Kris Burton

Enlarge (credit: Comedy Central)

Futurama is headed to Hulu in its entirety starting on October 16 in the US. That includes all 140 episodes from both Fox and Comedy Central, as well as the four movies, Variety reports.

Futurama aired on Fox from 1998 to 2003. Four DVD movies were then announced in 2006, and Comedy Central picked up the series again in 2010 before concluding the run in 2012. A radio drama was produced as part of the Nerdist podcast last month to promote a popular mobile game, and the series has led to numerous video games, toys, and other works and products. It's one of the best-known stories of a cult hit that found new life after its broadcast network cancellation.

The episodes of Futurama that were produced by Comedy Central are still on US Netflix for now, but you'll have to go to Hulu if you want to stream the entire series from the beginning. That said, Hulu's deal with Fox is not exclusive, so it's always possible that Futurama will show up somewhere else at a later date.

Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Telluride Mountainfilm is one of our favorite film festivals because it offers such a great overall experience. Are you a film buff? Of course you’ll like it. Do you want to have meaningful conversations about conservation and the refugee crisis? This is your place. Do you just wear a lot of puffy jackets? Get in your Toyota Tacoma and see what you’re missing.

Whether or not you can make it out this weekend to the 2017 festival, you can watch some great featured films, many of which will premiere there. We’re anticipating these most.

‘The Last Honey Hunter’

In Nepal, Mauli Dhan Rai climbs rope ladders up cliffs to collect poisonous honey from the world’s largest honeybee. Who doesn’t want to watch that? Plus, it’s directed by Ben Knight, who you probably know from Denali, DamNation, and a great many fish-related films. 

‘Dirtbag: The Legend of Fred Beckey’

If you know climbing, you know Fred Beckey, the now nonagenarian legend who’s both a controversial figure and veritable encyclopedia of the sport. Director Dave O’Leske spent ten years making the film—watching the trailer, you may gather that it has something to do with Beck’s independent and ornery nature. (Expect many variations of, “I don’t care.”) 

‘Lunag Ri’

“Fewer people have been up Lunag Ri than have been on the moon,” says Conrad Anker in the most romantic description of a first ascent we’ve heard in a while. In this documentary, the 54-year-old mountaineer and 26-year-old Austrian sport climber David Lama attempt the 22,661-foot peak together. You may remember the emergency that befell their trip, but you’ll also see Lama’s return to his fatherland (his Nepalese father trained as a trekking guide here) and Anker’s signature mentorship storyline, which never really gets old. 

‘Freedom of the Wheels: For Matt and Will Every Adventure Is a No Brainer’

Pro climbers Matt Segal and Will Stanhope have created another labor-intensive buddy comedy to follow Boys in the Bugs, which made the rounds in festivals earlier this year. This one’s brand new and it takes place on a scooter. Specifically, Segal and Stanhope riding tandem on a scooter for 200 miles to Aspen, Colorado, as an homage to Dumb and Dumber. Our expert analysis predicts that the goofiness of Boys in the Bugs will pale in comparison to this. 

‘Albatross’

You might know Midway Island as the remote piece of land in the North Pacific Ocean that’s become an accidental garbage dump. And you might know Chris Jordan as the creator of a disturbing series of photos showing dead seabirds on the island, their stomachs cut open to reveal a tangle of plastic items. Together, they make for a unique take on the nature documentary. Jordan spent several years traveling to the island to film the tens of thousands of albatross that have died on the island. 

‘Safety Third’

Director Cedar Wright spends a lot of time with Alex Honnold, as many will remember from his Sufferfest series. In Safety Third he spends some time with another astonishingly talented free soloist, Brad Gobright—who has, in fact, been compared to Honnold. The 30-minute edit draws attention to an underrecognized climbing star (with accompanying dirtbag lifestyle quirks, like a diet of sprinkled donuts and scraps from work) and should be crammed with as much humor as any of Cedar Wright’s film. 

‘A Field Guide to Losing Your Friends’

This documentary has a devastating start: Tyler Dunning loses his best friend to terror-related bombings in Uganda in 2010. But things take a hopeful turn when Dunning sets out to visit all 59 U.S. national parks, hoping to find a way to cope. The mission isn’t entirely original, but the parks really do provide touching backdrops for a tough narrative on dealing with grief. 

‘Chocolate Spokes’

Gregory Crichlow is a striking character, not only for the fact that he’s always seen wearing a bow tie but also for his commitment to the bikers of Denver, Colorado's Five Points neighborhood—a historically black and Hispanic neighborhood in the midst of gentrification. Chocolate Spokes is a look at Crichlow’s bike shop of the same name. It is both character study and meditation on the role one custom bike store can play in a community. The director, multihyphenate Brendan Leonard, continues his record of bringing endearing amounts of enthusiasm to any subject he tackles.

‘No Man’s Land’

No Man’s Land takes on the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation just a year after the fact, which could explain why director David Byars makes a point of keeping things “rigorously nonjudgmental.” We’re eager to see how the Mountainfilm grant-winner tackles the much-discussed events. 

‘HAFE: The Story Behind’

The syndrome known as HAFE is an anomaly in the field of emergency medicine—a high-altitude stomach problem with symptoms that sound so tongue-in-cheek, it’s surprising that the Western Journal of Medicine published a serious study about it in 1981. Similarly, HAFE: The Story Behind is a bit of a wildcard at Telluride—six minutes of strange, silly fun. All you need to know of the plot: two medical school grads take a trip into Colorado’s San Juan Mountains and make a very unexpected discovery that we won't spoil here.

Perfect white-sand beaches exist all over Hawaii, but many are filled with sand castles, surfers, beach towels, and oceanfront resorts. Get ready to wander a little off the beaten path on your way to these six blissfully empty beaches.

