Travel Eat Gay Love: 5 Weeks, 6,000 Miles, and the Queerest Road Trip in America Looking back on a cross-country LGBTQ+ road trip from Chicago to Seattle to San Francisco: trains, mountains, wine country, and the Castro. August 2024 Read more
Travel New Orleans: The Grand Finale The final stop on Eat Gay Love: the French Quarter, beignets, jazz, po’boys, and a proper goodbye to the queerest road trip in America. August 17, 2024 Read more
Travel The Sunset Limited: Across the Desert to New Orleans Amtrak’s Sunset Limited from Palm Springs to New Orleans — two days crossing the Arizona desert, through Texas, and into the Deep South. August 14, 2024 Read more
Travel Palm Springs: Desert Heat and Rainbow Flags The desert oasis with mid-century modern architecture, LGBTQ+ resort culture, and heat that hits you like opening an oven door. August 12, 2024 Read more
Travel Los Angeles: WeHo, Beaches, and the Scene A few days in Los Angeles — West Hollywood’s rainbow crosswalks, Santa Monica at sunset, and the particular energy of queer LA. August 10, 2024 Read more
Travel The Coast Starlight: Down the California Coast The final leg of the Coast Starlight from Emeryville to Los Angeles — through San Jose, along the Central Coast, past Santa Barbara, arriving in LA at sunset. August 8, 2024 Read more
Travel San Francisco: Last Days Before Heading South Final days exploring San Francisco — North Beach, the Embarcadero, one last night in the Castro — before boarding Amtrak south to LA. August 7, 2024 Read more
Travel The Castro and the Mission: San Francisco’s Heart Walking through LGBTQ+ history in the Castro, Mission murals, Dolores Park, and the neighborhood where queer America found its voice. August 5, 2024 Read more
Travel The Drive to San Francisco: Golden Gate and the Castro Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars at Powell Street, and arriving in the Castro for the final chapter of the trip. August 4, 2024 Read more
Travel Downtown Petaluma and Penngrove Victorian iron-front buildings, the Petaluma River, and the tiny village of Penngrove. Last full days in wine country. August 2, 2024 Read more
Travel Glen Ellen and Kenwood: The Quieter Side of Sonoma Day trip to the Sonoma Valley: oak-dotted hills, Jack London country, and wineries without the crowds. August 1, 2024 Read more
Travel Napa Valley: Wine Tasting Day A day of wine tasting in Napa: vineyards, bougainvillea, Yountville, and the golden hills of California wine country. July 31, 2024 Read more
Travel Petaluma: Small-Town California at Its Best Walking downtown Petaluma: historic buildings, the river, and the charm of small-town Sonoma County. July 30, 2024 Read more
Travel Bodega Bay and the Sonoma Coast Driving Highway 1 along the Sonoma Coast: Bodega Bay, dramatic cliffs, and the cold Pacific fog. July 29, 2024 Read more
Travel The Coast Starlight to the Bay Waking up on the Coast Starlight in California: Mt. Shasta at dawn, the Sacramento Valley, Emeryville, and the drive to Petaluma wine country. July 27, 2024 Read more
Travel The Coast Starlight: Seattle Through Oregon Boarding Amtrak's Coast Starlight in Seattle and riding south through Washington and Oregon: Puget Sound, the Cascades, and the Willamette Valley. July 26, 2024 Read more
Travel Mt. Rainier: 320 Photos and One Perfect Mountain The trip’s biggest photo day: old-growth forests, alpine meadows, wildflowers, and the raw beauty of Mt. Rainier. July 24, 2024 Read more
Travel Rest Day and the Road to Rainier A couch day with the dogs, then driving from suburban Tacoma into the alpine world of Mt. Rainier. July 23, 2024 Read more
Travel Seattle: Pike Place, Capitol Hill, and the Emerald City 168 photos in one day: Pike Place fish throwing, Capitol Hill’s gayborhood, Pioneer Square, and Seattle at its summer best. July 21, 2024 Read more
Travel Exploring Tacoma and Olympia Bars, schnauzers, and the south Puget Sound: a relaxed day exploring Tacoma and the Olympia area. July 20, 2024 Read more
Travel Tacoma: Family, Dogs, and Lake Sunsets First full day in the Pacific Northwest: family, schnauzers, and swimming in a lake as the sun goes golden. July 19, 2024 Read more
Travel The Empire Builder: Mountains to the Sea Final day on the train: Montana morning, Idaho, the Cascades, and arriving in Washington State. July 18, 2024 Read more
Travel The Empire Builder: Across the Plains to Glacier Country 155 photos from the observation car: North Dakota plains, Montana mountains, and Glacier National Park at golden hour. July 17, 2024 Read more
