Sand

Stuck 3 miles back from the rotary on theway to the Cape, you have lots of time tothink. So consider this: There are plenty ofexquisite beaches less than an hour's drive ortrain ride from downtown Boston. Here areour picks. Best Fun for Kids With tidal pools to explore and lots of rockformations for climbing, WingaersheekBeach in Gloucester is a favorite for thepre-tween set. At low tide, you can walk a seemingly endless sand bar to within a fewhundred feet of a gleaming-white lighthouseon the Annisquam shore, across the narrowAnnisquam River.

A tiny company with approval to mine tar sands in Utah is raising money for a first-of-its kind project in the U.S. that some fear could lead to widespread destruction of public lands in the Rocky Mountain region. U.S. Oil Sands Inc. is offering a share inducement until May 17 with a $9 million sale that allows investors to buy large blocks of stock at a fixed price unaffected by market pressures and with options to buy more. Company officials said they will use the money to start digging a 62-acre pit this summer in an area of eastern Utah that contains gooey bitumen, a tar-like...

A 5-year-old boy was taken to the hospital Monday after a hole his parents dug in the sand at White Crest Beach collapsed on him, said Wellfleet Fire Department officials. Emergency responders arrived at the beach about 3 p.m., after onlookers had dug the boy out, said Fire Chief Dan Silverman. The hole was up to the boy’s waist, said Suzanne Thomas, the beach administrator for the town of Wellfleet. The boy had sand in his throat and nose, but was “conscious and crying,’’ said Silverman.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND, Fla. - "Can you get arrested in Florida if you drive half-naked," I asked. "Better not risk it, the way our luck is going," Pam replied. The airline had misplaced our luggage, so I was still wearing the Boston winter uniform of Uggs and fleece. The air conditioning in our (cheapo) rental car was spewing hot, funky fumes. Not to mention, we were lost. Sweaty and crabby, we stopped at a convenience store for a blast of cold air and a couple of diet sodas. The guy at the counter calmly directed us to our lodgings.

Eastham has come full circle since the time in 1620, when a Pilgrim troupe led by Myles Standish was attacked by Nauset Indians at First Encounter Beach . These days it's one of the most inviting towns on the Cape. Once you drive around the Orleans rotary, passing the Cape's elbow and heading north up the forearm, congestion and commercialism subsides, replaced by the long stretch of sand, dunes, and moors that make up the Cape Cod National Seashore . A mere 3 miles wide from ocean to bay side and 6 miles long to the tip of North Eastham, this patch of land is replete with 11 beaches, one of the finest walks on the Cape, two...

A sand storm in northern Germany caused a huge highway pileup Friday that killed eight people and injured at least 41 others, police said. Rostock police spokesman Volker Werner said rescue operations were still under way and the death toll could rise. At least 41 people were injured, many of them seriously, and were brought to nearby hospitals. Others who suffered shocks or bruising received treatment on the spot, Werner said. In total some 110 people in 80 cars and three trucks were involved in the crash a few kilometers from the Baltic...

The doubters said it couldn't be done, a Red Sox World Championship in our lifetime. But come next spring, we'll be chanting "2004!" at Yankees games and a red victory banner will be streaming down the side of Fenway Park right next to the one from 1918. We've tasted the champagne of winners, thanked the players at a parade for the ages. But will joy in Mudville vanish now that the first flurries have hit the Green Monster seats? Not if we take the party down south -- way down south to the Caribbean nation that celebrated Red Sox dominance with us. The land of...

Tiger Woods managed it all - the wind blowing, the sand swirling, and the photographers clicking. He shot a 1-under-par 71 yesterday, making birdies on two of the last three holes for a one-stroke lead halfway through the Dubai Desert Classic in United Arab Emirates. Woods was at 8-under 136, and a victory will give him seven wins in eight starts. He also won in Dubai in 2006. "It was not a pretty day out there," he said. Damien McGrane, who is ranked 319th and has never won as a pro, shot a 69 and was a stroke behind.

"The House of Sand" is the story of two Brazilian women in the dunes and their steadily sinking casa . It's a grand outdoor spectacle (the only real interiors are within tents, and those are hard to come by) and a perfectly juicy melodrama. Directed by Andrucha Waddington from Elena Soárez's script, the film opens in 1910 (and closes many decades later) on the perilous white sands of Maranhão, the state on Brazil's northeast coast. The opening long shots of a caravan crossing the dunes are typical desert epic stuff, but abruptly there's a cut to...

FARGO, N.D. - Millions of bags filled with sand were used to battle record flood crests in Fargo and neighboring Moorhead, Minn. But now that the flood risk is over, city leaders wonder: Where will the sand go? Cleanup crews in the two cities are facing about 6 million bags of sand used to prop up dikes, built in a week after the National Weather Service bumped up its Red River flooding forecast by several feet in March. "We were in crisis mode when we were filling the bags, and that gave people a lot of energy," said Bruce Grubb, a Fargo city official...

