-world timelessness. Adventurers are drawn to the island’s otherworldly culture, made fearsomely inaccessible by tempestuous weather. The seafaring island can only be accessed from Chile’s capital, Santiago, by plane or ferry.

Exploring Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave

Slipping through time, nearly untouched, in a Belizean Cave.

Best Towns: Iowa City, Iowa

Surrounded by hills and bisected by the Iowa River, the liberal college town is or has been home to notable writers, such as the late Kurt Vonnegut.

The Road Biker's Jungle Tour

New Ireland, an hour-and-half flight from Papua New Guinea's gritty capital, Port Moresby, harbors a secluded, multi-day bike ride.

The World's Most Far-Flung Lodges

Escape civilization and head into the unknown by visiting one of these 10 off-the-grid paradises.

Top 10 New Year's Eve Adventures

Start off 2012 right, with a trip to one of the world’s wildest destinations.

Top 10 Spring Break Adventures

Forget the drunk, stumbling, bleached-blonde, muscled hordes of Panama City. Take a trip to one of the country’s top spots for adventure.

Best Hotel Hot Tubs

Luxurious hot tubs from bucolic China to downtown Manhattan have more than warm water in common—the views are incomparable.

Top Powder Skiing Destinations

Five winter ski destinations for powder lovers.

Fatal Avalanches Rattle Ski Country in the West

Resorts throughout the western United States and Canada are struggling with avalanche hazards as weather patterns have created uncommonly widespread conditions of instability.

Ski Maker's Idea Is Met with Scolding Tongue

The Faction Collective S.A., a ski manufacturer based in Switzerland, displayed new graphics on its big-mountain powder skis. When placed side by side, the skis’ tips depict the painted face of the Kiss front man Gene Simmons, his red tongue hanging. Then Simmons showed up.

Growth in Mountain Biking May Put Western Trails Off Limits

Bikes like Corey Biggers, and where they allow riders like Biggers to go, are the driving force behind a U.S. Forest Service effort that aims to keep mountain bikers off hundreds of miles of trails, and possibly thousands, including parts of the Continental Divide Trail.