nebriv.com

Overheard At Four Rivers

2026-06-03T13:12:39.729Z

Just going back through my backups and archives I found something fun. I used (and still do!) to love to build little services and solutions for friends. In the IRC days there was always a fun “quote” database lingering around the servers I frequently. You’d could quote people in… or out… of context, have a laugh, remember important bits, etc.

So I built a quote submission board on nebriv.com called “Overheard At Four Rivers” (my high school). People could submit overheard quotes, vote them up or down, flag inappropriate ones, search, all that. I also built a full admin panel with an approval queue, quote editing, IP banning with expiration dates, and page view counters. Database was frcsquotedb on mysql.nebriv.com. Wish I could find that database now, but it’s probably… for the best that its gone! Who knows what kind of goldmine that would be for my peers, right?

Some Recovery notes:

Features: quote submission with optional context (when, where, who), upvote/downvote rating, moderation queue (approved/unapproved), search/sort by ID/date/rating/info, flagging system, IP banning with expiration, hit counter
Admin panel at /admin/, password-protected via cookie hash, view/edit/approve quotes, block IPs, change password
Database frcsquotedb on Dreamhost mysql.nebriv.com; data is lost, never migrated off Dreamhost apaprently.
Uses deprecated mysql_* PHP functions, has SQL injection vulnerabilities (educational artifact)

Champlain College

2026-06-03T13:12:39.729Z

Four Vermont winters, a degree in networking, and a minor in digital forensics. Where the security itch started.

Moving Up - Switching to a VPS

2026-06-03T13:12:39.729Z

Originally published on blog.benvirgilio.com

So after being on shared hosting at Dreamhost for about 4 years I finally decided to bite the bullet and set up my own servers, well virtual servers… Dreamhost has been great to me, I never once had an issue even while being on shared hosting, I guess I got on a really good, stable server. However I always disliked not having complete access to the guts of the server. There are of course fairly significant security risks with being on shared hosting and many of which I couldn’t mitigate on my own account.

It originally started with wanting to setup a honeypot as a lot of my peers at Champlain College were doing it and it seemed like a great idea to catch some neat malware samples.

After shopping around I stumbled across DigitalOcean, and for five bucks a month set up my own personal virtual private server, which at the time of writing gets me 512MB of RAM, 1 CPU (2-3Ghz), 20GB SSD storage and 1TB of bandwidth! More than enough horsepower to run a simple honeypot and webserver. DigitalOcean provides a great user interface and so far very quick support. Within hours I had my honeypot setup and within days I had it configured nearly perfectly. I will post a link to the statistics page once I sanitize the IPs listed, to prevent attackers realizing they’ve logged into a honeypot.

I realized how easy it was to setup a VPS and decided to go ahead and setup two new servers: One SQL server and one web-server. I chose to separate out the servers for two reasons. I host a few other websites (for friends), and if any of them really take off (traffic wise, etc) I will be able to scale them up individually, and the other reason would be of course due to security and the separation of services. I set up nginx and MySQL (numerous instances to host separate databases, again hopefully to add a small layer of security). Having never worked Nginx before I had to learn the whole new syntax, which is a lot different than Apache which I’m used to.

After getting everything setup and configured just right - so far… - I began to migrate the various websites over starting with my personal sites. It took me nearly a week in between classes and many late nights, but I’ve finally got everything setup and running. All that is left is setting up a mail server, which I am putting off as long as possible…

In the end, I will end up saving 30 dollars a year and will receive more flexibility, power and control and hopefully enhanced security. Seems like a good investment to me!

EMail - A New Frontier

2026-06-03T13:12:39.729Z

Originally published on blog.benvirgilio.com

I have finally setup a working mail server, something that I have struggled to do numerous times in the past. As part of my migration away from Dreamhost, who not only hosts websites but also hosts email servers (who knew!?), I needed to set up my own mail server to handle my personal emails, along with those of other domains I host. This means I have two requirements, I have to setup an interface that allows those who host websites with me to create mailboxes and alias for their domain, and the second, it all has to work and work well!

After scanning numerous tutorials I figured out how to fulfill my requirements using postfix, dovecot, and postfixadmin; I also found a very comprehensive tutorial here: http://www.exratione.com/2012/05/a-mailserver-on-ubuntu-1204-postfix-dovecot-mysql/

With a snapshot (luckily a feature available with DigitalOcean) made, just in case I really screwed up and needed to undo my changes, I began following the lengthy tutorial. Eventually after making and editing numerous configurations I thought it was working. I tried telneting to port 25 from my home computer only to find out that I was not getting any response. I was stumped. I followed the tutorial to the T and made sure the ports were allowed through my firewall and were actually listening. They were. Eventually all hope was lost and I reverted to my snapshot. I went through this process about 3 times over the course of the week and eventually came to the conclusion that I was doing everything right. I then figured that perhaps my ISP (Champlain College) was blocking outbound connections on port 25…it would make sense, preventing spam and students from setting up rogue mail servers…I was right.

and the emails finally are coming through…

Quite annoyed that I wasted a week, I continued with setting up and securing everything (GMail, in order to pull from POP3 requires a valid AND SIGNED SSL certificate), but very relieved that I managed to get everything setup and working! So now that I have migrated all of my main services away from Dreamhost to my VPS nodes I can begin finish moving my domains, and close up shop at Dreamhost.

CTF Engine

2026-06-03T13:12:39.729Z

Originally published on blog.benvirgilio.com

Well last year I started writing my own CTF (Capture the Flag) Engine in PHP for use within the CNIS Club and honestly anyone else who wanted to use it…I basically finished it, but it was a hack job and had no front end…

Sooo…I’ve just started work on it again. I’ve seen other applications use Twitter’s BootStrap frontend before and it was always pretty clean so I checked it out and boy is it easy to implement! You can find it here: http://twitter.github.io/bootstrap

I also set up BitBucket to help facilitate other people working on it and to keep track of changes, along with this I also setup a script to pull to the server every time someone commits and pushes a change. Luckily BitBucket allows free private repos so I don’t have to worry too much about it being abused.

Anyways, you can find the project here: http://ctf.cnisclub.org and if you are interested in helping with the development shoot me an email!

Recovery notes:

Competition name: C4CTF (First Official Champlain College CNIS Club CTF)
Dates: September 13–15, 2013
Format: Jeopardy-style (not Attack/Defend), teams of up to 4 or individuals
Full source: Z:\Documents\Projects\cnis-ctf-engine
Database: cnis_ctf on mysql.ctf.nebriv.com
Features: scoring, flag submission, admin dashboard, user messaging, bug reporting, event logging, session monitoring, pChart statistics, nicEdit WYSIWYG
One challenge (Web 400) used Google Authenticator integration
From the code: "WARNING THE BELOW CODE IS SOME NASTY SHIT. I DEFINITELY DID NOT WRITE THIS AND I DEFINITELY DO NOT CLAIM CREDIT FOR IT"
projectsdatabase.sql backup has actual CTF data: 2 questions (“Don’t Hax This Site” 100pts, “Hax” 200pts), 3 users, 4 completions, 228 log entries, 135 sessions
Config table shows event window: opened May 19, 2013; closed June 25, 2013; registration closed May 28

Getting Printer Info From a Print Server Cluster

2026-06-03T13:12:39.729Z

Originally published on blog.benvirgilio.com

Unfortunately it is not possible to use WMI to obtain information from a clustered print server regarding printers. This makes it very difficult to dump a complete list of printers within the domain you are administering.

However this information is stored in an alternate location within the registry (HKLM:\Cluster\Resources), after a few hours of research I stumbled across this post on Experts Exchange:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Languages/Scripting/Powershell/Q_25647470.html

I made some slight modifications to WTarlton’s script in order to extract the name, location and port (IP address) from the keys and save the output to a CSV file. It took me some time to find this information and a bit of trial and error to discover that Get-WMIObject doesn’t play nice with server clusters, so I hope that by reproducing WTarlton’s script and making some modifications this will save some time for other people running into the same issues.

##########################################################################
#
# Filename: Utility-GetPrintersFromCluster.ps1
# Author: Ben Virgilio
# Revision: 1.0
# Updated On: 6/27/2013
#
# This script will extract printer names, IP address and location from
# HKLM:\Cluster\Resources.
#
# Registry Code Credit:
# http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Languages/Scripting/Powershell/Q_25647470.html
#
# Revision History:
# 1.0 - Initial script
#
##########################################################################

$Spoolers = @()
$printvalues = @()
$Resources = Get-ChildItem HKLM:\Cluster\Resources
foreach ($Resource in $Resources){
	$values = Get-ItemProperty $Resource.pspath
	foreach ($value in $values){
		if ($value.Type -ne $Null -and $value.Type.tolower() -eq "print spooler"){
			[string]$Path = $Resource.pspath + "\Parameters\Printers"
			$Spoolers += $Path
		}
	}
}

foreach ($Spooler in $Spoolers){
	$Printers = Get-ChildItem $Spooler
	foreach ($Printer in $Printers){
		#$Printer | fl *
		$value = Get-ItemProperty $Printer.pspath
		$printvalues += $value
	}
}

$printvalues | Select-Object Name,Location,Port | Export-CSV C:\printerlist.csv

Outlook Security Signature Randomizer

2026-06-03T13:12:39.729Z

Originally published on blog.benvirgilio.com

Quick and dirty fun little script that I wrote while bored.

This script does rely on an external website to pull a random security job title, so if that site no longer exists the code will break. This script will save the signature as a html file in your profile AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures

# Written by: Ben Virgilio
#       Date: 6/26/2013
#
# Make sure to modify the variables below, and to select the signature from the dropdown list in Outlook!

#Set these variables to your information...obviously.
$name = "Ben Virgilio"
$department = "Systems"
$address = "100 Risk Analysis Road"
$email = "ben@benvirgilio.com"
$subtext = "There's no place like 127.0.0.1"

$disclaimer = "The above job title is completely randomized via powershell script (you can find it here: http://blog.benvirgilio.com/outlook-security-signaturerandomizer), it may not be relevant to what I actually do."


