Salvation Mountain, near Niland, Calif. (Photo: justjenniej / Flickr)

Leonard Knight lived alone in the desert for 28 years, building a mountain to share his message: "Love God, love Jesus, and love the people." To build Salvation Mountain, Knight used adobe, straw, materials from the local dump, and thousands of gallons of paint. When his health failed in recent years, Knight's friends rallied to save his life.

On May 19, he returned to the mountain for one day to see how a new generation of caretakers have preserved his life's work.

Knight and his mountain were featured in the 2006 movie "Into the Wild" and he was profiled twice by the late, great Huell Howser in "Desert Adventures: California's Gold Special."

Salvation Mountain is near Niland, Calif. The drive there from Los Angeles or Palm Springs takes visitors past the Salton Sea and Slab City, a snowbird campsite that sits on the remnants of an abandoned World War II Marine barracks.

Watch the Yahoo! Viewfinder piece below to learn more about Knight and his mountain. You can also visit the

(Photo: Bill Dickinson / Flickr)

Designed by the famous engineering firm of John E. Greiner, the “million dollar” James River Railroad Bridge made quite a splash in Richmond, Va., when it was completed in 1919. Photographer Bill Dickinson, says, “… the Art Nouveau style speaks of a time when railroads (were) the number one form of transportation. Not merely a utilitarian rail trestle…but a statement of permanence and grandeur.”

The engineering firm founded by Greiner, who died in 1942, continued to oversee huge transportation projects well into the 20^th century, including airports in Tampa, Fla., and Denver.

Do you have your own compelling travel photos to share? Join the Yahoo! Travel Flickr group, or look us up on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest. You can also download the Flickr app.

(Photo: Gilberto Russo / Flickr)

In this photo, taken by Gilberto Russo, we see two gondoliers who appear to be having a discussion, perhaps whether blue stripes and black pants are proper, or black coat and yellow pants. (Tradition says stripes and black pants.) The passengers, probably not Italian are, no doubt, thinking about the 100 Euros they paid for their ride.

Dating back to the 7^th century, gondolas were once the primary mode of transportation in Venice. Today, locals use Vaporetti (water taxies) and tourists ride in the shiny black boats powered by a gondolier who, for an extra hundred Euros, will happily sing “O sole mio.”

Do you have your own compelling travel photos to share? Join the Yahoo! Travel Flickr group, or look us up on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest. You can also download the Flickr app.

(Photo: Digital Vision)

You can add one more hassle to the list when traveling: thieves making off with items in your checked bags. And, there’s not much you can do about it.

One traveler found his expensive camera, missing from his checked luggage, for sale on eBay. Another reported $160,000 in jewelry gone from her bag. And, a 12-year-old boy reportedly had $265 stolen in birthday money. None of them got the items or money back.

These thefts are unfortunately not unique or uncommon. They’re also reportedly on the rise.

CBS News reported that in 2012, 200 items were stolen every day from checked bags at New York’s JFK airport. In Miami, a local TV station found that 1,500 items have been stolen at the airport since 2003. In just one instance of a theft ring, Delta baggage handlers were found in 2009 rifling through bags in the belly of a plane, taking laptops, iPods, and jewelry, according to The Wall Street Journal.

While theft from checked bags, which disappear from public view as soon as you hand them

(Photo: Jordi M.J. / Flickr)

Lovers lock eyes; they lock arms and lips and they also lock … locks.  Modern legend says the custom of writing names on padlocks and clamping them on wrought-iron fences, bridge guardrails and other unmoving and clamp-able objects began in Serbia sometime around World War II.

A young woman named Nadia fell in love with a soldier who went off to fight in Greece. He, of course, fell in love with a Greek woman and broke off his engagement with Nadia and she died of a broken heart. After that, young Serbian couples started writing their names on locks and clamping them on the bridge where Nadia and her boyfriend once met.

Locks by the Mediterranean, photographed by Jordi M.J. near Barcelona, Spain.

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Rendering of Viking's new ocean cruise ship, the Viking Star. (Photo: Viking Cruises)

If you like to cruise – but rubbing elbows with thousands of other tourists makes you crazy -- you might be interested in a couple of new, smaller ships that will sail into the picture in 2014 and 2015.

The new lines are among the first being introduced in the travel industry in nearly a decade.

Viking River Cruises, the industry leader in Europe, will launch Viking Ocean Cruises in 2015. The new Viking Star will cruise to Scandinavia and the Baltic, plus the Western and Eastern Mediterranean.

All of the Star’s cabins will have verandas; there will be no interior rooms. And, for people who hate some common cruise ship activities, there’s more good news:

• Shore excursions will be included in the price
• No surcharges at the ship’s specialty restaurants
• No casino
• 12-hour port stops
• No formal nights (meaning no need to wear a tie)

Viking Chairman Torstein Hagen, who announced the new line at a Beverly Hills Hilton banquet for 300 guests, was wearing an open shirt because, he said,

An Airbnb rental in New York. (Photo: googlisti / Flickr)

A New York City ruling has declared the room rental website Airbnb illegal, despite efforts by the company to intervene.

Officials determined that Nigel Warren, who used Airbnb to rent out his apartment, should pay $2,400 for being in violation of an illegal hotel law, according to CNET.

The rule bans rentals for fewer than 29 days. The law was initially set up as a way to block owners from turning their residences into hotels. But the law is only enforced when a complaint is filed -- so it's unclear what effect this will have on other Airbnb hosts, Fast Company reports.

The website, which allows members to rent out rooms for short periods of time, has become popular with travelers looking for alternatives to hotels.

For renters, it's a way to pocket extra cash -- especially in a city with expensive real estate.

Like eBay or Craigslist, the website creates the tools for the marketplace, and people have jumped in to take part -- New York City alone has more than 22,000 listings.

According to

Back in February, Amanda Palmer, the lead singer, pianist, and lyricist/composer of Amanda Palmer and The Grand Theft Orchestra, as well as The Dresden Dolls, took to a stage in Long Beach, Calif., without striking a note. Instead, she gave a TED Talk on The Art of Asking. Palmer spoke about making human connections during concert tours by tweeting requests for primal needs, including shelter. The wisdom she gained via crash pads and couch surfing prompted FMU to unplug our earphones to get to know our seatmates en transit. To kick things off properly, we got an introduction to Palmer’s travel style.

What’s something you never fail to pack in your suitcase?
My memory foam pillow. It's my religion.

Carry-on or check-in?
Almost always both, but carry-on if I possibly can. Run, run, run away!!!

Window or aisle?
Window.

Do you bring food with you on plane?
I scour the airport for decent snacks and the only decent airport snack food seems to be in Australia. They have smoothies to die