With temperatures soaring and summer well underway, countless Americans will be spending their Independence Day weekend at the beach. Here we revisit some classic images from the turn-of-the-century to the 1930's of vacations by the sea, from Coney Island to Santa Monica.

Seattle-based Jeremy Veach has been the proud owner of Norm, his four-legged friend, since the pup was just 8 weeks old (he’s now 1 1/2). Soon after Jeremy got him, he started taking photos of the photogenic dog, inspired by some canine favorites like good ‘ol Maddie, and began posting them on Instagram. (Jermzlee now has almost 24,000 followers.)

Mount Nyiragongo is an active stratovolcano On the Virunga Mountains associated with the Albertine Rift. It is located inside Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 20 km (12 mi) north of the town of Goma and Lake Kivu and just west of the border with Rwanda. The main crater is about two km wide and usually contains a lava lake.

Student protestors, including one girl with a camera, struggle with soldiers from the Chinese Army, the PLA. Tiananmen Square, 1989. (Photo by Jeff Widener/Associated Press)

You don't often see a man walking around a field of cows wearing a pink tutu. Needless to say, we were intrigued by Bob Carey and the shirtless photos of him gallivanting around in a costume often worn by little girls. We sensed there was a good story behind this alter-ego ballerina, but we didn't expect it would be this heartwarming.

Nathan Sawaya is a New York-based artist who creates awe-inspiring works of art out of some of the most unlikely things. His recent global museum exhibitions feature large-scale sculptures using only toy building blocks. LEGO bricks to be exact. Photo: “Blue man sits in chair”. (Photo by Nathan Sawaya/The Art of the Brick)

Clark was the guy who was photographed dropping into stupidly heavy Waimea shorebreak a few years back. Always admired him for that. I've swum in that shoredump and it's fu*cking heavy!
I also contracted some crazy tropical disease digging out Waimea river, but that's another story altogether!

Three years ago, Shane Willmott wowed the world with his surfing mice. Now, the Australian has taken on a new challenge - training his radical rodents to skateboard. Mr Willmott, who lives in the Gold Coast area of eastern Australia, near Brisbane, has even built his furry friends a mini skate park. Fearless mice Harvey and Pedro take on ramps, half-pipes and even a deadly ring of fire.