Oh Shenandoah, I Long to See You

Despite having been planned as an eastern version of the great western national parks, and sitting within a day’s drive of millions of East Coast dwellers, somehow Shenandoah National Park was one that we had not managed to add to our list of national parks visited. Until now, making it #33. After completing our northbound … Read more

Blown Away by the Windy City: Science, Money, Food, and More

Between our daily visits to the Art Institute and the Chicago Architecture Center boat tour, you might think we didn’t have much time to take in other sights during our recent trip to Chicago. But thanks to the compactness of the downtown area, we were able to see quite a bit while relying exclusively on … Read more

Blown Away by the Windy City: Art and Architecture

A big part of our motivation for selling the Airstream and truck was to switch to a different style of travel: trips by air and trips to large cities, which we tried to avoid at all costs when towing our house behind us. Our first post-Airstream foray was a brief-but-busy trip to Chicago. I hadn’t … Read more

Winston-Salem, a College Town

The heyday of cigarette and underwear companies as employers in Winston-Salem was during the middle years of the 20th century. Eventually automation, the lower cost of overseas labor, and general market changes led to much of the manufacturing exiting the area, leaving Winston-Salem relatively bereft of major employers. The 1980s were not a great time … Read more