About Andy
As 2020 closed, we decided to spend time exploring and documenting the many special places across the United States. Inspired by our prior road trips, the PBS documentary American Creed, and Debra and James Fallows’ book Our Towns, we are seeking to better understand our country by asking a single animating question: what makes this place special? With a pilot’s license and a new-to-us airplane, we hope to celebrate our country by sharing our discoveries and adventures.
About Andy
After three years of pilot training (thank you Adam, Dan, Robert, Adam, Shyam, Pat and Mike – I’m a slow learner), it was time to use these skills for a true adventure. With a Private Pilot Certificate, an Instrument Rating, and a 2005 Cirrus SR 22, we are cleared for takeoff.
Much ink has been spilled over how polarized and different we Americans have become. Really? My mom was from Neodesha Kansas, my dad was from Philadelphia, I was raised in Los Angeles and live in small Northern California hamlet: these are my priors. It is a big country filled with many accomplished people and storied places. There will be much to see and learn.
As a recovering real estate developer with an educational background in economics, history, and urban planning, my thing is the built environment and how it reflects what is important to the people who live there.
Writing and photographing helps me to distill big observations to their essence. I hope our shared material is interesting to you and helps to rebuild some pride in our country and what it’s citizens are accomplishing.
About Jen
I’ve always liked people – liked drawing them out, liked hearing about their lives. Many is the time on family trips (to the chagrin of the kids) when I chose the front seat of the taxi, eager to learn from a new mind what matters, what’s core.
My firm belief is that individuals – in all their messy complexity – have lives of great value, and understanding them builds a deeper idea of what makes a place special. How they shape their land, what buildings they erect, the type and kinds of local food – all of these things add to letting the ‘sense’ of the place come through.
Thanks for coming along!
