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<h1 class="hide">Writing Archive </h1>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2013/05/oysterman-wanted" title="Oysterman Wanted"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2013/abandonedboat.jpg" alt="Oysterman Wanted" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2013/05/oysterman-wanted" class="u-url" title="Oysterman Wanted">Oysterman Wanted</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2013-05-29T19:43:23">May <span>29, 2013</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">St. George Island</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">Florida</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="29.664094724906786"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-84.86566792845446"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
The world of oystermen and local fishing industry is doomed. Even the people resisting the transition know they’re no longer fighting for their way of life. They’re just fighting to keep the thinnest resemblance of what they’ve always known around until they leave this world. They’re fighting to keep from having to watch the death of everything they know.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2013/05/all-the-pretty-beaches" title="All the Pretty Beaches"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2013/stgeorgeisland_1.jpg" alt="All the Pretty Beaches" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2013/05/all-the-pretty-beaches" class="u-url" title="All the Pretty Beaches">All the Pretty Beaches</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2013-05-26T22:43:23">May <span>26, 2013</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">St. George Island</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">Florida</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="29.65981806259071"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-84.87047444700387"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
St. George is just off the Gulf Coast of northwest Florida, only about 7 hours from where I live. There are better places if you're looking to dive or snorkel. Ditto if it's nightlife you're after. But if you're looking for a seemingly endless amount of gorgeous white sand beaches you'll share with only a few migratory birds, St. George is the place to be.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2013/05/consider-the-apalachicola-oyster" title="Consider the Apalachicola Oyster"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2013/considertheoyster.jpg" alt="Consider the Apalachicola Oyster" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2013/05/consider-the-apalachicola-oyster" class="u-url" title="Consider the Apalachicola Oyster">Consider the Apalachicola Oyster</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2013-05-22T19:43:23">May <span>22, 2013</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">Apalachicola</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">Florida</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="29.72867205648089"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-84.98378973124662"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
If you know the name Apalachicola at all it’s likely because of its eponymous oysters. Very few things, let alone culinary things, are as attached to place as oysters. In fact, once you get beyond the Rockefeller, ordering “oysters” is akin to walking in a bar and ordering “a beer.” But unlike beer, oysters don’t have brands, they have places — Pemaquid, Wellfleet, Blue Point, Apalachicola.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2012/05/things-behind-sun" title="Things Behind the Sun"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2012/tucsonblur.jpg" alt="Things Behind the Sun" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2012/05/things-behind-sun" class="u-url" title="Things Behind the Sun">Things Behind the Sun</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2012-05-20T22:47:00">May <span>20, 2012</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">Athens</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">Georgia</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="33.95674257719642"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-83.37592612645985"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
My grandparents left the home they lived in for 60 years today. I don't know how much of my life was spent in that house, probably well over a year if you added up all the holidays and family gatherings. And now I'm thousands of miles away and someone is clearing out the house.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2012/03/street-food-athens-georgia" title="Street Food in Athens Georgia"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2012/foodcart1.jpg" alt="Street Food in Athens Georgia" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2012/03/street-food-athens-georgia" class="u-url" title="Street Food in Athens Georgia">Street Food in Athens Georgia</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2012-03-31T21:56:00">March <span>31, 2012</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">Athens</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">Georgia</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="33.959861666904274"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-83.37601195713451"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Cheap food, made fresh, in front of you. Served hot, wrapped in newspaper. Street food is the people's food, it removes the mystery of the kitchen, lays the process bare. It's also the staple diet of people around the world.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2011/10/worst-place-on-earth" title="The Worst Place on Earth"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2011/gilitrawangan.jpg" alt="The Worst Place on Earth" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2011/10/worst-place-on-earth" class="u-url" title="The Worst Place on Earth">The Worst Place on Earth</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2011-10-17T22:33:00">October <span>17, 2011</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Gili Trawangan</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/indonesia/" title="travel writing from Indonesia">Indonesia</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="-8.348272379374615"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="116.0405144294601"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