Kanaio Beach, Maui

The Hoapili Trail starts at a parking area at La Perouse Bay in south Maui and traverses through a barren, lava-strewn landscape for about 2.5 miles to this desolate black-and-white-sand beach. The trail is also known as the King’s Highway because it was once a walking path reserved for royalty. You’ll find remains from an old fishing village along the way.

Kauapea Beach, Kauai

You’ll walk 15 minutes down a steep path before arriving at this flawless strip of gold sand on the north shore of Kauai, bordered by steep cliffs. It isn’t that hard to get to, but Kauapea is often called Secret Beach and is secluded enough that folks occasionally sunbathe naked without anyone noticing. The trailhead isn’t marked, so ask around for directions. You’ll find it near the town of Kilauea, off a dirt path accessed from Kalihiwai Road.

Kapukahehu Beach, Molokai

Also known as Dixie Maru Beach, after a Japanese ship that wrecked near here in the 1920s, this half-moon-shaped favorite sits in a tiny cove on Molokai’s isolated western shore. It’s a well-protected beach flanked by a reef, making it an ideal spot for swimming and snorkeling. You can drive here via a roughly paved road that looks a little like someone’s driveway, accessed from the endpoint of Pohakuloa Road.

Pololu Valley Beach, Hawaii

Drive to the very end of the Kohala Coast’s Highway 270, and then hike the short but steep Awini Trail down a couple of dirt switchbacks to this striking black-sand beach surrounded by sharp lava. The trail to the beach is less than a mile, but if you want more of a trek, the path continues onward to the Honokane Nui Valley Lookout. Water currents are strong here, so it’s best to avoid swimming, and camping isn’t allowed, but you can linger on the beach as long as you’d like.

Halepalaoa Beach, Lanai

The only way to reach Lanai’s Halepalaoa Beach is with an off-road vehicle on a rugged dirt road. (If you’re staying at the Four Seasons Lanai, you can rent a 4x4 Jeep from the adventure center and staff will direct you to the beach.) Located on the eastern side of this sleepy island, this glittering sand beach is named after the whales that once washed ashore here. Once you get there, you’ll likely have the place to yourself.

Alan Davis Beach, Oahu

To get to Alan Davis Beach, you’ll park at the lot for the Makapu’u Lighthouse and walk the mellow Kaiwi Shoreline Trail for about 15 minutes to reach this secluded spot. You’ll spend your day swimming in a protected cove, cliff jumping, and exploring the towering rock formation above the bluff called Pele’s Chair.

One of the world’s best ultra-runners scaled Mount Everest today in a blistering time of just 26 hours.

Kilian Jornet, a renowned Spanish endurance athlete, climbed from the Tibetan side of Everest without the use of supplemental oxygen or fixed ropes. He climbed the traditional route up the North Face, from Base Camp at the ancient Rombuk monastery to the summit, in just 26 hours.

For perspective, it takes most climbers, using supplemental oxygen and fixed ropes, days to reach the peak. But Jornet isn’t a typical climber. He already holds or held speed records on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Mt. Aconcagua, Denali, the Matterhorn, and Mont Blanc. (Editor’s Note: Jornet’s records on Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua fell to Karl Egloff in 2014 and 2015, respectively.)

This was Jornet’s second attempt at Everest. In September 2016 he was turned back by adverse weather conditions.

Everest's Iconic 'Hillary Step' Is No More

Touted as the most difficult feature on Everest, the Hillary Step has collapsed. Read more…

Jornet Everest Speed Ascent

He set out from base camp on the north side of the mountain on May 20 at 10:00 p.m., local time. His plan was to climb from base camp to the summit and back.

He reached the summit after 26 hours, but became ill during the descent. He changed plans during descent and stopped to rest at a higher camp — advanced base camp — stopping the clock on the round-trip attempt at 38 hours.

“Until I reached 7,700m I felt good and was going according to my planning,” he said in his Summits of My Life blog; “But there I started to feel stomach ache, I guess due to [a] stomach virus. From there I have moved slowly and stopping every few steps to recover. However, I made it to the summit at midnight.”

A New FKT?

Jornet claimed a new FKT (fastest known time) on his blog. He wrote:

“The climb, which forms part of the Summits of My Life project, sets a new ‘Fastest Known Time’ of 26 hours from the Everest Base Camp (5,100 m) to the summit at 8,484 m.”

Jornet’s effort was incredibly fast. Several other climbers claimed to have climbed it faster, though. On May 21, 2004, Pemba Dorje Sherpa, claimed a time of 8 hours, 10 minutes, up the South Col. That record remains unofficial and disputed to this day.

Fewer than 200 people have summited Everest without oxygen, an incredibly difficult accomplishment.

Hats off to Kilian Jornet for once again pushing the limits of what is humanly possible.

The post Kilian Jornet Climbs Everest In 26 Hours appeared first on GearJunkie.

I, like many of you, dream about owning a tricked-out Sprinter or Tacoma and living on the road. But that’s not possible with a full-time job and limited funds. So I’ve been exploring alternative options for weekend adventuring.

Most recently, I came across Hiker Trailer, a company that makes well-built and surprisingly affordable teardrop-style towables. Instead of the outrageous $20,000 price tag you see on many teardrops, its trailers are usually well under $10,000—and often in the $5,000 range. Curious to see how well one worked, I called the company and asked for a demo. My wife and I have been using it for the past three months. 

Driving

I first found Hiker Trailer at last year’s Overland Expo West, and its headquarters is in Denver, Colorado. In February, my wife and I visited while en route to Jackson Hole and picked up the demo. (There’s now a rental program, too, so you can try before you buy.) We tested a five-by-eight-foot Deluxe model, which is the mid-tier and most popular option. It costs $4,700 for the base and weighs 780 pounds, so you can tow it with a Subaru. However, our demo came with several additional goodies—solar panels, an awning, a heavy-duty axle, a rear galley-style door, and roof rack components—which drove the weight up to 1,300 pounds and the price up to about $9,000.   