#Parses the random security title page and gets the first title
$p = Invoke-WebRequest "http://zeltser.com/security-titles/get-titles" 
$p -match "<li>(?<content>.*)</li>" | out-null
$title = $Matches['content']
$title = $title -replace "	"," "

#Sets outlook to get signatures from your AppData folder
$UserDataPath = $Env:appdata
if (test-path "HKCU:\\Software\\Microsoft\\Office\\11.0\\Common\\General") {
  get-item -path HKCU:\\Software\\Microsoft\\Office\\11.0\\Common\\General | new-Itemproperty -name Signatures -value Signatures -propertytype string -force | out-null
}
if (test-path "HKCU:\\Software\\Microsoft\\Office\\12.0\\Common\\General") {
  get-item -path HKCU:\\Software\\Microsoft\\Office\\12.0\\Common\\General | new-Itemproperty -name Signatures -value Signatures -propertytype string -force | out-null
}
if (test-path "HKCU:\\Software\\Microsoft\\Office\\14.0\\Common\\General") {
  get-item -path HKCU:\\Software\\Microsoft\\Office\\14.0\\Common\\General | new-Itemproperty -name Signatures -value Signatures -propertytype string -force | out-null
}

#Make the signature folder
$FolderLocation = $UserDataPath + '\\Microsoft\\Signatures'
mkdir $FolderLocation -force | out-null

$FileName = "RandomTitle"

#And finally, create the signature!
$stream = [System.IO.StreamWriter] "$FolderLocation\\$FileName.htm"
$stream.WriteLine("<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC `"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN`">")
$stream.WriteLine("<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Signature</TITLE>")
$stream.WriteLine("<META http-equiv=Content-Type content=`"text/html; charset=windows-1252`">")
$stream.WriteLine("<BODY>")
$stream.WriteLine("<b>$name</b>")
$stream.WriteLine("<br>$title*")
$stream.WriteLine("<br><br>$department")
$stream.WriteLine("<br>$address")
$stream.WriteLine("<br>$email")
$stream.WriteLine("<br><br>$subtext")
$stream.WriteLine("<br><br><font size=3>*</font><font size=1>$disclaimer</font>")
$stream.WriteLine("</BODY>")
$stream.WriteLine("</HTML>")
$stream.close()

Write-Host "$name your new title is now '$title' congrats!"

Gobby Syncing With Google Drive

2026-06-03T13:12:39.729Z

Originally published on blog.benvirgilio.com

In preparation for the upcoming Mitre CTF my teammates and I are going through the practice challenges and trying to get a solid workflow down. Part of this workflow involves the ability to write and share code to help parse files related to the competition. What has been working for us so far is the use of Google Drive (I pay for a subscription and got a bonus early adopter 30GB credit to my account) and just creating a consistent directory structure within the shared folders. This is great for a few reasons, it’s updated and synced to others fairly quickly, but this isn’t a discussion about why we use Google Drive over other file sharing platforms. By using a shared drive system such as this we can also map the shared folders to VMware which allows us to access challenge files and scripts from within our work spaces.

Now for the code sharing part, it’s easy enough to just open up some code you are working on and save it in the shared folder, but this doesn’t really have any collaborative features and is kinda clunky. Enter Gobby and Infinoted.

Gobby is what I like to call Multi-Player Notepad. It allows you to host a server that multiple people can connect to and edit files together on. It then will automatically save those file to the server. It has numerous different syntax highlighting modes for various languages and is overall a fairly stable program. I am running a Infinoted server (the server that Gobby connects to) on my own Linux VPS (thanks to DigitalOcean) which using 2048 bit SHA1 encryption, signed with StartSSL just because.

Gobby Setup Guide: http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/2010/02/05/gobby-server-in-3-steps

The Infinoted server will also sync the created and modified files to another directory of your choice. This feature is handy because the files that are created within Gobby have their own meta data, XML syntax and other bits of information built into what’s called a .InfText file, while the sync feature will only sync the actual text of the file and not the metadata that goes with it.

I have pointed that my Google Drive folder. For reference the command I use to start my server is below:

infinoted -k /var/gobby/key.pem -c /var/gobby/cert.pem -r /var/gobby/docroot --sync-directory=/var/google_drive/gobby --sync-interval=15 --autosave-interval=10 -d

Unfortunately Google Drive does not have a Linux client, which forces me to use a third-party utility Grive. It seems to work well enough, however it doesn’t sync automatically and seems to be a little buggy. I ended up writing a quick little inotifywait script:

#!/bin/bash
inotifywait -m -e CREATE -e MODIFY -e DELETE /var/google_drive/gobby |
        while read file; do
        grive
 done

This script will monitor my Google Drive folder for any changes, when when the Infinoted server syncs the files, the monitor script will run Grive and will automatically sync the new files we created on Gobby to all of our own computers (allowing us to run them easily while in our VMs using the mapped/shared drives feature in VMware).

Unfortunately Infinoted will not delete the files in the sync’d directory when they are deleted from within Gobby, so I will make a script to monitor for deleted files within the Infinoted root directory and remove the corresponding file on the sync’d directory.

Flank Steak with Cilantro Lime Sauce

2026-06-03T13:12:39.729Z

Originally published on blog.benvirgilio.com

I figured I’d post some of the food I’ve made on here as well, because 1, I’m not posting nearly as much as I want to, and 2, I don’t really have much to post about currently. I’ve just been working a lot and trying to enjoy my summer as much as possible before beginning my final year at college.

Anyways, I’ve been wanting to marinate a steak in a cilantro lime sauce for a while. I personally really like cilantro and I think it really gives a good fresh flavor when used appropriately. So I found a few recipes online and combined them. The result is basically: cilantro (maybe a cup or so), about 5-6 limes worth of juice, I used jalapeno and poblano peppers (most recipes had Serrano peppers, but I couldn’t find them), salt, pepper and I added a touch of vinegar for a little more acid to help tenderize the flank steak.

I then tossed some green beans in a cast iron (my favorite!) with some garlic and onion and cooked until tender and the garlic was a little crispy.

Yes, the pictures were taken with my iPhone, I didn’t feel like getting my camera and letting my meal get cold - oh, and it was delicious.

By Plane, Train and Automobile

2026-06-03T13:12:39.765Z

Originally published on onlyonewaytofindout.travel

The trip that started it all!

Trip Notes

~~Day One~~
- ~~JFK to Seattle via Detroit on DL2231/1651~~
- ~~Short car rental, overnight in La Quinta~~
  - ~~Wait, where are we staying tomorrow?~~
- ~~Boeing Tour~~
~~Day Two~~
- ~~Amtrak Ride to Portland~~
- ~~Overnight at University Place, dinner and drinks with friends~~
~~Day Three~~
- ~~Amtrak Ride to Klamath Falls, Oregon~~
- ~~Observation Car~~
- ~~Dinner Reservations - Jay and Julie~~
- ~~Power went out~~
- ~~Overnight at the Maverick Motel~~
~~Day Four~~
- ~~Snowy car rental at Enterprise, we wanted a Subaru but got a Fiat 500~~
- ~~Airport!~~
- ~~Historic Route 66 West~~
- ~~Road to the Dam, stopped and walked~~
- ~~Welcome to California… 796 exits!~~
- ~~Lets get off the highway~~
- ~~Patty Melts~~
- ~~Found the cabin~~
- ~~Dogs~~
- ~~Went to the small store and spent 50 bucks on food~~
  - ~~Beers cheese and salami~~
Day Five
- Snaking through the redwoods, its as if the road doesn’t exist
- Drove through a tree
- Cabin Life and the outhouse
- Cooking steaks drinking wine
- Stars were crazy!
Day Six
- Early morning!
- Lighthouse point
- Russian Fort!? What!?
- Crossed the gold gate bridge at night
- AirBNB basement. Noisy upstairs
Day Seven
- Rental car return, rode the airtrain around, because thats what we do.
- Took the BART back. Bit of a confusing system to get the card
- Streetcars going in automode underground
- Cable cars!
Day Eight

Trip Summary

Length: Eight Days

Cost: Lodging: $561 Rental Cars: $307 Train Tickets: $124 (Most) Major Meals: $345 Attractions/Tours: $144

Approximate Total Cost: $1481 or $740 per person.

Of Note: This blog entry was posted 4 years after the trip, some locations, of course, may have changed significantly. Unfortunately, as this was one of our first trips the documentation wasn’t as good, ultimately one of the driving reasons for creating this blog. The sequences of events and details have been sourced from our shared Google Photos album and Google Keep.

Day One

We started off our trip on Delta 2231 out of JFK and on the way to Detroit for a quick layover and then back up into the air on Delta 1651 to finally reach Seattle, WA. We arrived in the early evening so the first goal was to get out of the airport and pick up our rental car.

After picking up the car we headed straight to our airport hotel to crash early and start the next day… We ordered some pretty terrible local pizza delivery and caught up on the local news. Unfortunately upon crawling into our beds and rehashing the upcoming trip the all important question came up. “Where are we staying tomorrow?” which lead to frantic schedule checking ultimately leading to the horrific discovery of nowhere!

After some quick searching we found that there were very few places that weren’t completely booked. Eventually one of us stumbled on The University Place and we quickly booked it.

Day Two

Up nice and early we grabbed a quick breakfast at the buffet and jumped in the car. Off to the Boeing factory! Tossing in the directions into Google Maps lead to the realization that Seattle traffic is no joke. Luckily we were able to navigate around the majority of it and take in some the cityscapes.

We made it to Everett in good time, just after the Future of Flight museum opened. Our first stop of course was the factory floor tour which of course we were unable to take pictures during. It’s fairly well known that the Boeing assembly building is the largest building in the world (by volume) but its hard to fully grasp what that actually means. Once there in the building you finally get to put the pieces together. Huge is an understatement! It was pretty inspiring seeing the vehicles that carry us to work, family and vacations simply being pieced together.

The rest of the museum was a pretty standard. There were plane segments, models and a full 747-800 vertical stabilizer!

Numerous examples of the components required to achieve flight were on display including a cutaway of a jet engine and examples of aerodynamic design.

We of course had to stop at the observation deck where we found the Dreamlifter (Boeing’s cargo plane used to transport large aircraft components around the world) and numerous planes fresh out of the plant performing various tests.

Just as we were leaving the museum we were treated to a Saudia airlines coming into for landing.

After getting back to downtown Seattle and dropping of our rental car we explored the waterfront area and took in some of the tourist attractions - mainly just trying to understand what all the fuss about fish throwing was.

And soon it was time for the next segment of our trip…

Gotta love their sense of humor!

We had an evening Amtrak train out of Seattle and down to Portland, OR. It started out great at first, we were impressed by the automatic doors, screens displaying location and speed, and the comfortable seats. Eventually the cabin became very stuffy and warm so we got up and walked around a bit.

Upon our arrival in Portland, OR we took a cab to the hotel and grabbed dinner and drinks with some friends.

Day 3

The next morning we took their advice and headed out Slappy Cakes for some DIY pancakes.

After breakfast we explored downtown and got acquainted with the local mass transit system - the streetcar!

Soon it was time to continue on and we headed back to the train station to catch our ride further south.

