The Myth & The Majesty

Three weeks ago, I sent a text off to the Machine. "Want to go watch the eclipse with me?" His answer was immediate and straightforward: "Yes." Being me, this wasn't the first time I'd thought about it. I'd been half-planning for months what I might do for The Day, based on where I thought I might be living at that point. As far as I could tell, I'd be close to the path of totality no matter what -- the question was more about how much free time I might have. As it turned out, I didn't have to worry about the time. Even better, as Monday neared, my crowd grew. First was the Machine. Then, Ashli realized she was starting work here on the 22nd. Finally, I met Mikah Meyer , a record-setting traveler who happened to be in the area with no firm eclipse plans as of nine days ago. The team now assembled, we started debating our options. Rapid City happened to lie two to three hours from the path of totality, with many options for where you ...

This is the most beautiful place on earth. There are many such places. Every man, every woman, carries in heart and mind the image of the ideal place, the right place, the one true home, known or unknown, actual or visionary... - Opening lines of Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey Every place you visit sticks with you in some way. Sometimes it's a specific thing -- the fo   Sometimes it's negative (I have no need to return to Beijing) and sometimes it lingers (twelve years later, I'm still thinking about Saint Petersburg). od, the people, an experience, a building. And sometimes, you find yourself browsing the job listings, looking for a reason to stay. I first stopped in Moab on my way back from Oregon. As it turned out, two nights in the desert were perfect for a body and soul to recover from a week and a half on the road. Sadly, my second stop was two full years later, a mere pit stop between the Grand Canyon and Denver for lunch and a stretch. They were on...

I have written about hiking Harney Peak many times. Seriously. Maybe too often . Heck, I've even used it as an example for other things . So why am I doing it again? Maybe I should start sitting elsewhere, though... I have a goal for this year -- a trek up once a month at a minimum -- and that goal has been questioned more than once. Reasonably, I might add. Why would someone go over the same trail so many times? Why pick the same destination over and over when there are so many other options out there? ... It's not an easy goal to defend, as it turns out. I'm lucky enough to have sampled trails throughout the Hills, but this is one section I've done repeatedly. Over the course of two(ish) decades, I've been up something like 35 times. And over those trips -- from different trailheads with different routes -- I've gotten to the point of being friendly with the area, especially the main trail from Sylvan Lake. There's something strangely sa...

As a general rule, I have been a fortunate traveler. Sure, there have been lots of flight delays over the years. I've ended up on standby when my flight was cancelled and I've waited out thunderstorms, blizzards, and bitter (as in "plane-won't-start") cold. I've stayed in awful hotel rooms. Gotten hopelessly lost. Tried to  break my leg on a couple of lakeshores . Had to fly through O'Hare. Thanks to some weirdly bad luck, I can now add rental car difficulties in the form of minor accidents and recall items rearing their ugly heads to the list. Seriously. I just shouldn't rent cars. The bottom line is that there will almost always be some form of trouble while you're on the road -- and even the minor things can be blown out of proportion very quickly when you're in strange places or running late for a flight. Most of all, many of the minor problems can be fixed or avoided with minimal preparation. A lot of this is common sense, but n...

It was the 1870s. Gold had been found in them thar Hills and the miners were pouring in, sneaking over borders into Indian territory to make their fortunes. Mining camps popped up in valleys and on hillsides as the search began. Southwest of Rapid City, then just a settlement on the far east border of sacred land, miners struck gold -- but had a problem. They were digging into dry mountainside, the search slowed by the lack of water. An entire town had grown around the find but it was slow going without a steady supply for their panning. But to the west was a small lake and this gave an idea. A group of people gathered, calling themselves the Rockerville and Spring Creek Hydraulic Company and developing a plan for a flume that would carry water from Sheridan Lake to the boom town of Rockerville. With investors from the east coast, a plan was laid out involving a dam on the lake, tunnels, trestles, built-up rock walls, and plenty of track to cover the twisting route throug...

Three weekends ago I headed to Rochester, Minnesota, to hang out with three of the four high school friends with whom I've actually stayed in touch. I was excited for a few reasons ... First because I hadn't seen them in awhile (over a year since I had last seen Jessie), second because I really like Rochester, and third because I was starting to go a little stir crazy in Wausau. (Winter does that. So does holding still too long.) In any case, I headed straight out of town on Friday after work. Rochester is about three hours away and a fairly scenic drive. My particular route lead me straight through the Big Woods (that's a Laura Ingalls Wilder reference for those that are unfamiliar) -- which is a moderately formidable drive in the middle of winter. Rochester is a rather pretty little city revolving mostly around the Mayo Clinic. It's moderately "well-off" as far as towns go, although not overly yuppie, thank goodness. Ashley and Jon moved there because she...

