TravelStream™ news feed for member robconr on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/robconr en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 16 Jul 2007 12:52:13 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/hiking_michigan/1182011460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/hiking_michigan/1182011460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/hiking_michigan/1182011460/tpod.html Mon, 16 Jul 2007 12:52:13 -0400 Camping and Hiking trips around Michigan.

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Ludington, Michigan, United States

Waking up early on a beautiful Saturday in June, I pack my trusty backpack and look forward to heading out to L. Michigan with my boss for the summer, Recycle Rob. Rob coordinates Kalamazoo College's Recycling program, for which I am working this summer. He often goes out camping with students he knows at the college. I first met Rob on the LandSea program which took place the summer before college. He manages all the gear for that program.

The drive to Ludington takes almost 3 hours, but it is well worth it as always. The weather is absolutely beautiful, with only a few clouds in the sky and temperatures around 80. We park in a small lot at the end of an endless dirt road (yeah that doesn't make sense) and unload all of our stuff. Rob has so much hiking/camping gear and loves to show it off. If you think I like camping, multiply my excitement, amount of gear, and camping experience by at least 10.

We eat some sandwiches and then hit the trail towards the lake. The woods are pretty sandy in this area, but the trail is for the most part pretty stable. However, the parts that are eroded are extremely difficult to cross in hiking boots, and weighed down by the pack. (That old adage about 2 steps forward 1 step back certainly comes to mind!) About a mile later we decend down into the sand dunes at the lakeshore. This area is a designated wilderness area, and as such you pick your own camp area (being sure to practice leave no trace principles.) We find a campsite up in the woods overlooking some dunes and the lake. We set up camp and then relax for the rest of the day, reading, flying kites, and swimming. The area is pretty secluded but we do see several other groups in the area.

As the evening arrives, we cook some dinner, talking about camping and some of my future plans and stuff. Rob has a million camping stories to share, which of course interests me! We had opted to bring along a six-pack of beer as well, and in the warm temperature the cooler and the ice it contains is well worth the effort of hauling it in. The sunset is simple but beautiful, and we settle into our respective tents for the night.

In the morning Rob cooks some pancakes and camp bacon. I'm a fan, and plan on incorporating this into my camp food repertoire. Rob heads for the beach, and I want to go for a hike up into the dunes. The dunes rise and climb for hundreds of hards before arriving at the forest. Its easy to see how the ecology of the dunes work: erosion, wind, water, and sand all participate in this ancient ritual of life and death. The dunes grow, are anchored by dunegrass, then in time a soil layer can form and eventually forests grow. But, with untimely disturbances the sand underneath can erode again and the forest will collapse into the lake, or with great winds, new dunes form over the forest and drown it. This leaves only the ghostly remnants for us to see. All of these conditions were present in this dune area and treading lightly, I explored much of it.

In the early afternoon, we pack our stuff up, and hike back to the car and drive home. A short but sweet stay in Michigan's only "Wilderness Area."
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/smoky_mtns_2007/1174678500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/smoky_mtns_2007/1174678500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/smoky_mtns_2007/1174678500/tpod.html Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:47:18 -0400 Spring break trip to the Smoky Mountains and Nashville.

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Nashville, Tennessee, United States

After getting out of the woods, we navigate the crazy winding roads of North Carolina and Tennessee passing through "true appalachia." It was actually the area where deliverance was filmed, and its real hill-billy looking. I was glad to get back to civilization. Amanda wanted to eat at a Waffle House, so thats where we stopped to get our first meal out of the woods. It was delicious to our post-hiking state of hunger, but otherwise I'm not quite sure I would ever eat there.

We arrived in Hendersonville at my parents' place just around sunset. It was awesome to see the beautiful finished pool.
My mom had prepared a nice salad and I enjoyed just hanging out and visiting with them while Colin and Amanda went to bed early.

In the morning the ever-present Tennessee sun was up and so of course so was I. The house was pretty quiet with Stephen in school and dad at work, so we just hang out and I go for a swim in the pool (it is mid 70's and sunny in TN thurs ---too cold for colin and amanda though)

In the afternoon we head to my brother's tennis match. He randomly tried out for the school's tennis team (and my mom likes to include with a 12 dollar racket and old sneakers) and is now the number 2 seed on the team. However the guy he played was really good, and he lost both his singles and doubles. It was fun to see him playing though.

