Travel Stories

  • Big Falls on Overall Run

    Big Falls on Overall Run, originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. It’s great to have my camera back. Two weeks ago, I bent a pin in the card slot which rendered the camera useless. After speaking with Canon support, I packed up the body and shipped it off to the nearest repair facility. It left FedEx that Monday and arrived at Canon on Wednesday. I authorized the repair and it was fixed on Thursday and shipped back on Friday. I received my camera on Friday. While I’m not happy to shell out the expense of fixing my equipment, I am very…

  • Duncan Knob

    View on Duncan Knob, originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. I got up early this morning to hike before the heat of the day. I would have liked to have gotten up earlier to be at the summit for that early light, but I enjoyed what I got. I arrived at my trailhead by 8:00 and reached the summit of Duncan Knob a little after 10 and I had the trail and the rocks to myself. I basked in the sunshine and enjoyed the view for almost an hour before heading back. When I got back on the Gap Creek Trail,…

  • |

    Asotin Creek

    The Deep Gorge Originally uploaded by Matthew Singer While we were out in Idaho, we had the pleasure of taking a day and hiking. While the Moscow area was devoid of any snow this year, the surrounding mountains still had a bit of the white stuff, and forget about trying to get to the big mountains. It was winter, after all. I’m particularly excited about the nearly year-round hiking available out there. In the summer, I can retreat to the high country. In the winter, I can head low into the canyons where it stays pretty warm late into the…

  • National Aquarium in Baltimore

    National Aquarium in Baltimore Originally uploaded by Matthew Singer Last Saturday, Erin had to go to Towson to take her riding instructor exam. I dropped her off at Goucher College and headed to REI, only to find that they didn’t open for another hour, so I drove down the road to Borders, looked at books I couldn’t afford, and played on the reliable fast internet for a while. It’s funny, when I went into the the store at 9:30, there were barely any cars in the parking lot. When I left at 11:00, the lot was full. I did make…

  • Chicago

    On Monday, I went into Chicago to meet up with the elusive Gloria Mui who I haven’t seen since Medfest 2005. She was in Chicago for some pharmaceutical conference. So yesterday I took the train into the city, and actually missed the train I wanted because I couldn’t find a parking space in the first lot. Well, I got into the city and met up with her and we took the L out to the Garfield Park Conservatory. The greenhouse and gardens are a bit larger than those of Lincoln Park, and much nicer too. I really liked their fern…

  • |

    Porcupine Mountains, Memorial Day Weekend

    Lake of the Clouds Originally uploaded by Up Nort. This Memorial Day weekend was exactly what I needed. It was a weekend away from civilization getting some good physical exercise and getting in touch with the real world. The Porcupine Mountains are simply amazing. Its Michigan’s largest state park and on a scale of 1-10, I give this park an 11. Parts of the park are covered in old-growth timber including some impressive hemlock stands. Other parts were once mined for iron and are covered in a very healthy secondary growth. Several spots are muddy and wet with marsh marigold…

  • |

    Observations from my Weekend

    Everywhere I go I make observations on the world that would be great commentary for this journal. Unfortunately, I never write them down and most of these notes get lost in the millions of thoughts going through my head. But I will try to recall what I can. Observation no. 1: Zoos Last weekend I went into Chicago to visit Lincoln park and wandered around the Lincoln Park zoo. As a kid, I liked zoos and then I kinda lost interest with all of the fakeness. Lately I’ve been into checking out various city’s zoos to see how they compare….

  • Canoeing

    This weekend I went canoeing down the Juniata River with my girlfriend, Erin. We had a blast. We only got rained on once while on the water, and then we waited it out under a tree to minimize the soaking. We put in at the riverside park in Huntingdon, PA and took out about twenty miles downstream at Newton Hamilton. See the map. Look at the river rather than the road. The wildlife was awesome. I had 44 bird species. Highlights include a Bald Eagle, 24 Common Merganser, and lots of Wood Ducks. We also saw a family of River…

  • |

    View from Mount Rogers

    View from Mount Rogers Originally uploaded by mineral2. Oops! I promised a detailed account of my Mount Rogers extravagansa, but forgot to post about it here. So here it is, almost two months late. Of course, you can visit the photo galleries for photos as they are now up there. But here’s my adventure: Sunday: I left Alabama on Sunday. I said my good byes to everyone, including my 5-foot wild gray ratsnake rescue friend (hehehe), and my partings from Jen. We’re still together for now, but time shall tell if the distance thing works out. So anyway, I headed…