Posts from 2021
Golfing at Bandon
Our next stop at wedding festivities in Napa was Oregon to see friends and take care of some business in Portland. So why not make a stopover at the southe...
Wedding v2 - the Reception
Our first big stop on our 7,000 mile adventure this summer was Napa, CA for the wedding reception for Jacob and Kaitlin. They were married a year ago on La...
So we bought a van!
After our amazing camper van adventures in southern Utah earlier this year Julie and I started to think an owned van might be in our future. We would casua...
Recent Gaming, July 2021 Edition
We started our hosting duties for summer 2021 at the start of July, hosting gaming-running-drinking friends from Oregon and Indiana. There’s so much to do ...
Hygiene Theater Permalink
In other words: You can put away the bleach, cancel your recurring Amazon subscription for disinfectant wipes, and stop punishing every square inch of cla...
How old is civilization? Permalink
The most startling aspect of these ruins is their age: that they are old enough to predate the consensus origin of human agriculture. How were hundred...
Critters of Southern Utah
I think this will be my last post on our southern Utah adventures of early 2021. I don’t carry my Canon gear and long lenses with me as much as I used to; ...
So How Was Van Life?
In a word: amazing. Better than expected with surprise ancillary benefits.
Bryce: Fairyland Trail to Tower Bridge
My one demand as we concluded our trip with the drive from Escalante to Las Vegas was a brief stop at Bryce Canyon National Park. Julie’s was a Diet Dr. Pe...
Escalante: Backpacking Coyote Gulch
We are in love with Coyote Gulch. This hike earned a “top 5 ever” list for us, and we were actually hard pressed to list four hikes we’ve done that were be...
Escalante: Peek-A-Boo, Spooky, and Dry Gulch
We moved further out on Hole-in-the-Rock Road and positioned ourselves for an early start for this trifecta of slot canyons. Peek-A-Boo and Spooky are prob...
Escalante: Zebra and Tunnel Slot Canyons
Today was an easier but no less magical day in Escalante canyon country. We camped overnight out on Hole-in-the-Rock road not far from the Zebra slot canyo...
Escalante: Bighorn Canyon Adventures
We had a plan: pick up a slot canyon or two near Escalante off Hole-in-the-Rock Road as we would be spending Sunday through Wednesday venturing deeper on t...
Goblin Valley Adventures
Three years ago we landed on Goblin Valley State Park when it was very busy, and when a rainstorm hit that was going to last a while. Ever since we’ve regr...
Canyonlands: Rock art in Horseshoe Canyon
Horseshoe Canyon is a relatively recent unit added to Canyonlands national park and sits mostly on its own on the far west side of the canyon, north of the...
Rock Art from Moab to Green River
It was moving day again, now from the Moab and Canyonlands / Island in the Sky area to the other side of the canyon to visit Horeshoe Canyon and Goblin Val...
Canyonlands: Hiking the Murphy Trail
We loved hiking the Syncline trail in the Canyonlands and thought it would rise to level of favorite hike in the park, but after hiking the Murphy Trail we...
Canyonlands: Hiking the Syncline Loop
We’ve explored quite a bit of the Canyonlands National Park over the past four years but there were still some longer trails to check off our list. Plus we...
Sunday is Rest Day in Moab
We left our dispersed campground in the hills above the south side of Moab early Sunday morning and made our way into town. We had decided a rest day was i...
Cedar Mesa: House on Fire and Other Final Stops
For our last day in Cedar Mesa we opted for some shorter hikes across a few different sites. We were still fairly worn out from our Butler Wash excursion a...
Exploring the Ruins of Butler Wash
We drove from the Page AZ and Lake Powell area towards the southern tip of Cedar Mesa on Thursday, expecting to find a spot and camp in the Valley of the G...
Moving Days: Zion to Lake Powell to Valley of the Gods
Wednesday and Thursday are moving days for us as we depart the southwestern corner of Utah and work our way to the southeastern end. With a 5-6 hour drive ...
Zion: Hiking the Virgin River Narrows
Our last day near Zion had us checking off our final want-to-do item: hiking the Virgin River narrows. For context, Zion Canyon is sort-of the opposite of ...
St. George: Red Hills Desert Garden
We are getting better at pacing ourselves on these extended hiking and camping adventures. We had an 11am bus pass for Zion but we gave it to our camping n...
Zion: Angels Landing and West Rim
We got an early start into Zion this morning and were thankful for it. My fears about a busy Easter Sunday proved true, and I feel so sorry for the folks t...
A Classic Review of One of My All Time Favorites Permalink
“Almost Famous” is about the world of rock, but it’s not a rock film, it’s a coming-of-age film, about an idealistic kid who sees the real world, witnesse...
Our Home Near Zion
We are settled in Hurricane Cliffs, a dispersed camping area above La Verkin, UT. This will be our home for a few days as we explore Zion again, repeating ...
Link Blog Automation Permalink
Posts are usually 1) a link as the post’s title, 2) an excerpt from said link, and 3) a snippet of commentary. Occasionally, a list post will turn into a ...
Automating Jekyll Posting Permalink
The whole process actually takes place over two shortcuts. I abstracted away the process of preparing images (giving them titles, compressing them, etc....
Next Stop – Las Vegas
Julie and I are on the road to Las Vegas in our best mechanical friend “Rooster”. Rooster is the moniker for the Subaru Xtrek that has accompanied us on ou...
Cool ASL post Permalink
This is one of several posts you’ll see from me as I experiment with posting workflows from various devices. I figured I might as well share some good cont...
Leaving El Paso
This post is as much as test of image posting workflow with my new static site as it is a real post. Still, we leave El Paso in the coming week to embark...
My Yearly Theme for 2021
I wrote last year about my adoption of a yearly theme for 2020: The Year of Less. Julie and I were in Florida for the new year celebration and cajoled my fa...
Winter in El Paso
We’ve been living in El Paso since about the start of 2021. Matthew is stationed here as a 1LT at Fort Bliss, and we have the flexibility to roam so why not...