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It has become an annual tradition to walk with two friends for a few days somewhere in the north of England. This year, the hike takes us in a generally eastern direction across the Yorkshire Dales. The inspiration for our trans-Dales walk came from a blog post a friend found. I emailed the blog author… Continue reading Getting to the Start of a Walk across the Yorkshire Dales

I’ve upgraded my hiking gear with a Leki trekking pole which collapses to 15 inches. It easily fits inside my 30-liter backpack. My pack is the same size as some daypacks, but it carries everything I need for an arbitrarily long trip. Even when I took it apart, my previous trekking pole stuck out of… Continue reading Travel Gear: Compact Trekking Pole

The [Japanese] word ‘ikigai’ is usually used to indicate the source of value in one’s life or the things that make one’s life worthwhile … . [It’s] used to refer to mental and spiritual circumstances under which individuals feel that their lives are valuable. There is a difference between ikigai and the sense of well-being.… Continue reading Ikigai: It Gets You out of Bed Every Morning

This week we’ve been staying in the Ishihara House, a VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner) above the town of Waimea, Kauai, Hawaii. The house is plantation-style, with a 1930’s old-Hawaii vibe and nods to Japan. And it’s less expensive than most hotel rooms on this island. From our lanai we get a fine view of… Continue reading Snapshots: Koke’e State Park

Traveler, your footprints are the only road, nothing else. Traveler, there is no road; you make your own path as you walk. As you walk, you make your own road, and when you look back you see the path you will never travel again. Traveler, there is no road only a ship’s wake on the sea.

March 21, 2019. My day started with a conga line. We were staying in cabins by a Minnesota lake. Family, brothers-in-law, my sister-in-law and their families, my mother-in-law, and goodness knows who else. But there were many more people, enough for the line to snake around the entire lake. I wanted none of this, so… Continue reading Getting on Board

Guide books often funnel people to over-loved places. Atlas Obscura, “the definitive guide to the world’s hidden wonders,” is a good resource to locate uncrowded, off-beat places to spice up a walk. The information is crowd-sourced, so it needs to be treated with caution. For example, a “machine gun nest” near our home is simply… Continue reading An Atlas Obscura Walk in Chicago

On Sunday I submitted my 2018 tax return. I’m eagerly awaiting a $2 refund from the Feds. The tax refund got me into a parsimonious frame of mind. I decided to assemble an inexpensive trip. Incentives for a cheap trip The stars were in alignment: An email from Hyatt Hotels warned me that a bunch… Continue reading An All-Expense-Spared Trip to Chicago