A week in Turks and Caicos, with sunrise light, turquoise water, and beach life before the resort woke up.

Urban nature has a way of surprising you. This time, it came in the form of a Sandhill crane calmly strutting through a Rahway neighborhood -- and getting close enough to peck my shoe.

Yosemite changed how I see the outdoors. I first visited in 2011 and have been back at least six times since — most recently in April 2026 — drawn by its granite walls, iconic views, and landscapes that keeps pulling you back.

Covering about 3.4 million acres, Death Valley is the largest national park in the continental United States. We spent five days there and saw a lot — a temporary return of an ancient lake, sculpted badlands, sand dunes, and volcanic hills streaked with color, along with a ghost town, abandoned mines, and the Racetrack Playa, where rocks move across the surface on their own.

Winter Storm Hernando — the Blizzard of 2026 — buried Hoboken under 20.5 inches of snow, turning gritty streets into simpler, timeless scenes.