Smoke from wildfires is in the news again. News articles are running with pictures of cityscapes viewed through orange haze. It's like... uh, basically each of the last few summers in California and the US West... except this time it's not in California! Fires are burning in Ontario, Canada, and smoke is drifting south into the Midwest and ( Read more... )

Mississippi Travelog #6
Foxworth, MS - Thursday, 26 Apr 2023, 1pm

Whew, this is getting long: three blogs now about Red Bluff canyon in Mississippi. And I'm going to stuff 6 pictures in this entry to get 'er done.

Once we climbed up through the creek at the bottom of the canyon our views opened up into this crazy, colorful badlands:


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Earlier this week the CDC added several more countries to its list of "Level 4: COVID-19 Very High" travel risk. Example coverage: CNN.com article 13 Sep 2021. This came two weeks after Canada and several European countries were moved from Level 2 to Level 3. CNN.com article 30 Aug 2021. The full, latest lists are available at Covid-19 Travel ( Read more... )

Olympic Peninsula Travelog #10
Olympic National Park, WA - Sat, 4 Sep 2021. 1pm.

The weird thing about climbing a mountain is that one you get to the top the views are all missing something.... You can't see the mountain. You're accustomed to seeing it dominate the skyline, and all of a sudden... nope. It's under your feet now. Fortunately the flip ( Read more... )

Maine Week Travelog #21
Bangor, ME - Friday, 18 Jun 2021, 10pm.

First let me say: Whew. It's been a long day. We left the hotel this morning, drove a few hours north to Baxter State Park, and hiked not one but two trails- Katahdin Falls trail and Little and Big Niagara Falls. We thought maybe we could squeeze in a third trail at the park. We had ( Read more... )

I've been trying for more than a week to get my mobile phone company, Verizon, to refund me an international roaming charge for Canada. The charges were billed to our account when we went near Canada during our Inland Northwest trip several weeks ago.  When we drove within a few miles of the border on our way to Copper Creek Falls Verizon sent us ( Read more... )

Inland Empire Travelog #8
Bonners Ferry, Idaho - Sat, 15 May 2021. 1pm.

We're back in Bonners Ferry having just finished lunch here. This morning we traveled up north to near the border with Canada to hike Copper Creek Falls (previous entry) and then hunt for Smith Creek Falls. I say hunt for because Smith Creek was another wild goose chase courtesy ( Read more... )

Inland Empire Travelog #7
Almost Canada, Idaho - Sat, 15 May 2021. 10:30am.

This morning we've driven up from Bonners Ferry, Idaho to almost the Canadian border. We're so close to the border that our phones are pinging off cell towers in Canada and helpfully telling us that we're now roaming internationally. Memo to self: fight with Verizon next week ( Read more... )

I've reflected several times over the past two weeks how the weather around here changed abruptly. We went from a long, mild autumn, really like a dying summer that wouldn't quite give up, to all of a sudden much colder weather and rain. The box on the calendar says winter starts Dec 21 but effectively it arrived here around Nov 25.


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Yesterday, 17 October 2018, marijuana became legal in Canada. Specifically, the sale, possession, and consumption of up to 30g. A spokesman for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that the day marked the end of “the failed prohibition of marijuana”. That reminds me of this classic headline from The Onion...


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