Archives for category: Domestic Travel

A tail of two camping trips

July 22, 2026 //
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Summer thus far.

It seems as if adventures often begin with an unexpected disaster. In May prior to heading to Baltimore I accidentally broke a large standing growing box in the back yard and had to do an emergency transplant into the ground. Then in June prior to heading out on a camping trip with The Boss and the dog my large Aloe fell off its stand and I planted it in a new pot.

It’s doing fine.

Nonetheless, we had no excuse to dodge the camping trip. For years I vowed I would never camp. I never felt that setting up camp, cooking over campfire, cleaning dishes next to camp fire, and all of the work that was involved ever counted as true relaxation. It doesn’t really – it’s work and it tires you out. However, I came to realize that it’s the same as enjoying time in the kitchen or time at home, but with a bit more creativity involved in planning it while away. So, now we camp.

We decided to try out the concept of camping with our dog – just the two of us.

So we loaded up Meraz into the car for her longest ride since she retired from racing 5 1/2 years ago along with all of our gear and headed out to Shenandoah National Park.

Meraz was not nearly as excited by the scenic overlooks on Skyline Drive as we were and we’ve been out there dozens of times.

By. Late afternoon we were set up at Big Meadows Campground. So, let’s see. How did we pack…. We did bring a bit extra, we always do. We brought our larger tent, a six person model. We brought the dog’s large ploof bed assuming she would be happy resting on it inside or out and would otherwise stand around whining; this was accurate. I brought a camp stove and a camp grill and used both – the stove to boil water for coffee and to make rice and the grill to toast bagels. Three crates of cooking gear and food; a cooler full of food including salmon for dinner the first night and shrimp for the second night. Salad for lunch (with grilled salmon). Two sleeping bags, zipped together, plus pads. Spoiler alert – we’re planning to upgrade to thicker pads.

Meraz enjoyed the experience.

Better than we did. No pictures inside though.

One of the reasons I head to the mountains to go hiking but when I’m not alone to some degree I’m reliant on what the others want to do. In this case, though, I’m happy to say I got a decent amount of hiking in. Around Big Meadows there’s a fair amount of trails and a decent amount to see and the Appalachain Trail passes by the campground as well. We took Meraz for more walks than she does at home – normally she walks maybe a mile and a half a day but by my count she did about four miles our first day when we set up camp and then eight miles the next day.

While The Boss was doing a fairly long run on Saturday Morning Meraz and I walked two miles out to the actual Big Meadow where we had a view of the valley and cell signal to check messages.

Then we took her hiking in the woods to look at her own kind – deer. When she sees them in the neighborhood at home she acts as if we’re being invaded and growls and wants to chase them off but in the forest that isn’t her own turf she just looks.

We spent the afternoon relaxing, napping, and reading at the campground. And then I made paella over a campfire.

I’ve always wanted to do this. I’ve done it over a grill but not over a campfire.

And there was a lovely sunset from the lodge.

Two weeks later I headed out for a solo camping trip at Loft Mountain. I planned this relatively speaking on the spur of the moment. I had a three day weekend for Juneteenth with Juneteenth being on a Friday. As it was a long weekend I wanted to spend a whole day hiking. However, the weather had other plans. We had a forecast for three days of high temperatures – too hot for hiking in the afternoon, even at altitude – so I decided to get a spot at Loft Mountain, take the afternoon off work, drive out during the heat of the day and spend the night.

Since I was solo I took the “small car,” arriving around 3:30 in the afternoon to a very buggy campsite. I set up my tent as quickly as possible while dousing myself with Off and headed out on a hike.

My destination was Doyles River Falls about 2 1/2 miles walk from the campground and probably 1500 feet descent. As you can see it was relatively dry. I’m not certain if the lower falls had more water as I stopped at the upper falls. I did not carry water as I was hoping to go down and back relatively quickly but that may have been a bad mood because I felt very woozy and dehydrated on return (remember, it was fairly hot – upper 80s at the top of the mountain when I was setting up camp).

That night I lit a fire purely for ambiance.

So, here is how I will describe the two campgrounds.

