Julie and I thought we’d try and get some camping and hot sprining in this weekend. So, Saturday morning, she and I packed up just about everything but the kitchen sink (we were fortunate in that regard, as I shall explain in a bit) and headed west. The MINI wouldn’t have come even close to hauling all we wanted to bring + the dog. It could have done one or the other, but not both. Fortunately, her Mazda 3 is a bit more generous on space. The bench seat, folded away, made a perfect platform for Murph and the trunk was just big enough to hold our packs, gigunda tent, cooler, doggie goods and we managed to get the firewood in there somewhere too.

I had found a few potential campgrounds online on Saturday morning in the Steamboat Springs vicinity. What with the mountains being where they are an all, we had to head south to I-70, through the Eisenhower tunnel, and then back north again when we reached Silverthorne. It was a stunning drive, if perhaps a bit lengthier than we had bargained for. When we reached Steamboat, we found that the Forest Service Information Center was closed on weekends, so Blackberries in hand, we tried to figure out where best to camp (and how to get there) by ourselves.

After a few wrong turns (my fault), we finally found our road. Our target was Dry Lake, a small campground I had learned about online. I should have known that finding a vacant slip at a campground on a Saturday evening would be a fool’s errand, but we had a few backup campgrounds on our list. Unfortunately, no campground is ever anywhere near another, so going from one to the next would be time consuming at best, and suicidal at worst with dusk creeping up. The backups I had on my list, which I had researched, would have meant going back into town and then up to the north. So, when we discovered, not too surprisingly, that Dry Lake was full, we pressed on along our little dirt road to the un-researched campsite icons further to the east. The map had a few around Buffalo Pass. That was all the info I had about them, and the name sounded pleasant enough.

We continued up the road and the conditions quickly went from 4-door sedan, to high-clearance 4×4. It was a bit much for the Mazda, but it was a bit late to turn around and we were hoping things would improve. We finally managed to flag a passing car down and ask about the route up ahead. They told us that things got better and that there was a campground just up the road a bit. They also told us that all of the people we’d seen off the side of the road occupying impromptu camping spots were totally legit. You’d know you were in a good place if you found a fire ring pre-built.

Well, no surprise here, but the campground at Buffalo Pass was completely full. So, somewhat defeated, we kept going hoping to find an unofficial, off-the-road spot that wasn’t taken. And only a few moments later, we succeeded! We found an absolutely beautiful little secluded place to camp, complete with a car pull off and fire ring. It was at this point that we found ourselves ecstatic to have brought such “extras” as camp chairs, 2 gallons of water, and toilet paper.

By the time we put up the tent and got the fire started (thanks to a greasy Whopper wrapper), the sun dipped below the trees and darkness set in. Murphy took it upon himself to run around every inch of ground within a 100yd radius of the site and so we eventually just tied the poor guy up. The last thing we needed was bear/sasquatch bait. We cooked a couple Heeb Nat hotdogs over the fire and a couple cobs of corn. To top it off, we made a bit of Hot Cocoa with Vodka. We only have 1 sleeping bag, so I brought my bedding from home and we tried to make do with that. It was a bit nipply, but we made it through alright.

In the morning, we made up a new fire (with the second greasy Whopper wrapper), and got some breakfast under our belts. After we struck the site, we got back in the Mazda and headed back in on the treacherous glorified foot-path towards Steamboat. We went up to Strawberry Hot Springs and took a quick soak (partly for relaxation, but mostly just to get the grime off). With Murph in the car, we didn’t want to be gone too long, so we wrapped it up and went back into town.

Before we left, though, we just had to take a ride down the alpine slide they had in town. I had been on one of these many years ago on a family vacation in the French Jura Mountains. Essentially, it’s a twisty and narrow half-pipe track down a ski slope. You get in a small plastic sled with a lever that, when pushed forwards, extends a pair of wheels under you causing you to roll quickly downhill. When you pull the lever back, it retracts the wheels and extends braking skids below the sled to slow you down. It’s was every bit as much fun as I had remembered it being.

Grins on faces, we got in the car and headed home. We had a quick stop at the outlet mall to partially reintroduce us to civilization, and a couple hours in the brutal I-70 mountain traffic to fully seal the deal.

By 9-ish, or so, we were home and unpacked. That was what I call a fantastic weekend. Not exactly relaxing, but that’s what work is for, is it not?

