I didn’t know this until I’d been here a few days and was scrolling through the Death Valley info on the NPS app: several Star Wars scenes from two of its movies were filmed here. This was a national monument back then, not a national park and national wilderness like it is now, so it was legal […]
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Surprising Death Valley
I feel like I should be saying, “Here, let me show you our slides from our family vacation this summer!” LOL, I have so many pictures, and we’ve been in Death Valley for only two full days so far. I’m going to write a ton of posts with a ton of photos, and you’re going to have […]
Field Trip to the Moon
This is a difficult post to write because I’d rather just show you my photos and leave you with an impression, which would reflect pretty well how I’m feeling about this place. Mystical. Otherworldly. Freaking strange and wonderful. But there’s some serious vulcanism (love that word) going on here (or I should say went on here, […]
Stand in the Place Where You Are
Your feet are going to be on the ground. Your head is there to move you around, so stand. REM Missoula Then and Now To me, this town is filled with ghosts: unpublished writers, slacker pool players, crystal jewelry purveyors, and long-dead mining engineers. People I knew 30 years ago. I keep seeing them in crowds. […]
Beartooth Highway
According to Destination Red Lodge, Beartooth Highway is “the most beautiful roadway in America.” Maybe “roadway” is the operative term here, being used in a very specific way, because I sure do enjoy Highway 101 along the Pacific Coast, and The Going to the Sun Road in Glacier Nat. Park, and even Skyline Drive along the […]
Back to the Mothership
As I mentioned in my post almost exactly a year ago when we were here in Jackson Center, Ohio, there’s only one Airstream factory in the world, and this be it. I’ve heard inspiring/reassuring stories about the 70-year relationship this tiny town has had with the factory, involving how respected the local employees are by […]
This Place Takes the Cake (I Mean, the Sombrero)
This has to be the strangest campground we’ve ever stayed in. I was about to list previous strange ones to prove it, but, come on. Look where we are. You’ve seen the signs on I95 going to and from Florida. And, believe it or not, Tracy and I have both stayed here before (contrary to […]
A Few Perfect Moments
I’ve been sad lately, thinking about a friend who’s been unexpectedly diagnosed with stage IV cancer. The fact that I can’t get on a plane or zip up in my car to see her is also like a gong echoing a reminder that I haven’t seen my son since May. Our one-year anniversary of living […]
A Vast Quiet
When you look out over the sawgrass prairie here in the Everglades—where we’ve been hiking through a very wide, shallow river—you can see far across to the horizon, across limestone flats, with zero signs of mankind. The quiet around you seems surreal. Like time has stopped. In reality there are roads nearby, like this one […]
The Dualities of Key West
Yesterday we drove down to Key West, parked near the cemetery in the middle of the Key that’s called, Old Town, and biked around for the day. If you know how naive I am, you won’t be surprised that it was quite an eye-opening experience for me. I don’t know why I thought Key West was […]