They aren't really the worst place on Earth (everyone knows that's Yuma, AZ), but the Gili Islands would top my list of places you should never go to. In the end they're not even a real place, just a collection of paradise fantasies culled from decades of hippie travelers, scuba divers, honeymooners, and the rich, lost children of the West.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2011/06/best-snorkeling-world" title="The Best Snorkeling in the World"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2011/scuba_nusa_lembongan_ccFlickr.jpg" alt="The Best Snorkeling in the World" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2011/06/best-snorkeling-world" class="u-url" title="The Best Snorkeling in the World">The Best Snorkeling in the World</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2011-06-23T12:54:00">June <span>23, 2011</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Nusa Lembongan, Bali</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/indonesia/" title="travel writing from Indonesia">Indonesia</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="-8.667603048330891"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="115.44832559441208"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Drift snorkeling is like watching fish float by the window of an underwater train. And Indonesia has more marine life than anywhere I've ever been. Fish I have previously seen perhaps two or three at a time are swimming in massive schools. The blue depths are filled with dozens of Moorish Idols, schools of deep purple tangs, so dark they look black until you get up close, parrotfish in clusters, munching on the coral, bright, powder blue tangs, yellow-masked angelfish, countless butterfly fish, wrasses, triggerfish, pufferfish and even bright blue starfish that crawl slowly over the reef.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2011/06/temple-ceremony-ubud" title="The Balinese Temple Ceremony"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2011/ubud-ceremony.jpg" alt="The Balinese Temple Ceremony" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2011/06/temple-ceremony-ubud" class="u-url" title="The Balinese Temple Ceremony">The Balinese Temple Ceremony</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2011-06-19T10:25:00">June <span>19, 2011</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Ubud, Bali</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/indonesia/" title="travel writing from Indonesia">Indonesia</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="-8.480557093648551"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="115.26582809308304"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
While Balinese temples look partly like Hindu temples in India, there are other elements that come from older religions. Bali is what happens when Hindu beliefs collide with animism. The Balinese seem to embrace the basic tenants of traditional Hinduism, but then add plenty of their own animist flourishes to the mix -- like frequent and elaborate temple ceremonies. We were lucky enough to be invited to a temple ceremony in Tegallantang, Bali.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2011/06/motor-city-burning" title="Motor City is Burning"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2011/ricepaddies-h.jpg" alt="Motor City is Burning" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2011/06/motor-city-burning" class="u-url" title="Motor City is Burning">Motor City is Burning</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2011-06-16T20:05:00">June <span>16, 2011</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Ubud, Bali</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/indonesia/" title="travel writing from Indonesia">Indonesia</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="-8.512942106321157"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="115.26119323594054"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Awesome as it was to be back on the Asian version of a motorbike, it wasn't quite the relaxing riding I did in Laos and elsewhere. You can never recapture the magic, and I wasn't trying.... Okay, maybe I was, but it didn't work. regrettably Honda seems to have phased out the Dream in the last five years, replacing it with something called the Nitro, which just doesn't have the same ring to it. But the bike is irrelevant, was always irrelevant. I missed my friends. It just wasn't the same by myself. Debi, Matt, where are you? There are roads to be ridden, locals with ten people on a bike to be humbled by. Six fingered men to be seen, by some.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2011/06/cooking-rome" title="Cooking in Rome"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2011/rome-h.jpg" alt="Cooking in Rome" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2011/06/cooking-rome" class="u-url" title="Cooking in Rome">Cooking in Rome</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2011-06-14T17:18:00">June <span>14, 2011</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Rome</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/italy/" title="travel writing from Italy">Italy</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="41.865455693141165"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="12.461011283881284"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
In the end Italy and I didn't really get along, but the food redeemed it for me. The restaurants are good, but if you really want to experience the glory of Italian food you need to head to the market, grab some utterly amazing raw ingredients and whip up something yourself. This is what food is supposed to be, simple, fresh and great.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2011/06/natural-science" title="Natural Science"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2011/florenceh.jpg" alt="Natural Science" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2011/06/natural-science" class="u-url" title="Natural Science">Natural Science</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2011-06-10T20:54:00">June <span>10, 2011</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Firenze (Florence)</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/italy/" title="travel writing from Italy">Italy</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="43.76987122050593"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="11.254618042254865"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
There's no way around it; Florence is crowded. It may well be that Naples is the only Italian city that isn't overrun with tourists in the summer, but after three days of hardly seeing another traveler, I wasn't prepared for the crowds. Luckily it isn't hard to avoid the tourist hordes, just get up early and then when everyone else is starting to stir, head for obscure museums like La Specola, part of the Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2011/06/forever-today" title="Forever Today"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2011/pompeiih.jpg" alt="Forever Today" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2011/06/forever-today" class="u-url" title="Forever Today">Forever Today</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2011-06-07T17:50:00">June <span>7, 2011</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Pompeii</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/italy/" title="travel writing from Italy">Italy</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="40.75211491821789"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="14.480285518306573"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Pompeii feels both very old and not that different from the modern cities that surround it now. The gap between then and now feels small because when you wander around places like Pompeii you realize that human beings have changed very little over vast expanses of time. Pompeii had the same elements of cities today, a central square, markets, temples, government offices, even fast food. Not much has changed over the years, though togas aren’t much in vogue these days.