Head in the Clouds

My head is in the clouds these days as I make my way through my heavily caffinated final days in Baltimore. The whole process is all of a sudden becoming surreal. I feel on top of things, but now am getting constant lovely reminders of how much I will be missed and it's starting to hit me. Today marks my last day at work (so hard to believe after 4 great years, but alas, it is time to move on). Life is a whirlwind this week, but just wanted to check in with some photos from Artscape - reminders of the charming city I've called home for the past 5 years - that I'm just getting around to posting now. (psst...more very Baltimore summer fun photos here).

p.s. Also, meant to post this awhile ago, but I LOVE that Handmade Nation's Faythe Levine love Baltimore. And guess what - she ignored the "main attractions" and visited the city like a local (just my style). See her great pics of Charm City, USA here.

Going Dental

Over the weekend my adventures in conquering Baltimore's lesser explored treasures continued, as my friend Bridget and I finally fulfilled our long awaited visit to the National Museum of Dentistry. Laugh if you will but here are the top 5 reasons it was awesome (and a major sleeper pick of things to do in B-more)!

5. You've never seen so much tooth/teeth paraphernalia in one place (including George Washington's dentures and some pretty awesome finds in the gift shop).
4. You become part of the museum when you capture your smile.
3. There are exhibits on saliva and interactive drawers where you can smell bad breath.
2. Proof that narwhals are real and not mythical creatures. They just happen to have a really impressive left tooth!
1. You can dress up like a dentist! (even more fun than it looks!!!! I promise.)

Boarding Pass - Landon Durnan

Earlier this month my friend Landon completed a cross-country trip from Baltimore to his new home, San Francisco. Not only did he do the entire trip on a motorcycle (don't miss this incredible "music video" of his ride - also linked below), he also documented the entire journey on his road trip blog with the help his iPhone. From planning the trip, to adventures along the way and reflections it's all recorded here. So enjoy today's Boarding Pass to see how Landon [literally] rolls when he travels. {Thanks, Landon!}
last trip taken:
Three week cross country trip via motorcycle. 5,000+ miles, over a dozen cities and parks, amazing experience.
next trip on deck:

I've been thinking about a road trip to either Portland or Salt Lake City. (Thanks to some inspiration from someone's PDX Guide)

one place you would go back to again and again:

Yosemite National Park. While describing this place to others I used words like: gorgeous, fairytale, and heavenly. There are snow-capped mountains that pierce the sky, dozens of hiking trails, and several waterfalls. It's very easy to fall in love with this place and being only three hours from the Bay Area I can see going back here over and over.

place you'd most likely recommend a friend go visit:

Austin, TX. Besides San Francisco, this is the only other place I've visited and felt comfortable and 'at home'. There are lots of things to see and do, great restaurants, and eccentric shopping. The Alamo Drafthouse is also the best movie theater ever and it is an absolute "must-do."
preferred method of transportation:
Two wheels or two feet. I actually get claustrophobic with metal and glass around me now. You get a whole different experience traveling when you can smell the air, feel the sun on your face, and look up.
place you've never been but dying to go:
Rome, Italy

place you'd never go back:

Roswell. There is nothing to see or do. You don't get more landlocked or surrounded by boring. Touristy, strip malls, and chain restaurants. And I didn't see a single UFO or alien. Death Valley is a close second because I nearly got a heat stroke, but I did get a fantastic pie recipe from Death Valley Junction.
most memorable trip:
Riding down the hairpin turns of 89A into Sedona, AZ is literally the only place I've ever been that forced me to have an emotional response. Red rock sandstone, a rushing river, and being surrounded by a gorgeous canyon was an amazing experience that I will never forget. It could have been the dry heat or the hours of riding through flat Texas and eastern Arizona, but I think Sedona was pretty enough to make anyone tear up.

how do you prepare for a trip?

I'll normally get travel guides, read websites, and talk to lots of people. However, I've found that you can have even more fun winging it by talking to locals, wandering around, and following your nose.

how do you record your travels when you're traveling?

A digital camera and an iPhone. The iPhone is literally life changing and allowed me to find restaurants, take pictures, update my GPS location to a website, and blog everything. I also seem to hang on to a lot of travel brochures, pamphlets, ticket stubs, and receipts.

what is your favorite thing to photograph in a new place?

Food, food, signage, landscapes, and my bike. I've found taking pictures of your motorcycle in front of things is like having your picture taken. You and the motorcycle are the only things in the entire world that have experienced the same things together.

on an average, how many pictures to you take on a trip?

The average on the last trip was 50.12 pictures a day. I filled all three memory cards I brought with me and wish I took more photos.

what's in your "designer travel kit" ?

A Canon SD1000, an iPhone, and a beautiful leather journal that I wish I had used more. However, when you're on the road and taking care of the first two levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs I relegated all the creativity to writing on my road trip blog.

what do you do after a trip? how long after a trip does this happen?

It takes me several days of sleeping just to feel normal again. It's been over a week since the end of my last trip and I'm still sorting through photos and videos.

favorite souvenir/thing to bring back?