Big Meadows seems to get more vacationers whereas Loft Mountain, per the ranger, gets more regulars – people from relatively close by who come to the mountain frequently. Big Meadows has more to see but Loft Mountain certainly has plenty of trails. At Big Meadows the showers and firewood are certainly in the campground but at Loft Mountain it was perhaps a mile walk to the showers (spoiler alert – I drove as I was hot and tired). Big Meadows you can buy firewood up until 8pm; at Loft Mountain you must buy it by 6pm. I actually shared half my bundle with neighbors as it was too hot to use all of it and they were hunting around in the forest looking for dry wood because they had no firewood.

Overall, I enjoyed resting in Loft Mountain better and I think I appreciate it better as an adult but I am not so certain I would take my kids there. I have reservations for the dog, my kids, and I at Big Meadows in 2 1/2 weeks.

Anyway, I slept a few hours at Loft Mountain but not much. It was easier than getting up at 5am and driving out to the mountains, but not by much. I would probably do it again.

I had originally planned to hike over these ridges by Skyline Drive but they had a lot of exposed trail. After my overheating experience I decided to do a different hike instead.

I chose to hike the Big Run Loop starting before 7am on June 20. The weather was great relatively speaking – about 74 humid degrees when I started out and perhaps about 82 when I finished a few hours later.

There were a lot of spectacular narrow trails on this loop. The reward was the solitude and the distance. Most of the trail is neither on the AT or on a genuine tributary so I saw nobody until I returned to the ridge.

Eventually you find your way back up to the ridge and follow the AT for a bit crossing Skyline Drive and passing an overlook.

As it was still early I decided to drive ten miles down the road and do another short hike.

This is where I hiked. As you can see this was not on June 20th of this year. I took this photo at the end of September two years ago during a break in a rainstorm when the whole ridge was covered by clouds and fog. This photo was taken at Blackrock Summit. Hiking to Blackrock is a short walk with a round trip of less than two miles. The day I was there in 2024 was quite peaceful with nobody else around but obviously there was nothing to see but rocks.

This time the view was spectacular.

This is in my opinion one of the best views in Shenandoah and I was happy I did it. If I had driven from home that morning I likely would not have had time or energy in the heat.

I made friends with a couple of bucks finishing out my hike.

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Categories Camping, Day trips, Hiking, Road Trips, Shenandoah

May 26 – in the Finger Lakes

June 15, 2026 //
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On Tuesday May 26 we woke up in our room at the Inns of Aurora. This would likely be the penultimate day of our rest and relaxation this time around – the one day where we “sat around and did nothing.” We did, however, do something.

I started the day with a hike through the woods and fields above Aurora while mostly conversing with my father on the telephone. As it had rained several days prior it was pretty muddy, but it was a beautiful, still late-spring morning along Cayuga Lake.

The walk took me past a few of the Inn’s many properties including an old renovated farmhouse and the spa. After my walk we were scheduled to go on a coffee and croissants cruise on the lake but the boat captain called in sick. Not sure, but it’s possible he was just out too late the night before. Anyway, this activity was postponed until the next day.

The Inn recently changed their breakfast service. Instead of having breakfast available in the main restaurant they now have breakfast as counter-serve, coffee shop style, in the general store. And yes, they now have a general store that serves as basically a takeout place as well as a small gift shop. In addition they serve coffee, tea, juice, and breakfast snacks (artisanal breakfast bars) in each building within The Inn. Not sure if this is a decent substitute for those who want a hearty breakfast but likely it is what they have done to reliably provide breakfast in a place and time where it may be hard to entice restaurant workers for a sporadic meal service.

After breakfast we returned to the spa to enjoy their outdoor thermal suite. This was truly a blessing – the day was beautiful for lounging outdoors. We intermittently dipped into three different hot pools (99 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit) and I intermittently dipped into one cold pool (about 54 degrees Fahrenheit). It took me more than 90 minutes of plunging, sitting and reading, and relaxing to fully immerse myself in the cold. It was invigorating.

The hydro pools at the spa are not the best value. They come complimentary with spa services, but as we had our spa service the day before they charged us for a 90 minute pass instead.

This “forced downtime” actually forced us to have some downtime. We spent much of the afternoon reading on the porch. I was able to finish a few chapters of The Three Body Problem for the first time in a couple of months. And then for more “forced downtime” we took a ride to Long Point Winery.

There were three British cars at Long Point including mine (not shown above). This Austin Healy is pretty amazing and very well kept.

