Tayka Hotel de Sal

Where: Tahua, Bolivia

How much: About $ 95 a night

Why it's cool: You've stayed at hotels made of brick or wood, but salt? That's something few can claim. Tayka Hotel de Sal is made totally ofsalt—including the beds (though you'll sleep on regular mattresses andblankets). The hotel sits on the Salar de Uyuni, a prehistoric dried-up lakewhich is the world's biggest salt flat. Builders use the salt from the 4,633-square-mile flat to make the bricks, and glue them together with a paste(糊) of wet salt that hardens when it dries. When rain starts to dissolve (溶解) the hotel, the owners just mix up more salt paste to strengthen the bricks.

Green Magic Nature Resort

Where: Vythiri, India

How much: About $ 240 a night

Why it's cool: Taking a pulley(滑轮)—operated lift 86 feet to your treetop room is just the start of your adventure. As you look out of your open window, there is no glass! You watch monkeys and birds inthe rain forest canopy(罩篷). Later you might test your fear of heights by crossing the handmade rope bridge to themain part of the hotel, or just sit on your bamboo bed and read. You don't evenhave to come down for breakfast—the hotel will send it up on the pulley-drawn“elevator”.

Dog Bark Park Inn B&B

Where: Cottonwood, Idaho

How much: $ 92 a night

Why it's cool: This doghouse isn't just for the family pet. SweetWilly is a 30-foot-tall dog with guest rooms in his belly. Climb the wooden stairs beside his hind leg to enter the door in his side. You can relax in the main bedroom, go up a few steps of the loft(阁楼) in Willy's head, or hang out inside his nose. Although you have a full private bathroom in your quarters, there is also a toilet in the 12-foot-tall fire hydrant(消防栓) outside.

Gamirasu Cave Hotel

Where: Ayvali, Turkey

How much: Between $ 130 and $ 450 a night

Why it's cool: Experience what it was like 5,000 years ago, when people lived in these mountain caves formed by volcanic ash. But your stay will be much more modern. Bathrooms and electricity provide what you expect from a modern hotel, and the white volcanic ash, called tufa, keeps the rooms cool insummer. (Don't worry— there is heat in winter.)

    Kids are natural scientists. That may be why they ask so many questions.

    Younger kids take up science and math with amazing enthusiasm, yet as they get older they often lose their excitement. Children look on scientific exploration as play, but as they get older they start to connect it with big heavy books, long worksheets and a lot of really confusing words.

    What a tragedy! We had their attention, they were listening, they were participating, they were learning and then we lost it to boredom.

    We need our kids to play more. More play brings up basic scientific concepts(概念). Being familiar with basic scientific concepts brings about exploration which leads to research. Once they are researching, they are completely into the learning.

    My boys built a small 9­hole golf course next to our driveway one day. It was a great product of science. They dug out the holes and channels to guide the golf ball. They played with architecture(建筑学)with a series of pipes they had found in the garage. They tested speed and momentum(动量)by creating one of the holes across the driveway. They experienced biology when deciding which front yard plants could be used as a part of the course and which needed to be pulled up.

    If I had sent them out to the yard to build a 9­hole golf course, it would have never happened. It was because it was their idea that it worked. I try to tell them some of the concepts after the fact. When they ask about something, I try to relate it back to something they have built, experienced, or felt. I try to give them a vocabulary around what they already know.

    An afternoon can change the way kids look at the world. Not bad for a day of play.

    Last week my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home in Tucson, Arizona. He moved there a few years ago, and I was eager to see his new place and meet his friends.

    My earliest memories of my father are of a tall, handsome, successful man devoted to his work and family but uncomfortable with his children. As a child I loved him, as a school girl and young adult I feared him and felt bad about him. He seemed unhappy with me unless I got straight A's and unhappy with my boyfriends if their fathers were not as "successful" as he was. Whenever I went out with him on weekends, I used to struggle to think up things to say, feeling on guard.

    On the first day of my visit, we went out with one of my father's friends for lunch at an outdoor cafe. We walked along that afternoon, did some shopping, ate at the street table, and laughed over my son's funny facial expressions. Gone was my father's critical（挑剔的）air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father, who seemed so friendly and interesting to be around? What had held him back before?

