Pages Tagged “Travel”
Writing
- Fly Away A chance meeting at a mountain hotel.
Blog Posts
- High-Speed Rail from (Almost) LA to Vegas Finally Happening
Brightline West is ready to start breaking ground this week, according to The Washington Post. The southwest endpoint will be in Rancho Cucamonga, where it will connect to Metrolink. (Which is definitely better than Victorville, which I’d seen suggested a few years ago.) Connecting to the existing lines here will make it simpler to build […]
- Fly the Anaphylactic Skies
At first I thought this was a followup to another story about an anaphylactic reaction during an airplane flight last week. No, it’s a totally separate incident. One patient had an expired epi-pen. The other had never had anaphylaxis before. Both planes had bottles of epinephrine and a syringe, not an auto-injector. Fortunately there were […]
- Looking Back at Kilauea
Back in 2005, we visited the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii. There were active lava flows at the time, but the main caldera was only venting gases (this was before the lava lake formed in Halema‘uma‘u). We followed the road around the main caldera, then down to the coast to see where lava flows had obliterated […]
- It’s amazing more email accounts weren’t hacked back in the 2000s
We’d walk into an internet cafe and rent time on one of their computers. Then we’d log into our primary email account over plain, unsecured HTTP.
- Achievement Unlocked: Total Solar Eclipse!
I’ve always wanted to see a total solar eclipse, but until now I never had the opportunity. I’ve caught a number of partial solar eclipses over the years, and quite a few lunar eclipses. This year’s “Great American Eclipse” was perfect: it passed close to Portland, where we have family, and we could visit friends […]
- Wildflower Superbloom in the California Desert – Anza-Borrego Spring 2017 Photos
The kiddo had a day off from school in mid-March, so I took a vacation day and we all drove out to the desert to see the spring wildflowers. After the endless suburbia of Los Angeles, northern Orange County, and Corona, we drove past hills green from the winter rains, then into the similarly-endless suburbs […]
- WiFi is the new Color TV
When I was a kid, motels still advertised “COLOR TV!” on their signs to entice weary drivers to choose their facilities over the next one down the road. I’m pretty sure color TV was standard by then, but the signs remained. These says, every motel I drive past has “Wi-Fi” on the sign, for the […]
- Hotels and the Illusion of Simplicity
A hotel stay feels like you’ve simplified your life, but it’s an illusion. Your complexities are deferred, and someone still has to handle maintenance.
- Airplane, leaving me to my own devices
Between my outbound and return flight, new policy allowed me to start writing during takeoff. Thoughts on flying over cities, water and open space at night.
- Nighttime HDR Test: Yerba Buena Gardens
While in San Francisco on business, I wandered into the Yerba Buena Gardens and around the Moscone center. My phone took better pictures than I expected.
- I Survived Comic-Con 2013!
Intense stress, doing the impossible, meeting artists, keeping a toddler entertained, chaos good and bad, and a genuine medical emergency.
- Going to the ER at Comic-Con: Not the Peanuts I was Expecting
You don’t expect to find peanuts in coffee, but two sips were enough to put me in an ambulance and wipe out an entire afternoon of Comic-Con.
- Megacommuters
I did this for a few months. I had a 40-mile commute that typically took 90-100 minutes outbound and 2 hours back. It wasn’t so bad on the days when I could catch the train halfway there, but usually the lot was full by the time I arrived. It was horrible, and I moved. Megacommuters: […]
- Recent Links: Geography, Internet and Comics
Live wind patterns, historical travel times, reliability of social networking, the importance of web page weight, emergency gadget power, UNIX Daemons and Seurat’s Justice League.
- Allergy Incident on Vacation: That’s Not Sunbutter
The menu had a Sunbutter sandwich, but that’s not what they gave us. Dining out with food allergies requires thinking like Mad-Eye Moody: CONSTANT VIGILANCE
- Four Travel Lessons Learned at Chicon
Hotel laundry, flying with a toddler, rental cars and parking in Chicago, and the cost of internet access.
- WonderCon 2012 in Anaheim – A Great Weekend Comic-Con
Even more fun than in San Francisco, this year’s con had everything I’ve come to expect at a WonderCon, with more space, so the crowds never got unbearable.
- 50,000 Miles
This morning, I hit 50,000 miles on the Prius. We’ve had the car for four years now, and it still feels like a new car — or at least, it doesn’t feel old yet.
- Commuter Zombie Wants Traaaains…
The challenge of trying to get from central Orange County to the west side of Los Angeles during rush hour without slogging through traffic.
