'The Fire in The Eyes' (Nikita Nomerz) No town is without its eyesores. Abandoned buildings litter most landscapes; in Detroit alone there are some 70,000 of them. Properties fall out of use and are left to a decidedly grim fate: brick soils, mortar crumbles, and veiny overgrowth peeks out of structural flaws. The resulting visual acts as a window into a time when bodies bustled about hallways and voices echoed off walls. Rooms in the long since defunct Domino Sugar...

(Getty Images) FORT WORTH, Texas -- In a quest to speed up the boarding process, American Airlines is letting passengers board sooner if they travel lightly. The airline said Thursday that people carrying just a personal item that fits under the seat - no rolling suitcases - will be allowed to board before most other passengers. American said that the change will allow flights to take off sooner, helping the airline improve its on-time performance. Airline officials say boarding times...

Traffic on the northbound and southbound lanes of the 110 Harbor Freeway in Los Angeles, Calif. (Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) NEW YORK — It's going to be another busy MemorialDay weekend on the nation's highways. From Thursday through Monday, 31.2 million Americans will drive 50 miles or more to a beach, campground or other getaway, according to car lobbying group AAA. That's a small increase from last year but still well short of the record 37.3 million people who drove...

In this May 2013 photo provided by Catlin Seaview Survey, Christophe Bailhache with an SVII camera is escorted underwater by a Spotted Eagle Ray during a survey dive in the Galapagos Islands. Few have laid eyes on many of the volcanic islands of the Galapagos archipelago that remain closed to tourists. (AP Photo/Catlin Seaview Survey) SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Few have explored the remote volcanic islands of the Galapagos archipelago, an otherworldly landscape inhabited by the world's largest tortoises and...

A stranded and malnourished juvenile sea lion pup sits on the rocks of White Point Park waiting to get rescued by Peter Wallerstein of Marine Animal Rescue on April 5, 2013 in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles, Calif. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) GULFPORT, Miss. — Four young sea lions stranded on California beaches have a new home at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport. They were among more than 1,000 sea lion pups abandoned on...

These postcards published over a hundred years ago capture the natural world at that time, from a lighthouse on a remote outcropping in Wales to a glacier in the Pacific Northwest to a trip to the beach in locations across the world. Take a tour of the climes of yesteryear through a now-obsolete technology called photochrom with these images obtained by the . The selection of postcards above shows the rich, natural beauty of Europe, the Middle East and Canada...

Guests visit the new attraction at SeaWorld Orlando in Orlando, Fla., Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin on May 24, 2013. With a ride, restaurants and the penguin habitat, it's the largest expansion in the park's history. (AP Photo/Seaworld Parks & Entertainment via PRNewswire) ORLANDO, Fla. — If there's ever been a summer to visit a theme park — or two, or three — this is it. High speed wooden roller coasters? Thrilling, sense-assaulting rides? Penguins? Yes, yes and most definitely....

"Get out of the house and explore. Go to places you would never think of going." That's the advice from Joe Capra, an adventure photographer whose on Iceland are earning accolades. (PHOTOS: ) The project was born after Capra saw another photographer's video on Iceland. "The landscape is unreal," he says. Using the remainder of his vacation days, Capra timed his trip during the summer months, a time of year when the midnight sun would provide extra hours of sunlight....

Waterslide at Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Parks--just one of more than 200 waterslides the area has to offer. (Jeff Salzer Photography) When the community of Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin pioneered the indoor waterpark craze starting back in 1989, they virtually weather-proofed their signature vacation experience. Yet summer, with its warm temperatures, is still the most popular season in “The Waterpark Capital of the World!®” and, by the looks of it, Summer 2013 will be packed full with even more fun...

20. Los Angeles Los Angeles, Calif. ranks 20 in the MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index. It is expected to attract 4.84 million international visitors in 2013. (Credit: Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images) With summer approaching, thoughts of vacation become inevitable. Should one flee the heat by heading to some cooler clime? Or perhaps one should head to beach and luxuriate in the sun (but be careful!). Well, if current travel trends persist, you can follow the millions who are heading to 2013's...

Ken Nedimyer, president of the Coral Restoration Foundation, poses in the organization's coral nursery off Key Largo, Fla., with juvenile coral cuttings. (AP Photo/Coral Restoration Foundation via the Florida Keys News Bureau, Kevin Gaines) KEY LARGO, Fla. — Ken Nedimyer likes to say that he breathes new life into coral reefs. In fact, he's been doing it for more than a decade, and recreational divers are volunteering in the effort. "We are trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again,"...

A group of orphaned boys from the Dr. Barnardo's Homes leave Waterloo Station in London for a new life in Canada, April 1923. (Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) s for rail travel in the 1940sdeclared: “” And for the most part, that hasn’t changed, according to train historian and author . “Today, trains often roll when weather delays or cancels flights and snarls traffic on the highways,” Zimmermann said in an interview with Weather.com. “Weather can occasionally devastate rail service,...