August 21, 2005
Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico
1976
Dick Durrance II
"In the heart of Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, stands an adobe church, recently restored to commemorate the town's Spanish colonial heritage. Founded in the early 18th century as a Roman Catholic mission, the church of St. Francis of Assisi retains many of its original paintings, altar screens, pieces of silverwork, and Santos梬ooden statues carved by the Spanish settlers."
(Text from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, the National Geographic book The Majestic Rocky Mountains, 1976)
August 22, 2005
South Dakota
1995
Daniel R. Westergren
Stretching to the dark skyline of the ponderosa-clad Black Hills, Buffalo Gap National Grassland showcases prairie recovering from near destruction by overgrazing and soil depletion.
(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Big, Bad, and Beautiful," May/June 1996, Traveler magazine)
August 23, 2005
Pembrokeshire, Wales
1985
Robert W. Madden
Surrounded by shrubs, Manobier Castle appears to fit perfectly into the Welsh countryside. In the past, castles were effective for defense but not exactly comfortable. Often all the residents—the lord, his family, and all his knights, soldiers, and serfs—lived in one large room, the great hall. With few windows and little ventilation, life in a castle was dank, dark, and dirty.
(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, the National Geographic Book Discovering Great Britain and Ireland, 1985)
August 24, 2005
Route 66, Arizona
1996
Vincent J. Musi
Seen from famed Route 66, storm clouds darken a desert landscape. The highway stretches from Chicago to Los Angeles. It is about 2,448 miles (3,939 kilometers) long and crosses eight states and three time zones.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Route 66," September 1997, National Geographic magazine)
August 25, 2005
Margate City, New Jersey
1932
Edwin L. Wisherd
Six stories high, with portholes for eyes and a spiral staircase in each hind leg, the elephant-shaped building known as Lucy has towered over Margate City, New Jersey, since 1881. A real estate developer built Lucy to lure customers by offering them pachyderm-top views of land for sale. Since then the structure, modeled after an Asian elephant, has served as a home, a tavern, and梐s seen here in 1932梐 privately owned tourist curiosity. Lucy was relocated to a nearby park in 1970.
From "Flashback," August 2004, National Geographic magazine
August 26, 2005
Patagonian region of Argentina
1998
Brooks Walker
Until recently this vast, sparsely populated region in the far south of South America was a byword for remoteness—finis terrae, the uttermost ends of the Earth. Because of its remoteness and inaccessibility, Patagonia has always been, like Timbuktu or Shangri-la, a place of myths and legends.
—Text adapted from "Patagonia: Land of the Living Wind," January 2004, National Geographic magazine
—Photograph from "Dinosaur Embryos," December 1998, National Geographic magazine
August 27, 2005
Notting Hill, London, England
1999
Jodi Cobb
[Notting Hill Carnival] was begun in the 1960s by West Indian immigrants in response to area race riots. Today the carnival lures fans from around the globe. The mélange suits this city of seven million, one-quarter of them from ethnic minorities.
(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "London on a Roll," June 2000, National Geographic magazine)
August 28, 2005
Matanuska Glacier, Chugach Mountains, Alaska
1976
George F. Mobley
"An exultant climber raises his ice ax near the mouth of an ice cave on Alaska's Matanuska Glacier. The 49th state's diverse landscape encompasses mountain and tundra, glacier and sand dune, meadow and rocky coastline."
—From the National Geographic Book Alaska: High Roads to Adventure, 1976
August 29, 2005
Shinjuku Station, Tokyo, Japan
1986
David Alan Harvey
"Already at one with the well-ordered confusion of her city, a private-school commuter awaits her train at Shinjuku, Japan's largest station, transited by nearly three million people daily. Prosperity has arrived in a blur to a teeming city that still reflects images of its cultural traditions."
—From "Japan: Profile of Success," November 1986, National Geographic magazine
August 30, 2005
Middleton Place, South Carolina
1938
B. Anthony Stewart
The gardens at South Carolina's Middleton Place were begun in 1741 and are one of the oldest formally landscaped gardens in the United States. Designed to mirror the ordered, geometrically-balanced style that was popular in Europe at the time, the gardens are now planned so that flowering plants are in bloom in each of the four seasons.
August 31, 2005
Giza, Egypt
1994
James L. Stanfield
"In the antique light of a desert dawn, a Vickers Vimy biplane circles the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. In 1919 another Vimy buzzed above the sands here, attempting the longest, riskiest flight in history."
(Text from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Vimy Flies Again," May 1995, National Geographic magazine)
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