Here you will find links to blog posts of mine at Medium, where I will share new data science projects, thoughts on various topics in broader science, and maybe even some fun pictures from personal trips and events. Stay tuned and follow me on Medium to get updates on new posts when they occur.
August 23-27, 2018
For years, I had dreamt of exploring
Glacier National Park. I had only first heard of the park at
some point during my graduate studies in Florida, when a friend
visited the park and talked about how glaciologists expected glaciers
would be gone from the park by about 2030. To be honest, however,
I never really knew much about Montana, and my interest was only
piqued in recent years. I had always thought of Montana as a part
of the country with lots of cowboys, horseback riding, and rolling rangeland.....
[Read more on Medium]
Missoula, MT. August 13-21, 2018
My second trip to Montana came a three weeks after my initial stopover
in Big Sky Country. This time, I approached Montana from the West,
carrying a payload of personal effects for my friends who were moving
from Berlin to Missoula. I drove eight hours straight from Seattle
to Missoula, through the very smoky and desert landscape of Central
and Eastern Washington. The western forest fires of Washington, Oregon,
and British Columbia were at their peak during this time, and it
made the whole area look very post-apocalyptic....
[Read more on Medium]
Seattle. August 10-12, 2018
My first arrival in Seattle was at Green Lake, where my new vanlife
friend Francisco
and I went for a swim and cooked some dinner. It
was a Friday late afternoon, and many people were out for run or
swim before beginning their weekend plans. We got to watch a kayak
race across the lake and got invited to have some rooftop patio
drinks with some people who lived around the corner. For those of
you who have been following me on Instagram, you’ll know that this
was just the start to our voyage together across two countries and
two states...
[Read more on Medium]
Canada. August 5-10, 2018
The Black Ball Ferry from Port Angeles, WA to Victoria, BC runs three
times daily. It is possible to reserve spots for a vehicle in advance,
but many people just show up a few hours before departure time in
order to get a stand-by spot the day-of. I got to the port about
4 hours before departure, and was given stand-by number 17 (they
told me I didn’t have a very good chance of making it on the next
boat). In the time between, I grabbed a coffee, got caught up on s
ome emails and writing, and bought some postcards to send to some
friends. Back at the port, I was the next-to-last car to fit onboard the ferry!
[Read more on Medium]
Westport-San Francisco-La Push. July 31–August 5, 2018
After exploring the Olympic National Park for a few days, I wanted
to get in some surfing, but I needed both wax and a new set of fins
for my board. I had heard that there were a few surf shops down in
Westport, WA. I left the beautiful Olympic Peninsula and headed south
along US-101. The drive from Humptulips to Westport is really beautiful.
You pass through a mixture of wetlands, mountains, bays, and forests.
I arrived in Westport and grabbed a campsite in the Twin Harbors State Park...
[Read more on Medium]
Olympic National Park. July 27–30, 2018
After a week in Portland, I felt the call of the wild again, and
figured I’d escape the 95+ degree temperatures inland for the cool
and cloudy pacific coastline. It was a Friday morning, and after
debating whether it would be easier to find a camping spot in Oregon
or Washington (the latter seemed like a better bet), I decided to
head up to the Olympic Peninsula for some hiking, surfing, and exploring of old growth forests...
[Read more on Medium]
Portland. July 20–26, 2018
Portland is one of my favorite cities in the United States. The reasons
I like Portland are some of the same reasons why I found Berlin such
an wonderful place to live. Portland is quirky, weird, eccentric,
liberal, accepting, and has a lot of fun little neighborhoods with
all sorts of food and beer to try. Portland boasts one of the highest
number of breweries per capita in the United States.....
[Read more on Medium]
Lake Chelan & Gifford Pinchot National Forest. July 17–20
After driving 6+ hours each day for a week, I was ready for a break
from the road. I was blessed with the chance not only to spend some
down time relaxing, but to do so with friends and at an incredible
place — Lake Chelan, WA. Lake Chelan is the third deepest state in
the United States and the 26th deepest lake in the world. We rented
a big house on the side of the lake with a dock looking into the
crystal clear water. We spent our two days and two nights at the
house grilling, eating, drinking, slip & sliding, swimming,
deep-soloing the giant rock walls along the lake edge, and just
generally enjoying the company of friends from both Germany and Seattle...
[Read more on Medium]
Theodore Roosevelt is considered the father of the National Park systems in the United States, and was a bit of a wild man and explorer in his own day. Legend has it that he first fell in love with the northern Badlands when he came to the region in search of the rugged western lifestyle and to hunt bison. He invested in a couple of ranches, and it was his time spent exploring the strenuous life outdoors that shaped his conservation philosophy. He felt compelled to preserve much of the country’s natural beauty from being developed and exploited. And thank goodness he did! [Read more on Medium]
I had hoped to document each portion of my road trip, a summary of each day on the road, and the sites I saw along the way. However, I quickly realized two things: (1) My higher-than-expected driving-to-sightseeing ratio would make me too tired to want to sit down and write in the evening, and (2) I would have very little cell service/Wifi over the coming weeks to be able to post blog entries in real-time fashion. That being said… I am still dedicated to share my story with you! So here we go… [Read more on Medium]
Full of optimism and with beautiful blue skies (and finally some cooler temperatures after weeks of humid heat), I woke up this morning as the sun was rising about 5:45am. I figured that if all went well, I should be able to make it to about Toledo, Ohio after a long and solid first day of driving. The plan for the day included about 500 miles of highway, crossing through the Appalachians, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and settling at a small primitive campsite outside Toledo. However, all my plans changed about 50 miles after crossing the Pennsylvania border… [Read more on Medium]
When people think of Berlin, they typically think of techno clubs, graffiti, and perhaps David Hasselhoff, but most commonly think of the Berlin Wall. For many around the world, the Berlin Wall is what defines the city in the history books. And rightfully so, as it divided not just a city, but two countries and millions of people for almost three decades. And even today for people living within the city (and especially for those who grew up here), there remains a strong dichotomy between the East and the West. The neighbourhoods in each side of the city look different. They feel different. The people are different. This becomes even more true when... [Read more on Medium]