Stay in an ice hotel – understandably these are only available for reservations in winter. However the one in Sweden’s Lapland offers a 3-day ice-sculpting class during the summer. How could anyone not want to learn that?

• Lapland ice hotel
• Quebec ice hotel

Do something for the next solar maximum in 2011/2012. The last one was in 1958 and has the potential to be bring the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) to new heights. If you’re a sun worshiper this one isn’t for you – best viewing chances improve as you head north and in the winter. Most of the hotels know about this already so just google your preferred northern region and 2012 and you should have lots of package options.

Head to Minnesota for the St. Paul Winter Carnival always in late January or early February.  Are you shocked that it’s the biggest and oldest winter carnival in the US?  Nothing like standing out in subzero weather in the dark hoping to get some carnival beads from the Vulcan Krew.

On the opposite side of the world but at the same time is Japan’s Sapporo Snow Festival – rumored to have anime snow sculptures… Note the website has instructions on building snow sculptures for the competition involving scaffolding so you might want to practice first.

It’s road trip season!  When I was growing up my Dad refused to stop the car for restrooms but would pull over and meditate for what seemed like hours on the historical jargon and landscape of each and every roadside historical marker.  It’s a rare Indian or Civil War Battle, sheep rustling, Lewis & Clark crossing point, or first general store that occurred adjacent to a rest stop with facilities.

What’s worse is that whoever wrote the text for those markers really assumed that it was such an important event that all subsequent generations would know the back story with no further explanations needed or so non-pc that all indians[sic] were the enemy.

I once encountered a local and probably self-published book of roadside markers in the library but it consisted of poorly printed black and white photos so bad that the inscriptions weren’t readable. Finally, in the modern age there is a solution in the Historical Marker Database. You can even trace your route on a Google map and see all the historical marker points along the way or look them up by state, topic, or key word. Even better, there are links to more information and finally the back story – what really happened, what tribes were involved, and why things turned out the way they did.  So you don’t have to wonder and then forget to look it up when you finally get to a computer. The downside is not all markers are in there yet.  Still, it beats driving by that brown freeway sign noting an historical marker is ahead wondering what the heck ever happened there as you note the number of miles to the nearest rest stop with bathrooms…

The Raelians are planning your next vacation destination. And what a perfect spot – to the best of my knowledge there aren’t any space/alien themed casinos in Las Vegas which is a definite oversight. Although there are no plans for a casino mentioned, there will be a “life-size” UFO, a museum and lecture hall.  According to their press release they had a UFOLand in Canada that closed two years ago – I certainly never heard it mentioned on the Travel Channel so here’s hoping they improve a few things.

Downtown Roswell, NM

The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota – loosely based on the Taj Mahal and made entirely of corn products. Note that the website has a palace web cam so this could be a virtual vacation

The Royal Pavilion, Brighton – because it’s silly, over the top, and simply fabulous all at the same time

Rabbit Hash, Kentucky – because they know how to run an election and they don’t even try to hide the vote buying (the cat should have won)

Roswell, New Mexico – doesn’t everyone need a pair of alien suspenders and a bumper sticker that says ‘adult child of alien invaders’?  Listen to the original 1947 radio broadcast that started the whole thing at the Roswell UFO Museum Site

Eden, New York – partly it’s the name but mostly because it’s the kazoo capital of the world.  And there’s a kazoo museum…