Still Processing

Travel photos and a whole lot of thoughts

I’m home! Finally, after 3 weeks on the road!

In case you missed it, I went on a 4,000-mile, multi-state adventure last month to a few ~mystery locations~ which I will reveal shortly (if you’re impatient, scroll down to the pics!). It involved visiting several places I’ve never been to, seeing over a dozen friends, and attending a pretty transformative writer’s retreat.

And no, you didn’t miss out on any newsletters in the meantime. In the past, I’ve tried to be the kind of person that writes while on a trip, but I learned this time that I prefer to soak things up and process it all after it’s over. I still wrote in my journal and sent letters and postcards*, but no essays yet.

Right now I’m still just processing everything that happened. I don’t know what exactly I’ll write yet, but it’ll happen in due time.

What I can say now is that this trip felt so necessary for me on a personal and professional level. I’m going to do my very best to put into words the ways that it’s changed me, and all the ways that it will continue to change me as I sit with my experiences. Memory recall is something I don’t make enough time for in my daily life, but I’m building some new routines that allow me to sit with my experiences and record ones that were particularly potent or illuminating.

When was the last time you sat intentionally with your memories? Or even just the thoughts swirling around in your head? Many of you reading this are writers, so you likely do it more than the average person. But these days there’s so much noise in the world and in our lives that it’s easy to get caught up and eschew even a few minutes of daily reflection.

I think it’s necessary for good writing to be able to sit with your thoughts, especially when you have so many of them. That’s the challenge I’m having right now. I did so many new things, visited several new locations and met at least 30 new people over the past three weeks that it’s just a lot to sort through. But I hope that means I’ll continue to have interesting stories to tell as the weeks go on and I mentally unpack from this trip.

In the meantime, I have pictures! Let me share my itinerary with you visually, and finally reveal the locations I visited.

*If you asked for a postcard after the last newsletter and still haven’t gotten it, send me a message! It should have reached you by now.

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Rewind to Monday, April 13. Ryan dropped me off at the airport in Milwaukee after we got lunch together in the suburbs.

That night I landed in Seattle and spent the next day downtown. I got to see Pike Place Market, which was basically the Milwaukee Public Market, but five times the size. (Yes, I know Pike Place came first, but the MKE market will always be my #1.)

The next day, I went back to the airport. (What? You were just there!) Yes, I was. But I had an even more important flight to catch; one that would take me the furthest from home that I’ve ever been!

After a surprise cancellation and rebooking, I made it to Honolulu, Hawaii that evening. My friends Maddie and Teddy picked me up from the airport and we stayed up late talking, then went to sleep around midnight.

The next morning, the sun came screaming thru my window at 6am. I was up for the day, no matter how tired I was. I was in Hawaii, for crying out loud!! Time to go out and do things.

The first day I got acquainted with my surroundings (short walks, figuring out transit schedules, etc.) and also rested quite a bit. I also discovered the feral chickens, which are a common sight around the islands.

I was in Honolulu for a total of four days. I arrived with few plans, which was a smart move, because it gave me the flexibility to do whatever I felt like on each day.

My friends also treated me to several dinners where I got to meet some of their friends and try new foods like Thai shave ice (which is slightly different than classic Hawaiian shave ice, though just as delicious!)

I spent a while getting acquainted with Hawaiian history by visiting the Bishop Museum and ‘Iolani Palace. The palace was especially moving, because it was the place that the last queen of Hawaii, Lili’uokalani, was imprisoned for eight months after she was overthrown by a cohort of American businessmen. (Here’s a summary for those of you who are curious).

I also did some real touristy things, like see fireworks on Waikiki Beach and go shopping at Don Quijote (a Japanese discount store that’s annoying viral online among American tourists who visit Tokyo.) I had to see it for myself since there’s one in Honolulu.

After the city, I drove up to the North Shore of Oahu with some friends to attend the Oahu Writer’s Retreat! It was right on the beach at Camp Mokule’ia, which kind of gave me Girl Scout camp vibes. We all stayed in a big lodge with no AC and could hear the sound of the ocean through our windows at night. I’ve been calling it “writing camp” since it truly felt like a summer camp.

I spent my week at camp going for beach walks, working on some new projects in memoir class, and making lots of new writer friends!

That’s the fun side of things — the not-so-fun part was how many emotions came up for me as I dug into new prompts with the encouragement of my teachers and classmates. Writing camp was fun, but also challenging in the best ways.

Camp ended on a Sunday, and that evening I made my way back to Seattle on the customary 6-hour Hawaiian Airlines flight. I got to my hotel at 11:30pm and was wiped. The next day would be busy, and I was thankful that my body sunk into a very deep sleep right as my head hit the pillow.

The next day I met up with two of my freelance friends who’d just flown in from Ohio and New York State. We caravaned to the airport to pick up a rental car, and then picked up a third friend who flew in from California. We were headed to the mountains to stay in what Ryan dubbed the “freelancer hype house.”

We’d planned a 4-day, DIY retreat at a big mountain house about an hour east of Seattle. There were a total of 10 of us — my little car of four would soon meet with the other six friends coming from various locations around the Western U.S.

Since we mostly talk online, it was such a thrill to spend time in person. Our group has such a supportive, effortless energy to it, and we equally shared the work of cooking, cleaning, and leading workshops. When our time was over, I didn’t want to leave!!

But at that point it was almost the end of my third week on the road. I was getting tired, and so ready to see my cats and Ryan again.

I booked a night at the Gaslight Inn in Seattle’s Capitol Hill for a personal “layover” before officially heading back to Wisconsin. If you’re looking for a quiet place in the city, I’d highly recommend it. I got a cozy room on the top floor with a nice city view and slept like a rock.

I also befriended the hotel cat, Neo. It had been so long since I had a furry friend sit on my lap, and I was overjoyed that he found me friendly enough to cuddle up!!

The next day I went swimming in the hotel pool and wandered around Capitol Hill for a while. I ate latkes and matzo ball soup at the local deli, Dingfelders. And then I spent way too much money at Elliot Bay Books, which I can’t say was totally unexpected.

Before I knew it, it was time to head home. But I didn’t go back to the airport this time — instead, I made my way to King Street Station to board the train.

This was my second time taking the train from the West Coast to the Midwest, but the first time I’d booked a sleeper car. It’s a three-day, two-night journey that goes across six states: Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin (the train technically ends in Chicago, Illinois but I got off in Milwaukee, so I’m only counting the states I went through).

I have to say, this was the best possible way to end my trip. When I booked the train ticket, I wasn’t sure how I would feel being stuck on board for three days. But it turned out that having all that time to rest, with a room to myself and catered meals, was just perfect. And I didn’t feel jet lagged when I got home because of the gradual change through the time zones.

I also made some new friends and acquaintances on the train, which always seems to happen whenever I do a long-distance trip. I truly think the most interesting people in America ride the train, because I always meet at least one new type of person I never knew existed. (More on that later, trust me.)

On Sunday, May 3, I pulled up to the Amtrak station in downtown Milwaukee. Ryan was waiting in the car, and grinned the biggest grin when he saw me approach. He helped me load up my stuff and then we went to Colectivo for breakfast burritos and iced tea before finally heading home.

The end! For now, at least.

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