On the road, the trailer was simple to pull, just like a small U-Haul. There was zero fishtailing, and because I drive a Toyota Tundra, which has a large towing capacity, we often forgot we had a trailer attached to the back. The only caveat: we did find it hard to back up. The Deluxe is fairly long for its size and can jackknife due to its single axle. That said, if you get into a backup bind, you can unhitch the trailer and move it easily by hand.

Exterior

The rear swing-out door on our model opens up to reveal enough storage for a tricked-out camp kitchen plus several Rubbermaid bins. Below that door there’s an integrated receiver hitch, where we attached a Thule bike rack for a long weekend of mountain biking in Utah.

Up top we also had a roof box and racks where we hauled our skis on the way to Jackson. Both of those sat on a Rhino Rack Pioneer Platform, which also held a Rhino Rack Foxwing swing-out awning that provides 270 degrees of protection. Our Foxwing came with the Tapered Zip Extension accessories, so we had zip-on tent walls that hung down from the awning and effectively tripled our living space. The awning and walls held up well to rain, and the awning itself created a lot of shade during sunny afternoons in the desert.

For solar, we had two 20-watt Zamp panels mounted to the trailer’s front storage box and another 40-watt portable Zamp panel kit that we could deploy at camp. All the panels hooked up to an inverter and charged a battery that ran the trailer’s electrical system.

Interior

The five-by-eight-foot queen-size bed in our trailer came with a four-inch memory-foam mattress that was almost as comfy as our bed at home. With a down quilt and some sheets, plus a small portable space heater, we stayed warm while camping in snow and near-freezing temperatures in Montana, Utah, and Arizona, despite the lack of insulation in the walls. The trailer and doors are sealed incredibly well to keep out the elements, so it’s important to crack a window or run the included venting fan at night. While it isn’t intended to be a winter camper, you can make it work in cold temperatures. It’s certainly nicer than a tent.

There are integrated lights in the rear hatch and above the bed that run off the solar panels and the included car battery. It was nice to flip a switch and be able to cook at night or read before bed without having to fumble with a headlamp. There’s also a power strip in the rear hatch and USB ports above the bed, both of which made charging gadgets like phones, cameras, and computers a breeze. We never drained the battery when just charging gadgets, but we did run the battery dry one night by using the space heater. If you’re in a campsite with an electricity hookup, the electrical system can be plugged in.

The Competition 

There are a lot of other high-quality camping trailers out there, from off-road expedition-style trailers like the Moby XTR that starts at $18,500 to the Airstream Sport 16' that starts at $44,383. But in terms of amenities and intended use, the closest competitors to Hiker Trailer are Colorado Teardrops Basedrop, Timberleaf Camping Trailer, Sylvan Sport Go, So-Cal Teardrops 509 Sierra, and American Teardrop Falcon. The average base price of those trailers is $12,031, and only the American Teardrop Falcon comes anywhere close to the Hiker, with a starting price of $7,445. None of these trailers offer much more in the way of amenities (like a sink, standing room) than the model we tested, and in some cases, they offer less. The Sylvan Sport Go is an innovative, super-cool camping and gear-hauling trailer, but at $9,995 you don’t even get hard-sided walls. And while it’s true that a Hiker Trailer’s price can add up quickly when you start adding accessories like a solar-powered electrical system, roof rack, and custom cabinetry, that’s the case with all of these brands as well.   

Should You Buy One?

While testing, I was constantly trying to figure out where the Hiker fits into the long list of adventure-vehicle options outside of its immediate competitors. If you already own a truck, something like a slide-in camper from 4WheelCampers could be more versatile and give you some additional living space (with room to stand), but you’re going to spend a lot more there as well. A camper shell and a sleeping platform or rooftop tent will give you a lot of the benefits of a Hiker Trailer, albeit with fewer amenities and less storage space.  

Here’s what finally sold me: the organization and ease of use. My wife and I left our demo full of camping gear and parked in our driveway, ready to go at a minute’s notice. That’s not something you can do with a truck and rooftop tent, where to need to reload all your bedding and camping supplies. You could, in theory, leave a fully packed slide-in on your truck, but that would eat gas. You could also build out a camper van, but then you’ve got another vehicle to maintain.

More simply put, if you want to camp a lot, want a setup that’s easy to use and pull, and don’t want to take out a second mortgage, there’s currently no better option. 

It’s hard to believe, but summer is just a few short weeks away, and if you haven’t already begun planning, you may have a tough time making reservations for the most popular Virginia vacation destinations. But this doesn’t necessarily have to be bad news; there are plenty of interesting places around the Commonwealth that offer endless fun without the summer tourist crowds. Read on to learn about four of the best-kept secret spots for a summer getaway that are both memorable and exciting.

The Well-Known Virginia Vacation: Touring Virginia’s State Parks

A Lesser Known Virginia Vacation: ATV, River, and Other Outdoor Adventures in Southwest Virginia

With incredible destinations like the Clinch and New Rivers, Spearhead Trails, Mount Rogers, Breaks Interstate Park, and Burke’s Garden, Southwest Virginia is a veritable utopia of outdoor recreation. Kayak the New River to explore the region on the rushing water, or if you are a mountain bike or ATV lover, head to the Spearhead Trails systems, which wind through more than 350 miles of Southwest Virginia mountains and valleys. The latest addition, Haysi’s Ridgeview, added over 60 miles to the trails, welcoming dirt bikers, mountain bikers, ATV riders, and hikers to take in the spectacular views from the mountain peaks.

