In search of the continuous road trip
In the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego, I had a realization: I was in Denver. There’s an Oceanaire, a seafood chain (based in Minneapolis, natch); a Hooter’s, the boobie chain; and a TGI Friday’s, a mediocrity chain. None of this is a dig against SD (but …
Maybe it’s the warmer weather, I don’t really know, but I haven’t bought a bottle of whiskey in weeks. My last was a bottle of Jim Beam Rye. We finished it back in Death Valley. The last whiskey I’ve had was a peaty and tasty …
After a good run of books, I’ve stalled out. I can’t seem to get through them anymore. I could blame the Salton Sea, or the sand people, or our lack of aluminum cladding, but I’m going to blame the books. Squandering Aimlessly There’s a lot …
We’re in San Diego and loving the Mexican food. This town is no Vermont, that’s for sure. We’ve been to Rubio’s, Mr. Taco, and a place call La Cocina in Ramona. Where else should we go? We don’t want to miss any gems, but we’re …
We’re on the coast of California and there are surfers everywhere — on the sidewalks, riding bikes with surfboard racks, driving around in VW vans and dirty old pickup trucks, and, of course, in the ocean. They’re fun to watch, but for every second I …
Julian(a), you almost had me. First you showed me your enticingly curvy roads and rolling, voluptuous countrysides. Then you revealed your small-town main street that’s so compact it’s only a three block walk to the neighboring farm fields and forests. Your trimmed hedges and endless …
We get a lot of questions about what we do on a typical day, how we spend our time. It’s funny, because some days I still feel like we’re “wasting” time, but when I look back on how I spent my time in the past …
After camping two nights next to the Salton Sea and enduring the horrific smell and the 24-hour freight train traffic past the park, we were ready for a new spot. As always, there were options. Circle the Salton Sea looking for a new campground. Stop …
In New Mexico, people either lived in a ramshackle shanty or a modern(ish) trailer (located next to a bombed-out older model melting into the ground); in Bisbee, Arizona, you could stay in a vintage Airstream; in Apache Junction, entire neighborhoods were made up of trailers …
Many of Joshua Tree National Park’s hiking trails are currently off-limits because the Cottonwood Springs area suffered significant flood damage in mid-September. The north end of the park really caters to rock climbers (grudgingly) — the southern area is much more hiker-friendly … when it’s …
Joshua Tree National Park is filled with rocks. Big ones, small ones, gigantic ones. Rocks, rocks, rocks. But it’s also the inhospitable desert where water is scarce and trees and shrubs struggle to survive. Intense winds spin and twist plants into the oddest shapes. Here …
There’s no food that I can think of as malleable and regional (and wonderful) as the hot dog. In Chicago it’s topped with nearly everything (except ketchup) and it’s amazing. In Arizona, the Mexican / Sonoran hot dogs are wrapped in mesquite-smoked bacon and are …