So, there’s this thing called Wordle that I just discovered on Facebook, which allows you to analyze any piece of writing or webpage for commonly occurring words. Then it spits out something like this:

Pretty neat stuff. My big complaint is that it doesn’t draw on the whole history of the blog, but only the very recent history, which is why this thing reads mostly like a schizophrenic recap of my last substantive post.

I am wholly torn between my temptation to plug in the entirety of American Dream On and the concern that it would somehow find a way to capture it or just fail to function under the weight of 76,000+ words.

Maybe trying Loosely Based would be a good compromise…

Part 16 in a 16-part stately series pictorially documenting the Sojourn.

Thursday: Pennsylvania

We missed the entry sign for Jersey amidst construction. However, this is almost as good – the other half of the sign (not pictured) says The World Takes:

Our crooked rusty corner sign:

The Prius made it in good shape:

Tiny House!

Inside Tiny House – it’s tiny:

I had not intended to grow facial hair on the trip, but my razor broke on the second day. This is thus a follicle chronicle of our journey:

Em was tired, but had time to come up with the brilliant idea of pool floats as mattresses while we waited for our stuff (and did a puzzle):

That’s it for the Summer Sojourn – hope you’ve enjoyed this pictorial odyssey. Next up will probably be some rendition of the India & Nepal 2008 Trip, which I was doing a decent job of posting about right after it ended, then was unable to keep up during new day job obligations at Glide. The daily content/series thing is fun, though I wonder how relevant it will feel almost two years after that trip. That, at least, has words and pictures together, since I kept an extensive journal on that trip (which didn’t exactly materialize in this year’s domestic venture).

Part 15 in a 16-part stately series pictorially documenting the Sojourn.

Tuesday: Ohio

I think this highlights the problem with putting gubernatorial names on state entry signs:

PNC Park!

We had amazing seats – the closest I’ve ever been to a major league field – for not much dough… I guess it helps to set a record for consecutive losing seasons:

Pirate!

The Pirates may be the only major league team with two mascots. Some teams don’t even have one:

Cool out-of-town-scoreboard with game situations:

Tony LaRussa!

The Duquesne Incline – the best little city attraction you’ve never heard of:

First one comes up in the red incline car:

Then looks at the amazing view from the top:

Then starts on the descent:

View from the bottom after going up and back:

Next up in Pittsburgh, the Carnegie:

This picture fails to capture the epic size of the diplodocus pictured:

Storey with stego:

Em with triceratops:

Em contemplates what it would be like to encounter this giant sea turtle in the wild:

Return to the fabled cafeteria at Dickinson College – it hasn’t changed a bit:

The emergency exit door I shattered with a baseball at CTY and had to pay to replace:

Hershey’s Chocolate World, where I asked to Em’s embarrassment why they didn’t have M&M cookies:

The highlights of the tour are these singing animatronic cows, espousing the virtues of MILK! chocolate:

The real factory (no admittance):

Philly at night:

Waffle House in NE PA:

World’s largest crayon or fake plastic filler?

Cozy day of reading in Ariel & Mike’s new place:

And last: New Jersey

Part 14 in a 16-part stately series pictorially documenting the Sojourn.

Sunday: Michigan

The only Lt. Governor to get their name on a sign in America?

Faint moonset over our hotel in Cleveland:

Cuyahoga Valley “National Park”, in its one very pretty view:

Tiny toad!

Much larger dragonfly:

The rushin’ waters of the Cuyahoga:

Bikers are the most common wildlife in this Park:

Tomorrow: Pennsylvania

Part 13 in a 16-part stately series pictorially documenting the Sojourn.

Thursday: Indiana

If only they were the “Good Lakes”:

Mmmm… baseball….

Those are some fierce cats:

In case you were wondering where we are:

Emily attempting to high-five the Tiger:

Nifty whale mural in the distance:

This guy convinced me he was real and waiting for the People-Mover, at least at first:

The Ren Center:

Inside the stadium:

Pretty cool scoreboard:

And a run comes in:

The only place in America where the sports team supports a company rather than the other way round:

The bright lights of Detroit:

The Pepsi Porch area looked neat from a distance:

The tigers’ eyes light up when the team scores a run:

Fireworks!

Next up: Ohio

I talk a lot about the 85% rule, which states that at any given time, 85% of all people are idiots, or mailing it in, or both.

