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新泽西阿斯伯里公园 Asbury Park in New Jersey (© Patrick Morisson/Alamy)

Greetings from Asbury Park

The warm waters of the Atlantic and a long stretch of sand bring thousands of visitors, but Asbury Park also draws waves of art, culture, and music that shine brightly in the summer months. Bruce Springsteen, has played here regularly since the 1970s, performing everywhere from The Stony Pony, an iconic music venue, to a benefit show at Asbury Lanes, a bowling alley that was in dire need of sprucing up. Springsteen, who grew up near here, clearly finds this place special—the name of his 1973 album inspired the title for today‘s image. But the rich history of the music scene predates The Boss, with the sounds of jazz, gospel, and rhythm and blues spilling out from clubs dating back to the 1920s, when the area was developed as a seaside community. Musicians Arthur Pryor, Clifford Johnson, and many others helped Asbury Park be rooted in America‘s rich musical history. The tradition continues today with a ‘Jams on the Sand‘ summer concert series and plenty of other events around town. Whet

Satellite image of the Burning Man Festival in Black Rock City, Nevada (© DigitalGlobe/ScapeWare3d/Getty Images)

A desert arts pop-up, just popped up

Today we're viewing North America's largest arts and music festival—dust free—from a satellite lens. Welcome to Black Rock City, the pop-up home of Burning Man, a raucous festival that takes place in late summer each year on the sun-scorched alkali flats of Nevada's Black Rock Desert. It's an unusual set-up, a counterculture mecca where gifts reign supreme and money has no value.

Festival goers are called ‘burners' in honor of the massive wooden effigy of a man they build each year, only to set ablaze on the penultimate eve of the event. Attendees may come as individuals or entire communities, planning months in advance to construct grandiose art installations, fantastical floats, cars, and other experiences that defy the logistical constraints of the harsh desert landscape. To do this they must pack in everything they'll need for nine days, with the full knowledge that it must all be packed out. Any litter left behind is considered MOOP (Matter Out Of Place), so glitter and other items difficult to retrieve from the desert floor are forbidden. Once inside, goods or services can't be bought, however volunteering and gifting are expected. Part of the mission behind Burning Man is to build a creative and connected community. A worthy goal, especially for those spending a week in the desert with 70,000 of their closest, weirdest, and dustiest friends.

华盛顿州帕卢斯地区的农田 Farmland in Washington state's Palouse region (© Art Wolfe/Getty Images)

Harvest time in the Palouse

The Palouse region of inland Pacific Northwest is an unusually hilly prairie that straddles the state line between Washington and Idaho. Farming seems an unlikely endeavor here, but the land, and the weather patterns, make it ideal for wheat and lentil farming. This time of year, the soft white wheat harvest is on, as the crop turns from green to gold, and for the farmers, from harvest to profit. Before Europeans and early US settlers arrived, the Palouse was occupied by the Nez Perce people, who bred and raised horses with spotted coats—a breed that would eventually come to be known as 'appaloosas'—a gradual permutation of the name 'Palouse.'

一场雷雨席卷西奥多·罗斯福国家公园，北达科他州 A thunderstorm rolls across the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota (© Judith Zimmerman/Danita Delimont)

Storm rolls over the Badlands

Today's image of a thunderstorm moving over grasslands in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park shows the power of nature and the power of conservation. In 1883, Teddy Roosevelt, then a New York State Assemblyman, traveled to the North Dakota Badlands to hunt bison. During this trip, Roosevelt fell in love with the cowboy lifestyle and the freedom he experienced. Before heading back east, he became part owner of the Maltese Cross Ranch. A year later he was back in North Dakota and had built Elkhorn Ranch. Life in the west inspired Roosevelt, who began writing books and articles about it. He would go on to establish six national parks and 18 national monuments, greatly increasing the size of the National Park System.

At the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the only US national park named after a person, you can see some of the places that helped inspire Roosevelt's conservation efforts. In the park's Elkhorn Ranch Unit, the location of his 'home ranch,' you can experience the same remoteness that he craved. At the South Unit Visitor Center you can see the cabin he used as his home during his first trips to the Badlands, now restored to its original state. And if that's not enough, hours of scenic drives, hiking trails with dramatic views, and wildlife watching are sure to make a visit to the area memorable for any visitor.

