Long a destination for weddings, Hawaii extended the aloha spirit this year to civil unions and wedding planners are anxiously awaiting the stroke of midnight on December 31 when LGBT couples take advantage of the new law

"Half of the people here are homosexual," said the narrator on the TMZ Hollywood Tour bus video, adding, "the rest are just gay."

On a beautiful spring day in the oft-rainy city of Vancouver, British Columbia, where Out There was there doing a little gay reconnaissance, it seemed the whole urban populace was outside, enjoying the natural light.

Just a 90-minute drive from San Francisco, the Russian River has a long history of being one of the Bay Area’s favorite getaways. "It’s gays meet hippies meet rednecks - and we all get along," says one Guerneville resident.

"Do you know the way to San Jose?" Dionne Warwick famously asked, channeling Burt Bacharach and Hal David . Yes, Out There does, but truth be told, we don’t find ourselves driving SJ-bound all that often.

People from Los Angeles love to make fun of San Francisco and vice versa. We might not admit it openly, but behind the rivalry, we kind of like each other.

We love our job, really we do, most days it’s just as much fun as a tickle party at former Rep. Eric Massa’s house. But it’s important to get away every now and then...

"It’s my favorite getaway," said Linda Stiles as she embraced her girlfriend in the pool at the gay Russian River Resort. She added that she gets to the Sonoma County town of Guerneville several times a year.

Dallas will probably never shed the image it gained from the eponymously named 1980s primetime soap opera in the minds of many Americans. But you can’t fault the Texas metropolis for trying.

San Diego was in crisis during my trip earlier this month. For the first two days of my visit, the temperature didn’t get above the mid-50s. It was windy. At one point, there was even light rain.

I was bundled up as I walked through the snow in a pristine forest earlier this month. Kids and adults were cross-country skiing, sledding, and playing in the snow. Just an hour later, I was at a patio restaurant in a T-shirt in the warm sun looking for a table with shade.

Las Vegas, once home to all-you-can-eat buffets and gritty gambling grottos, now shoots for the stratosphere with the opening of the 67-acre CityCenter. At a cost of $8.5 billion, CityCenter is the most expensive private construction project in America.

Writer Ed Walsh explores several German cities and their gay sensibilities in his on-going report on Gay Germany. This week Walsh discusses Berlin, Hamburg, and Frankfurt.

The recession, lower gas prices, and cheaper airline fares have made a trip to Palm Springs a great value. And the city’s tourism bureau hopes that more and more Californians will stay in their own backyard for a more economical vacation.