In August of 1907, Irish Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton and his crew set sail on their 200 ton-ship, the “Nimrod,” in an attempt to be the first expedition to reach the geographic South Pole. Shackleton and his small team were met with many hardships, but also achieved many “firsts,” including climbing Mount Erebus, the world’s southernmost volcano.
In 1985, Mel Gibson went head to head with Tina Turner in the post-apocalyptic action film “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.” The movie was set in an otherworldly, Australian landscape, intriguingly barren and completely coated in a red layer of sandstone dust.
Morocco is a country of vibrant sights and sounds. From its delectable cuisine to its colorful open-air markets, it appeals to each one of the five senses. In southwestern Morocco, nestled inside the Souss Valley, visitors are treated to one of the country’s most unique spectacles..
Stretching for 275 glistening square miles across the diverse landscape of New Mexico, White Sands National Park is a natural wonder, unlike any other in the United States. Its pristine sands seem to undulate in waves and patterns that change almost imperceptibly, but continuously.
On the eastern coast of China, a once-bustling fishing village blends seamlessly into the hillside, reclaimed by the ivy and moss of the lush, green landscape. The village, located on Shengshan Island, is part of the Shengsi Islands, a smattering of over 400 islands just south of the mouth of the Yangtze River.
One of the most compelling figures to emerge from World War II wasn’t a military hero or a world leader. It was a young Jewish girl with a front-row seat to the Holocaust, who kept a diary of her most candid thoughts and observations. Her story serves as a reminder of the horrors of antisemitism, racism, and discrimination, even today.
In the late 1800s, the bustling town of Oatman, Arizona, was overflowing with miners who hoped to stake their claim on some of the millions of dollars in gold and silver from the surrounding mountains. The town was named after a Mormon teenager named Olive Oatman who, as the locals tell it, was captured by Apache warriors, sold to a Mojave tribe, and eventually freed after five years of captivity.
The Sandhills Curiosity Shop, opened by Harley Russell and his late wife Annabelle, is one of the few stores with countless items on display, but nothing is actually for sale. Instead, the shop is a showcase of decades’ worth of Route 66 memorabilia, proudly displayed in every square inch of the property.
Some people dream of tropical climates and hot, sandy beaches when they plan a vacation – the hotter, the better. For those who prefer a cooler destination, the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in Heilongjiang Province, China may be just the place.
For thousands of years, Yuncheng Salt Lake has served as an important source of salt for residents all over China. Located in the Shanxi Province in Northern China, the lake, nicknamed “China’s Dead Sea,” has been the focus of numerous wars, territorial disputes, and religious traditions for over 4,000 years. Ancient people even worshipped “salt gods” in nearby temples to pay homage to the lake.
