So this year we resolved to get back to plane travel and go back to doing the things we love best – going on adventures in far off places that cannot be reached by car. After over two years of not being in an airport, it was a little bit of culture shock. Jacob is also much older than the last time we travelled somewhere with him all way back in 2019 when we went to Toronto and Niagara Falls,…
Well it finally happened. Ariel and I are back to plane travel for the first time since our pre-pandemic trip to Turks and Caicos in 2019. And here we are, back in Bermuda, a place we did not really expect to come back to so soon, if ever! The past two years have been pretty tough for us, as evidenced by the lack of blog posts. Thankfully we weathered the pandemic quite well physically and financially, but for the first…
Well not EXACTLY on my birthday, but the day before! And amazingly it was several days early. Folks I am so incredibly thrilled to share with you that I managed to snag one of the limited edition, UK-only, JRR Tolkien illustrated (!!!!!), leather-bound, single volume, Lord of the Rings. This wasn’t even supposed to be out until two days from now, but somehow my shipment came today! Look at this!!! Note that the type, in addition to your typical black…
Last year, at this time I was on my way home from a (last ever?) business trip in the far reaches of Virginia. Heading home after a day of meetings, I stopped at a local Target to pick up some Clorox wipes and Emergen-C. From there I headed to Shenandoah National Park to watch the sunset. I remember standing there, watching the sun go down by myself. As the sun sank behind the Blue Mountains, I had my own sinking…
As happens every year, December 21st has the distinction of having the most hours of darkness out of any other calendar day. It is also the setting of one of my favorite poems – Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost. A lot of people find this time depressing, especially those that suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. And to be sure, there is a lot to feel depressed about right now, with a global pandemic that is…
The final day of my journey started quite similarly to many other days from the prior two months. I woke up alone, in a dingy motel, had a quick bite (if available), and hopped into my car with a cup of coffee, and went off in search of new things to see over the course of the next 12-16 hours of moving around. This morning was different though. By this point in the journey, I had been living as a…
I’ve never been a huge U2 fan… I mean sure, Where The Streets Have No Name and Sunday Bloody Sunday were big when I was growing up and all that Mission: Impossible stuff was cool. And what teenager didn’t have With Or Without You or I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For on repeat at some point after being dumped by their girl/boyfriend. So when I saw I was passing near Joshua Tree National Park, like anyone who was…
After a short break from my epic solo road trip to fulfill a prior commitment in Washington, DC for a few days, I traded in my suits, conference centers, and luxury of sleeping in the same bed for three nights in a row, for t-shirts, dusty cargo shorts, and living out of a car for a month. It was definitely a strange experience to be heading (by train) to the Baltimore-Washington International Airport, just a few hours from home, knowing…
As I was heading north through South Dakota on the “Road To Nowhere” (US-83) I realized I was only a couple of hours away from the North Dakota border. Not knowing if I’d ever have the opportunity to set foot in and get credit for a very remote state (I actually ended up in North Dakota seven years later anyway), I decided to go about five hours out of my way to check that box. As I neared the border…
When deciding to drive cross country, you’re going to want to pick out a few must-see locations on your journey and try to find interesting ways to get there. For me, I actually pieced together a few different routes using a terrific resource called RoadTrip USA. They have a list of many different routes you can take across the USA – primarily following old two-lane highways that predate the interstate system created in the 1950’s. I recommend this whenever possible,…