Where to Stay:

• Saint Paul Suites & Cottages—Saint Paul
• The Inn at Wise—Wise
• Foxtail Orchards Cabins & Campground—Tazewell

Where to Eat:

• Frosty Bossie—Coeburn
• Seven Restaurant—Tazewell
• Fisher & Company—Tazewell
• Woodbooger Grill—Norton
• Cuz’s Updtown Barbeque—Pounding Mill

Bonus Destinations: Follow some of the 300 miles of the Crooked Road through Southwest Virginia to hear the sounds of Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail. Stop at major venues along the way like the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol and Rex Theater in Galax and learn about the legends that put Virginia’s mountain music on the map. Next, head to the Southwest Virginia Museum in Big Stone Gap to learn more about the region’s history.

More Extreme Outdoor Vacation Ideas

The Well-Known Virginia Vacation: Shenandoah National Park

A Lesser Known Virginia Vacation: Explore George Washington & Jefferson National Forest

Shenandoah National Park has become a legend, with songs, poems, and letters penned by famous authors memorializing the stunning scenery of the landscape, and for good reason. The park is one of the most beautiful in the world, bringing thousands to see the views with their own eyes each year. However, the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests also contain impressive scenic beauty that is not to be missed. These national forests combined in 1995 to form a 1,664,110-acre park through the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, running all the way from the Tennessee border in Southwest Virginia to the northwest corner along the West Virginia state line. You can hike or bike the over 2,200 miles of trails, fish, kayak, or canoe the 2,300 miles of streams, or simply take a drive to admire the wildlife and abundance of native plants untouched by civilization. To get the full experience out of this summer vacation, consider skipping the hotels and staying at one of the national forest’s many campgrounds.

Where to Stay:

• The Omni Homestead Resort—Hot Springs
• The Inn at Riverbend—Pearisburg
• Bryce Resort—Bayse
• The Hotel Roanoke—Roanoke
• Mountain Lake Lodge—Pembroke
• The Highland Inn—Monterey

Where to Eat:

• The Swinging Bridge Restaurant—Paint Bank
• Waterwheel Restaurant—Warm Springs
• Graze on Main—Wytheville
• Scratch Biscuit Company—Roanoke
• Three L’il Pigs—Daleville
• Bar.Food—Harrisonburg

Bonus Destinations: The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests cover hundreds of miles of Virginia, and there is plenty to keep you busy the entire vacation. Relax in the natural hot springs of Jefferson Pools, located in Warm Springs just a few minutes from the iconic Homestead Resort. Stop by Burke’s Garden in Tazewell, an awe-inspiring mountain-ringed valley known as “God’s Thumbprint because of its aerial appearance. If you’re a film buff, plan a visit to Mountain Lake Lodge, the film location of the 1986 movie “Dirty Dancing” (this year just happens to be the film’s 30^th anniversary!). The resort also offers all kinds of fun activities for both the kids and the adults, including zip-lining, a five-story water slide, archery tag, and Bubble Ball, where teams compete in giant inflatable body balls.

The Well-Known Virginia Vacation: Colonial Williamsburg

A Lesser Known Virginia Vacation: Take the Journey through Hallowed Ground

Stretching northeast from Charlottesville to Leesburg, the Journey Through Hallowed Ground traces a historic route of presidential history through some of Virginia’s most gorgeous countryside. Begin at James Monroe’s Highland, where you can take tours of the Presidential Guest Home and the grounds, which have been reconstructed to resemble their original designs. Just a few miles down the road is Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, known as one of Jefferson’s most inspired architectural masterpieces. Take a tour of the former president’s home, and then stroll through the artfully manicured gardens, which are in full bloom during the summer months. Next, drive north about 45 minutes to Montpelier, home of President James Madison. Walking trails encircle the property, allowing you to see the grounds after you tour the home and a few of the 135 historic buildings on-site. Follow the route north to President James Monroe’s former northern Virginia estate, Oak Hill, located in Loudoun County. While the home is not open for public tours, visitors are welcome to tour the grounds.

Where to Stay:

• The Graduate Hotel—Charlottesville
• Clifton Inn—Charlottesville
• The Inn at Willow Grove—Orange
• Chestnut Hill Bed and Breakfast—Orange
• Poplar Springs Inn & Spa—Warrenton
• Salamander Resort & Spa—Middleburg
• Goodstone Inn—Middleburg
• Lansdowne Resort & Spa—Leesburg

Where to Eat:

• Citizen Burger Bar—Charlottesville
• Mas—Charlottesville
• The Bavarian Chef—Madison
• Vintage—Orange
• Red Truck Bakery—Warrenton
• Claire’s at the Depot—Warrenton
• Red Fox Inn Restaurant—Middleburg
• Melt—Leesburg

Bonus Destinations: Walk through the University of Virginia campus, also designed by Thomas Jefferson. Don’t miss seeing the Rotunda, built by Jefferson as a smaller version of Rome’s historic Pantheon, on the North end of the Lawn, a rectangular grass space enclosed by the original college dormitories (Edgar Allen Poe even lived in one of these!). Stop in to one of Charlottesville’s many breweries or wineries like Champion Brewing Company or Jefferson Vineyards for a refreshing break from the historic tours. As you head north, you’ll get into Loudoun’s wine country, which features more than three dozen wine tasting rooms, or if you’re more of a beer fan, check out the LoCo Ale Trail.

More Iconic History Places

The Well-Known Virginia Vacation: Virginia Beach

A Lesser Known Virginia Vacation: The Eastern Shore of Virginia

When people think of summer vacation in Virginia, one of the first thoughts that comes to mind is a family trip to Virginia Beach or the more residential beach neighborhood of Sandbridge. And there are sound reasons for this; Virginia Beach and Sandbridge offer many upscale places to stay at affordable prices, there are a bevy of fantastic and fresh seafood restaurants in the vicinity, and the experience of simply lying in the sun and listening to the Atlantic Ocean crash into the shoreline is virtually unbeatable.

