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- Dec 23, 2019
- 7 min
Riding Shotgun
The concept of driving across the country today is no small undertaking. It can take weeks of planning, stacks of road maps and an unquenchable thirst for the road. The first passage by automobile more than a century ago—in 1903 to be exact—was a challenge to both the vehicle and the brave individuals who tested the limits to travel from sea to shining sea. A bicycle racer who made his home in Tacoma, Washington, was half of the duo to successfully make the first journey by m
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- Oct 21, 2019
- 7 min
Making a Financial World of Difference
When a person goes to college and gets a degree, they typically learn a great deal about their chosen field, hoping to find a good job, make a lot of money and live the perfect dream life. For one Spokane woman though, going from point A to point B has already happened in her 30-some years, but with a fascinating, and life-changing, twist. Kumiko Love, an accredited financial counselor and the creator of The Budget Mom, was raised on a farm in Chewelah, Washington, and lived
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- Sep 23, 2019
- 7 min
What’s In Your Beer?
To brew beer you need four key ingredients: water, yeast, malt and hops. Clean water makes for a crisp beverage, and yeast is used to convert sugars into alcohol. Malt is where the color and flavor profile comes from, and hops add to the aroma and bitterness. A stroll down any grocery store aisle and you’ll find such a wide range of choices that it’s hard to fathom they all come from the same four basic ingredients. If you’ve tipped back a Bud Light, Goose Island IPA, Elysian
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- Aug 19, 2019
- 7 min
Living Your Purpose With Passion
I had a conversation with a young woman a while ago who’d recently gotten married. She and I were talking about the new phase of life she was in, and I asked her what her biggest challenge was. She answered, “I guess I would have to say my own individualism, since I’m in a different phase of life and I’m newly married now. Sometimes I think about who I am and what I’m supposed to be doing ... I want to live passionately now, not just in the future.” We all have that longing t
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- Jul 22, 2019
- 7 min
Mission: Save Lives
The orange-striped ships with sailors from the US Coast Guard that patrol the waters of Washington, Oregon and Idaho are responsible for more than checking registrations and policing loud parties. District 13 of the Coast Guard has authority over commercial fishing regulations, enforcing environmental regulations and protecting inland waters. But their primary mission is to protect the Pacific coastline from attack from hostile forces from the border of California to the stra
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- Jun 25, 2019
- 8 min
Chasing Failure
Richard Kresser stood outside a café in Bend, Oregon, devastated. He cried as he spoke to his girlfriend over the phone. “The trip’s over,” he told her. His bicycle, and the 80 pounds of highly specialized gear that had been attached to it, was gone: stolen by a passerby in the less than 10 minutes he had been inside grabbing breakfast. It was early July of 2018 and Richard was nearly halfway through the Tour de Volcanoes—a human-powered, mostly self-supported challenge he dr
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- May 20, 2019
- 7 min
On Final Approach
Off course and months behind schedule, Jacob Hendrickson continues to propel his custom-made row boat toward what he hopes will be a triumphant landfall in Australia. The former Air Force pilot began his marathon journey in July 2018 for what had been charted to be a 9,150-nautical mile journey from Neah Bay in the northwestern corner of Washington state to Perth on the west coast of Australia. He has admitted the schedule was an optimistic view of a daunting physical and men
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- Apr 22, 2019
- 8 min
It started as an idea …
Ideas are powerful. Something as simple as a passing thought can become something huge that impacts our daily lives, or something small impacting the people in our neighborhood. When the idea is something that could positively impact a community, others are usually quick to rally behind it. There are examples all over the Northwest of how an idea can bring together people from all backgrounds and walks of life to find common ground and to better their surroundings; two of whi
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- Mar 25, 2019
- 3 min
Time Served in the Corps
Upon graduating high school we all face the same challenging question: What do I want to do with my life? One path is to continue your education at a traditional four-year university, community college or technical school. Many enter the workforce in a wide range of jobs or family owned business. Still others feel the need to serve their country through military service. And a few simply set out to explore the world while they aren’t tied down to a career, marriage or family.