Long Point actually purchases most of their grapes from what I can tell, and most of their grapes are purchased from out of state. Usually I’m horrified by this – and in this case to a degree I am still horrified a little. However, they do a decent job especially with the Cabernet Franc they grow – it has a great finish and decants well. Their Zinfandel (California grapes) is also well made and a lot deeper expression than many California Zins. For this reason I decided they’re actually a mediocre vineyard with some amazing winemakers – and in a beautiful setting as well.

After the winery adventure, The Boss piloted The Beast to the Village of Skaneateles where we would meet my uncle and significant other for dinner.

Skaneateles sits on the north end of Skaneateles Lake which is maintained in a pristine fashion to serve as the water supply for the City of Syracuse. The only reason I have really spent any time in Skaneateles is because my mother, and thus my uncle, grew up there. My uncle moved there before he can remember (I believe he was less than a year old) with my mother’s family when my grandfather’s company moved from New Jersey. Now, Skaneateles is a combination between upscale bedroom community for Syracuse and resort community surrounded by farmland.

We had dinner at a pizza and Italian place in the village before heading back to the municipal parking lot.

Where we parked had a view of this house. My uncle said, “You know that’s the house where we grew up, right?” Yes, this is what my mother refers to as the State Street House.

As the light faded, The Boss piloted us safely back to Aurora, two lakes over, past farms and fields that remind me of growing up on a farm in that part of New York. And thus everything became complete.

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Categories Books, Buffalo and the Finger Lakes May 2026, Domestic Travel, Hiking, nostalgia, Road Trips, travel

Just a manic Monday… on vacation!

June 7, 2026 //
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So, dear reader, I owe you some updates. There have been some decent adventures since we last met! I still owe the three remaining days of our WNY / Finger Lakes adventure. Then we returned home and the following week (this most recent week) I went off to Baltimore for a conference (I’ll likely cover that in a single post). Finally, this recent Friday and Saturday I spent with my friends in their timeshare out in the Shenandoah Valley. But one more – we’re planning a camping trip with the dog in two weeks. This shall be an adventure as the dog has never camped before! But for now, we will start with the Martin House.

May 25 started just as many late-spring days in Buffalo – with clouds and gloom. Well, the gloom continued. It didn’t rain though; it was generally pleasant. We had breakfast at SPoT Coffee again with better service than the two prior days (did I mention how much I enjoy their espresso grind?) and then we checked out and went for a tour at The Martin House.

The Darwin D. Martin House in Buffalo, New York, is a world-class architectural masterpiece designed by Frank Lloyd Wright between 1903 and 1905. It’s widely considered to be the best (well, in my opinion one of the best) examples of his prairie house era. Martin was a successful executive, the chief financial officer, I believe, of a large company headquartered in Buffalo at the time and very much appreciated by his employers. He eventually was in charge of building a new corporate headquarters, also designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, but as a lead up to this he commissioned his own house. Before building his own house he had other homes built on the same plot of land. The gardener’s house above, for instance, was commissioned, as was his sister’s house:

And here is the view of the Martin house from his sister’s house – probably the only place where you can take a photograph inside at the Martin House. You can see from the above there are large beds of peonies that are likely blooming now, two weeks later, but at the time they were just green. Frank Lloyd Wright designed the windows used throughout.

Including these on the main house. Again, you can take photographs from the outside but not inside. Below this line of windows there are glass windows allowing light in to the basement level as well.

Upon entry to the main house you have a view towards where I am standing in this perspective. The entry has a door to the steps on the street as well as a door back in this direction to the walkway to the conservatory. The entry itself is fairly compact for the era with an archway to the left on entering (to the right from here) into a receiving room and then to the right (to the left from here) into a formal family area. If you have ever been in a Wright House it follows his philosophy of “compress and release.” The doorway and movement between rooms is compressed and then the room spreads out away from you and higher than you – the release as it is, capturing you into the space.

The view through the entry and down the covered corridor to the conservatory yields this – intended to impress.

What I enjoyed the most in all of this space was the Steinway covered with white oak; most are black but his wife had one covered with white oak. It returned to the house many years ago and is played by volunteers for maintenance.