We hopped on the train, stashed our bags and quickly found the observation car… easily the highlight of this train ride!

Eventually one of the conductors came through and asked us if we wanted to make dinner reservations. It kind of caught us off guard - we had no idea we could get an actual dinner on the train. Since there were only two of us we ended up having a shared table with Jay and Julie. We got to talking and found that Jay was a very big train enthusiast who for one of his birthdays booked an entire train car as well actors to dress up as period correct conductors and invited his friends to come on a themed trip. Needless to say we had a great time and the food was quite good for what it was! Ultimately the dinner costs 40 dollars per person, however for people who book the roomettes, all the meals are included.

A few hours later (and a power outage on the train… its a long story…) we arrived at our destination, Klamath Falls, Oregon.

By this time it had started lightly snowing and there was certainly more to come.

We walked a few blocks to our lodging for the night, Maverick Motel, a recently refurbished motel. It was exactly as one would expect for a small town in the Pacific Northwest.

Day Four

Day four started off with a walk through the town center. We stopped at a cafe/bakery, grabbed a bagel and coffee, and caught up on the local gossip with the USPS postman.

Eventually we moved on and trekked down to the Enterprise to pick up our car. The lot was filled new Subaru wagons eagerly waiting to be taken out into the fresh snow. After much back and forth, waiving of insurance, fees and trying to get an upgrade (for our one way car rental… yeah right!) we finally got our car!

Yep… not what we were expecting either…

This poor little car didn’t even have a chance. We quickly stuffed our bags and luggage into the trunk, and somehow managed to cram ourselves into the front seats.

Fueled up and hammer down we took off and headed for our next destination, California! Opting for the use of paper maps, a rough route was planned along route 66 and continuing further south - with of course some fairly major pit stops along the way to check out the sites.

The first detour led us to what appeared to be a park, water reservoir, and hydroelectric dam! Of course we had to check it out.

On second thought… maybe we’ll stash the car at the top of the hill and walk the rest of the way…

Good thing we stopped! Back on the road again, we wound around the mountains of Southern Oregon, slowly making our way down into the valleys. Ultimately we hopped onto one of the main highway and crossed into California. 796 Exits! Good thing we aren’t going to Mexico!

Pealing off the highway and back into the wandering rivers and deep valleys we started to get pretty hungry. I’m not sure what prompted us to stop at this place, maybe it was the rustic (some may say rundown) exterior, the rusted out pickup trucks parked out front, or the wood smoke coming out the chimney, but we stopped and sat down in the eating area.

We took a quick glance at the menu, but we had both made up our minds almost immediately. Patty melts! The woman running the restaurant came over, took our orders, and we proceeded to wait. And wait…

And wait…

There was some amount of commotion as she sourced all the ingredients from various places in the store and outside. A few logs were tossed in the wood stove and soon we could hear the sizzling of our food on the cook-top.

Finally! We dug in and thoroughly enjoyed the sandwiches.

Back on the winding roads, we navigated through landslides, many bridges, and small towns. After another few hours of driving and a quick stop at the grocery store, we finally got to our AirBNB. For this night we picked a small cabin in the middle of seemingly nowhere. Our hosts operated numerous cabins along the river, along with multiple gardens and solar panels.

We got to work unpacking, playing with the local dogs, and checking out the rushing river a few hundred away. On the table, for dinner, we tossed together some pasta and sausage, snacked on some cheese and crackers, and washed it down with some local beers.

Day Five

It rained through the night and into the morning. Our hosts came by and dropped off some kiwis they grew in the garden which we had for breakfast. We asked for some advice on the best route to take to our next destination, and I’m really glad we did! We got a great tip about taking the Avenue of the Giants, a road that cuts through the Humboldt Redwoods State Park!

After getting the trusty Fiat 500 packed up in the rain we were back on the road. Our next stop was Point Arena via the redwoods and Eureka, an estimated 5-6 hours drive, by far the longest distance so far. Ultimately we ended up underestimating the number of times we wanted to stop and check out the sites. This was one of our biggest takeaways that we continue to apply to all of our trips, we are very cognizant of the total trip time between destinations, as well as the possible attractions in between.

Not an hour into the drive we were already off track and exploring side roads following one of the craziest river I’ve ever seen. The amount of water and the speed of which it was flowing was unreal, combined with the absolutely stunning emerald color.

Afterwards we actually settled back into the drive and made some significant progress. For the most part we stuck to backwards snaking our way further south, however at times we jumped on some main roads to cut up and over some of the last large mountains of the trip. It was all down hill from here!

We crossed through Eureka and stopped to stretch our legs. After grabbing quick bite to eat, wandering the town a bit and checking out the local bookstore we were back on the road.

We finally reached what we considered the main attraction for the day! The redwoods!

We immediately pulled off at the first trail head we saw and jumped out of the car. Looking up we saw the tallest, straightest both of us have ever seen. Even thinking back on it now, its surreal to imagine such trees actually still exist. Even then its even more unimaginable that people harvested these trees by hand with saws and axes, it must be incredible to watch of them come crashing down.

Hiking up through the short trail, the rain kept up to a light drizzle and we were weaving up, down and around the trunks of the redwoods. At points, we could stand at the base of a tree, look up and see raindrops fall from a branch, count the seconds, hold our hands out and catch them in them in our palms.

Our entire trek through this state park I couldn’t help but feel like I was in the next “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” movie. The scale just didn’t make sense.

Occasionally we’d run into massive downed trees that had to be climbed up and over. In some cases, they were utilized as part of the path requiring you to walk along the trunk some ways.

Down the road we reached the museum where the history of the area is explained through the use of old photos and texts. It was interesting to learn how the nearby towns dealt with these trees as well as what it meant to their economy.

We also learned about the flood of 1964, also known as the 100-year flood or 1000 year flood. Seeing the photos and high-water marks in the museum and along the road was almost paralyzing to think about. It’s shocking to think that at some points where we stood, the water would have been 6 feet over our heads. Once again we were hit by the overwhelming scale of it all.

You can’t drive through a redwood forest…without actually driving through a redwood. We paid our entrance fee and waited in line. And then as simple as that, we drove through a tree! This is one of the few remaining (three total including this one) drive-through trees.

By this point, it started to get late so we had to set back off leaving the world of incomprehensible scale, and entering the world of endlessness. The Pacific Ocean. The road we took brought us right to famous Highway 1… Really - after hours of driving up and down through the winding valleys it dumped us right on the Pacific Coast where we stopped to see the sunset.

Pushing on, we followed Highway 1 in and around the scenic coastline. It cut in and out, along sheer cliffs and down around beaches. We were nearing the day’s drive with only another hour or so of driving; we were certainly feeling it! Finally we reached Point Arena, stopped to get some groceries for the night and following day.

Pulling into our Airbnb at just as the last light left the sky we realized we were in for yet another adventure. We had to park our car down the driveway aways and use the supplied wagon to haul our bags to our off the grid cabin.

Creaking open the door and tossing in our bags we quickly lit a fire for some light to unpack by.

After unpacking and getting set up for the night we headed back out to the kitchen cabin and got to work. The Airbnb had plenty of pots and pans, plates and utensils to use. To cook with, there was a little propane burner and a couple of lighters. We had a great time cooking up a feast.

With full stomachs and a clean kitchen, we headed back to our cabin. Not quite ready for sleep yet we hung around outside to look at the stars. The rain clouds had dissipated and left a crystal clear sky. Eventually, we called it a night, I stoked the fire and crawled into bed and Benjamin climbed the ladder to his loft.

Day Six

Waking to natural sunlight and birds chirping has got to be one of the best ways to drag yourself out of a bed. Looking out the window, it was clear the day was going to be a good one.

We started collecting our belongings and packing up, and then we whipped up a quick breakfast made from leftovers and some eggs. After eating, we took a walk down some of the trails to explore and stretch our legs before setting off back on the road. We met our hosts for the first time after getting back from the walk and they gave us an awesome tip about a nearby Russian (yup those Russians!) fort that was on our route down to San Francisco. Luckily today’s drive was planned to only be about 3 hours, which afforded us plenty of time to check out the coastline along the way.

On the road agaaainn! But not for long as we came upon the Point Arena Lighthouse and obviously had to stop for a few pictures and to take in the sites.

It was certainly my first time seeing cliffs and the waves break against them like this. It was pretty impressive.

The Russian fort, Fort Ross, was about an hours drive on Highway 1 south of Point Area. The fort itself was relatively small, it was built in 1812 as a trading hub for Russian settlers. We were both shocked and had no idea there were Russian settlers on the West coast in the 1800s. Now it’s maintained by the Fort Ross Conservancy, and cost us $8 dollars to get in.

We walked around for about forty-five minutes and called it good. It was starting to get a little warm out and we wanted to make some more progress on the road. Continuing on down Highway 1 we reached Point Reyes where we detoured once again out on to the peninsula. The drive out was a little confusing, especially navigating solely with a paper map. we made a few backward turns and eventually found the tourist traffic out to the point.

The trek out didn’t really seem worth it. We never really were able to reach the lighthouse as you had to take a shuttle bus and deal with parking our car.

We stopped at a beach to check out the waves, which based on the numerous warning signs, were pretty rowdy.

By this point, the clouds were starting to close in and we were getting hungry. We headed back inland in search of some food. After vetoing a few places, we didn’t have to go too far to find simple and easy food. We stopped in Olema at Due West. It was a decent meal and certainly got the job done.

We finally crossed over the Golden Gate Bridge at night, barely noticing it, and reached our next Airbnb in the Parkside neighborhood of San Francisco. We parked our little Fiat on the street, grabbed our bags and headed inside.

The Airbnb was good enough. There were two beds, a little kitchenette and a bathroom and everything was clean. It was certainly dated and big change from the places we had been staying out the previous two nights.

After unpacking we headed out to see what was around. We stumbled upon a little bar, grabbed a few drinks, and then went up the block to grab a slice of pizza. We called it a night and headed back to the Airbnb.

Day Seven

The main goals for the day were to get the rental car returned (back at SFO), understand the public transportation system, and explore the downtown area. I had previously been to San Francisco for a few days during a job interview and Benjamin had never been, so we planned on knocking out a few of the major tourist attractions.

We set out in the trusty Fiat for the last time and battled some light traffic on the way out to the airport. We dropped off the car and the agent was mildly amused that we hauled it all the way down from Oregon and ended up giving us a free “upgrade” ticket. It was a very simple green ticket, which I think one of us still has to this day.

