Travel Gear: Handheld GPS

Eurostar, Northern France, heading straight for the English Channel at 183 MPH

If I could only bring one piece of electronic equipment when traveling, it would be my handheld GPS.

Artful Living

Who reads this stuff?

Here's some random quotes from Artful Living magazine:

Where your stay is part of defining who you are.
You can join the crowd, or you can leave it behind.
Eat. Shop. Sleep.
Own Chicago. Know the right people.
Make a statement with every second.
"I never thought I would receive so many compliments every day."
As unique as you are.

Who needs this stuff?

Decoding a Crane

What are we thinking?

I'm in Japan. A lone crane swoops low over a large, exquisitely landscaped pond. There are two other bystanders; they smile contentedly as the crane reinforces a common bond, evoking fragments of mysticism, national treasure, longevity, good fortune, origami, the number 1,000, childhood memories, and current dreams. I'm seeing a crane swooping over a pond and feeling contented, too.

Travel Gear: Portable Router

In Japan I like to go off the beaten path where guide books are not helpful. Daily research using the Internet becomes essential for me to navigate that often-opaque country.

I use a portable wireless router because most Japanese hotel rooms have (free) wired Internet, but no wireless Internet. I've set up my router with exactly the same SSID as I have at home. Thus my phone, tablet, and camera immediately connect to the Internet because they "think" they are at home. Pictures automatically upload from my camera to Google+ on the Web, without any fiddling.

Superior Trail 2013

Photographs do not explain why I hike. Gorgeous vistas and little mossy vignettes float in and out of my consciousness, but they do not define the experience.

Gathering Gear

12EEEE and 12A.

Today, I'm getting my brain in gear for a multi-day hike along part of the Superior Hiking Trail. To help me plan, I have some useful resources from previous trips.

September 2011 Superior Trail hike: itinerary and GPS tracks (GPX format).

The trail we followed is in dark red in the above map; the Canadian border runs along the top, and Duluth is bottom left. We walked from hotel to hotel, except for one night when we camped.

September 2012 UK hike. I'll modify a packing list from this trip.

Kale Chronicles

We grew kale this summer, so it has been our default vegetable for the past month.

Kale is extraordinarily easy to prepare. Here's a 20-second video (my first cooking show) showing how to quickly remove the stem and break up the leaf, all without the use of tools.

Reflections on Gold

Downtown Minneapolis from MSP, hazy August day

Minnesota winters can be cold, bitterly cold.

I don't mind January in Minnesota: the relief Christmas is in the rearview mirror is enough to keep me going; besides, it's a great month for quiet reflection and to play with my Legos (Technics). Come February, though, my thoughts turn to escaping to warmer places; in February MSP is my favorite place on the planet

Duckies in Space

A couple weeks ago we visited the Johnson Space Center near Houston. As well as procuring Space Shuttle Duckies for the nephews, we toured the sprawling, and still operational NASA facility.