USA TODAY Cruise Log with Gene Sloan

• Introduction
• 1. Berlin
• 2. Black Rock Desert
• 3. Chicago
• 4. Côte d’Azur
• 5. Hvar
• 6. Ibiza
• 7. Montreal
• 8. Mykonos
• 9. Provincetown
• 10. Reykjavik

Black Rock Desert

If you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind summer party, rest assured that the annual Burning Man festival held in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert is no mirage. This weeklong, no-holds-barred “art event” has drawn increasing numbers of global pilgrims (over 35,000 of them in 2005) since its modest 1986 debut (when just 20 revelers descended on a San Francisco beach). The ultimate end-of-summer hurrah (it’s held in the week leading up to and including Labor Day weekend) encourages everyone around to let go – don't be surprised to see people getting naked, drunk, or high – and culminates with the burning of a 40-foot tall wooden effigy known as “the Man”.

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