April 22, 1990.  This is my son Brandon, age six, happily atop a small pressure ridge of sea-ice at 90 North Latitude, the geographic North Pole.  I started leading expeditions to 90N in 1978.  This was my 12^th, and the best weather there we’d ever had.  A glorious day at the very top of our planet, and a glorious memory for both father and son.

If fortune favors you with the opportunity, have grand adventures with your children or grandchildren when they are young. They will treasure the memories so much they will someday tell their grandchildren about them.  Life is short, carpe diem. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #104 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

We’re now well over 100 Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World since we instituted this daily feature on TTP last July. So to refresh your memory of them, we’ll be sprinkling a recycle of them from now on in the series.

Our very first was Surrealistic Art in Nature, which you’ll find unsurpassed in Antelope Canyon, a slot canyon near Page, Arizona.  No artist could paint something more surrealistic than what nature has created here.  It’s a photographer’s fantasy land – enhanced by a Navajo Indian guide who knows all the best lighting and perspectives.

You can explore the world to experience the greatest wonders of nature, but they are also to be found here in the American West. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #1 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

On the remote north side of the island of Malekula in Vanuatu, there lives a cannibal tribe called the Big Nambas.  The men wear a penis gourd wrapped in pandamus fibers, and eat “man long pig,” cooked human enemies.  You have to trek over mountains of thick jungle to reach them.  When I was able to years ago, there were a few men who continued the practice.  This gentleman is one of them.  I was in no danger as they were very kind and gracious to me.

That wasn’t the case a century ago when the first explorers, Martin & Osa Johnson, reached them.  Their 1918 film, “Cannibals of the South Seas,” made the Johnsons famous, and you can see it on YouTube.  Today they are far more benign. It is an extraordinary experience to meet a culture of fearsome reputation and realize they are people like you and me. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #103 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

The world’s most spectacular nature park is the 130-acre Gardens by the Bay in Singapore.  In the gigantic greenhouse of the Flower Dome, virtually every rare flower on earth flourishes in abundance, while the Cloud Forest is a wonderland of tropical waterfalls seemingly falling out of the sky high above.

Dominating the park are the 160-foot high Supertrees, towering vertical gardens covered in orchids, ferns, vines, and exotic plants.  There are elevated canopies and walkways between them.  Exploring the astonishing display of hi-tech botanical artistry and genius that is Gardens by the Bay is absolutely awe-inspiring.

TTPer Cassowary was kind enough to guide me through the park as Singapore is his home.  Perhaps he’ll tell us more about it on the Forum.  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #102 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

This is the Rock of Aphrodite – where Greek mythology says the Goddess of Love was born fully formed from the sea-foam surging around it – and makes Cyprus the Island of Love.  It is south of Paphos on the island’s west coast.

Adjacent is the Temple Sanctuary of Aphrodite, where pilgrims came from every Greek city and kingdom for 2,000 years to worship her. The ancient Greeks prayed to Aphrodite more than any of their other gods, for she was the apotheosis of love, desire, and fertility or having children. Which explains why today couples travel from all over the world to get married here.

Folks have been living in Cyprus for a really long time.  So long that they were the first people in the world to domesticate cats over 9,000 years ago.  A Neolithic village has been unearthed called Choirokoitia that’s surprisingly sophisticated for being 8,000 years old.  In Roman times, after Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead, he went to Cyprus -- there is a beautiful church, the Agios Lazaros, built over his tomb.

The Painted Churches of Troodos are adorned with magnificent medieval art.  The ruins of a Crusaders’ fortress inspired the fairy tale castle of Walt Disney’s Snow White.  I hope Cyprus’ inspirational history will inspire you to explore it someday. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #101 photo ©Jack Wheeler)