“Self-Inflicted Wounds” (Tyrol, Bavaria, Frankfurt, and Paris – July 16, 2018 to July 27, 2018)

Apparently, there was an issue with the profile of our boarding passes as somehow we were classified as students under age 30. I recalled we had a similar issue back at LAX but it didn’t result in…

“These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things” (Austria – July 2, 2018 to July 16, 2018)

…even after trying to apply the brakes, I leaned too far backwards and managed to fall back onto the track. I felt something on my elbows immediately but I was more concerned about Tahia…

“Bavarian Fantasy Works” (Black Forest and Bavarian Germany – June 21, 2018 to July 1, 2018)

At this point, I then walked back through the village and started asking people if they had seen “eine frau und eine tochter”. The firefighters near the trailhead said they hadn’t seen them…

“French German Interludes” (Northeast France, Western Germany, and Luxembourg – June 13, 2018 to June 20, 2018)

…the losing of the power plug on my laptop was definitely not-so-great news. And so I was mentally already in the mindset of finding a stop to find such replacement parts (if they still exist)…

“Three Generations” (Northern Arizona and Southern Utah – March 29, 2018 to April 6, 2018)

For myself, this late start kind of exacerbated a day that wasn’t going that right for me as I was fighting a toothache that started last night and wouldn’t go away this morning. So I couldn’t…

“Connecting The Dots” (Tasmania – November 24, 2017 to December 3, 2017)

…just when I was about to check the handheld GPS for reception and to see how close I was to the car park, I saw underneath the rain poncho that only the attached battery cover was in my hip pouch!

“Yanada” (South Australia and Victoria – November 8, 2017 to November 23, 2017)

Just when Julie was about to get into the car after using the restrooms here, she smelled something burning. At first, I thought it was something with the car. But she said it was more like a fire…

“Total Eclipse Of The Trip” (Portland and the Oregon Coast – August 16, 2017 to August 20, 2017)

It was a bit of a strange experience being on this bridge looking at the sign periodically go dark then the letters outlining in green before sparkling in the font while cars were whizzing by…

“Disconnected Connectedness” (Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Tetons – August 5, 2017 to August 15, 2017)

About five minutes later, the large group caught up to me though I wasn’t sure if they rememered me or not because one of the ladies said to me, ‘You’re brave, dude!’…

“Inukshuk” (Cascade Range and Pacific Northwest – July 27, 2017 to August 4, 2017)

It wouldn’t be until around 9:35am when we finally got to the customs person, but when she asked what was in our cooler, we revealed that we had eggs, some bread, some kefir, as well as a bag of…

“Going Against The Grain” (Yosemite – June 15, 2017 to June 18, 2017)

I wasn’t sugar coating it telling them they had at least another hour or more just to even get up to the 3rd Chilnualna Falls, which would be the next opportunity to cool off…

“Unforeseen Family Day” (Soldier Creek Falls – June 10, 2017)

And so we were merrily driving up the Hwy 39 into San Gabriel Canyon en route to Crystal Lake. But we were doing this drive without much preparation as we didn’t bring Ann Marie Brown’s book…

“Elevate Us” (Salt Lake City – May 25, 2017 to May 29, 2017)

By about 2:20pm, we only made it to Jean, which was the next town on the way to State Line. And it wouldn’t be until about 3:20pm when we finally made it to Primm. By this time, lots of people…

“Ladybugs of the Heart” (Heart Rock Falls – May 20, 2017)

I eventually scrambled up to rejoin Julie and Tahia where they were snacking on broccoli chips. As we were snacking up here, we were suddenly inundated in an insect swarm. It was quite a surreal…

“Corner Places” (The Four Corner States – April 13, 2017 to April 23, 2017)

As I was speeding along the NP-101 on the way out, I was suddenly tailed by someone in a truck. I thought that it wanted to pass me or something, but I didn’t see a place to pull over and let him…

“Rite of Passage” (Death Valley – April 7, 2017 to April 9, 2017)

As we were making our way over, Mom was telling me that Joshua had gotten carsick and threw up in a plastic bag. At first, she blamed Dad’s driving…

“Creating Models” (Santa Barbara – March 31, 2017 to April 2, 2017)

And as I was making this apparently unnecessary crossing to get back to the original side, I made a misstep and next thing I knew, both boots were wet as well as my wool socks! So much for hiking…

“United We Pay” (Colorado Springs – March 22, 2017 to March 24, 2017)

Once I got connected with an agent, I was told that my reservation was cancelled because I was a “no show” for my earlier flight from LAX to Denver on Wednesday, which clearly wasn’t true…

“Itchy, Scratchy, and Crawly” (Potrero John Falls and Rose Valley Falls – March 19, 2017)

With the time being 2:50pm, I figured that it would probably be another 40-50 minutes before we’d finally be back at the trailhead. But at least now, we knew that we’d be hiking on trail again…

“Double Whammy” (Tahquitz Falls – February 25, 2017)

That said, Tahquitz Creek and Tahquitz Falls had quite the healthy flow. In fact, its flow was so strong that the creek flowed right over the connecting trail leading to the other side of the loop…