Road trip

SAN DIEGO -- The U.S. Navy spends a fortune every year on energy, so for a ship to complete a deployment having burned through just half the cash it had available for fuel is a very good sign of things to come.

For some time, the Navy has been saying many of the right things about its plans to go green, starting with a major biofuels initiative. And though a recent Wired report claims that the servicewide efforts have lost steam, the performance of the USS Makin Island could well be a bright spot.

As part of Road Trip 2012, … Read more

Update (Sunday, 12:31 a.m. PT): The answer to Saturday's challenge -- which 24 people got right -- is a set of hanging kites decorating The Crystals, or Crystals at CityCenter, in Las Vegas, Nev. Thanks to everyone who played, and to all, please come back for Sunday's challenge.

Welcome to the Road Trip Picture of the Day contest. This is your chance to win some cool prizes as you test your skills at recognizing pictures.

Each day, I'll be posting a new photograph from my various travels, and your job is to try to correctly … Read more

Update (Friday, 6:55 p.m. PT): The answer to today's challenge -- which 57 people got right -- is the Chateau Marmont, in West Hollywood, Calif. Thanks to everyone who played, and to all, please come back for Saturday's challenge.

Welcome to the Road Trip Picture of the Day contest. This is your chance to win some cool prizes as you test your skills at recognizing pictures.

Each day, I'll be posting a new photograph from my various travels, and your job is to try to correctly identify it using any means at your disposal. Throughout … Read more

Update (Friday, 4:27 p.m. PT): The answer to Thursday's challenge -- which 83 people got right -- is the Del Mark Racetrack, in Del Mar, Calif. My apologies for the slow posting of the answer, but thanks to everyone who played. And to all, please come back for today's, and Saturday's challenge.

Welcome to the Road Trip Picture of the Day contest. This is your chance to win some cool prizes as you test your skills at recognizing pictures.

Each day, I'll be posting a new photograph from my various travels, and your job … Read more

LA JOLLA, Calif.--Cottages shouldn't stick out way over the edge of buildings, but when they've been picked up by mysterious forces and dropped out of the sky, that's exactly what can happen.

Welcome to Korean artist Do Ho Suh's "Fallen Star," a small, New England-style house that was unveiled in June atop -- and well out beyond the roof of -- the Jacobs Engineering School building at the University of California at San Diego here.

I've come to explore "Fallen Star" as part of Road Trip 2012, and though I'… Read more

Update (Wednesday, 9:00 p.m PT): The answer to today's challenge -- which 194 people got right -- is Hemenway Harbor at Lake Mead, in Nevada. Thanks to everyone who played, and to all, please come back for Thursday's challenge.

Welcome to the Road Trip Picture of the Day contest. This is your chance to win some cool prizes as you test your skills at recognizing pictures.

Each day, I'll be posting a new photograph from my various travels, and your job is to try to correctly identify it using any means at your disposal. Throughout … Read more

SAN YSIDRO, Calif.--They were hidden in the gas tank -- 17 tightly-wrapped packages of marijuana weighing in at 38.44 pounds.

The car was nondescript, a green 1999 Mazda 626. The driver was a male 50-year-old Mexican national, a resident of Tijuana who had presumably been hoping to make it into California without being stopped.

Instead, the man got caught with the massive haul of pot, snared by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers here at the world's busiest border crossing using several tools in their arsenal -- some high-tech, some very low-tech -- to find … Read more

Update (Tuesday, 8:10 p.m. PT): The answer to today's challenge -- which 140 people got right -- is artist Do Ho Suh's "Fallen Star," a small Rhode Island-style cottage hanging off the top of the Jacobs Engineering Building at the University of California at San Diego. Thanks to everyone who played, and to all, please come back for Wednesday's challenge.

Welcome to the Road Trip Picture of the Day contest. This is your chance to win some cool prizes as you test your skills at recognizing pictures.

Each day, I'll be posting … Read more

PALOMAR MOUNTAIN, Calif.--If you want to talk big scientific breakthroughs, how about quasars and supernovae?

Those are just two of the most important discoveries in the long, very storied history of the Palomar Observatory, a set of telescopes and other astronomical instruments located at the top of this mountain northeast of San Diego. And while the facility no longer holds quite the place in the astronomy community that it once had, for most of the second half of the 20th century, it was the undisputed champion of the world.

Topping the bill at Palomar is its groundbreaking 200-inch Hale Telescope. … Read more