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- Feb 20, 2019
- 7 min
A Land with No Fences
As a traveling veterinarian and a world traveler, Bruce Pedersen is accustomed to rugged terrain. He practices veterinary medicine in Watford City, North Dakota, and Butte, Montana, boom towns 550 miles and 150 years apart, and lives the rest of the time—“the goal is half the year”—in Sandpoint, Idaho, he said. He has also traveled to India a number of times, climbed to the base camp at Everest with his daughter and taken a humanitarian trip to Swaziland and South Africa. But
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- Jan 28, 2019
- 10 min
Immersed in Culture
It was freezing outside. The chill in the air was biting, and the ocean roared as waves crashed on the long, sandy beach. A gentle breeze blew as the sea mist coated our faces. Though it was August, it was mid-winter in New Zealand. And my family and I, including a 5-month-old and a 2-year-old, were about to ditch our warm clothes for swimsuits. And dig in, literally, at Hot Water Beach hot springs. Hot Water Beach is on the East Coast of the Coromandel Peninsula on the North
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- Nov 26, 2018
- 7 min
Painful Memories
Fifty years ago, I was an acne-faced teenager desperately trying to cling to the tail of the political unrest that had swept our nation. While most of my junior high classmates spent their after-school hours on ball fields, my days were filled with creating memorable catch phrases that could be painted on poster boards that I prepared for the next rally against social injustice or the bloody war in Vietnam. My lunch hours were filled with gatherings of like-minded young peopl
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- Oct 29, 2018
- 8 min
The Power to Change
When Peter Mico started to feel the physical effects of a long career in the restaurant industry, he knew he had to make a change. With back issues from long hours of standing on concrete floors and pain from his days as an athlete, Peter was facing surgery and the uncertainty of what the future would bring. One day, over 20 years ago, Peter came across an instructional yoga DVD while shopping and decided to give it a try. Over time, he noticed a significant increase in his f
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- Sep 24, 2018
- 7 min
Meeting Aggression with Kindness
It’s back to school time. While for some students it can be an exciting time of reuniting with their friends, for others it can produce a great deal of anxiety. The reason? They have been victims of bullying in the past and returning to that environment can be scary and intimidating. For many in the older generation, we equate bullying with the mean kid on the playground who pushes others around. But for the younger generation, bullying takes on a whole new form. Social media
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- Aug 20, 2018
- 7 min
Five Happy Hearts Traveling the World
Traveling the world. It's something many of us dream of doing but only few ever get the chance. And for one Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, mom and her four children, they have taken their world travels to a new level. Amy Hoffman Ford, a woman’s health nurse practitioner and single mom of four, has helped to open her children’s eyes to the world. Not through books, photographs or films, but by immersing them into the cultures themselves. Over the years, Amy traveled alone to Africa to
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- Jul 23, 2018
- 7 min
The Cycle for Good
Rick Anderson is an avid re-user and recycler. When my brother and I were very young, I remember my dad taking us on walks to nearby construction sites where we would pick up soda and beer cans leftover from the workers. After a couple months we had several large trash bags full, which we loaded up and took to the recycling center. To my young amazement, we were given money for these old cans and our first lesson about the rewards of work were born as my dad split the earning
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- May 19, 2018
- 9 min
A Life Left Behind
If you are a parent, you know you would do anything for your child. But imagine being told your entire life what you must eat, how you must dress—right down to which arm you put through your sleeve first—whom you will marry and what you name your children. Then, envision being separated from your children and living in isolation for months at a time. That is exactly what Rachel Jeffs endured until she and her five children were finally able to escape the Fundamentalist Church
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- Apr 23, 2018
- 7 min
Taking Action
As he walked into the restaurant, the last 25 years instantly melted away. He was my high school boyfriend, European travel partner and a man who I had not seen in nearly three decades. Most importantly, he was—and always will be—someone whose lifelong friendship I treasure deeply. We sat across the table from one another catching up on each other’s lives. The challenges and joys of raising children, dreams—some fulfilled and some unfulfilled—and more. The nervousness that I
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- Dec 19, 2017
- 7 min
Painful Memories: Steve Tice
Gig Harbor, WA resident Steve Tice is grateful. He is grateful to the Army medics who treated his shrapnel wounds on a bloody hillside in Vietnam almost 50 years ago. He is thankful to the helicopter crew that risked their own lives to lower a basket to him on that desolate hillside to airlift him to safety. Tice is beholden to the doctors at the field hospital who saved his life, indebted to the nurses who cared for him while he slipped in and out of a coma for almost half
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