While we were at the Martin house we started getting text messages from the Inns of Aurora where we were checking in later that day – 140 miles away! Seems they accidentally did not change our spa appointment to the next day. Therefore, we did not dillydally. We moved on, but first stopping at the Walden Galleria to verify that Western New York is not entirely populated by Dead Malls. I had to buy some sponge candy and a pair of swim trunks! And lunch of course (which sucked – mall food court food).

At the Inns we checked into the Zabriskie House, our home away from home for two nights. We definitely could have stayed longer. We enjoyed a couple’s massage at the spa here this evening (more on that later – we returned to the spa for their outdoor thermal spa experience the next day). We would both rate their massage experience as superb, probably the best compared to other resorts where we’ve enjoyed the massage experience (Woodloch Resort for instance, and Wildflower Farms in Gardiner New York). Not that there was anything wrong at the other places… we both realized that some of the reason why we enjoyed this experience better may be because we both had a male masseuse! Bigger hands with pressure more spread out.

We had dinner at the 1833 Kitchen and Bar which is part of the Inns. It was their third night open for outdoor dining for the season.

There are a ton of wines on the list I would have enjoyed traveling but the slow service allowed me to get as far as two only. We did enjoy some good food like this tuna crudo –

And some really good lamb as well (along with salmon, without the lardons please for her). Pro tip – some members of the guest services staff will do nearly anything for you, including the guy who checked us in who said he was “like a dog with a frisbee” and would answer any question. He told us how to get down to the waterfront in the morning for instance:

“Absolutely! No bother at all! You’re throwing a frisbee at a dog! I love this stuff! You will kindly find your way to the right side of The Rowland House following the grass down to the dock just behind the house. The Rowland House is marked with a large R on your map and just across Main St. from your location at Zabriskie House.”

But our true reward for the journey was sunset over Cayuga Lake.

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Categories Buffalo and the Finger Lakes May 2026, Domestic Travel, Foodie, travel, Travel Logistics

Buffalo – the day before a marathon (not mine)

May 30, 2026 //
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When I was still a serious runner if I were traveling to run a race, especially a longer distance, I would wake up at a reasonable time the day before, have a relaxing breakfast with coffee, and then maybe wander off to the race expo. I might do some light activity for the afternoon, perhaps visiting a museum or do some mild sight seeing, but otherwise I would not exert myself or spend too much time on my feet. And there was always an Italian dinner, maybe pasta, in the evening. Since I’m no longer running the routine for me is different, and the person I travel with, The Boss, has her own routine.

We wake up the day before the race and she does a shakeout run. This is one of the few times I’m permitted to run with her so I dress to run as well. We take different approaches to this. She wakes up, has coffee, relaxes and does a crossword and Wordle or something similar, has a snack, and then heads out. I wake up, get ready, and head out. Not much waiting.

Our run on this particular day took us down to Buffalo’s outer harbor where we ran along the waterfront a bit. As you can tell the weather wasn’t perfect.

We saw the old lighthouse.

We saw Canada off in the distance. In fact, when I ran a speed test from the hotel in Buffalo it told me I had been assigned from an IP address pool in St. Catherines, Ontario.

There were these hardy fools out in the weather getting their exercise in. By this point the drizzle began.

It rained a bit harder after a while. We ended up making our way back to the neighborhood around the hotel where we had coffee at a place called SPoT. This appears to be a local chain of coffee shops where they were utterly unprepared for additional foot traffic for marathon weekend. The espresso was amazing though (I’ll note now their espresso beans make a good latte or espresso but not necessarily good coffee – I brought a bag home). As there were no other craft places nearby we ended up going there more than once.

After a shower we headed out to the expo. Buffalo Marathon has a great race expo especially in relation to the size of the race. It isn’t a huge race, although it isn’t a small race either. It seems to suit the size of the city without overwhelming it.

Even though the weather had turned into crap by this point we did do a bit of sightseeing along the way. Buffalo does have a range of architecture.

Check out this mural for instance.

We eventually made our way to Streetlight Brasserie for brunch. This place has been open for a few years and seems to be using its space wisely. They get a decent “diner crowd” for brunch and midday meals in addition to evenings for more upscale dinner. They have oysters (currently PEI oysters) and other seafood dishes. But they also have two long bars and frequent live music. We happened past it the next day, Sunday, as well hoping to duck in for a bite to eat but they had a band playing that seemed to have brought in about a hundred or so patrons younger than us all of whom were standing around drinking rather than sitting and relaxing so we ended up going elsewhere for that visit.

