Where will you get outside this summer?

By George Stone, TRAVEL Executive Editor

Summer is the best time for travel tales, especially at National Geographic. Two colleagues decided to chill out in Iceland. Another found a piece of paradise in Provence. And others have happily returned to Canada, now that they can. (Pictured above, Utah’s Arches National Park.)

You won’t be surprised to learn that America’s national parks and public lands loom large on our itineraries. One editor recently waxed rhapsodic to us about his Yellowstone adventure. And another, photo editor Vi Nguyen, was entranced by Olympic National Park in Washington State.

“Time literally stopped for me,” reports Nguyen, who camped out at Second Beach (pictured below). “It felt like a dream, with the fog in the morning, the seagulls and the waves. It was like listening to a meditation app, but it was real life. And we saw a million starfish.”

Turns out the secret to enjoying this planet is to turn onto the wilderness, tune intothe sounds of nature, and drop out of your everyday expectations. Nguyen and her partner did just that. They turned off their smartphones and focused on being intentional explorers.

“We are both journalists, so we are always on. Instead, we stayed off our screens and we stuck to film cameras and Polaroids to capture moments. It was wonderful to disconnect and nice for no one to know where we were. We didn’t even know what day it was. Our goal was just to be.”

This year, even with some crowding issues and surging COVID-19 cases, the wilderness calls with the promise of serenity and escape. Later this month, the National Park Service will turn 105. While that number is impressive, many other figures relating to the 423 units—including 63 national parks—the Park Service administers are more astonishing. Last year, for instance, visitors logged 1,054,952,540 recreation hours in parklands. Yes, that was a billion hours.

“This world of wonders includes countless superlatives, from the world’s largest gypsum dune field to the highest peak in North America,” writes Nat Geo Explorer Jon Waterman in our article about our transcendent wilds. He should know: he’s the author of the National Geographic Atlas of the National Parks, which takes readers on an epic journey through the extraordinary and unique features that distinguish these spaces.

My biggest wish this summer, wherever you are, is that you will step outside, take a deep breath, gaze to the sky and take a moment to love this majestic planet of ours. Feel free to hug a tree, while you’re at it!

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INSTAGRAM OF THE DAY

Buckle up: On day 11 of a 15-day boat trip down the Colorado River, photographer and Nat Geo Explorer Pete McBride hit Lava Falls—an experience his boatman described as “getting tossed down a flight of stairs while someone fires a river hose at you.” Says McBride: “I can confirm that was an accurate description—and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.” This image comes from a look at five great paddling trips around the world. McBride went deeper in the Canyon; in 2015, he and writer Kevin Fedarko embarked on a grueling—and dangerous—750-mile thru-hike.

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‘Hygiene theater’: What’s it like to take a cruise during a pandemic? As cruise ships set sail again, writer Christopher Muther hops aboard a brand-new 596-passenger vessel and sails to the Greek islands. Much of the experience was “normal,” he writes in the Boston Globe.

Searching for shipwrecks: An estimated 500 to 1,000 of the ships that were used to transport enslaved Africans across the Atlantic between the 15th and 19th centuries wrecked before reaching their destinations. The nonprofit Diving With a Purpose, which is focused on the protection and documentation of the shipwrecks, is working to bring a painful history to the surface, CNN Travel reports. Nat Geo Explorer Tara Roberts is currently producing a podcast about these efforts, funded by a National Geographic Storytelling Fellowship.

Vaccine required: A growing number of restaurants, theaters, and bars in New York, San Francisco, and other U.S. cities are requiring proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test for entry. If you’re going out, digitally store your vaccination record. The Wall Street Journal shows you how, as well as how to check if your state has digital verified records. Meanwhile, the U.S. is developing a plan that would require most foreign visitors to be fully vaccinated, a White House official told Reuters.

Bird’s-eye view: California’s oldest zoo is home to the new Redwood Sky Walk, a maze that gives visitors majestic views of the redwood floor, flora, and fauna from 100 feet above. The longest skywalk in the western U.S., it already has doubled the number of visitors to the area, Afar reports.

Staying put for now? Film critic Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post has a list of movies–from “Into the Wild” to “Medicine for Melancholy”—that are “guaranteed to ignite the travel itch” until you’re ready to get packing again.

THE BIG TAKEAWAY

Counterintuitive: Some people like standing in line. They view it as more egalitarian. But in a world of social distancing and off-and-on face-masking, airports, museums, and theme parks are rethinking lines, Rachel Ng reports. Back up: People LIKE lines? Yes, cognitive design expert Donald Norman tells her. “People get really annoyed when they feel that they’re not being treated like everyone else, and that there are people that seem to get ahead of them.” (Pictured above, a queue at the Louvre.)

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Tomorrow, Whitney Johnson will feature photography and the Olympics. If you’re not a subscriber, sign up here to also get Rachael Bale on animals, Victoria Jaggard on science, Debra Adams Simmons on history, and Robert Kunzig on the environment.

LAST GLIMPSE

Secrets of sake: Japan’s liquid obsession is served countrywide, from the bustling bars of Tokyo to the quiet hinterlands (and even at 7-Elevens). “Sake offers a universe of sensations: cold, hot, sweet, savory, all nurturing a warming glow in your innards,” Oliver Smith writes for Nat Geo. The potent rice wine, Smith says, “has a place in the soul of Japan.” (Pictured above, visitors tour the Fukumitsuya Sake Brewery in Kanazawa.)

Related: The ultimate three-day Tokyo itinerary

THE SECRETS OF SAKE