When my son Brandon turned 14, he asked me, “Dad, you climbed the Matterhorn at 14.  Could we climb the Matterhorn together now that I’m 14?”  It was 1998 and I was 54.  I didn’t think I could do it, but his request meant more than the world to me, so I agreed.  Each with our own bergführer guide, he breezed up, but it was a real struggle for me.

He made it, my guide didn’t think I could, so after summiting, Brandon came back down to get me.  We climbed the last 500 feet together.  Thus here we both are on the summit of the world’s most famous mountain.  There are no words to come close to expressing what this means to each of us. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #35 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

This is the Dragon’s Blood Tree, Dracaena cinnabari. It can be found in only one place on earth, a remote island called a Lost World for its uniqueness, the “most alien-looking place on our planet.”

Although it’s known as the most alien, strangest, weirdest, and bizarre place you can go to, it’s also completely safe and incredibly beautiful. Anybody who comes here returns saying, “You have to see it to believe it.” What is this place?

It’s the World Heritage Site of the island of Socotra, the “Galapagos of the Indian Ocean,” 240 miles off the coast of Yemen and now secured by the UAE. It’s hidden, remote, and far away.

We were there in 2014, and it’s been almost impossible to get to ever since.  But we’ll be back next April of 2021. Let me know if you’d like to be with us.  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #34 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

From the 900s to the 1200s, the Pagan Empire built over 10,000 Buddhist temples. 2,200 remain on the plains of Pagan today, one of the world’s most wondrous sights – especially if you see them from above in a hot air balloon.  It is truly astounding how much there is to explore and experience in Burma.  We’ll be there once more for it all next February.  I hope you will be one of your fellow TTPers to join us. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #33 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

The southernmost portion of the Gobi Desert is called the Alashan in Inner Mongolia. Traversed by Marco Polo in 1273 on his way to meet the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan, he said it contained a “mystery.”

For in the hidden center of the Alashan is an area known as Badain Jaran, “Mystery Lakes” in Mongolian.  There are some 140 of these small lakes surrounded by enormous sand dunes.  The photo you see is of one of these lakes, taken in late afternoon on a windless day, with the giant dunes above reflected on the water.

We were there in October 2017.  We will explore Inner Mongolia and the Gobi again in October 2021. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #32 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

This is one of the truly great mountain sights on earth yet never seen – except for professional mountaineers and those on our Himalaya Helicopter Expeditions.  Kanchenjunga at 28,169 feet (8,586 meters) is the world’s 3^rd highest mountain (after Everest and K2), with a drop from summit (the peak on the left in front of the cloud) to the glacier at it base of 12,000 feet straight down.

You can be awed by such a picture, but to actually physically be here, to witness this magnificence personally so that it is forever a part of your life, is to feel a depth of awe that has to be experienced to be understood.  Kanchenjunga is part of the Himalayas, now on the border of Nepal and Sikkim, once an independent kingdom now absorbed into India.  We fly right up the North Face, and into the Amphitheatre of the Southwest Face as well.

We hope to be here again in early November if Nepal opens up by then; we’ll be here for sure next April.  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #31 photo ©Jack Wheeler)