Travel insights and tips on some of the top attractions and best cities in the world

There’s a reason why Ben Franklin coined beer as the proof that God loves us and wants to be happy. As one of the world’s oldest prepared beverages, dating all the way back to 3500 B.C., this wonderfully flavorful concoction was instrumental in the formation of civilizations, serving as the backbone for many religious gatherings and festivities.

San Francisco offers a wealth of top museums and opportunities to see fine art, as well as a touch of the unusual scattered throughout the city, its seafood dining options are beyond measure. We've narrowed the field to just a few of San Francisco’s most sumptuous seafood houses where you can get your grub on.

Who says you have to go to an amusement park to have a heart-pounding experience? If you’re visiting a brand new city and taking in all of the sites each has to offer, there are plenty of opportunities to go full-throttle with amusement park-like attractions without ever having to set foot inside a park.

When my kids were growing up, a favorite holiday tradition on Thanksgiving Eve was a nighttime stroll along Central Park West around the American Museum of Natural History to watch the Thanksgiving Day parade balloons come to life. Laid out flat along the closed streets on either side of the museum in the afternoon, the deflated balloons would slowly grow as crews worked into the night, pumping them with helium and covering them with sandbagged nets to keep them from floating away.

By boat, bus, bicycle, foot, or even Segway, there is no shortage of ways to experience the country’s most celebrated architectural metro: Chicago, Illinois. Admired for creativity rather than longevity—the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 destroyed a majority of notable buildings—each tour, no matter the means, showcases the character, ingenuity, and groundbreaking methods that make up Chicago’s towering skyline.

Every town and city holds their share of unsavory secrets and horror stories. Passed on from person to person like an unreliable game of “Telephone,” the good ghost stories only get better with time.