The Travel Posts: An Intro

With the intent of writing travelogues, I tend to take loads of photographs and notes when I venture away from home. Always. Unfortunately, whenever the times comes to piece those notes and photographs into a narrative, something interferes and I shelve my plans. I want to share the material, but, rather than craft a narrative, I’ll just post the photos with corresponding notes. Anecdotal pics, if you will.

Trip One: England and Italy, AKA, Travels with George Sanderson (2015)

On this trip, I took along a toy figure of George Sanderson from Pixar’s Monsters University  and Monsters Inc. If you’ve seen the films, you’ll recognize George as the monster who gets hosed down and denuded by the CDA because of a child’s sock.

I took George as a way to personalize my photos for the benefit of a child in my family. The child has a difficult time with unfamiliar things, and we thought George would be a helpful “guide” when explaining the sites we visited. Consequently, George is in most of my photos from this trip.

Initially, I was a bit embarrassed fishing this orange toy out of my handbag and posing him in the Palazzo Pitti, Trafalgar Square, and so on. I discovered, however, that rather than sneer or roll eyes, people would smile and, usually, nod at me. It turns out that many people bring toys or props to pose with while traveling (I remember, for example, a man with a limp, lanky stuffed ostrich in Piazza della Signoria. He attempted to take selfies while trying to keep the ostrich from falling off of his shoulder).

Trip Two: Philadelphia, PA to Spokane, WA by Train (2016)

The second trip is an Amtrak ride across (or nearly across) the continental U.S. The entire journey lasted more than three days (but only one station change!). I traveled via The Cardinal (Philadelphia-Chicago via VA, WV, and KY) and The Empire Builder (Chicago-Spokane, across the great, spare landscapes of ND and MT). Admittedly, there aren’t many notes from this trip. Time changed and projects slept, lulled by the train’s movement and the wondrous scenery. Captions for these photos may be little more than a date and location.

I hope you enjoy the posts. If you have any questions, please let me know.