It’s been almost 3 months since I posted original content on here, making it my longest break from blogging since I started The Open Road Before Me in 2011. There was good reason for that. April and May could best be described as a gauntlet, during which I decided to break my contract at Shane …
North America
Ten Awesome Things to Do in Guanacaste
In the northwest corner of Costa Rica, tucked just under the southern border of Nicaragua, is the province of Guanacaste — a place of volcanoes and rainforests, rivers and beaches, classic colonial architecture and extreme water sports. Covering almost 4,000 square miles, the province has much to offer visitors; here’s a guide of ten awesome …
Climbing Acatenango and Fuego Volcanoes
Mountains are the sirens of geologic formations — luring in adventurers and enthusiasts with a rugged beauty that draws a veil over the hazards they contain. Soaring altitudes, inclement weather, and unstable terrain… these things and more have wrought tragedy upon countless back-country explorers drawn inexorably towards the mountains. But there is one breed of …
Guatemalan Cooking Class in Antigua
It’s hard to fully explain how much I love food. An ex-girlfriend of mine had some idea when she accused me (I kid you not) of loving food more than her. Needless to say, she wasn’t too happy when I made no effort to deny the accusation, and we broke up a short time later. …
The Great Pacific Northwest Road Trip
I love a good road trip. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of setting off to some distant place, knowing it will take you days to reach it, not knowing what adventures await you along the way. There are many reasons I enjoy living outside of the US, but few places can rival my homeland’s …
Hike to Cutthroat Pass on the Pacific Crest Trail
September brings with it the end of summer, and with the end of this particular summer comes the last of this interlude in the PNW. It’s been a whirlwind of activity, with hikes all over the Chuckanut and Cascade ranges, as well as a ton of get-togethers with friends and family. This ritual of visiting …
Reasons to Visit Anacortes
Traveling from Seattle north along Interstate 5 will take you to Bellingham and eventually Vancouver in beautiful British Columbia. It’s a tempting bit of highway to breeze along, skipping all the drive-through towns in Snohomish and Skagit Counties for more intriguing destinations further north. You certainly could, but it would be a mistake. You’d miss …
Hiking to North Butte in the Chuckanuts
Summer is really the best time to visit the PNW, with the weather as good as it’ll get and the trails open for exploration. The North Cascades have some of the best hiking trails in the PNW — such as Heliotrope, or Lake 22 — but there are other destinations around Northwest Washington with much …
Hiking Heliotrope Ridge
While Brandon, Sandy, and I drove up Mount Baker Highway, I was trying to figure out just how long it had been since I’d been on a proper hike in the Pacific Northwest. I was shocked to realize it’s been nearly 3 years since I’d done a hike in my home state! My last two …
Rituals on the Open Road: Going Home
It’s always the greenness of the drive which gets me; after I’ve left the airport and merged on to I5, whether it’s northbound from Seattle or southbound from Vancouver. It’s so easy to take a color for granted, but such a concentration of it after an extended absence makes me realize what I’ve missed. The …