At Home In The Wasteland Travel Blog

Hiking Deception Pass

Lindsay — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:44:54 +0000

After a particularly long stretch of foul weather, including a week of snow and ice storms, we were coming down with a slight case of cabin fever. So, despite the cold and rain (this is the Pacific Northwest, after all) we decided to head over to Whidbey Island for a short hike at Deception Pass [...] No related posts.

New Year’s Eve & Day in Victoria, BC

Lindsay — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:14:30 +0000

On New Year’s Eve we took the Clipper to Victoria, British Columbia. Victoria has been on my to-do list ever since we’ve arrived in Seattle and I figured the extended New Year’s weekend would be a good opportunity to finally make the trip up there. We left early Saturday morning and after a comfortable three [...] Related posts:

Day trip to Vancouver Although I have traveled to some rather distant locations, I...
A beautiful day for a ballgame Saw the Angels play the O’s at Camden Yards today....
D-Day Today’s the day….who will come out on top? I’ve got...
D.C. story of the day This afternoon, while leaving work, I hopped into an elevator...
Six years ago in D.C. One of my roommates from our sophomore year of college...

Snow in Seattle!

Lindsay — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:09:43 +0000

I love snow. Probably because I grew up in a place where the average winter temperature is 74 degrees, so I never had the whole winter wonderland experience. We woke up to our first snowfall of the year here in Seattle. It doesn’t snow here very often, so the entire neighborhood was outdoors throwing snowballs [...] Related posts:

Hiking the PNW: Snow Lake One of the great things about living in the Pacific...
More snow But not enough to shut down work, unfortunately....
I’d be safe and warm if I was in LA We got a bit of snow down here in our...

POTD: Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung

Lindsay — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:50:31 +0000

This portrait of “Great Leader” Kim Il-sung and “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il was hanging in a Pyongyang souvenir shop when I visited North Korea in September 2009. The pervasive cult of personality that surrounded the Kims ensured that every building you set foot in prominently displayed portraits of the two leaders. Now that Kim Jong-il [...] Related posts:

POTD: Portraits of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il on the Pyongyang Metro You are always under the watchful eyes of the “Dear...
POTD: Kumsusan Memorial Palace (Kim Il-Sung’s Mausoleum) Since I took over 1,300 photos in North Korea, they...
North Korea: I flew 7,000 miles to Pyongyang and all I got was this lousy copy of “Kim Jong-il on the Fundamentals of Revolutionary Party Building” When I returned home from my first trip abroad to...
POTD: North Korean students at the Mansudae Grand Monument to Kim Il-Sung No posts in the last few weeks due to a...
POTD: Kim Il-sung at the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum This is part of the giant mural that is displayed...

Hiking the PNW: Snow Lake

Lindsay — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 20:24:58 +0000

One of the great things about living in the Pacific Northwest is the hiking. Yes, the east coast has hiking, but nothing that compares to what we have on the West Coast (in fact, I am hard pressed to come up with anything the east coast does better. Subway systems, maybe). Back in October we [...] Related posts:

Hiking Deception Pass After a particularly long stretch of foul weather, including a...
Snow in Seattle! I love snow. Probably because I grew up in a...
Hiking Joshua Tree National Park When I was back in California during the Christmas holidays,...
Mount Everest ain’t got nothin’ on me I’m back from our day trip to Joshua Tree and...
POTD: The Upper Lake at Glendalough, Ireland Glendalough, a glacial valley located in County Wicklow, Ireland....

POTD: Russian State Duma

Lindsay — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:39:15 +0000

Although the Soviet Union fell nearly 20 years ago, symbols of the regime still remain throughout the former USSR. This hammer and sickle adorns the Russian State Duma (the lower house of the federal legislature) building in Moscow. This building formerly housed Gosplan (State Planning Committee), the agency responsible for economic planning in the Soviet [...] Related posts:

POTD: Moscow State University “We won the war … foreigners will come to Moscow,...
Moscow State U. (MGU) We’re at an internet cafe on the main campus of...
POTD: Statue of Marshal Georgy Zhukov near Red Square, Moscow This statue near Red Square depicts Marshal of the Soviet...
POTD: Noseless Stalin in Moscow When the Soviet Union fell, the symbols of that regime...
POTD: Nikolskaya Tower at the Kremlin in Moscow This is the Nikolskaya Tower (Russian: Никольская башня) which is...