But rarely do succinct manifestations get mailed to my door:

[portions redacted by recipient]

I’m not sure we should be so hasty, PSE&G. Do you really want to take this out of Unknown Unknown’s name so quickly when they’ve been such a loyal customer?

Also, what exactly is your current mailing address on file for Unknown Unknown? Arlington National Cemetery, perhaps?

Which begs the question of why you would send this notice to the old mailing address. I look forward to next week, when I will receive a bill for $3,521.89 at this address, representing the total accrued costs for Unknown Unknown’s use of electricity.

I am tempted to call them and claim to be Unknown Unknown, requesting service in my new location. In the meantime, I should go frame shopping.

Part 12 in a 16-part stately series pictorially documenting the Sojourn.

Yesterday: Illinois

Crossroads indeed – this is the only picture we took in Indiana:

Tomorrow: Michigan

Part 11 in a 16-part stately series pictorially documenting the Sojourn.

Yesterday’s Post: Iowa
Actual Previous State: Wisconsin

They’re really into the whole Lincoln thing in Illinois:

I, on the other hand, am really into that whole Ray Bradbury thing in Waukegan:

Emily liked the space-age swingsets:

The ravine from Dandelion Wine:

Really nifty explanation of the renaming of the park for Ray:

Skyline of Chicago:

Skyline from US Cellular Field (frmrly New Comiskey):

I’m not exactly clear on what the pinwheel thing is on the South Side, but they seem to be into it:

Right after some home-run fireworks:

You can putitontheboard – yes!

Blue tower near the Magnificent Mile:

A river runs through it:

Emily was unconvinced that this building was all that tall:

I can’t believe they’re trying to rename the Sears Tower – it doesn’t seem to be sticking with any of the locals:

The Sears/Willis Tower was really a fan of the 2016 Olympic bid, though:

I’m pretty convinced – it’s tall:

Guess what – another Union Station!

Emily with her namesake, or at least one rendition:

Perfect blue buildings?

I’m pretty sure these were in the establishing shot for the Bob Newhart Show:

Tomorrow: Indiana

Part 10 (should be 9) in a 16-part stately series pictorially documenting the Sojourn.

So in my rush to get these out, I forgot Iowa. I know, I know. My 48th state of all time. So while yesterday’s post was Wisconsin, it should have been Minnesota. For those of you scoring at home.

Fields of Opportunities!

McGregor, Iowa. If I had to live in Iowa…

I still kind of can’t get over this restaurant’s name:

The effigy mounds. They are difficult to photograph from ground-level:

It was a hot day:

The park is beautiful, with or without mounds:

The mighty Mississippi:

Next (actual chronology): Wisconsin
Next (posting chronology): Illinois

Part 9 in a 16-part stately series pictorially documenting the Sojourn.

Yesterday: Minnesota

One of the most elaborate state signs, replete with governor… I guess when you have governors for 4 consecutive terms (see Tommy Thompson), it feels like something to etch on a sign:

The capitol, which we sadly forgot to take the camera into – overall, perhaps the nicest of the many state capitols I’ve seen:

On the way to the Dells, we saw this sign. Em was captivated, but we didn’t stop to sample the cuisine and compare it to Em’s beloved in Oakland:

This is more or less what most of the Dells look like. For some reason, it was not what I was expecting:

One of the cooler formations:

The “stack of pancakes”:

It occurs to me that while the subtitle for the Sunset to Sunrise Summer Sojourn 2009 was “National Parks and Baseball Parks”, it could have just been “Rock Formations”. I mean, really. We saw a few:

Green… in the wa-ter…

This picture… rocks.

Toadstool formation:

Those aren’t rocks – those are bricks!

There wasn’t a game within a number of days of our visit to Milwaukee, but they still let us in to a part of Miller Park, from where we could see the field:

Emily was enthralled by the AAGPBL exhibit, honoring the Wisconsin-based basis for perhaps her favorite movie, “A League of Their Own”:

One of the niftier takes on retractable roofs I’ve seen:

Tomorrow: Illinois

Part 8 in a 16-part stately series pictorially documenting the Sojourn.

Friday: South Dakota (part two)

One of the cooler state-entry signs:

The Jolly Green Giant in Blue Earth. It’s hard to see because of the trees directly behind her, but Em is standing under the Giant, between his boots:

The Blue Earth DQ. I love DQ.

