Road trip

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif.--I knew there might be firing in my direction. I was given protective gear. And they told me how to avoid getting in harm's way. And after all that, I still got shot.

Welcome to the Infantry Immersion Trainer, a system set up to help prepare U.S. Marines for possible future combat deployment. Set up in a former tomato packing plant at Camp Pendleton -- the West Coast home of the Marines -- the IIT employs "sets, sound systems and special effects -- including holograms and pyrotechnics -- to simulate [an … Read more

Update (Sunday, 6:15 p.m. PT): The answer to today's challenge -- which 25 people got right -- is Broken Hill, at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve in San Diego, Calif. Thanks to everyone who played, and to all, please come back for Monday's challenge.

Welcome to the Road Trip Picture of the Day contest. This is your chance to win some cool prizes as you test your skills at recognizing pictures.

Each day, I'll be posting a new photograph from my various travels, and your job is to try to correctly identify it using any … Read more

Update (Saturday, 11:09 p.m. PT): The answer to today's challenge -- which 53 people got right -- is the Space Age Lodge and Restaurant, in Gila Bend, Ariz. Thanks to everyone who played, and to all, please come back for Sunday's challenge.

Welcome to the Road Trip Picture of the Day contest. This is your chance to win some cool prizes as you test your skills at recognizing pictures.

Each day, I'll be posting a new photograph from my various travels, and your job is to try to correctly identify it using any means at … Read more

Update (Saturday, 12:37 a.m. PT): The answer to Friday's challenge -- which 60 people got right -- is the Hollywood Reservoir, also known as Lake Hollywood, and the Mullholland Dam, in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles. Thanks to everyone who played, and to all, please come back for Saturday's challenge.

Welcome to the Road Trip Picture of the Day contest. This is your chance to win some cool prizes as you test your skills at recognizing pictures.

Each day, I'll be posting a new photograph from my various travels, and your job is to … Read more

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif.--If you want to know what the future of airplane design looks like, you might have to make your way out to the middle of the Mojave Desert.

Tucked away inside a nondescript warehouse building at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center here, NASA, the U.S. Air Force, Boeing, and Cranfield Aerospace are working on an entirely new kind of plane, one which they hope could someday revolutionize aviation.

Known as a hybrid wing body, the plane design, which NASA describes as a cross between a conventional plane and a flying wing design, is … Read more

Update (Thursday, 8:41 p.m. PT): The answer to today's challenge -- which 120 people got right -- is Dynegy's Morro Bay Energy Facility, in Morro Bay, Calif. Thanks to everyone who played, and to all, please come back for tomorrow's challenge.

Welcome to the Road Trip Picture of the Day contest. This is your chance to win some cool prizes as you test your skills at recognizing pictures.

Each day, I'll be posting a new photograph from my various travels, and your job is to try to correctly identify it using any means at … Read more

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif.--He might be the most famous airman in the history of the U.S. Air Force, and he's a graduate of the Test Pilot School.

In 1947, Capt. Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier, hitting Mach 1.0 in a Bell X-1 rocket plane 42,000 feet above this Mojave Desert outpost. And today, to commemorate the import of the event that ushered in the supersonic era, the aircraft hangs from the ceiling in the entryway of the Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Yeager … Read more

Update (Wednesday, 8:50 p.m. PT): The answer to today's challenge -- which 120 people got right -- is the Piedras Blancas Light Station, north of San Simeon, Calif. Thanks to everyone who played, and to all, please come back for tomorrow's challenge.

Welcome to the Road Trip Picture of the Day contest. This is your chance to win some cool prizes as you test your skills at recognizing pictures.

Each day, I'll be posting a new photograph from my various travels, and your job is to try to correctly identify it using any means at … Read more

Update (Tuesday, 9:05 p.m. PT): The answer to today's challenge -- which 75 people got right -- is the old one-room schoolhouse in San Simeon, Calif., that was once used by children of Hearst Castle ranchhands. Hearst Castle is visible at the top of the hill in the background. Thanks to everyone who played, and to all, please come back for tomorrow's challenge.

Welcome to the Road Trip Picture of the Day contest. This is your chance to win some cool prizes as you test your skills at recognizing pictures.

Each day, I'll be posting … Read more