What's Better Than a Water Slide? A Natural Water Slide! - Sliding Rock

Forget Splash Zone, or whatever water park is in your vicinity, this summer. Get your swimsuit-covered butt over to Sliding Rock in North Carolina's Pisgah National Forest to experience a natural water slide. Nothing beats slip-sliding down a 60-foot sloping boulder, pushed along by 11,000 gallons of water! Just as at Splash Zone, however, long lines and strict rules still apply. That means no going down head first, troublemaker.

The Germiest Place on Earth - Seattle Gum Wall

Sometimes trippy = germy, and that's certainly the case with the Seattle Gum Wall, at Pike Place Market. What started as just another wall that people would stick their chewed gun onto has turned into a major tourist attraction. At one point, the marketplace decided to completely clean off the wall, removing more than 2,350 pounds of gum, but people immediately began to add to it again, eventually resurrecting the wall to its former glory. Viva la gomme!

World's Largest Fort - The Minister's Tree House

Situated off a back country road in Crossville, Tennessee, is the world's largest tree house/hotel, dubbed The Minister's Tree House by the religious man who built it. With 10 stories supported by seven oak trees, the hotel of 80 rooms is made entirely of wood, complete with a church and bell tower on the top level.

If you think this place sounds like a fire hazard, well, the local fire marshal agrees. Even with its firm no smoking policy, the hotel was shut down a few years ago and today stands empty, although the owner is still trying to get it open.

Waterfall Fake Out - Hierve el Agua

"Oh, another waterfall?" you say. "What's the big deal?" The big deal, my friend, is that what we have here is a petrified waterfall - so not cascading waters at all, but a rock formation in Oaxaca, Mexico, called Hierve el Agua. It was created by fresh-water, calcium-loaded springs over thousands of years. At the top, however, is actual spring water that you can bathe in as you peer over the edge of the cliff. I know where I'm headed the next time I want to feel both relaxed and terrified all at once.

Do Some Laundry, Have Some Beer - Spin Laundry Lounge

In my day, doing a load at the laundromat was something to be dreaded and put off. Now it seems that laundrobars like Spin Laundry Lounge in Portland, Oregon, are the place to be on a Friday night. You come with your laundry, stay for a few craft beers and locally sourced menu items, and leave with a pile of clean clothes and maybe some new friends. Gotta love the efficiency.

Pooling Together - Spotted Lake

Um, so what's going on here? Is it a natural mineral deposit? A toxic wasteland? A painting palette for a giant? If you chose the first option then you're right, if a little boring. Spotted Lake, located in the town of Osoyoos in British Columbia, is created every summer when the lake evaporates from the heat and leaves behind these distinct pools of minerals. Each one has a different mineral composition, which explains all the different, beautiful colors.

That's pretty cool ... but not as cool as the idea of a giant who likes to paint.

Zip-lining Over Beautiful ... Las Vegas? - Slotzilla

Zip-lining over a gorgeous Costa Rican rainforest that has rainbows at every turn? Yawn. So two decades ago. Today's generation of zip-liners is looking for a different experience -- and it can certainly be found at the Slotzilla Zip Line in Las Vegas.

Shaped like a giant slot machine and starting at 77 feet in the air, Slotzilla flies you across the Fremont Street Experience at 40 miles an hour, over hundreds of people, and deposits you at the Golden Gate Casino. Now you can satisfy your need for thrills and people-watching all at once. But just remember that what happens on a Vegas zip-line probably won't stay in Vegas, since dozens of people will probably be taking your photo from below.

Wheeee! - Ten-Story Slide at City Museum

What's the best part of the playground - the swings? Nah. The monkey bars? Boring. The see-saw? That's just an accident waiting to happen. Here's the correct answer: the slide! And here's where you can find the most awesome slide in the whole world: City Museum in St. Louis, Missouri, which features a 10-story slide that deposits you in a room called "the Fungeon."

Actually, all of City Museum is pretty cool, created by an artist who wanted to build a museum-playground that would appeal to kids and adults alike. Among other attractions, there's a giant indoor tree house and a human-size hamster wheel, as well as a display of the world's largest pair of underwear. And everything's made from reclaimed materials. But seriously? They had me at "giant slide."

Catching a Bite to Eat - Lambert's Café

If you find yourself in Missouri with a hankering for carbs, the place to go is Lambert's Café, where they apparently sell the biggest, most buttery rolls on this side of the Ozarks. The only catch? You'll need to know how to catch -- the only way to get your hands on the dinner rolls is to field one from the waiters, who chuck them at you from across the room.

Visitors come from afar just to catch the rolls at Lambert's, at the risk of getting bonked in the head by a stray piece of bread. But hey, I could think of worse, less delicious things to be hit in the head with.

