Yes, I know, I am risking the wrath of Faux News by wishing everyone a Happy Holidays rather than the mouthful “IWishYouAMerryChristmasAndAHappyNewYear.” On the other hand, if I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, does that mean that Faux News has won? Oy, politics is so confusing…
Posted by: GeekHiker | December 25, 2011
Happy Holidays!
Posted in Friendship, Random Thoughts, Stuff I Like
Posted by: GeekHiker | November 24, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving From A Wandering Hiker
Happy Thanksgiving, y’all! I’m currently with relatives in South Carolina where, as i understand it, the use of y’all is a legal requirement. At least by Hollywood stereotype standards.
Just taking a moment from the travels to say hello and wish all of you and your families a Happy Thanksgiving. May all of your tryptophan hangovers be good ones!
Posted in Family, Friendship, Stuff I Like, Travel
Posted by: GeekHiker | October 29, 2011
Aha!
So, I’ve finally figured out how to find the time to write a post while traveling!
Turns out, it’s simple: come down with a cold and end up socked away in a hotel in Maryland for a few days. Simple, no?
Posted in Travel
Posted by: GeekHiker | September 7, 2011
Quick Update
So, here’s the first major revelation I’ve learned on my trip so far:
It’s damned hard to be a travel blogger when most of the places you’re traveling to have no internet, or cell, or even electrical service.
That, and the fact that the “Run, Lola, Run” soundtrack can make every curve in the highway seem like you’re on an exciting movie-style car chase.
Posted in Travel
Posted by: GeekHiker | August 18, 2011
Portland – Friendship, Hiking, And Being A Tourist
This was my second stop in Portland in the past few years, the first one being the absolute amazing Oregon loop trip I did a few years ago. It was on that trip that I met Just A Girl (starting or, rather, cementing a wonderful friendship), explored Powell’s for the first time, took in a movie at the Baghdad, and even attended a Pirate Festival.
I’ve been in town for a few days and started this post this morning; I’m finishing it by the light of a campfire far outside the city. Over the past few years, people have been telling me how much they think I would fit in up here, given the town’s “green” credentials. Four days in town, and I’m still unsure. On the one hand, I can definitely see the appeals of the town: the bike culture, the limits on growth, the green building efforts, and so on. On the other, there’s a definite “grunge” aspect to the city. That’s not a slight; it’s more that I’m unsure if it’s a culture that I fit into.
Is it possible that my time in L.A. corrupted me? Have I, at some point, become shi-shi?
Posted in Travel | Tags: Deschutes Brewery, friends, hiking, Mt. Hood, Multnomah Falls, Portland, Powell's City of Books, Washington Park
Posted by: GeekHiker | August 11, 2011
The Road To Portland: ‘Nuthun But Trees
I’m a sucker for any sign about history, apparently.
Driving north from Lava Beds took me past a sign for the WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument – Tule Lake Unit. Intrigued, I pulled over and stepped out of the truck, looking over a dilapidated fence towards a couple of weather-beaten wood structures in the distance. It was a lonely place, with nothing but the wind and the sun beating down, a hardy scrub brush growing here and there. Hard to believe that over 15,000 people once lived there. (More info here.)
Like Manzanar National Historic Site near Lone Pine in eastern California, this was one of the ten remote relocation centers that nearly 110,000 U.S. Citizens of Japanese ancestry were relocated to during the Second World War. Not, by any means, one of the shining moments in U.S. history. Located in the high desert, farmed only by virtue of irrigation, Tule Lake is much like Manzanar: isolated and lonely. Unlike Manzanar, it’s not open to the public save four a couple of docent led tours in the summer months and a visitor center in town (which was closed on Tuesday when I drove by). This added, I think, to the sadness of the place: no on-site visitor center, no parking lot, no rangers. Just a shameful bit of history, abandoned, locked up, mostly forgotten.
There wasn’t much to see from the road. I didn’t take any pictures. But I won’t forget the place.
We should never forget.
Posted in Grand Trip, Travel | Tags: boring roads, camping, driving, Manzanar, photography, Tule Lake, World War II
Posted by: GeekHiker | August 10, 2011
Lost In The Dark
“Don’t panic. Take a deep breath. KEEP CALM.”
Keeping calm was actually the second thought that went through my head. It followed on the heels of sheer panic, which is what happens when you’re deep underground in a lava tube, with only a flashlight in otherwise pitch blackness, and you realized that the path you’re trying to get out on is not the path you came in on.
I’d read about it before, sure, but nothing matches the feeling of being in that moment and trying to quash the natural instinct to turn 180 and backtrack as fast as possible without thinking.
Posted in Travel
Posted by: GeekHiker | August 8, 2011
Just What’s ‘Goin on Around Here?
I’m setting this post to stay at the top of the front page for a bit. For new posts, just scroll down a little.
So, big changes in my life of late. New to the scene? Okay, it’s basically this: think “Eat, Pray, Love.” Now subtract the book advance to pay for it all, and you have the general idea.
Not that I’m opposed to book advances. Seriously, if one of you brilliant, cultured, and incredibly darn-good-looking (as I know all of you are) people in the publishing industry would just love to shower me with advance money to write about this whole crazy thing, far be it from me to argue.
Posted in Travel
Posted by: GeekHiker | August 7, 2011
The Journal: August 7th, 2011
So, here it is, the day of departure.
I feel like I should be typing something deep and profound. Like all those speeches they used to give before people began on long expeditions.
Truth is, though, I’m just flat-out exhausted.
Posted in The Journal
Posted by: GeekHiker | August 5, 2011
The Journal: July, 2011
This will likely be my last hand-written entry in this journal. It will probably surprise no one when I say that I’ve come to the Secret Spot to write it, a mere two days before I’m scheduled to move out of my house.
This may have been a mistake, and not just because I really should be at home packing. No, the last few days have been difficult; as I plan to depart, I’m reminded of that which I’m leaving behind. This wonderful canyon, for example, which is absolutely perfect today. There are other places, too: other hikes, favorite restaurants, my local library. My home which, though sometimes hot in the summer and cold in the winter, has had the most distinct “home” feeling of any place I’ve lived since leaving for college 20 years ago.
Posted in The Journal
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