The Metrodome! In its 30th-to-last baseball game ever:

Kirby:

The dramatic nightscape of Minneapolis on the postgame walk back:

Churchill:

Sadly, in the early morn rush out the door for the camping trip, I forgot to take my camera up to Duluth and points north. Thus I have no pictures of Highway 61 (yes, that Highway 61), Duluth, Lake Superior, Gooseberry Falls, or the campfire. This makes me sad, though I think one of the couples we camped with got some shots that may one day find their way back to us. So just imagine what those things might have looked like and we’ll see you…

Tomorrow: Wisconsin

Part 7b in a 16-part stately series pictorially documenting the Sojourn.

Yesterday: South Dakota (part one)

Today, we finish up South Dakota, with the Badlands through Mitchell…

The Badlands are a bit like a lunar landscape:

Or perhaps like Mars:

But with rabbits!

Our first day there, it was quite stormy:

There are paths atop most of the formations, leading out from the ridgeline upon which people can walk:

‘Twas nice and windy too:

The formations are all quite dramatic, a bit like getting to drive through the base of the Grand Canyon:

It had cleared up some by the time we headed out for our camping trip:

We were advised to register in the Backcountry log so someone would know we were out in the hinterlands – there are no other passes, fees, or registrations for Badlands camping!

Inspiring:

A view of the rock formation which we camped against:

See?

The line cutting diagonally across this formation is a different type of rock that looks for all the world like a ribbon or a sports field line:

A rabbit?

An eagle?

A sunset!

A moonrise…

The next morning, it was plenty bright:

Still windshield with grasshopper:

One of our hikes later in the day involved this epic ladder:

It was worth getting to the top, though:

A Martian metropolis?

Bubbly formations in close-up:

One of the widest-spanning views:

We depart…

…for Mitchell and the Corn Palace!

San Francisco, a la corn:

This is a pretty corny scene:

Next up: Minnesota

Part 7a in a 16-part stately series pictorially documenting the Sojourn.

Day before yesterday: Nebraska

I have decided to divide South Dakota into two parts since there’s so much to cover. Today will cover Wind Cave through Wall, while tomorrow will be the Badlands through Mitchell. Never been to South Dakota? It may be the most underrated state in the union.

This is a lot of America stuff for one sign:

Wind Cave National Park is actually one of the oldest, if more obscure. Here our intrepid tour guide on the Natural Entrance Tour demonstrates how fast the wind is coming out of said cave:

Wind Cave is famous for “boxwork” formations, which look like this:

I saw an old pirate skull in the cave!

Wind Cave is the largest source of boxwork in the world. It’s different than typical stalactite/stalagmite cave formations, but no less cool:

This ranger at the Wind Cave station was a great animated storyteller:

Buffalo!

We went for a hike in the Wind Cave area, looking for wildlife:

We found another cool rock formation instead:

The buffalo didn’t really show up in earnest till we crossed into Custer State Park:

Classic bison pose:

There was a herd:

Mother and child reunion:

Other large mammals:

Another buffalo herd – we saw well over a hundred buffalo in CSP:

A calf getting a snack:

These antelope looked for all the world like they’d leapt in from the African savannah:

This is pretty much funny only if you’ve visited the Taj Mahal. Emily’s simulating the motion that many tourists were making when posing for pictures in front of said Mahal. The problem is that I didn’t have time to take the shot from the correct angle because all these militantly patriotic people were looking at us like we were urinating on their vision of America. So we had to make it quick. In some ways, though, I think that makes this shot even funnier:

Not only did the world change on 9/11, but apparently so did Mt. Rushmore. There are all these new installations to deal with the increased patriotic traffic. But this Bush administration contribution was our favorite – naming Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus as one of his 4 (four) “National Highlights”:

This was my actual favorite part of Mt. Rushmore – evidence that its sculptor saw the project more as a memorial to a country that would someday be gone, not a swaggering announcement of American permanence. This statement contradicted so many of the other quotations about the carving, which stated that it showed America would last for a million years.

Wall Drug!

