Surprisingly hot, surprisingly long. On the other hand, during the six-hour trek up and down the green, green hills of Point Reyes — none of which offered views of anything other than green, green hills — Vince and I managed to solve a lot of the world’s problems, including:
- Improving the national transportation infrastructure.
- Political power-seeking.
- The publishing industry.
- IT-Business Unit relations.
- Everything that’s wrong with the Lord of the Rings movies.
Given another hour, we would’ve cured cancer, too. Or else died of over-exertion. We’ll never know. A couple photos just because that seems to be what I do with these posts.
In retrospect, I probably should’ve thought more about the location of the sun prior to handing the guy my camera. Oh well: Vince, me.
This was the best view of the whole 11-mile hike. Unfortunately, this was not a shady location, so we didn’t stick around long.
And with that, I’m only one full four-day location behind…
bkd
I’ve had a few people ask me about whether I was going to try and “hit all x of y” during the trip. Actually, I’ve had two people ask me this and both with the same example: catch a game at all 30 Major League baseball parks. So: I’m not doing that. But I still have some themes lined up. Ready?
You sure?
Cuz I can do this later if you want.
K, ready?
Themes currently planned into the itinerary:
- The 20 Best Hamburgers (as defined by this article from GQ): SF, Napa, Seattle, Chicago, Ypsilanti or Dearborn, Newport RI, New Haven, NYC (x2?), Philly (x2?), San Antonio NM, and Santa Fe. I’ve hit a few of the others, but if I do all of the above, I’ll only be missing the one in Hackensack, NJ and Hollywood, FL. (I probably won’t hit all of the above — they’re uncomfortably concentrated in a few cases.)
- National Parks — per the as-yet unpublicized Ninth Itinerary, I’d hit as many as 24 of the 58, including (only?!) 17 that I haven’t visited before.
- “Great Day Hikes” — There was an article about The 100 Greatest Day Hikes in the last Backpacker magazine. I’m not really using that as a checklist, but I like the concept and day-hiking is kind of the skeleton around which the rest of the trip has been planned.
- Military and Flight Museums: McMinnville maybe, USAF in Dayton, USMC in Quantico, USN Flight in Pensacola.
- US Tourist Checklist Stuff I Haven’t Done Before — although, I’m not sure what I’d count under this other than Mt. Rushmore, Niagara Falls, the Statue of Liberty (and I *lived* there even), the French Quarter, and The Alamo. Maybe that’s enough — but if I go just three hours out of my way, I can also see the St. Louis Arch! (Meh.)
Had some other theme ideas also that are sort of in the hopper, although I worry that they’ll get in the way of having an actual semi-relaxing, enjoyable trip. Ah well. They would be:
- Photographing every broken-down farm building that I see.
- Photographing every gas station I tank up at.
- Photographing every state line crossing (so trite).
- Collecting a shot glass (or key chain or baby spoon or hat pin or…) from each state and/or Sehenswürdigkeit.
Any further thoughts appreciated. Unless they’re no good.
bkd
Comments