Daryl 
Immediately following my hike to the Louisiana highpoint, I turned north and drove directly to Mount Magazine State Park, home of the Arkansas highpoint. On a whim I decided to see if the summit lodge happened to have any same-day reservations, and much to my surprise, they did! I had just spent $230 on a … Read more
Driskill Mountain, Louisiana lies at 535 feet MSL and is ranked #48 in elevation among US Highpoints. In July, prior to my trip to Missouri, I decided to do a “twofer” type trip and knock out a couple of US State Highpoints on the way there. So, I flew American Airlines to DFW, then to … Read more
Back in July I flew out to Grays Harbor on the Washington coast to knock out the last three Fly Washington Passport Stamps I had to collect to finish the 18 airports in the Olympic Region!! Gray’s Harbor is surrounded by several airports and is the mouth of the Chehalis River. What a great trip! … Read more
We drove to Goat Rocks for a backcountry ski trip since the weather decided it was Juneuary, and I stopped by and grabbed some Fly Washington Passport stamps on the way!
Forecast for the weekend was pretty crappy for basically everything, but as soon as we saw the forecast for snow in the mountains, we decided to go for it! First trip into the Goat Rocks wilderness! Goat Rocks have been on my bucketlist since I first saw them while climbing Tahoma waaaay back in 2001. … Read more
On June 11th we went to see my 3rd show at The Gorge amphitheater; The Highwomen and Tanya Tucker. This was the third day of a Brandi Carlisle mini festival, replete with one of Joni Mitchell’s first performances in over 20 years, Annie Lennox, Lucius, and Marcus Mumford. This was my second time seeing Brandi … Read more
It’s been a long time since Katt went flying with me! We took a sunset cruise from Boeing field (BFI) up to Arlington (AWO) and it was gorgeous!
I finally got my first flight of the year in back in March! The sunset did NOT disappoint! PNWonderland!!
Social media clip of Worlds to Come at Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) on 8 June 2023 Our $29 tickets for the “Beer and Ballet” performance. Everything PNB does is amazing. We’re happy to support our local professional theater!
For Memorial Day weekend we had originally planned on skiing Diamond Peak, but the warm temps made “corn farming” unlikely so we opted to spend it checking out Spokane, where home prices are still surprisingly affordable. I previously was aware of Lord Huron’s show there, but didn’t want to “waste” a weekend in Spokane. Ironically, … Read more
Katt, Riley, and I did a “birthday tour” by climbing and skiing Naches Peak (~6360′) at Chinook Pass, WA on June 4th. Although the snow looked more like early July with all the suncups, there was plenty to go around and it was absolutely GORGEOUS up there! Best, Chinook Pass is the NE border to … Read more
Danielle, Katt. Riley and I skied Artist Point from Heather Meadows on May 20th. We camped in the valley the night before and cooked red pepper pasta for dinner, and a brisket and potato hash for breakfast. Yum! Unfortunately due to the unseasonably warm conditions, the snow hadn’t “corned up,” and to make matters worse, … Read more
Here’s Brian’s presentation at the 2023 AGM of our 2022 expedition.
One of our favorite places to ski is Blewett Pass / Tronsen Meadows, as there’s a network of cross-country ski trails, dry snow, and most importantly, hardly any people! Since it’s not hammered with tourons like Stevens and Snoqualmie passes, we can let Riley and Mickey run free and we’ve nary seen a soul out … Read more
Last year, my brothers Mike and Kev and I skied Hoodoo, which we determined to be our first of many annual “Ski Bros” vacations. This year we originally planned to Ski Bluewood, but Kev’s wife broke her leg just days before the trip so we reorganized and drove down to his place for a trip … Read more
This year we decided a mid-winter “ski and soak” vacation was in order. So we set out in early February to Montana! For this Ski and Soak, we skied Lookout Pass, Lost Trail Powder Mountain, and Ski Discovery. We soaked at Jackson Hot Springs (Jackson, MT), and Elkhorn Hot Springs in Polaris, Montana. Day 1: … Read more
List of US State Highpoints that I have yet to complete. As of February 2025, I have completed 38. For a list of the US State Highpoints I’ve already completed, go here: US State Highpoints Number Elevation(feet) Peak State R/T distance(miles) Elevation Gain(feet) Notes Rank of these 1=hardest 1 14,505 Mt. Whitney CA 22 6148 … Read more
Just a few rando thoughts about what to do in 2023: Vacations: Backcountry Skiing: Frontcountry Skiing: Backpacking: Flying: Caving: Highpointing Hot Springs:
This is my ongoing list of Geographic “Extremes” from my life. Here’s a map of all of them (click on the map to go to Google Maps) North – 66.56 degrees South: 18.91 degrees East: -16.85 degrees West: -158.28 degrees High: 14,460 feet ASL Deep: – 1586 feet below the entrance
This is a list of my favorites – sometimes you discover something that sticks with you basically forever. Here’s my list: Best Strawberry Ice Cream in Puget Sound Best Brisket Sandwich Tank House, Sacramento, CA Best Pulled Pork Sandwich Pomegranate Bistro, Bellevue, WA Honorable Mention: Breakside Brewing, Woodlawn neighborhood, Portland, OR Best French Dip au … Read more