the hypnotist collector

Collected Road Thoughts: -words without translation — examples include the German weltschmerz and the Korean word for a certain kind of stress -societies that cannot be taught mathematics because of their lack of a number system and also the wonder of a new human (baby) applying their learned numbers to real-world things, like pieces of [...]

For as long as I had been driving highway 101 to or from Los Angeles I’ve been tempted to stop here: Initially, my desire kindled when I saw the magical words “Hearst Castle” for the same exit as the Madonna Inn.  But upon passing that hot pink sign visions of Greek Revival and Gothic dining [...]

Here’s an excerpt from Joan Didion’s essay “In the Islands”, from her collection The White Album, a great summer read, as is most of her collected nonfiction,  in that several pieces are short enough to read at the beach and the breadth of content allows for the itinerant mind of summertime.  ¡Disfruta!

Drive-by photography, a staple of the road trip Ben is a hero of the American road 13-17 May 2010

The Southwest is lousy with ghost towns. Two Guns, AZ At its peak, Two Guns was more than just a tourist stop on Route 66– it had a zoo, with mountain lions, bobcats and panthers, all penned in by mortar and chicken wire. Woo-ee! a lot of the places we saw are soon-to-be ghost towns [...]

this was my first glimpse of Grand Canyon But that’s actually the Vermillion Cliffs. Big surprise. (eventually) we made it to the REAL Grand Canyon first view at sunset it had snowed just a few days earlier.  in May. hiking at 8800ft = breathtaking for the last night’s sunset we were perched on a rock [...]

Gabrielle Maple: Petrified Forest is a lot of dead trees in the desert that have turned to stone. Alan Squier:  So that was once a tree?  Hmmm.  Petrified forest, eh?  Suitable haven for me.  Well, perhaps that’s what I’m destined to become, an interesting fossil for future study. wandering on…

more to come…