July and August are typically the hottest months of the summer and, for most of us, the driest. Melting as you make your way from air-conditioned house to car? Drenched in perspiration by the time you reach the office? Scanning the skies for those ever elusive rain clouds and thinking, “Just a little rain, PLEASE!” as you stare at empty blue? You're not alone. While it may be miserably dry where you live, there are some spots you definitely wouldn't want to earn your living selling umbrellas or rain slickers; they're the driest places in the planet.

For the US the three driest cities are not a big surprise. Located in Arizona, Nevada and California, the three hold the record for the least rainfall in the US per year.

Yuma, AZ is the driest city in the country, ranking in at only 3 inches of rain each year. Located in southern Arizona, in the Yuma and Gila Valleys, it is surrounded by picturesque mountains mountains and boasts the cool waters of the Colorado River. Ranked by Money Magazine as one of the most desirable places to live in the United States, it is a favorite for residents and visitors alike. Fresh air, a rich history and friendly population makes Yuma a welcoming, but dry place to go.

Las Vegas, Nevada ranks as the States number two most dry city, receiving an average of only 4 inches of rain per year. That doesn't seem to bother anybody; the city averages 40 thousand tourists each year and is supported primarily by tourist trade. There are hundreds of things to do in Vegas, from golfing to gambling, shows to museums, Grand Canyon tours to grand eating at Emeril's. Dry or not, Vegas is definitely a winner.

The third driest city is located in California. Receiving an average of only 5 inches of wet stuff per year, Bishop is located at the edge of the Death Valley Park and Mammoth Lakes. While Bishop doesn't thrive on its tourism industry, it's a great destination for the outdoor enthusiast. The Owens River, South Lake or Lake Sabrina offer great spots for fishing and rock climbers will enjoy the peaks of the Buttermilks. With a wide choice of campgrounds in the area, backpacking, hiking or mountain-biking the Sierra High Country is a breeze, and not much will beat a soak in primitive Hot Springs. It seems the dry weather here is viewed as an asset.

For the world-traveler in you, Aswan, Egypt is the driest city in the world, receiving an average of 0.02 inches of rain per year. Australia is the world's driest continent. Eighty per cent of the continent has an average annual rainfall less than 19 inches. Tourism in Australia seems to be booming, too.

I guess it's true … When you're hot, you're hot!

1. Noccalula Falls; Etowah County, Alabama
2. Bailey Falls; Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska
3. Bridalveil Falls; Yosemite National Park, California
4. Alberta Falls; Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
5. Akaka Fall; Akaka Fall State Park, Big Island, Hawaii
6. Cumberland Falls; Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, Kentucky
7. Rapid River Falls; Upper Michigan Waterfalls; Delta County, Michigan
8. Minnehaha Falls; Minnehaha Falls Park, Minnesota
9. Niagara Falls; New York
10. Pearson's Falls; Polk County, North Carolina
11. Narada Falls; Mt. Ranier National Park, Lewis County, Washington
12. Big Manitou Falls; Pattison State Park, Wisconsin

Before visiting, investigate some of the past history of these natural wonders. Some of the stories make you feel as though time has frozen at that particular moment.

Bab el-Mandeb, Gate of Tears when translated to Arabic, separates the Asian and African continents by thirty kilometers. It is sandwiched between the nations of Djibouti to the southwest and Yemen to the Northeast. The strait itself is partitioned by the island of Perim, currently Yemeni territory. This splits the strait into a western corridor of about twenty-five kilometers and one to its opposite, only three kilometers in width. Yemen is known to harbor Al Qaeda and other less popular terrorist organizations, and African coastal nations are not strangers to terror and piracy. Al Qaeda ushered in the new century of terrorism when on 12 October 2000, a Yemeni dhow armed with explosives blew a thirty-six foot hole in the hull of the USS Cole, killing seventeen sailors.