SandRidge said it would pay $1.28 billion for closely held Dynamic Offshore Resources LLC of Houston, increasing its oil and natural gas reserves in the Gulf of Mexico. But some investors soured on the deal because of the risk of hurricanes in the gulf and the addition of more gas production when prices are already at 10-year lows, one analyst said. CEO Tom Ward said the company sees the gulf "as a great area in which to invest. "

Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano birdied his last three holes for a 6-under 66 at the Qatar Masters, overcoming wind and blowing sand to lead John Daly by a shot after the first round on Thursday. Daly (67) was followed by K.J. Choi (68) and Jason Day (68). Six players, including 1999 British Open champion Paul Lawrie and Nicolas Colsaerts, were three shots off the pace. Martin Kaymer (71) and Sergio Garcia (72) were in contention, but about two-thirds of the field shot over par, including defending champion Thomas Bjorn (79)

Maybe those swing changes are paying off for Tiger Woods. Woods moved into contention with a 3-under-par 69 yesterday after three birdies over five holes on the back nine in the second round of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, finishing two shots behind leader Thorbjorn Olesen (67). "I've grown to understand what Sean [Foley] wants me to do and how my body is going to do those things and produce the numbers he wants me to produce," Woods said. Olesen made seven birdies in his first 12 holes for a one-shot lead over 18-year-old Gareth Maybin (70)

Sand is blowing in the wind on the surface of Mars — at least in some places. NASA on Thursday released images documenting dozens of spots on the red planet where sand dunes shifted several yards. Scientists had suspected this was occurring but thought it was limited to a few locations. The latest images were taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been photographing the Martian surface since 2005. Dust is constantly being blown around on Mars, but sand grains are tougher to move.

FREEPORT, Maine - It's a bit of a shock. Sure, you have heard of the Desert of Maine, a Ripley's Believe It or Not desert in one of the leafiest states in the country. But when you pull into the dusty parking lot, the site looks like a lot of other homespun attractions. You enter a gift shop filled with a predictable assortment of T-shirts and souvenir spoons. You buy your ticket, exit the gift shop - and feel as if you have fallen into an "X-Files" episode. A shimmering expanse of sand spreads out before you - 45 acres in all. Wind-carved ledges and dunes create an undulating...

A marine scientist says a 15 meter (50 feet) sperm whale has died after beaching on the sands of a northern seaside resort town. Enrique Franco, vice president of the society for the study and conservation of marine fauna in the northern Bay of Biscay, says that the specimen, despite its size, was still a juvenile. Franco, says the carcass would be towed out to sea and then taken into the nearby port of Orio where it was to be buried in sand for around four years. He says that after that period the skeleton would be retrieved for scientific...

IT IS difficult to decide whether to laugh or cry at Mayor Joseph Curtatone's opening salvo directed at Wal-Mart's plan to open a grocery store in Somerville ("No red carpet for Wal-Mart Market," Business, July 23). If it wasn't for the horror of his apparent desire to kill dozens of potential jobs waiting to be created in what is now an empty eyesore, I would be chuckling at the fact that he was taking this tough stand while off on vacation. Josh Bresler Charlestown

GULF SHORES, Ala. — There’s a dirty secret buried under Gulf of Mexico beaches after cleanup workers scrape away the oil washing ashore. Walk to a seemingly pristine patch of sand, plop down in a chair, and start digging with your bare feet, like everyone does at the beach. Chances are you will walk away with gooey tar between your toes. So far, cleanup workers hired by BP have skimmed only the surface, using shovels or sifting machines to remove oil. The company is planning a deeper cleaning program that could include washing or incinerating sand once the leak is stopped...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Andre, a sea turtle who survived catastrophic injuries and underwent a year of rehabilitation and innovative surgeries, has been found dead, three weeks after he was released off the Florida coast. Loggerhead Marinelife Center, which had cared for the turtle, said he was found Wednesday. David McClymont, the center's president, said the turtle was identified from a tag that had been placed on him, but he was in such bad shape they could not determine what killed him. Just three weeks ago, a raucous crowd of hundreds gathered to watch Andre crawl into the sea and swim...

New Zealand's favorite penguin visitor will soon be released into the sub-Antarctic ocean. The emperor penguin known as Happy Feet has been booked onto a research vessel scheduled to leave the country Aug. 29. Happy Feet was discovered June 20 at Peka Peka Beach about 40 miles (65 kilometers) northwest of Wellington, far from his Antarctic feeding grounds. He was transferred to the Wellington Zoo four days later after becoming sick from eating sand, which he likely mistook for snow.