Utah's Red Rock Country

 On a clear day, you can see forever.

Except for a few tourists like us and some entreprenurial-minded Native Americans selling beaded jewelry and pots in the parking lot, this breathtaking landscape is a stunning reminder of how empty this country really is. Thanks to a federal judge in Utah who last year struck down a BLM plan to permit off-road vehicles here, it will remain empty and unblemished for the next generation.

Heading East: California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah

10 AM Thursday June 12, and we're outta the OC and on the road again. The first few days are always about putting miles behind us, so in the first 10 hours we drove from the Pacific Ocean to Utah, covering just under 500 miles. We spent our first night in a rest area on I-15 with about a dozen big rigs and the full moon shining down upon us. It was actually pretty glorious.

This was the view of the Utah mountains from our teardrop window this morning, and below, John catching up on email while sitting in the teardrop. In case you're wondering, we're traveling with a Verizon Jetpack 4G mobile internet device.

Driving along I-70 in Utah, we came across some cowboys herding cattle, branded with the moniker C-N. You can see the lead cattleman (on the white horse) cracking his whip. What you can't see unless you look very closely at the second photo is the little boy, maybe 6 years old, prodding the slowpokes with a big stick. 

This is where we are now, at a rest stop off I-70, in the Fishlake National Forest in Utah. It's a balmy 75 degrees, sunny and the perfect place for a jerky break and a blog update. Next stop: Colorado.

Baby Announcement

We're proud to announce the arrival 

of our new "baby" just in time for summer. 

It's a teardrop trailer, made by Little Guy. Inside, it's got a queen-size bed, bookshelves and plenty of birch cabinetry to store clothes and personal items. A battery charged while driving provides power for lights in the interior and galley. As you can see, the hatchback opens to a decent sized food prep area, with a sink and two-burner propane cooktop. 

Here it is on a test run at Crystal Cove State Park in Laguna Beach.

Perfect for two, the still-yet-unnamed teardrop is small enough to tow behind our Tacoma, so we can take it just about anywhere. The "bedroom" has a door/window on each side, and a fan/vent on the roof that keeps it cool, even in the summer sun. 

For buggy climates, we bought this pop-up screen shelter that fits over a large picnic table.

We can set up camp in under 15 minutes, and then: time to relax with a good book.

The whole set up is pretty sweet. 

So, look for us on America's highways and byways this summer. We'll be criss-crossing the country teardrop in tow, from California to Florida, with planned stops in Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida and Alabama. We might even show up on your doorstep!

Midd Kid

Middlebury, Vermont

We're loving our visit to the Green Mountains, and to Middlebury in particular, which is so beautiful. Here are a few scenic pix from the day before Hannah's commencement ceremony.

Periwinkle house with lilacs.

Looking east toward the Green Mountains.

An old RR depot.

Quintessential farm/silo view.

Creme brûlée for the creme of the crop. So proud of her!

Route 7

Route 7 is a scenic two-lane road from Massachusetts to Vermont that in the southwestern part of the Green State runs along the western edge of the Green Mountain National Forest. The scenery was, indeed, an almost neon lime color of new spring leaves, with picturesque rolling hills, red barns, and an occasional farm animal grazing by the roadside. A short walk in a state park took us to this lovely little lake.

After posing for a selfie, we completed our drive to Middlebury, where we'll stay through the weekend for Hannah's graduation festivities. Dinner at American Flatbread took us past Middlebury's amazing falls, running hard and fast with ice melt and spring rains.

Stockbridge sites

It may seem like we're covering a lot of ground here, but we've slowed down so much that we feel like we're relaxing. Or maybe we were moving so fast before that the way we're moving now just feels like slow motion. Either way, we're having a great time on the road again.

Today's adventure took us first to the Norman Rockwell Museum and Studio, which houses the largest collections of his paintings in the world, as well as all 323 Saturday Evening Post covers published from 1916 to 1963.

Rockwell's studio, where he typically worked 10 hours/day, 

both from live models and photographs. 

His recruited his models from the local townspeople.

In Stockbridge, we also visited the Sedgwick family plot of the local cemetery, where we found the tombstone for Elizabeth Freeman, also known as Mumbet, who was the first freed slave in the United States, having sued for and won her freedom in a Massachusetts court in 1781.

Sunshine in the Berkshires

Inn at Stockbridge, where we're staying.

Lilacs are in bloom, filling the house with a lovely scent.

Lunch with John's good friends Ed and Kate at Haven in Lenox. 

On the Road Again (Finally)

So, it's been waaaay too long since we've updated this blog, partly because I've been sitting in the dark, in Laguna Playhouse that is, as I've studied the whys and wherefores of regional theatre. It's been quite a post-grad educational experience and I'm a better theatre-maker as a result, but man, I've been itching to get back on the road again, and it's finally time.

This May, we're headed to New England to celebrate Hannah's graduation from Middlebury (yay, Hannah!), but not before a road trip from Newark, NJ, to Vermont via Hyde Park, NY, for a day at the FDR Library, home and museum. It was a memorable visit to an historic place, with lots of interesting lessons and inspiration. Here are a few photos to get us started on our travel blog, circa 2014.

Crossing the Hudson River.

A view of the house where Roosevelt was born and lived from the rose garden where he is buried.

Roosevelt stands guard over a sculpture made from wreckage of the Berlin Wall in honor of his commitment to the four freedoms.

John listens to a fireside chat from a recreated kitchen, circa 1940s. 

Doesn't it look like the set of HEARTLAND?

This is the presidential desk that FDR used while he was in the Oval Office.

Big Snow

2012 started off with big snow in Moscow, which fell in fat white crystals for the last five days, draping the trees, lawns and sidewalks with a thick coat of pure natural beauty. I did my best to capture it before temperatures rose and plows pushed through. These first three pix were taken from my bedroom window about 7 a.m.

 The pix below were taken a few hours later near the Admin Building.

This afternoon, I stood knee-deep in snow scraping at least 20 inches of ice and snow from the truck. It took about 25 minutes and a lot of muscle to remove it all. Good thing John's in hot and muggy Vietnam or I would have made him do it!

Winter Skies

After a great visit with family over the holidays, we headed north again to spend the winter-spring semester in Idaho. Instead of heading up I-5, we drove inland on the eastern side of the Sierras, through Nevada, southeastern Oregon and then north from Nampa/Boise along the Salmon River to Moscow. It was warm and sunny, and we saw some beautiful skies along the way.