Tag: travel
-
Estonia – Suur Munamägi
Summit Date: 2025-07-08 Summit Party: Ryan Cragun and Thom Pittz This was the last highpoint on my quick tour through three Baltic countries – Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. We left Riga early that morning, stopped at the highest point in Latvia, then headed north into Estonia. It was a couple of hours between the two…
-
Latvia – Gaiziņkalns
Summit Date: 2025-07-08 Summit Party: Ryan Cragun and Thom Pittz As part of a short visit to the Baltic countries, I visited the highest points in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. This is my brief high point report for Gaiziņkalns, the highest point in elevation in Latvia. I spent the previous day in Riga. A friend…
-
Lithuania – Aukštojas Hill
Date: 2025-07-05 Summit Party: Ryan Cragun and Thom Pittz I never would have thought I’d find myself in Lithuania, but a conference I regularly attend for work was held in Kaunas. A friend wanted to tour around a bit after the conference in the Baltics. Because it’s what I do, I immediately looked up the…
-
Aruba – Jamanota
I was in Aruba for four days for a conference. I didn’t have a lot of free time but, after checking out all of the details of the highest point, I thought that I could skip lunch one day, climb the highest point, and still make it back for the next session. So, I tried…
-
Chocolate Ratings
I like chocolate. It’s probably my favorite sweet. Closing in on 50 years old, I came up with a new life goal – try as many types of chocolate as I can, rate them, and see if I can find my favorite chocolate. This page documents my ratings. Milk Chocolate Dark Chocolate White Chocolate (coming…
-
Taiwan – Yushan (Jade Mountain)
I’ve climbed a fair number of mountains and completed many hikes, but none has been so embroiled in bureaucratic bullshit and red tape as was Yushan (a.k.a. Jade Mountain). Typically, when I write up a description of my hikes, it’s just that – the hike. But I’m going to use this page to detail how…
-
Prague Day 9 – Debi’s Tour and a “Medieval” Dinner
Debi’s workshop was over and she had one day to see some of the things she had missed in Prague. I had been telling her about my adventures throughout the week. From my adventures, we came up with a list of highlights: Museum of Communism, Speculum Alchemiae, and the Waldstein Gardens. We also managed to…
-
Prague Day 8 – Libraries and La Sylphide
This was the last day of Debi’s workshop. I had the day free and decided I’d try to visit two things in Old Town I’d missed: the Idiom art installation in the Municipal Library and the Clementinum library and observatory. Also, this was the first day when the weather was actually summer-like. It was sunny…
-
Prague – Walking Tours (free, downloadable guides)
We had a chance to spend just over a week in Prague, Czechia in the spring of 2023. My wife was participating in a workshop and, while I had a lot of work I needed to do while I was there (I was supposed to be on vacation), I did have a chance to explore…
-
Prague Day 7 – Church Visit, Recovery, and Dinner
As much as it pains me to admit it, I’m getting older. The 9-mile hike I did the day before to the summit of Snezka left me tired and sore. Luckily, with complete autonomy over my schedule, I could take the day off. And, so I did. As a sociologist of religion, I do try…