Trains are iconic. They punctuate our history and our pulp novels, and our films are rife with them--from The Great Train Robbery's gold-bearing locomotive to the now-infamous Hogwarts Express train of Harry Potter fame. Ah, but don’t start mourning the lost days of train travel just yet! While you may have trouble finding platform 9 ¾, there are plenty of trains still churning through America's vast and gorgeous countryside, just waiting for a rider.

Perhaps the most famous of U.S. sightseeing train routes is the one taken by the Grand Canyon Railroad. Chugging recycled vegetable oil instead of coal (how green!), this rail-riding beast makes regular trips from Williams, AZ to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park.

I knew I could make the move from New York City to San Francisco the moment I first laid eyes on Napa Valley. It felt like a wonderland to me, a spot of much-needed European charm and pastoral quietude just a quick hour down the road from the hustle and bustle of the city.

And now three years into my great California adventure, I have developed my way of enjoying Napa and Sonoma. Much like how Coloradans debate the relative merits of competing ski resorts, we here in the Bay Area enjoy holding forth about the "right way" to explore the wine country. There are two valleys to choose from, at least 10 quaint towns, and a huge variety of activities, including hiking, biking, wine tasting, gourmet dining, air ballooning, spa going, and more.

I'm all about getting sporty on my trips. When I was training for the NYC marathon, I had to visit Washington, D.C. at a crucial point of my training. Instead of halting training or spending hours running on the hotel treadmill, I hired a running guide through City Running Tours who took me on a sightseeing run through our nation's capital.

So when I heard about a physical fitness event  -- again, in Washington, DC -- coming up on October 11, I thought I would share it with you. Bike for the Heart is a day-long event put on by the Sister to Sister organization, a group dedicated to educating women about heart health and risk prevention and providing free heart health checkups.

The day consists of four events:

 - a family-friendly five-mile bike ride around our nation's capital (this would be my choice)

Jim: Dwight, if you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Dwight: I can travel anywhere, except Cuba, and I will travel to New Zealand and walk the Lord of the Rings trail to Mordor and I will hike Mount Doom.

Even though Dwight may dream of traveling down under to bond with his Hobbit friends, there are plenty of sights to see right in his own backyard. In honor of The Office being back, I thought I'd do a round-up of the must-see (cough, cough) sights of the greater Scranton area.

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In San Francisco, we experience two seasons: pretty nice and not-as-nice. In fact, if I never left this city, I would be led to believe that our global climate was a moderate one, void of extremes, surprises or change of any kind. I'm quite fond of change, and I miss the about-face that Mother Nature commands every few months, which is why the traveler in me makes it a point to get out of San Francisco when each season calls.

Having already begun research on an easy fall getaway from the Bay Area, a request from a local TV show further fueled my motivation to get out of the city and off the beaten path. I was invited to be a guest on ABC's View from the Bay to talk about destinations where travelers can experience nature's vibrant display of changing leaves. (See video from the show below.) The show had just one request; they wanted to highlight fall foliage destinations not in the Northeast.

Here’s a secret: the two main reasons I spent a college semester in Paris were nine years of French lessons and National Lampoon’s European Vacation. I saw it when I was very young and could not wait to explore Europe…by car, of course.

In a classic case of careful-what-you-wish-for, that first spring-break road trip—through Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic—was indeed decidedly Griswoldesque.

But I’ve rented cars in Europe since then, and each trip goes more smoothly than the last. So as I prepare for another European road trip next week and ponder past hits and misses, I’ve come up with my top five tips for seeing Europe through the windshield. If you follow these guidelines, I'm confident you'll discover the joys of renting a car abroad.

One guidebook said it was an exercise in self-torture, but my friends and I were not dissuaded. We had eight days to circumnavigate a country, and we were going to take advantage of long hours of daylight to suck the marrow out of every minute. Starting in Reykjavik, we were going to circle the country of Iceland, from west to south to east to north, along the fabled Ring Road, and during a tumultuous time in the country’s history.

Once among the richest countries in the world, Iceland’s economy has completely collapsed in recent years. While it has wreaked havoc on the populace, for us it meant a favorable exchange rate and a chance to see a country that was formerly cost prohibitive.

Please join us in welcoming renowned travel author David Yeadon to The Window Seat. He is the author of several travel books, including his latest At the Edge of Ireland. His guest blog reveals his top travel tips for Ireland's Beara Peninsula.

If you’ve ever been charmed by twinkle-eyed Irish raconteurs, dreamed of hikes across wild mountains and moors, or imagined yourself at a Guinness-primed ceili in an authentic Irish village pub, then you would love the Beara Peninsula, a remote mountainous finger of land in the southwest corner of Ireland that juts out thirty miles into the Atlantic.

When I was in my mid-20s, my then-boyfriend and I decided to pack up our few belongings and hit the road: California or bust. I grew up in Maryland, and California always held a mystique to me. It represented this far-away fantasyland where surfers rode endlessly into blazing sunsets, artichokes and olives grew plump and rampant, and giant trees with rich, red wood scraped the lower corners of the sky. We were going to drive there, and we gave ourselves two timeless weeks for the journey.

Deep in bluegrass country where horse-studded pastures alternate with woodsy hillsides and the only rest stop for miles around is at Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home, there lies a string of historic bourbon distilleries open for tours. Last weekend, when I was in the region, I stopped in at two of them: Maker’s Mark and Woodford Reserve.

Despite the alcohol in the name, you don’t go to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail to get tipsy. First, there is a lot of driving involved on winding country lanes so a big bourbon buzz is a big no-no. Second, I know it’s a shocker (at least it was to me), but not all the distilleries give tastings. Third, a clear head is needed to navigate the rustic (and largely unmarked) backroads. But that’s part of the fun. Just when my friends and I thought we’d reached the middle of a beautiful nowhere, a sign popped up to show the way to the spirits.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member MilwVon.