John Hawkley and his wife Patty Hawkley stand next to their 2,058 pound pumpkin and celebrate after winning the 41st Annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off on October 13, 2014 in Half Moon Bay, California. John Hawkley of Napa, California won the 41st Annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off and broke a state record with his gigantic pumpkin weighing in at 2,085 pounds. Hawkley took home a cash prize of $12,510, or $6.00 a pound. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Julian Rodriguez, of Everson, Wash., holds his two-gram packet of recreational marijuana outside Top Shelf Cannabis, Tuesday, July 8, 2014, in Bellingham, Wash., on the first day of legal sales in the state. (Photo by Ted S. Warren/AP Photo)

Merit Prize Winner: “A Well Earned Rest in the Sahara”. This photo of Moussa Macher, our Tuareg guide, was taken at the summit of Tin-Merzouga, the largest dune (or erg) in the Tadrat region of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria. Moussa rested while waiting for us to finish our 45-minute struggle to the top. It only took ten minutes of rolling, running, and jumping to get back down. The Tadrat is part of the Tassili N'Ajjer National Park World Heritage area, famous for its red sand and engravings and rock paintings of cattle, elephants, giraffes, and rhinos that lived there when the climate was milder. Photo location: Summit of Tin-Merzouga, Tadrat, Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, Algeria. (Photo and caption by Evan Cole/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“I’d come to the Altai Mountains on an Adventure Sherpas tour. Our group of 12 was made up mostly of Minnesotans who’d left warm weather and falling leaves for frosty Mongolia. We’d come to sleep in cozy ger tents, the traditional yurt abode of the Mongolian steppe; sip mare’s milk tea; climb mountain glaciers; ride horses to an ancient battle site, and attend the annual Eagle Hunting Festival in Ölgiy...”. – Kathryn Kysar via The Star Tribune. Here: hunter Berek and his eagle outside his home. (Photo by Brad Ruoho/The Star Tribune)

An internally displaced Afghan girl plays near their shelter at a refugee camp in Kabul January 13, 2015. (Photo by Omar Sobhani/Reuters)

An alpaca Satsuki looks at a pet dog at a park while Alpaca Fureai Land's staffs walk the alpaca during early morning in Tokyo, Japan on June 21, 2023. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

A devotee immerses an idol of elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha in an artificial pond during Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India on September 20, 2023. (Photo by Aditya/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)