- Comic-Con Hotel Deadline & Second Chances
Today’s the last day to cancel a hotel reservation with no penalty, so rooms should free up soon. If you’re waitlisted, you may have a second chance at a hotel.
- Anaheim Comic Con 2010 (Saturday Con Report)
Wizard World returns to LA with a show that’s more about celebrities than comics, but has lots of Star Wars and Batman. Plus: Anaheim as a convention town.
- WonderCon 2010 Experience
Photos and write-up of a day at WonderCon in San Francisco. It’s still fun, but it’s beginning to get more crowded – if nowhere near San Diego Comic-Con levels!
- I Left My Tire in San Francisco
I already hated driving in SF, but getting a flat tire in the rain on the way to the hotel while late? Not fun, and it kept us out of Wondercon on Friday.
- How to Get a Hotel for Comic-Con
Planning to go to San Diego, but couldn’t get a hotel room through the convention? Here are some things you can try to find a place to stay during the con.
- Runaway Thoughts of a Prius Driver
I’ve driven a 2007-model Toyota Prius for two and a half years, so you can bet I’ve been following the news over the recalls and reports of uncontrolled acceleration. Monday’s runaway Prius incident, which involved a car that looks exactly like mine, has made me think even more about the problem. Now, I’m not overly […]
- Rainbow Lagoon & Wyland Mural
An artificial lagoon on the seaward side of the Long Beach Convention Center. I was there this past Saturday for the first Long Beach Comic Con and did some sightseeing. I’ve got more photos, both of the convention and sightseeing, and a write-up of the con. Originally posted at Parallel Lines
- The Other 10 Essentials of Comic-Con
You know how to pack for a trip, and to bring your camera, batteries, and a water bottle. Here are 10 things you might not think of that will come in handy.
- San Diego and Butterfly Boucher
We took a weekend trip to San Diego, hit Old Town and the Gaslamp District, and saw Butterly Boucher in concert at the House of Blues.
- 2000
Hard to believe it, but this is the 2,000th post on this blog. In celebration, here’s looking back at…the year 2000!
- Vegas Flashbacks
I’ve been posting old photos to Flickr lately, including some shots from a couple of trips to Las Vegas. Like this shot of the Flying Saucer Mall — excuse me, the Fashion Show Mall. (I got the initials right!) Seriously, doesn’t that view just say, “The visitors have landed?” Maybe they’ll want some Alien Fresh […]
- Why Las Vegas is a BAD idea for Comic-Con
People keep saying Comic-Con should leave San Diego for Las Vegas to get more space, but would it really be an improvement? Here are six reasons why not.
- WonderCon 2009: Saturday Con Report
Saturday at WonderCon: crowds, BSG, DCU, Star Trek, 9, cosplayers and more in San Francisco.
- WonderCon 2009: Friday Con Report
Friday at WonderCon: Farscape, David Mack, Indiana Jones, DC, BOOM!, crowds, Wonder Woman, cosplayers and more in San Francisco.
- Monterey and Carmel
A visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Cannery Row, area, then into Carmel-By-The-Sea, Mission San Carlos, and up into Carmel Valley.
- California Cruisin’: Cambria and Hearst Castle
During the last week of February, we drove up the California coast from Orange County to San Francisco, stopping in various places to visit friends and family and see the local sights. It wasn’t an exact repeat of last year’s trip, but we did redo Hearst Castle the second day out. Day 1: Tuesday — […]
- Night Sky
There’s something to be said for a night sky with so many stars that Sirius doesn’t stand out quite so much.
- San Diego Weekend
We went to San Diego this weekend for a company event. The drive down on Saturday was quite nice — much faster than any of the times we’ve driven down for Comic-Con, for instance. It took us only an hour and 20 minutes to get to Old Town San Diego, and that was with taking […]
- Reservations
Possibly jumping the gun, but last night I reserved a backup hotel for next year’s Comic-Con. Although considering that most of the big-name hotels right by the convention center are already booked (though I’m sure they’ve set aside blocks for the convention already) or want incredible amounts of money per night, perhaps it’s not that […]
- Thoughts for Next Year’s Comic-Con
Next time I go to Comc-Con, I want to take an extra day off to recover, or maybe take the whole week and make it a vacation where we actually see San Diego.
- Conventions and Distance
You can commute to nearby conventions, drive to others, and fly to even more. Once you have to fly anyway, destination matters more than distance.
- Coastal California
Last weekend was spent in Northern California. During the trip I wrote up Wednesday and Thursday, when we drove up to Cambria and then San Jose for Hearst Castle, the Winchester Mystery House, and visiting friends, spending the night in Sunnyvale. Friday morning, we checked out of the motel as quickly as we could, then […]
- And I Will Drive 500 More
First long trip with the Prius, up US 101 and PCH from OC to San Francisco, including tours of Heart Castle and the Winchester Mystery House in one day.