Not knowing what to do with ourselves; we took the Airtrain around the loop to do a little airport sightseeing. It was time to stop messing around, so we got off at the BART station and struggled to figure out exactly what the best deal would be for us ticket wise. We gave up and went to one of the tourist information booths and asked for advice. The woman there basically told us that there was a tourist book that would be perfect for us. Evidentally it was refillable and good for the BART, trolleys, and everything.

With our newly acquired rapid transit tickets we hopped on the train to head back into the city. The ride was pleasant enough, it didn’t take too long at all and was not crowded. We jumped off downtown and wandered around the city. Eventually we made our way to Pier 39 and the “entrance” for Alcatraz.

Having never been to it, we checked out the tickets and got in line. After waiting for about a half hour we boarded the ferry to head out to the island. The ride was enjoyable and offered some decent views of the bay. I appreciated the live view of the electrical power usage on the ferry. It was pretty cool to see it change based off of where we were in the trip.

We reached the island and disembarked. We opted to skip the tours and just explore on our own. We grabbed a map and set off checking out the various buildings. It was pretty sobering seeing the living quarters and inmate cells. We had picked up the free audio tour which gave some great background information and set the scene for each room we walked through.

We entered a cell block just as they were operating the door opening and closing mechanism. Talk about a chilling sound! Seeing the mechanical linkages all operate together was very cool. Exit through the gift shop and onto the ferry, we headed back to the city.

Next up we decided to tackle the trolley system! We waited at the end of one of the lines and scoped out how it all worked. Gathering our courage up we showed our “tourist tickets” and jumped onboard. And… by onboard I mean the side runners and hung off the rails! We quickly found out that sometimes the trolleys get very close nearby traffic and bus mirrors are right at head level. Heads up!

Watching the driver operate the brakes and cable grabber was pretty cool.

Solo to Mexico City, Day One

2026-06-03T13:12:39.737Z

Originally published on onlyonewaytofindout.travel

My first real non-work-related solo trip to a different country. Originally the trip had been booked on a whim as a result of some pretty good airfares (as per usual) by both Benjamin and I. Unfortunately due to some unforeseen circumstances Benjamin had to back out of the trip. Luckily we typically book trips through our Chase Sapphire Reserve which includes trip insurance.

After debating canceling for a bit I decided to continue on with the plan and see what happens. I figured it would be a good experience and a short get away from New York City is always a plus. There’s only one way to find out, right? The only sticking point for me was my severe lack of Spanish skills, but how hard could it be?

My early morning flight had been booked on Interjet out of JFK. I had a scheduled departure for 07:10 which turns into a 04:00 wake up call for me. After drowsily calling an Uber and an uneventful 25 minute ride to JFK I was able to check-in and pass through security quickly. Left with more than two hours to kill I headed up to the Alaska Airlines lounge which offers access to Priority Pass members. They had just opened at 05:00 so I had the pick of any seat – front row view of tarmac thank you very much!

Interjet boarded back to front starting from Zone 4 finishing with Zone 1 which I found kind of odd. Regardless it’s always nice when airlines have an efficient boarding process down, and this wasn’t an exception. After everyone got settled we were informed that there was a fueling issue. We ended up only being delayed about 25-30 minutes.

The flight itself was very uneventful, I have no complaints about Interjet. I was seated in an exit row with a reclining seat on an A320, and the seats were plenty comfortable. The flight crew was very professional and spoke very good English. There was no WiFi or any in-flight entertainment but that suited me just fine. I promptly nodded off and woke up in Mexico.

We deplaned and were herded through customs. My passport was scanned, along with all ten finger prints and a photo was taken. It was clear sailing all the way through from there.

First stop, as always, the bathroom. Second stop, as always, the ATM. I very carefully withdrew 2,000 Pesos and stashed my US currency away – I won’t be needing that.

After calling my Uber I stepped outside into the sunshine and warmth; a huge difference from the bone chilling sub-zero temperatures we were suffering from in New York. My Uber arrived quickly and I jumped in. He didn’t end up speaking any English so this was officially my first time of really having to work through the language barrier. I was pretty surprised to see the driving style was quite tame. Dare I say more relaxed than New York City drivers.

I met my host, Ricardo, at the apartment and he showed me around. The place is great, and for the price I paid I can’t complain one bit. There are three balconies and I’m up on the 7th floor. While the view isn’t spectacular, it’s far better than mine at home.

I sat down to gather my thoughts and take in the surrounding city noises. Then I headed out to explore. I followed my nose around the block and found a street food vendor with numerous people lined up eating tacos, chatting and just generally enjoying themselves. I delicately tried to scope out the situation but came to the conclusion that I should ask one of the men in business attire if he spoke English.

A lot of hand gestures and a long story short – he didn’t, but I was able to convey what I was looking for and he pointed me in the right direction. I think I ended up paying about 25 Pesos for two tacos, or about $1.50 USD. Two tacos of that quality would be at least 5 bucks back home.

With my hunger relatively satiated I headed off in the direction of the nearby park and historical district. I had the goal of obtaining a refillable metro card. I ended up stopping in at four different stations, each resulting in progressively learning more Spanish. At the fourth station I had had enough and just bought four paper tickets.

After wandering for a few hours I made my way back to home base. Eventually I headed back out and stopped in at an uninspiring but enjoyable Argentinian restaurant. The food and company was good but it wasn’t the authentic Mexico experience I was looking for. That was alright though as I was still working off the taco ordering high from lunch.

Day One. Complete.

Solo to Mexico City, Day Two

2026-06-03T13:12:39.749Z

Originally published on onlyonewaytofindout.travel

Well last night was a little rough. This Airbnb is definitely on the lacking side of sound proofing. Being in the city it was the typical sirens and cars honking but around 6 am the roosters and dogs started waking up – and the neighborhood around them.

My main goals for the day included getting breakfast at a bakery in the Roma neighborhood, checking out Bosque de Chapultepec, a park with numerous museums, and visiting the National Museum of Anthropology.

After finally getting going I started heading down to the South, to a neighborhood called Roma. My destination was a bakery that was highly rated. About a 30 minute walk and roughly on the way to the park. Unfortunately when I reached the bakery I found a line out the door with even more people waiting on the benches close by. Starting to get pretty hungry and not wanting to deal with figuring out the flow of the crowd I continued on down the block.

It turns out the cafe I found was a vegetarian place – this isn’t the first time that this has happened – but I went with it anyways. After carefully translating one of the items to eggs, tortillas, mole I placed my order. The food was delicious. And the atmosphere was perfect.

On to the park. My route took me past a hospital and a small business area. Nearing the park it began to feel like the area outside of the London Science Museum, or even the Upper West Side in New York City.

The first stop in the park was a large fountain below Chapultepec Castle and National Museum of History. I followed the paths within the park every which direction – past a botanical garden, some food vendors, and down past the lake and back up. Overall I was very impressed. While not a big park, it had all the amenities you’d normally expect including paddle boats.

Satisfied with the park I made my way to the museum and bought my ticket. Only about $5. Walking through the entrance way the first thing visitors see and experience is the massive courtyard with each exhibit tucked away along the borders. Starting to the right, you’re lead through many individual halls linked together through either geography, time period, or culture. Many of the halls have back doors and encourage visitors to step outside to further explore.

One thing I found interesting was the lack of English signage. The major signs explaining key pieces of exhibits had English portions, as well as some English closed captioning on the videos, but individual artifacts only had Spanish explanations. Personally I was ok with it – they gave me a chance to parse through and try to understand based on context.

After completing the loop around the museum I grabbed a cup of coffee from the cafe. At this point I was getting hungry, and a little tired. I passed an intriguing cafeteria style restaurant and bumbled through the ordering process once again.

Back at the Airbnb it was time to rest for a bit and figure out dinner. During this time I did some research on food tours in the area and settled on one for the next morning.

Not quite ready to eat yet, but feeling ready to head back out I grabbed my things and walked back up to the nearby park. Today it was packed with various vendors selling clothing, cheap handbags and wallets, as well as some decent looking food. It felt like a totally different park than when I was there previously.

For dinner I opted to try the restaurant across the street from my Airbnb. I got steak with Mole and sweet potatoes. For a drink I had gotten a gin and strawberry lime juice. Overall it was pretty good, and more importantly a break from the typical street food that I’ve been eating.

Day two. Complete.

Solo to Mexico City, Day Three

2026-06-03T13:12:39.765Z

Originally published on onlyonewaytofindout.travel

Another early morning. Today the only plans were to go to the food tour, booked last night, at 11:00. I decided it would be best to catch an Uber to the meet up spot which gave me some time to spend checking out a nearby cafe I saw yesterday. I knew the food tour would take 3-4 hours so I didn’t want to over plan the day, but I knew I wanted to put my newly found street taco acquiring skills to good use for dinner as well.

I got a lazy start but eventually made it out the door and off to the cafe. Keeping it simple I grabbed a latte and some sort of chocolate pastry. Breakfast in hand I sat on the nearby street corner and dug in. It was the perfect start to a day filled with food adventures.

The 25 minute Uber ride ended up costing about $4. The meeting point of the food tour was an Oaxacan restaurant just north of the anthropology museum. At the restaurant I met two of the four other participants. At 11:00 on the dot our guide, Luis, arrived and we were seated at a table near the back.

Here Luis introduced himself, gave some background and we waited for the other couple to arrive. With the full group here our waiter made some fresh salsa, brought three different types of mole, and an almost quesadilla type plate. The mole was incredible – the flavors were so well combined, none overpowering and certainly not overly spicy. Two of them were chocolate based and utilized a type of pepper only grown in Oaxaca. The pepper was nearly extinct however due to its popularity among chefs it was brought back and is now sold for many thousands times that of other typical peppers.

The next stop on the tour was a local tamales chain. Apparently they make an average of 1800 tamales a day for distribution to their 5 locations. Luis also introduced us to atoles – a mixture of milk, corn starch and corn meal, often flavored with chocolate and cinnamon. It was way better than it sounds. The tamales were the tried and true shredded chicken with a green sauce and were also excellent.

We ate our way through several more restaurants, including a typical cantina with chorizo tacos which also had a speakeasy behind a walk-in freezer door, a seafood restaurant serving marlin tostadas, and an old locals place that had some of the best tortilla soup I’ve ever had. The tour ended at a very cool dessert/wine bar where we had hot chocolate and some cookies.

All in all, it was a great experience however in hindsight I wish I had picked a tour that included more street food. Luis did provide some much needed information about the surrounding area and its history. We all went our separate ways and I headed in the direction of home, about an hour and a half walk.

