Exploring the American Landscape
Old people and things
Our second full week in Tucson offered a chance to dive deeper into the offerings of this vibrant little city. By staying in one place, we grew more accustomed to the rhythms of the city, including but not limited to the training schedule of the Air Force base located near our campground. We focused our … Read more
We rolled into Tucson three weeks into January to begin a month-long “residency.” Staying put in one place for a month is an experiment of sorts, in part a product of our 2019 goal of traveling more slowly. It’s an opportunity to get to know a place in greater depth, instead of focusing all our … Read more
This November 7, 1805 journal entry from William Clark perfectly encapsulates his peculiar spelling and punctuation style, along with the very understandable relief of getting to the long-awaited destination: the Pacific Ocean. At the mouth of the Columbia River, just west of the town of Astoria, Oregon, the Lewis & Clark Expedition completed the journey … Read more
Butte is a mining town. The city developed entirely because of the industry, and even today the skyline is dominated by mine headframes everywhere. A cursory glance at the Google satellite view of the city will show a town that appears dangerously close to being consumed by the mines to its northeast side. Butte’s mining … Read more
We finished off our time in far western Montana with a short stopover in the very southern end of the Bitterroot Valley, at another national forest campground located along the East Fork of the Bitterroot River. Our main goals were more hiking and more R&R before hitting another stretch of urban visits. Goals achieved! … Read more