After tennis, we head downtown Nashville so Colin and Amanda can see the city and stuff.
We meet up with a friend of Amanda and check out a couple of country places on Broadway before heading over to BB King's Blues Bar.
Its nice that downtown is only a half hour from the house, and yet there are cows behind my family's house.

On friday we go downtown at mid-day to find the country music walk of fame (which is a take off of the hollywood walk of fame.) I think Amanda thought it was a slightly bigger deal, it turned out to be a total joke, just a few stars in a sidewalk in a park, but the search for it was interesting! We also browsed through a guitar store that is on Broadway. Interesting Kalamazoo- Nashville connection: last time I was down my dad was talking about the headquarters of Gibson Guitars being in Nashville, and I said, well ya know they were originally from Kalamazoo right? Well Gibson guitars began in Kzoo and moved to Nashville in the 70's.

Amanda then buys some cowboy boots and a cowboy hat for her wrangler job this summer. We then drive over to the Parthenon replica in the west end.
For the centennial celebration they built a replica of what the parthenon looked like. Apparently its one of the big sights to see in Nashville...but I wasn't all that impressed. Give me a ruin of marble over a concrete reconstruction anyday.

Then we hit the expressway to drive over to Opryland and the Grand Ole Opry. Traffic was busy as it was rush hour, and when we got there we wanted to avoid paying the 12 dollar parking fee, so we parked across the street and walked through the grounds to the hotel. The place is absolutely huuuge. They have these indoor gardens with waterfalls, fountains and plants. They have fancy "outdoor" restaurants with cutsy lighting. We have dinner in one of the restaurants and walk around a bit before heading back downtown. We had researched a famous bluegrass place earlier and so we find that and get there pretty early, get good seats. Tonight was Roland White and his band.
Roland is apparently a super big name in the bluegrass world, so Colin called Jesse (his brother who plays bluegrass guitar) and he was really excited and jealous! The other famous guy in the band was David Greer on guitar. The concert was fantastic

Saturday we hang out around the house, and the temperature soars up into the 80s and it is again of course sunny. What different weather from the smokys only a week earlier! It really feels like spring, all the trees are covered in new green leaves and the Bradford Pears covered with their lovely while blossoms. I play basketball with my brother and we swim a bunch in the pool.

In the evening our neighbors from New Orleans Ralph and Gwen come over to make some gumbo with us...Colin and Amanda both traveled to New Orleans last year so they were especially interested in all of the stories and culture of N.O. Later in the evening friends arrive on the way back from Florida to Kalamazoo. Because Nashville is right on the route and about halfway, it makes an excellent pit stop. So about 11 extra people pile out of their cramped cars and eat gumbo with us and spend the night sprawled all over the bonus room floor (which is apparently more comfortable than sleepin in a car)

A van load of us also head downtown to do the usual Nashville stuff, which is fun but I am Nashvilled out at this point (I'm not the world's biggest country fan!)

My friend Kyle Bauer from the Dayton, OH days also stops by for the night on his way back to Ohio from Florida. It is a hoot to see him after oh, about 7 years. Its funny all the old memories that can come flooding back, baseball games, backyard craziness and times we had sleep overs and all that little kid stuff. Now we are practically grown up! Amazing how time flies.

The next morning everyone leaves real early from our house to continue back to their destinations, and I head downtown to have lunch with Jake Schaff, one of my best friends from my study abroad time in Chile. It is always fun to see him, and it had been about a year since I last saw him as well. We caught up, and he is going back to south america for a trip after he graduates, and that makes me pretty jealous. We ate at an awesome indian restaurant, and it makes for a fitting end to the trip.

After a nice outside dinner we say our goodbyes and hit the road back to Kalamazoo. Driving through the night means light traffic and we make it back by 4:30am eastern time.

All in all an excellent spring break packed with hiking, relaxing, and music. Couldn't ask for more!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/smoky_mtns_2007/1174521660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/smoky_mtns_2007/1174521660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/smoky_mtns_2007/1174521660/tpod.html Wed, 28 Mar 2007 19:39:46 -0400 Spring break trip to the Smoky Mountains and Nashville.

