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[Pico de Areiro / Santana, Madeira, May 14, 2025] I had been watching the weather every single day, hoping for a window of opportunity to hike one of Madeira’s best known hikes. At almost 6,000 ft, Pico de Areiro is the third highest peak on the island. An 8-mile round-trip trail connects it to Madeira’s highest, Pico Ruvio. In the Madeira hiking system, it’s marked as PR1. PR stands for “Pequena Rota,”… Read More
[Bar Harbor, Maine, Sep 21, 2024] After visiting with Martha in Portland, it was time to make the 3-hour drive to Bar Harbor. The fastest route goes north to Bangor before veering east. Martha recommended we take the upper part of the coastal route instead. So we put Belfast, ME in our GPS and headed out. it was only 15 minutes longer this way. We had no idea what to expect along… Read More
[Portland, Maine, Sep 20, 2024] A work trip to Atlanta, GA had me eyeing national parks in the vicinity. I had to choose between New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia and Acadia National Park in Maine. I decided to go with Acadia. I would be returning to Atlanta in April 2025 and I figured I can do New River Gorge then. I took a red-eye flight from Portland, Oregon to… Read More
[Maui, Hawaii, Nov 19, 2022] Thanks to remote work, the time around Thanksgiving was the perfect opportunity to do a slightly longer trip. I was eyeing Hawaii, which I hadn’t been to since 2018. Maui was home to Haleakala National Park, which I hadn’t been to before, and Oahu, which was home to my friends Vanya and Deyan. They had just returned to Hawaii that summer after a couple of years on… Read More
[Brussels, Belgium, Dec 19, 2019] Armed with Rick Steves’ Belgium guidebook, I left my hotel shortly after 8 am. It was still dark – sunrise wasn’t until 8:43 am. I stopped for a coffee at the cafe right next to my hotel and headed for the European Parliament on the east side of the city, about 25 minutes away from the city center by bus. The European Union as you know it… Read More
