As the road winds away 📷 OTD in 2010
An “end of season” night paddle from OTD in 2022, featuring some “dream-like” photos.
I took this photo—my most favorite “recent” photo of my dad—one year ago today. Damn I miss this smile so fucking much.
A few shots of some of the petroglyph panels from Grapevine Canyon, Bridge Canyon Wilderness, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada - visited OnThisDay in 2018
Sometimes you just need a little nap after a swim.
The center of attention
When an adventure awaits you just out the front door.
Just give me a dirt road and a Joshua tree and I’ll be happy. (On This Day in 2018)
A project I’d like to tackle in early spring 2026 is a Walk Across Phoenix—from one edge of the city limits across to the other—an urban trek of over 50 miles. I’m still in the early phases of pondering what it could look like, so send suggestions!
My friend @pmount@onephoto.club just wrapped up an interesting “freighter cruise” trip in British Columbia. Had never heard of these:
With Marine Link Tours, cruise the inland waterways of coastal BC on the magical MV Aurora Explorer! Our 135-foot landing craft transports heavy equipment & freight as you enjoy rugged coastal scenery & abundant sea life. The ship’s chef will prepare first class meals while you experience the ambience of small group cruising and visit working logging camps, remote villages and other unique coastal destinations.
Reflections of the past - OTD in 2018 #OnePhotoClub
I hiked the Hidden Canyon Trail in Zion National Park On This Day in 2014—complete with the same vista, same tree trunk, same ASU hat 😂 from a 2002 hike.
Earth Roulette: a random destination picker for your next trip. (Maybe we’ll try this next year instead of letting the internet randomly choose our road trip destination).
After trying to find a chicken stew recipe online, Brandon bought a cookbook, noting:
There was a time when the internet was superior (or at least it felt that way) than books. But with the amount of misinformation and SEO/AI trash online, I feel like trusting a book for my information is the better deal these days. It cuts down on the clutter and gets things back to the basics. In a way, it’s much easier than the internet, which is funny because having all of this information at our fingertips was supposed to be easy.
Agreed. I’ve returned to travel guidebooks over blog posts and social media.
On This Day ten years ago, we finished up the second day of a “top down” Zion Narrows backpacking trip.
Jen & I are again participating in the 2024 Coffeeneuring Challenge, which starts today!
Here’s what that entails:
- between October 6 through November 18, 2024,
- ride your bike 7 times,
- to at least 6 different places (you can repeat 1!)
- at least 2 miles round trip every time,
- drink 7 total cups of coffee (or another fall-type beverage), and
- document your coffeeneuring (either photos, Strava tracks, journal entries, control card, etc.) just in case the Coffeeneuring Challenge Committee and the ever-striving Intern ever conduct an audit.
Sounds fun, right? Come join us!
On This Day last year, we visited the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale as part of our quest to visit every local museum in Metro Phoenix. The park has its own little railroad you can ride, plus several historic railway cars, exhibits, and buildings—and a massive model railroad exhibit.
Toasty game last night—it was 107º at kickoff—but we still enjoyed some pregame tailgating before a last second win, followed by our traditional post-game victory champagne toast and our usual stop for a burger on the way home.
September 2024 in 10 photos
Following up last month’s post with a similar one for September.
We started the month at an unlikely venue—a ballpark! We met up with our good buddy Doc, who was in town to watch his Dodgers play the Dbacks. We always enjoy catching up with him and we had plenty to talk about since we saw him in April in New Orleans.
We made it to Passport Health to get a medical assessment of what vaccinations we need for our upcoming 100-day trip. Here’s our country list, it’s a doozie—and so is the list of vaxxes we need for the trip.
Oooh, be careful what you offer, Walgreens! After paying an ungodly amount of money at Passport Health for the shots we need, I decided to do some sleuthing about how to get some of them covered by insurance. After a ridiculous number of phone calls and in person visits with insurance companies, our local pharmacy, and doctors, I was able to make it all work. I have probably talked with Walgreens Pharmacy (shout out to Chris!) no fewer than 50 times in this whole ordeal.
I haven’t been involved in any national monument campaigns this cycle, but that didn’t stop me from heading over to Arizona Wilderness Brewing to grab a couple of beers they had on draft—one celebrating the 60th birthday of the Wilderness Act, and another in support of the proposed Great Bend of Gila National Monument, a place I believe is quite worthy of permanent protection.
This summer has been pretty weird, as we’ve stayed in town nearly every weekend. In “normal” years, we’d have been traveling on at least one longer out-of-state trip and camped most weekends. Boy…I could use some time away (yes, yes, I know it’s coming). That said, one of benefit of being in town is that I finally got to try the Friday Fish Fry at Wren Südhalle, our favorite local brewery. Damn, it’s probably the best fish and chips I’ve had.
Jen spent much of the month still working down in Tucson, and I made a few trips down to keep her company after work. For me, the city is a weird mix of memories and foreignness. I was born and spent my early years there, then worked there regularly up until a decade ago—since which, much has changed. Both Jen and I have been reminded by how much we enjoy Phoenix so much more—though I wish we had more Eegee’s up here.
Another big focus of the month has been on finding appropriate travel clothes for our trip. We have limited space, irregular laundry days, and have to deal with a range of conditions across four different continents, so what we pack really matters.
And it’s something we need to get nailed down asap, as we’re planning to ship off all our clothes to be professionally treated against mosquitoes. Skeeters and water contamination are the two biggest threats we face on the trip.
We finally got our camera situation sorted out for the trip, which involved buying a Nikon z50 for Jen and a new lens for Scott. We still have a number of accessories to snag, but at least we have the general equipment in hand.
My usual weekly kayaking routine has simply not worked out this summer, which has been a big bummer. So I spent each of those Thursdays at the Südhalle doing some work on the trip and socializing with other regulars. It opened one year ago but quickly became our go-to spot.
That’s it for September!