Road Trip at Home

Update (Wednesday, 7:38 a.m PST): Thanks to everyone for being patient for the answer while I was on vacation. The answer to the January 6 Picture of the Week--which 65 people got--is the replica Spanish galleon La Contessa, a mutant vehicle that for several years roamed the playa at the Burning Man festival, held in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. Thanks to all who played, and to everyone, please come back tomorrow for the January 13 challenge.

Is that a pirate ship? And a bunch of bicycles? Well, what is it? And where is it located?

If you … Read more

Update (Wednesday, 7:29 a.m PST): Thanks to everyone for being patient for the answer while I was on vacation. The answer to the December 30 Picture of the Week--which 327 people got--is glass sculptor Dale Chihuly's "Fiori di Como," located in the lobby of the Bellagio, in Las Vegas. Thanks to all who played, and to everyone, please come back tomorrow for the January 13 challenge.

That is some seriously colorful glass--and what interesting shapes. But what is it? And where is it located?

If you know, you could win a prize in the CNET … Read more

Update (Wednesday, 6:31 a.m PST): Thanks to everyone for being patient for the answer while I was on vacation. The answer to the December 23 Picture of the Week--which 378 people got--is the Grand Canyon Skywalk at the Hualapai Nation of Arizona's Grand Canyon West. Thanks to all who played, and to everyone, please come back tomorrow for the January 13 challenge.

What a beautiful vista. And what shiny glass. But what is this? And where is it located?

If you know, you could win a prize in the CNET Road Trip Picture of the Week challenge. … Read more

Update (Friday, 6:51 p.m. PST): The answer to this week's challenge--which an impressive 478 people got--is, of course, the vertical support cables of the Golden Gate Bridge, which connects San Francisco to Marin County. Thanks to everyone who played, and to all, please come back for next week's challenge.

That's a lot of red vertical lines and some very blue water behind them. But what are those lines, and where are they located?

If you know, you could win a prize in the CNET Road Trip Picture of the Week challenge.

If you have the … Read more

Update (Wednesday, 9:35 p.m. PST): The answer to last week's challenge, which 152 people got, is the Deep Fried Twinkies stand at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, in Santa Cruz, Calif. Thanks to all who played, and to everyone, please come back Thursday for this week's challenge.

Yummy: Deep-fried Twinkies. Well, OK, it might be good for a second--before you drop dead from a heart attack. Either way, it's an interesting idea. But where is this particular stand that sells them?

If you know, you could win a prize in the CNET Road Trip Picture of the Week challenge. … Read more

SANTA CRUZ, Calif.--When I lived in this beach town on the central California coast in the early 1990s, I loved visiting a stunning local state park where each winter you could find more than 120,000 monarch butterflies swarming, clustering, and flying everywhere you looked.

It was an awesome sight.

Today, a visit to the monarch grove at Natural Bridges State Beach reveals a much grimmer situation--just 2,000 monarchs during the peak of their "overwintering" season, the period from late October through early March when the colorful butterflies rest in the trees here, protected from the … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--If you've ever taken Lincoln Boulevard through the Presidio here, you almost certainly didn't know that you passed within feet of one of the best-preserved World War II-era anti-aircraft machine gun nests in the country.

In fact, all around the Presidio are dozens of these original trenches and fox holes, most of which are completely grown over with weeds and other vegetation, but many of which still have the pillars on which Army crews once mounted their .50 caliber guns in preparation for an aerial or sea-based attack that, thankfully, never came.

As part of my Road Trip at Home … Read more

Update (Wednesday, 1:34 p.m. PT): The answer to last week's challenge--which just seven people got--is a large area covered with erosion blankets and erosion wattles below Conzelman Road near Hawk Hill in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. It is an element of the Marin Headlands-Fort Baker Transportation Improvement Project. Thanks to all who played. And to everyone, please come back tomorrow for this week's challenge.

That's one heck of a long slide. Or is it? Could it be something else entirely? Then what is it? And where … Read more

Update (Tuesday, 8:45 p.m. PST): The answer to last week's challenge--which 283 people got--is Mission: Space at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center, just south of Orlando, Fla. Thanks to everyone who played, and to all, please come back on Thursday for this week's challenge.

Happy Thanksgiving! What a futuristic place. And is that a Space Shuttle in the center there? But what is this, and where is it located?

If you know, you could win a prize in the CNET Road Trip Picture of the Week challenge.

If you have those answers--and this week, I … Read more