I made it a point to save gas receipts (since you get 3-4 a day), but they all seemed to have disappeared! I usually don't purchase anything, but I'm pretty fond of a Tibetan skull prayer beads that I got in a voodoo shop in New Orleans.


website: robotsarego (road trip site HERE!)
on flickr
Super fun creative music video


Click HERE for all the past Boarding Pass features.

Ninjas in the Sun

I was so excited to open the Baltimore Sun today and see a full length feature on this year's waterballet! Even better was that this picture of the Japan scene during rehearsal this week (that's my head in the bottom left). Check out the awesome article here (don't miss additional images), and buy your tickets ASAP here before it sells out!

{Baltimore Sun photo by Gene Sweeney Jr.}

Where the Wild Things Are

Is anyone else as excited as I am for Where the Wild Things Are? As a kid, the classic book by Maurice Sendak was always one of my favorites. After Max is sent to bed early for being mischievous, he enters this magical world - a good reminder that sometimes the best way to travel is through our imaginations.



The movie doesn't come out until October 16th, but I'm already loving so much about it (especially the use of hand drawn type!). Check out all the other wonderfully creative "Wild Thing" inspired art that's being created at Terrible Yellow Eyes [below]!
{top movie poster via cup of joe via where the wild things are; bottom image by matt dawson via terrible yellow eyes}

p.s. as a random aside, I've even been "lucky" enough to dress up as the "Wild Thing" (yes, that's me in the costume, and yes, it was 90 degress outside that day!).

Great Blacks in Wax

It's hard to believe that my time in Baltimore is less than two weeks now. Strangely enough I feel really in control, and I'm still enjoying every moment and trying to check the few remaining things off my Baltimore "to do" list. So last Friday, on a rainy afternoon, I decided to take advantage of having access to a car and check out the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum (sadly it's in a neighborhood you don't want to walk to).
It was really one of the more touching museums I've ever been to. After having visited the Native American Museum on the National Mall a few weeks ago, and feeling completely overloaded by all the graphics and flash and dash and overall sensory overload, I very much appreciated the simplicity of this museum.
There were so many "characters" that I remembered reading about and studying in elementary and high school, so it was a good reminder in adulthood to revisit their stories and the roles they've played in history. [Harriet Tubman and a scene from the Underground Railroad pictured above].
As a graphic designer who often works on signage projects, I even embraced the 8.5 x 11" xerox print outs, poor typographic layouts (lots of centering) and inconsistent labeling throughout the museum. In a world that it so digital, I much preferred the "old school" lack of flash and dash character of the museum's exhibits. It only seemed appropriate.
As you enter the museum you go down a set of stairs and into a slave ship. There's something about seeing the wax figures and bodies with no space in between them, accompanied by the stories that is more powerful than watching a movie. There's even a story of slaves being raped - a reality that I was never taught in school. And deeper in the museum there's an entire room downstairs (recommended for visitors over the age of 13) all about lynching. I very much appreciated that they don't try to sugar coat history.
And as you weave your way from scene to scene you're reminded of names you know, and others you may not know (but still benefit from their contribution to history). [Malcolm X above, Fubu below].
You literally take a trip from the time of slavery to Obama as president. While I'm disappointed I never visited this museum until now, I'm glad I was able to visit with the latest chapter to close the book (for now at least).
Click here for more about the museum and plan your visit next time you're in Baltimore.

601 E North Ave, Baltimore, MD 21213

Boarding Pass - Eliza Jane Curtis

I've been intrigued by Buenos Aires for awhile now, and after sharing a sneak peek of Eliza Jane Curtis's (the force behind Morris & Essex) home over on design*sponge I was even more sold on this city which seems to be so full of color and life. After 12 years in NYC, Eliza was ready for a change of pace, and for the past two years has been calling the "Paris of Latin America" home as she creates beautiful hand-printed cards and creations. South America is probably the part of the world I know the least, so it's great fun in today's Boarding Pass to see how Eliza has taken advantage of her new home to explore a new part of the world. {Thanks, Eliza!}

{Designs combine my love of the city's art deco architectural details and memories of childhood daydreams in the fields and forests of Maine to create motifs of geometry, nature and fantasy.}

last trip taken:
a visit to Rio de Janeiro and Ilha Grande, Brazil. Ilha Grande is a perfect paradise island, it used to have some infamous prisons which were only closed down in the past few decades. So it never got built-up and overdeveloped, it's still mostly natural and quiet, no cars or roads, just jungle and beaches, lots of fishermen, and one small tourist town. There is a big, fabulous white beach called Praia Mendes Lopes, you can only get there by boat or by hiking a few hours through the jungle, and then it's this heavenly beautiful, deserted place. Also, we fed bananas to a bunch of friendly marmoset monkeys in the jungle, that was incredible!

