If you’re trying to visit every National Park unit (or every US county) and still need to visit Kalaupapa, you’re in luck! They’ve opened some limited tours in Feb & April. The site (and entire county) has been otherwise closed since 2020. Future public access remains unclear, so jump on this!
(Photos from our Dec 2016 visit)
I’ve been pretty quiet since my brain mri, unfortunately for a serious reason. The scan showed a rare but serious and disconcerting condition. My primary care doc didn’t know what to do or even who to send me to, but told me to cancel our travel this weekend. Surgery was required and seemed imminent. I’ve been a bit of a wreck since. I spent all day yesterday working with the referrals department to cold call various specialists around the area in hopes of securing an immediate appointment, and eventually managed to line one up for today.
Well, it turns out that it was just a false alarm of sorts. I don’t have the rare condition, and what led to the diagnosis is actually a nonissue. In short, I’m fine. Whew! Not sure if we’ll still do the overseas trip this weekend at this point; I’ve sorta lost any excitement for it.
It’s looking like the Desert Shield and Desert Storm Memorial might become the 434th National Park unit. The dedication ceremony has been scheduled for October 24, 2026. The Memorial will open to the public after the ceremony, and—presumably—will be officially established as unit 434 that day too.
Adam Sowards on being Unconfined in the Desert:
Americans were slow to embrace the desert as a landscape worthy of preservation. Geysers and canyons and mountains were one thing; dry expanses with prickly plant life and poisonous creatures were another. The National Park Service existed for a generation before it started protect desert spaces, and the American public did not really change their attitudes until after World War II. For most of the nation’s history, “desert” meant desolation.
It’s a good piece, though I bristled a bit when reading the above paragraph. Sure, this was certainly true for most Easterners, but I’d also remark that this wasn’t true in Southwestern communities.
Phoenix, for instance, just a small unassuming town at the time, purchased 16,000 acres to establish South Mountain Park in 1924. Similarly, nearby Papago Saguaro National Monument had been designated ten years prior, before even the National Park Service itself existed. Tucson Mountain Park was created in 1929. Several other desert landscapes had been protected as national park units, though often due to archaeological sites or other scientific fascinations. But, really, nearly all national parks were designated for something unusual, not just a standard representation of their flora, fauna, and geology.
Just finished getting another brain MRI, which I managed to survive without taking the anxiety meds my doc gave me. 🥴 Right on cue, as I reach my car to drive home, Apple Maps suggests the local brewery as my next destination. It’s not my next stop, Apple, but it sure will be visited today! 🍻
Boom! I managed to secure pre-sale tickets to the musical Spamalot this summer. Funny enough, I’m squeezing it into a trip itinerary when I’m on the other side of the country.
Jen and I just realized that we got our marriage license on Valentine’s Day in 2020—a coincidence that had apparently escaped us back then. We’ve only celebrated Feb 14 as Arizona’s Statehood Day. 😆
Smithsonian Magazine has a list of 250 Places to Celebrate America that’s fun to peruse.
Big congrats to Roger Craig, one of my all-time favorite players, on his upcoming induction into the NFL Hall of Fame (though I’m a bit bummed that he didn’t get in last year before I re-visited Canton). Whenever we chose “what player we were” at recess, I’d often chose Craig (even over Montana and Rice), just because I loved his versatility and effort.
Also congrats to Larry Fitzgerald, who we have some weird connections with. He played here in Phoenix, of course, but actually lived in our house—albeit years before we did, while he was waiting for his own (much larger, much nicer) house to get built. It turns out that a sports agent owned the place and let some of his clients use it as needed (apparently, this arrangement included side-chicks and baby mommas too, though not in the case of Fitz).
In addition, my great aunt Delma was recognized as the “Arizona Cardinals oldest fan” after her 100th birthday with a VIP visit to the stadium and a conversation with Fitzgerald. Enjoying her wit, he apparently (jokingly?) invited her to join him at a Scottsdale club on the weekend. 😆
Reconnected with an old colleague who is building an amazing eco-friendly container home in Cave Creek, AZ. If you’ve ever been to Vermilion Cliffs or enjoyed condors in northern Arizona, you owe her some gratitude for all her great work. Can’t wait to see the final product!
We got distracted after our hike.
— with Lucie Sinsabaugh at Arizona Stronghold Tasting Room. #fb
My buddy Jim O’Donnell published a new book, a guidebook to New Mexico’s rivers, as a fundraiser for New Mexico Wild.
Wild Waters: Passport to New Mexico’s Rivers Your passport to the remarkable waters of the Land of Enchantment
Whether you’re seeking whitewater adventure, pursuing native trout, or exploring hidden canyons, this comprehensive guide opens the door to New Mexico’s most spectacular river segments.
Discover over 40 river segments across 8 major watersheds, with detailed information on access points, best seasons, and ecological and recreational values. Stunning photography and rich storytelling bring each waterway to life, while conservation context explains why these rivers matter and how to protect them.
From wild and scenic stretches to the last undammed river in the state, this guide celebrates the ribbons of life that sustain our Land of Enchantment.
All proceeds support New Mexico Wild’s work to protect our wilderness, wildlife, and water.
This site collects laptop sticker collages.
Discover a unique collection of laptops adorned with creative stickers from around the world. This project celebrates the art and culture of laptop personalization each laptop tells a story through its stickers and gives us a glimpse of the personality of the owners.
Here’s an interesting interactive photo map of trains:
Railfan Atlas is a map interface for exploring Flickr’s railroad photography. Started in 2014, it has grown into one of the largest databases of railroad images.
Netflix is super annoyed that we travel and login from different states or countries and it’s incredibly annoying to get hounded each time. We’re not sharing our login ffs, one of us just wants to stream some TV in the hotel room. Isn’t that the service you supposedly provide?
Started off the week with a quick hike in Pima Canyon this morning.
One sort of stupidly obvious change we made due to the covid pandemic: when my wife or I starts feeling like we might be getting a cold, we promptly sleep in different bedrooms for the night, just as we had quarantined during covid infections. It’s amazing how much that can help ward off illness.
Fixing pin locations using Microblog Map with the mnml theme
I wanted to share a solution I found for some misbehaving map pins when using the fun Micro.blog Map “plugin” that Vlad Campos put together in conjunction with the excellent mnml theme by Jim Mitchell.
🗺️ Here’s my map, btw.
The problem I was having is that the map pins, on initial load (zoom level 2, showing the entire globe), would be misplaced to the north by a certain distance, consistently across the map. As you zoomed in more and more, however, the pins would migrate closer and closer to the correct location. It seemed to be a conflict with the mnml theme in particular, as it seemed to work fine in Tiny theme.
I don’t understand any of this, but with a whole lot of back-and-forth of unsuccessful but extremely confident answers (seriously, I’ve spent at least 5 hours on this) with both ChatGPT and Claude, I finally arrived at a working solution.
Add this to your custom CSS:
/* Fix Leaflet markers - override MNML's article img styles */
article .leaflet-container img,
.leaflet-container img {
max-width: none !important;
width: auto !important;
border-radius: 0 !important;
display: block !important;
}
article .leaflet-marker-icon,
article .leaflet-marker-shadow,
.leaflet-marker-icon,
.leaflet-marker-shadow {
max-width: none !important;
margin: -41px 0 0 -12px !important;
}
article .leaflet-tile,
.leaflet-tile {
margin: 0 !important;
max-width: none !important;
}
…and voila! The pins should display correctly right from the get-go.