Offbeat travels close to home and around the world

In the 1980s, the then-new medium of music videos and globe-trotting rock stars dazzled me with exotic destinations, from the streets of Paris to the canals of Venice. Here are the top eight ’80s music videos that rocked my world.

No need to travel to busy beaches along the Atlantic coast when you can find your own spot of sand close to home. There are nearly 7,000 miles of shoreline along the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay, 761 public access sites, and many secret spots waiting to be discovered.

Twenty six. That’s the number UFOs Judy Messoline has seen from her UFO Watchtower since opening in Hooper, Colorado. It offers a sweeping view of the otherwise flat-as-a-pancake 7,600-foot San Luis Valley, high in the Rocky Mountains.

Description goI knew three things about Savannah when I landed at the airport. There’s a famous cemetery, Spanish moss hangs on the trees, and there was a trendy restaurant in a converted Greyhound bus station that I just had to see. Here’s what you shouldn’t miss .

The hand-painted sign along the side of the road caught my eye. Homemade baked goods, root beer, jam. Behind it was large gray barn with a small farm stand in front. I peered down the gravel drive and saw a man with a beard and a hat driving a horse-drawn buggy.

How do I write a story about a little town called Salome? It’s a very small spot on the map—an intersection, really—that’s not nearly as exotic as the Biblical seductress the name suggests, the dancer who asked for St. John the Baptist’s head on a platter.