    The next day my dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood. Although our times together became easier over the years, I never felt closer to him at that moment. After so many years, I'm at last seeing another side of my father. And in so doing, I'm delighted with my new friend. My dad, in his new home in Arizona, is back to me from where he is.

    I've been really lucky this year. Not only did I have the opportunity to live in France, but I was able to see some other countries with my girlfriend. Now she is studying in Essen, a large city in Western Germany. I recently went to stay with her—it was my first visit to Germany! Essen is a very large city. It has all the conveniences of any large city so I felt immediately at home. I loved the variety of shops, restaurants, shopping malls, cocktail bars, nightclubs, parks and even a lake. There is also a city­wide network of trams, which makes getting around a piece of cake!

    I found the people to be really friendly, and most Germans speak very good English which made life easy for me. I was surprised by the casual attitude to alcohol in Germany, where it seems normal for people to drink beer on the street, or on the tram. My girlfriend and I visited two famous local cities, Düsseldorf and Cologne, which are both on the Rhine River. Düsseldorf is an urban metropolis with a great variety of restaurants. We took a boat tour on the river and went up the Rhine Tower, a really tall building which offers great views across the city. Cologne, as you might know, is world-famous for its perfumes. The cathedral there is an unmissable landmark. We made the effort to climb to the top of one of the cathedral's towers. The spiral (螺旋的) stairs seemed endless, but it was worthwhile for the impressive sights from the top.

    We also went in a cable car over the river and tasted a German delicacy called "Spaghettieis" which is ice cream with strawberry sauce! I also got to try the famous German sausage. I must admit, I really enjoyed the food! The only disappointment was the grey and rainy weather, which proves that Britain does not have the worst weather in Europe!

    In my mind, there is a moving story about a skinny young boy who loved football with all his heart.

    Practice after practice, he eagerly gave everything he had. But being half the size of the other boys, he got absolutely nowhere. Despite his hard training at all the games, this hopeful athlete sat on the bench and hardly ever played.

    This teenager lived alone with his father, and the relationship between the two of them was very special. Even though the son was always on the bench, his father was always in the stands cheering. He never missed a game. This young man was still the smallest of the class when he entered high school. But his father continued to encourage him.

    The young man loved football and was determined to try his best at every practice, and perhaps he'd get to play when he became a senior. All through high school he never missed a practice nor a game but remained a benchwarmer. Besides, his faithful father was always in the stands, always with words of encouragement for him. When the young man went to college, he decided to try out for the football team as a "walk-on". Everyone firmly believed that he could never make the cut, but he did.

    The news that he had survived the cut thrilled him so much that he rushed to the nearest phone and called his father. His father shared his excitement and was sent season tickets for all the college games. This persistent young athlete never missed practice during his four years at college, but actually he never got the real chance to play in a game.

    It was at the end of his senior football season that the coach met him with a telegram. The young man read the telegram and he became totally silent. Swallowing hard, he mumbled to the coach, "My father died this morning. Is it all right if I miss practice today? "The coach put his arm gently around his should and said, "Take the rest of the week off, son. And don't even plan to come back to the game on Saturday."

    Saturday arrived, and the game was not going well. In the third quarter, when the team was ten points behind, a silent young man quietly slipped into the empty locker room and put on his football gear. As he ran onto the sidelines, the coach and his players were surprised to see their faithful teammate back so soon. "Coach, please let me play. I've just got to play today, "said the young man. The coach pretended not to hear him. There was no way he wanted his worst player in this close play-off game. But the young man insisted, and finally feeling sorry for the kid, the coach gave in. "All right," he said. "You can go in. ''Before long, the coach, the players and everyone in the stands could not believe their eyes. This little unknown, who had never played before, was doing everything right. The opposing team could not stop him. He ran, passed, blocked, and tackled like a star. His team began to succeed. The score was soon tied. In the closing seconds of the game, this kid got a pass and ran all the way for the winning touchdown.

    Finally, after the stands had emptied, the coach noticed that this young man was sitting quietly in the corner all alone. The coach came to him and said, "Kid, you were unbelievably fantastic! Tell me what got into you? How did you do it? "

    He looked at the coach, tears in his eyes, and said "Well, you knew my had died, but did you know that my dad was blind?" The young man swallowed hard and forced a smile, "Dad came to all my games, but today was the first time he could see me play, and I wanted to show him I could make it!"