Well, I didn’t think I’d have an opportunity to post while on vacation, but my experience has forced me to reflect on an earlier blog post about the pros and cons of bringing technology on vacation. I just spent the last two days in Rocky Mountain National Park, where cell service is basically non-existant.  It was wonderful to get away from the everything for a couple of days without any guilt – no one could expect me to answer emails or phone calls when I couldn’t even receive them! After a rather busy conference, the break was just what I needed.

Of course, here I am today updating my blog! It’s only been two days and it was nice to get back to civilization, if only for the night. I had plenty of emails that needed a response and it certainly has made my life easier to be able to answer them quickly. Hans has enjoyed uploading about a million pictures to Facebook. We’re about to head back into the wilderness for the next few days – we’re spending this week at Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone. I do NOT plan on checking my blog or my email for the most part over these next couple of days, as part of my commitment to getting away.

Hans & I at Andrew's Glacier in Rocky Mountain National Park

But there was one program that I think would have been very helpful yesterday: an Android application called MyTracks. I usually use the program when I run to keep track of my milage, but it would have been fascinating to use yesterday, as Hans & I went for a long hike. We estimate that we went about 15 miles, including well over .5 miles of incline – but I would have loved to know exactly how far we went! I plan on trying out the application on one of our next hikes – provided of course that we can find the required GPS satellites.

While this post may not add any special insights to the topic, it includes some of the thoughts that occurred to me during a rather long hike. But, for all the benefits that new technology may provide, I’m again looking forward to my escape tomorrow!