Where to start… Unlike Iceland, where I’d be (at the time) moving around the island, I’d planned to stay in Prague. I initially started with the Lonely Planet Pocket Prague for trying to plan days of things to do. However, since I was going to be geocaching-focused, I used the CacheTur.No tool for laying out routes. For example, one sub-trip had me going down to Vysehrad (south), another hitting the Charles Bridge early, before crowds came in. ...

This was my third year of the “Twelve Days of QRZ” event that runs from December 1 through the end of February. The object is to have QSLs, that is, confirmation of radio contact, either on QRZ or Logbook of the Web, on twelve separate days. It is pretty easy to get the base award, especially via digital contacts, and I did that 12 days after getting a new antenna launched after the bomb cyclone had knocked it out of the tree. (It took a while to clear out debris so I could do that.) ...

The “bomb cyclone” we had in November was a surreal experience. I had to go to a customer meeting that afternoon, and towards the end, kept checking my phone for the wind. The storm itself didn’t make landfall, but its pressure center was so low, it sucked wind from the east. The easterly wind caused more damage because it’s less common and trees hadn’t develop stress wood for that.. Image from the Cliff Mass Weather Blog. ...

About 12 years ago, I adopted a Geobituary (GCJQGP), a puzzle cache published in 2004. The puzzle was, unfortunately, ambiguous, and there was no checker. The container (a mini-tombstone) and its location adjacent to a city cemetery were fantastic. When I adopted it, the container was in bad shape from the weather. I sought out to build a new one from scratch. The original container in 2009. ...

When my daughter was in college, I’d periodically visit to check up and take her on a Target trip to ensure she had all the household comforts needed. Although there was scheduled flight service to the college town, it was generally cheaper and quicker taking the nonstop from Seattle to either Chicago O’Hare or Milwaukee Mitchell, renting a car, and driving the rest of the way to the college town. And being one who likes to wander, I’d also scout out geocaching opportunities. On a particular trip in 2018, shortly after I started a new job and had no accrued vacation time, I flew after work on Friday, arriving to my motel after midnight. I intended to get up at the ass crack Saturday morning, meet her for breakfast, spend time with her (as she was available), then drive back Sunday afternoon to Milwaukee and fly home. ...

I’ve been through the town of Pomeroy, WA, a couple of times. The first, in 2010, was during my last Cycle Oregon, which I had to DNF shortly thereafter because I’d acquired Achilles tendonosis. That was extra unfortunate because I was over 40, and it took a long time to heal. However before then I enjoying the undulating landscape of the Palouse, occasionally stopping for geocaches. Long and climbing road ...

I made my third trip to Washington, DC, but the first time I’d spent any time for vacation. Some of the things we saw during the trip: Smithsonian Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum is one of the most popular museums for a good reason, and you absolutely must get (free) timed tickets for. Part of it has been under reconstruction for a few years, with some items moved to another facility. However, there’s still a lot to see ranging from the early history of flight to planetary exploration. The photo above is an F1 engine from Apollo 11, recovered by a Bezos expedition and donated to the museum. The immensity is readily apparent, as was the hand assembly. ***** Allow 3-4 hours, Free, timed-tickets essential. (There’s plenty to see, it just gets overwhelming with crowds.) ...

I just returned from ten days in Washington DC, where I got around solely by walking and public transit (bus and train). It was awesomely efficient. One of the more difficult things to suss out prior to visiting was the use of the SmarTrip app. The short summary: you don’t need it if you’re a tourist. Just use the Wallet function. The app does three things: Lets you buy a multi-day pass. The pricing was extremely confusing with multiple agencies and “unlimited.” I’m sure this would make more sense to a local, but it was simpler and cheaper to just buy the fares we used. Set up auto-reload. Again, for a short visit, your balance is in the wallet. If you need more money, just add a few bucks. Asks you to give up name, date of birth, address, email, and three security questions. Supposedly this is to secure your balance in case ?? happens. I should note that the app has a lot of mostly negative reviews and a rather thin-skinned developer responding to them. I’m not sure why it really exists, but it’s not the worst app I’ve used. This one is. ...

Between returning from vacation and being completely swamped with work, I’d been in need of a Costco run. I was considering doing a Costco SameDay order (aka “InstaCart”), but in the penultimate stage of the cart, the $3 “priority fee” annoyed me enough to hesitate. I was distracted the rest of the day with work phone calls. By the next morning, I realized I needed gas anyway, so I just went when they opened and avoided the crowds. ...