2024

And now, it’s time to go home.

This morning, I woke up early again to view more of Joshua Tree National Park. This time, I took the turn to Pinto Basin Road toward the Cottonwood Springs area and exited the park to the south toward Salton Sea.

I woke up early this morning to go explore Joshua Tree National Park. What a treat it was!

With most of my immediate family out of town on various travels of their own, I decided to treat myself to a few days in the desert of Southern California. I’m excited to check out Joshua Tree National Park this weekend. Stay tuned!

We decided to close out our week in Mexico with the Rhythms of the Night show, which a friend back home had recommended to us.

For today, we made a lazy day of it and went back to the malecón and did a bit more shopping.

Thanksgiving isn’t exactly a major holiday in Mexico, but we managed to find some ways to enjoy our traditions while away.

A friend who lives in the area recommended we visit the Vallarta Botanical Garden. We drove to the garden today. It did not disappoint.

We’ve rented a car for a few days to explore beyond the bounds of our resort for a bit.

It’s Thanksgiving Week. Lisa and I are taking a moment to ourselves and enjoying the warmth and sunshine that’s available a few hours’ flight to our south on Mexico’s Pacific Coast.

As I mentioned yesterday, Lisa and I are taking a few days in Las Vegas for a conference. For dinner tonight, we ventured away from the Strip to check out the Fremont Street Experience, which is a pedestrian mall in a more historic part of the city.

Lisa and I are in Las Vegas for a few days while she attends a conference. We had a bit of extra time this morning, so we visited Valley of Fire State Park, about an hour north of the city.

Lisa and I took a long weekend to explore central Washington a bit. Not a lot to share other than the new parks over at 146 Parks, but we did enjoy the views at Washington Pass on Highway 20.

My main reason for being in Berlin was to present on the work of the Content Authenticity Initiative to my fellow digital identity professionals. My slot was on Wednesday after the lunch break.

On Day 3 of this trip, it was time to head to Berlin. I slept in a bit, which left only a little time for exploring along the way.

Today I drove from Bratislava to Warsaw. I took a detour through some of the mountainous regions on the Slovak/Czech border and was rewarded with some excellent scenery. To wit:

I’m headed to Berlin this week for the 2024 European Identity Conference. I left a couple days early so I could go exploring a bit.

It was time to return home today. We took a little time to have lunch and walk around Alexandria, then headed to the airport for our flight home.

Today was our last full day on the East Coast. We met with a favorite cousin of Lisa’s for lunch in Clifton, Virginia, where I (the newbie to the family) was very warmly welcomed.

Now that our work weeks are over, I came back to Washington to reconnect with Lisa and spend some time near DC before heading back home.

Lisa suggested I explore Roosevelt Island while I was in NYC. Today is my last day in the city and I made some time before heading out to do so. I found an island that was clean and quiet and mostly residential, with some great views across the East River to the larger parts of the city:

I spent most of this week meeting with my team.

My work has me staying in a hotel in the Meatpacking District of New York this week. When I asked for walking directions from Penn Station to my hotel, I wound up on the High Line, which is an elevated railway converted into a public park and walkway space.

Today I took the Acela train from Washington to New York City.

Where I live, we refer to Washington DC as “the other Washington.” I’m not sure if that’s meant as a compliment or not. Anyhow, Lisa’s work and mine conspired to have us both on the East Coast this week, so we arranged to fly together so we could enjoy the weekends together even though our work required us to be in different cities.

There are … more direct … ways to get from Poulsbo to Spokane, but I’m not one to let the shortest distance between two points get in the way of a good time.

Our time in California is over. This morning, I went for an early morning walk through Mendocino Headlands State Park.

For me, the appeal was yet another visit to Mendocino, probably my 15th or 20th over at least 30 years. (I was there twice last year alone!) For Lisa, the appeal was an opportunity to visit Glass Beach in nearby Fort Bragg.

Lisa and I are in California this week while I attend a conference. We flew down Sunday afternoon and took some time to enjoy the coastal drive from Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz on Monday before arriving at the conference venue in Mountain View.

A last-minute opportunity presented itself and so I am taking a few days to myself as a “me-cation” in the Columbia River Gorge.

We wrapped up our time in Baja with three nights in San José del Cabo. While Cabo San Lucas (a 30-minute drive away) is the well-known resort destination and party city, San José del Cabo is a much calmer, artsy place. (Much more our speed, really.)

This morning, we departed Cabo Pulmo on our way to San José del Cabo. Along the way, we stopped at the scenic Cañón de la Zorra (Fox Canyon) for an afternoon hike.

After lunch in Todos Santos, we got back in the car and drove to the very, very quiet coastal village. Lisa had visited Cabo Pulmo some years ago and was eager to return. It was – as promised – very remote and almost entirely off the grid.

This morning, we had one last breakfast in Cabo and headed north to the historic/arts community of Todos Santos. Both of us had been here before and we were eager to make this part of our trip.

Yesterday, we wished for more sun and today … success! We booked a two-hour sunset cruise and it was … chef’s kiss … superb!

The plan was to find a nice trail or a sunny beach and go for a hike. Now … if you’ve followed this blog for long, you know that any post that starts with “the plan was” invariably leads somewhere else.

Most of us who live in the Pacific Northwest find that there’s eventually a time when you gotta get out of town and find some sun and warmth for a few days. Lisa and I hit that point recently and so we booked ourselves a trip to the Baja Peninsula in Mexico.

Lisa and I drove out to Murdock Beach for a bit of beachcombing.