🏕️ Woo! Got our campsites booked in Banff, Jasper, and Kootenay National Parks for our Canadian Rockies trip in August. Still plenty of planning required, but am glad we could snag reservations during busy season.
If you live in Phoenix, you are often told that—especially with a warming planet—the city will soon be uninhabitable. Here’s a counterargument:
Despite the flood of east-coaster think pieces, I think there’s an argument to be made that Phoenix is well-positioned to thrive in the climate crisis.
…
When it comes to redesigning our civilization around renewable energy, it makes much more sense for people to live in places where the big temperature-based energy needs come during summer days, when sunlight is most abundant, rather than needing that energy on winter nights, when photons are scarce.
…and that’s when everyone’s phone at the brewery blared the emergency message tone to alert us that a haboob was incoming…
Guess I’ll have to “shelter in place,” for uhh…safety.
A few shots from Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. We needed to get into the primitive BLM-managed portion for Jen’s Treasured Places quest, then boogied on up to Yellowstone, so none of the classic shots from the NPS side of things. 🏷️25.06B
We’re plotting a possible two-week trip to the Canadian Rockies in August, likely via Calgary and Vancouver. Any recs on things I shouldn’t miss?
Interesting Q&A conversation this morning with Rutger Bregman and the School of Moral Ambition community. (And here’s your regular reminder that there’s a massive Grand Canyon-sized gulf between complaining to your own tribe on social media and taking meaningful action to solve problems.)
Well damn, we did not win the ticket lottery for the “behind the fence” tour opportunities at Los Alamos. We’ve been trying to visit for years and years now, but the Oppenheimer movie has exploded the ticket request—thousands are now applying for the 25 slots a day (only offered 3 days each year).
On this day in 1864, Pres Lincoln signed the Yosemite Land Grant act, often regarded as the birth of the national park idea.
We met some friends at the newly opened Wren House Paradise Valley, the sister location to our local Wren Südhalle Taproom. It features an English pub inspired theme, complete with cask pours, and a great location in my old neighborhood.
Just booked flights to Costa Rica in January. 🙌
Read When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi on my last roadtrip. It was good, though it felt like the very last bit of the book was the real meat of it. Definitely pulled on some heartstrings when describing his last days, a similar ending to my dad’s. A good impetus to reflect on one’s life.
Thanks to Gregory, I just added another batch of posts to blogprompts.fyi.
Got to use the new outdoor “Amazon-style” book pickup from my local public library. Super convenient (and I’m glad they faced it north, as it’d be too toasty facing west).
It’s random messages like this one, referencing some random post on my website (not sure which specific one), that makes having a personal website so much fun. Always offer a way for visitors to contact you.
(and yes, I’ve been to Bone Haus many times 😆)
Today is day 2 of 4 of getting quotes for new windows. Yesterday’s sales person spent more than two hours mostly talking about unrelated stories. It was GRUELING. I’m under the weather today, and I sure hope this is a quicker endeavor.
This is a reminder to change out your keyfob battery if you haven’t done so in the last 2 years.
We had a battery failure after a hike in Yellowstone last week, and while we averted a crisis, it’s an easy problem to avoid entirely. Also a good idea to carry a spare key while hiking or traveling.
Just ran into Dennis at happy hour, and congratulated him on his completion of a marathon in all 50 states. What a great running quest!
I finally stopped by the Parowan Gap petroglyphs on my drive yesterday. Pretty interesting site, significantly enhanced by the gap itself. Worth a short visit if you’re driving I-15 in southern Utah. 🏷️25.06B
Here’s the final map of the trip (dark green are new counties visited, light green are repeats). Still surprised we ended up in Yellowstone and Grand Teton while getting everything else done but Golden Spike NHS. 🏷️25.06B
Here’s 20 seconds of zen watching the Colorado River relentlessly tumble towards the Grand Canyon.
🏷️25.06B