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Great Smoky Mtn. National Park, Tennessee, United States

Wednesday is our last day in the park. We wake up really early with the sun and a couple of the other campers. We begin the long decent into Fontana Dam by passing through early morning mist and the songs of birds finally awakening to the spring. As we continue to decend the temperature rises drastically, soon we are hiking in tshirts for the first time on the trip.

We come across a
toad and a ring-neck snake, and once down out of the highest peaks I notice some bear scat for the first time.
The only climb of the day is to the top of shuckstack mountain where an old forest fire watch tower is located. We climb to the top for a nice view of the surrounding mountains and our destination below.

The last decent goes quickly and we are soon walking across the dam
and to the waiting van. Our hiking adventure along the AT is now finished.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/smoky_mtns_2007/1174313040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/smoky_mtns_2007/1174313040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/smoky_mtns_2007/1174313040/tpod.html Wed, 28 Mar 2007 18:20:27 -0400 Spring break trip to the Smoky Mountains and Nashville.

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Great Smoky Mtn. National Park, Tennessee, United States

The last full day on the trail is really easy and we hike it quickly. Because of the placement of the shelters, and the regulations that you MUST stay at a shelter in the park, you either plan a strenuous trip, or an easy one. This being our spring break, and Colin not having hiked in 3 years, and Amanda never having backpacked, I had planned a really easy trip.
However it turns out to be pretty enjoyable with lots of time to enjoy the scenery, etc.

When we arrive at the shelter, we meet some people that are "weekenders" as well as some through-hikers. We also meet a 'ridgerunner' named Jim. These guys patrol the AT, helping out people and maintaining the trail. The guy must be at least 65, so its pretty impressive how he clips along the trail.

We hang out with some through hikers talking about their trail experiences. It seems like such a neat idea to drop out of the crazy world we live in and just go hiking for 6 months. We met guys in their sixties, one guy is trying it who is 90, others are just getting out of the military and looking to re-balance their lives. I've put it on my list of things I want to do, but who knows when I'll actually have the time. Hiking at this time of year was really a smart decision, the bugs were non-existant, the views of the smokies were beautiful as the thick summer air hadn't settled in yet, and it is the time of the year when all the through-hikers are just getting to the park.
OH and you don't have to worry about the bears yet, as they are still hibernating.

All in all we go to bed our last night happy, ready to wake up for the final hike down to Fontana Dam where the car is waiting.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/smoky_mtns_2007/1174225620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/smoky_mtns_2007/1174225620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/smoky_mtns_2007/1174225620/tpod.html Wed, 28 Mar 2007 17:52:55 -0400 Spring break trip to the Smoky Mountains and Nashville.

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Great Smoky Mtn. National Park, Tennessee, United States

We wake up on day three to relative warmth and sunlight. Thankfully that puts us all in a cheerful state of mind as we get breakfast going and cook some oatmeal. The shelter had been really full the night before (about 20 people) and so there is lots of activity as people break camp.

Once on the trail in the southerly direction it really starts to heat up, soon we are taking off our coats for the first time in days! The ice continues to melt all around us as we trek towards the dig obstacle of the day, Thunderhead Mtn.
The climb is not steep, but sustained over about a half mile.
In general the AT is a really easy trail, you don't have to do any true "climbing" or climb over very many rock faces. However, in many places the trail stubbornly follows the top ridges of the Appalachian Mtns, which means long climbs and tough downgrades.

Once we reach the top of Thunderhead, we can barely see anything because of trees. We snap a couple of pictures and head on to Rocky-Top, which is supposedly a better view. And its true!
The top of the Mtn gives spectacular view of the surrounding Smokies, and we sing a little bit of the cliche tune "RockyTop Tennessee." As we decend down the mountain after lunch, I notice a little clearing to the side of the path, and we stop and just sort of end up hanging out for an hour. The sun was so warm and the view was spectacular. I was hoping to see an eagle soaring over Fontana Lake, but no such luck. Our campsite is not much farther along the trail.

For dinner we do something "fancy" --at least for trail standards. We cook up some pasta, tuna, cheese, and dried tomatos, and drink our little miniature bottles of Chilean wine we had brought along.
I get a little fire going for the evening and we read the guest register and what people had wrote over the last couple months about their stay at this shelter.