While we were in the Brasserie the weather took a turn for the worse and my umbrellas (borrowed from Reston Town Center) went inside out on the walk back to the hotel. So, I had no choice but to take a much needed nap, as The Boss did as well, but I did notice the Pierce Arrow Museum (aka the Buffalo Transportation Museum) on the map about thirty minutes walk away. When I woke I took a stroll down to visit it.

The Pierce Arrow Museum is partially dedicated to the history of Pierce bicycle and motorcar company as well as its subsequent mergers, but also dedicated to other transportation from the era of its heyday such as this Templar automobile. There were period outfits on display, relics from the company founding, numerous old bicycles and motorcycles, and other oddities in one room.

In a second room there were more modern classics and antiques.

When I saw my father a few days later I showed him photos of this Chevy 409. He had a similar model sixty years ago himself.

The Widow Maker was an interesting find. I remember when I was young a lot of people at the time were horrified at the dangers of motorcycles (they still are, just in a different way) and I suspect this is one of the reasons why – companies like Kawasaki learned how to produce more powerful motorcycles which appealed to people who had spent the 1960s buying muscle cars.

In one corner of the museum there were a handful of absolutely beautiful cars from a hundred years ago that had been converted and modernized along the way such as this 1932 Pierce Arrow with a big block Chevy engine and modern tires, wheels, brakes, and power steering and so forth.

I think this Eldorado was the star of the show, though. A 1957 model, exceedingly rare, and the most expensive vehicle, by far, that Cadillac produced during a pretty significant period.

There is one thing I did not notice immediately until I saw a couple of other museum patrons nosing around the back of the structure above. This area was roped off and at first I just figured the installation was to break up the space a bit until I noticed, in the roped off area, light up signs pointing to “Men’s Restroom.”

If you cannot guess what it is.

When the museum closed I spent some time wandering around the Allentown neighborhood trying, unsuccessfully, to find some deli items. Instead, I successfully found a Tim Horton’s. For dinner we went to Frankie Primo’s +39, with +39 being the country code to dial for Italy.

I enjoyed Frankie’s Maiale Sugo dish – slow roasted pork butt with thick noodles. And at the end of the meal they serve complimentary limoncello.

Again, an early night for us. The race would begin at 6:30am on Sunday.

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Categories Buffalo and the Finger Lakes May 2026, Domestic Travel, Foodie, Running, travel

The marvelous world of business travel to Las Vegas!

March 18, 2026 //
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I spent most of last week in Las Vegas – all expenses paid. Well, most. I did spend a fair amount of gambling money. Was it worth it? It was fun.

I’ve been to Las Vegas seven times if you include the time (pictured above) I spent about 40 minutes there due to a canceled flight and a four hop flight across the United States on Southwest Airlines. Once for a wedding, once for a meeting, another time for a conference, twice with my ex-wife (once with friends from home and once with friends from the UK), and now a final time for another conference. The other six visits were more than 20 years ago. I’ve stayed in old Las Vegas (downtown, on Fremont Street), at Caesar’s (1980’s Las Vegas), off the strip at a generic hotel, and twice at the Luxor. This time I stayed at Mandalay Bay.

The Luxor is one of the first things you see when you land and leave the airport in Las Vegas. When it was brand new it was clean and shiny. Now it’s kind of dusty, but strangely inside it is clean and new, or at least new-ish. I spent a fair amount of time here as I was staying next door at Mandalay Bay and I felt it better to not be gambling in front of my colleagues.

This is a view of where I stayed – Mandalay Bay. I was actually here for a conference. Mandalay Bay has a fairly large conference center attached which is about 15 minutes walk (I should know, I did this walk about five times a day for five days) from the hotel tower.

I also did a fair amount of walking and running while in Vegas. I averaged about 16,000 steps a day last week including the weekends.

My view from the hotel included part of the airport and the Las Vegas Strip heading south. To the right, barely off camera, is this:

Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada! Found on my morning run. Some people told me I would not enjoy running in Las Vegas as there are homeless people around, but on my inspection there was less hassle than running at home especially running south in this direction. I took the photo above just at sunrise on my first morning in Vegas. Two days later I ran to the north.

