Tag: travel
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hiking from Monte Verde to the Highlands
I spent the previous evening playing video games with my brother Josh, some of his friends, and some nephews. Josh’s wife, Jessica, stuffed us with delicious food. I needed another hike just to work dinner off, so I put Toren in the pack again and headed out, hoping to find a route from Monte Verde…
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walk by the Weber River
Feeling like I had eaten too much the previous day, we decided to go for a walk with my mom by the Weber River. There is a very nice, paved trail that starts in Riverdale and runs along the Weber River. We followed it to its end (and past the end a bit) headed south,…
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hike to Beaver Ponds
Toren has a new favorite animated kids show on PBS – Wild Kratts. It’s about two brothers who have adventures with different animals. In one episode they explore what beavers do. When we planned our trip to Utah and were going to be staying with my parents for a few days, I remembered that there…
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Scotland Adventure – Day 6
And that’s pretty much it. I slept in a bit this morning, finished packing everything up, and drove the van in to drop it off. Here’s a Google Map of my travels in Scotland (driving, not hiking). I covered a lot miles: View Larger Map After I dropped the van off, I was looking at…
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Scotland Adventure – Day 5 – Loch Ness and Stirling Castle
I woke early in the middle of nowhere and headed out. I wanted to stop by Loch Ness just to say I had. Turns out, there isn’t a great place to just stop and say you saw Nessie. Oh, and Loch Ness is freaking enormous (it’s a lake)! I did see a Loch Ness exhibit…
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Scotland Adventure – Day 4 – Castles
So, after all my whining about my heels, how bad were they, really? Glad you asked: Really, they did hurt. Anyway, with my hiking complete, it was off to visit some castles. I had originally only planned to visit one castle, Stirling Castle, one of the more famous castles in Scotland. But with an extra…
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Scotland Adventure – Day 3 – Cuillin Hills
My colleague who recommended that I go hiking in Scotland recommended that I go to the Cuillin Hills. These “hills” are widely regarded as the most rugged terrain in all of Scotland and are located on the Isle of Skye. Considering that they are only about 3,000 feet in elevation, I didn’t believe they could…
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United Kingdom – Ben Nevis
After the prior day’s travails, I slept in pretty late for me – 9:00 am. I was debating whether or not I should hike Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the UK, given the poor condition of my heels, but this was the primary mountain I came to climb. Physically, I wasn’t sore from the…
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Scotland Adventure – Day 1 – the Pap of Glencoe
I spent July 3rd through the 6th in London at an academic conference. With my airfare covered by my university, and having made two prior trips to England for conferences, I thought it might be fun to extend this trip by a few days to see more of the United Kingdom. I asked Debi if…
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an interesting conception of love
During my spring break I went to the Cherokee Nation to volunteer with students. During that trip we had several people come talk to us about Cherokee culture. One of those speakers said something that stuck with me. He explained that there is no word in Cherokee that translates into the word “love.” He said…