Americana

Abandoned trailers in the vicinity of Bishop New Mexico

Now, while at least half the US is still wrapped in the warm, fuzzy glow of change/hope/yes-we-can, seems the perfect time to post some Americana.

Vintage Cadillac, Espanola New Mexico

Last month we spent three and a half weeks in the US - our longest stay since we moved to Bangkok seven years ago. We split our time between three very different parts of the country: the San Francisco Bay Area (where we resided happily for 8 years),

Kite and hills at sunset, Emeryville California

Michigan (where we both grew up and earned our undergraduate degrees),

Draft horse demonstration, East Lansing Michigan

and northern New Mexico, where my parents have lived for twenty years.

El Santuario do Chimayo, Chimayo New Mexico

Everywhere we went America's 'America-ness' announced itself. Foreigners - and Americans - cleave to so many cliched images of our country. Yet without even trying we bumped up against those images again and again. Postcard-perfect pictures of America.

High school football practice, Berkeley California

Historic Ingham County Courthouse, Mason Michigan

Little Man, Abiquiu New Mexico

Maybe we've been away so long that we've begun to view our own country as foreigners would, seeing the odd, unusual, beautiful, or extraordinary in the ordinary.

Giving a Clydesdale a bath, East Lansing Michigan

Certainly traveling with a camera (or with a photographer) leads you to search for often overlooked images.

A bar owner with a sense of humor, Holt Michigan

Dog tunnel, Abiquiu New Mexico

No doubt being in the US during the lead-up to a national election heightened our awareness of our country's uniqueness.

Obamanos, Santa Fe New Mexico

There's no denying that America is overflowing with vistas you won't find anywhere else in the world.

San Francisco Bay Bridge

Abandoned house, Edgewood New Mexico

We know a North America-resident writer-photographer who spends a chunk of every year in Southeast Asia. When he's back home in NA his camera stays in its bag. Lack of inspiration, he says. We can't imagine it.

Last Saturday we left San Francisco eager to return to our home in Kuala Lumpur yet wishing we'd had more time in the US. And maybe even appreciating the US more than we ever have.

Cochise, Abiquiu New Mexico

We'd like to know it better. Next time, maybe a road trip.

On the road in Espanola, New Mexico 

Vintage Buick, Hell Michigan

Tommy on the run, Abiquiu New Mexico

Comments

[joey]

These are incredible photos!

[Kitt]

Gorgeous, evocative shots. I particularly like the Clydesdale bath and the dog tunnel.

[Mila]

I wonder if I could take my turn as the town drunk in Holt...
America's landscapes and those quirky poignant heart-tugging laugh out loud moments, yes please go on a road trip! That would make for a marvelous series and I can only imagine the wonderful finds (food and otherwise) you two will stumble on.
By the way, I can't seem to open the comments section on Table for Three, it was lovely to read more about you. Robyn, does anyone ever say you look like the actress Judy Davis?

[Jeff D]

Love the courthouse. If that town issues postcards, they might really like that shot.

[Heidih]

Lovely post and pics. I get jaded sometimes too, and then I start to think like a photographer and I am transported and awed. I stand on a hill with my faithful happy off-leash dog, in a field of yellowing grasses with hawks circling overhead, and look down onto giant red cranes in one of the busiest harbors in the world, turn my head and look at skyscrapers including the tallest building on the west coast set before a backdrop of mountains, take a few steps, turn my head and see a lovely coastline. Thanks for the reminder to really look and appreciate.

[ELE]

Robyn and Dave,

Thank you for these stunning pictures and helpful captions. America is vast, with many gorgeous vistas and an unending array of scenes to behold. Thank you for sharing these images.

Would love to see more photographs, if you have the time/inclination. I am already looking forward to potential posts from that roadtrip you are considering!

[Robyn]

Joey and Kitt, thanks from Dave. We may do a whole draft horse/Clydesdale post. We had a great time at the show.

Mila - I know, I wanted to steal that sign! Road trip, road trip .... maybe in 2009.
And no, no one has ever told me that. But I'll take it! Now if only I had her figure and her bank account....

Thanks Jeff. Unfortunately Mason, like much of Michigan, is in severe economic doldrums. The courthouse sits in the middle of four blocks of shop buildings that date back to the 1800s. They're in great repair but unfortunately - sign of the times - many of the shopfronts are now empty.

Hi Heidi - are you in CA? Looking at the Oakland port?

ELE - Thanks. We'll see what we can do. Many more photos on the drive....

[Audbelle]

Love this post and the gorgeous pix! I like the SF bridge particularly, the color, the mood. I lived there for a good 13 1/2 years (still missing it) but I like where I am now, east of Seattle, WA. When I read your blog, it feels like we walk the same path(almost), KL (where I fly in the see my family), visit SF and friends. And the food you both explore in KL and everywhere in the country. You also visited Muar, my hometown :) where I still miss lots of my childhood street food. Keep up the good blog. Always a pleasure to read!

[Heidih]

Robyn- I am in Los Angeles and was looking at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the Library Tower building, Santa Monica mountains and Santa Monica Bay

[Heidih]

Robyn- I am in Los Angeles and was looking at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the Library Tower building, Santa Monica mountains and Santa Monica Bay