Yesterday I wrote about how the fact that digital photography is cheaper than film was often overlooked in the early days of the transition from film to digital. Cost efficiency was maybe only my #3 objective when I prepared to take the jump to digital in 2000-2001 but I absolutely considered it. In no small part that's because the $800-900 I spent ( Read more... )

Wow, it's taken me 10 weeks to catch up on blogging about a three-day weekend trip we did back in June. With this entry I'm done. I'll have met my goal of getting it done by August! Of course, that's after I had a goal of getting it done by July. 😅 Anyway, set the dials on your DeLorean back to Jun 20, 2022....

After we finished hiking the sand ( Read more... )

Saturday the 6th we wrapped up our day in Mt. Rainier National Park with two short stops: one at Reflection Lake and one at the visitors center. Yes, we visited the visitors center, the place where generally one starts a visit to get information, last. But before that was Reflection Lake.


( Read more... )

Monday morning we got up a bit earlier than Sunday, having slept a bit more soundly Sunday night than Saturday. The uber-dry air continued to be a challenge for both of us but we'd gotten partially acclimated. Just in time to go home ( Read more... )

This evening we left town on a long weekend vacation. Hawk has Monday off for Juneteenth, and I took a day of PTO so we could make a three-day weekend trip in the warm summer weather ( cough, cough, surprisingly cold today).

We often begin these trips with Friday Night Halfway, a technique of driving for a few hours Friday evening and another few ( Read more... )

Iguaçu National Park, Brazil - Tue, 25 Dec 2018 - 3pm

In making our plans for a day trip from Argentina to Brazil to see Iguaçu Falls we identified two must-do activities. One, taking a boat tour, we already did. (Score: falls 1, camera 0.) Item two is walking out on the catwalks across the middle level of the falls. Our walk along the cliff edge ( Read more... )

IAH United Club - Sat, 22 Dec 2018 - 8pm

We're taking it easy on our connection in Houston, putting up our heels at one of the United Club lounges. Our flight to Argentia leaves in a few hours. At the moment we are... one-quarter?... of the way there.

Lounge access is one of the benefits of the million miles I've flown. Literally one million ( Read more... )

Oakhurst, CA - Sun, 23 September 2018. 1:30pm.

We left Porterville this morning (see previous blog), hitting the road at 9:20, and drove north through Fresno to the small town of Oakhurst. Oakhurst, like Porterville, is a gateway town, though it's much smaller, only a few thousand population, and is a gateway to the phenomenal Yosemite National ( Read more... )

I wrote a few days ago about California Burning. The state, especially the northern part of the state, is experiencing a number of large wildfires. Sometimes the news a few days later is good news; things got better. Other times it's not good news; things got worse. This is one of those "got worse" times ( Read more... )

Major parts of Yosemite National park are currently CLOSED due to smoke and the threat of nearby wildfire. As of noon yesterday Yosemite Valley, along with a few other parts of the park, were closed to visitors, and civilians in the area were evacuated. Link: Yosemite closure update at NPS.gov. Here's a webcam photo from this afternoon of the view ( Read more... )