The nighttime magic of winter at the Annaberg-Buchholz Christmas market

The Explorer’s Guide to Winter in Germany

Ancient California: A Journey Through Time and Prehistoric Places

Sponsored by Visit California

What makes California an absolute playground for prehistoric artifacts? Is it because so much of the state is undeveloped desert? Is it because the entire state was once a warm, shallow sea roughly 500 million years ago? Or is it because California was home to some of the earliest human settlements in North America? If you answered “all of the above,” you’re correct! Here in California, the distant past has a habit of poking its nose into the present in weird and wonderful ways—the stops on this prehistoric itinerary will show you why.

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The Wildest West: Explore California’s Ghost Towns and Gold Fever Legacy

Sponsored by Visit California

Once gold was discovered in the deserts of the American West, people from all over the world converged there in the middle of the 1800s. It took some time, however, for law enforcement and civil society to catch up—hence the period of American history now dubbed “the Wild West.” While the gold is gone and the desert towns of California’s interior are now calm, law-abiding communities, that historical spirit lives on in the towns, architecture, and museums along this daring itinerary. This is the Wild West like you’ve never seen it before.

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Sweet California: A Culinary Guide to Tasty Treats Across the State

Sponsored by Visit California

Many different cultures have called California home over the years, from the Chinese to the Dutch to the Japanese, and what they all had in common was an insatiable sweet tooth. This delicious itinerary explores this legacy in the form of fortune cookies, sodas, donuts, cupcakes, and more. Finish your dinner—you’re definitely going to want what California’s got for dessert!

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Sea of Wonders: An Itinerary Through California’s Stunning Shoreline

Sponsored by Visit California

If California’s 3,427-mile coastline were a highway, it would stretch from Los Angeles to Bangor, Maine—and then some! With shoreline from end to end, it’s no wonder California has some of the wildest marine excursions, architecture, and animal life in the country. Grab your surfboard, pack your binoculars, and bring a towel—there’s a world of wonder packed in this itinerary along California’s curious coastline.

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