NEED TO KNOW

It’s going to be all about you

Tell us where to go. We mean that literally, not figuratively. The Times Travel section wants you, dear reader, to share your favorite vacation spot in the western United States. It might be a mountain idyll or a great inn, a quiet beach or a rocking resort. We’ll sift and sort the ideas and present a package of stories in an August Travel section based on your feedback (and credit you with the idea too). Tell us what makes your spot special by using the online form at latimes.com/telluswheretogo. Please include your name and contact information; we won’t print your contact info, but we will need it for verification purposes. The deadline is June 21.

Giant’s toy block

Daniel Libeskind strikes again. The edgy architect du jour, who designed a recent addition to the Denver Art Museum, has left his mark on the new Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco: a giant, blue-steel cube atop a re-purposed 1907 power substation. The unusual $47.5-million facility, which is to open today in the city’s SoMa district, replaces a smaller downtown space. Inside are three galleries, a spacious lobby, theater, cafe and a shop selling creative Judaica. The main opening exhibit, “In the Beginning,” delves into Genesis. (415) 655-7800, www.thecjm.org.

-- Jane Engle

Rent your Wi-Fi

If you’re not on the road enough to justify $40 or more a month for mobile Wi-Fi, you might consider renting. RoVair.com offers mobile broadband cards that cost as little as $5.99 a day to use. You place your order, and the software and the connection are delivered with a prepaid return envelope. Instead of having to search for a hot spot, you can use the Sprint or Verizon air card to keep in touch while avoiding sometimes hefty connection charges at hotels. (866) 768-2479, www.rovair.com.

-- Catharine Hamm

Doggie lullabies

Now you can use music to soothe your not-so-savage beast in the car. A book titled “Through a Dog’s Ear: Using Sound to Improve the Health and Behavior of Your Canine Companion” comes with a 45-minute starter CD. Other CDs are being released. Do they work? For my dog, the answer is yes. Darby, my 5-year-old Wheaton terrier, usually dances around in the back seat when we travel, whining while bouncing from window to window looking for cool stuff outside. But when I played “Dog’s Ear” classical-music CDs, he took a nap. The authors are Joshua Leeds, a psychoacoustics expert, and Susan Wagner, a veterinary neurologist. The book costs $18.95; hourlong CDs cost $14.95 each.

-- Rosemary McClure

Pleasant Italy

And now . . . Europe. Pleasant Holidays, a major seller of travel packages to sunny spots such as Hawaii and Mexico, last week began marketing trips to Italy. Five-night Rome vacations, with airfare from Los Angeles, start at $1,872 per person, double occupancy. Other Italian destinations include Florence, Venice and Siena. The Italian program is the latest expansion for Pleasant Holidays, which earlier this year returned to selling Caribbean packages. (800) 448-3333, www.pleasantholidays.com.

-- J.E.