After resting for a bit I grew hungry again and ventured back out – this time into the crowds celebrating, what I believe to be, the Chinese New Year. In search of some tacos I wandered back to where I originally explored when I first got here, out past some of the touristy shopping areas and up a few streets. There were thousands of people out celebrating and enjoying their weekend.

I found a few good looking stands but they were really hustling and bustling with a big crowd. My confidence levels weren’t that high yet, and I was pretty intimidated so I moved on. Ultimately I settled on a place advertising three tacos for 30 Pesos. One place I walked by was selling five tacos for 25 pesos, or about 25 cents per taco!

I topped them off with some salsa and lime juice and stood on the street corner taking it all in. After I returned my plate I started back towards home. The nearby park was even more busy tonight. People everywhere, the smell of roasting corn in the air, and the sound of fireworks going off somewhere off in the near distance. The atmosphere was great.

Tomorrow’s goals are set. I plan on utilizing my previously purchased subway tickets to head down to Coyoacan. It’s about a 20 minute subway ride and the neighborhood itself is famous for its cobblestone streets, colonial architecture and its numerous artists.

Day Three. Complete.

Solo to Mexico City, Day Four

2026-06-03T13:12:39.765Z

Originally published on onlyonewaytofindout.travel

Make sure you check out day one, day two, and day three.

Day four started off with more lounging around and reading. The day was setting up to be a good one - birds chirping, motorcycles ripping by, the classic cool morning without a cloud in the sky hinting at warm weather once the sun rises fully.

I went off in search of the previous place cafe I got a latte and the cookie yesterday. I walked down the block, the place was literally a block away from the airbnb, and kept walking… And walking… And I couldn’t find it. Ultimately I ended up walking up and around the block just to double check. It’s amazing how different a section of a street can look when all the shutters are pulled down and no one is out and about. I eventually concluded the place must be closed on Sundays and stopped in at another cafe that I had seen.

El 123 is one of those cafes that is less cafe and more restaurant… But yet still wants to be a cafe. I walked in and was directed to a table for breakfast. The menu I was offered was Spanish, but appeared to have some familiar looking items, such as french toast with fruit salad, waffles and the usual egg dishes. I ended up going with the enchiladas suizas, mainly because the table next me also ordered them and they looked great. I also asked an Americano and a kiwi soda.

The atmosphere was great and the seating was comfortable so I was pretty content with just hanging out. I didn’t have to wait too long for the food to show up, I could basically smell it coming as the waiter brought it over. The crispy and chewiness of the tortilla and the mild spiciness of the sauce paired with what I think was a bit of coconut milk in the cream. It had a robust flavor, but not overly complex, making it perfect for breakfast. The bill ended up being 100 Pesos, and I paid with a 200. Unfortunately the waiter came back with a handful of change to make up the difference. With that I decided to walk off the meal through the park and head back to the Airbnb to dump the excess weight now jiggling around in my pocket.

The next stop was to head to the subway and make my way down to a new neighborhood. Luckily for me there’s a Subway station about 2 blocks away. It’s almost a shame that I didn’t end up using it more, but I was more than content walking around my current neighborhoods. The station itself was fairly well signed and I’m sure it helped that I’m familiar with Google’s instructions (they read pretty much the same no matter what city you’re in), so I headed towards what I consider the downtown direction, towards Universidad.

After feeding my ticket into the machine, a process probably more familiar to old token based transit systems, I made way down the stairs and reached a relatively normal platform. It was clean and well lit and even had markers indicating where to stand and where the doors opened, something not even NYC has gotten right.

When the train arrived the first thing I noticed was how narrow it was! The second was that the doors seemingly opened right before the car fully came to a stop. I hopped on, along with a handful of other people and managed to find my way to the middle of the car. I was in for a relatively long ride. Of which - wasn’t so bad. The particular train car reminded me of the r32 cars in New York City, almost what one would consider antique, lacking modern signage and lighting. There no station announcements either. One thing I learned was that the cars do not have any AC and rely only on forced air. It was only 75 out today, but already the car was getting a little stuffy, I cant imagine what it’d be like on a hot day. Based on what I’ve read there are other newer cars in use as well, I’d be curious to see how they compare to other cities.

11 stops later I hopped out! This station was totally different, I didn’t have a chance to take many pictures but it was themed with a jungle inspiration throughout. It was pretty cool, much better than the utilitarian/barebones station I entered the system in.

The Great Amtrak Escape, Day One

2026-06-03T13:12:39.765Z

Originally published on onlyonewaytofindout.travel

The grand trip begins! After performing the normal pre-trip ritual, checking my lists, collecting my travel bags, and topping off on the essentials, I realized I was far more excited for this than I had been for a trip in quite some time. I think the majority of that excitement was due to doing something completely different, something I normally wouldn’t necessarily consider a trip, and something many people may not even consider a vacation. Typically, the train is a means to a destination, but in my case, it is the destination.

Quickly things were packed and ready to go and it was brought to my attention by a few close friends that I should get a map. A MAP! It honestly hadn’t crossed my mind. One of the joys of a road trip in my opinion is marking your road and finding your way via a paper map. The kind that folds out and never really seems to fold back together just right. Well… Turns out trying to buy a country-wide map is next to impossible in my neighborhood just outside of Manhattan. I walked for hours (I’m really not exaggerating) to the CVS down the street, a Staples (which to give them credit had Northeastern road maps), a few pharmacies, a Goodyear Tire Warehouse, a local bookstore, and a RiteAid. Eventually I gave up and headed home, a little discouraged, but it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

The time came to head out to Penn Station to catch the 3:40PM departure. My bag packed, and a small plastic bag with some snacks (you know, just in case…) I locked up and left a bit early. Maybe I’ll try the Barnes and Noble on 5th ave… Not only do they have maps… they have MAPS! With the last item crossed off, I reached Penn Station with some time to spare.

I decided to utilize my “Club Acela” guest pass (included with the Amtrak credit card) to hang out in the lounge. It was going to expire anyways at the end of the month, but I later learned that since I was traveling on a sleeper car it is likely they would have let me enter the lounge pass or not. Realistically, so far at least in both NYC and Chicago, the whole lounge “check-in” process is the attendant just asking what train you’re on and you walk on through. The Club Acela was not particularly nice, but it was an air-conditioned room away from the crowds. Heh – who am I kidding it was packed in there with business travelers.

Come boarding time we were led from the lounge area down to the train and up to the sleeper cars. The first conductor was checking tickets, so I showed him my phone with my boarding pass and he informed me I was the next car up. I proceeded up to the next conductor, started to show him my phone and he stopped me. “No we don’t do that here”. A little taken aback and confused, I looked at my phone and told him my train and room number. He shook my hand and welcomed me aboard.

Settling in for the ride, I shook off my shoes, unpacked the essentials and kicked back.

Some assorted photos below of the Viewliner roomette:

Independent HVAC controls for each room. Tons of lighting options for each side of the roomette. A fold out table with a checkers board! Nothing like keeping your bag on top of the toilet! Down the hallway with all the roomettes. The sink was a flip down, with slots in the rear to drain the water. Pretty cool!

To provide a bit of a back story to this whole wild west trip I’d say it all really started on my first long haul train ride on the West coast. It was a 6-8 hour trip on the West Coast Starlight train, which included an observation and cafe car, and a dining car. I think it included some sleeping cars – and its really what clued me into this being a possibility. After that ride I looked into booking an overnight ride on an Amtrak train and realized how expensive it was. I lost a bit of interest after the sticker shock – it just didn’t really seem worth it. It easily would cost $600-$700 for a sleeper car and that’s a bit hard to justify when I could fly to another country twice for that…

A few years later a deal caught my eye – an Amtrak Credit Card sign up bonus of 30k points for a $1,000 minimum spend in 3 months. Skipping over the logistics, technicalities, and my view of financial institutions and the associated credit cards, I took advantage of the deal. All things considered this really wasn’t a bad deal at all – and it would enable me to effectively ride a train across the country for effectively (apart from fees associated with the card, and other travel expenses) free.

I didn’t do too much research into the trip and all the route options. Most routes would bring passengers through Chicago via the Lake Shore (along the great lakes!) and then pivot from there. For no particular reason I opted for the California Zephyr, mainly because it sounded cool. Looking back on it now it seems like the more popular route. We’ll find out if that’s good or bad.

I hesitated for a while before booking it; I wasn’t sure what I had planned. I originally intended on traveling with Ben, my long-time travel partner, however something about this trip pulled me in the direction of going it alone. Eventually, I pulled the trigger. 28,000 Amtrak Points and trip was booked across the country for late August.

Rocking back and forth on the train, we flew up through the city, past familiar rivers, and started blowing through small town after small town until eventually, the towns and cities were no longer familiar. Soon we reached Albany and I began the habit of getting off the train at nearly every stop longer than 5-10 minutes (assuming I was awake for it). It provides a great chance to get out, walk up and down the platform, and get some fresh air.

I headed up to the cafe car to grab some dinner as the sun set. Sitting there enjoying some boxed (yes, boxed and reheated) penne pasta with chicken and cold beer I watch as we raced the sunset West. I was a little disappointed with the meal situation, but the food was good, and the view was even better.

Content with the night I headed back to my room, found my conductor and asked for some help getting my bed ready. With a flick of the wrist (and quite a bit of clunking and squeaking from the aging seating) my seats were folded down into a bed. Pretty cool!

We went through Syracuse, Rochester, and late into the night, Buffalo. The night’s sleep was a little restless, being jostled awake by I think various railroad junctions, street crossings and generally our less smooth rail infrastructure.

My overall impressions for the first day? My expectations were certainly exceeded. My roomette on the Viewliner was comfortable, cozy, and complete with everything I wanted. And didn’t want, such a toilet… slightly reminiscent of a prison cell. The food didn’t meet my expectations – I remember what started it all, the dinner in the dining car, on real plates, with real silverware. But I was willing to overlook it, after I am partaking in what some might consider a dying service. I was still excited for what’s to come.

Cost Breakdown

Item	Cost
Amtrak Tickets	$0.00 (28,000 Amtrak Points)
Food/Drinks While On Train	$22.50
Food/Drinks	$108.50
Hotel	$0.00 (16,748 Chase UR Points)
Flights	$236 (including flight change fee)
Other Transport (Bus/Uber/Taxi/etc)	$181
Miscellaneous	$42.20
Amtrak BoA CC Annual Fee	$80
Total ($)	$670.20
Total Value (Points + Total $)	$1,701.20

The Great Amtrak Escape, Day Two

2026-06-03T13:12:39.765Z

Originally published on onlyonewaytofindout.travel

Ooof. Not sure if this is day one still. Does day two start when I fall asleep completely and wake up? I slept a bit over the night – sleeping on a train is definitely going to take some getting used to. I probably laid awake in bed just watching the stars for half the night. Every once in a while, with a big jolt I’d be shook awake – I’d be lying if I didn’t say I thought we probably derailed half a dozen times. Regardless, I feel relatively well rested!