Heading north from Mandalay Bay two miles takes you to Caesar’s Palace, past Paris and The Bellagio and much of that madness. Compared to 25 years ago development is much more dense on the central part of the strip. The area around Excalibur, The Luxor, and Mandalay Bay feels to be practically abandoned in comparison.

There have always been wide pedestrian walkways along Las Vegas Boulevard but now there is street level development in front of most of the hotels where in the past there were open areas. This doesn’t mean you can pull over on the street – the street in most places has a barrier between it and the walkway. You walk perhaps half a mile between major intersections and for most of them you take an escalator to cross above street level. In the old days they still had many of these escalators but now there seem to be double as many and you simply cannot get to the street if you desire to cross at street level instead. This appears to be done for the purpose of reducing traffic queues. It also helps you, if you’re up at 7a.m., get extra fitness in by running up and down the stairs in addition to running on the street.

The ironic thing is the night before – about six hours before actually – I walked 40 minutes from the Bellagio to Mandalay Bay but then decided I needed to head out for more exercise!

The Bellagio fountains, as seen in Ocean’s Eleven, were beautiful as always.

Beautifully lit up at night.

Walking past the Luxor we thought we saw bats.

On closer inspection we did!

Or maybe they were giant pieces of confetti? We have videos so I’m certain they are bats.

We had some social time while in Vegas in addition to the conference. We actually had been at The Bellagio to see Cirque du Soleil’s “O” show.

The theater at The Bellagio is massive and deep as well. The stage itself opens up to a large pool where the acrobats and dancers continually launch themselves over the course of the 100 minutes show. There are trapezes, huge swings, a boat which floats in the water, and water platforms.

In addition to this, on the last night of the conference the sponsors hired The Goo Goo Dolls to put on a performance!

The Goo Goo Dolls put on an amazing show.

So, about the travels.

I flew out Monday morning at 7am to make the most of my week. This means I woke up at 4:15am. I had lounge access at Reagan National Airport – a choice of two lounges really but I visited the same Centurion lounge we visited back on January 6 for Antarctica. I had used points to upgrade my employer-paid flight to domestic first class so I would arrive fairly fresh – and this worked as I had a full meal, good movies, and a relatively comfortable flight. My baggage did indeed come out first but it didn’t come out until maybe 45 minutes after I landed.

I checked into the hotel at 10am as they had a room ready for me and I was able to unpack and do some conference calls. This reminds me – I have to expense the early check-in (yes, there was a charge).

I had what I think is called a “Dream Room” at Mandalay Bay – more than comfortable enough for two people to spend several days but I was alone.

I did not get a chance to use the large soaking tub. I wouldn’t have skipped it if it had a whirlpool!

Then I had some free time before my co-workers and business partners all showed up so I took a lengthy walk. I planned this in advance because I figured I’d be juggling conference, free time, and my day job and fitness all week.

My walk that day took me as far as Aria. As this is an MGM hotel (along with MGM Grand, The Luxor, and Mandalay Bay, and a handful of others) I went inside and played blackjack poorly for a while. I would have loved to explore the property more but at that point I needed to head back.

At this point my schedule for the next few days started to be dominated by work. Some of the work was fun – we had a few good meals with our sponsor for instance, one being Mexican and one being sushi, and we had an excellent happy hour where we had three shot bourbon pours! Half of my daytime hours were spent working with my team back home, though. And Thursday before the concert? I took a family therapy call with my 9th grader via Zoom on the lawn outside the conference center!

All in all it was a nice break even though half my hours were work. On the way home, again, I was upgraded, and this time I tried out the Priority Plus lounge at the airport. So far I prefer American Airlines’ Admirals Club lounges the most, but I don’t have access to them except when traveling internationally AND upgraded.

I had the opportunity to look for lounges at St. Louis as well when our flight diverted due to an air traffic control outage.

I also had the opportunity to try out Bandana’s Barbeque when we spent the night in St. Louis. For the record there are better hotels than the Airport Marriott in St. Louis.

I’m happy to be back home where the dog is though. It will be good to be home for a couple of months now.

Next up? Buffalo strangely enough! In two months!

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Categories Domestic Travel, Work Travel