l.a.

on sunday, evan and i went to the getty center.

we saw an exhibition of medieval manuscript illustrations of the old testament.

here's job on the dung heap:

yesterday, i had lunch with my friend maia and explored west hollywood.

i went to the west holywood farmers market and drank iced coffee while writing postcards.

today, i walked down abbot kinney and had crispy poached eggs with creamed spinach for brunch at 3 square cafe.

then i walked to venice beach

and said goodbye to evan, who was a wonderful host (thanks, evan!)

tonight, it's off to denver on the southwest chief.

on the sunset limited

on friday evening, i boarded the westbound sunset limited in austin.  

the train hugged the border through the deserts of west texas 

and stopped in el paso.

 

 (these mountains are mexico)

back on the train, i met molly, a fellow passenger. through a series of events that seemed designed to remind me how small the world can be, we discovered that we have a good friend in common (hi, briallen!).  molly and her friend leah are also taking a month-long trip around the country, and we shared stories about our respective adventures. 

we watched the sunset in the observatory (a fitting pastime for passengers on the sunset limited).

when we arrived in los angeles this morning, i had breakfast with molly and leah at philippes.  

then we explored the "railroading museum" in the back room of the restaurant, which consists entirely of this window display: 

 

then i made my way to my friend evan's house in venice beach and took a much-needed shower.

austin

 

liz and i packed a lot of adventure into two austin days.

yesterday, we had brunch at bouldin creek coffee house

and took a driving tour of u.t.

 

then we went for a swim at barton springs

 

and got snow cones from a snow cone trailer.

 

we drank avocado margaritas with our friends laura and josh at curras

and took a bat-watching cruise on lake austin.  we saw the bridge under which 1.5 million bats currently live, and we watched thousands of bats emerge from under the bridge after sunset (please let me know if you have any bat-related questions; i just might be able to answer them after learning more than i ever cared to know about bats from our informative tour guide/boat captain).

afterward, we went to the broken spoke and i learned how to texas two step.

today, we had brunch at kerbey lane, spent a relaxing afternoon at the flightpath coffee house,

and got brightly-colored manicures.

we went to an artisan fair and liz got some fashionable cacti designed by plaid pigeon planters for her new apartment.

then we had some stellar fish tacos at gueros.

 


i have fallen completely in love with austin over the last few days and will be sad to leave tomorrow.  thanks to liz for being such an amazing tour guide!

aboard the texas eagle

on the train from chicago to austin, i ate dinner in the dining car with ed, a fellow traveler.  ed worked as a waiter on the texas eagle for 27 years, beginning in 1978. he served three meals a day between san antonio and chicago and loved his job so much he wanted to do it for the rest of his life, but his knees told him it was time to quit.  at the beginning of every round-trip route, he would get a 16-slice key lime pie from the train's kitchen and eat the whole thing by the time he got home to san antonio.  

the train stopped in 

normal

 and

 st. louis.

 

i slept through little rock.

then we passed through crawford

and arrived, only slightly delayed, in austin.

ciao, chicago

on our last morning in the windy city, mom and i bid farewell to julia, our gracious hostess, and had a cup of coffee downtown.

we took an architectural boat tour on the chicago river and heard the stories behind the city's skyscrapers.

 








then mom boarded the capitol limited to lancaster and i settled into the austin-bound texas eagle.

the art institute

 

mom and i spent the day at the art institute of chicago.  in the morning we saw

picasso

and 

o'keeffe.

 we had lunch with my childhood friends ben and luke, who now act and fly planes, respectively.  

in the afternoon we saw

 

van gogh 

and 

seurat.

we walked along the water to navy pier and explored the magnificent mile.  i bought a pair of vintage cowboy boots (just in time for texas!).