Moving Is The Closest Thing To Being Free
Hello from our latest (but not greatest) stop of Fresno, California – a city I mostly know from the Fresno chile, often used in Bon Appetit recipes but seemingly never available at the supermarket (I use serranos instead).
I spent the previous week, however, in a much better known and beloved place – California’s Central Coast and Big Sur.
Continue reading “To Sur, With Love: Week 32”Hello again from California, where Linus and I have arrived at our second (and final) Morgan-less stop on our father-cat son adventure through the Golden State.
For the next week, we’ll be in the town of Cambria, about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on California’s Central Coast.
Continue reading “Condors in San Diego, Zebras in Tijuana: Week 31”“San Diego has always been where Americans go to escape America and find they have run out of country.”
Charles Bowden, Red Line
Greetings from San Diego where, it’s true – I’ve run out of country on our journey west, even though escaping has never been our goal. It’s taken a little mental adjustment not just leaving the desert, but coming to California, with everything that means. Morgan is firmly settled on a different coast, enjoying a quiet few weeks in one of the quieter corners of Florida.
Continue reading “From Sea to Shining Sea: Week 30”Greetings to all our readers, and welcome to our latest and greatest destination: San Diego, California. I will do my damnedest to avoid too many Anchorman references, but no promises.
I arrived here on Sunday after departing from the criminally underrated city of Tucson. I’ve jokingly referred to Arizona as the Florida of the West early on in our visit here. But the longer I’ve thought about the concept, the more appropriate it seems. Consider the following:
Continue reading “Life in Florida, and the Florida of the West: Weeks 28 & 29”Hello again from the Sonoran desert, where we’ve gotten used to daily 90 degree temperatures much faster than I’d have expected, considering we were snowbound in Santa Fe just a few weeks ago. Life is different in a real city after a month in Adobe Disneyland, and we’re making the most of it.
Hola and buenos noches from our new home for the next month, Tucson, Arizona – set in the Sonoran Desert less than an hour from the Mexican border, and home of Saguaro National Park. I’ve always had a fondness for cactuses – probably because I’m not nearly as good at keeping plants alive as Morgan thinks I am. In any case, we’re sure to make plenty of spiny friends over the coming weeks.
Greetings from New Mexico, a place I’m still not sure is completely real or a Truman Show-style backdrop instead.
In a pattern I’m beginning to notice, our third week in most monthlong stays tends to sag a bit in terms of activities for us. We’ve already done most of the top things we planned to do and taken most of the reasonable length day trips. There’s typically a final burst in our last week in a destination, but the week 3 slump is real. As much fun as this is, it’s also tiring! Both Morgan and I are feeling the nearly six months on the road (stand by for some six-month review content!) as we plan our itinerary beyond Tucson. There’s so much more to see, but as we reach the furthest point in our orbit from Florida, we’re starting to think more about the re-entry strategy, so to speak. More to come on this in the future, as it develops.
Continue reading “Exploring The *Other* Santa Fe Trail: Week 24”Hello again from Santa Fe, America’s oldest capital city and a significantly nicer capital city than the one we previously lived in. We’re just over halfway through our month here, which has flown by in a way that makes me wonder how I ever did trips shorter than this. This place is different than anywhere I’ve ever experienced in so many ways – including one of the cooler and weirder state mottos. But we’ll get to all that in a second.
This one’s another long one, so get comfortable. I promise to try to get back to shorter, weekly posts now that I’ve mostly caught up.
Continue reading “It Grows As It Goes: Weeks 22 & 23”Hello from Santa Fe, New Mexico, where they are certainly delivering on this “Land of Enchantment” name. It’s still a little odd to be back in a city after the week you’ll read about below. Fair warning – this one’s a doozy, so you might want to pour yourself another cup of coffee or freshen up that drink. Snacks are always encouraged for blog reading purposes.
Greetings from Santa Fe, New Mexico, where a whirlwind of visits, day trips, hikes, border crossings, and roughly 1,500 miles of driving have unfortunately delayed this dispatch quite a bit longer than I’d hoped for.
Then again, I don’t think even our most dedicated readers (Hi Mom and Dad, and Danny and Daphne) were anxious refreshing the site, wondering why they haven’t been able to enjoy my can’t-put-it-down prose.
When we last left you, we were preparing to host the first friend visit of our journey, our dear friends Joe McGrann and Morgan Yarnoff. (Yes, both myself and one of my oldest friends ended up in long-term relationships with women named Morgan, who themselves are good friends. You’re just going to have to use context clues here.)
Continue reading “You’ve Got A Friend In Me: Week 20”