Haleakalā sunrise, from 4 years ago. A panorama shot would have shown the huge parking lot up top, which I wanted to avoid.

Who knew that operating a wishing well could be so lucrative?

From the archives: getting ready for a forest picnic.

After our half-day trip to Calvert Cliffs which resulted in zero fossilized shark teeth found — and one given to us by a compassionate local — we decided that a thing worth doing was a thing worth doing well, and not having any other plans for the Labor Day weekend got the shabbiest, most cost-effective and affordable cabin available, and started combing the beach.

It worked! Nine teeth total, three of which found during a particularly lucky 15-minute stretch, and one of those which was dropped to the ground by a senior member of our party never to be recovered. So it goes… As luck would have it, another compassionate local — plenty of them are to be found wandering the Calvert Cliffs beaches, it turns out — saw us scrambling to find the tiny shark tooth we lost and gave us two from her own collection, which isn’t the same as finding your own, but it will make for a good dinner table reminiscence-slash-putdown of our fumbling senior.

The whole excercise was particularly enlightening to our middle-schooler, who in short order experienced the value of 1) experience, 2) patience, and 3) serendipity. And being the one whose fossil was lost also 4) forgiveness and 5) understanding. Well, one would hope. I’m pretty sure she stills holds a grudge.

Orange County, FL, has some of the most walkable neighborhoods in the country.

This weekend we are back at Calvert cliffs, the great fossil buildup.

These were supposed to be Notes from a 6-hour trip to Boston, but mechanical issues delayed the inbound flight by 4 of the 6 hours, and since this included the 90 minutes during which I was supposed to talk (for 20 minutes) answer questions (10), and attend a panel (30), the lecture had to be pre-recorded and the questions will have to wait another day. So anyway:

• Despite the delay, I have to give kudos to JetBlue. I am not their frequent traveller — though that is now likely to change — and my status with them is “Group F”, yet they refunded the entire trip without fees and gave additional credit for the inconvenience. The gate staff was on top of reshuffling people with connections to different flights and they handled some heated situations with poise. Granted, I may have been more heated myself had the trip been higher stakes, but had it been higher stakes I would not have had such a tight itinerary. Hurray for risk management.
• The stakes are not high because I was able to pre-record and send out the talk as soon as I realized I would not make it there on time. Now, could things have gone better? Yes: using AirPods to record over the background airport noise led to less than ideal audio, and a few times I had to yell over a person who decided to take a phone call right next to me, but hey, it’s a free airport, I hope we had annoyed each other equally.
• Speaking of sound quality, of course there is a study that shows that poor audio quality leads to distrust (sponsored by Shure, by any chance?). The original article had some 200 of Amazon’s “mechanical Turks” — what a charming way to describe low-wage digital labor — listen to manipulated and clear NPR recordings and grade them by how trustworthy they were. Now, this rhymes so much with the now-debunked study of illegible text leading to better retention due to increased focus that I’ll decide to throw all of it onto the ever-growing pile of things that just don’t matter, and will keep telling myself that my sub-$100 Samson is more than enough, if I just used it more.
• But anyway, it is a good idea in general to pre-record your talks — maybe during a practice session? — and save the best take for cases like this. It will also help you get rid of ticks both verbal and facial which you won’t even notice until you see yourself speak. Nowadays even PowerPoint has built-in recording.
• And if you didn’t come here via the homepage and/or RSS, do have a quick look at the good and the ugly of Washington National airport, DMV’s premiere flight cancelation destination.

When traveling through Washington National airport, looking up is so much more rewarding than looking down. Not as safe, of course, but beauty comes with risks.

Some brutalist wilding in Cape May, New Jersey. Worthy of being the new cover photo, I dare say. Here’s where the current one comes from.

⊕ Wildwood Crest beach. The appropriate word is 'expansive'.

⊕ The colors aren't Victorian, but I'm sure the darkness and dampness inside are.

• The Wildwood beaches are ridiculously large. It’s as if someone took a super-sized Costco and made it into a beach. You can have a “beach access” house and still need to walk 15 minutes to get to the ocean, two thirds of that being a walk across the sands.
• At least the sand is packed tight! Great for walking and castle-building, and I hope it’s less prone to a deadly collapse because I’ve never seen so many families spend their beach time just diggin' holes — and not even that close to the water in an attempt to make a pool. What is the purpose of it? What are they expecting to find?
• Too bad that it’s still the ocean… I have been forever spoiled by the mild Mediterranean seas, never mind the exorbitant prices and the overcrowding.
• Morey’s Piers — the Mariner’s Pier in particular — are better run and more fun than anything in Atlantic City. Which, duh, of course it would since one is clearly geared towards adults with “family fun” somewhat of an afterthought, but this was a confirmation.
• I was genuinely surprised by the amount of pro-Trump T-shirts on display in every boardwalk store. There was a mug shot T-shirt on sale less than 24 hours after his arraignment. No one on the boardwalk wore any of them, though I did see quite a few “I ♥︎ hot guys” shirts.
• A different type of an amusement park is the town of Cape May, which is apparently a Victorian bed & breakfast bonanza. I’ve lived in 100-year-old house, and it’s not what it’s cracked up to be, but maybe the feeling is better when you know it’s not your own place and you’re just there for a vacation? Still, they are pretty on the outside.
• And all of this in less than 4 hours of driving from DC! The key is to leave on a Monday morning.
• So, if anyone asks what the default affordable beach holiday should be, my vote is probably for the Shore over OBX if you’re in it for the beach and the attractions, the other way around if you prefer the activities; but as the designated driver I really can’t discount that one is half the driving distance of the other. Jersey Shore wins.