This is so cool for anyone who’s driven down Sunset Blvd. in LA from the 1960’s on. It’s already documented in a book by artist and photographer Ed Ruscha, and now in an exhibit at the Getty Museum, but I think it’s really best experienced online, in an interactive timeline that lets you move down the street in a leisurely way that you can’t do when driving, and flip to the other side of the street or to another year with a click, and even choose the car you cruise in. It’s brilliant!
This was Days 16-20 of a fabulous Fall road trip a couple of years ago. This leg was Seattle to Ellensburg to Pullman, Washington — 289 miles. If you fly, Spokane is the closest airport.
Holiday Inn Express, Pullman, $121/night with a AAA discount + $20/night pet fee. Nice, recently-renovated hotel. Big room; lots of green space to walk the dog, and they don’t mind if you leave the dog in the room (they even give you a tag for the door that says Do Not Disturb/Dog Napping) (love that!). Located close to Washington State University, so be sure to book in advance on football game weekends. This is football country!
I’d wanted to visit The Palouse, famous for its photogenic landscapes, for years and finally made it part of my long roadtrip home (the move from California back to my home state, Missouri). Most photographers visit in the spring when the rolling hills of eastern Washington are like green velvet, but I think Fall in The Palouse is absolutely gorgeous, in a whole other beautiful way. I was there towards the end of October, long after the wheat harvest, and I used Pullman as my headquarters and spent 4 days wandering aimlessly around The Palouse, which I highly recommend. If your time is more restricted there are lots of local photographers there who offer photo tours, but I really enjoy wandering.
Fair warning: I include a LOT of highway shots from behind the wheel. I do it to remember the journey, and hopefully share the thrill of discovery. You can discover the beautiful red barn when I do, resting peacefully just off the highway in a beautiful field, or perched precariously near the highway curve because it was there long before the highway interrupted.
In March 2017 I went to Cuba for the first time, and I’m just now sharing my first Cuban photos. And, interestingly, they’re not photos of old buildings, old cars, or old people. But of the thousands of photos I took, these are the first I processed. And this was the most ordinary, and most unique, day of the trip. I went to Cuba on a photography workshop with Colby Brown Photography, and was thrilled that we didn’t just photograph all the usual suspects — old cars on the Malecon in Havana (we did that), colorful Trinidad (we did that, too) — but we went beyond the usual tourist attractions.
These lovely statues are perched atop the buildings in the public square in Trieste, Italy. This beautiful coastal town sits on the Adiatic Sea between Italy and Slovenia. It’s a well-kept secret that’s just a quick train ride from Venice — a perfect day trip!
Route 66 in Barstow, California
The wonderful world of assemblage artist Noah Purifoy in the Mojave Desert just outside of Joshua Tree, California.
Noah Purifoy Desert Art Museum
I love this beautiful vignette from Prize Antiques in Bottoms Up (first weekends, West Bottoms, Kansas City, Missouri). It makes me want to pack my suitcase and hit the road! Hmmm…who’s up for a road trip???
I love this sad little guy! I’m not sure he knows what he’s waiting for, but he seems to still have hope. And his hair is stylin’!
When art inspires stories, that’s when you take it home. There’s nothing more inspiring to me than original folkart. I found this wonderful assemblage art piece by former Hallmark artist Chari Peak Roberts at Prize Antiques in the Bottoms Up Antique Market. West Bottoms in Kansas City, Missouri. That’s a working seed spreader on his belly!
Now that he lives in my home, I’ve renamed him Lefty McBrush-Head.
Cool vintage mannequin. Love her!
Bottoms Up Antique Market
West Bottoms
Kansas City, Missouri
Super-cool street art in the West Bottoms, in super-cool Kansas City.
obsessive hobbyist 