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Monte Bello Preserve
Monte Bello is a special hiking spot Casey and I go to near Palo Alto. It is our favorite place because it is never crowded and the loop is just at the appropriate level of difficulty. By the end, I am complaining, and we finish right when Casey gets tired. So it’s a win-win for…
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Nisene Marks State Forest
Casey and I visited Nisene Marks at the beginning of our myceulium obsession. We were just learning about mushrooms and getting excited when we could identify basic roussulas. Now, we’ve gotten pretty good and can identify many things! We went to Nisene Marks this past week. With Covid, it was crazy the amount of bikers…
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Capitola Beach
We’ve been living in the Bay Area for four years now but we have yet to spend too much time at any of the beaches. This winter break from distance learning, I set out to change all that. Capitola is an urban beach with a low-key beach town. It is near Santa Cruz. The drive…
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Northwest Austin
I found an old map of Austin while visiting my grandpa one summer afternoon. It was a map from the 90’s, and there are many more roads than there are on the map. I decided to cut it up and reflect on every corner of Northwest Austin – places I’ve been, that were special to…
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Austin and my many homes
I lived in Austin for almost twenty-five years and called several places home, mostly in North Austin. I have fond memories of all the places I’ve lived. My childhood home was on 360 and Spicewood Springs, a house I’ll return to over and over again for holidays. The home represented stability and quiet. While I…
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Oakland/SF
Quarantine makes me nostalgic for places I’ve been, even if they’re not my favorite places. I haven’t left the house really, since March. As I clean out my house, I find little snippets of life before quarantine – maps, ticket stubs, flyers, and more. Last August, Casey and I saw a comedy show in Oakland.…
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Las Vegas
Las Vegas has always had a special place in my family. I think Nevada occupies that space for many families in the American Southwest. Disneyland or a theme park is an expensive ordeal that requires planning. Vegas is kind of a place your exhausted parents can get the whole family packed in to the car…
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Memories of Austin through restaurants
I found an old wallet filled with punchcards from Austin. There were about thirty in there. Didn’t I say I was a paper hoarder? If it’s printed, I want to keep it. I decided to record some of my favorite places in a tiny journal. Some of the punchcards were from places I love, whereas…
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Paris
I’m currently learning French through Duolingo. It is going surprisingly well. I am catching on and it seems like it’s filling gaps in my brain. I think I see French words, just around, in life, and finding out what they actually mean and how to accurately read them, is helping. I’ve only been to one…
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Istanbul
Have you been somewhere that’s so completely magical that you vow to return again and again? That’s how I feel about Istanbul. I didn’t know what to expect but when I got there, I was impressed by everything. I loved it. I stayed at a cozy little hostel tucked away in Kadikoy with one of…