Julie and I will be on a plane to the UK and the Emerald Isle here in a couple of months. I made a quick map to show where we’re headed, but there’s plenty more to update. So, if you’re curious to see what we plan to see, check back often. The map can be seen in large form here: Julie and I go to the UK

Image courtesy of: http://www.thefringething.com

In keeping with good ‘ol user-commanded interactive online adfotainment (a là Subservient Chicken – which is amazingly still live), the Edinburgh Fringe Festival has launched a micro-site with a curious eggish-looking object the begs the user to poke and prod at it with various typable instructions. Two gentlemen (presumably?) in full-on bunny suits take your instructions and apply them to this thing. It’s lovely, hilarious, and incredibly fun.

The Fringe Festival itself is an annual Edinburgh venue for hundreds (really, hundreds) of troops putting on thousands of un-vetted, wildly artistic, and often brilliantly comical performances at makeshift stages throughout the city. It was formed in 1947 to provide organization for the 8 uninvited theatre troops who showed up to the Edinburgh International Festival, but were not able to perform under that umbrella. According to the edfringe.com website, “The Festival Fringe Society (commonly known as the Fringe Office) does not produce any of the shows, does not invite anybody to perform, does not run any venues and pays no fees to performers. We do, however, help performers every step of the way.” So, talk about free range and organic.

Which is what this object seems to be- an endlessly fun (well, at least until you run out of commands) egg to play with for no particular reason at all. Well done, well done indeed.

Julie and I had another packed weekend. We started out yesterday by checking out one of the sights that was recommended in our guidebook – Dinosaur Ridge, just east of Red Rocks. What a cool place! We took a nice hike up the ridge (which is part of the Dakota Hogback, a stretch of sandstone and other rock layers that was lifted to an angle via the magic of tectonics. As a result of that liftage, layers and layers of fossalized materials are exposed, including the odd dinosaur bone. What a cool way to have geology presented in mural fashion. It was like an exquisitely curated outdoor natural hisotry museum. And as you walked down the road, you went further and further back in time. Neat stuff.

Then, today, Julie called me at 7:30am because her office had had to shut down (she was going to work this morning). So, she told me to get out of bed and exclaimed we were going to go excursioning again today. I was all for that. So, we picked a great looking hike up to Paprika Lake (I think) in Rocky Mountain National Park. Anywho, we had so much fun on the drive, and the weather started looking like it wasn’t going to cooperate (not to mention that we later learned dogs aren’t allowed on the trails in the park) – so we ended up not hiking at all, but just enjoying the drive. We went all the way across US-34, down to Grand Lake (where Julie had a Rocky Mountain Oyster), and then back to I-70 returning to Denver. It was a beautiful loop and an incredible drive.

Anywho, it’s been an incredible weekend. There’s so much to see and explore here and I hope we venture out every chance we get.

Hope you’re all doing well!

Morning everyone. I’m writing from colder Boulder this morning. It’s 19oF and snowing and rather lovely. Hope you’re having a great day wherever you are.

Julie and I have returned from Japan (it’s been about a week now), and I’ve finally, finally, made it through all of my photos and edited the keepers. So, I encourage you to check them out here.

We had a great time, saw so many cool things and I even managed to hit my head 5 or so times on various low overhangs. But, it’s great to be back. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

The following is Julie’s and my subject-to-change work-in-progress itinerary for our upcoming trip to Japan. 

[Check out the below locations on the Japan Map page I've set up.]

Thursday, November 13

Flights:

• MIA-ATL
  DL 982
  600A – 754A
• ATL-DTW
  DL 660
  935A – 1131A
• DTW-KIX
  NW 69
  100P – 500P (11/14 arrival)

Friday, November 14

On Friday, we arrive in the evening and are going to make our way straight to the hotel in Osaka. That’ll probably be as much as we accomplish on Friday.

Saturday, November 15

Saturday morning, Julie and I will hop on a bullet train to Tokyo and we’ll check out Akihibara (the gadget district), Asakusa, Shibuya, and a few other spots that afternoon and evening. Hopefully I’ll be able to meet up with my friend Masaharu as well. We’ve tentatively planned on visiting the Advertising Museum in Tokyo.

Sunday, November 16

On Sunday we’ll finish up Tokyo stuff and head out to Nagoya in the afternoon. Julie has a friend out there, so we’ll spend some time with her. 

