Where I've Traveled in a Year

A year ago we returned from California, a pandemic was declared, masks appeared everywhere, life as we knew it shut down and Jim and I got sick with a strange set of symptoms. We recovered. After we felt better, I started to travel and here is a list of where I have been over the past year.

Most recently: I stayed in Moscow.

I stayed at the Metropol Hotel, all through the years of Count Rostov's house arrest -- 32 years total -- all through the Stalinist era and into the 1950s, as he created the most charming, moving and delightful story of friendship, love, and making the most of one's circumstances. At first I found it idiosyncratic, a comedy of manners, but then . . . so much more.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Last fall: I went to South Korea.

Specifically to Jeju Island at the very southern tip, where women free-dive for seafood to support their families. They dive to incredible depths, with no oxygen, no wet suits, and in winter. They have been doing this for decades, and have formed a resilient community that saw them through war and deprivation. Despite the tragic history and horrible events, their story is compelling. I was awfully cold and pretty hungry the whole time, though.

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

I took a trip to San Antonio.

Not far from here, but distant in history, as I was taken back to post Civil War days when an itinerant veteran made his way, reading news from the papers to assemblies of illiterate settlers on the frontier. I met a young girl twice-orphaned and in the custody of the newsreader, and was charmed. It's very "True Grit / Charles Portis" but has its own inventive story.

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

I traveled to England.

It was a fascinating trip to Stratford on Avon, where Shakespeare was from, but the history I had learned (the little bit) of his life was all upended. I learned about his young son, Hamnet, and his wife, who was way more important to the story of Shakespeare than I knew, and the whole trip was disorienting and eye opening. Really?

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

In late winter: I visited the Pacific Northwest.

I had a very nice getaway to Dan Hinckley's garden, Windcliff, on a bluff overlooking Puget Sound. Oh, the pictures, the plants, the views, the scenery! Truly a respite from winter. He was gracious to share his garden-making details and how the place came to be and even what some of his gardening failures had been. This was a lovely trip, and he's amusing too.

Windcliff by Dan Hinckley

There were other trips. I kept busy traveling to far flung places all during the pandemic year. But the trip that was most rewarding was the one I took to begin a new story in my life: grandmother. 

Here she is, waiting for her vaccinated Grammy to come visit, with a smile of anticipation:

Come see me, Grammy.

Travel is wonderful. Wait, wait, don't go; one more . . . 

California girls do St. Patrick's Day by
wearing avocados on their jammies.