January 20, 2008

Nun on Jersey Shore Boardwalk, New Jersey, 2004
Photograph by Amy Toensing
A nun enjoys an ice cream cone on a crowded stretch of boardwalk on the New Jersey shore. The Jersey shore has some 28 boardwalks and promenades in the 127 miles (204 kilometers) from Sandy Hook to Cape May.
Wrote one observer: "A shore town without a boardwalk is like an ice cream cone without sprinkles."
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Greetings From the Jersey Shore," August 2004, National Geographic magazine)

January 21, 2008

Colorado River at Granite Rapids, Arizona, 2005
Photograph by Michael Nichols
A time-lapse image blurs the silty, mocha-colored waters of the Colorado River as it flows through sheer cliffs in Grand Canyon National Park. The now tame Colorado carved these steep walls over the last six million years, exposing rock strata that detail nearly two billion years of North America's geologic history.
Wrote one canyon trekker: "[T]hat I could reach down and touch a part of the Earth that existed when life itself was a mere billion-plus years old made this big cliff land seem very holy indeed."
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Unexpected Canyon," January 2006, National Geographic magazine)

January 22, 2008

Grazing Sheep, Denmark, 1998
Photograph by Bob Krist
Puffy clouds and grazing sheep make a postcard-perfect scene in Denmark's Jutland Peninsula. A craggy projection of northern Europe, the Jutland Peninsula is an 11,496-square-mile (29,775-square-kilometer) spread of land that makes up continental Denmark. The generally low-lying, flood-prone peninsula was named after a Germanic tribe, the Jutes.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Danish Light," July/August 1998, National Geographic Traveler magazine)

January 23, 2008

Girl Jumping into Water, Puerto Rico, 2003
Photograph by Amy Toensing
A girl free-falls into a river in Puerto Rico's Caribbean National Forest. The area, also called El Yunque, is just an hour's drive from the capital, San Juan, and is the only tropical rain forest in the U.S. Forest Service system. It was first set aside as a reserve by the king of Spain in 1876.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "True Colors: Divided Loyalties in Puerto Rico," March 2003, National Geographic magazine)

January 25, 2008

The Aquadettes Synchronized Swim Team, California, 1996
Photograph by Karen Kasmauski
Members of the Aquadettes, a synchronized swimming team at Leisure World Retirement Community in Laguna Hills, California, practice their formations. Activities like line dancing, lawn bowling, and computer classes make such retirement communities increasingly popular among people with decades of free time to fill. "Anyone who's bored here is a stick in the mud," says Aquadette Barbara Hack.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Aging—New Answers to Old Questions," November 1997, National Geographic magazine)

January 26, 2008

Newborn Calf, Ontario, Canada, 1977
Photograph by Sam Abell
A cow cares for her newborn calf on a Mennonite farm in Elora, Ontario, Canada. Settled by Scottish immigrants in the early 1800s, Elora became an important agricultural town. The tiny village on the banks of the Grand River is now a haven for artists and a destination for tourists seeking the town's tranquility and spectacular vistas.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Ontario: Canada's Keystone," December 1978, National Geographic magazine)

January 27, 2008

On Board the Observer, Alaska, 1998
Photograph by Michael Melford
Observer, a wooden-hulled, World War II-era minesweeper that has been converted to a 12-passenger cruising yacht, glides through glassy water in Alaska's Inside Passage. This meticulously restored boat takes tourists through the heart of Tongass National Forest, 500 miles (800 kilometers) of sky-blue glaciers, grizzly bear tracks, wild beaches, bald eagles, spruce trees, and deep, mountain-ringed fjords.
(Text from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "A Wilder Passage," May/June 1999, National Geographic Traveler magazine)

January 28, 2008

Historic Alfama District, Lisbon, Portugal, 2002
Photograph by Tino Soriano
Lisbon's Alfama District rises dramatically to the base of the imposing Saint George's Castle. The castle began as a Visigoth fortification in the sixth century and was taken over in turns by the Romans and the Moors. It was eventually captured by Portugal's first king and became the royal palace. Tourists flock to the castle's towers and ramparts, which offer unsurpassed views of the city below.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Soul of Lisbon," January/February 2002, National Geographic Traveler magazine)

January 29, 2008

Ostrich Farm, Utah, 1999
Photograph by Len Jenshel
A flock of ostriches greets a photographer at a farm near Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. Ostriches have been raised as livestock in the United States for over a century, particularly in the West, where the climate mimics that of their native African savanna. But these quirky birds require some special accommodations, like extra-tall fences—they can leap more than six feet (two meters) in the air.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Celebrating Canyon Country," July 1999, National Geographic magazine)