Travel Boarding the Empire Builder: Chicago to the Prairie Union Station departure, a roomette on Amtrak, and watching the Midwest roll by as the Empire Builder heads west. July 16, 2024 Read more
Travel Two Days in Chicago: The Loop, The Lake, and Boystown Exploring Chicago before the train: the Loop, the lakefront, and Boystown’s rainbow pylons on Halsted Street. July 14, 2024 Read more
Travel Arriving in Chicago: The Starting Line Flying from DC to Chicago to kick off the Eat Gay Love road trip. The Ohio House, the Loop, and the anticipation of five weeks on the road. July 13, 2024 Read more
Travel The Big Med: A Gay Bear Cruise Through the Mediterranean Looking back on a Cruise4Bears voyage through Italy, France, and Corsica: the food, the ports, the community, and the moments in between. May 2023 Read more
Travel Marseille: Notre-Dame de la Garde and Au Revoir Climbing to the top of Marseille for golden mosaics and city panoramas, exploring Palais Longchamp, and saying goodbye. May 22, 2023 Read more
Travel Arles: Roman Ruins in Provence A day trip from Marseille to Arles: a Roman amphitheater, underground cryptoportiques, and street art between ancient stones. May 21, 2023 Read more
Travel Marseille: First Night Ashore Disembarking into the streets of Marseille: the Vieux-Port, a spiral staircase, gnocchi at La Table d’Augustine, and the Hôtel de Ville at night. May 20, 2023 Read more
Travel Corsica: Citadels and Coastline The last port of call: a clifftop citadel, a sun-drenched marina, and rugged Mediterranean coastline. May 19, 2023 Read more
Travel The French Riviera: Nice, Monaco, and Villefranche Monaco’s superyacht harbor, Nice’s flower markets, and golden hour over Villefranche-sur-Mer. May 18, 2023 Read more
Travel Florence and Pisa Two Tuscan icons in one day: the art and architecture of Florence, life-changing lasagna, and the obligatory Leaning Tower photo. May 17, 2023 Read more
Travel Rome in a Day A whirlwind day in Rome: the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and a cappuccino at one of Rome’s most iconic LGBTQ+ bars. May 16, 2023 Read more
Travel Elba: Island Fortress and Italian Sunsets First port of call: Napoleon’s exile island, with its hilltop fortress, pastel architecture, and an unforgettable sunset from the deck. May 15, 2023 Read more
Travel Bears, Beaches, and Barcelona: Looking Back on Spain Twelve days in Spain changed how I think about travel, food, joy, and what it means to feel welcome somewhere. A retrospective. September 2022 Read more
Travel Days 11 & 12: Last Night in Madrid The last night of Bear Week on the promenade, the train back to Madrid, and one final night in the city where it started. September 11–12, 2022 Read more
Travel Days 8, 9 & 10: Bear Week Bear Week in Sitges. Cabaret shows, drag performers, rainbow bars, thousands of guys on the promenade, and a town that fully embraces it. September 8–10, 2022 Read more
Travel Day 7: Girona A last-minute day trip to medieval Girona. The widest Gothic nave in the world, the Jewish Quarter, city walls, and Plaça d'Espanya at night. September 7, 2022 Read more
Travel Day 6: The Coast A slow day on the Sitges waterfront. The Mediterranean, a sailboat on the horizon, and a truffle dinner that required a moment of silence. September 6, 2022 Read more
Travel Day 5: The Sagrada Família A day trip to Barcelona for the Sagrada Família. The stained glass, the spiral staircase, and the Passion Facade. Nothing prepares you for it. September 5, 2022 Read more
Travel Day 4: Settling Into Sitges First full day in Sitges with no agenda. A terracotta patio, bao buns that changed me, the promenade at golden hour, and Sitges after dark. September 4, 2022 Read more
Travel Day 3: From Madrid to the Mediterranean Last morning at the Reina Sofía with Guernica, then the train south to Sitges. First night on the Mediterranean. September 3, 2022 Read more
Travel Day 2: Palaces and Plazas The Royal Palace, Plaza Mayor, Mercado San Miguel, Sabatini Gardens, and the realization that Madrid has been showing off for centuries. September 2, 2022 Read more
Travel Day 1: Hola, Madrid First day in Madrid. Brunch with mimosas, razor clams that ruined me for all other razor clams, and a drag show at LL Bar until 4 AM. September 1, 2022 Read more
Travel The Last Sunset The final evening on the island. Rocky coastline, waves, and one sailboat in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. November 12, 2021 Read more
