Susan Sumner, 43, wanted to "do something really hard." So, this spring, she went on vacation. With a group of like-minded women, Sumner biked some 35 miles a day for a week through Sonoma Valley wine country. "It was absolute joy," says Sumner, who runs a medical records transcription business and lives in Santa Fe, N.M. Her next goal: a rafting trip with her husband through the Grand Canyon.
Where:Phoenix
Duration: 3 days
Distance: 28.2 miles
Cost: $750
Operator: Just Roughin' It Adventure Co. (www.justroughinit.com; 877-399-2477)
Difficulty: Challenging
Where: San Francisco
Duration:6 days
Distance: 272 miles
Cost: $2,098 to $2,298
Operator: Backroads (www.backroads.com; 800-462-2848)
Difficulty: Challenging
AP - The United States and Iran broke a 27-year diplomatic freeze Monday with a four-hour meeting about Iraqi security. The American envoy said there was broad policy agreement, but that Iran must stop arming and financing militants who are attacking U.S. and Iraqi forces.
AP - President Bush will impose new economic sanctions against Sudan and call for a U.N. resolution to compel the country to stop stalling international efforts to halt the bloodshed in Darfur, senior administration officials said.
AP - A former prime minister and a political newcomer who both pledge to bring down Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government will face each other in a runoff after an inconclusive vote for leadership of Israel's Labor Party, final results showed Tuesday.
Cindy Sheehan, the mother who became an anti-war leader after her soldier son was killed in Iraq, says she is walking away from the peace movement. Sheehan says her son died "for nothing." And say says her activism has cost her health, her husband and her savings.