However, during the busiest weeks of summer, you may want to find a quiet and peaceful alternative for your vacation, and the Eastern Shore of Virginia provides just that. The area is still relatively undisturbed, with quaint towns packing lots of local charm dotting the coastline. One such town is Cape Charles, sitting on the southern end of the Eastern Shore. The town may be the best-kept secret of Virginia, providing upscale lodging, dining, and tasteful shopping options all within walking distance, as well as a quiet beach area for the beach bums looking to catch some rays during their summer vacation. Further up the shore, towns like Exmore, Wachapreague, Onancock, and Chincoteague welcome visitors to stay a while and experience what life is like on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

Where to Stay:

• Lodges or Yurts at Kiptopeke State Park—Cape Charles
• Fig Street Inn—Cape Charles
• Sunset Beach Inn—Cape Charles
• Hotel Cape Charles—Cape Charles
• Charlotte Hotel & Restaurant—Onancock
• The Inn at Onancock—Onancock
• Refuge Inn—Chincoteague Island
• Channel Bass Inn Bed and Breakfast—Chincoteague Island

Where to Eat:

• Brown Dog Ice Cream—Cape Charles
• The Shanty—Cape Charles
• The Oyster Farm Seafood Eatery—Cape Charles
• The Island House Restaurant—Wachapreague
• Mallards at the Wharf—Onancock
• Island Creamery—Chincoteague Island
• Bill’s Prime Seafood & Steaks—Chincoteague Island
• AJ’s on the Creek—Chincoteague Island

Bonus Destinations: Kiptopeke State Park invites guests to learn about Chesapeake Bay ecology and the natural history of the region while enjoying a variety of outdoor activities. You can kayak or fish the Bay, hike the miles of maintained trails through the state park, or head to the park’s swimming beach to get a firsthand look at the Bay. If you’re interested in learning about the Chesapeake Bay while also getting out on the water, book a kayak tour with SouthEast Expeditions, which leads trips out of Cape Charles, Onancock, and Chincoteague. They provide several interesting tours for every type of traveler, including kayak trips to great Virginia wines at Chatham Vineyards in Machipongo, a guided paddle through the Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge, and an aqua-culture tour where you’ll harvest your own clams for dinner.

Another must-see stop on the Eastern Shore of Virginia is the Assateague Island National Seashore, a protected barrier island off the eastern side of the peninsula complete with miles of pristine white sand beaches, a historic lighthouse, and of course, the beautiful wild ponies made famous in the classic book “Misty of Chincoteague”. Finally, take a ferry from Onancock to Tangier Island, a remote island off the coast accessible only by air or sea, which has been called the “Soft-Shell Crab Capital of the World”.

More Hidden Beaches for Summer Fun

Look for a part two to this article to discover a few additional lesser-known Virginia destinations that you should consider visiting for your summer vacation this year!

© pkeppel for Virginia's Travel Blog, 2017. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: family friendly, outdoor lovers, summer vacations, Virginia Outdoors

A Millennial job applicant recently “savaged” Georgetown-educated attorney Jonathan Pollard on employer-review platform Glassdoor, all for the minor crime of redlining her writing sample in the course of rejecting the unfortunate applicant. Jonathan, himself an older Millennial, penned a cliché-laden response on LinkedIn that, as these things tend to do, spread like wildfire through the intended demographic:

Real talk: There are many wonderful, hard-working, well-adjusted millennials out there. But don’t kid yourself: There has been a dramatic generational shift. I graduated from Cornell in 2004. Back then, college was still a sort of rough and tumble place. You know, people had different ideas and might say stuff that offended you. There weren’t trigger warnings and safe spaces. If you got a bad grade, then you got a bad grade. You couldn’t be all like, “Professor, I demand you change my grade because you didn’t take into account how I’m triggered and in personal turmoil over the riots in Baltimore even though I grew up rich in Fairfax, Virginia and have no real, personal connection to that situation but, like, it really is part of my entire being and I’m woke as F but really triggered too. So this C you gave me is really a microaggression. I deserve an A.

Of course, Jonathan got the attention he was looking for. When one panders to an audience’s existing biases, rewards soon follow. And on LinkedIn, the audience consists disproportionately of grumpy hiring managers tired of dealing with under-qualified clowns. Hiring is hard and makes one grumpy. Hell, I’ve also published grumpy hiring manager advice.

But, entitlement is not a “Millennial” thing, nor a new thing at all — and let’s get real: if you graduated from Cornell in 2004 like Jonathan, you didn’t go to school in a very different culture than today’s campus environments. Insofar as there’s indeed a helicopter parenting, “everybody gets a trophy” culture, it’s driven by Boomer parents, like the ones who presumably raised Jonathan himself. In fact, the movie The Incredibles, which features a super-dad frustrated with exactly that culture… came out in 2004.

From the 1904 book “The Psychology of Adolescence” comes the following complaint about permissive parenting & entitled youth:

“Never has youth been exposed to such dangers of both perversion and arrest as in our own land and day. Increasing urban life with its temptations, prematurities, sedentary occupations, and passive stimuli just when an active life is most needed, early emancipation and a lessening sense for both duty and discipline, the haste to know and do all befitting man’s estate before its time, the mad rush for sudden wealth and the reckless fashions set by its gilded youth — all these lack some of the regulatives they still have in older lands with more conservative conditions.”

“The Mother’s Journal and Family Visitant” published the following complaint in 1853:

“… see the simpering little beau of ten gallanting home the little coquette of eight, each so full of self-conceit and admiration of their own dear self, as to have but little to spare for any one else… and confess that the sight is both ridiculous and distressing… the sweet simplicity and artlessness of childhood, which renders a true child so interesting, are gone (like the bloom of the peach rudely nipped off) never to return.”

And from Horace, in 20 BC:

“Our sires’ age was worse than our grandsires’. We, their sons, are more worthless than they; so in our turn we shall give the world a progeny yet more corrupt.”

Complaining about lax parenting, youthful entitlement, and selfish young adults predates the New Testament, the printing press, the Magna Carta, the Renaissance, and the fall of the Roman Empire!

