I was pretty happy to get my End of August 2024 recap written ahead of schedule last week—and then promptly forgot to publish until today. 🤦♂️
On This Day in 2017, I was able to “summit” Charles Mount, the highest point in Illinois. So far, it’s been the hardest one to mark off my travel quest to visit the High Points of Otherwise Flat States because it’s on private land and only open to the public on four weekends each summer.
I posted about the one feature I really wish Mastodon had.
An audio version of my blog
I bought a microphone back before the pandemic, with the idea that I wanted to publish a semi-regular audio update on my life for my friends (I’ll write more about that soon). I also wanted to audio-ify select blog posts, mostly for the convenience of others.
Well, I finally gave the latter a (very quick) initial shot. I’m out of town this week, and still need to find a suitable podcast recording app (send me suggestions!), but was able to record a single audio take on my last blog post, entitled I hate telling friends how I’m doing. I hooked up the mic for the first time, opened a voice recorder app, hit the record button and started reading. I didn’t practice reading it aloud first (oh man, I haven’t done this in ages). Had I not been under time pressure, I would have made it better. But after seeing the mic sitting there for too long, I decided I had to post something before I left the house, no matter what it was like.
Anyway, it should be accessible via an audio player here on this post. If it’s not, I’ll have to deal with that later, as I’m off for some sightseeing. I’m still deciding how this should all work, whether it should remain here at rsjon.es, or if I should put it alongside my main blog at rscottjones.com. More info soon.
For the last five years, I sorta hated to answer the question “How is it going?”
And now that things have changed, it’s still a bit of a struggle to answer it—but for the entirely opposite reason.
Three years ago today, I enjoyed this Grand Canyon sunset with friends. I had organized what I called Matt-Fest and invited several Matts I knew for a weekend of camping + competitions to determine who was The Matt-est of Them All™️. Sadly, we postponed the games due to too many late cancellations.
Five years ago today, I completed my quest to visit all 478 Treasured Places—every national park unit, national monument, and national conservation area in the US—with a short trip to Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in Montana.
Five years after completing my Treasured Places quest
Today is the birthday of the National Park Service, which manages over 430 national parks in the US. Visiting them all has been the best endeavor of my life.
Back in 2016, I celebrated the NPS 100th birthday by visiting 100 parks in 100 days, which has been my all-time favorite trip (so far 😉).
Finally got around to (belatedly) posting an August 2024 Mid-Month Review.
One minute of zen, from Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, captured On This Day in 2012.
Another monsoon storm blocked my weekly evening paddle down the river. Damn, I need to get back out there. Here’s an early morning view of the river—kayaker included—from OTD in 2020.
A few photos from a flight over Greenland, On This Day in 2021.
I was super lucky on the flight in the opposite direction, where I got to enjoy an hours-long display of the northern lights from the air. Quite magical!
On This Day in 2019, I visited what has got to be the most obscure National Monument in the country. It’s one of the few that requires a short background check to visit.
The most popular photo in Iceland? OTD in 2021
Some street art from Iceland
We ran across some fun murals in Hellissandur, Iceland, On This Day in 2021.
One more post of some idyllic scenes from Iceland, OTD in 2021.
A few shots of Goðafoss, from On This Day in 2021.
Spotted in Akureyri, Iceland four years ago today. ❤️💛💚
Four fun photos of the road from Iceland, taken On This Day in 2021.
Free shower! (Iceland, OTD in 2021)