Listening to: Christmas music (yeah, you heard me) Thinking about: how unexcited I am about work tomorrow Just remembered: a bottle of wine in the freezer to "chill" (uh-oh) Hoping: I can sleep tonight Relieved: that the wine isn't slushy Right, so this post wasn't supposed to start with a ridiculous list. It was supposed to launch right into pictures. Went and screwed that one up, didn't I? How about if we see how badly inserting pictures messes with the layout instead? (Grumble, grumble, grumble.) Okay then. Now that I've destroyed the opening, we'll see how the rest goes, eh? After a week of rain and general dreariness, the forecast for the weekend involved sunshine and September-esque temperatures. So on Wednesday I decided I was going to get out of Dodge for a bit, and on Thursday I got the rather inspired suggestion to go to Devil's Lake State Park. I'll admit that at 4:30 Saturday morning, I wasn't thrilled with the guy that suggested i...

Okay. Before I get into my actual post -- woot for random readers! (And if that little bit of nerdiness didn't scare you off, thanks for stopping by, Paul!) I've discovered one thing that I truly love about Wisconsin: actual fall colors. SoDak's great, but when September and October come around, you get two colors: yellow and brown. Not terribly exciting. At some point, I observed to myself that Wisconsin is one big forest, which must mean that fall was pretty cool. And wow. I was right. (Give me a break -- it hasn't happened often lately. I miss being right.) It doesn't just turn colors -- it turns Technicolor. Seriously. Think "The Wizard of Oz." (If you're picturing the parts in Kansas, you're seriously missing the point -- and frustrating me, for that matter.) The first picture is an example of the Wisconsin forestedness. Wausau, like most cities around here, is heavily wooded throughout town. Including in and around the parking lot of the Texa...

I took a trip north last weekend and it almost didn't happen. It started on Thursday, when I realized that I really wanted to get out of the apartment (if only for a day) and take a mini-vacation. I was going to leave Friday after work, crash at a motel somewhere, and spend Saturday sightseeing. After getting suggestions from Kristi & JD, I decided that a trip up to the Apostle Islands was in order. On Friday, I got thwarted by work and weather. It's moderately rare to put in extra time on a Friday (I mean, who wants to be there later than absolutely necessary?) but due to a project that kind of stunk and my new-ness, I was there till after I intended to be on the road -- which meant I hadn't packed or eaten supper yet. When a nasty thunderstorm blew in as well, I decided to leave early Saturday and make the trip. When my alarm clock went off shortly after four, I shut it off and tried to talk myself into staying in bed. Or going. I couldn't figure out what I really...

Like so many things in life, it all started with an email. A late one, for that matter. “Hey, I saw you were going to have a couple Russian parties, and I thought I might try to make it out for one ... Oh, by the way. I moved to Wisconsin not too long ago.” What started on that awkward note turned into a great weekend in Superior/Duluth. Saturday, I met up with Danielle (who, much to my jealousy, spent the last year in St. Petersburg teaching English and just this past Saturday started the venture back for another year) and did some sightseeing. Since I had never seen Lake Superior before, most of our activity was lakeside. The beach, the lighthouse, the Rose Garden ... We even went geocaching (which was even more fun because it was Danielle’s first cache), finding one right down on the shore. After that, we met up with Amy (another member of the 2005 Russia crew) for supper, and then ended up at Marilynn (yep – another one!) and Amy’s apartment to get caught up. Sunday started at a ba...

Ah, the week is over. Well, the work week is over. Whatever. Decided to do some geocaching after work today ... Okay, backing up. I sprang for a handheld GPS receiver this past week, much to my excitement. A Garmin eTrex Legend to be more specific, found on super-sale to be most specific. And today I found my first Wisconsin cache, at the Isle. Next time, I need to remember bug spray. Especially if it's as hot as today. And especially if, like today, there was a massive thunderstorm the night before that left a lot of standing water. Yeah, wasn't very smart about that one. And then I met a friendly stranger in the park with a gorgeous, well-behaved, energetic golden retriever. Yay for random fun people! Tomorrow, fun people that are considerably less random ... I'm headed north, to the Superior/Duluth area, where I'll definitely be meeting up with one woman I went to Russia with (and hopefully at least two more) ... Yay! I'll have to tell you about it when I get bac...

This is the first of what I hope will become an occasional series as I continue to find my way around town and the amusements therein. Oak Island & the Isle of Ferns If there is something that impresses me about Wausau, it’s the city’s park system. It’s possible that this is because I’m coming from a city that had one or two really good parks and a handful of scary ones, but I’ve been finding little hideaways and good walks all over the place. My favorite so far involves an island park. Oak Island is a riverside park with a playground, tennis courts, a half-pipe, picnic tables, plenty of trail-like sidewalk, etc. etc. Well-kept and clean, it’s what you generally expect from a park -- you can take the kids, have a picnic lunch, and throw a Frisbee without worrying too much about hitting someone. At one end there’s a bridge that leads to an entirely different kind of park. The Isle of Ferns is a natural history park that is accessible only by that single bridge or boat. Just after th...