![ENDLESS SUMMER](https://cdn.magzter.com/1450523306/1719899957/articles/Ag1xT-rUE1722423186487/ENDLESS-SUMMER.jpg)
I'M zooming across Gull Lake in a Malibu Wakesetter 22 LSV powerboat, which I've been told has enough torque to rocket me to the moon. The water is 77 degrees, warmed by a sun that just won't quit. Captain Amanda Nash and instructor Matt Soundy barely look old enough to drink, yet both are skilled wake surfers, excited to show me their Tik Tok moves. They're living the wet, hot American dream here in central Minnesota: zigzagging across six-foot swells, sucking down root beer floats, and partying every night after work. They re fun gossips too, pointing out the rumored lake homes of Tom Cruise and some med-tech bajillionaire who allegedly imported his own beach sand because the lake sand wasn't "white enough." I enjoy the chitchat, but I'm here to launch my own wakeboarding career—one of several ways I'm trying to embrace the "lake life" I've heard so much about since moving to Minnesota six years ago. The state is the "Land of 10,000 Lakes," as its license plates proudly attest, but as my New Yorker husband, Andrew, and I learned, that motto rounds the number down: There are actually 11,842, if you want to get persnickety about it.
After arriving in the Twin Cities, Andrew and I fell hard for their restaurants and diverse cultural tableaux, but I could never wrap my head around the singularly Minnesotan obsession with lakes and being in them, on them, and near them. I like lakes. They're nice. But bragging about your lake house or pontoon boat to somehow signal that you belong in a state? I didn't get that.
Denne historien er fra July - August 2024-utgaven av Condé Nast Traveler US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Denne historien er fra July - August 2024-utgaven av Condé Nast Traveler US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
![The Slow Road - Rather than rush from Tokyo to Kyoto by train, as most visitors to Japan do, Tom Vanderbilt chose to bike - coasting down country roads, spying snow monkeys, and refueling with hearty bowls of soba](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12188/1797065/lMTjBZqcT1724309506842/crp_Japans-Gifu-PrefectureJapan-travel-bike-traverl-Hakusan-National-Park-Shirakawa-gocyclistsTosuke-no-yu-Fujiyacycling-gearRaid-Cycling-Tokyo-Kyoto-luxury-bike-trips-brike-trip.jpg)
The Slow Road - Rather than rush from Tokyo to Kyoto by train, as most visitors to Japan do, Tom Vanderbilt chose to bike - coasting down country roads, spying snow monkeys, and refueling with hearty bowls of soba
Rather than rush from Tokyo to Kyoto by train, as most visitors to Japan do, Tom Vanderbilt chose to bike - coasting down country roads, spying snow monkeys, and refueling with hearty bowls of soba. At the peak of the day's heat, I pulled into the tiny hamlet of Hirase, in Japan's Gifu Prefecture. I'd just climbed a twisting, waterfall-lined road several thousand feet through Hakusan National Park before descending into the shimmering fantasy landscape of Shirakawa-go, an almost Tolkien-esque village (and UNESCO World Heritage Site) comprising centuries-old farmhouses with peaked thatch roofs.
![SHAILENE WOODLEY on FIJI](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12188/1797065/QXb1ZfEWx1724314605218/SHAILENE-WOODLEY-ON-FIJI.jpg)
SHAILENE WOODLEY on FIJI
I was in Suva, the capital of Fiji, making a film, and our crew took over half of the Grand Pacific Hotel.
![easy does it](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12188/1797065/lJstkoSWj1724313911578/EASY-DOES-IT.jpg)
easy does it
Beyond the bubble of Queenstown, New Zealand's majestic Otago region offers the kinds of adventures you can truly appreciate only by slowing down
![gather round](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12188/1797065/vtH2qsOEi1724312827162/GATHER-ROUND.jpg)
gather round
The secret ingredient in Philadelphia's lauded food scene? The empathy of the locals behind it
![SANDS OF TIME](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12188/1797065/_rnBcPWmE1724312380682/SANDS-OF-TIME.jpg)
SANDS OF TIME
Sculpted by millennia, Chad is a place of ancient geology and epic grandeur. Aminatta Forna finds her place in it all
![THE PAST IS PRESENT](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12188/1797065/eXtM2sibk1724311424378/THE-PAST-IS-PRESENT.jpg)
THE PAST IS PRESENT
Beguilingly complex Istanbul has done a lot of soul-searching in recent years. Lale Arikoglu digs into the city's modern identity - while tracing the roots of her own
![Creation Story](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12188/1797065/3fFaoQcYO1724311189363/CREATION-STORY.jpg)
Creation Story
Modern-day craftspeople are bringing back traditional Arabian arts in Jeddah's Old Town of Al-Balad
![Continental Drift](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12188/1797065/ADYjGmn-N1724310995275/CONTINENTAL-DRIFT.jpg)
Continental Drift
For her first trip to Africa, aboard an HX Hurtigruten cruise ship, Sarah Greaves Gabbadon confronts her assumptions about what a homeland means
![On the Rise](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12188/1797065/3bJhBp-TC1724310747770/ON-THE-RISE.jpg)
On the Rise
With new hotels, climbing routes, and biking trails, Colorado's low-key, high-elevation Western Slope is ripe for adventure
![Antiques Road Show](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/12188/1797065/K85giWFv01724310302745/ANTIQUES-ROAD-SHOW.jpg)
Antiques Road Show
After buying a second home, in France, the designer Claire Vivier called up fellow designer Kate Berry to go on the ultimate shopping spree