OffBeat Pathfinder Basecamp

Beaches back home are all sunshine and soft sand, but Machir Bay at sunset? Unreal. The colors blew me away—gold on blue, waves crashing like thunder. Sure, the water’s too cold for board shorts, but watching the sky turn pink above the dunes, with a pocketful of smooth pebbles? Worth every goosebump.

Never thought I’d be surfing in Minnesota, but here I am, catching “waves” behind a pontoon on Lake Nokomis. The water’s cold, the looks are colder. At least nobody’s judging my wetsuit tan. Anyone do the paddle pub thing? My wife nearly lost her phone to the “sea.”

I rolled into Truth or Consequences because honestly, who can resist a town with that name? Stopped for the hot springs and stayed for the breakfast burritos and the town-wide obsession with aliens (seriously, the murals are next-level).

First stop was Riverbend Hot Springs: so chill you could ...

If you haven’t been to Wallace, Idaho, you’re missing one of the weirdest slices of American history—and I mean that in the best way. Picture this: an old mining town where every street is on the National Register, the mayor once declared war on the FBI, and there’s an entire museum dedicated to ...