virtuallori

It’s worth doing—for a while. There are a lot of great people-watching opportunities and you learn a lot about human nature. I miss being completely up-to-date on all the new books out there and having firsthand knowledge of what’s selling and what’s crap, but I certainly don’t miss the slave wages.

In summer 2002 I moved from Honolulu, where I had spent the past six years, back to my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. A number of circumstances conspired to make this an attractive move (really), but I knew that for my sanity to stay intact, I had to make an adventure out of the transition. Since I had to get my car from the west coast anyway and had some savings set aside, I devised a long and leisurely route that took me from Seattle to Cleveland in seven weeks.

I flew into Vancouver; took a ferry to Victoria, where I spent Canada Day; took a ferry over to Port Angeles, where friends picked me up; and stayed with those friends across Puget Sound from Seattle until my car arrived. They were wonderful hosts, and we went sea kayaking and did a lot of hiking, including some on the Olympic Peninsula and some in the Cascades. We took a trip to Portland and to Mt. St. Helens, and a zillion little spots along the way.

From there, I traveled down the entire U.S. west coast from Aberdeen, Washington, to San Diego, California via Highways 101 and 1 over the course of the next two weeks, with just over a week of that spent at a summer workshop at Stanford University.

From California, I went through Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Santa Fe, and Amarillo to Ft. Worth, where I started angling northeast through Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky on the way to Ohio.

Along the way I stayed about half the time with friends and family and the rest of the time in motels. I very consciously made and effort to NOT try to see everything I could along the way, but instead pick one thing a day to try to aim for and spend some time experiencing. I think the trip was richer for that decision, and certainly less pressure-filled. Some of my best experiences were simply sitting in a cafe or restaurant and soaking in the soul of the place.

I hadn’t seen much of the southwest before, just Houston and Las Vegas, and hadn’t seen any of the Pacific Northwest. The vastness and diversity of this country can’t adequately be put into words. If you have the opportunity, go. It was an experience I will always cherish.

If you care to read more detail about the trip and/or see pictures, visit the archives of my webpage here:
July 2002August 2002