- Getting a Hotel for Comic Con (2008)
Tomorrow morning at 9:00 PST, rooms in the convention block go on sale for this year’s Comic-Con International. I was going to write up a bunch of tips last week, but CCI beat me to it by launching their own blog, Staying In San Diego. Visit it today, because it’ll probably be swamped tomorrow. (Though […]
- Comic-Con: Hotel Anxiety
Spent a good chunk of last night looking at travel websites. Accomplished 2 things: Arranged for a hotel to stay in San Francisco next month. Arranged for a back-up hotel for San Diego Comic Con, just in case we can’t get a room through the convention desk. Hotel rooms during Comic-Con have become a scarce […]
- Santa Monic-odd
In early August, we went up to Santa Monica to visit my brother and his colleagues as they returned to Florida from Wikimania 2007 in Taipei… with a 10-hour layover at LAX. We carpooled with my parents, and arrived while the group was still stuck in customs. So we wandered around the Santa Monica Promenade […]
- Strange Sights of San Diego
Our first night in San Diego, we picked up our badges for Comic-Con, then went out to see Avenue Q. We took the trolley back, and as we walked up the hill from the Little Italy trolley stop, we saw a pair of giant cartoon eyes looking out over the city from a balcony near […]
- Comic-Con Photos are up for 2007!
After a post-Comic-Con evening of sorting and labeling, here they are: 293 pictures of costumes, convention sights, San Diego and more!
- Only in Vegas – Double or Nothing
While they may tell you that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, they’re not entirely correct: some of it escapes onto the internet! So here’s the lighter side of our recent trip to Las Vegas. Let’s start with the drive out. Somewhere between the Cajon Pass and Victorville, we saw a warehouse with this […]
- Lion Around in Vegas
The MGM Grand Hotel has a lion habitat: a zoo enclosure with glass walls facing the casino floor. After all, Leo the Lion has been MGM’s mascot since the early years of the last century, so the MGM Grand is all about the lions.* We paused there as we passed through last Thursday afternoon, and […]
- Return to Vegas
Katie and I seem to do vacations in pairs. We’ll go somewhere on a trip, then a year or two later come back and do all of the things we discovered but couldn’t find time for the first time around. Last April we went to Las Vegas for an extended weekend, did some sightseeing, saw […]
- Comic-Con Hotel Booked! (2007)
Jammed phone lines, a busy fax, and an overloaded website turned a 5-minute booking process into an agonizing hour of waiting, timeouts, errors and restarts
- Blurry
I set up a slide-show screen saver on one of my computers at work. To start, I dropped in some of my wallpapers, including several from the Astronomy Picture of the Day, then snagged some photos from my website to add a little variety. Of course, 800×600 (or smaller) images don’t look so great blown […]
- Comic-Con Photos are Up! (2006)
I’ve just posted our photos from Comic-Con. Cosplayers, San Diego sightseeing, comic creators, random convention stuff, etc. Check out all our Comic-Con 2006 posts!
- Only in San Diego? Volume 3, Part 1
Here’s the latest round of strange sights from San Diego. We stayed at the Radisson Harbor View. The end of the hallway had a view of the harbor, but our room had a view of the construction across the street. When we first stepped onto the balcony, we saw a crane lifting an outhouse up […]
- Tall Ships of San Diego
I mentioned that on Saturday, we left Comic-Con for a few hours to check out the ships at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. We saw five: The Star of India, billed as “the world’s oldest active ship” The HMS Surprise, a replica of an 18th century British ship. The Berkeley, an 1898 steam ferry […]
- Saturday at Comic Con
Neither of us spent more than an hour or so on the floor on Saturday, in part out of self-defense. Comic-Con is usually the most crowded on Saturdays, though we didn’t see much difference from Friday this year. After the Flash panel, I went back to my back issue hunt. Found quite a few in […]
- The Drazi Effect
Despite growing up in Orange County, I never managed to go to Medieval Times. It’s a dinner show with knights on horseback staging a medieval tournament. Last month in Las Vegas, Katie talked me into going to the Tournament of Kings at Excalibur, which is the same type of show. When you purchase your tickets, […]
- Only in Vegas
You know the routine. We can’t pass up a bizarre image without taking a photo and posting some sort of comment. Not even on vacations. The drive to Las Vegas from southern California is simple: make your way to the 15, head north, and keep going until you get blinded by the neon. The ⅔ […]
- Haunted Vegas… In Your Room!