North Korea: Arch of Reunification

Lindsay — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:32:21 +0000

The Arch of Reunification (or, Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification as I’ve also seen it called) is your typical North Korean monument: large, not particularly beautiful, and glorifying some event that either didn’t happen, or will likely never happen (according to the plan North Korea has devised, anyway). And, of course, there [...] Related posts:

POTD: North Korean worker walking along the Reunification Highway Taken while driving south on the Reunification Highway towards the...
North Korea: Driving south on the Reunification Highway Photos taken while driving from Pyongyang to the DMZ. A...
Rural North Korea Here is some footage taken on our drive south from...
North Korea: The Arch of Triumph (because everything’s bigger in the DPRK) There are a lot of monuments in Pyongyang, and as...
North Korea: Monument to the Foundation of the Korean Workers’ Party After visiting the Tower of Juche Idea, we headed over...

North Korean dance party at Moranbong Park

Lindsay — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:18:22 +0000

And finally, here is the last of the footage I shot in North Korea. This was taken at Moranbong Park during North Korea’s national independence holiday. With plenty of beer and meat on the grill, it’s not that far off from an American 4th of July celebration (except for, you know, that whole notion of [...] Related posts:

North Korea: U.S. Imperialists visit Moranbong Park where an impromptu dance party with Pyongyang locals ensues After completing our obligatory visit to the Mansudae Grand Monument,...
North Korea’s Funniest Home Videos: U.S. Imperialists attempt to dance in Moranbong Park Apologies for the month long absence, but I spent June...
POTD: North Korean students observing a mass dance North Korean students attend a mass dance that was taking...
North Korea: Monument to the Foundation of the Korean Workers’ Party After visiting the Tower of Juche Idea, we headed over...
North Korea: Mass Dance videos (aka massive dance party, Pyongyang style) Here are a few videos I took of the Mass...

Pyongyang through a tour bus window

Lindsay — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:49:30 +0000

Here is the last of the footage shot while we were driving around Pyongyang. Not many recognizable landmarks in this video, but there are some large portraits of Kim Il-Sung and other propaganda. Related posts: POTD: Portraits of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il on the Pyongyang Metro You are always under the watchful eyes of [...] Related posts:

POTD: Portraits of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il on the Pyongyang Metro You are always under the watchful eyes of the “Dear...
North Korea: The streets of Pyongyang A few random shots here and there. Ubiquitous propaganda Pyongyang...
North Korea: The streets of Pyongyang, Part IV More randomness. The Grand People’s Study House: “It has a...
POTD: Rush hour in Pyongyang Taken near Kim Il-Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea....
POTD: The Kims watch over the departure lounge at the Pyongyang airport Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-il (The “Great Leader” and “Dear...

Rural North Korea

Lindsay — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:17:05 +0000

Here is some footage taken on our drive south from Pyongyang to Kaesong and the DMZ. There were hardly any cars on the expansive six lane Reunification Highway, and as you can see from the video, the road itself was in very poor condition. The next video was taken at a rest stop that straddles [...] Related posts:

North Korea: Arch of Reunification The Arch of Reunification (or, Monument to the Three Charters...
POTD: North Korean worker walking along the Reunification Highway Taken while driving south on the Reunification Highway towards the...
North Korea: Riding the Pyongyang roller coaster of death Well, here it is – the only video I have...
North Korea: Driving through the streets of Pyongyang, continued… Today I uploaded more footage taken while driving through Pyongyang....
North Korea: Driving south on the Reunification Highway Photos taken while driving from Pyongyang to the DMZ. A...