Picture this: colossal sand dunes stretching toward the sky, their golden ridges rippling in the wind, with a backdrop of snow-dusted Rocky Mountains that look like they belong in a different universe. Welcome to Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern USA — a natural mashup of desert and alpine that feels almost too surreal to be real.

At the edge of the Sea of Japan, where waves kiss a turquoise shoreline and a sweeping bridge links the mainland to a quiet island, something strange happens when the nights are just cold enough. From the ocean's surface, columns of light rise into the sky—silent, vertical beams that look like gateways to another dimension.