The Strait of Hormuz, facing the Iranian and Omani/UAE coasts, is one of the most logistically important chokepoints. The strait is the only option open to Gulf States who export petroleum and other products. However, merchant mariners have been wary to travel through the strait, as Iranians are infamous for mining and blocking passage through the strait. The Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s is a fine example of how well the Iranians were able to close the strait off by means of emplacing mines and enforcing their blockade with armed vessels. Until intervention from the United States, Kuwaiti and other foreign merchant vessels were unable to sail through the strait to deliver their goods, and there were a few damaged civilian vessels within the conflict.

The Northwest Passage, though not a specifically dangerous area when compared to the latter two sea lanes, is as important. Located within the Arctic Circle and frozen over for a good portion of the year, the strait begins between the eastern Russians and Alaskan coast, and east through Canadian territory. There are three routes available to vessels, however all will eventually exit in a similar fashion. Pack ice does not permit regular travel through the strait, but because of climate change, passage may be more feasible without the assistance of icebreakers. Because the strait is located within Canadian waters, the Canadian government believes the nation may regulate fishing and environmental policy, as long as the regulation, restricting, and even possible taxation of passage through the strait. The United States, along with many other nations which highly benefit from usage of the strait totally disagree with the Canadian Parliament.

Plagued by years of colonization, brutal internal violence, and a propensity to raise and harbor potential pirates and terrorists, Indonesia and the surrounding oceanic nations are already unstable. The Strait of Malacca links the Indian Ocean to the Eastern Pacific, imperative for trade between China, India, Japan, Pakistan, and others, littoral or landlocked. According to the Energy Information Administration, the strait is one of the world's most important chokepoints when dealing with transportation of oil. Piracy has always been an issue within the strait, seeing as it is one of the quickest ways to make a living in the region. Southeastern Asian countries are currently making an effort at reporting and preventing piracy attacks within the strait. Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia actively contribute with military craft, both on sea and air.

The Turkish Straits, important to trade along the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, are effectively the gateway between Europe and near-eastern Asia, as far as trade is concerned. The two straits, the Dardanelles and Bosporus, are on opposite sides of a body of water known as the Sea of Marmara. The only way through is to pass through both straits. The Black Sea is nearly an internal sea, much like that of the Caspian, with the exception of these passages. The wider of the two, the Dardanelles is only a kilometer wide and nearly seventy kilometers long, whereas the Bosporus is a diminutive seven hundred meters wide and thirty kilometers long. The Dardanelles faces the Aegean to the west and the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus facing the eastern black Sea. Romania, Ukraine, Russia, and Caucasian countries rely on these sea lanes for trade. Though the Turkish are much tamer than their eastern relatives, conflicts between Turkey and Greece have always been an issue with the maritime industry.

The South China Sea is home to several nations which thrive off of trade. Southeast Asia relies off of trade to survive, and as the United States utilizes China more for the manufacture of basic goods, more important does the South China Sea become. China, Vietnam, Thailand, The Philippines, and several island nations have laid claim to chunks of the body of water, but the dominant nation in the area is China. Able to outspend and outdo any of the other countries in a military capacity, the state has basically taken the entire sea as their own. One of the possessions prized by both the Southeast Asian region and a good portion of the world are a scattered group of islands called the Spratlys. Diminutive, and almost useless for habitation or much else, they are home to some of the world's richest oil deposits. However, they go far beyond the territorial waters of any nation in the area, though many have attempted to set up outposts and housing. Because basic life cannot be supported on the islands, most of the land is only visible at low tide, they cannot be officially considered islands. Currently, the Chinese and several nations have naval craft deployed, each trying to make their claim at what could be the world's next Gold Rush, or an all-out war.