I officially woke up at 5:30 to watch the sun rise and I’m really glad I did.

After watching the sunrise I got up out of bed and headed for the shower. I’ve showered in a lot of small bathrooms, but this one probably takes the top. Not to mention the whole train would rock back and forth making it quite clumsy to complete the process. Amtrak provides towels, and amnesties that you’d normally find in a hotel room. The bathroom itself was quite clean – a little dated with the linoleum flooring, but you can’t complain. The water was hot.

On the entire trip, all meals are included, so I headed over to the dining car to find some breakfast. On this train breakfast was a simple continental affair – reheated breakfast sandwiches were available, but I just opted for a plastic wrapped blueberry muffin and coffee. It wasn’t bad, you could say it hit the spot.

I had noticed we were about one and half hours behind schedule, the conductors on board informed us that unfortunately we got stuck behind freight traffic over the night. Luckily, I’m in no rush, but it is a little frustrating that this is the state of our rail travel. It seems as though those traveling with me were also not in much of a hurry to get anywhere. When traveling via Amtrak it’s just something you live with.

We slowly made our way around the Southern end of the lakes and eventually into the outskirts of Chicago. One of my favorite things so far is watching out the landscape changes when entering and leaving major cities. Each city is unique in its architecture from a far, but once the train gets in close – its rail yards, warehouses, and industry. Just goes to show how vital the trains were, and still are, to a city’s growth.

As the train pulled into Chicago we passed coal and steel plants, suburbs, housing projects, and eventually reached Union Station, the last stop for the Lake Shore train. I gathered my belongings and exited the train, thanking and tipping my conductor/attendant.

One thing that Amtrak unfortunately beats its passengers over the head with is that while sleeper car passenger’s meals are free, alcohol and gratuity is not included. After each announcement about meals they include such a statement. Based on my experience most diners would include a two to three-dollar tip with their meal, a handful of times a few of those I was having dinner with didn’t actually have any more cash… We were on a train after all – it’s not like there’s an ATM with us. I honestly was a little disappointed in this. Such a trip that costs nearly $1,000 dollars and includes meals, but now you need to tip the workers? Come on…

I met some friends living in the city for some lunch at market, we grabbed a couple of beers, a jerked chicken sandwich and caught up on life. But soon it was time for them to go back to work and for me to continue on west.

Heading back into Union Station, I went for the “lounge” sleeper car/business class waiting area. Looking up at the arrival and departure boards I became a little concerned as I saw the California Zephyr was delayed nearly three hours. Great. I was fairly certain we would be on a new West bound train, so how on earth could we be delayed already. Time to start looking into killing some more time in the city. I start looking online, to confirm my trains status, and the Amtrak phone app indicated it as on time. Now… these boards are not like the airport ones. Departures are not clearly labelled as such and neither are arrivals. The only indication as I eventually noticed was that the origin and destination were swapped. I had been looking at the Arrival board and not the departure board this whole time! Back on time for the 2PM departure!

After boarding the train, we were asked to remain seated and in our rooms so we could complete the check in process. I’m not entirely sure if this is going to come back to bite me later, but no one actually has scanned my ticket this entire time. My car attendant checked in with me and showed me around. Fortunately, and unfortunately, there was no toilet in my roomette this time. In fact, this roomette was slightly underwhelming. The seats weren’t as padded, the lights weren’t as bright. There was only one electrical outlet, no fan control, and a relatively small window. I was a little disappointed, this is a superliner after all… where’s the super!?

Putting the disappointment behind me, I broke out my Kindle and finished out one of the many books I’d planned on reading throughout the trip. We continued through Illinois and kept going. The scenery changed slowly into the rolling hills covered with corn and other crops. The woman in charge of the dining car made her way back and took my reservation for one at 7:30PM for dinner and I headed over to the observation car to take it all in. This is where the new adventure began for me. We’re entering territory I’ve never been to.

There were several announcements made over the PA about various regulations, rules, advisories, and introductions. The Public Address system is used extensively by Amtrak Conductors for both passenger announcements, and for communicating information to all the other conductors. A few announcements of note were the fact that the toilets were finicky and that if one gets clogged, all of the restrooms on the same train car get clogged. Todd, from the snack/lounge car (he talks a lot), introduced himself as well.

One announcement mentioned that this train is one of the very (or maybe the last?) without WiFi – the main places to hangout are the diner and cafe cars, and the observation car. It’s where people come to watch the landscape pass, trade stories about this bridge, the highway over there, and that river right here. I’m not much of a talker and not generally one to initiate conversation, but in this environment especially, you learn a ton just by listening. That silo we just passed? It looks like they’re making ethanol. This bridge was built back in the eighties. That town we just blew through? There’s a diner in there that’s been serving breakfast for years.

After a few hours we heard another announcement… Diner is delayed until further notice. Unfortunately, as I’ve come to learn with all things Amtrak, sometimes things go wrong. It’s become more of a running joke than anything to me. In this case, as I would later learn, it looked like we might have a leak in the water tank in the dining car. As the conductors and dining car staff scrambled to sort the problem out, we looked on, watching as they collected bottles of water, tallied them up and got to work trying to address the problem. Dinner ultimately ended up being delayed by an hour for the earlier meals, luckily mine was unaffected.

At 7:30 I made my way to the dining car, and joined a couple of guys for a steak dinner. I never really caught any of their names – I’ll have to work better at that, but we traded Amtrak stories and shared a bit about what lead up to us being on the same train. Most people I’ve talked to so far have taken a long haul train at least once before. They were either trying a new train route or coming back many years (in some cases 30, 40, 50 years) after their first trip to experience it again. I’d continually see these guys throughout the trip, never again having a meal with them, but also making a joke or quip about the state of Amtrak, the scenery, or the weather.

Finally, the food met my expectations. From the dinner reservation, to the menu, to the waitstaff taking your order and bringing your food. No more boxed meals! My steak was cooked to perfection, medium rare, and the mashed potatoes were definitely heavily buttered. The green beans, well… they were green beans.

After dinner I headed back to the observation car to see if there was anything to see, but it ended up being quite dark. So I read a bit more and hung out with the remaining people there. Not too long after I opted to head back to my room to get some sleep. My bed was already laid out for me and ready to go! I crawled in, read for a bit more and quickly fell asleep. This night was going to be a lot more restful than the last, or maybe I was just more tired.

The Great Amtrak Escape, Day Three

2026-06-03T13:12:39.765Z

Originally published on onlyonewaytofindout.travel

“Denver! One Hour!”. I woke up around 7AM, just as we were getting into Denver. I got up and grabbed breakfast with a couple of women on their way to Reno to meet some old college friends. I had a veggie omelet that was decent, and more importantly some coffee. As we ate the countryside quickly changed from flat grasslands to downtown industry once again. We pulled on in through downtown. This was planned to be one of our longest stops, so after I finished up breakfast, I made my way down back to my room and outside to walk around for 20 minutes.

I finally figured out what the different car was on the back of our train. A private car! Talking to my car attendant he mentioned that Amtrak only charges about $10k to tow it across country. The cars themselves start at half a million… Not too bad… I wonder what the operating costs are. I also learned that the engineers are allowed 12 hours driving time and switch off with the same group of conductors. Pretty similar to how pilots and flight crew are only allotted a certain amount of flying time before they time out.

Not long after pulling out of Denver did, we start winding our way up the hills, or mountains I suppose, west of the city. It was pretty impressive watching the front of our train loop around the switch bag, dragging us along behind it as we slowly gained in elevation. Off in the distance you could see the city fall away.

We wound our way through the canyons, mountains and river. Everyone was glued to the windows in the observation car. It was standing room only for a long while until eventually we went through the 6.5 mile tunnel which took about 10-15 minutes. With gasps and cheers we were blinded by the sunlight once we came out the other side.

Lunch started at noon and lasted until two, I was one of the last groups to get seated. Unfortunately, my lunch table was made up of the least talkative group on the train, but I had a good burger and a good view, so you can’t really complain. I believe at this point we were crossing through the west of the White River National Forest. This area flattened out significantly, but the sharp new mountains were not far behind the cows and horses grazing in the fields.

Throughout the trip through the national forest we followed, I think the Colorado River, as were presented the view of probably hundreds of rafters mooning the train as we rolled by. It was really quite a sight to behold! The river that is…

The Colorado Rockies took up the majority of the day and we followed the river for hours. You could sit in the observation car for that amount of time, blink, and still feel like you missed it… And that’s what many people did… in fact, many times I felt like the train could use another observation car. One realization many people, including myself, came to was that it felt like time passed so much quickly than it should in observation. Quite literally, we all spent days together, more or less, crammed into the same outward facing chairs, eyes glued to the windows. Even those deep into conversations held expressions of wonder and intrigue as various wonders caught their eye outside.

Being a relatively introverted person, I was quite happy to sit alone and stare out the window for hours… and hours. However, on the train there is always someone willing and happy to talk. I shared my story of coming from New York on the train; it seemed as though most people had gotten on at Chicago. There were a few familiar faces that I had seen on the Lake Shore train, and while I didn’t talk to all over them there was always the friendly, and knowing, nod of recognition.

I met travelers from other countries, a few of whom had never visited the US before, coming from Sweden and the Netherlands, Australia and Japan. Some of them were using Amtrak as transportation across to country to continue on with their adventure, catching flights out of San Francisco.

A musician, born in New York city, lived in Vermont and Northern California started up conversation with me. We traded stories about our commonalities, and he mentioned he was working on a play. He gave me the run down. Nearly an hour of an epic story about a Spanish merchant in the 1800s, including the usual theatrics of love, heartbreak, travel and revolutions. I couldn’t be happier, while not one to typically enjoy plays or even someone talking my ear off for an hour… It was great to listen to this story and watch the world go by… what else was I going to do anyways?

A traveling nurse who was on her way to begin a three-month stay in Palo Alto. She had been on since Buffalo, New York. She worked as a pediatric oncologist and explained how travelling nurses work with recruiters and agents to get placed all over the country. It was really a quite fascinating field to learn about. She had previously taken the train before and shared her experiences. Nearing the end of our trip she commented on how people come together on the train.

