Category Archives: Hiking

Abandoned America, Escapism, Ghost Towns, Hiking, Road Trips, Skiing

The Way Back from Breck

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There are ways home from the well-known ski resorts that do not involve traveling 85 miles per hour on I-25. It takes longer, and involves long stretches of minimal civilization, but it’s worth the detour.

In 2022, it was time to head home from our bi-annual family ski trip to Breckenridge. Instead of taking the main thoroughfare with all the other travelers, we headed north out of Breck, toward Dillon Lake and Frisco, areas that aren’t unique and similar to Breckenridge. Large SUVs fill the roads with traffic, carrying families dressed in their winter gear, ready for expensive outdoor or indoor entertainment. The snow on the roads is slushy and sloppy, as cars spin their wheels on top of it. Scattered through Frisco are businesses that cater to tourists: gift shops, bars, ski gear, all sitting behind fancy retail entry ways.

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Boats, Canoeing, Family, Ghost Towns, Hiking, Nature, Road Trips

Ten Years Gone – Solo to the Buffalo

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The Longest Drive

Mid-week arrived during our planned sojourn across Oklahoma and Arkansas. After an exciting start, it was time for our yearly visit to the Buffalo National River in Arkansas. Bit of background before we get to 2021 …

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Abandoned America, Bicycling, Hiking, Holidays, Road Trips

Oklahoma Adventures and Redneck Fireworks

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Continuing what is now a yearly tradition, we looked for a way to get outdoors and away from DFW around the Fourth of July holiday.  While this has generally involved herding various cats (read: children, adult and otherwise) towards Arkansas and the Buffalo River, we increasingly find that scheduling is complicated.  Given schedules, we gave up on trying to include family members.  We had both blocked the week off from work but with teenager work schedule, we decided to break up travel into two quick trips instead of spending the whole week out of town. This would allow for a few days in between to check on a teenager at home, keeping one of our party from fearing the worst depredations of unsupervised high-schoolers.

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Ghost Towns, Hiking, National Parks, Nature, Road Trips

South by Northwest

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We’ve spent a lot of time in Northern New Mexico – Taos, Santa Fe, Red River, Las Vegas, Cimmaron, Clayton, and everywhere in-between. While it’s beautiful there, we’ve always been curious about the mountains further south, so we arranged an extended weekend for exploration.  The plan was to do the usual Colorado trip, then head south to explore the area around the Lincoln National Forest.  It was time to break in one of the new cars as well and with a kid and relatively responsibility-free weekend, it didn’t seem right for the new Hyundai Kona to sit at home.

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Escapism, Hiking, Nature, Road Trips

Make Oklahoma OK Again

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…it was never that great.

Prior trips to Oklahoma have been variably successful. In 2012, while we were looking for graveyards of interest across the driveable radius from DFW, we wound up in Davis, OK, toured the area around Chickasaw National Recreation Area, explored some seriously hot and dusty cemeteries, and consumed questionable food in a variety of locations. We chose southern Oklahoma in mid-summer, which is less pleasant than say, St. Croix. Between the limited scenery, beverages, and frankly edible food, we drove home that weekend telling ourselves we would not return. And we didn’t. With the exception of stops on the way to and from Arkansas over the years, we have remained Oklahoma-free. This year, we were looking to squeeze in a quick road trip around kid’s schedules and COVID restrictions. Despite our lingering reservations, pictures of the Wichita Mountain region and taking a look at the terrain maps on Google convinced us to try one more time …

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Abandoned America, Escapism, Ghost Towns, Graveyards, Hiking, Holidays, Nature, Road Trips, Running, State Parks

A Masked Tour of Southwest Texas

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The summer of 2020 was a chaotic time. The pandemic was still in full force, coming back with another wave after declining in cases for a month or so. Business were open to varying degrees, with varying restrictions, tending on the more lenient side in our part of the country. We had settled into a comfortable routine of working from home, cooking from home, exercising from home, entertaining adult and teenage children at home … the list goes on. July was the perfect time for a break from all that. Yes, travel would still present challenges, given the lack of available dining opportunities, but it was also an excellent time for exploring the world on a socially distanced agenda, which is our preference anyway.

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Hiking, National Parks, Nature, Road Trips

A Trailer in the Desert

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When you’re looking for a reasonably priced place to stay in the middle of an expensive area, a trailer could be an option. Discounts can be found when a place is not securely attached to the ground and the bathroom is the size of a marble. That’s how we ended up spending Labor Day weekend in a space not much bigger than a refrigerator.

The purpose of this trip was to explore the area around Las Vegas without venturing onto the Strip, or anywhere else in what is probably our least favorite city in North America. We’ve heard of this fantasy land of mountains and red rocks and wanted to find out if it actually existed as advertised. Hunting through AirBnB, we located and booked a trailer (mainly due to lack of other options) on a property owned by a cranky old man and considered possible fates: chopped to pieces by property owner and buried in the desert; murdering each other due to lack of space during a four-day / three-night time frame; or get eaten by wild desert animals.

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Graveyards, Hiking, Plane Trips, Running

I’m Afraid We Used The Washer

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Continuing a theme of turning the back or front end of work trips into productive exercise time, and with a week in NYC coinciding with the weekend for the Gorges Half Marathon in Ithaca, it was time for another very busy weekend. The fact that Ithaca is the home of Cornell University, of which at least one family member is an alumni, just added context. Running a half marathon for which we were minimally prepared was less a concern than seeing upstate New York – it’s on.

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Bicycling, Hiking, Holidays, Plane Trips

We’re Going to California …

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Having been up and down the East Coast, over the Mississippi, and into the mountains, it was finally time to organize a joint trip to the West Coast. One of our party had been out several times around work trips and conferences, but schedules being what they are, a long weekend hadn’t worked out as of yet. VMworld 2014 turned out to be a perfect intersection – conference in downtown San Francisco wrapping up the Thursday before Labor Day weekend. Juggling VRBO and airline miles, a late late late night arrival into SFO and a winding drive up to the Point Reyes area looked like a great way to see some of California with slightly less people than Times Square on New Years …

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Abandoned America, Bicycling, Boats, Canoeing, Escapism, Ghost Towns, Graveyards, Hiking, Holidays, National Parks, Road Trips

The First (Accidental) Tripping on a River

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Arkansas was more of an accident than an organized adventure. Mid-2011, we found ourselves with an unexpectedly obligation-free holiday weekend (this is normally how the trips start) and debated our options.  We had taken a few short road trips, mainly in Texas, and one quick trip to Santa Fe, NM, which involved air travel.  Up until now, free time was limited with two school-aged kids in one house, full-time, chaotic work, school and sports schedules, and life. 

The goal was to do something different, go somewhere new but within driving distance.  A cabin in the woods sounded appealing, but … Texas.  “Cabin in the woods” options are limited.  We considered Oklahoma again, but since we had some extra time, one state further out seemed manageable.  Neither one of us had ever explored Arkansas (or even been there), so the Ozarks it was.  Searching the ever-expanding Internet, we found a tiny cabin on VRBO (exciting newness in the ancient year of 2011) which fit the requirements. Located in a town called Snowball, smack in the middle of the rolling hills of Arkansas, it looked like a promising fit for a weekend escape.

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