Geek Getaways

Time Travel for the Down-to-Earth Set:  Jonathan Arvizu/Trapdoor Studio

Learn Real Crime-sleuthing Skills on a Corpse Farm

Destination: Body Farms - Tennessee, Texas, North Carolina

Ever wonder what happens to your body after you die? Forensic-anthropology labs at the University of Tennessee, Texas State University and Western Carolina University are the places to find out. These facilities feature "graveyards" ranging from a garage-size plot in North Carolina to an eventual 26-acre site in Texas, where scientists study donated bodies as they decay. You can't tour the actual "de-comp" yards, but you can learn about the recovery of remains at crime scenes and disasters such as 9/11.

Info: web.utk.edu/~fac/, txstate.edu/anthropology/facts/, wcu.edu/3403.asp
Geek highlight: Learn how to carbon-date a skeleton.

Cool Ones for the Summertime:  Jonathan Arvizu/Trapdoor Studio

Tour the Nation's Only Frozen Cemetery

Destination: Alcor Life Extension Foundation - Scottsdale, Ariz.

Cryonics is the controversial science of using ultra-cold temperatures to preserve your body, or just your head, until technology advances enough to restore it to good health. Although no cryonics patients have ever been revived (hence the controversy), Alcor has preserved 84 customers, including Baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams, and nearly 900 others have committed to the process. Once a member is declared legally dead, the "vitrification" begins. Chemicals replace 60 percent of the water in cells and are rapidly cooled. On your free tour, you'll see the operating room and cool-down bay — but no bodies, sorry. Preregistration (for the tour, silly) is required.

Info: alcor.org
Geek highlight: Frozen people.