“We’ve all survived! We survived a few years of the pandemic!” The theater audience on the cruise ship Norwegian Jewel in late April excitedly cheered and applauded dynamic entertainer Stephanie Pope. Yes, it was definitely good to be cruising again. In fact, this was my husband Carl’s and my sixth cruise since October 2021. We…

Most of us remember history lessons about the overland expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1804–1806 to push beyond the Louisiana Purchase, discover a river route through the new lands, and reach the Pacific Coast. President Thomas Jefferson, a scholar and visionary, had read British writer Alexander Mackenzie’s urgings from 1801 to his fellow countrymen about…