US holidays
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Instagram snapshots: dog gone – the Iditarod sled race, AlaskaFrom mountain ranges and frozen rivers to forest and windswept coast, this 1,000-mile race is a battle with nature. Photographer Marc Lester captures the action
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Frozen Dead Guy Days: Colorado’s weirdest festivalWhen a man froze his grandfather’s corpse, he could never have guessed it would lead to a bonkers festival in Colorado that now includes coffin races, frozen salmon tossing and a frozen T-shirt contest
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The wild west of my dreams: California’s Sequoia national forestA little-visited peak above the San Joaquin valley feels like ‘my mountain’, says novelist TC Boyle
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Ready to blow: binge on classic arcade games at Vector VolcanoFond memories of Donkey Kong, Tron or Pac-Man? Fancy yourself a pinball wizard? Vector Volcano in Bend, Oregon, is the place to revisit classic 70s and 80s games – without needing a fistful of coins
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The glory of Yellowstone national park in winterFor BBC wildlife cameraman John Aitchison, Yellowstone national park, in the Rocky Mountains, is special because of its wolves, bison and natural beauty – even when it’s -20C
road trips
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On the road: mapping the great road trips of American literatureRichard Kreitner and Steven Melendez have created a comprehensive, interactive map that plots every location visited by a dozen authors during their famous expeditions across the US
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Taking a road trip this summer? Enjoy America's crumbling infrastructureFew things are more American than hitting the open road – problem is, so many of those roads suffer from underfunding. Benjamin Preston drove coast to coast to experience the effects of a lack of basic maintenance firsthand
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US road trip: slow drive to Sitting Bull country in North and South DakotaOn a road trip on Highway 83, from Canada down to the Mexican border, David Reynolds finds that driving slowly quickens his sense of place - and history
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Instagram snapshots: North American road tripLiving in hs car, embracing the wilderness and meeting up with old friends … Forrest Mankins shares his North American road trip
national parks
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The world’s best workplace … Glacier national park, MontanaTour guide David Eglsaer loves the fact that his job lets him spend several months of every year among the stunning peaks of Montana’s Glacier national park
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The 10 best parksFrom steamy Sao Paolo to breezy Buffalo – via Birkenhead on Merseyside – here are some of the world’s very best urban green spaces
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Top 10 national and state parks in New England, USANew England’s parks are perfect for hikers, beach lovers and adventurers, as well as being steeped in American history
adventure holidays
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Climber Tommy Caldwell: 'From an early age Yosemite became the centre of my universe'Free climbing the Dawn Wall of El Capitan was an intense and exhilarating experience – one of many in a career that has allowed Caldwell to see the world from on high
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Nome, Alaska: ‘The spring water is as hot as I can bear. The effect is miraculous’TV presenter and comedian Alexander Armstrong discovers the secret of staying warm in Alaska
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Accessible Arizona: saddling up for a cowboy adventureAndrew Healey leaves his wheelchair behind during an Arizona cowboy adventure
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Appalachian Trail welcomes careful hikers – and movie fansWith the film of Bill Bryson’s book A Walk in the Woods in cinemas the US’s Appalachian Trail is braced for more hikers. Which will be fine – if it’s treated with care
food and drink
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Stir it up: San Francisco's Cala eatery uses ex-cons to serve and cookCala, the new fine dining spot from Mexico City’s Gabriela Cámara has taken a novel approach to the city’s hiring problem
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Holiday hotspots: where to go in 2015Looking for inspiration for this year’s holiday? We’ve selected 40
hot destinations for 2015, each with a fresh reason to visit, from new budget flights, hotels, arts events and festivals to a solar eclipse … -
Top 10 family-friendly New York summer activities
Discover New York City summer activities that are perfect for families … Angela Hederman and Michael Berman, authors of a new guide to New York with kids, pick their top 10 things to do
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Top 10 parks and outdoor activities in Nashville
Nashville's wealth of parks and outdoor amenities allow visitors plenty of room to roam, as well as the opportunity enjoy concerts, open-air theatre, arts events and picnic spots, says Kristin Luna
top 10s
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10 of the best haunted sites around the worldFrom a ‘hanging-doll’ island in Mexico to the English estate which inspired The Turn of the Screw, the author of A Natural History of Ghosts picks some of his favourite spooky sites
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10 of the best ways to enjoy Boston … on a budgetGreat parks, free art and brewery tours, brilliant cheap eats and gigs … Boston, America’s ‘walking city’, has loads for visitors to do without spending big bucks
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Short trips from New York City: readers’ tipsReaders share their favourite jaunts from the Big Apple, many to beautiful upstate New York, but also to New Jersey and beyond
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The best of New Orleans: readers’ travel tipsBlues venues, swamp trips, a jogging tour of the city and great places to stay … our readers share their tales of the Big Easy
Border crossing: whitewater rafting in Hells Canyon, US