You’ll see groups of people who have never met before suddenly become inseparable. It really is amazing the trust and the bonds people develop on these types of trips. It wasn’t uncommon to be seated in the observation car and for someone to introduce themselves and share their life story. Occasionally someone will lean over and ask if you’ll watch their bag while they run back to their seat (which in some cases could be quite a walk!), and here you are, watching over someone’s bag with likely all their belongings for their trip. While there are quite literally some horror stories about midnight knife wielding passengers, it felt as though trust is something that is just implied. My guess is that we’re all in it together – you couldn’t really get all that far if you were to steal something…

After while the Rockies got squashed, the rivers dried up, and the grass and trees turned to sand and red rock. We’d crossed into Utah. I had no expectations for Utah and the state completely blew them away. I headed back to my room to get away for a bit, read and wait for dinner reservations. The sun started getting low in the sky, the pinks, oranges and yellows started showing through the thicker atmosphere. It was like a scene from a movie one hundred years ago, riding the train out into the Wild West. I half expected to see cowboys roaming the landscape!

Dinner came around, again always quicker than I would have liked, and I headed to the dining car. I was seated with an English teacher on their way to Taiwan to teach English for an indefinite amount of time. It was their first time leaving the country, but not the first taking the train. In fact, they had taken the train all the way around the country, and the California Zephyr was one of the last routes left… We broke into some deep philosophical questions, about traveling, space exploration, living forever and its pros and cons (I voted against it – having a finite timeline gives us a sense of purpose and meaning), the history of languages and their origins. It was truly one of the best meals (I ended up having the Surf and Turf – it wasn’t as good as the steak the previous night) and conversations I had on this trip.

Eventually dinner wrapped up and I headed back to my room, grabbed my book and went to the observation car to read a little more. For me, being on the train was much like going camping. You wake up with the sun, and you sleep with the sun. I was waking up, maybe due to the time changes, around 6AM every morning and went to bed around 10PM every night. It would get dark so you couldn’t look outside, and unless there was some activity going on the train, it got a bit boring. It was pretty easy to be lulled asleep!

Lying in bed in Utah, I realized that if I put my head behind curtain to block the ambient light coming from the hallway lights you could see an incredible number of stars… and the Milky Way! Every night I had watched the stars out the window, but Utah takes the cake. I was blown away.

Holey Cheese Trip!

2026-06-03T13:12:39.765Z

Originally published on onlyonewaytofindout.travel — draft/trip notes

Day One - Travel and Arrival in Geneva

Early evening flight out of JFK
The check in process was a little disappointing.
- We ended up splitting a checked bag to carry some extra clothes and our hiking boots.
TSA was a mess per usual
We stopped at the Alaska Airlines lounge
- The food options were a little lack luster this time
Don’t forget to take notes!
Our plane was a year old A350. We upgraded out seats, mine cost $18 dollars somehow, and I ended up with an open middle seat.

The plane was very comfortable, quiet and incredibly clean.

Barely heard the engines spool up!

The flight attendants continued the same trend from our check-on process…

A bit cold and very professional

We were provided dinner (pesto pasta) and breakfast.

The flight was a weird time, the departure was at 5 PM which meant we were scheduled to arrive in Madrid at 12 AM, not quite late enough to sleep!

Free WiFi was provided on the flight, however it capped you out to 20mb, soo that was a fun surprise.

Landed in Madrid and had to wait to clear customs for 30 minutes. It was a long process.

Finally made it through and found our way to the main terminal area and awaited our gate announcement. We headed to the priority pass lounge, which took some wandering around… it ended up having two names.

It was a nice lounge, good food and drink options. Relatively quiet at first.

Finally our gate was announce and we packed up and headed out.

The boarding process was incredibly slow, and our seats were no where near as comfortable. I ended up with a randomly assigned seat at the front of the plane, however eventually joined Ben in the back since he had a few open rows.

We quickly passed out for the hour and half flight.

Finally at 9am local time we got to Geneva. We snagged our bag and headed out to find an Uber to the hotel.

We got lucky and were upgraded to a very nice Mercedes E Class sedan. The dash was one big screen, it was pretty cool.

We checked in at the hotel and crashed for an hour, got up and headed out to explore.

Our hotel provided us a free public transportation pass (I assume most hotels provide it from the city) so we walked out over along the lake shore and then took the ferry back for free!

We got a falafel sandwich as a light snack, walked around for a bit and then grabbed a few beers at a neat local bar.

Eventually we headed out to grab something different and settled on a cocktail bar not far away.

From there we circled back to a Lebanese place we spotted earlier, and grabbed a late dinner and then called it a night!

Day Two - Train Travels

[Notes end here. Draft was never completed.]

Indoors

2026-06-03T13:12:39.889Z

Placeholder. Replace this with the actual writing.

Topics to cover

[ ] The shift — what stopped, what started
[ ] Games — what got me through
[ ] Pandemic-era projects: Cowrie honeypot, VaxSignUp, Snapchat map scraper, Skribbl.io grabber
[ ] Home lab buildout, ZOLEO/Vornado reverse engineering, the VISCA controller
[ ] How the slower pace shaped what I built

The home lab

2026-06-03T13:12:39.733Z

Started as a single Proxmox box running a few VMs and kept growing. The current setup is Proxmox for virtualization, TrueNAS Scale for storage, and OPNSense as the firewall. Four VLANs segment everything (IoT, servers, trusted, guest). Probably overkill for a home network but I like having the separation.

The K3s cluster runs on four Raspberry Pis with NVMe storage, plus a separate Ubuntu VM as the control plane. Longhorn handles distributed storage across the NVMe drives, MetalLB gives services real IPs on the LAN. Traefik sits in front as the ingress with wildcard certs for *.home.nebriv.com. Ansible manages the whole thing so I can rebuild nodes without losing my mind.

Currently running: Home Assistant, Immich (photo backup), Mealie (recipes), Nextcloud, CrowdSec on the firewall, an ADS-B receiver for tracking aircraft, and the usual Servarr stack. There’s also a CopyPasta instance for quick file sharing.

The rack itself is 3D-printed on a Prusa MK4S. Natalie T’s modular 10" server rack design from Printables, black PLA with gold accents. 5U, intake fan on the bottom, exhaust on top. Holds the firewall, switch, and patch panel. The Pis mount in 2U rack modules.

It’s more infrastructure than any one person needs but it’s a good lab for testing things before I touch anything at work.

Hey - What's that orange cannister?

2026-06-03T13:12:39.937Z

I was out hiking early March. Exploring the Catskills a bit. Stretching my legs so to speak. There was still some snow up high. After reviewing some options I decided to hit Hunter Mountain and ultimately South West Hunter. It was a bit of a challenge making my way up, but I as I reached the flatter portions up top I began to really enjoy the hike. It was beautiful weather, good little hints of a view.

Following AllTrails I took the path towards SW Hunter not entirely realizing it was a “trailless” peak, a term I’d come to know a bit more in the upcoming months. There were no blazes to follow, just a rail of packed down ice and snow. It made for good walking and good pathfinding. And then it shot up the mountain, with everyone seemingly having picked their own path. I quickly lost the nice packed down rail and stumbled up my own path only to see an orange beacon at the top. My first trailless peak, marked by the iconic orange cannister containing a trail register and some goodies.

I didn’t even sign it. I wasn’t sure what it was exactly. What was the Catskill 3500? Who were these people? I’m out hiking every weekend, why don’t I know about this?

My mind was so focused on it for the rest of the hike. Cruising over icy steps, making my way up to Hunter and it’s firetower, through the firs and lovely smelling air… Should I have signed that book in the cannister?

When I got home I began to research. The Catskill 3500 club. Or is it the Catskills 3500 club? 35 hikes, 33 mountains. 3,500 feet. Thats not so bad? 4 in the winter? I do that already. Its a lot of driving. Maybe over two years?

I’m already hiking every nearly every weekend. I was proud of my 38+ month streak in AllTrails I made up my mind. I can do this? Its a few hikes. I’m hiking already, right? I can do this within the year. What a goal that would be! That’s 35 weekends, tops. Easy. Besides I already did 2 of them!

And so it began. The year’s long process of maintaining a spreadsheet, tracking hikes, taking notes. Becoming a more confident, safer, hiker. I refreshed my orientation skills, bought a new compass and a Catskills Trail Map.

Renewed focus, a refreshed goal. Something to look forward to. The Catskill 3500 Club.

Windham High Peak

2026-06-03T13:12:40.149Z

One of the “easier hikes” for the 3500. Opted for the Black Dome Range trailhead as the other approach via the Escaprment was closed. Out and back to the top, good number of view points along the way made the hike enjoyable. It was still a little snowy, but no spikes or anything needed. Saw two other people on the trail, both with dogs!

I definitely thought it was a bit harder than expected. Kind of got into my head of “oh boy, what did I commit to” with the 3500. Especially as I looked over at the rest of the Black Dome Range clearly visible from Burnt Knob.

Vly & Bearpen

2026-06-03T13:12:40.465Z

Up the old county road, very rocky. Turns out, I don’t like hikes that go straight into a climb. I need a little warm up at least! Top of the road was an old hunting shack, still used. Hike was odd because it borders on private property. I was a bit weary of crossing over that imaginary boundary.

Up Vly, this wasn’t bad. I don’t mind the steeper ascents. A little icy in spots still but managed around. Definitely clawing my way up through the mud. Not much view at the top but definitely a little in the clouds (lets be real, it was fog) which was fun. Could barely see Bearpen. Oh, and of course that glorious Orange Cannister!

Down was worse, as expected - more like a mud slide than anything. Annnd then the long slog up bearpen. The initial path up the road was decent, but then it got into some two track/single track paths and eventually a hiking path. Very wet and muddy, slipping and sliding.

All the way back down to the car was quick and easy. And did I mention muddy?

Balsam Lake Mountain

2026-06-03T13:12:40.193Z

Trail notes recorded post hike, added here in their fairly raw state.

Weekend out in the Catskills, got a little cute AirBnb. I stopped at Balsam Lake Mountain before check-in and checked another one off the list. Not a bad hike. Mostly just an old road walk up, fairly rocky. When the trail splits, it got pretty slushy and a bit snowy. Temps were around 40 degrees. Tower was nice, cab was closed. Thought the ranger station was a bit odd.

I apparently didn’t take many photos on this outting.

West Kill Mountain

2026-06-03T13:12:40.497Z

Trail notes recorded post hike, added here in their fairly raw state.

Post snowstorm! This hike kicked my butt! Almost turned around a few times. Glad I kept going though. A few hikers were doing the 22 mile through hike. Sounds rough! Glad they kicked in some steps for me. Not much of a view, was all clouded in. Very slippery and snowy.

Really, its a nice view!

