Flathead Lake, with a surface area of up to 197 square miles, is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River in the continental United States. The lake is roughly 27 miles long and 15.5 miles wide at its widest point. It has an average depth of 165 feet, but a maximum depth […]

It was in the year 1793 that Captain James Colnett of the Royal Navy set sail in the merchant ship Rattler to do a survey of the Galapagos Islands to investigate the possibilities of sperm-whale fisheries in the region. Colnett’s Chart of the Galapagos is the first fairly accurate map of the archipelago. It was […]

Forget about a tropical retreat for a moment and think of a panoramic valley, dotted with cows, vineyards, iconic lighthouses, whale watching in the distance, and lush forest. San Juan Island is one of four islands, and the second-largest of the San Juan Archipelago, located in the northwest region of the contiguous United States between the […]

A 1650 map, created by Joan Vinckeboon, titled “Map of California Shown as an Island,” echoes the inaccurate belief of cartographers, whose early maps depicted California as an island, separate from mainland North America. The Dutch cartographer and engraver Vinckeboon was born into a Flemish family of artists and started out drawing for his father. About 1640, […]

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe, meaning holy faith in Spanish, was founded between 1607 and 1610 by Spanish colonists, and is the highest in elevation and oldest state capital in the United States. At an altitude over 7,000 feet situated in the foothills of the southern Rocky Mountains, Santa Fe is New Mexico’s fourth […]

Nestled within western Hennepin County and Carver County, Minnesota, Lake Minnetonka holds unique meaning for different people. The retreating Wisconsin Glacier of the last Ice Age that produced melted blocks of ice, gave life and form to this island lake. It was Alexander Ramsey, Minnesota’s territorial governor in 1852, who gave Lake Minnetonka its name. […]

The Grand Canyon became a National Park in 1919 and is undoubtedly one of the world’s natural wonders. Situated in Arizona, the park is 277 miles long, roughly 18 miles wide and has a depth of more than a mile. The Grand Canyon is carved by the Colorado River and features layered bands of red […]

It was in the year 1793 that Captain James Colnett of the Royal Navy set sail in the merchant ship Rattler to do a survey of the Galapagos Islands to investigate the possibilities of sperm-whale fisheries in the region. Colnett’s Chart of the Galapagos is the first fairly accurate map of the archipelago. It was […]

Straddling the California-Nevada border, Death Valley National Park occupies a desert valley area between the arid Great Basin and Mojave deserts. It is the hottest and driest place in America, and the lowest of all the national parks in the lower 48 states. Covering 3.3 million acres, this park features salt-flats, mysterious rocks, sand dunes, […]