Sign In
Michael and Rachel
Welcome to our blog. Here you'll find pictures and stories from our vacations to the Pacific Northwest and Iceland, and Michael's recent trip to Hawaii.Michael T
Travel Blog Posts
October 11th 2008
After flying all night we arrived in Cusco at 9:00 am and were picked up by our hotel and driven the forty-five minutes to Pisac. We were tired and adjusting to the altitude (going from sea level to over 9,000 feet overnight had given us both headaches) so we basically did nothing the first day but wander the market in the center of town and bit, drink water and coca tea (which is supposed to help with adjusting to the altitude), and rest. We woke up our second day in Pisac and decided to check out the ruins above town. We walked down and got a taxi up to the ruins, but we didn't anticipate how much it would cost to get in, and only had enough money to pay the taxi driver and buy the ... read more
We'll be going to Peru in October
Published: June 12th 2008North America » United States » District of Columbia » WashingtonJune 12th 2008
We just booked our reservations to hike the Inca trail to Machhu Picchu starting October 15. Check back then for pictures and stories from our two week trip to Peru!... read more
November 3rd 2007
I went to Hawaii for an oral argument in a case and stayed four extra days. The argument was in Honolulu, then I flew over to Kauai for the vacation. It was a nice laid back vacation, with only one story of note. My first full day on Kauai I planned to go for a hike. I woke up early to leave, as the hike was about an hour drive from my hotel, but it was raining. After a couple of hours of wondering what to do, it let up a bit, and it looked ok to the west, so I set out to drive to the trail head and see if conditions were ok. By the time I got there, it was perfectly clear and a beautiful day. There is a museum at the trailhead, ... read more
Back in Reykjavik - Running in Memory Of Nabil
Published: November 21st 2007Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík
August 18th 2007
On Thursday, we returned to Reykjavik, where we would stay for the remainder of the trip. Thursday evening and Friday were spent relaxing in the local hot pools, eating out, walking around the city, and visiting the National Museum of Iceland. We also walked over to the sports center to pick up our registration packet for the annual Reykjavik Marathon on Saturday. We were both signed up to run the 10 km race. Most of our hiking group was part of a larger group that was gathering in Reykjavik to run in the races associated with the Reykjavik Marathon in memory of Paul Nabil Bustany. Nabil passed away on August 19, 2006, after a long battle with cancer. He was a caring, funny, amazing person who I was fortunate to know through his sister, my good ... read more
The End of the Road, and a Party
Published: November 21st 2007Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Laugavegur
August 15th 2007
Emstrur to Þórsmörk Day four was a long hike, and every time we thought we were surely getting close, it always seemed as if there were a little more to go. We saw the only trees of the hike at the end, going through a birch forest with trees about 10 feet high. Then we arrived in beautiful Thorsmork, with the hut at the base of the glacier. Waiting on us there were two legs of lamb, several fish filets, lots of potatoes, salad, wine, and beer thanks to our Icelandic hosts, who had the feast shipped to us at the hut. How nice! We grilled the lamb and fish, drank the beer, and had an outstanding party. It was a great way to end a fabulous four days in the Icelandic countryside. ... read more
August 14th 2007
Álftavatn to Emstrur Day 3 was mainly interesting for the side trips at the beginning and end of the day. We started by climbing a small mountain next to the hut to the 360 degree views at the top. There we signed the notebook left for all of those who make the climb. At the end of the day we did a short hike from the hut out to a canyon. The wind was blowing like crazy but we stood on the lip and took pictures anyway. In between, we hiked through a volcanic ash desert. ... read more
August 13th 2007
Hraftinnusker to Álftavatn Day 2 may have been the hardest day. We had to cross a series of ice-filled crevices, but the ice was melting in many places. Then we had to climb a steep mountainside, then descend the other side on a trail of loose rocks to the valley below. Still, we were a good ways from our hut (and in fact had to hike past what looked like a nice hut, and go another couple of miles to get to our hut, including our first stream crossing. It was a long day, but at least at the end we had an entire room of the hut to ourselves. ... read more
August 12th 2007
Landmannalaugar to Hraftinnusker We woke early in the morning to catch the bus from Reykjavik to Landmannalaugar, the starting point of our hike. It was a four hour bus ride and we arrived around lunch time. We had a nice lunch at Landmannalaugar, and of course I managed to cut my thumb slicing cheese. Already injured! But it wasn't too bad, so I slapped a band-aid on it and our group of 13 set out on our four day trek. The first day of the hike has the most elevation gain at something like 500 meters. But what they don't tell you is that is the net elevation gain from the start of the day to the end, and the day itself is up, down, up, down, up, down. We climbed far more than 500 ... read more
August 11th 2007
Iceland isn't as far away as you think. It's about a six hour flight from Baltimore, and we took a red-eye, arriving around 6:30 am local time. I woke up as the plane was descending and looked out on a bright blue morning. A layer of clouds several thousand feet below us obscured the ground. As we descended into the clouds, I watched intently out the window, waiting for that first view of land as we broke the cloud cover. Then we landed. In the clouds. Which turned out to be fog. I never saw the ground until we were about five feet from it. That was kind of weird, but I guess if you fly to Iceland, you land no matter what the conditions are. Rachel and I were meeting several of her friends at ... read more
Lost Blogs and Preparing for Iceland
Published: August 7th 2007North America » United States » District of Columbia » WashingtonAugust 7th 2007
If you've tried to access our page in the last few days, I'm sure you've noticed that you couldn't. The travelblog server crashed and we lost our blog entries, but not the photos. We were able to recover all but one through Google Caches, and that one we have the text saved elsewhere so it should be up soon. It took us several days to notice the problem with the blog because we've been busy preparing for our trip to Iceland. We've got tons of gear for our four-day hike, and although our training may have slacked a bit for the race, we're still planning to give it a go. Check back for pictures and updates from Iceland in the week of the 19th, and maybe even while we're gone. ... read more
Tot: 0.154s; Tpl: 0.007s; cc: 11; qc: 81; dbt: 0.0692s; 1; s:apollo w:www (50.28.60.10); sld: 1; ; mem: 6.5mb
© 2013 TravelBlog.org & Bloggers