This is the August 2nd OTD post for #Blaugust2025.

Aug 2 2023

Several airplanes are positioned at an airport with a cloudy sky in the background.

We flew to London, and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express at Heathrow; this was the view from our room. Quite convenient, far less noise than you’d expect, but very few non-hotel or non-airport food options around. Still, I can see us doing this again.

Aug 2 2022

Waking up in Winnemucca, Nevada, we checked out “Buckaroo Hall of Fame and Museum,” a weird-ass museum in town. Because how could you not go see the Buckaroo Hall of Fame?

A museum exhibit displays various taxidermy animals, including deer, moose, and a bear, in a naturalistic setting.

Oh, and I apparently shot a video tour, too! 😆

A stack of chairs is positioned near a wall adorned with various framed pictures.

Small town museum complete, we drove up to Steens Mountain National Conservation Area in eastern Oregon for a quick hike, a site Jen still needed to visit for her Treasured Places quest. That drive also crossed the Nevada-Oregon border, a difficult objective on my State Border Crossings quest.

A man and a woman, both wearing sunglasses and casual outdoor clothing, are smiling in a mountainous landscape with shrubs and a cloudy sky.

Then it was off to wander the aptly-named Trail of the Molten Land at Newberry National Volcanic Monument, another Treasured Places site for Jen. It’s been ages since I’ve been to Newberry, so it was a fun stop.

A winding path cuts through a rugged landscape of dark volcanic rocks under a partly cloudy sky.A rugged volcanic landscape features jagged rocks and sparse vegetation under a partly cloudy blue sky.

We stopped into Bend for a brewery visit, then drove over to Eugene, enjoying a sunset stop at Crescent Lake.

A scenic river flows through a lush forest with tall trees lining its banks.

A serene lake scene features a vibrant, colorful sky at sunset with gentle waves lapping against the rocky shore.

Aug 2 2018

We drove ourselves down from Fairbanks to camp outside of Wrangell-St Elias National Park and Preserve, the nation’s largest national park.

A monument marks the end of the Alaska Highway, surrounded by the flags of the United States, Canada, and others.

A person is standing between two large mosquito sculptures with an American flag and pine trees in the background.A man stands next to a wooden sign for Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve, holding a 404 sign.A red tent is set up in a forested area surrounded by tall trees.

Aug 2 2015

We departed the Mogollon Rim after our weekend camping trip, heading back to the Valley. I had a thing for jump shots for a few years (I could get a surprising amount of air back then, for a short fat white guy, at least), so I apparently snagged one near the edge of the rim. On the way back, we also poked into the Shoofly Ruins up on Houston Mesa near Payson.

A person is jumping on the edge of a rocky cliff against a backdrop of expansive landscapes and a partly cloudy sky.A dry stone wall winds through a grassy landscape with scattered trees under a partly cloudy sky.

Aug 2 2014

My friend Jenny and I marked off Sleepy Dog Brewing and Desert Eagle Brewing on our Phoenix Brew Quest. It was that early quest—I had only just begun drinking alcohol a year or so prior—that got me into craft beer.

A woman with a smile is sitting at a table with several glasses of beer in front of her.