
Pilatus: The Dragon’s Mountain
LUCERNE, SWITZERLAND. 1421. It’s summer, when the snows have finally receded back into the fang-like peaks of Mount Pilatus. The small lakeside village rests peacefully...
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The Universal Language: Ice Cream Cones and Crayola Crayons
My eyes grew sleepy as winding hills consumed my view, sloping gently into the background with no sign of relapse. I watched as sunflowers danced in the wind and wildflowers mingled haphazardly; the colors...
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A Stroll in Berlin
If I’m honest about it, I was never grabbed by books about history when I was younger. I found it hard to connect personally...
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Sunrise Serenade — Hiking Navaho Peak, Washington
Some ideas are the product of meticulous planning and deliberate thinking, while others just seem to happen. When three friends and I decided to climb a 7,000 foot mountain at 3:00 AM to herald the sunrise...
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My Soul for Santa Maria: Life Lessons Learned from a Volcano
4:00 a.m. is too early to be climbing volcanoes. I’m still dreaming as I wake up, crawling out of bed and into shorts, fumbling with shoelaces and hair ties. Everyone in in our little town of Xela is...
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Where Humans and Wildlife Collide
The miniature howler monkey clung to its mother’s back as the older monkey undulated through the branches of the twisted tree. With one movement, the mother pushed off the bowing bough and transferred...
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A Thousand Ones
The silence is so strong it hurts my ears. It’s as if the people around me are trying not to wake the souls that lie below our feet. The water around us seems shadowy, but I know what is there. It’s...
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