Cape Neddick Light in York, Maine (© Haizhan Zheng/Getty Images)

Nubble Island's only industry

Cape Neddick Light sits on a tiny island called Nubble Island, or 'the Nub'—just 100 yards from the mainland of the cape. It's on Maine's southern shore and is one of just eight lighthouses in Maine that still use a Fresnel lens to amplify the light. The island isn't accessible to the public, but because it's so close, many visitors come to Sohier Park on the cape for the view of the lighthouse. Why August 7 for Lighthouse Day? Because it was this day in 1789 the US government placed all lighthouses under federal control to make sure these important safety signals were all built, supported, and maintained equally.

夏威夷火山国家公园，夏威夷 Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii (© Grant Ordelheide/Tandem Stills + Motion)

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park turns 103

Let's light some candles today—103 of them—for Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the island of Hawaii. On this day in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill to establish the park in what was then the US Territory of Hawaii. (Hawaii wouldn't become a state until 1959.) The park contains a rich array of biodiversity, important historic sites of Native Hawaiians, and the glowing stars of the show—two of the world's most active volcanos, Mauna Loa and Kīlauea.

The massive Mauna Loa rises 56,000 feet from the sea floor, which means it's more than 27,000 feet taller than Everest. Kīlauea made headlines in 2018 for oozing lava for four months straight. This eruption destroyed over 700 homes and damaged roadways, park trails, buildings, and other infrastructure. Why did we call this place the land of laze and vog? You'll have to take today's quiz to find out.

胡德山国家森林里的延龄草湖，俄勒冈州 Trillium Lake in Mount Hood National Forest, Oregon (© Frank Krahmer/Getty Images)

A picture-perfect day on Trillium

Today we're out on Trillium Lake, a manmade lake in the shadow of Mount Hood, Oregon's tallest peak. Formed in 1960 by damming a tributary of the Salmon River, Trillium Lake's a popular spot for fishing, camping, and boating. In springtime, the surrounding woods are filled with trilliums, the native flowering plants the lake's named for. Take the flat, 1.9-mile loop trail around the lakeshore for stunning views of Mount Hood. But don't stop there. Mount Hood National Forest has more than 1,200 miles of hiking trails, not to mention year-round skiing at higher elevations. Wrap up your day at the Timberline Lodge, built during the Great Depression by the WPA and now a US National Historic Landmark. Bonus fact: Timberline Lodge was used for exterior shots of the Overlook Hotel in the horror movie 'The Shining.' But don't let that scare you off visiting.

A place fit for the gods

Perhaps it was inevitable that the European settlers who established Colorado Springs decided to name this park the Garden of the Gods—the creation myth of the native Ute people cites this location as the spot where all life began. Today, it's a popular public park and National Natural Landmark. The Garden of the Gods is on the western edge of the city—an easy way for locals and visitors alike to get a heaping dose of nature without having to travel far from civilization. If you stroll past any of the rock formations here, you're likely to see a climber scaling the red and pink sandstone fins that give the park its distinct look.

DC is the place to be

The building in our photo today is the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in Washington DC. It's part of the large network of the Smithsonian Institution, and has branches in New York and Maryland. All three share one of the world's largest collection of Western Hemisphere Native artifacts, ‘from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego.' Architect Douglas Cardinal drew on his Blackfoot cultural history to create the soft, curved lines of the building in the nation's capital. It's meant to evoke limestone cliffs, with rock walls smoothed by the elements. The landscape around the building simulates a wetland environment.

Sailors begin their journey from Chicago to Mackinac Island, Michigan during the Race to Mackinac © Karen I. Hirsch/Alamy

Batten down the hatches

The athletes on these boats are jockeying for position at the start of the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac (pronounced ‘Mack-i-naw'). The ‘Mac,' at 333 miles long, is the world's oldest and longest annual freshwater boat race. It's an amateur event, but make no mistake, these sailors know their stuff. Many go on to race in the America's Cup. This year's race is held today, and the boats set sail, smallest to largest, just off Chicago's Navy Pier passing by the city skyline as we see in our image. When crews pass under the span of the mighty Mackinac Bridge—connecting the Lower Peninsula to the Upper Peninsula—Lake Michigan becomes Lake Huron, and the island appears.

The official finish line is Mackinac Island's Yacht Club, but many say the race ends at the Pink Pony Patio Bar, where an armada of sailors gather to boast and toast each other. It's about then that locals prepare for the merrymaking by locking up their bikes. On Mackinac Island, bicycles are a hot commodity because motorized vehicles are outlawed (even police pedal around). The few motorized vehicles on Mackinac are for emergency use, such as ambulances and firetrucks.

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