We picked up a few flyers on our way to Las Vegas, including one for the Haunted Vegas tour and show. We didn’t get around to looking it up, but we didn’t quite need to. The South Coast Hotel* is so new that they’re still building things like the swimming pool. Being new, lots of […]
- Back from Vegas
Whew! We took a few days off for our second anniversary and drove out to Las Vegas last weekend. Neither of us gamble, so it might seem kind of an odd choice, but there’s something else Vegas has a lot of: shows. In four days we managed to see Avenue Q, “Pirates 4-D” (a cheesy […]
- Hawaii: First and Last Views
Here’s our first view of the island of Hawai‘i, as our plane approached on Sunday morning, April 3. Snow-capped Mauna Kea is rising out of the clouds, with Mauna Loa behind it. A week later, we spent Sunday evening waiting for our flight out of Kona Airport. (After a disastrous experience at LAX in which […]
- Hidden Mountain
There was one morning in Hawai‘i that the clouds in Kona cleared and we could actually see something of Hualalai, the volcano that makes up the western side of the island and on whose slopes we were staying. Here’s the view from our hotel room balcony. Usually it looked more like this: Note: Our stay […]
- South Coast and Black Sand
Flashback to April and Hawaii. On the day we drove to Kilauea we stopped at various places along the way. And since it’s a nearly-100-mile drive from Kailua, there was a lot to see. We never made it down to South Point (the southernmost tip of the island), partly because of time and partly because—believe […]
- Under the Sea (Kailua Edition)
On the same day as our whale-watching cruise (April 6), we took a submarine tour of Kailua Bay from Atlantis Adventures. The tour started at the Kailua pier, where a boat ferried us out to the submarine in the middle of the bay. The sub itself went down to around 80-90 feet by the end […]
- Whale Watch Hawaii
One of the first tours we signed up for on Hawaii was a whale watching tour. We figured even if we didn’t see any whales, we’d still have spent a couple of hours on a sailboat. It was April, near the end of the season, and we booked a tour through Red Sail (via Travelocity) […]
- Kilauea, Craters, and Hot, Hot Lava
Kilauea is often called the world’s most active volcano. It’s been erupting continuously since 1983 at vents several miles away from the caldera. The eruptions are still inside Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, but the lava hasn’t stuck to the boundaries as it flows to the sea. So late on an April afternoon, we started driving […]
- Thurston Lava Tube (Nāhuku)
Let’s see, when we left off, we had nearly completed a circuit around the Kilauea caldera. Before driving down Chain of Craters road to the coast, we stopped at the Thurston Lava Tube. Update (2021): The park is now emphasizing the Hawaiian name for the cave, Nāhuku, but at the time we visited in 2005, […]
- Clouds on the Horizon
Well, June Gloom seems to be over, and we’re now into the time of year when we get hot, sunny days with lots of clouds. Big, towering cumulus clouds, often with anvil heads, promising shade and rain to cool things down. The teases. Yeah, we see those clouds most afternoons—on the horizon, just on the […]
- On Comic Con and Baseball
San Diego’s public transportation system couldn’t handle the combined pressure of Comic-Con and a weekend of baseball games. Talk about packed.
- June Gloom! Extended Tour!
Yes, coastal Southern California normally has morning cloud cover into early summer. We had morning fog in San Diego and gloomy skies north of La Jolla.
- Missed Haunting
It turns out the Whaley House near our Comic-Con hotel in Old Town San Diego claims to be the most haunted house in America.
- Only in San Diego? Volume 2 Part 2
Amusing sights from Comic-Con and around town: faith insurance, Xena’s coffee, the Pikachu bug, and more, including…the pastrami love burger?
- Only in San Diego? Volume 2 Part 1
The Vegetable Garage, cactus feet, Sam Adams smoothies, Haunted Hotel, a cubic Stonehenge, and other strange sights found around San Diego.
- A Visit to Kilauea
Picking up the oft-delayed vacation photos series, here’s the first half of our trip out to Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park and the volcano Kilauea. Kilauea is often referred to as the most active volcano in the world. To give you an idea why, its latest eruption started in 1983… and is still going! We got […]
- Lava Graffiti
Amid the old lava flows on the west coast of Hawai‘i, locals have a tradition of arranging coral on the jumbled rocks to create temporary graffiti. It tends to be “friendly” graffiti, more like carving one’s initials in a tree than tagging a freeway wall with spray paint. We drove past a beautifully drawn whale […]
- Beware of Invisible Cows
The visitor center for the Mauna Kea observatories has a sign that says Beware of Invisible Cows. It actually makes sense in context.
