This is a winter photo of Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It has lots of good places to hike, picnic, or just relax and watch the deer.

Of all the places I've traveled, the Salton Sea has to be one of the strangest. It's literally in the middle of nowhere, with huge sand dunes to the southeast, snow-capped mountains (in the winter) to the west, and Palm Springs way to the north. It's a lake in the middle of the desert. And it stinks...of algae and farming run-off and the resulting fish kills they produce.

Salton City, on the shores of the lake, is a town right out of an X-Files episode...every time I'm there, I expect to see Mulder and Scully pull up next to me at the convenience store. Empty houses line the remote roads, looking like their inhabitants were collected by aliens only moments before. The one gas station in town closes at 4 p.m., and you'd better have cash because they don't accept credit cards. Intersections with 4-way stops that never have more than one car approach at a time (or perhaps all day). A place created to be a bustling lakeside resort that never was with residents looking weary of waiting for their ship to come in.

But it's a haunting place, too. Because of its remoteness, and no doubt its smell, there aren't many people around. It's one place in Southern California you can actually have some breathing room, if you can stand to breathe, that is. But you can hear the wind blow and the calls of migrating water fowl. You can walk the shoreline for miles, each step crunching crusty barnacles and fish bones, and never meet a soul. You can stop and think for a moment or an hour or a day, and no one interrupts your thoughts. It's one of my favorite places.

While we're visiting Wales, we'll hang out for a weekend in Caernarfon, a lovely town on the Menai Strait. Caernarfon is best known for its magnificient castle, a legacy left by King Edward I during his campaign to subdue the Welsh (Cymry). Edward's men are long gone, and the town is left with unique architecture, interesting shops, and a plethora of pubs and restaurants that cook up mouth-watering treats such as Welsh cakes (a favorite of mine!).

Caernarfon sits at the entrance to the beautiful Llyn Peninsula and is a gateway to the western edge of Snowdonia National Park. It's not a rip-roaring party town; it's a peaceful spot, convenient to everywhere, where one can catch their breath and enjoy walks along quiet lanes and nature trails.