No PhotoShop Necessary - Watkins Glen State Park

Sometimes a trippy place is right in my own backyard. Such was the case with Watkins Glen State Park in New York, which features a gorge trail that looks like a computer screensaver. Everywhere you turn you're hit with another unreal view.

Cliff faces carved from thousands of years of stream erosion? Sure, they're here. Waterfalls? There's 19 of them. Beautifully carved stone bridges? Got 'em, and I'll raise you 800 spellbinding stone steps. A place like this is so lush and stunning, you'll feel like a miniature person in a carefully kept terrarium. And who hasn't fantasized about being one of those?

Feeling Frustrated? - Rage Room

You're having one of those days. Your boss yells at you. Your ice cream falls out of the cone mid-lick. Your nemesis, the roadrunner, speeds away again while you're squashed by an anvil. You feel angry. But you're an adult and you're supposed to just keep calm and do whatever the latest slogan says to do. Well, guess what? You don't have to stay so calm. You can grab a bat and start smashing things instead.

But to avoid ending up in a lot of trouble, first you should travel to Toronto, Canada, where you can book some time at Rage Room, a facility that offers angry people the opportunity to bash things with a bat. Twenty bucks will buy you a set of plates, a bat rental, some protective gear and 30 minutes in a room by yourself. Add on some wineglasses to hurl at the wall, or a mirror to pulverize. Feeling really upset? Go ahead. Buy yourself a chair ... then go at it! They say money can't buy you happiness, but what it can buy is an outlet for your frustrations. I'll take it.

Land Before Time - Dinosaur Place

You never know where you might come across a dinosaur. For example, you probably didn't think they'd pop up in southeastern Connecticut, and yet that's exactly where you'll find a whole bunch of them, in all their life-size glory.

The Dinosaur Place in Montville features 40 realistic-looking dinosaurs along a shady trail that runs through a park. All of the dinosaurs stand still in their designated places, except for one, the animatronic Dilophosaurus that's tucked away in a cave. There's a sign outside the cave that warns visitors that this attraction may be frightening for small children, and after going in to view it myself, my conclusion is that they need to make that sign larger! My blood ran cold at the sound of its screeching, and when it spat "venom" at me, I almost fell over in terror. The thing is positively evil. So maybe stay away from the Dilophosaurus if you've got a heart condition.

So Bad It's ... Good? - The Museum of Bad Art

Credit: IronHide

Art can be very subjective, but at the Museum of Bad Art (MoBA) in Boston, the curators believe they've discovered pieces that can universally be labeled as "bad." Exhibit A: "Sunday on the Pot with George," Artist Unknown, a pointillist painting that depicts a middle-aged man sitting regally on a toilet in his tighty whities.

But even mediocre masterpieces can be judged using rigorous standards, and nine out of 10 submitted pieces are rejected for displaying too much artistic competence. What the museum is looking for are works that feature "wonky perspective, confusing symbolism and lurid color combinations." In other words, that painting you did while sloshed during Paint Nite last week.

Beach in a Hole - Playa del Amor

Credit: Universal.org

Beaches are meant for relaxing, but if you've ever fought the early-morning lounge chair-claiming wars at a resort, you know that sometimes they're anything but. That's why for your next vacation you need to set up your umbrella at a secret beach, like the Playa del Amor at the Marieta Islands in Mexico.

Playa del Amor is a beach with clear, blue waters and pristine sand that just happens to be located in a huge hole in the ground. According to locals, the gaping hole is the result of government bombing tests from the early 1900s, and nature has since taken over and turned it into a tropical paradise, accessible only by a water tunnel. So there you have it - a beach that only you and I know about. Just don't go opening your big mouth and we'll keep it that way.

One Man's Trash is Another Man's Beach - Glass Beach

Credit: FortBragg.com

So you know how when you see broken glass at the beach your first instinct is to jump back 10 feet and rant about what the world is coming to? Well, a different set of rules applies at Glass Beach in MacKerricher State Park near Fort Bragg, California, where the "sand" is largely comprised of broken glass. Visitors come by the droves every year to stroll on the shiny and colorful beach, the broken shards now harmless, polished sea glass.

Once known as "The Dumps," the area was a dumping ground for household garbage in the early 1900s. Eventually the location was closed and efforts were made to clean up the mess. The ocean did its part as well, pounding waves on top of the garbage and refining the shards of broken glass into small, smooth pieces that now cover the entire beach. Collecting the pieces of glass are prohibited, but visitors do it anyway and quantities are diminishing. In fact, there's now a movement to dump new piles of broken glass onto the beach. I'm not sure environmentalists would approve, but it does look awful pretty.

What's the Password? - Safe House Restaurant

Credit: OnMilwaukee.com

So you probably don't expect to find any spies or undercover activity going on in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and you probably wouldn't), but what you can find there is a restaurant devoted to espionage called Safe House. And I mean that you literally have to find it. The entrance is hidden somewhere in an alley way, and even after you figure out which door it is, you need to offer up a worthy password to get in.