Travel The Rum Bum and the Iguanas A boat called the Rum Bum, Hurricane Irma wrecks still in the harbor, and iguanas that have no business being that orange. November 11, 2021 Read more
Travel The Art of Doing Nothing Mid-trip rest day. Cruise ships from the balcony, roosters that own the resort, and a sunset that stopped everything. November 10, 2021 Read more
Travel Thirty-Six at the Top of the World Birthday dinner on a mountaintop, a missed champagne cruise, and five hours stuck in protest roadblocks. Saint Martin in November 2021. November 9, 2021 Read more
Travel The Night Side of the Island The harbor after dark, a tortoiseshell cat in neon light, and the moment a trip stops being tourism and starts being something else. November 8, 2021 Read more
Travel Philipsburg and the Dutch Side The boardwalk, the murals, an Indian restaurant I did not expect, and the statue of a man who died at 33 on a hill where his family planted a flag. November 7, 2021 Read more
Travel Landing in Saint Martin Arriving on the smallest inhabited island divided between two nations. Roosters, cocktails, and the realization that hurricane season is not technically over. November 6, 2021 Read more
Travel A Thousand Hills, A Thousand Smiles, and A Thousand Pictures 4,690 photographs from 19 days in Rwanda. Every memorial, every mountain, every moment, organized by day. June 22, 2014 Read more
Travel Day 18 & 19: Coming Full Circle and the Long Road Home Revisiting genocide memorials one last time, witnessing 20th anniversary observances, and the long journey home from Rwanda. June 18, 2014 Read more
Travel Day 17: Sickness in Musanze Sometimes travel means a day in bed with ciprofloxacin. A short one. June 14, 2014 Read more
Travel Day 16: Hiking Volcanoes to See the Monkeys Golden monkey tracking through bamboo forest at Volcanoes National Park, and hundreds of children walking to pay respects during a genocide remembrance. June 13, 2014 Read more
Travel Day 15: Boats, Cars, and Volcanoes Lake Kivu by boat, hot springs, the orphanage from Gorillas in the Mist, and drumming with Twa musicians. June 12, 2014 Read more
Travel Day 14: A Boat Ride, Travel, and Gisenyi Island exploration, fruit bats, the Gishwati field station, and Gisenyi's local market. June 11, 2014 Read more
Travel Day 13: Travel and the Bisesero Genocide Memorial Unpaved roads to a memorial where 50,000 people tried to hide. The remains of 1,040 victims in a tin shed, and plans for something more permanent. June 10, 2014 Read more
Travel Day 12: Monkeys, Hiking, and Defying Gravity Tracking the largest known group of Colobus monkeys and crossing a suspension bridge canopy walk through the rainforest. June 9, 2014 Read more
Travel Day 11: Hiking to the Waterfall Steep trails down to the falls, 30 minutes of photos, and the switchbacks from hell on the way back up. June 8, 2014 Read more
Travel Day 10: Chimpanzee Tracking A 5 a.m. start, a wrong turn that added an hour, and 20 minutes watching a chimp in a tree. Worth every muddy step. June 7, 2014 Read more
Travel Day 9: Butare, Lessons in the Ethnogram Practicing wildlife observation with vervet monkeys, a campus genocide memorial, and a Rwandan student's unexpected dedication. June 6, 2014 Read more
Travel Day 8: University of Rwanda Cultural Exchange Meeting students at the University of Rwanda. One survived the genocide at age six and lost ten family members. He wanted to share his story. June 6, 2014 Read more
Travel Day 7: Our Lady of Kibeho & Tribal Dancing Africa's only Vatican-approved Marian apparition site, where one vision reportedly predicted the genocide. Plus tribal dancing and being called Muzungu. June 5, 2014 Read more
Travel Day 6: Murambi Genocide Memorial & Butare Museum Preserved remains, France's Operation Turquoise, and a tour guide who revealed he was a genocide survivor. June 3, 2014 Read more
Travel Day 5: Traveling to Butare The King's Palace, ceremonial long-horned cattle, and the stark contrast between traditional Rwanda and German colonial architecture. June 2, 2014 Read more
Travel Day 4: Nyamata Memorial & Millennium Village A church that sheltered 10,000 people, a reconciliation village where survivors live next to perpetrators, and a basket cooperative rebuilding community. June 1, 2014 Read more
Travel Day 3: Umuganda & Kigali Genocide Memorial Clearing roadsides with machetes alongside locals during Rwanda's monthly community service, then visiting the memorial holding 250,000 victims. May 31, 2014 Read more
Travel Rwanda's Natural History & A Day in Kigali The Natural History Museum, goat and plantains for lunch, and visiting the real Hotel Rwanda where 1,200 refugees were sheltered. May 30, 2014 Read more
