Italy Trip III: Florence and Pisa
On Sunday morning, after another breakfast on the terrace (and the aforementioned conversation with our B&B hosts about the building and their family's story), Elena drove us into Ciano (back…
Italy Trip II: Canossa
B&B Il Tempo Ritrovato, located roughly two and three-quarter miles (~4.5 kilometers) southeast of the village of Ciano d'Enza, occupies a building that dates to the 14th century. From the…
Italy Trip I: Overview and Initial Reflections
Once upon a time, I found myself partner-less and living alone, after decades of having had a partner. This wasn't what I ideally wanted for my life, but I had…
Dave & Emily Do Yellowstone (Part IV: Days Three and Four in the Park)
Some of my memories are starting to run together, but I guess day three at Yellowstone must have been the day when I, having let go of my urge to…
Dave & Emily Do Yellowstone (Part III: The Firehole River)
I've been neglecting the project of writing about the rest of this trip, partly due to being busy with other things. Gotta get back to it, before I forget all…
Dave & Emily Do Yellowstone (Part II: First Day at Yellowstone)
Emily had been content to let me largely plan how we would spend our time once we got to Yellowstone, and I, naturally, had had plenty of ideas about what…
Dave & Emily Do Yellowstone (Part I: Going West)
So, the time has come to tell the tale of another trip to Yellowstone. Obviously, the big thing that made this trip different from my previous ones was that it…
Assorted Year-End Reflections
Well, 2022 was definitely a life-changing year for me! Sure, my life was already moving in exciting new directions when the year began, but there's a big difference between "moving"…
Yellowstone 2021 (Part V: Coming Home…Eventually)
Most readers will probably already be aware that the "voyage home" portion of my trip ran into...difficulties. But it didn't start out that way! I woke up on Sunday morning…
Yellowstone 2021 (Part IV: Geysers!)
I've spent at least some time checking out the various "main attraction" thermal areas on each of my trips to Yellowstone, but there are some that I've visited many times,…
Yellowstone 2021 (Part III: The Big Hike)
If I had begun to suspect on Tuesday that I might perhaps (gasp) be getting old, Wednesday morning provided more evidence pointing toward this conclusion. I found (not for the…
Yellowstone 2021 (Part II: A Day in the Canyon Area)
I suppose there wasn't really anything overtly "charmed" or "cursed" about my first full day in the park, unless I wanted to argue that in some respects, each individual portion…
Yellowstone 2021 (Part I: Getting There)
Here begins the story of (yep) yet another trip to Yellowstone. I hadn't originally planned to go to Yellowstone this year. Even doing a big summer camping trip at all…
Another Origin Story
This post is basically the next chapter of the story that I told in what became my first post on this blog (whose title, appropriately, starts with the words "Of…
Milestone
This week in dubious milestones: Tomorrow, 1/13/21, marks five years to the day since Jen moved out. Back when the post-marriage chapter of my life was only just beginning, when…
Chasing a Chameleon: Post-Mortem of a Marriage (Part II)
(This post picks up where the previous one left off, still on the subject of my efforts, in the years following Jen's and my divorce, to grapple with her claim…
Chasing a Chameleon: Post-Mortem of a Marriage (Part I)
This post is something that I've needed to get off my chest for a while. Its subject is something that I spent roughly three years wrestling with before finally, earlier…
Forgiveness is Optional
It should surprise no one for me to say that, since my marriage fell apart, I've been angry at Jen for giving up on it, blowing up our lives, and…
Interesting Dream
Last night was a night of troubled dreams for me. Most of it is vague and indistinct, but one dream stands out clearly. It was, sort of, a dream about…
Meandering Thoughts on “Kitsch” (with a Major Digression Concerning a Beloved TV Show)
One day, a month or two ago, a few friends and I had a conversation that began when somebody referenced the concept of the "ugly Christmas sweater," and I—albeit with…
Music, and Memories, and—Moving On? (Journalings About Recent Experiences/Feelings)
In recent weeks, I’ve experienced numerous little moments of intense emotion, where the emotions in question are simultaneously joyful and profoundly, despairingly sad. And I’ve wanted to talk about these…
Wrapping Up: The Trip Home From Yellowstone
I’m sort of ready to be done writing about this trip, and I’m not sure how much I really have to say about the homeward-bound road trip in any case.…
Day 5 at Yellowstone: Finally Conquering the Mary Mt. Trail!
And so, the day of the big 20-mile hike finally arrived! Once again recapping some back story here: Way back in 2009, during my first trip to Yellowstone as an…
Day 4 at Yellowstone: On My Own, Solving Problems…and Hiking!
So, at the end of my previous post, I left myself waking up in my tent around 2:00 am when my second C-PAP battery died on me. I spent the…
Yellowstone Interlude: Voyage to the Tetons
When I tell people about my various trips to Yellowstone, I am often asked whether or not I also drove down into Grand Teton National Park at all while I…
Day 2 at Yellowstone: Geysers, Hot Springs, Fumaroles, and Swimming!
So, the plan for the morning of “geyser day” was for me to drive down to Fishing Bridge (the RV park) to meet up with everyone else, and for us…
Day 1 at Yellowstone: Waterfalls, Mud Volcanos, Etc.
Okay, forget what I said about “writing about this trip differently.” I thought I was going to just do a few posts, covering two or three days per post, rather…
The Beginning of Another Yellowstone Trip
This was a somewhat different trip from other trips that I’ve taken (and written about) in recent years—and accordingly, I may end up writing about it in a somewhat different…
Days 9 & 10 of Grand Canyon Trip: The Voyage Home
I planned to road-trip home from the Grand Canyon in just two days, which meant driving about 12 hours each day—a lot of driving! Plus, thanks to the no-daylight-savings-time-in-Arizona issue…
Day 8 of Grand Canyon Trip: Final Day at the Canyon
As you might expect, I woke up with some rather sore leg muscles on this morning. At first, it felt like I could barely walk! But it was my last…