Camped at the edge of a lava flow last night…

Lava flow featuring a number of green plants busting thru the “aa” lava, with cinder cone in the background

Morning view.

Looking up through a mesh tent at trees towering over the tent.

Yesterday’s evening view from an International Dark Sky Park

Stars amid a dark blue twilight sky framed by pine tree tops

Always a view to appreciate when youre escaping Phoenix temps.

The tops of pine trees with a blue sky and a hint of cloud

Today's is from Jupiter Inlet Outstanding Natural Area in Florida, one of the few BLM sites located in the East.

in 2019, I completed my decades-long quest to visit all 400+ national parks in the US with an all day boat tour in Glacier Bay National Park.

Of course, I had to riff a little on my somewhat-infamous park number signs…

Today is the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, a series of protests often credited as the defining event that launched the gay rights movement. I visited Stonewall Inn and Christopher Park days before it was designated a national monument in 2016.

Stonewall InnStonewall InnStatues in Christopher Park Gay liberation interpretative sign

Enjoying the view

Baggage Claim

I wrote a short ode to Sonoran Desert National Monument, a half-a-million-acre chunk of undeveloped and overlooked public lands outside of the nation’s fifth largest city.

Three murals in Belfast from 2001.

The Equality House (Topeka, Kansas)

Surprised in Alaska, five years ago today

Also five years ago today, two of my friends surprised me in Alaska, flying up to be there when I finished my national parks quest. Here we are that morning at Sitka NHP, which was park 418/419 for me.

My wife had actually organized a number of friends (plus my parents and even my ex-wife!) to fly up and join in the surprise (she started two years in advance). We had originally planned on completing the Alaskan parks over three summers, so that’s what everyone was counting on. But I managed to cut it down to just two years instead, which, unbeknownst to me, ruined everyone’s plans. Whoops!

Love this “cloud shadow” around Mt Edgecumbe, from five years ago today.

“No one should be at the mercy of an algorithm they don’t control, which was not designed to safeguard their interests”

— António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General #quote

I read something that really pissed me off and I had to quickly write this before I went to bed. I’ll edit and clean it up tomorrow, but I’m publishing it tonight.

It’s Not About Nostalgia, It’s About Human Connection

Classic

Route 66 painted on a lonely highway with Roy’s Cafe in the background, a classic RT66 diner near Amboy, CA

Today’s is from a June 2022 weekend trip to Idyllwild . It was intended to introduce one of my Phx friends to one of my LA friends since they share so many hobbies and interests, but a new puppy issue prevented one of them from making it. Still, a nice way to escape the summer heat, and it’s the only campground I’ve stayed at that’s walking distance to a brewery 😂