- The Keauhou Beach Resort
When we arrived in Hawaii, I posted this photo taken from our hotel room balcony: What I didn’t mention was that that shot was carefully cropped. The view really looked like this: Well, hey, we got the cheap rooms, so you kind of expect that. Still, there was a lot to see right on the […]
- Mauna Kea
And now for something completely different: Hawaiian snow. On our second-to-last day in Hawaii, we took a tour up to the summit of Mauna Kea, the highest mountain in the state at 13,796 feet. And even in early April, they still had snow at the summit. We caught a somewhat hazy view of it from […]
- Hawaii’s East Coast
We didn’t get to see much of the Hilo side of the island. Our last day there, we checked out of the hotel and just started driving, figuring we’d just see how far we could get before turning back to make our flight. We did actually make it to Hilo itself—just in time to turn […]
- Up the coast to Kohala
It’s taking me longer than I thought to post all these Hawaii photos. North of Kona there are miles of old lava flows, the most recent of which were in 1801 (from Hualalai, the volcano above Kailua) and 1859 (from Mauna Loa, the second-higest peak on the island). Because the island is right in the […]
- Top Three Hawaiian Words
When we visited Oahu two years ago, we noticed that aloha was everywhere, and meant everything. Aside from hello and goodbye, it seemed to represent an easy-going, positive attitude. There were signs all over the place saying things like “Drive with aloha.” Then there was mahalo, Hawaiian for “thank you,” which is used everywhere in […]
- Exploring Kona
We spent a lot of time exploring the Kona coast, where towns manage to be both beach towns and mountain towns at the same time. It’s simplest to think of the island as one huge mountain (though there are really four mountains on the island, with a fifth, Kilauea, working its way up). The land […]
- Donkey Xing
Driving through the lava fields of North Kona, you’ll see signs like these: After coffee companies stopped using donkeys for transportation, they turned them loose, and a herd of wild donkeys roamed the fields. They apparently picked up the nickname “Kona nightingales” from their, uh, “singing.” They’ve since been moved up to greener—and less traveled— […]
- Hawaii in a nutshell
So… a week in Hawaii. I guess the main thing to remember is that it is the “big island.” It can take 2½–3 hours to get from one side of the island to the other, and that’s without stopping to see anything along the way. We stayed in Kailua-Kona, and ended up spending most of […]
- Overheard in a Kona cafe
Diner: I was here thirty years ago and had the best beer I’ve ever tasted, anywhere in the world. <pause> This is the worst. Waiter: I’m sorry, sir, I can’t do anything about that. It’s Budweiser.
- Back from Hawaii
Seven days on “the big island” (a.k.a. Hawai‘i) just aren’t enough. Our flight came in at about 5:30 this morning, and I don’t think either of us got more than a few minutes of sleep, so we’ve been catching up during the day. We’ll both be posting comments and photos over the next couple of […]
- Hotel View
It was a long day, and we stood in way too many lines, but we’ve made it to Hawaii! (Unfortunately, the room’s “data port” is just an easily-accessible phone port. Back to dial-up…)
- A note, by any other AIM
It seems that the city of Verona wants people to text-message “Juliet” (of Romeo and…) [note: originally linked to Reuters] instead of writing notes and sticking them to the walls with gum. (Too bad it wasn’t in Singapore.) Apparently the notes are damaging the walls of the 13th-century building, and they want to set up […]
- Suggestions for Comic Con
Update July 2009: I’ve got a newer, longer list of Comic-Con Tips over at Speed Force. Based on experience from the last few San Diego Comic-Cons, here are a few recommendations: Pre-register, as early as possible! Not only will it save you money, but the line to pick up badges is always much shorter than […]
- More Hawaii Photos
OK, the last set of photos were nice scenic pictures. This set is stuff that looked interesting.
- Hawaii Photos
Yes, it’s been 3 1/2 months, but I finally got around to posting some of the best of the Hawaii photos!
- More Than Meets The Eye
According to the Transportation Security Administration‘s list of Permitted and Prohibited Items for airline passengers, “Toy Transformer Robots” are on the approved list of carry-on items. Which kind of makes you wonder: Before this version of the list was written up, was someone kept off a plane for carrying Megatron or something?
- There are worse places to be stuck than Hawaii.
Well, deadline day is today, the U.N. is in all likelihood not going to budge, and we’re due to leave for Hawaii on Saturday. Makes for a very freako situation. Welcome to my life. Kelson and I were discussing this last night and decided that if anything happened between now and then, we weren’t getting […]