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2011/06/new-pollution" title="The New Pollution"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2011/naplesh.jpg" alt="The New Pollution" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2011/06/new-pollution" class="u-url" title="The New Pollution">The New Pollution</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2011-06-06T08:17:00">June <span>6, 2011</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Napoli (Naples)</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/italy/" title="travel writing from Italy">Italy</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="40.84484016249223"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="14.255757801685807"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Naples Italy is a big, crowded, graffiti-filled city. It's an intimidating place that is by turns a bit like Philadelphia, a bit Mumbai, a bit some post-apocalyptic video game and, in the end, something else entirely. Still, given the tourist epidemic that sweeps Italy every summer, Naples is a place worth appreciating for what it is not, even if what is isn't, perhaps, enough to ever bring you back.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2011/06/language-cities" title="The Language of Cities"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2011/stchappelle.jpg" alt="The Language of Cities" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2011/06/language-cities" class="u-url" title="The Language of Cities">The Language of Cities</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2011-06-04T00:05:00">June <span>4, 2011</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Paris</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/france/" title="travel writing from France">France</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="48.85846248575372"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="2.3375712584730373"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Paris is angry. Cities can get angry. This isn't the first time it's happened to me. New York threw me out once. Los Angeles and I left on mutually hostile terms, though we've since made up. Cities have personalities just like people, and to really be part of a city your personalities have to mesh, you have to find each other on your own terms everyday.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2011/05/from-here-we-go-sublime" title="From Here We Go Sublime"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2011/iceland.jpg" alt="From Here We Go Sublime" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2011/05/from-here-we-go-sublime" class="u-url" title="From Here We Go Sublime">From Here We Go Sublime</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2011-05-29T02:35:00">May <span>29, 2011</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Paris</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/france/" title="travel writing from France">France</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="48.861291192122714"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="2.3879055928465687"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Just arrived Dulles-Reykjavik-Paris, 26-hour trip, no sleep. I see things. I see a grizzly looking Spaniard selling old railway lanterns at the flea market, I see muslim men playing basketball in skull caps, I see a Michael Faraday experiment with bulbs and wires enclosed in glass that turns out to be just an elevator. I see a stout Frenchwoman closing the gates of Pere Lachaise, no more dead, we've had enough of you.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2011/03/we-used-wait-it" title="We Used to Wait For It"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2011/losangeles11h.jpg" alt="We Used to Wait For It" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2011/03/we-used-wait-it" class="u-url" title="We Used to Wait For It">We Used to Wait For It</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2011-03-28T21:50:00">March <span>28, 2011</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">Los Angeles</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">California</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="34.04477171337467"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-118.25204621066614"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
When we first came here, there was nothing. Downtown Los Angeles was an empty husk of a place fifteen years ago. Now it's reborn, alive and kicking. Yet there is something in the older buildings, something in the old walls, something lost in the bricks, something in the concrete, the marble. Something you don’t find anymore. Something we need to find again.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2011/01/world-outside" title="The World Outside"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2011/snowh.jpg" alt="The World Outside" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2011/01/world-outside" class="u-url" title="The World Outside">The World Outside</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2011-01-26T11:56:00">January <span>26, 2011</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">Athens</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">Georgia</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="33.96016249314553"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-83.4028816107045"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
The world outside the house is blanketed in snow, a monochrome of white interrupted only by the dark, wet trunks of trees, the red brick of chimneys, the occasional green of shrubs poking through. The roads are unbroken expanses of smooth white, no one is out yet, no footprints track their way through the snowy sidewalk. The world outside is the same as it was last night, before the snow began, and yet, it feels totally different.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2011/01/charleston-a-z" title="Charleston A-Z"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2011/charleston-h_1.jpg" alt="Charleston A-Z" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2011/01/charleston-a-z" class="u-url" title="Charleston A-Z">Charleston A-Z</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2011-01-18T15:29:00">January <span>18, 2011</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">Charleston</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">South Carolina</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="32.78595765272612"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-79.9366307147337"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Charleston alphabetically. For example, <strong>Q</strong> is for quiet, Charleston has a lot of it. Just head down to the Battery area, walk through the park and starting walking down the side streets. Take one of the many alleys and walkways that weave between the massive, stately houses. Get lost. It doesn't take much to find a quiet place of your own.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2010/08/dinosaur-national-monument-part-two-down-river" title="Dinosaur National Monument, Part Two: Down the River"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2010/lodorecanyonh.jpg" alt="Dinosaur National Monument, Part Two: Down the River" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2010/08/dinosaur-national-monument-part-two-down-river" class="u-url" title="Dinosaur National Monument, Part Two: Down the River">Dinosaur National Monument, Part Two: Down the River</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2010-08-02T09:00:00">August <span>2, 2010</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">Dinosaur National Monument</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">Colorado</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="40.457462390627"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-109.2584323730928"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