Wall Drug is like a big theme park dedicated to kitschy stores and the Old West. I absolutely love it. It purports to be “America’s Roadside Attraction”. I think its restaurant inspired (or helped inspire) the design of the Frontier in Albuquerque. Where else can you see a twenty-foot T-Rex that periodically rises up and roars with smoke and steam pouring through his nostrils?

Seven foot rabbit!

A riding jackalope!

Five-cent coffee! (Yes, they still sell it for a nickel a mug. I had several.)

Huge pterodactyl!

Tomorrow: More South Dakota!

Part 6 in a 16-part stately series pictorially documenting the Sojourn.

Yesterday: Wyoming

The Good Life!

Having never been to Nebraska, I was in a rush to pick up my 47th state:

Obligatory self-portrait with the good life:

I had been told that Nebraska was entirely flat. This is not flat land, kids:

Sadly, we didn’t get the camera out for the diner in Chadron. So this is all the photographic evidence we have.

Next up: South Dakota

Part 5 in a 16-part stately series pictorially documenting the Sojourn.

Yesterday: Colorado

Forever West:

Wyoming purports to be the first government in the world to grant women equal rights, as this statue Esther Hobart Morris, an early Wyoming suffragette from the 1860’s, attests. Contrary to some rumor that Emily heard, this is a copy of the one in the national capitol’s Statuary Hall, so she is honored by Wyoming both there and on the state capitol grounds, pictured here:

The symbol of Wyoming, the bucking-bronco-bound cowboy, also on the capitol grounds:

Some irony in the genderization of the sign with the testament to women’s rights in the background:

Home of the Jackalope!

Double-take:

Tomorrow: Nebraska!

Part 4 in a 16-part stately series pictorially documenting the Sojourn.

Yesterday: New Mexico

Colorful (and dizzying) Colorado:

An intense game of Pac-Man in the massive arcade in Manitou Springs:

Also in Manitou Springs, Coke and Pepsi together again:

I almost came back, but Emily got me 7-5 in air hockey:

Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs – this is called the “kissing camels” formation:

Pretty impressive work by the rock here:

Union Station in Denver. I don’t know the percentage of cities whose train station is called “Union Station”, but it’s got to be high.

Gametime, Coors Field:

Fred Lewis is coming for the Rockies:

Glaciers in Rocky Mountain National Park:

A neat lake as we started our ascent into RMNP:

Emily checks the darkening skies as the horizon retreats:

And then the rains came:

People don’t like rain:

Emily’s hat is waterproof:

Mine, less so:

The rain was in the upper elevations, so we retreated to the lower Moraine Park:

Emily found the river a place of peaceful contemplation:

As did a coyote:

Next up: Wyoming

Part 3 in a 16-part stately series pictorially documenting the Sojourn.

Yesterday: Arizona

From a car in the dark with a migraine:

In line at the beloved Frontier Restaurant:

My parents’ backyard has become home to a small squirrel colony:

Much of my time in Albuquerque was actually spent on the issue of public outdoor drinking fountains, such as this one here in Petroglyph National Monument:

My favorite petroglyph (or Duck’s eldest ancestor. Speaking of which, Duck and Cover should be back next week.

While not as scary as the centipedes, millipedes in Nuevo still pack a mighty scare. This was one of about 12 we saw on the trails at Petroglyphs:

My second-favorite petroglyph (they aren’t all of duck-like birds, by the way – I’m clearly spoiling your sample here):

My parents in front of my Dad’s nifty carriage house garage doors:

Madrid is one of my favorite towns in New Mexico, where most of the houses look something like this (it’s pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable, which is pronounced just like the word “mad”, so instead of sounding like the Spanish capital for which it was surely named, it sounds like someone named Drid is upset):

One of my favorite buildings in all the world, the La Fonda in Santa Fe:

Two of my favorite things: Emily and La Plazuela, the restaurant inside the La Fonda. I know “the La Fonda” is grammatically incorrect, but it’s how I grew up saying it and now I can’t stop. Also, they have substantially ruined La Plazuela with its redecoration, mostly by making it too light and open when it used to be turquoisey and mysterious. I blame consultants.

Tomorrow: Colorado

Today marks the beginning of what will be a roughly two-week series chronicling our recently ended odyssey in pictures. I’ve decided to break it up by state, since that divides the pictures into pretty neat little chunks (who wants to look at 250 pictures in one sitting?) and it so happens that my first pictorial post of the Sojourn covered all the noteworthy pictures of California – no more, no less.

