There are just some things that grab your attention. Driving down a back-country highway on a long road trip, I heard someone in the car say, “Oh look, a slave cemetery.” How can you not stop for something like that? My ex-girlfriend and I (back when we were still dating)...
by Jeffrey Kontur · Published March 19, 2014 · Last modified February 24, 2014
People who have never been to Machu Picchu, and probably even a few who have, don’t really grasp how enormous it is. Machu Picchu is so much more than the ruins of a few stone buildings on some remote mountaintop. It was a whole village. In fact, in its day...
by Jeffrey Kontur · Published February 12, 2014 · Last modified June 2, 2016
As the nearest large city to Machu Picchu, Cusco Peru is the gateway to the celebrated “Lost City of the Incas”. In reality, Cusco is a modest sized city of only about 300,000 people. It is extremely scenic and picturesque, in that strange way that only third world countries have...
Facts & Trivia / History / USA
by Jeffrey Kontur · Published January 29, 2014 · Last modified February 5, 2014
Silent puffs of smoke rise on the distant shores. Sailors gather at the rails to watch the cannonballs splash harmlessly into the water. Not even near enough to get their shirts wet. Laughing, they sail into the city and pillage. With the American Revolution and the War of 1812 still...
“Learning the secret of flight from a bird was a good deal like learning the secret of magic from a magician. After you know what to look for you see things that you did not notice when you did not know exactly what to look for.” – Orville Wright Everyone...