Amsterdam, Netherlands

Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Visited: April 2010

I had no idea I was in love with Vincent van Gogh until I visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. He was simply amazing. The left page is about one of the special exhibits we also saw, a collection from the Mesdag Museum. Good stuff all around.

Flagstaff, AZ

Location: Flagstaff, Arizona, USA
Visited: August 2008

A coworker and I had an afternoon to kill while on a business trip to Flagstaff, so we hunted down the San Francisco Peaks, the highest point in the state of Arizona. He'd heard that in the summer, the ski resort Arizona Snowbowl opened their lifts to the summit. It was my first ride on a ski lift (as I've never actually been skiing), and the half-hour ride each way was delightful. The view was spectacular as well; you could even see the Grand Canyon!

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Visited: April 2010

I don't remember how I heard about this place, but I managed to talk Cookie (my friend and traveling companion) into visiting this cemetery. I hadn't known it would be so artistic. It was one of those unexpected decisions that led to quite a memorable experience. The stuff you didn't plan is one of my favorite things about traveling.

Baltimore, MD

Location: Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Visited: March 2013

The brochure for Fort McHenry had a huge print of the original Star Spangled Banner taking up about three quarters of one side of the sheet, so I used part of that as my background. The walk around the Fort was windy and cold, but we warmed up with some spicy BBQ at HarborQue just up the street a bit in Locust Point.

Utrecht, Netherlands

Location: Utrecht, The Netherlands
Visited: April 2010

This is another Utrecht spread that I'm not sure why I didn't scan in before. Cafe de Zaark was where we met up with other BookCrossers at the end of our tour. Everyone was just so friendly! I included my Horoscoop (why is that capitalized when April isn't?), even though I haven't the faintest idea what it says. I also purchased one of the Dom Tower coins (since that was one of the sites we saw), though for the life of me I can't recall where it went. I should go dig that out sometime.

Sedona, AZ

Location: Sedona, Arizona, USA
Visited: July 2008

When driving from Phoenix to Flagstaff, we stopped in Sedona, land of gorgeous rocks. I was interested to read that it was named after a woman, as I've never met anyone named Sedona before. It's kind of pretty.

Occoquan and Lorton, VA

Location: Occoquan and Lorton, Virginia, USA
Visited: February 2013

Sometimes while I'm out snarfing, I accidentally learn something along the way. For example, all that yellow stuff above is from the Suffragist Memorial in Occoquan Regional Park. Usually when we read about the Suffragettes, it's all about Seneca Falls, New York. I hadn't realized so much happened in my home county of Fairfax. Nearby I continued my education at the Occoquan Workhouse, where many of these women were imprisoned for their efforts to get the right to vote.

On this same trip I toured historic downtown Occoquan, including the Mill House Museum. The man working there gave me a thorough history of the region from the disappearing Dogue Indians in 1681 to the devastation of Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Fascinating, and his enthusiasm was pretty inspiring.

The Textile Museum

Location: The Textile Museum, Washington, DC, USA
Visited: January 2013

I'd never been to this tiny museum hiding back in a Dupont neighborhood. They're preparing to move to a new building, so the only exhibit was The Sultan's Garden. It was kind of nifty but after about five minutes we were done.

Renwick Gallery

Location: The Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
Visited: January 2013

My friend and I biked from Tenleytown to the Renwick Gallery, where we spent most of our time exploring the 40 Under 40: Craft Futures exhibit. There was a lot of truly strange stuff, but also a fair amount of beautiful and/or ingenious items. The huge installment on the left side of this spread was made entirely of paper.