Jonathan, you are in good company among many of your peers who will applaud you for “saying what nobody else has the guts to say” (even though exactly what you’re saying has already been said on LinkedIn, on Facebook, on Medium, in the pages of The Atlantic, on national television, in Hollywood films, and by every working standup comic in America…) But the truth is: just like the young person you vilified is playing her preordained role in society by fighting back against pretty much everything without discernment or self-awareness — as young people have been doing since we lived in trees — you, too, are playing a preordained role, as the curmudgeonly Smaug sitting on his pile of gold and explaining why The Youths aren’t good enough to part him from it.

The truth is simultaneously simpler and more complex than your “Millennials suck” theory: There are a lot of assholes in the world. Assholes, when young, tend to rail against authority and the system. Assholes, when old, tend to rail against change and young people. When a young asshole meets an old asshole, this precise exchange plays out, as it has for literally thousands of years.

The young asshole demands something she hasn’t earned, reasoning that the older person has it, and he’s no better than her, so she ought to get it too. The old asshole takes a moment to demonstrate his superior wisdom, unrealistically expecting to receive enthusiastic thanks for the lesson. The young asshole responds by calling the old asshole an asshole. The old asshole, in turn, thumps his fist on the table and decries the moral decay of the younger generation, insisting that when he was a young asshole, he thanked all the old assholes for helping him grow! He appreciated those assholes and their tough love! He learned his lesson!

….and so he did, but he’s since forgotten all the time he spent resenting those old assholes, pointing out their unearned authority, and describing the frailties of the system that endowed them with that authority. Eventually, of course, he learned the system, and became, himself, an old asshole with authority. Which is a good position to be in, until a young asshole comes along to ruin your day.

This was originally posted as a LinkedIn comment, which I left on Pollard’s article some days ago and forgot about until I received a flurry of LinkedIn connection requests from people who “didn’t want to miss any more of (my) writing,” at which point I reasoned that perhaps I should publish it here.

Your “Millennial Entitlement” Screed Says More About You Than About Kids Today was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

On Sunday, a man was forcibly dragged off a United flight headed from Chicago to Louisville after he refused to give up his seat to a United employee who “needed to be in Louisville” for a flight the following day, The Courier-Journal reports.

Read more...

Jon Jafari is a popular YouTube gamer and comedian better known as JonTron. He’s the founder of Normalboots—a network of channels including Did You Know Gaming and Peanutbuttergamer—and was the original cohost of the “Let’s Play” channel Game Grumps. Between those projects, Jafari wields influence over an estimated 12…

Read more...

Seven feet of headroom, auto-leveling chassis, and a pressurization snorkel to combat sandstorms are just some of the goodies packed into this mean-looking Aussie camper.

Don’t judge a book by its cover. Nowhere is that more apparent than with the Bruder EXP-6 adventure trailer. Looking at this thing from the outside, one might assume it’s loaded with a blacksmithing forge or 1,000-pound silverback gorilla.

But one would be wrong. The EXP-6 trailer, for all its foreboding gunmetal-grey and sharp angles, was designed for one thing: comfort.

The $80,000 evolution of the family camper fuses luxury amenities into an overland-capable pull-behind.

Bruder EXP-6 Camper

Though the brand offers customization packages as aggressive as “military” uses, the basic form was constructed with family outings in mind. It stretches 22 feet long and is less than 6½ feet wide. That’s about the same as most SUVs, so this thing tracks fine wherever your car can fit. And Bruder claims its svelte profile means drivers won’t need extended mirrors to see around it.

The double-axle chassis is equipped with eight vertically mounted shock absorbers and a remote-operated independent air suspension system. This means you can lower it for highway driving without scraping any overpasses, and raise it up for off-road ground clearance.

The body is a 30mm-thick composite material Bruder touts is “up to 50 percent lighter than conventional constructions,” though it doesn’t state what the composite is. The base model EXP-6 tips just over 3,700 lbs.

It certainly isn’t the lightest camper we’ve seen, but given the size it’s not very heavy. And the brand markets the EXP-6 as compatible with any common SUV, including Land Cruisers and Audis.

Overland Glamping

The EXP-6 might even be more capable than the 4WD towing it. It has up to 12 inches travel between its wheels, a built-in Warn winch, and a pressurization snorkel for dusty environments. When activated the snorkel pulls in filtered air and creates positive pressure inside the trailer, forcing dust particles outside.

The chassis is also sealed airtight, keeping water, muck, and corroding agents out.

Once you’ve tackled the harsh environs and found the right camping spot, set the EXP-6 to “camping mode.” Push a button and the trailer self-levels, the rear hatch lifts to reveal external shower and main door, and the pop-top extends to allow up to 7-feet of interior standing room.

Inside, the bathroom contains a hot shower, retractable sink, and flush toilet. There’s also a second shower accessible from outside.

Bruder states the camper can sleep six. It comes equipped with a dedicated queen-size bed and a fold-out sofa that sleeps two in the “lounge” area. Bunkbeds for two more people can be installed near the ceiling as an add-on.

A stainless steel kitchen sink and diesel-powered ceramic cooktop are accessed from inside and outside the vehicle. And you can add an interior fridge-freezer.

A port-side hatch on the exterior reveals full kitchen storage and a small galley, complete with fridge-freezer pull-out drawer (units sold as an option). Potable, filtered water comes from three tanks that hold up to 200 liters total.

For power, a 260-amp solar power system is included. And 200-400-amps of battery power come standard. There’s also a Bose sound system, LED adjustable mood lighting, and windows on both walls and the ceiling.

Glampiest of all? You control all climate, suspension, and mechanical diagnostics remotely or through an app.

Bruder is taking orders now and it will ship units to North America. But there’s a nine-month waiting list so far. Check it out if you want to have your adventure and sleep comfortably through it, too.

