Monday's unofficial high temperature at Badwater in Death Valley National Park reached a sizzling 135° Fahrenheit, according to an organization that has been been conducting running events there for decades.

Chaco Culture National Historical Park is an atypical national park. The massive, thousand-year-old pueblos blend mysteriously into the towering canyon walls. Mystery and curiosity are among the top reasons thousands of visitors make the intentional trek far from paved roads deep into the Navajo Nation.

A party boat in the form of a double-decker, Mississippi-style sternwheeler isn’t what comes to mind when I think of transport to Georges Island in Halifax Harbour. But it is indeed a reservation aboard the Harbour Queen that gets me there. And yet, maybe it’s the perfect conveyance to help celebrate the opening of the island to the public after a 55 year wait. While Georges was declared a National Historic Site in 1965, it wasn’t until 2020 when Parks Canada installed a new wharf on the north shore that it became accessible.

Beechey Island beckons to all those fascinated by the story of Sir John Franklin and his ill-fated crew whose 1845 journey to find the Northwest Passage ended in tragedy, mystery and death.