Travel A New Day, A New Continent 24 hours of travel, a sprint through Doha airport, and first views of a landscape that's hard to put into words. May 29, 2014 Read more
Travel The Best Laid Plans: Packing and the Things You Forget Weeks of preparation and I still forgot the hat, the fleece, and the boots. Classic. May 26, 2014 Read more
Travel Quick Shout Out Graduating Monday, leaving for Rwanda in weeks. Plus a plug for Dr. Gaydosh's faculty blog. May 9, 2014 Read more
Travel Stocking Up and Shipping Out Final vaccinations, anti-malaria meds, cooling gear, and a needle-and-suture kit. Packing for a place with limited internet and no safety nets. May 3, 2014 Read more
Travel Yellow Fever, Typhus, and Malaria. Oh My. Comps passed, flights booked, and arms full of vaccines. Getting closer to Rwanda. April 14, 2014 Read more
Travel Trouble in Tech Town Two defective cameras, a firmware recall, and the question of whether a GoPro is in the budget. Trip tech problems. March 12, 2014 Read more
Travel First Rwanda Tech Purchase An action camera for POV shots in Rwanda. Not a GoPro, but it has potential. March 6, 2014 Read more
Travel Oh, the Places You'll Go A Google Maps itinerary with every stop in Rwanda pinned and color-coded. Follow along. March 3, 2014 Read more
Travel A Quick Update New blog, first real attempt at blogging. Three ideas for what to write about. Open to suggestions. February 28, 2014 Read more
Travel One Step Forward: Trip Itinerary Funding secured, itinerary set. 19 days across Rwanda: genocide memorials, national parks, universities, and the land of a thousand hills. February 27, 2014 Read more
Travel Just a Quick Hi The first post. A grad student in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, heading to Rwanda for 19 days on the 20th anniversary of the genocide. January 30, 2014 Read more
Travel Europe 2011: What the Trip Taught Me Three countries, six memorial sites, and a question I still haven't finished answering. Reflections on studying the Holocaust across Germany, the Czech Republic, and Poland. June 2011 Read more
Travel Warsaw: Rebuilt and Restless A city destroyed and reconstructed from paintings. Political protests in the streets, an American wreath at a Polish memorial, and a quiet courtyard before the flight home. May 28–29, 2011 Read more
Travel Krakow: Kazimierz and Schindler’s Factory The Remuh Cemetery, the Krakow JCC, and a Talmud quote on the wall of Schindler’s Factory: “Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.” May 26, 2011 Read more
Travel Auschwitz-Birkenau Two days at the place where the industrial logic of the Holocaust is most visible. The gate, the barracks, the ruins of the crematoria, and 1.1 million people who did not leave. May 24–25, 2011 Read more
Travel Terezín and the Vltava at Dusk A day trip to the Nazi ghetto north of Prague—propaganda films, children’s art, and hidden resistance—followed by a sunset boat ride on the Vltava. May 23, 2011 Read more
Travel Prague: Wenceslas Square and the Old Jewish Cemetery First days in Prague: the energy of Wenceslas Square and the haunting, layered gravestones of the Old Jewish Cemetery—twelve layers deep, seven centuries of a community. May 21–22, 2011 Read more
Travel Buchenwald A full day at the concentration camp on the hill above Weimar. The gate, the grounds, the museum, and the weight of standing where 56,000 people died. May 20, 2011 Read more
Travel Weimar: Goethe, Bratwurst, and the Road to Buchenwald A day in Weimar—the city of Goethe and the Bauhaus, a giant bratwurst stand, and the Soviet memorial at Buchenwald. May 19, 2011 Read more
Travel Berlin: Wannsee to the Reichstag The Wannsee Conference House, the Jewish Museum, Brandenburg Gate at sunset, and the Reichstag dome at twilight. Berlin’s full range in a single day. May 18, 2011 Read more
Travel Berlin: The Holocaust Memorial and Topography of Terror Concrete stelae, excavated basements, and the weight of a city built on top of its own history. Berlin hit different. May 17, 2011 Read more
Travel Kassel, Waldeck, and Frankfurt Treetop walks above the Edersee, a dam with a complicated history, a castle courtyard in the clouds, and Frankfurt’s Alte Oper glowing at night. May 15–16, 2011 Read more
Travel Arrival and Rothenburg ob der Tauber Landing in Germany, riding the S-Bahn with no idea where to go, and walking into a medieval town that looked like a film set. May 12–13, 2011 Read more