Travel
Home of the President-Elect
The last time I drove through Scranton, I made a point of visiting the Mall at Steamtown, trying to snag a picture in front of The Office sign. At the time, that felt like the biggest draw to this big…
9/11 Memorial on 11/19
The last time I was in New York City, I regretted not making it downtown, down to see whatever progress the city had made on the memorial and the new building. On this occasion, well past 9/11 and deep into…
The Thing About Straight Roads
One last thing before I call it a wrap on this trip. When I was a child, we passed through a number of states like Nebraska and Kansas (even the Dakotas) that left me with lingering memories of an exhausting,…
Anxiety in Wyoming
Wyoming was mostly a three-hour pass-through state on my agenda, but I made it a thrill by playing chicken with the empty gas light on my rental for about 30 miles of wheel-gripping anxiety between spread out towns, imagining how…
At the Foot of Mt. Rushmore
In the company of crowds, where conversations tend to blend together, I sat down at the foot of Mount Rushmore to finish the last 100 pages of Great White Fathers and heard three distinct comments. One involved a husband telling…
Cutting Corners in Montana
The last time I was in Montana, I was too young to have any serious memories. We would have passed through the corners of the state on our way to visits to grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles in Canada from…
Chasing the Badland Sunset
Normally, the thought of waking up early enough to see the sunrise would be insane. But this morning offered the single best American travel experience I can remember. At about 4am, I shook off two hours of sleep, threw on…
Teddy’s Prairie Dogs
So last night, I spent an hour or two hanging out in Teddy Roosevelt country, field after field of wild prairie dogs. They’re not only adorable creatures, but also pretty hard to catch on film. I sent this photo of…
Where the “Buffalo” Roam
When I first arrived in South Dakota and drove north, I figured I’d bump into them along the way. Then came North Dakota, and still nothing. Then Montana, and no. Passed through Wyoming and still nope. It actually took four…
In Carter’s Georgia
Year after year now, a drive into George feels like a visit to the Mecca of political ideals. Georgia hasn’t leaned Democratic in a long time, yet its most famous presidential resident is Jimmy Carter, someone whose poor reputation as…