The fire keeps the shelter toasty overnight, and we all sleep pretty well.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/smoky_mtns_2007/1174141560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/smoky_mtns_2007/1174141560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/smoky_mtns_2007/1174141560/tpod.html Wed, 28 Mar 2007 17:30:34 -0400 Spring break trip to the Smoky Mountains and Nashville.

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Great Smoky Mtn. National Park, Tennessee, United States

We woke up with the sunrise on the second day only to find that everything with water content had been frozen solid due to the temperatures that had dipped down close to 10 degrees overnight. All of our water bottles were nearly frozen solid along with our iodine drops and my contact lens solution (and contacts!)

After a hot oatmeal breakfast we hit the trail, somewhat cold and miserable. Thankfully hiking really gets the warmth going, and we are soon feeling much better. Today's hike is much easier, with less challenging grades and only 8 miles.
The sun begins to warm things up and by lunchtime it feels like it is in the 40s!

Since it is still very much winter in the smokies, the trees still do not have their leaves, allowing us to continually see the mountains in the distance on either side of the ridgeline trail. The AT closely follows the highest ridge in the park which is also the Tennessee/ North Carolina border.
Often you are literally hiking a ridge with a cliff on both sides, and when the wind gets howling over the passes it can definately be chilly.

At one point Amanda thought she saw an eagle, and we see a lot of coyote signs. The short trip today gets us to our shelter, Derrick Knob, by 3pm. With the sun out, we eat lunch and snooze in the clearing. Some through-hikers arrive rather early as well, and begin gathering firewood! That night we feel much better, able to cook in the daylight and use the fire to keep us warm into the night.
I give Colin my sleeping bag for the night so he doesn't freeze again, but I still manage to sleep pretty well.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/smoky_mtns_2007/1174023420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/smoky_mtns_2007/1174023420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/smoky_mtns_2007/1174023420/tpod.html Wed, 28 Mar 2007 17:09:06 -0400 Spring break trip to the Smoky Mountains and Nashville.

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Great Smoky Mtn. National Park, Tennessee, United States

Spring break 2007!! After the long drive through the night down from Kalamazoo, Amanda, Colin, and I arrive rather tired in Knoxville. We meet my parents for breakfast at a hotel restaurant which turned out to be rather pleasant. Colin had forgotten his boots in Kzoo (whats the one thing you really need to go hiking?? haha) so we go to a sporting store to buy him some boots and then follow my parents to the Smokies through the chaos of Gatlinburg. After registering for our campsites and backcountry permits we head up to the high elevation where we are going to begin the hike.

We knew it was going to be somewhat cold, but the extent of it surprised all of us. The high mountains were covered with ice when we got to the top of Newfound Gap (5,000 ft) It was very cold and windy as we took some pictures and enjoyed the scenery while changing into our hiking gear (amid offers from my parents to "forget it all and come straight to warm sunny Nashville" ) The temperature the night before had apparently reached 10 degrees, we were expecting it to warm up significantly today! We say goodbye to my parents as they see us off into the woods to follow the mythical Appalachian Trail and they move our car to the other end of the trail.


The Appalachian Trail has always been of interest to me. The sheer proportions of it are staggering. It stretches nearly 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine and crosses many of the higher peaks over the course of the Appalachian Mountains.
To hike the whole trail or "through hike" takes about 6 months. Hikers typically start in Georgia in March. We will have many encounters with "through hikers" along our short trip. Marked by simple white blazes, the trail covers the highest ridges in the Great Smoky Mountain National park, which turns out to be especially interesting this time of year.

The big challenge of the first day is to cover about 11 miles of hiking but due to the late start (12:30 pm) we must hurry to reach the shelter before dark. The biggest obstacle is Clingmans Dome, one of the highest mountains east of the Mississsippi. Because of the previous night's cold the entire trail is often covered by solid ice. The trees are eerily coated in "frozen cloud" and give the entire forest a Chronicles of Narnia appearance.
While we did feel the cold, the resulting beauty was astounding, and the crisp winter air afforded views of the usually "Smoky" mountains and valleys that are seldom seen.


