Morocco’s culture, Instagram tourism, and what’s not on the pictures — Does that alley look familiar? If you follow any travel-themed Instagram accounts, it should. This is Chefchaouen, Morocco, a.k.a. “The Blue City” or “The Blue Pearl.” Chefchaouen (or just “Chaouen,” as the locals call it) is a small town nestled in the Rif Mountains of northern Morocco. The entire medina…

This is a creative nonfiction piece about the calculated risks we take in life and love, told through the lenses of travel and climbing. ‘So, I have to ask: what is this? What are we?’ ‘Let’s just try and keep things light,’ she had replied, and my heart dropped out of my body. She was a charming Italian woman I’d dropped…

I’ve lived on the Front Range of Colorado my entire life. I was born and raised here, something few people can say these days, as more and more people are moving to the area. …

4 a.m., Tijuana, Mexico. Just across the border from San Diego. Outside of a strip club. Our all-male group lingers in the street. We are waiting for one of our 27 members who (rumor has it) disappeared upstairs with one of the women. Before leaving San Diego we were warned…

In the course of my job, I read a lot about cryptocurrency. Really. Like, too much. And for a long time, I barely understood any of it. DeFi? Blockchains? Staking? Hashing? As someone who is definitively ‘not a math guy’, I let it all wash over me. However, I recently…

I lost two 36-exposure rolls of film this summer because I can’t load a camera properly. Some truly great moments, gone, due to my own carelessness. After being told for the 2nd time that I had given the camera shop a roll of blank film to develop, I decided to…

“Remote” backcountry place popular with climbers, backpackers, and fisherfolk. I write “remote” in quotes because there were easily over 100 cars in the Big Sandy Trailhead parking lot when I arrived. A bit shocking after an hour spent driving in on “Am I in the right place?” …

USA is over the coronavirus. Last year was “the lost summer”. This year, in America, we will have the most playful summer of our lives. It feels good to be on top, for once. Since March of 2020, Americans have watched our countrymen die in huge numbers, the virus become politicized, seen our passports fall from one of the…