My Morning at Petrified Forest National Park

It’s worth half a day. Heading out to the UT, I figured I ought to get this park checked off my list. It’s sort of on the way if you want it to be (probably added a couple hours to my drive up to Zion NP). The park includes more than just a petrified forest

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Of Costa Rica (A Poem)

Here’s a poem I wrote soon after arriving in Costa Rica.

The American Pigeon Museum Is Real

Here’s evidence: The museum plays it all pretty straight. Things I learned: Pigeon racing is a thing and requires specialized time-keeping equipment. Pigeons basically won the Franco-Prussian war for France (well — except that Prussia won that war). The pigeons that are good at their jobs get names (such as Paddy, Gustav, and the one that won

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New Family Member: A Garage without Compromise

Four months ago, I continued my post-PhD annual tradition of buying a new car every February. Establishing and maintaining traditions has value, studies have shown. Anyway: It’s a 2015 Jeep Wrangler in Willys Wheeler trim (basically a less-extensive, less-expensive version of the serious-offroad Rubicon package).  Came to me used, with 1,500 miles on it. The color is

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Hemmed-in-Hollow Falls and Goat Bluff Loop Hike

Almost all information about hiking to Hemmed-in-Hollow Falls (in the Ozarks, Ponca Wilderness Area) that I could find prior to going on the hike referred to it as an out-and-back. I found one resource that combined it with the Goat Bluff destination to make it into a shuttle hike. For anyone wondering, though, there’s a really

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Spring Break in the UT

It seems like a long time ago. I was there longer than usual due to airfare insanity. Skiing primarily. A lot of family things. Thanks to Caitlin and Mark for letting me stay with them and RKD for driving up, I think, mostly just so I could spend a day or two with Ammon. Here

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Ozark Weekend

So when you live in Oklahoma, the prospect of traveling to Arkansas is seen as a positive thing. Arkansas has mountains, trees, and rivers. I mean, “mountains”. It has Ozarks. Don’t mean to denigrate. They are what they are and that’s good for them and way better than, you know, what’s in Oklahoma. On a

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Ski Weekend on the Front Range

Went to Colorado for a quick (three-day) weekend back in February as sort of a proof of concept. The concept being the reasonableness of going to Colorado to ski for a weekend. I flew in on Thursday night after class, rented a mid-size SUV (Ford Escape as it turned out) “at” the airport, then headed

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Painting My Ridiculous Living Room Ceiling

So this is done now and thanks to Mark in Norman 2 for shaming me into DIYing it. I have this weird inverted layer cake of a ceiling in my living room. It’s definitely memorable, but also definitely too high to reach entirely with a ladder. Here’s what I was able to do it using

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Christmas in the Northwest

In, apparently, 1987 there was this song that came out that, apparently, I heard more than once. The song was called “Christmas in the Northwest”. It was, well, you can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9Ze0FEuG4s. I was going to use the word cloying, but be your own judge. An upside of the song was the implication

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