Monday, November 17

On Monday morning, Julie and are off to the Toyota factory plant tour which is outside of Nagoya by about an hour. We plan to finish the day in Kyoto, the old capital of Japan. Should be a nice blend of new tech and old society for the day. 

Tuesday, November 18

On Tuesday, we’ll visit Julie’s old school where she taught and then make our way to Himeji Castle in the afternoon. After that, we’ll take the train to Matsue where we’re going to stay at a nice spa hotel for the night. Hopefully that should be nice relaxation.

Wednesday, November 19

After a morning at the spa, we’re going to head to Fushimi Inari-taisha, a shrine near Kyoto. It apparently has a pathway lined with thousands of torii, those iconic red gates. 

Thursday, November 20

Things start to get more free-form at this point. Currently we plan to spend time in Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto and/or Nara on Thursday. We have left the back end much more open, and Julie has a bunch of friends in the Osaka area so I think it’ll be more “hanging out”. That’s a good thing, because I think the first few days will definitely wear us out.

Friday, November 21

Friday, again, will be a play it by ear day. We do know, however, that we’ll be staying in Osaka during these last days. 

Saturday, November 22

Saturday night we plan to stay with one of Julie’s old friends, so I imagine we’ll probably spend time with her on Saturday. Perhaps we’ll fit in any last minute shopping needs. Taking it easy(ier) will probably be the name of the game.

Sunday, November 23

Bye bye Japan! We’ll take the train back to Kansai International Airport and begin the grueling journey home.

Flights:

• KIX-DTW
  NW 70
  130P – 1130A
• DTW-EWR (that’s right, Jersey!)
  CO 1430
  445P – 700P
• EWR-MIA
  CO 638
  825P – 1158P

Above is a map that I’ve put together of Julie’s and my upcoming trip to Japan next Thursday. I can’t believe it’s coming up so fast! I have put pins in all of the sights we plan on seeing, and I’ve linked their respective Wikipedia page so you can check out where we’re going. Hopefully I can make updates with notes and such. I’m not too sure – using Google Maps for this is new to me, but it seems like there are a ton of possibilities.

Some highlights of the trip will be:

• A tour of the Toyota Factory
• Visiting Akihibara, the gadget capital of the world
• Seeing Himeji Castle
• A day at a Spa on the west coast of the country

I’ve given up, as I’m sure most of you have, on pretty much every airline out there. The past decade has seen air travel go from a generally unremarkable and convenient mode of transportation to some cantankerous form of voluntary and expensive imprisonment. Wait, strike that, they still feed you in jail.

Today, in what is the latest in a never-ending string of new fees and surcharges, Delta Airlines announced plans to introduce a fee of up to $50 for booking award travel. At least they have the decency to wear their reasoning on their cuff. They’ve called it a “fuel surcharge.” The article in today’s New York Times states that the cost of jet fuel has gone up 83.6% in the last year. It’s no mystery that the airlines are drowning in the cost of fuel.

But, I still have a problem with it. Obviously every company has a right to make a profit, and certainly they have an obligation to not lose money. But reward travel is supposed to be a loyalty promise the company makes to their customers. But once you start chipping away at that promise piece by piece, it destroys it entirely.

Ten years ago I booked an award ticket from Portland to Hong Kong. I went to the Delta ticketing office downtown and booked the trip with a real person standing in front of me for a total of $13 in taxes. Last year I booked a Delta award ticket to the UK over the phone for something along the lines of $40. This year, when I was attempting to book Julie’s and my Delta award tickets over the phone, they wanted to charge me a $25 booking fee, $70 in taxes, $25 for using a partner airline, lord knows how much in baggage fees and, had we waited until August to book, an extra $50 in fuel fees. It probably would have been closer to $200 a ticket. I was able to deftly navigating the system and get that number down to $53 per ticket, but it took a tremendous amount of working through loopholes.

Now, I realize $200 is a fraction of what an international ticket would cost – but a lot of these fees don’t really change depending on how far you travel. The fees can easily add up to 30% the price of a short domestic return ticket. That’s pretty pathetic.

So I guess the days of airlines rewarding you for your loyalty are done. If you’re lucky enough to find an available award flight to your destination, it will probably never add up to more than a discount. The Times also suggested that Delta will unveil a new award ticket structure on top of all this.

Cash ‘em in while you can, folks, cause your miles will keep getting shorter every day.