The Strait of Malacca is often argued as the most dangerous of all sea lanes and trade routes. This is common not only because of its truth, but its exposure to the public. However, the ferocity of the events occurring within the strait and around it is not all because those who create violence and mayhem seek to please themselves. Several Indonesian separatist groups exist, the sheer volume and mass of the nation and plethora of ethnicities against the current regime create a problem not unlike a small civil war. The Free Papua movement, Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, and the Free Aceh Movement, though all now defunct and their members reintegrated with civil society, are just examples of how the country and surrounding nations have managed to rip themselves apart over various battles.

This, in turn, forces those with no money or alternative way of life to turn to stealing. Because many vessels traverse the waters and the locals know them so well, it comes easier than having to actually find work. Vessels with a lower freeboard are favored by most pirates, but because of the traffic in the Strait of Malacca, there is a much higher chance of having one's ship boarded and having money and objects of variable value stolen. Many seek private gain, and others need to find ways to tend to their dependents. After the tsunamis that rocked the Southeast Asian region swept through Indonesia, piracy was not a threat for some time. Like all popular trades, especially those that bring in large sums of wealth, it would find a way to reappear, and attacks became much more common as time progressed and man adapted.

The strait of Bab el-Mandeb is conveniently located between two equally desperate areas, both devoid of material wealth and Western thought. In Yemen, where rule is assumed by those who commit to a life of the trade of terror, and where law is oppression or death, it is all too common to see individual cases of terrorism, like that of the Cole. Piracy is less an issue to the north, as monetary gain is not as important to those who operate along the coasts as spreading a doctrine of fear or coaxing others into submission or conversion by means of explosion and death. To the south, however, anything that is needed goes. The Somalis and other African peoples, who will at times do anything to save their own lives to work for warlords, will resort to piracy to fund the operations of their said employer. United Nations relief vessels, merchant ships, and even cruise vessels have been attacked farther than one-hundred miles off of the coast of the Horn of Africa, proving to those who seek to stop piracy that with advancement in quelling the ability of a pirate brings adaptation by others.

Overall, Bab el-Mandeb is much more threatening when compared to the Strait of Malacca. Both are highly dangerous areas, definitely a threat to commerce in Africa, Asia, and the world's interests. The Strait of Malacca has presented itself as a drain of maritime corporations' funds and financial loss of business all over the world. Bab el-Mandeb and the surrounding coasts are home to some of the most vile and violent groups on the planet, harboring both terrorists and on a lesser scale, pirates. Given that terrorism will often cause more disruption and often halt traffic in a specific area for an extended period of time, it does much to damage society, infrastructure, and international trade. Piracy, though in greater volume and resulting in more deaths over time, does not give the massive effect of a single terror operation, where the death was deliberate and meant as a warning to those who pass without the approval of the aggressive entity.

Now that I have tempted you into booking a flight to the USA immediately, its only fair that I inform you of what you will be treated to before you arrive…the flight. To demonstrate just what is in store, I would like to recount a recent flight I made to New York before catching a connection to Washington DC.

I set off for the airport early with the weather cool. The airport was blissfully quiet and after an uneventful check in, I was given "the forms". The forms provide, in my eyes, the first section of in flight entertainment! They consist of two pieces of bureaucracy. The first inquires about the value of the goods I am bringing into America and the other is the Visa Waiver. Basically, the waiver allows me to enter the US for 90 days to do whatever I want…except get a job, file for welfare, claim a pension or commit any crime (spoil sports). Furthermore, I have to swear that I'm not a terrorist, a communist, a spy, a criminal and that I've never been a Nazi. I have to wonder whether anyone has ever said "yes" to any of these questions. I'm always tempted to say "yes" in an attempt to be funny, however American immigration control…especially in New York, is famous for having large firearms and very little humour!

The flight was actually rather pleasant. The movies were poor, but it didn't matter as I was fortunately sat next to a very nice American lady. We chatted for several hours and after a while, I managed to forget that the seat in front of me had jammed my knees behind my ears and there was a baby screaming behind me.