We arrived into camp pretty tired (I not having slept in two days) and it was extremely cold. We cooked some soup, but we were'nt even patient enough to wait for the rice to cook, so it was crunchy... We hung the bear bag and crawled into our sleeping bags for the night. I slept very well in my new 0 degree rated sleeping bag, but Amanda and Colin didn't fare quite as well using warmer weather bags.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/nyc_extern_2006/1158273780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/nyc_extern_2006/1158273780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/nyc_extern_2006/1158273780/tpod.html Mon, 26 Feb 2007 09:23:57 -0500 Externship in New York City with Arup and Associates in their acoustics consulting group.

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New York City, New York, United States

The last day of the externship went really well. The leader of the Acoustics group was very appreciative of the work I had completed for them. Although it had only been 3 short weeks, I learned a ton and was exposed to the science of a whole new field. After working into the early afternoon, and showing the group the things I had accomplished (so they knew where they were located, etc) I said my goodbyes and went back to Ryan's apartment to pack and head to LaGuardia.

I thought that I had allowed plenty of time to get to the airport, but by the time I took the subway to the bus stop, and finally got a bus (I waited for about 40 minutes) I was really worried. Then the bus repeated got stuck in traffic during the rush hour and the many stops we kept making were going to cause me to miss the plane. An hour before take off I was still stuck in Manhattan on a bus in Harlem, and so I hopped off, and ran through the streets of Harlem with my suitcase trying to flag down a cab. I was finally able to get a cab, and he drove me to the airport for a very stressful 30 minutes, as the traffic was still insane due to the big tennis tournament at Arthur Ashe stadium. Fortunately I was able to get to the plane in time.

Once on the plane, the delays were incredible. We waited over an hour in line to take off. A couple hours later I was meeting my parents in Nashville. They drove me home and we had some quick food before I said goodbye and headed back north to Kalamazoo at about 11pm. The drive was long and I got into Kalamazoo at about 8am just in time for orientation to start for the peer leader program.

All in all New York was an excellent experience. I learned a ton, had a good time, and made some nice connections.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/nyc_extern_2006/1158153240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/nyc_extern_2006/1158153240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/nyc_extern_2006/1158153240/tpod.html Mon, 26 Feb 2007 09:23:02 -0500 Externship in New York City with Arup and Associates in their acoustics consulting group.

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New York City, New York, United States

This evening after work I wanted to enjoy the last night in the city. So Ryan and I headed to midtown to go up to the top of Rockefeller Center. This often unseen view of New York City was recently reopened after years of being closed to the public. While not as tall as the Empire State Building, it allows you to enjoy the views of the skyline including the Empire State Bldg. It was a nice sunset and a spectacular evening to be outside, as the darkness fell around the city the memorial in lights was turned on in downtown, as it was the week commemorating the Sept. 11th attacks. The lights were absolutely beautiful in their simplicity and in how high they reached.

Another really neat feature was the elevator shaft to the top. When we first entered there were lights on inside the elevator car, but as we started moving, the lights turned off to reveal that the elevator roof was actually glass, and the entire shaft was illuminated by lights for about 80 floors. It was so neat to actually see how fast we were going and how high up the building actually was. Unfortunately they didnt also do the same to below the elevator, that might have been a bit more unnerving!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/s.america2005-6/1134928980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/s.america2005-6/1134928980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/robconr/s.america2005-6/1134928980/tpod.html Sun, 25 Feb 2007 23:51:05 -0500 Study Abroad in Chile and Travels in South America

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Santiago, Chile

Early in the morning (at the same time everyone else was coming back from their late night parties and the sun was coming up) I took a bus to the Santiago airport to surprise my family at the gate. (I had told them I was going to meet them at the hotel later in the day) It was sooo super to see them get off the flight and they were real surprised to see me. It had been 5 months, which was a long time. It was sappy and emotional. :-)

We got a ride to the hotel in cental Santiago. After a short nap, we got out and looked around the central area, the shopping areas, toured la Moneda, Plaza de Armas.
Unfortunately all the museums were closed because it was late afternoon on a Sunday, I guess they'll just have to come back! We ate at a kind of typical place for dinner and had some Bravissimo gelato for dessert, as it was rather warm for the Michiganders (I hear it's snowing or something there...imagine their surprise at 85 and sunny!)

The next day we do Cerro San Cristobal, and other things around the center, including some errands for me (I finally got my Brazil visa yay)
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