{Rio de Janiero}

next trip on deck:
hmm, not sure! I think we're done traveling for this year, so probably our next trip will be spending Christmas with some friends on the beach in Uruguay! After that... more exploration in South America. We still have not visited Peru or Bolivia or Chile, and I want to see a lot more of Brazil, especially the wilder places in the north. We're not going to live in South America forever, so I want to take advantage of our time here and try to see lots of different places, while we're here. We want to see the salt flats in Bolivia, and I would really like to spend a bit of time in Valparaiso, Chile, I love city plus mountains plus ocean all together! And it seems like there is lots of interesting history in Valparaiso. I am reading an Isabella Allende novel right now, Hija de la Fortuna, which has inspired my interest in Valparaiso.

{Porland Head Light: this lighthouse was commissioned by George Washington in 1787}

one place you would go back to again and again:

I do go back every year to my family's cabin in the White Mountains in New Hampshire, and most years we also spend a weekend with family friends in this gorgeous cabin on a really remote & beautiful beach, near Popham Beach on the coast of Maine. Mostly, if I can get the money and time to travel, I like to go explore somewhere new every time! But these places have family and friends and so many years of happy memories (as well as beautiful forests and mountains and natural beauty!) that is what keeps me coming back over and over.

{on top of the world! Cerro Fitz Roy}

place you'd most likely recommend a friend go visit:

El Chalten, Patagonia, Argentina. It's a tiny, remote village in the middle of the most astounding mountains. We were there in the fall and the colors were so incredible: the bright fall foliage turns the mountainsides red and orange and burgundy... and the mountain peaks and glaciers and lakes are really intense blues... you can do some very easy hikes, leaving from the village, that give you such amazing views, it really feels like being on top of the world.
{Patagonia glacial cave. Glaciar Perito Moreno, Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. [right:] after a trek across the glacier, our guide hacked off some hunks of glacier ice and poured us all tumblers of whiskey on the rocks.}

preferred method of transportation:
i love biking! I would love to get in shape and do some long distance bike-traveling some day. Also love trains and boats. Airplanes and airports are the worst. But often unavoidable!

{Angros dos Reis - Rio de Janeiro province, Brasil}

place you've never been but dying to go:

oh gosh, I can't possibly narrow this down to one place. Tokyo. Tuscany. England. I really want to take a boat ride down the Amazon, through the jungle in Brazil, and sleep in hammocks at night- a friend told me about doing this and I fell in love with the idea. Thailand. Croatia. I want to go everywhere!!

{tiles at Camino Real, Puebla, Mexico}

place you'd never go back:

hmmm...

most memorable trip in 2 sentences or less:

My first trip to Europe, I visited Paris with my parents six or seven years ago, I had barely ever been outside of the USA and I was totally blown away! Paris is so beautiful and everything is so old, it felt like I was living some beautiful exciting fantasy, but at the same time returning to the ancestral homeland, walking along the seine, wandering around medieval alleyways on Ile de la Cité and drinking wine in 500-year-old cellars and clambering around the catacombs of ancient cathedrals. (I can't help mentioning that it was cool traveling with my parents, they are awesome!)

{Santa Theresa at Night - Rio}

how do you prepare for a trip?

I always get so excited before a trip, I do tons of research online, and write down interesting notes in my little moleskine book. I also make a checklist of every single little thing to pack, I feel super nerdy about doing this but I am very forgetful so I need it.

{day 2 of north american road trip: connie's diner in waterloo, new york}

how do you record your travels when you're traveling?

zillions of photos. sometimes I sketch too, and I like to write postcards.

{a few favorites from my postcard collection}

what is your favorite thing to photograph in a new place?

markets, tile patterns, decorative architectural details.

{set of tiles and patterns}

on an average, how many pictures to you take on a trip?

I probably take at least 50 photos every day, maybe 100 some days!

{tiles in Plaza Espana}

what's in your "designer travel kit" ?

always my camera, my knitting project, a tin of colored pencils, a thin Sharpie and a handful of little Stabilo colored markers, and a sketchbook or just a loose pile of paper scraps to doodle on.

what do you do after a trip? how long after a trip does this happen?

I'm pretty diligent about uploading photos to my Flickr site within the first week after my trip. I try to also write a blog entry for each trip, sometimes it takes me a few weeks to get that done. I've occasionally made a hand-bound photo album from a trip, I would love to do that every time but it's time-consuming!

{Coati - according to Wikipedia, the coati also known as the hog-nosed coon, snookum bear, and the Brazilian aardvark, is a member of the raccoon family, a diurnal mammal native to South, Central, and south-western North America. these guys are cute as hell and not shy about begging for snacks. Actually one of them took a nibble of my camera, hoping it was a bit of hot dog. }

favorite souvenir/thing to bring back?
postcards, snacks.
{Guara Viton turned out to be really tasty. Cebolitos were flavorless and weird. }

what are your favorite things to do when you're traveling?
#1. eat and drink. #2. I love to go up to the highest place and look out across the land. I like to hike up mountains, or ride the elevator to the top of the highest building, or ride a tram or cable-car up a hill and look back over the city from above. #3. meet people. #4. rent a bike and ride around. #5. go swimming. #6. sit around drinking coffee and writing postcards.

{caipirinha time, Brazil}

website: Morris & Essex

on flickr
blog: Eliza Jane Curtis
Morris & Essex on Etsy

Click HERE for all the past editions of Boarding Pass!