USABy Mark Thompson

The long wooden dock at Wequassett extended like a forefinger into the peaceful waters of Pleasant Bay. It's like an invitation, beckoning across the bay toward the Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. We had a picnic basket in hand -- along with books and beach towels, an umbrella and chairs -- on our way to a remote barrier beach island that didn't exist until 2007, when a storm created a new inlet along Outer Beach.

Before Dubai, there was Phoenix, an oasis rising from the Sonoran Desert, beckoning to Hollywood stars in need of escape from the Prohibition restrictions of the studio era. Before commercial aviation, Phoenix was as exotic to most Americans as Dubai is today. A territory until 1912, Arizona was the last contiguous state admitted to the U.S., home to less than a million people through 1950.