Since the flight was a connection, I had a 90 minute layover in NY. I sat and read, listening to the permanently annoyed drawl of the New Yorkers rambling around me and boarded my flight at 5pm, heading to Washington DC. It was mercifully under booked and I had a window seat above the engine. I relaxed for nearly five minutes when the captain informed us that an emergency light had flickered to life as he was about to fire the engines and we had to pull off the runway. Suddenly, the window seat over thousands of gallons of jet fuel seemed less appealing. Still, I got a beautiful view of the clouds as we climbed through them and I was happy to be alive for the short flight. Landing in DC, I was amazed that I wasn't anally probed by customs...again, and I headed to the Metro stop, slightly disappointed that Customs had spared me my usual welcome to the US. It's not so bad when you get used to it!

So what have we learned about flying to America? Strike up a conversation with the person next to you whether they like it or not, try and enjoy the probing and never say you are a Nazi…even for a joke!

Here is an overview of some of the top destinations for adventure lovers:

Colorado River

Rafters and kayakers alike enjoy challenging their skills on the mighty Snake River. Once voyaged by Lewis and Clark, the Colorado River cuts through the grand Canyon with such fierce that only expert paddlers are advised to take her on. Pack it in for one-to-three day excursions for a chance at adventure in the basin of one of the world's greatest natural wonders.

Badlands

The Badlands are one of North America's most secret and exclusive spots. Located in South Dakota, the Badlands cut miles of prairie land in half with their Grand-Canyon like glory. Hikers and backpackers, we warned: heard of buffalo run wild amidst towering rock formations.

New River Valley

The New River Valley is one of North America's most treasure assets and it's located in the east! Paddlers can expect to find class-five waters, a host of 12-foot plus drops, and rapids that will leave you spinning.

Yosemite

Ansel Adams is noted as the first person to glorify California's Yosemite National Park through photographs. Indeed, his photos of stark rock formations - and endless miles of them - made people flee to the natural park in droves. For a weekend tour of America's most beautiful, start at Yosemite and head north just a few hours to Oregon's' Redwood Forest for an experience that will leave you proportionally in awe.

Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Forest has been a family destination for decades. Carloads pull through the park by the thousands to see the world-famous Old Faithful geyser and to stare down into colorful hot springs. Camping, hiking, soaking in natural hot springs and mountain biking are also popular Yellowstone activities.

Jackson Hole

If you've never climbed a mountain or witnessed it in it's full towering glory, head to Wyoming's Jackson Hole for a peak at the Grand Tetons. The Tetons, which loom over Jenny Lake, draw thousands of daring mountain climbers and hikers each season (summer), many of whom spend several days on the face of the mountain as they struggle to reach the top. Be sure to take your binoculars.

Death Valley

Death Valley is located in the desert just outside of the Grand Canyon. The area is host to many tour groups, including backpacking groups, helicopter tours, and tours by car. Many visitors enjoy exploring the ghost towns, while others take a trip into the 3,000 year old Ubehebe Crater, which was caused from gas explosions brought on by hot magma.

Salt Flats

Ever seen miles of salt laid out like a lake? No? Then head to Utah, home of the Salt Flats. Hike across the Salt Flats, camps, or take a detour past one of the many Salt Flats racing competitions, which take place on the actual flats! The Salt Flats are truly a unique North American treasure not to be missed.

Rockies

If you're in the market for hiking in North America's largest and most glorious mountain range, then head on over to the Rockies. The range extends from New Mexico to Canada and is interlaced with the Pacific Coast Trail, which is a popular trail that dissects the country. Plus, for the two-wheeled folk, mountain biking is extreme, dangerous and oh-so fun in the Rockies!

Alaskan Glaciers

Alaska plays host to miles upon endless miles of glaciers. Whether you are simply in the mood to touch a glacier front, or whether you're ready to strap on the crampons and hit the icy side, then head straight for Alaska. First stop: the Tazlina Glacier, which stretches a full 25 miles long.