Forest Bathing

Forest Bathing

A shot taken toward the top of Mount Odaigahara in Japan. (coniferconifer)   Every time I come home from my latest family trip, I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. After flying for hours, driving from place to place, seeing the sights, and eating—and...
First Fastest Youngest

First Fastest Youngest

On February 2, Cassandra De Pecol entered Yemen, becoming the first documented woman to travel to every country in the world. This record-breaking journey, called Expedition 196, took her just over 18 months to complete. While she also became the youngest American to...

Helping Haiti

In Haiti, a 6-year-old orphaned girl named Jenika dreams of becoming a doctor. Ken Agle, founder of the public charity Pathways to English, met her a year ago when she first entered the Corner of Heaven Orphanage in St. Marc. When he talks to her he “believes...
Vertical Road Not Taken

Vertical Road Not Taken

It’s been over one hundred years since Robert Frost inspired the world to take the “road not taken.” Imagine the “road not taken” is an unstable vertical conglomerate rock in a steep canyon, and you have another story altogether. Maple Canyon, one of the United...
Okinawa’s “Miracle Street”

Okinawa’s “Miracle Street”

After the war, Kokusai Dori—also called “Miracle Street”—quickly became a   center of trade, economy, and prosperity that continues to the present day. In the cold, deadly conditions of total war, enemy assets like bridges, roads, and airports must be cut down to...