Finding kindness in a place known in the West as a terrorist sanctuary

"In the middle of the night I crawled out of my tent into a silvery vastness truly unchanged since Genghis Khan and his hordes loped west more than half a millennium ago. There was no glow of city lights on the horizon, no ranger station at the edge of the next valley, no quaint general store, no paved road. There was nothing but space, unbounded and untamed. A brilliant moon lit the blackness crystal clear. Moonshadows of every blade of grass danced silently in the wildness. It was the emptiest, quietest place I had ever been. I threw my arms out wide and spun slowly around and around in the dazzling clarity of the night, the stars blurring into ribbons of light above me." Mongolia. It was Erika Warmbrunn's dream. To escape deep into parts of Asia inaccessible to tours and guidebooks, to abandon herself to the risks of the unknown. And so, with only a bicycle named Greene for a traveling companion, she set off on an eight month, 8,000 kilometer trek that stretched across the steppes of this ancient land, on through China, and down the length of Vietnam. Freed by Greene's two wheels from the tyranny of discrete points on a map, she found that the true merit of travel was not in the simple seeing, but in flowing with the unexpected adventure or invitation, in savoring the moments in between -- the daily challenges of new words and customs, the tiny triumphs of learning a new way of life, the daunting thrill of never knowing what the next day would bring. Wanting to ride a Mongolian horse and finding herself in the saddle for four hours, herding fifty head of cattle. Asking for a hotel in a Chinese village and being taken into a family's home to share their grandmother's bed for the night. Pedaling into the Vietnamese highlands and being stopped along the muddy road by a father asking that she join his two-year-old son's birthday party. Accepting a Mongolian village's invitation to stop pedaling and stay for a while, to live with them and teach them English. In the doing and the telling, Where the Pavement Ends is a much richer experience than any line on a map can show. Where the Pavement Ends is the recipient of the "Barbara Savage Miles From Nowhere Memorial Award." You can find out more about this author at her website: www.wherethepavementends.com

Do you know how to say “shovel” in Albanian? “Lopata”! Even if you don’t know how to say it in Albanian, be sure to throw one in the car when you go, or better yet take two and make sure they’re really solid ones. Albania has changed dramatically since my first visit in 1999. The towns have been renovated and new main roads, new bridges as well as a new highway to the north have been built. You can catch a mobile phone signal almost everywhere and the stores are full of goods. Only the mountains have remained the same – or maybe they have become even more desolate as time goes by. Young people are moving to the towns, mountain villages are depopulating and no one maintains the mountain roads. Illegal lumberjacks use IFA trucks to haul wood and the condition of the roads is getting worse and worse. Deep ruts, which are impassable with a regular off-road vehicle, are common. Roads are often washed away by water or covered by landslides. Each year after winter, more and more mountain roads are impassable. But there are still many beautiful, passable routes that lead to the most beautiful places in the mountains. The viewpoints of magnificent mountain lakes and majestic rock formations take your breath away. I would like this guide to lead you through the most beautiful places in Albania, places that I have fallen in love with and that I like to visit again and again. Don’t believe ugly stories that people in Central Europe tell to scare each other. Forget the legends about bloody vendettas and hold-ups. All the same, you can never be too careful and you’ll be wise to camp close to residential areas and greet and chat with the locals when you arrive. You might even bring them a small gift, like beer, a knife, an axe or cigarettes for adults and chocolate, coloured pencils, colouring books or English children’s books for kids. Albanians are very hospitable; I have always been polite and respectful to them and they have been very kind in return.

Do leg day like America's toughest firefighter, join a bicycle race in the mountains of Colorado, or get pumped like a POTUS with this unique and well researched collection of exercises that will encourage and inspire you to try some of the most challenging and ridiculously fun workouts at home and around the world! For most of us, exercise can be a dreaded task, one to be postponed, procrastinated, or avoided. We all know the excuses: exercise is boring; I don't have time for the gym; there's no room in my apartment; I need to be motivated. The real problem is that we're used to old fitness routines and the same monotonous gym equipment, but The Workout Bucket List promises that exercise can, and will, be fun again. Combine history, pop culture, travel, inspiration, and health and you've got the perfect book to help break down your mental barriers to shake up your fitness regimen. Author and fitness journalist Greg Presto suggests countless exercises and activities around the world—or in your very own home—for the ultimate fitness bucket list, whether it's biking with zebras, entering the Tour de Donut, climbing the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi, training like a Baywatch lifeguard, or starting your day with a workout that you might have done in the Titanic's gym. The Workout Bucket List is here to challenge you to try the world's toughest, most interesting, and fun workouts, inspiring the fitness adventurer in all of us.

Look for the new, fully updated and revised Best Hikes Seattle, 3rd Edition, coming spring 2021! Best Hikes Near Seattle is more than a guidebook to trails 60 minutes or 60 miles from Seattle. The book also includes short natural history essays on topics as diverse as the sex life of banana slugs, to how plants get their names, and why you should respect but not fear bears and mountain lions. There is also an extensive section of weather, trail etiquette, hiking with dogs, what constitutes the “Ten Essentials,” why judging trail mileage is an art – not a science, the flora and fauna of the Pacific Northwest, and the value of hikers lobbying for wilderness. The author also presents a history, warts and all, of the drive to operate our hiking trails as profit points for land-use agencies. And of course, as with all of the books in the Best Hikes series, useful trail specs and hike summaries are accompanied by easy-to-read maps and stunning photos.