The post Drag This $80K Camper Into The Wild appeared first on GearJunkie.

A month after Facebook sponsored an inauguration party with conservative website The Daily Caller, the social network shows no sign of slowing down its budding romance with the American right. Last night, The Daily Beast reported that Facebook is sponsoring the Conservative Political Action Conference, which begins…

Read more...

First teased back in June of last year, we got our first official photos of some of the new Playmobil Ghostbusters sets a little later in the year in October. But as the toys move closer to finally being available come May of this year, Playmobil is revealing all of the details at the Nuremberg International Toy Fair…

Read more...

The far right wants to return to a time when men were men, and women were sanctified mothers or whores. Let’s call this by its proper name

If someone declared publicly that some of their best friends were racists, there would surely be a sharp intake of liberal breath – even if they were to follow it up with the “I just like to get out of my echo chamber and have friends of all political persuasions” argument. Tolerance has it limits. Being openly racist is at that limit. Being openly misogynistic, however, is apparently fine. How else can we have TV host and blancmange of smugness Piers Morgan boasting of his friendship with Donald Trump while declaring himself a feminist and a supporter of women’s rights? As Trump – surrounded by his consiglieri, the newly made men, nervous of their Twitter-y boss – signs an executive order that will result in the death of women, I care not for an explanation of how Trump isn’t as bad as he seems. He is.

I care not for these delusional men crawling out like woodlice from under a rotting log. In turn, they each tell us they support feminism while doing it down. There is a slew of them everywhere you look. Conservatives posing as radicals. They often claim to love women, but are impelled to impart common sense; the segregated golf-bore wisdom of “funny chaps, women”. They know what women want. They are all for equality, just not extremity. They laud each other for saying dull things routinely deemed “unsayable”. This is wit, we are told, this predictability – iconoclasm even – this grey, elderly skewering of liberalism. It is enlivened only when one of these primates lamps another.

My overwhelming schedule left me exhausted and empty. Here’s how I fought back.

I am a robot, programmed to obliterate my to-do list. During the day, I direct a research laboratory, write papers, and teach classes as a professor of psychology at the University of Arizona. Come 4:30 pm, I run a kid limousine service, shuttling between various activities, preparing dinner, helping with homework and the evening routine. I scurry through these activities — often missing the moments of joy embedded in everyday life — until I have some sort of nightly electrical shortage, then crash out on the couch. I reboot in the morning and do it all again.

I am addicted to busyness. I am embarrassed to say it, largely because I am lucky to have a wonderful life, a great career and, to be fair, the struggles, demands, and slings-and-arrows are all of my own doing (especially the part about having kids; I know I was there for that).

I created this mess — a life at breakneck speed from the moment I wake until I finally watch 30 minutes of Netflix before drifting off. But, I recently hit rock bottom, feeling as if I was going through the motions of my life rather than truly living it.

I’m not the only one who feels overwhelmed — you probably do too

I don’t think I am alone in my feelings about busyness, nor do I think these feelings are especially new for the average working adult. I might be alone at my rock bottom, but there are many indicators that we are feeling more over-committed, over-scheduled, over-tired, and over-burdened than ever before.

Brigid Schulte, in her 2014 book, Overwhelmed, writes incisively about this trend, “So much do we value busyness, researchers have found a human ‘aversion’ to idleness and need for ‘justifiable busyness.’” My favorite example from her book: Researchers can track the rise of busyness in holiday cards dating back to the 1960s. In holiday cards, Americans used to share news about our lives (the joys and sorrows of the year), but now we’re more likely than ever to mention how busy we are as well.

As a clinical psychologist, I have worked with many people who are trying to make substantial changes — from improving a marriage to overcoming generalized anxiety or depression. The idea that these changes begin with acknowledging that there’s a problem is a truism. Personal responsibility is the vehicle for behavior change. When it came to my busyness, though, I had what might be described as extreme difficulty looking beyond the hamster wheel. (Professionally, people in my line of work call this “very little insight.”)

I don’t think I am busier than anyone else. My wife and friends are just as busy as me. I think the difference is that I became aware of my busyness and started hating it. I was feeling claustrophobic in my own life. I asked my wife if I could retire and get some time back in the day. (She said no.) Then, I started to wonder about the opposite of busyness. I thought immediately of the slow food movement. I needed a slow food movement in my everyday life.

I realized busyness had devoured my values

The first change took root for me about 18 months ago when the graduate program that I direct started teaching Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (pronounced as the single word ACT) to our doctoral students, who are future clinical psychologists. ACT is a scientifically-validated psychotherapy treatment for a range of mental health problems. Basically, it’s a form of talk therapy.

A central tenant of ACT is that emotional pain is driven in large part by getting over-involved in difficult experiences and thoughts (that is, going over-and-over things in our mind; getting stuck in our experiences; and being unable to create any psychological distance between yourself and the terribleness of things). Consequently, when we become stuck on or in our emotional pain, we go through each day in a way that is disconnected from our core values — the essential principles that, ideally, come to guide our lives. In ACT, value-centered living is paramount, and a big part of the treatment is to help people separate themselves from the painful language in their heads (“This is so awful. I feel so terrible.”) to get on with the business of living a meaningful life.

As I learned more about ACT and started incorporating its methods into my psychotherapy practice with clients, something important dawned on me: Busyness devoured my values. I was working, parenting, loving, emailing, and exercising in a sort of mindless way, just doing and doing. Busyness is not, nor was it ever, a guiding principle in my life. Yet, I had let the inertia of doing take deep root without realizing what was happening to me. To get more out of life — more meaning, more joie de vivre — I needed to start doing less and to become more conscious about my choices.