And, as a programming note, to help you index the Sunset to Sunrise Summer Sojourn information more efficiently, I’ve created a category called Summer Sojourn 2009. Just click on it above and you’ll see all the similar subject matter, neatly sorted.

To the pictures!

Obligatory blurry taken-from-moving-vehicle state sign picture (this is one of the best of the collection):

Emily’s first sight of the Grand Canyon (Mather Point):

Emily’s favorite tree near the South Rim at dusk:

View of our destination from the top – we were headed for Indian Garden, which is the collection of trees and greenery in the center of the picture, in the bottom of the near, visible ravine:

Heading down the trail in the morning, in good spirits:

At the bottom – 110 degrees in the shade. They have all these signs throughout the Canyon discouraging people from pushing themselves, lest they die of heat exhaustion or similar:

A view from the bottom:

We were going to wait till sunset to hike back up to the South Rim, but a thunderstorm was coming in, bringing clouds to offer us cover from the midday sun:

The trail behind us as we walked up:

Almost to the top:

Obligatory squirrel with don’t-feed-the-squirrels sign:

Emily, just shy of the top, surveying our journey:

Just too tired to smile (yes, that’s the shirt I bought in the summer of 2000):

This gives you a good idea of what the Bright Angel Trail is like:

And here’s a profile of some of the Bright Angel switchbacks:

Em’s favorite rock formations in the Canyon:

One of the neatest parts of the downtown Flagstaff skyline:

We showed up to Flagstaff pretty late in the day:

Albuquerque!

Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona:

Me too:

Next up – New Mexico!

Yesterday, I wrote 2,944 words about our trip so far. Today, as the old adage goes, I will add 22,000 or so. But you know what I think of that adage. I guess this is for those who disagree with me…

Our goodbye party (Ohlone Park, Berkeley) setup on Sunday the 5th of July:

All packed up and ready to ship:

After our last dinner (at Bangkok Thai in Berkeley) with Gris & Anna:

The old place, finally empty and clean:

The Prius, full and ready to go:

One last visit to the Grand Lake on our way out of town. Normally we wouldn’t have seen “Ice Age 3D”, but the Grand Lake made it worth it:

Fast-forward to Saturday the 11th of July, which we spent mostly in Kings Canyon NP. Here, Emily had just bonked her head on the interior of a fallen sequoia:

We also went into Boyden Cavern in the national forest just outside Kings Canyon:

Sunday midday, heading out to embark on our hike to Ostrander Lake:

Emily looked happier somehow:

6.2 miles!

See, I really did pack in War and Peace:

Further review today revealed that I failed to get a shot of a mid-jump fish. But the lake was still beautiful:

Our campsite:

A marmot said hello when we awoke in the morning:

My John Muir impression on the walk back:

And Emily’s:

We made it!

Buffalo guarded the car while we were up the trail, as per usual on cross-country roadtrips:

The Wawona Hotel. Best parking spot ever in the foreground, our room in the top left corner, and the restaurant just below:

A mule deer ran through the Wawona grounds at dusk:

On the road again:

If you prefer photos, you can see a nice sample, including my second lifetime tux wearing in the pictures displayed here.

I dropped off Pandora successfully at her temporary home with Emily’s cousins in Altadena. The meowing calmed to once a minute after about 45 minutes and then once every 3-5 minutes after about 90 minutes.

I met Russ’ new main squeeze, Cyn. I also met Octocat.

I went on a long hike with Jake, Fish, Gris, DK, Eliaii, and Jake’s college friend Vlad to serve as his “bachelor party”. Highlights included discussing how much time the human species has left on the planet and playing frisbee over a pond at the base of a waterfall near JPL.

I also threw a frisbee around in the Pacific Ocean.

I puttered around in a pool at the infamous AIG-junket resort – a pool where 40+ people were around the pool but only 3-5 were in it at any given time, only 1-2 of them strangers to me.

I saw Jake get married.

I had perhaps my best-ever visit to Disneyland, including my first trip to California Adventure and the corresponding Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, which may be the best ride ever. We also had dinner in the Blue Bayou, the fabled restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

I visited the turtles in Santa Barbara. You’ll love Santa Barbara!

I drove home to start packing.

One week till departure. Half a year till 2010.