At play where the midnight sun holds court
A smile crept across my face as I gazed out the window. 35,000 feet below, glaciers splayed out in every direction with the surrounding mountains towering over narrow valleys. A small winding road led around their outskirts, the black asphalt offering a snaking cleared passage through a land of white. I picked out familiar landmarks. … Read more
Since moving to Alaska, I’ve made a point of heading back to Chicagoland to visit family around Christmas. It’s always been a special time in my family and has only become a richer experience as I’ve grown older, where I’ve been able to introduce, start, and continue traditions with Alana and now our kids*. Logistics … Read more
Sometime in the first few days of September, Din and I were walking the aisles of Grocery Outlet in Quincy when a woman stopped us to ask about our trip. She was skeptical about us heading into the mountains at this time of year and was asking why we were going so late. “We’re actually … Read more
Jumping ahead on the trail due to the wildfires gave us a good opportunity to see the stark differences between the southern end of the Cascades with that of the range further north. The chipmunks that we had become accustomed to seeing scurrying around the trail were gone, in their stead we found lizards. A … Read more
Among the regions of the PCT, Oregon is somewhat of an anomaly. The trail travels over terrain that is relatively flat and more often than not, enclosed in forest, leading some to call it the “green tunnel.” We took advantage of the gentler grades, upping our mileage to 22 miles per day and often finishing … Read more
“The word adventure has gotten overused. For me, when everything goes wrong, that’s when adventure starts.” -Yvon Chouinard You would think that after preparing for a multi month trip for over 6 months that you would have every little thing accounted for or at the very least, the major ones. There would be no unpleasant … Read more
In roughly a week, Alana, Din and I will embark on our next adventure, hiking southbound from Washington near the Canadian border to Mexico along the Pacific Crest Trail.
“Are you really going to make this old cowboy put his pants on?” I lumbered out of the tent, hatchet in hand. The moon shone brightly across the flat shrub land as I tried to peer amongst the shadows and find where they were.
This is the sixth post in a series of posts about our southwest trip during Winter ’22 with our 6-week-old daughter. The rest of the posts can be found in order below: New Beginnings and Horizons To the Desert We Go Around San Rafael Swell Hole in the Rock and National Park Foibles Above the … Read more
I was interviewed by my friend Tyler, for his podcast Advanced Retroadaptics. Check out the link below to listen or go to Spotify, Apple etc. Many thanks to Tyler for asking me to be on his podcast and for the fun conversation. I recommend checking out his blog for experiments in living and tales of … Read more