Looking back on it now, this has become one of my favorite hikes. It’s hard, its steep, but the view is nice and theres… just something about that signage at the top that I like. Perhaps its the type II fun memories, trudging through the snow.

Slide Mountain

2026-06-03T13:12:40.285Z

Trail notes recorded post hike, added here in their fairly raw state.

Tallest mountain in the Catskills! Great quick hike. I was hoping to link Cornell, but the traverse down from slide was too icy for me to feel comfortable with. I figured I could make it to Cornell, but didn’t want to try my luck with the return back up Slide. Ended up turning back and just completing the loop. Nice weather, plenty of people out but everyone was nice and friendly. Looking forward to doing this in the winter, seems nice.

Plateau Mountain

2026-06-03T13:12:40.249Z

Trail notes recorded post hike, added here in their fairly raw state.

Brutal initial climb.

Great views up top, pretty much made up for it. Amazing 60 degree day. A little chilly up top. A buncha friendly backpackers were coming down as I was headed up. One guy going to Banff and doing some of the JMT in Colorado?

It smelt like a candle shop, it’s always so awesome!

The top of the mountain was meh, nothing really there. A decent little view point. No cannister? Saw another guy trying to do 5k elevation today. Sheesh. That’s a long day. Back down was rough on the knees.

Had a strawberry shortcake ice cream bar. Always a nice treat.

Panther Mountain

2026-06-03T13:12:40.205Z

Trail notes recorded post hike, added here in their fairly raw state.

Drizzly day out, decided to do Panther since I had already been there before. Giant ledge was a nice view point, just under the cloud layer.

Panther was in the clouds. Had a sandwich up top and headed back. Felt pretty good, better conditioning than the last time I was up.

Not very many people out, but a few headed to Giant Ledge. Couple of trail runners out at Panther.

Sugarloaf Mountain

2026-06-03T13:12:40.373Z

Trail notes recorded post hike, added here in their fairly raw state.

Wait - how many miles and how much ascent!? Hard hike! This climb sucked. Went counterclockwise, quite a few people out hiking and backpacking. Some guy flew past me on the steep scrambles to the top.

Not a ton of view points, nice day though, good weather.

Trail was in good condition, enjoyed the end down through the slate/shale/rocks.

Blackhead Range

2026-06-03T13:12:39.809Z

Trail notes recorded post hike, added here in their fairly raw state.

I had only planned to do Blackhead. Got to the top, felt good, had plenty of water, and figured why not keep going to Black Dome. Had a snack up there and figured same deal, so I pushed on to Thomas Cole. I love that you could see where you were going, and where you came from.

Weather was all over the place. Blue skies on the way up, then rain, then wind, then snow flurries near the summit of Blackhead. Temperature stayed cool which honestly made the climbing easier.

Loved the small scrambles and switchbacks on this one. Trail was muddy in spots and rocky in others but mostly dry. Rating it a 5 out of 5. Probably my favorite Catskill hike.

Oops. Forgot to unpause the GPS.

P.S. Turns out, it is my favorite Catskill Hike. Still. I frequently come back here.

Table & Peekamoose

2026-06-03T13:12:40.421Z

Trail notes recorded post hike, added here in their fairly raw state.

Smokey day! Wildfires up north in Canada.

Initial climb up. Met Rob who’s working on his second grid, insane. Also got passed by some ultra runners, Mark? I think. Who holds/held the record for the 35/3500 completed in 2 days. Rob was telling me about them. Nuts. I couldn’t keep up and had to slow my pace down. Hopefully will run into him again, nice guy.

Hike was nice, apparently it was Mike’s favorite. I think I still prefer the Black Dome Range. Good views though. Lots of people out.

Fir, Big Indian, Eagle

2026-06-03T13:12:39.881Z

Trail notes recorded post hike, added here in their fairly raw state.

First bear of the season. About 25-30 yards away. He took off as soon as we saw each other.

That was the highlight. The rest of this hike was a total slog. 16.5 miles of green tunnel, cloudy, moderate temperatures. First big big hike. Definitely my current record for most boring Catskill hike. The river section was nice but that’s about all I can say for it. Rocky and dry, which I guess beats muddy. Under fueled and dehydrated on the way back, stopped at the river to filter water and refresh.

Three peaks (Fir, Big Indian, Eagle) and not much to look at from any of them. Rating it a 2 out of 5. Would not do again.

North Dome & Sherril Aborted Attempt

2026-06-03T13:12:40.497Z

Trail notes recorded post hike, added here in their fairly raw state.

Mama Bear and two cubs spotted at the signage. They scampered off up the hill towards North Dome. Opted to head up west kill instead.

Very hot and humid day. Met a guy from Europe who was out hiking. A small group at Westkill, we all hung out for lunch.

Slide Mountain (Winter)

2026-06-03T13:12:39.777Z

Second-to-last. Slide Mountain in February. Absolutely frigid day, -5°F. Got to the trailhead around 7:30-8am. One of the coldest of the year. Asked a fellow hiker, “What the hell are we doing out here man…??”

The trail was broken in all the way to the top, but had a fresh layer of powder. Fairly easy hiking, despite the cold. I was amazed at how the snow smoothed over all the rocks and step ups. Made for a quite fun walk up. As long as you didn’t step off trail and sink up to your waist in snow. Seriously. The drifts were huge.

Up top it was absolutely blowing wind on the north side of the mountain. Really one of those moments where I second guessed my self and what I was getting into. But the view. The view was incredible. Fresh snow, stuff of postcards.

I quickly savored reaching the top of the tallest mountain in the Catskills, sheltered from the brutal wind chill. Had some warm tea. And began my descent.

The trail was much more busy later in the day, I met probably 5-6 groups on their way up; including a girl and her dog who was practically pulling her up (man I was jealous of that!), and two skiers skinning up.

Panther Mountain (winter)

2026-06-03T13:12:39.885Z

Last hike of the 3500. Felt great. Quite a few people out, about 8-9 groups total. Trail was in good shape and honestly felt a bit easier than in summer when the rocks make everything slower.

Fully snow and icy but that’s February in the Catskills. Cloudy and foggy at the top. Met Katherine and her dog Maybelle on the way up.

The Catskill 3500 Club requires four winter summits for membership (Slide, Blackhead, Balsam, Panther, all between December 21 and March 21). This was the last of the four and the last of the whole list. Thirty-three peaks and thirty-seven total hikes over about a year. On to the Adirondack 46ers. I think that deserves a cookie.

OPNSense, WireGuard, and a quietly stable DNS

2026-06-03T13:12:39.885Z

I had been running an off-the-shelf consumer router for about eight years too long. It worked fine until it didn’t.

In February I finally rebuilt the network around an OPNSense box, a small managed switch, and four VLANs that actually have semantic meaning. The new setup has been up for ninety days at the time of this writing, which is a record. Here’s what I wish I’d known.

Most home-lab guides assume you start from zero. This one assumes you are migrating a working network you can’t take down for a weekend. I had to keep the lights on.

The topology

I drew this on graph paper before I bought a thing. Recommend the practice. Four VLANs is the minimum useful number. Anything less and the IoT lightbulbs end up on the same network as your laptop, anything more and you spend the rest of your life writing firewall rules.

vlan10 for the trusted machines, vlan20 for IoT, vlan30 for the lab itself, vlan40 for guest traffic with bandwidth caps.

The OPNSense install

OPNSense runs on a small N100 mini PC with two NICs. The install is straightforward: boot from USB, set a root password, click through the wizard. Spent the first hour poking around the dashboard remembering why I never liked FreeBSD.

The DNS rebuild was the part that surprised me. I expected pain; I got Unbound, which just works. Two minutes of config and it has been resolving everything correctly since.

WireGuard, the road part

WireGuard is small enough that I should have done it years ago and instead spent those years configuring OpenVPN. The whole tunnel is about thirty lines of config split across two devices. I had it working in an evening.

The DNS, the quiet part

The single best quality-of-life upgrade in a home lab is a local resolver with a sane naming scheme. I named everything in my house the same way: kitchen.lab, printer.lab, plex.lab. Never remembering an IP address again is worth the hour it takes to set up.

If you take one thing away from this post, take this: spend a Saturday on your local DNS. It will not be a wasted Saturday.

Big Slide Mountain

2026-06-03T13:12:39.889Z

First Adirondack 46er. Was sick the week before so I took it easy, but the trail was in great shape despite being muddy and wet in spots. Slippery rocks on a few of the scrambles.

Saw about 10-15 people total, less than I expected for a weekend. Up top it was cold, about 41 degrees without windchill. But the views were worth it. You can see across the Great Range and it just keeps going. Definitely one of my favorite hikes so far.

The Brothers are three sub-peaks on the way up and they all have views. Good warm-up for the main event. Took the loop back down via Slide Mountain Brook which was a nice change from retracing your steps.

Rating it a 5 out of 5. Forty-five to go.

Giant + Rocky Peak Ridge + Bald Peak Traverse

2026-06-03T13:12:40.093Z

Giant and Rocky Peak Ridge (RPR) to New Russia where I got picked up. My first drop off and pick me up somewhere else kind of hike. It was a little intimidating. Unfortunately it was raining all weekend and this was my only chance for nice weather. Meant the trails were all mud and wet - I was slipping and sliding everywhere. I also think this is the most elevation I’ve done in a day. It was really hot. Especially on the ridge. I packed 4 liters of water. And filtered another liter from a brook.

Giant was the miserable part, it was so wet and slick and muddy on the descent. Was sliding all the way down. I was *really* glad I had a one way hike, some poor hikers were climbing back up and looked miserable. RPR was beautiful, loved it. But the ridge was very hot, I think upwards of 90s, low humidity at least. The way back down the other side I found a brook and filtered and just cooled off for a bit.

The little lake was completely flooded and I had to wade through. I didn’t see any animals really, though lots of beaver signs. Didn’t matter much because my feet were already soaked from the trails. If it wasn’t a scramble it was hiking in a stream.

Saw 3-4 groups of people. Met a girl going to school for earth sciences from the area, but she hasn’t really done any 46ers. Met another couple who have done 100s he said. Lives in the area, retired, etc. They were in great shape and sped up the trails, I was jealous. Definitely sucking air. They came over to RPR with me.

One of my favorite parts was being able to see the full traverse that I was heading towards. From Giant (above) you can see Rocky Peak Ridge (center frame, the rocky…peak…), and then down to Bald Peak (left and lower) and beyond.

The RPR climb was nice. I also really liked the birch meadow between RPR and bald peak. But the slog of the last 3 miles was really tough. My knees and ankles were shot. It was a really tough day. Especially with some the higher exposure slabs. Just trying to really dial in and be careful.