Stopped in lovely Cortez, Colorado, again last night and came across these cool UV-sensitive murals of Frida Kahlo, Albert Einstein, and Gandhi.

They were in a back alley connected to a parking lot; we were just lucky to spot them walking back from …

Dinner last night at Bottom Shelf Brewery in Bayfield. Ordered a flight assuming the usual four; turns out I could have gotten all eight at once. Had to order another to complete the set.

(Micro-review: tasty beer, a bit too thin. Green chile and …

Once again, this Minaal bag is the perfect one-bag traveler.

I got like six free books at Craft + Commerce 2025 this week, and somehow they all just fit alongside a week’s worth of clothes + rafting gear.

In heavy competition with my Bluffworks …

When you haven’t been to Japan since January and you don’t care that Southlake sushi can’t possibly be any good…

Nice hike up Mount Takao, about ninety minutes’ train ride west of Tokyo Station. Beautiful views, shrines, a temple, and a waterfall!

I don’t usually eat conference food, but the opportunity to sit atop Tokyo Big Sight and eat ramen was too good to pass up.

Two sort of opposite pictures from Jackson Hole today. One of a man made structure—a cute little cabin decorated with skis—on the side of a mountain; and the other a family of mule deer who decided our little townhouse complex was a good dinner spot. …

Last summer, we backpacked in Grand Teton National Park. Today is our first day skiing Jackson Hole. This is a great, and beautiful, part of the country.

This road trip has given us the opportunity to compare many fried chicken chains across more than a thousand miles so far. We’ve hit Whataburger (I know), Popeye’s, and just now Bojangle’s for lunch.

Best chicken: Popeye’s Best biscuit: Bojangle’s …

The Atomium in Brussels is another one of those World’s Fair buildings (like the Eiffel Tower, but 69 years later) that looks cooler than it has any right to be.

The inside is apparently some sort of digital art museum and cultural archive, but Meera …

The food and beer selection at CDG past immigration is criminally weak for a city that prides itself on food.

Maybe they’re just upset I’m leaving?

Vianden Castle is a short but steep hike from the bus stop, but the views are excellent even before you get to tour the inside.

I have apparently arrived in Luxembourg 🇱🇺 on the Grand Duke’s official birthday. Unfortunately, all that was left when I arrived on the TGV from Paris was the aftermath.

Third Space Coffee in Colorado Springs serves artisanal coffeeee flights. We had to get one… okay, we got three. ☕️

I think we found our wall photo for this trip! 🎿

Meera skis like a girl. By which I mean, she had 2,000 feet more vert than we did today.🎿

In 2019, we went to the Outer Banks for Meera’s birthday. We visited from Corolla all the way down to Okracoke, taking in beaches and lighthouses and sand and sun.

Meera and I are not good at relaxing vacations. We’re always skiing or hiking or …

On the way back from visiting Westside Ale Works in South Melbourne today, we saw these three huge cranes on the same apartment complex. Coming from Texas, it’s refreshing to see rapid high-density housing buildup.

In September 2021, we spent a couple of days in Barcelona on our way back from Minorca and Mallorca. We had read that a favorite local breakfast spot was Granja M. Viader. Usually, that means there’s a line of tourists out the door, and Meera and I …

Finally in our hotel in Melbourne. Quick recap:

• At 2pm Friday everything was fine.
• At 3pm Friday our Melbourne flight was delayed two hours, but our Dallas flight was delayed four hours, so we would miss our connection, and the next DFW-MEL flight …

In November 2021, Meera and I were itching to get traveling again. We had had our shots, waited past all the international quarantines, and it was time to go again.

We chose to visit Minorca and Mallorca because we had enjoyed Barcelona so much a few …

What if you went to Versailles as part of your honeymoon, but it absolutely poured that day in November 2017, and all of your pictures were of you and your brand new spouse soaking wet?

On the plus side, I snuck this jacket into my luggage as a …

In June 2013, I was on a business trip to Mountain View. I had never been to California before, so I spent as much of my free time exploring as I could.

I drove down to Santa Cruz, and I saw the Breakwater Lighthouse.

Then I went west to Pigeon …

In 2017, we camped in Garner State Park with some friends and took a brief hike the next day.

You’re not permitted to use local “found” firewood, so one of the people with us brought a truck bed full of huge branches we spent a long time chopping …

In August 2016, I was in Adelaide for a business trip. Okay, I was in Woomera for a business trip, but I had taken a week of vacation on the end of the trip to explore Adelaide.

One day I decided to hike up Mount Lofty. Okay, I decided to walk to …

Back in 2018, I had a business trip to Thun, Switzerland. Meera and I decided to make a vacation of it. Over the course of a week, we visited Thun, Interlaken, Gimmelwald, Zermatt, St. Moritz, and Zurich.

In Zurich, we were unwilling to pay for a …

In 2019, my wife and I joined another couple for a backpacking trip in the San Juan Mountains of south-central Colorado. On the way back, we stopped for a day at my in-law’s condo in Ruidoso, New Mexico to recover a bit. But instead of resting and …

Some friends and I were talking about The Picture—the one you’re proudest of, the one you always want to show people, the one that makes you wonder if maybe you’re actually a photographer after all.

I’ve taken some pretty pictures, but I think the …

We realized on day 3 of skiing that our skis were conveniently RGB-colored and of graduated lengths, so we posed them for a group shot.

Then I took a candid going up one of the lifts.

And of course we couldn’t let the boots feel left out, even …

Went to bed excited for overnight snowfall to improve skiing conditions. Woke up to exactly half my wish granted: almost 7” of accumulation, but whiteout conditions this morning. ⛷️

Makeshift parfait at the BOS (Logan) Admiral’s Club this morning waiting for our flight back to Austin. 📸

Brunch at In A Pickle in Waltham ahead of a wedding yesterday afternoon. Hot honey chicken and waffles, pumpkin bread French toast, and coffee. Perfect.

Yesterday’s desk post made me think of other interesting writing desks I’ve encountered.

This one is from our house in Sóller, Majorca, Spain, from November 2021.

An iPad instead of a MacBook because this was a vacation, not a business trip.

My workspace at Hotel Bellevue in Cazaubon, France, a few weeks ago. I love the aesthetic, but it made me feel like I should be writing a novel instead of PowerPoint slides. 📸

In Corpus Christi for Rio Texas Annual Conference. Tried out Railroad Brewing Company right by the convention center. 📸