How I started to reclaim my life from busyness

I started with a simple value: being outside. I am a regular exerciser, but I was losing touch with being outside and moving my body through space. I began walking more, that’s all. It was not a hard change to make — I just park a little further from work and hoof it a bit more or I go for a nice stroll during lunch. It would not be an overstatement to say that an additional 40 minutes a day of walking just two or three times a week has changed me in a profound way. Walking provides time to think, to be energized by nature, and to feel less frenzied. Quite dramatically, I am much less of a robot and much more of a human being.

Next, I focused on valuing idleness. I do not mean being a sloth, only that I was coming to see the value of doing as little as possible for long periods of time. I just finished Tim Kreider’s incredibly thoughtful and hilarious book of essays, We Learn Nothing. The audiobook includes a bonus chapter entitled Laziness: A Manifesto. Kreider writes, “This busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness. Obviously your life cannot possibly be silly, or trivial, or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked every hour of the day. All this noise, and rush, and stress seem contrived to cover up some fear at the center of our lives.”

I cannot say if I my busyness was a hedge against some sort of existential emptiness, but all the doing certainly left me feeling empty in the end. Now, with idleness in mind, I just park myself on the couch as often as possible and see what happens. Mostly, I am looking for an opportunity to enjoy the moments of life in an unstructured way; I am looking for more play. In my idleness last night, I spent a long time just tickling my 5-year-old daughter, pretending to scare her, and lying on my back with her in “airplane position” while she perfected a move she called the hummingbird. That was the best half-hour of my year so far. What is more, I’ve found that the less I work, the better my work actually is in the end, from the ability to attend to students and clients to the creative energies needed for doing science.

As part of my effort to create time and space for doing less, I also got off Facebook. At first, I was simply trying to escape the toxicity of the election on social media. In time, though, I realized I was also escaping an attentional black hole, one with an incredible gravitational pull. I would never willfully stand in the middle of a room noisy room with everyone screaming for my attention, yet this is best metaphor I can think of to describe my mind on Facebook. I was weak and could not resist its forces, fair enough, but I also started to see it as filler and fluff. When I got past my FOMO and let it go, I gained many moments back in my day.

I’ve also tried to get serious about laughing more. For me, busyness’s neighbor is seriousness. Seriousness is over-rated, and I feel much healthier and even childlike when I am not taking myself so seriously, and when I am trying to make other people laugh.

Finally, my relationships. In my days of busyness, I loathed the work pop-in; too many unscheduled interruptions. Now, I’m coming to appreciate people dropping by to say hello and to joke around (see: laughter). My door is a little more open, so to speak. I am also focusing on my local drinking club, where a few friends have been going for beers together for several years. Sometimes, I am too busy and have to miss, but that really bothers me now. Friendships are sustenance, just like food.

Have I sustained these changes? Sort of. I am working as much as ever and find it hard to not get sucked into the trappings of busyness. Sometimes, I look at my schedule shout to myself, “Too much, too much!” When this is the case, I just go for a walk. Or, I just get on the floor and mess with my kids. Or, I follow the mantra of our club, “Relax, have a homebrew.” (If my busyness freak-out is in the morning, I do wait for the homebrew, in case you’re wondering. At least until lunch.)

By and large, though, I am feeling better than I have in a long time — more deliberate in the choices I make, more connected to the people around me, and more energized for the demands of the day. The surprising irony here, for me at least, is that by doing less, I am getting way more out life. I have banished my inner robot.

David Sbarra, PhD, is a professor of psychology at the University of Arizona. His new ebook, Love, Loss, and the Space Between, is available on Amazon.

First Person is Vox's home for compelling, provocative narrative essays. Do you have a story to share? Read our submission guidelines, and pitch us at firstperson@vox.com.

Virginia’s first execution in more than a year lasted 48 minutes, about a half hour longer than expected, raising questions about the controversial drug used in this case and several botched cases of capital punishment.

After receiving a cocktail of lethal injection drugs Wednesday night, 37-year-old Ricky Gray, convicted of murdering a family of four in 2006, was pronounced dead at 9:42 p.m at Greensville Correctional Center. Corrections officials hid Gray from view behind a curtain for more than 30 minutes, raising questions about the process. The prison said Thursday the delay was due to difficulty finding a vein to place the intravenous line, according to the Richmond Times Dispatch. Gray was also heard breathing heavily and “snored loudly several times” after receiving the injection, the Associated Press reported.

Gray was sentenced to death after cutting the throats of a Richmond couple and their 9-year-old and 4-year-old daughters while high on PCP on New Year’s Day 2006.

In Gray’s case, the Virginia Department of Corrections used midazolam, a drug at the center of the heated debate over the death penalty’s constitutionality. Midazolam has been used in several high-profile botched executions, like Joseph Wood’s in Arizona. Prison officials injected Wood, who finally died after two hours, with 15 times more lethal injection drugs than required.

Critics of midazolam equate its use to cruel and unusual punishment because of its questionable effectiveness in putting someone to sleep. Midazolam is used to sedate an inmate, followed by rocuronium bromide, which stops their breathing, and then potassium chloride, which stops their heart.

While current Virginia law allows death row inmates to choose between death by electrocution and lethal injection, Gray appealed to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, requesting a stay of his execution based on the potential unconstitutionality of Virginia’s drug secrecy laws. Passed in April 2016, the laws allows pharmacies — which Virginia’s Department of Corrections hire to concoct the drugs — to conceal their identities. The Supreme Court, which upheld the constitutionality of midazolam for use in executions last year, declined to intervene. Gray’s execution was the first under the new drug secrecy laws.

In 2016, the Associated Press filed a Freedom of Information Request and found that Virginia had paid $66,000 to an unnamed pharmacy for vials of midazolam and potassium chloride. That’s 63 times as much as the state paid in 2015 for the same drug package.

Prison officials in death penalty states have increasingly turned to midazolam amid a nationwide shortage of more traditional lethal injection drugs, caused, in part, by the refusal by European labs to export them to the U.S. to be used as a tool of capital punishment.