Blue Ridge Trip '24 #5
Bland, VA - Sun, 1 Sep 2024. 5:30pm

First of all, Yes, there's really a Dismal Creek Falls. It's on Dismal Creek, which is that small waterway's actual name. (Though some maps title the falls Falls of Dismal.) And also Yes, I am also not making this up, it's just outside the town of Bland, Virginia. In fact Bland is not just ( Read more... )

On Saturday the second half of our hiking two-fer in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Oakhurst was Fresno Dome. I already posted part 1 of 2 of the hike, us getting to the first vista of Fresno Dome. From there we steeled ourselves for the ascent to the summit.


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What's in a number? In the case of a telephone number, a lot. The number corresponds not to just one particular line, but the area code and branch number (the first three digits after the area code) also tell us where that line is based. Now that mobile phones on nationwide networks are commonplace, the number's less telling about where the person ( Read more... )

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck California's north coast region early morning. The epicenter was a few miles offshore from the town of Ferndale, population 3,500. Scattered damage was caused to roads and buildings. Thousands of residents in the remote area lost power or water. Two deaths occurred shortly after the earthquake. Authorities say that ( Read more... )

Today (October 10) is Columbus Day in the US. Don't feel bad if you didn't know; it's not widely celebrated anymore. It seems like the only people with the day off are the government, banks, and some schools. I only knew about it because late last night Siri popped up a reminder on my phone asking me if I wanted to turn off my 6:45am alarm since ( Read more... )

Hawaii April Travelog #28
Mauna Kea Visitors Center - Thu, 14 Apr, 2022, 8pm

Mauna Kea. A dormant volcano. The highest peak on Hawaii, at 13,803' (4,207.3 m) above sea level. Argued by many to be the tallest mountain in the world counting the fact that it starts almost 20,000' deep in the Pacific Ocean. And there's a hiking trail at the top- what ( Read more... )

High Desert Weekend Trip-log #3
Grapevine, CA - Sat, 26 Mar 2022, 9:30am

🎵 I bet you're wondering how I knew
About your plans to make me blue
With some other guy that you knew before
Between the two of us guys you know I loved you more
It took me by surprise I must say
When I found out the other day
Oo-oh, I heard it through the grapevine 🎵
...Haha ( Read more... )

Maine Week Travelog #11
Acadia National Park - Thursday, 17 Jun 2021, 9am.

As I wrote last night we decided not to get up at 3:30am to visit the summit of Cadillac Mountain at dawn. Instead we reserved a pass for 8am. We set our alarms for 6:30am, woke up somewhat begrudgingly, pulled together our hiking bags for a day of adventure (this plus ( Read more... )

Maine Week Travelog #10
Acadia National Park - Wednesday, 16 Jun 2021, 10pm.

On many lists of things to do at Acadia National Park you'll find "Watch the sunrise atop Cadillac Mountain." Cadillac, the park's tallest mountain, is said to be where the sun first rises on the United States. Watching sunrises there is so popular the Park Service has ( Read more... )