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1 week ago | 
islands.com | SJ Armstrong
Meandering across the vast green grasslands, dense forests, and cave-studded crags that make up the Kentucky Wildlands, a web of trails has been woven through the Southern state's diverse landscapes. Often misunderstood, reduced to its rolling bluegrass hills and its charm-filled underrated towns, this Appalachian stomping ground is packed with varied landscapes.
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1 week ago | 
flipboard.com | SJ Armstrong
While it may not be like any high school in a traditional sense, Overtime Elite still held its graduations, with Meleek Thomas being one of those …
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1 month ago | 
islands.com | SJ Armstrong
At its 16th and 17th century zenith, Potosí, Bolivia was one of the richest cities on earth. Its population outstripped Europe's imperial capitals, ten times the size of Boston when the first British colonies in North America were beginning to flourish. These new residents arrived with greedy eyes turned to the Cerro Rico, the vast mountain that crowns the Potosí skyline.
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1 month ago | 
islands.com | SJ Armstrong
Tumbling from the basalt cliffs concealed in Oregon's wild center, the White River falls plunge into a rushing valley river. Found within the eponymous state park, the cascades can be accessed on a scenic hiking trail, rising through a historic canyon in the sweeping Tygh Valley.
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1 month ago | 
islands.com | SJ Armstrong
Encased by the lofty peaks of Ecuador's Southern Andes, a sprawl of rust-toned roofs and stark white walls stands out amid the verdant valleys. A quintessential hybrid of Andalusian architecture and Andean charm, the laidback city of Cuenca has history seeping from each of its cobblestone streets. Cuenca's Spanish-style streets were built in 1557 atop an Ecuadorian outpost of the Inca Empire.
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2 months ago | 
islands.com | SJ Armstrong
Bleating from the rickety radios of cars cruising wide open highways, blaring from the back doors of smoky bars, and echoing down the alleys frequented by streetside performers, the sounds of the South are inextricable from the classic American road trip. The raring rhythms of rock and roll, staccato beats of Louisiana jazz, soulful cries of Mississippi blues, and laments of history's great country singers are ubiquitous across the country.
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2 months ago | 
islands.com | SJ Armstrong
Gleaming in the light of the ferocious Arabian sun, the glass-walled skyscrapers that shine across the Abu Dhabi skyline separate lapping sea and golden dunes. The capital city of the United Arab Emirates comes with all the same trappings that earned neighboring Dubai its reputation as an unbelievably lavish destination: ambitious modern architecture, ultra-luxury resorts, millionaire-frequented megamalls, and ATMs that dispense solid gold bars. However, Abu Dhabi isn't all flash.
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2 months ago | 
islands.com | SJ Armstrong
Winding south from Wyoming, between the vast grassland sprawl of the Colorado Plains and the soaring Rocky Mountains, the first city you'll hit is the unassuming Fort Collins. The haunt of laid-back lovers of the outdoors, Colorado's fourth biggest city acts as a jumping off point for travelers venturing into the juniper woodlands of Roosevelt National Forest and to the glistening emerald lakes of Rocky Mountain National Park.
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2 months ago | 
flipboard.com | SJ Armstrong
7 hours agoThe return of Sicily's ancient 'white gold'It's mentioned 17 times in the Bible and was harvested in the Mediterranean for more than a millennium. Now, a farmer is reviving this ancient "superfood". It's a hot and muggy summer day in Sicily's Madonie mountains, a rugged range of ridges about 65km east of Palermo.
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2 months ago | 
islands.com | SJ Armstrong
Desolate and wild, Canada's northwestern region spans hundreds of thousands of untouched square miles. Salient mountains fortify the forests, thundering rivers thrash through the brush, and an arduous trail snakes through its remotest regions. The Canol Heritage Trail, one of the most difficult treks to be found in all of North America, traverses 220 miles of the rough country covering the expansive tract between the Northwest Territories and the Yukon.
