Research continued apace over the past month but I hit a wall in Vancouver and haven’t caught up with my notes since. Staying with family was all the more distracting! At this point, I have a few site visits remaining in Oakland and San Francisco, but as the Bay Area is my home base I can leave […]
The research so far in Vancouver has uncovered slim pickings for BC. It makes sense- BC developed later, much later, than the rest of the West Coast. The population is still only about 4 million- meaning there are more residents in greater Seattle than in the entire province of British Columbia. Excepting the (smaller) Gold […]
Planning to resume the hunt tomorrow afternoon at the VPL after a few days at the cabin with my family. I can see the patches of bright blue sky and the reflections of pine trees on my computer screen as I try to catch up after taking this time off. Almost done compiling my LA notes. […]
It’s been 6 weeks since I started my project. I have a month of notes I have yet to process. Maybe this week I’ll finally get around to it. I appreciate the opportunity to take this trip even more now that I am halfway through it. Before driving up from California I took the car in for a tune […]
Sitting at a picnic table in the fading light at the Rogue River Campground. A7. Oregon. Staying tonight near the freeway, but at least there are no RV’s here. Gone is that California feeling. Not because it’s Oregon per se but the hills just look different. Took the 99 byway several times, so although I’m planning […]
Stockton CHECK Lodi CHECK Sacramento IN PROGRESS Did a bit of a circle tour yesterday and drove along highway 24 and 4 and up route 99 before zipping back into the Bay. Summer has arrived; MAN it was hot. Unfortunately I encountered the Worst Bagel Ever in Stockton which consisted of fake strawberry cream cheese on the saltiest pretzel […]
Enjoying the afternoon sun and a rest in the hammock while I listen to the sounds of my hometown Niles, California. It has been such a pleasant day, arriving in the east bay after driving all over the state. Here where I grew up feels most like stereotypical ‘California’ to me. The landscape here speaks […]
California was beautiful today. Drove 152 E, enjoyed Fresno and then up to here. All the oaks, the golden grasses- even the impossible blue canals and reservoirs. For some literary accompaniment my trip, I am reading Highway 99, a literary collection of the Central Valley. This is a wonderful, thoughtful collection of stories and a great introduction […]
Staying at the hostel was interesting. I met people from Atlanta (in LA for “the life”), Florida (for amazing Hip Hop dance teacher), also a Muslim girl (for school), and some white guys and Latinos who just liked that it was a cheap place to stay. I would stay there again, but I had some coffee […]
Since leaving my basecamp in Hollywood, I’ve been staying in a hostel in South LA. Still don’t know why I came to stay here. I could have found a cheap hotel, or couch surfed. But after all that travel around Europe I kinda wanted to see what it would be like in an American hostel. […]