Getting the flavor of...The underappreciated Mojave, and more

The underappreciated Mojave

The Mojave National Preserve is one of America’s best-kept secrets, said Mark Van­hoenacker in the Los Angeles Times. The fact that this “beautiful, empty,” and “quiet as the ages” desert feels “so far off the path” while bordering huge interstates is a “miracle of conservation.” Sixteen miles into the preserve are the Kelso Dunes, “50 square miles of sand and little else,” with some dunes reaching 600 feet. The mission-style Kelso Depot—now home to a restaurant and visitors center—is a “charming and genteel counterpoint” to the surrounding wilderness, as well as an ideal stop for root beer floats. Walk off the calories by hiking the Teutonia Peak Trail through “the world’s largest and densest Joshua tree forest,” finishing with “a stunning view over Cima Dome,” a “vast volcanic uplift.” In nearby Nipton, a renovated ghost town, even the train that runs nearby won’t disturb your well-earned night’s rest.

An ever-new South Carolina city

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Charleston is a city that embraces its past while cultivating a vibrant future, said Andrew Sessa in Departures. A previous renaissance blossomed in the 1920s and ’30s, “turning the then-rundown Southern port town into an artists’ enclave.” Today, the city’s “cosmopolitan restaurant and cultural scenes” are leading a new revival. For a taste of the past, take a guided tour by foot, bus, or horse-drawn buggy through the historic district, home to “steepled churches, moss-covered cemeteries, and pastel clapboard houses.” Return to the modern ages on King Street, the city’s major retail corridor, where you’ll find a “trove of small, uniquely Charlestonian boutiques.” While the Gibbes Museum of Art promotes both new work and old, clubs and restaurants keep the city’s rich jazz tradition humming. Be sure to catch singer Ann Caldwell, Charleston’s “first lady of jazz,” when she performs at the acclaimed restaurant Mercato.