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48 Trips to Reboot Your Life Part Two

48 Trips to Reboot Your Life Part Two

From Shanghai's House of Barbie to the Catskills' Zen Mountain Monastery, here are 48 ways to relax and reboot your weary soul.

 
  
7.THE HOUSE THAT BARBIE BUILT
Marvel at the proportions of Shanghai's the House of Barbie, a sleek six-story temple devoted to all things Barbie on Huaihai Road. Prerecorded giggles are played throughout the all-pink store, which opened to great fanfare in early March. Besides thousands of Barbie dolls and millions of outfits, the Barbie Industrial Complex also contains a spa and a caf? serving food that real people can eat. MORE INFO
8.GET SLOSHED IN OREGON
Oregon's oft-overlooked Willamette Valley is the antidote to Napa's hectic, snobby, wine-mad vineyards. During the Oregon Multisport Wine Adventure (August 23-27) juice-loving visitors explore the region's vital viniculture by coach, foot, canoe, and bike.

One leg begins with a canoe trip along the Willamette River, arriving at the Vercingetorix winery for a private tour followed by lunch and a tasting of their pinot noirs; another starts at the Red Ridge Farms herb garden and nursery, then crosses three private vineyards with tours and tastings at each. The route extends from Eugene through the heart of wine country, Dundee Hills, and ends up at the Hood River and the Columbia River Gorge. By the end you might not be able to walk straight, but Willamette is made for meandering anyway. MORE INFO
9.ESCAPE INTO THE GREAT AQUA YONDER
Learning to scuba dive is like getting the ultimate travel visa. With a simple certification, suddenly the other 70% of the planet falls within reach. Though you can do coursework in nearly any city, we say go Down Under. For value, scheduling ease, and gay-friendliness, there's nothing like Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Pro Dive's well-organized operation in Cairns, Queensland, offers popular five-day PADI courses, which combine pool and classroom training with a dive trip to the largest coral reef system in the world. Watch out for doles of rare sea turtles, 400 types of coral, giant clams, and 1,500 species of fish. MORE INFO
10.TAKE ME TO THE RIVER
White-water raft without the raft down Vermont's New Haven River. New England is riven with rivers and locals have spent great time and effort figuring out what exactly to do with them. Canyoning -- the art of navigating a river by butt, foot, and sheer force of will without the help of, say, a canoe or raft -- is one of their best pastimes. In terms of adrenaline, nothing beats whooshing down a natural waterslide on your ass into a crystal-clear swimming hole. MORE INFO
11.ME, TARZAN. YOU TOUR GUIDE
Channel Johnny Weissmuller as you zip-line through the parota trees on a private rain forest reserve just south of Puerto Vallarta. Later, cool off rappelling down a waterfall. MORE INFO
12.ALL ROADS LEAD TO VEGAS
Relive the Renaissance in the Las Vegas desert. Forget the Duomo, the airfare, and the language barrier. The Ritz-Carlton re-creates a Tuscan village -- complete with a Ponte Vecchio 17 miles from the Las Vegas Strip, on the banks of a 320-acre man-made lake. There are stucco walls, cobblestone streets, and -- Vegas being Vegas -- a 30,000-square-foot spa. Florence never even had a chance. MORE INFO
  
All photos: Getty Images and Photos.com 
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