Category Archives: Travel

Off the beaten path: Vermillion Cliffs National Monument

So, who knew that National Monuments were such a big deal on our national political stage? You may have forgotten amid the daily…er…activity coming out of the White House, but a while back, President Trump ordered a “review” of 25 National Monuments, as designated by Presidents (via the 1906 Antiquities Act) going back to 1996,ContinueContinue reading “Off the beaten path: Vermillion Cliffs National Monument”

You should hike this*: Angels Landing

One lazy Sunday, a week or so before I left for a hiking/exploring vacation in Utah/Arizona (see previous posts here and here), I typed “Angels Landing images” into Google. See, I’d heard things about this hike. My hiking partner was excited about it, but he’s of a more adventurous bent than I am, so IContinueContinue reading “You should hike this*: Angels Landing”

You must go here: Lower Antelope Canyon

For those who don’t know, I recently returned from 8 days of exploring the southern parts of Utah (with a few side trips to Arizona). Blog posts about the adventures will trickle out over time, because, well, writing them helps me cling to shards of that vacation buzz…you know…the buzz that real life tends to squashContinueContinue reading “You must go here: Lower Antelope Canyon”

A Spooky lesson in confidence

There’s a thing that happens to fat kids. Or at least, it happened to me. Let’s pause for a moment to acknowledge how hard it is for me to write the words “fat kids,” because they are so incredibly fraught with anxiety and shame. They carry – literally – a lifetime of doubt, of fighting toContinueContinue reading “A Spooky lesson in confidence”

Peak-bagging in the White Mountains

Living alone can be wonderful, empowering, freeing, fun. It can also suck. Like, for example, when you’ve just done something fairly epic and you have no one who is forced, by virtue of his/her being trapped in the same space as you, to listen to you retell the story, adding the occasional “wow” or “uhContinueContinue reading “Peak-bagging in the White Mountains”