Once you're inside, the spy theme continues. I'd tell you more about it, but then I'd have to kill you. Just kidding! Covert activities include finding the secret phone booths and accepting missions that take you on a tour of the restaurant, which is filled with spy memorabilia. The menu features items such as the "squeak-easy" (batter-dipped Wisconsin cheese curds topped with a secret sauce, natch), and the drink of the house is, of course, the martini. Mmm ... cheese curds and martinis. Offer me that combo and I'll tell you anything you want to know. Guess M16 won't be hiring me anytime soon.

Dark Magic - Bioluminescent Bay

When you're a kid, just about everything can be attributed to magic: Santa Claus, lightning, toilets. But by the time you become an adult, there's not a lot of magic left in the world. Well, that time I found a parking meter with 56 minutes left on it was pretty magical, but that's about the only example I can think of. See, it's a sad state of affairs. Which is why the bioluminescent bay in Vieques, Puerto Rico, is such a treat. It is a truly magical experience, no matter how old you are. You WILL squeal once you kayak through the bay in the dark, or jump into the waters for a swim. The water lights up in a mystical blue-green color every time you touch it. And if you scoop it up for a closer look, you'll see tiny silver sparkles twinkling like fairy dust in your hands.

So what exactly is happening here? I told you, it's MAGIC! Well, magic plus the fact that the biobay is home to tiny, single-celled organisms that light up when agitated. I know. How cute is that? They're glowing because they're mad! And because there are 720,000 of these organisms PER GALLON of water in the Vieques biobay, a bluish glow emerges from the combined bursts of light. But sometimes science can be such a buzz-kill. I say just go. Maybe keep your mouth closed when you jump into the water, though.

Think You're So Smart? - Escape the Room

Credit: Escape the Room NYC

It's Saturday night in New York City. Do you (a) take in the latest Broadway show; (b) go out to dinner at a shi shi restaurant; or (c) let yourself be locked in a room where you must decipher a series of clues found around the room in order to get out?

If you feel that C sounds way too similar to the premise of Saw (and you wouldn't be wrong), read no further. But if it sounds like your idea of fun, then dust off your trusty magnifying glass and sign up for Escape the Room. Choose from several scenarios (Victorian-themed home? Office space? Creepy old theater?), round up a group of your smartest friends, and see if you can work together to find the key that'll let you out of the room. It's loads of fun and will get your mental juices flowing. What's the significance of the chess game in progress? What's this message typed out on the old-timey typewriter? Are the eyes on that portrait following you?! Just kidding on that last one. But be warned: Only 20 percent of participants manage to get out of the room before the hour is up, so you'd better be as smart as you think you are, lest your fragile ego be crushed to smithereens. Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything.

Don't Eat a Big Breakfast Before Visiting - Mütter Museum

Credit: Mütter Museum

What's that? You're wondering where you can go this weekend to view some brains and skulls? Of course you are. The Mütter Museum in Philadelphia is billed as a museum of medical history, and it has on display numerous anatomical goodies, including pieces of Albert Einstein's brain, the conjoined livers of conjoined twins, John Wilkes Booth's thoracic tissue (not sure why they decided to collect that particular body part, but okay), and the pièce de résistance, a 139-piece skull collection. For those who are squeamish about viewing real pieces of anatomy, there are exhibits of medical equipment as well, including a delightful display of an actual Civil War amputation kit.

This museum is not for the faint of stomach or, well, most people. In fact, there's a very good chance you might be heebee-jeebee'd to death. But c'mon - Einstein's brain is on display here. How cool is that? You might even get smarter just by looking at it.*

* You won't get smarter by looking at Albert Einstein's brain.

Who's Down for Some Hiking? - Haiku Stairs

Did your last vacation include physical activity beyond lifting piña coladas? Is your idea of fun doing a lap around the nearest national park? Do you own a walking stick? If you answered yes to any of these questions, I'm not sure I can be friends with you. You're probably in better shape than I am and look better than I do. But I'll let you in on a secret anyway. There exists in Oahu, Hawaii, a hike that offers fantastic views of the top of Pu'u Keahi a Kahoe. Consisting of steps, platforms and ladders (some completely vertical), the Haiku Stairs, or "Stairway to Heaven," leads visitors more than 2,300 feet up, from Haiku Valley to a peak that rises above the clouds. The rickety 4,000-step path was originally constructed during World War II to provide access to transmission stations at the top of the ridge.

Before you run to grab your walking stick, I must tell you that it's currently illegal to attempt this hike, as no one wants to see "stairway to heaven" become a literal term - although there are plans in the works to reopen the stairs to the public. Trespassers have been stopped by the police, and tickets have been issued, so you have been warned! I do not encourage or condone illegal behavior! Unless you're planning on bringing me back some spam musubi, in which case, carry on.