This is the only real way to see Dinosaur National Monument — you must journey down the river. There are two major rivers running through Dinosaur, the Yampa, which carves through Yampa Canyon, and the Green, which cuts through Lodore. <a href="http://www.adventureboundusa.com/" title="Adventure Bound Rafting">Adventure Bound Rafting</a> runs some of the best whitewater rafting trips in Colorado and I was lucky enough to go down the Green River with them, through the majestic Lodore Canyon.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2010/07/dinosaur-national-monument-part-one-echo-park" title="Dinosaur National Monument, Part One: Echo Park"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2010/dinosaurh.jpg" alt="Dinosaur National Monument, Part One: Echo Park" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2010/07/dinosaur-national-monument-part-one-echo-park" class="u-url" title="Dinosaur National Monument, Part One: Echo Park">Dinosaur National Monument, Part One: Echo Park</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2010-07-28T17:00:00">July <span>28, 2010</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">Dinosaur National Monument</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">Colorado</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="40.52063402652926"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-108.99388073317648"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Dinosaur National Monument was poorly named. The best parts of it are not the fossils in the quarry (which is closed for 2010 anyway) but the canyon country — some of the best, most remote canyon country you'll find in this part of the world.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2010/07/endless-crowds-yellowstone" title="The Endless Crowds of Yellowstone"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2010/yellowstoneh.jpg" alt="The Endless Crowds of Yellowstone" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2010/07/endless-crowds-yellowstone" class="u-url" title="The Endless Crowds of Yellowstone">The Endless Crowds of Yellowstone</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2010-07-25T14:00:00">July <span>25, 2010</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">Yellowstone National Park</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">Wyoming</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="44.46180292448713"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-110.82196979172171"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
There is wilderness in Yellowstone, even if it's just inches from the boardwalks that transport thousands around the geothermal pools. It may not be wilderness on a grand scale — the sweeping mountain peaks or wild rivers of other parks — but in some ways that makes it more enticing. As one Ranger told me, Yellowstone isn't about the big picture, the grand scenery, it's about the tiny details within each pool. To really see Yellowstone, he said, you have to take your time, move slowly and look closely.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2010/07/backpacking-grand-tetons" title="Backpacking in the Grand Tetons"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2010/grandtetonsh.jpg" alt="Backpacking in the Grand Tetons" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2010/07/backpacking-grand-tetons" class="u-url" title="Backpacking in the Grand Tetons">Backpacking in the Grand Tetons</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2010-07-22T17:00:00">July <span>22, 2010</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">Grand Teton National Park</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">Wyoming</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="43.79315431684632"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-110.79651831037907"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Hiking into the wilderness empties your mind. You fall into the silence of the mountains and you can relax in a way that's very difficult to do in the midst of civilization. The white noise that surrounds us in our everyday lives, that noise we don't even notice as it adds thin layers of stress that build up over days, weeks, years, does not seem capable of following us into the mountains.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2010/07/great-sand-dunes-national-park" title="Great Sand Dunes National Park"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2010/greatsanddunesh_4.jpg" alt="Great Sand Dunes National Park" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2010/07/great-sand-dunes-national-park" class="u-url" title="Great Sand Dunes National Park">Great Sand Dunes National Park</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2010-07-17T09:00:00">July <span>17, 2010</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">Great Sand Dunes National Park</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">Colorado</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="37.72673718028319"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-105.55097578487117"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Something about the desert inspires me to get up early and watch the sunrise. The cool mornings seem worth getting up for out here in the high plains of Colorado, especially when there's the chance to watch the sunrise from the largest sand dunes in North America, here in Great Sand Dune National Park.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2010/07/comanche-national-grasslands" title="Comanche National Grasslands"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2010/comanchenationalgrasslands.jpg" alt="Comanche National Grasslands" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2010/07/comanche-national-grasslands" class="u-url" title="Comanche National Grasslands">Comanche National Grasslands</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2010-07-16T13:00:00">July <span>16, 2010</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">Comanche National Grasslands</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">Colorado</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="37.14748995999048"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-103.0095720147769"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
To say the Comanche National Grasslands is off the grid would be an understatement. With the exception of Highway 50 in Nevada, I've never driven through such isolation and vast openness anywhere in the world. And it's easy to get lost. There are no signs, no road names even, just dirt paths crisscrossing a wide, perfectly flat expanses of grass.
</span>
</p>
</article>
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© 2003-2014
<span class="h-card"><a class="p-name u-url" href="https://luxagraf.net/">Scott Gilbertson</a><data class="p-nickname" value="luxagraf"></data><data class="p-locality" value="Athens"></data><data class="p-region" value="Georgia"></data><data class="p-country-name" value="United States"></data></span>, except photos, which are licensed under the Creative Commons (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/" title="read the Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 deed">details</a>).
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