The Perfect Desert Getaway Awaits at These Airbnbs Near Death Valley National Park

Oct 17, 2024 • 5 min read

In 2014, when the artist Dan McCarthy moved from Brooklyn into a converted schoolhouse in upstate New York, he decided the grand hall would be a future gathering spot for his many Facepots: large, wonky vessels decorated with a spectrum of grins and grimaces. The earliest ones, about a decade old, recall a time of emotional swings. “I hadn’t even found the clay that worked,” McCarthy says of that experimental phase, “so a lot of the pots were breaking in the kiln.” He learned to relinquish control, repairing the salvageable works using the Japanese technique known as kintsugi, in which mended seams are accented in silver or gold. The Facepots brought a new openness to McCarthy’s practice, as did the Hudson Valley. Absent the city’s pressures, he explains, “I was like a kid — on my hands and knees, lost in making a thing.” “Freedom,”a new monograph of McCarthy’s work, charts that arc, with nods to his Southern California upbringing, seen in rainbow-colored paintings of surfers and songbirds perched on guitars. Birds also animate new ceramic works in his solo exhibition at the Tokyo gallery Kosaku Kanechika, on view through Nov. 16. For McCarthy, these first faceless pots offer a shift in narrative. “Instead of a vessel, maybe it’s a nest,” he says, describing a fascination with his neighborhood birds. Kintsugi-like detailing appears on these pieces, too: Silver-leafed slabs camouflage the occasional split, while shiny rectangles evoke the little mirrors tucked inside birdcages. For the artist, fresh off his first flight to Japan, it’s a time of possibility. “I’m 62, which is old and not,” McCarthy says. “I think I’ve got another act in me. It should be an adventure.”

I am just going to come out and say it, having a hot shower out in the desert while camping is an absolute cheat code. I feel as calling something indescribable is often overstated and overused in the modern day social media era, however, I am going to state just that, a hot shower at the end of a day spent hiking, exploring and adventuring is indescribable.

In addition to writing about adventure travel and adventure sports like hiking, camping, and biking, I also write about the gear you need for those pursuits. For the last decade, I’ve tested and reviewed everything from ski jackets and hiking shoes to bike saddles, carry-on luggage, stargazing chairs, binoculars, and more. I see new gear pitches and products almost every single day — so when I see one that gets me genuinely hyped up, that’s a good sign that it’s a very cool product.

Pint-sized Carmel-by-the-Sea is packed with fairy-tale-like cottages, gorgeous Pacific Ocean scenery, delightfully dog-friendly dining, and oversized charm. Trees and flowers abound in this one-square-mile town in Central California whose quirks include no street addresses.

Psst. We’re going to let you in on a secret. Lake Tahoe doesn’t disappear after Labor Day… but the summer crowds do. That means less traffic, fewer hikers on the trails, and beaches you barely have to share. Campsites get easier to book, too, so you can marvel at the autumn hues reflecting on Big Blue on a spur-of-the-moment getaway.

It’s easy to overlook Torrance, California. The modest city barely registers as a blip on the radar alongside the 110 Interstate, but it’s more than a place you pass en route to somewhere else.

Good news: Disney just introduced another way to "skip the line." Bad news: It's going to cost you ... a lot.

A few times a year, Airbnb releases a series of updates that change how we interact with the home-sharing app.

My family of six recently visited both Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Christopher Willson, a 52-year-old retired engineer who spent more than 15 years renovating a cruise ship he named Aurora . The following has been edited for length and clarity.

American Airlines is making a slew of changes to its domestic network.