Having a sense of humor while traveling is one of the surest ways to enjoy life and all the riches it has to offer. One of my new favorite books is a hilarious photo journal from India, called Peep Peep Don't Sleep.

Do you want to have the Moon as your next holiday destination, Yes? But sorry you cannot go there. Right? Ok, then take my suggestion and go to Spiti Valley.  A drive of 350 km from Shimla through breathtaking scenery of Himalayan landscapes takes you to Spiti Valley. After crossing Narkanda, 64 km, and then driving opposite of River Satluj from near Rampur, 130 km, you stop for a night each at Sarhan, Kalpa and Pooh. Then you cross a bridge at Khaab where river Spiti meets Satluj. Now you are in Spiti Valley. Astounding, right?

People from all over the world come to the small city across the Charles River from Boston to work, study, create, and among other things, enjoy the hundreds of restaurants which offer cuisines from Ethiopian to Mexican, priced in ranges for high dollar spenders, families on an outing, and grad students on tight budgets. High end Henrietta’s Table and student friendly Bartley’s Burger Cottage make all the guidebooks, but there are other great choices, too.

Sounds of the Wild: Ocean, by Maurice Pledger

On a cool October evening several years ago, a very peculiar and very particularly Charleston institution took fire.

Bright flames illumined the marshes along Sol Legare Creek with the brief flare of vanishing history; the smoke that rose from the Bowen's Island Restaurant fire took with it sixty years of accumulations, accretions, and thoroughly personalized accoutrement.