Forget boring activities like rock climbing or white water rafting. For something radically different, head to Dig This in Steamboat Springs, Colorado and push around boulders and mounds of dirt with heavy machinery.

For excitement or stress relief, you can get in the cab of a big yellow industrial vehicle and test your skill at earth moving. The Dig This heavy machinery theme park is located on a 10-acre job site where you can operate a Caterpillar D5G dozer, two 315 excavators and a 6-ton skid-steer.

Playing with these big kid toys will cost you $400 a person for a half day and $750 for a full. Look for the next Dig This franchise to open in Las Vegas in the near future.

Related Stories:
· Dig This [Official Site]
· "Dig This" Tourism [Archinect]
· Ever Toss a Boulder with a Bulldozer? [BT]
· Adventure Travel coverage [Jaunted]]]> Dan Gould 2008-08-28T11:00:18-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/28/93855/2637

Jaunted is planning our fall travel with some help from the networks. Check out our Fall TV 2008 Map to go where your new favorite characters go.

Given that "LOST" creator JJ Abrams' new series "Fringe" (Sept. 9, 8 pm, Fox) begins with a plane crash just like its established cousin, we're pretty sure the producer and director has a serious phobia to deal with. But Flight 627 lands at Boston's Logan with every single passenger dead, and dead in a particularly gruesome way, so there will be no desert island shenanigans here.

A federal agent (Anna Torv), a mad scientist (Peter Noble) and his genius brat son (Joshua Jackson) believe the answer to the fate of Flight 627 lies in the realm of "fringe science"--explaining the unexplained with possible supernatural intervention. So, in other words, the Cloverfield monster did it with an assist from the smoke monster.

We haven't seen the two-hour, $10 million pilot yet, but Wired.com says it contains "a doomed airplane, hairless weasels, rooftop chases in the 'Bourne Identity' vein, acid-tripping federal agents and more translucent skin than you can shake a fat-encrusted artery at."

Related Stories:
· Fringe Pilot Script Review [Collider.com]
· JJ Abrams Tries to Play It Straight(er) With "Fringe" [NYM]
· First Look: JJ Abrams' Fringe [Wired.com]

[Photo: Collider.com]]]> egw 2008-08-28T10:30:18-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/28/75852/2816

This week, our Cambodia embed, Tim Patterson, is giving us the inside scoop on the country, live from a guesthouse in Sihanoukville.

In Cambodia, you're never far from a Buddhist temple, or wat. Even the smallest village will have its own temple, where teenage boys are schooled in the principles of Buddhism. All Cambodian men are expected to spend some time in a monastery before marriage, and townspeople support monks by giving them food in exchange for blessings.

All wats are open to the public, monks are always thrilled to greet foreigners and by following a few simple rules of etiquette, you won't accidentally offend anyone.]]> Yamabushi 2008-08-28T10:15:17-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/28/72926/1579

Back in May, we got plenty excited for the new Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Although the park appears to rock on paper, it doesn't seem to be as big a hit with tourists: The place is believed to have missed attendance expectations and earlier this month the park was forced to layoff about 30 employees.

The Myrtle Beach Sun News reports that park executives believe the number of workers that were released is "miniscule." Spokesman Jim Olecki says that the layoffs were expected due to seasonal changes in the theme park business and didn't seem to rule out additional firings in the future.

The competition isn't coming directly from other parks in the area but from the increasing costs of simply taking a vacation. As of now the park is scheduled to stay open through Labor Day and into the fall but whether it will keep rocking year-round--as originally planned--doesn't seem as certain.

Related Stories:
· Hard Rock Park Lays Off Employees [Myrtle Beach Sun News]
· Theme Parks coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: scmikeburton]]]> kjb 2008-08-28T10:00:18-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/28/6612/58687

Budget Asian carrier Tiger Airways announced a while back it was expanding its offerings in the Australian market with an Adelaide base. Finally, we have details!

A bunch of routes will head out of Adelaide to destinations such as Perth, Tasmania's capital Hobart and the Gold Coast, and they're increasing the Adelaide to Melbourne flights they've already started up. There will also be more flights from Melbourne to the Sunshine Coast--they'll run daily from December--and to Alice Springs, a good base for visiting the outback and the famous red rock of Uluru.

Just like Virgin Blue's western expansion, travelers bound for Oz and the Aussies themselves will hopefully get some cheerily cheap fares out of this. And it's about time.

Related Stories:
· Tiger Increases Flight Routes [The Australian]
· Tiger Introduces Daily Melbourne Flights [The Daily]
· Tiger Now Roaring Across Australia [Jaunted]

[Photo: 713 Avenue]
]]> amandak 2008-08-28T09:33:17-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/27/221443/351

We love to rant about having to pay for WiFi or the existence of Spencer Pratt in this universe. But we don't yet consider the thought of flying American Airlines to be anathema, which is what separates us from Diddy. The rapper turned reality-TV host turned questionable entrepreneur devoted his video blog to yelling about the reason he's now forced to fly with the plebes:

I do own my own jet and I have been having flying back and forth to LA pursuing my acting career. Now, if I'm flying back and forth, like, twice in a month that's like $200,000 or $250,000 round trip... I'm back on American Airlines right now. Ok? Your boy Diddy right now is on American Airlines... Tell whoever the next president is that we need to bring gas back down.

From a gander at his IMDb page, it appears that high gas prices, specifically are keeping Diddy from executive-producing the Notorious B.I.G. biopic. What's next, telecommuting?

Related Stories:
· Celeb Airline Travel: Diddy's Pillow Habit [Jaunted]
· Diddy Forced To Fly Commercial [Dlisted]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted] ]]> egw 2008-08-28T09:20:17-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/28/6846/38136

Anyone who has a fond memory of devouring the journeys in Tintin books is going to be a bit jealous of a British guy who's about to recreate the trip Tintin took in Land of Black Gold.

Barrimore England-Davis, major Tintin fan, has done up a vintage Jeep and will be driving through Spain and then across the desert in Morocco--along with a friend, and a dog named Snowy after Tintin's faithful hound.

The journey's scheduled to take six weeks and we're wondering if England-Davis plans to then follow a few more of Tintin's journeys. We're especially curious about what's going to happen when he sets out on Tintin's trips to fictional lands like Sao Rico, Syldavia or Borduria.

Related Stories:
· Tintin Fan's Epic Trip [Ananova]
· Road Trips Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: ergates]
]]> amandak 2008-08-28T09:00:17-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/