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Best Of Post: the setting of suns. Here are the best and brightest (or darkest) of magic hour skies from both halves of my cross-country journey (not including any from previous posts). Particularly tricky catching the sunset on camera on the first half driving eastward away from it, but I managed somehow… 🙄

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Jun 24, 2019 at 8:59pm PDT

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Best Of Post: I can has instapets? What better place to post pics of all the animal adorbs from my cross-country road trip than on social media! Got some great quality cuddle time with these cuties in Santa Fe, New York, Montana, and LA. They certainly helped keep my spirits up when the road seemed "the loneliest and most brutal." Couldn't have done it without them (or their humans). 💕🐶😸💕

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Jun 17, 2019 at 11:18pm PDT

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Best Of Post: I saw the signs. And they opened up my eyes. Just look at all these fantastically funny, dirty, and contradictory (both hilariously and infuriatingly so) signs I encountered across our glorious country. All of them "long, full, and empty with words." Is enough enough?

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Jun 13, 2019 at 10:51pm PDT

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Saved the best for the last stop of the cross-country road trip: Zion! And sadly the visit did not do it justice. Stuffed in as many small hikes as I could (The Grotto, Weeping Rock, Riverside Walk), but unfortunately The Narrows were too flooded to see (I waded into the river as far as I could) and I didn't have the time or means to hike Angels Landing. Must be better prepared next time. And there will be a next time, coz it looks awesome! Who's up for a trip back to Zion to hike these with me?!

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Jun 9, 2019 at 9:56pm PDT

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Back up over 8,000 feet (up to 9,115 ft!) and through the Dixie woods to Bryce Canyon National Park I go. Went up and down the whole Rainbow Point drive and all its breathtaking lookouts. Then found iconic views at Bryce Point, inspiration at the aptly named Inspiration Point, and ended the day with a stunning sunset at Sunset Point. By that point, it was too late for Sunrise Point, so I skipped that one. I mean, what would've been the point?

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Jun 7, 2019 at 11:23am PDT

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Canyonlands, the land of canyons. I only visited the biggest one, the Island in the Sky, but it was a beaut (or should I say, butte?). Drove down every scenic route to get the full spectrum of beautiful views: Mesa Arch, Candlestick Tower, Orange Cliffs, Upheaval Dome, Green River, and (last but not least) the Grand View Point. And ain't it just grand?

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Jun 6, 2019 at 10:05pm PDT

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Oh Arches, you magnificent national park full of stunning contradictions. A motionless Park Avenue in the desert. Balanced Rock somehow resting just off-center. All the pane-free Window Arches looking into each other (though I did have fun climbing on their sills). That hike up to Delicate Arch that was anything but delicate. The Garden of Eden which actually looked quite barren and menacing. And the Devils Garden which was rather more verdant and heavenly.

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Jun 6, 2019 at 9:47am PDT

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Another long but beautiful drive through Montana, Idaho, into Utah took me to Salt Lake City for an afternoon of intricately and intensely Mormon sculpture. Or at least that's what Atlas Obscura prescribed. Obscura indeed. Then it's back on the road again headed for Moab. Anyone else feel like this is getting to be a ridiculous amount of driving? But then as Kerouac claims, “The road must eventually lead to the whole world.”

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Jun 5, 2019 at 3:33pm PDT

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Drove up north into Yellowstone. Now we're over 8,000 feet! And I can feel the difference in all these amazing natural wonders at every turn and trailhead. From Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces to Artists Paint Pots to all the geysers at West Thumb, Upper, Midway, Lower, and Norris Basins, and the infamous Old Faithful. I walked around and admired each of them, their "potent and inconceivable radiancies shining in bright Mind Essence." And as each geyser's thermal sulfuric smoke blew over me, I felt blessed anew. Like burning sage, only better.

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Jun 4, 2019 at 8:29pm PDT

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Gorgeous drive thru the Shoshone and Bridger-Teton National Forests building up to the headliner, Grand Teton National Park. And look, snow! Didn't think I'd see any on this trip. Silly me. Up here at 6,500 feet, there's enough snow and thin air to make a girl quite faint with excitement (or is that the altitude sickness?).

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Jun 3, 2019 at 5:38pm PDT

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The sun finally came out in time for my rescheduled Mt Rushmore visit, which left me rather unsettled from all the underlying sexist subtext (how dare they only have boy names available on their souvenir knives?!). But that quiet rage proved just the right fuel for the rest of my day exploring the Black Hills Forest (dotted with some ironic white birch) and the Devils Tower Monument (incl climbing the largest boulder pile I've ever seen!). So in its own blackened devilish way, still a dark day, but not unsatisfactorily so.

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Jun 2, 2019 at 8:48pm PDT

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What an unexpected treasure was that Wind Cave National Park! The astounding rock formations and intricate patterns deep in that cave (went down to 230 feet below the earth’s surface) were unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. One of the most gorgeous things on this trip so far, and that’s saying something. Maybe I missed my calling as a cave explorer. I do like me some tight damp dark spaces. 😉 (Bet you were wondering how long it'd take me to write something dirty. And when better than in a cave? So many dirty jokes at once. You’re welcome.)

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on May 31, 2019 at 11:14am PDT

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Picked a rather bad day to see the Badlands, but they were gorgeous all the same, those naughty naughty lands. Almost more so as the soft haze of light rain gave them an air of “mistery.” 😉 Then visibility got so bad, I decided to hole up in a Rapid City coffee shop for the rest of the day and do some much needed life catch-up. The trip isn’t even over yet and I've already got all sorts of exciting new projects and adventures brewing. Time to grab life by the badlands.

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on May 29, 2019 at 9:31pm PDT

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It was a long day driving 9 hours from Yankton, SD up through Pierre to Mobridge to visit the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and monuments to Sakakawea and Sitting Bull (plus his burial site) and then back down for another thunderstorming night’s sleep. A moving day, in more ways than one.

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on May 28, 2019 at 2:00pm PDT

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Drove through Topeka, Kansas to see the places where my mama grew up (scroll to see her childhood house) and discovered there’s not much else to see there. So just headed up to Omaha early and found a delightful pocket of sights, strolls, more sculptures, and the longest pedestrian bridge in the US that connects two states (across the longest river in the US). Look, I’m in two places at once!

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on May 27, 2019 at 5:14pm PDT

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Enjoyed some wacky sights and sculptures in St Louis, Missouri, then slogged across the Kansas border into Kansas City as the sky opened up with fierce thunderstorms coming down in sheets so thick I could barely see (thought it best not to attempt photos of this), except for the periodic shocks of lightning and thunder so close they made my hair stand on end and Camille shake as I slept inside. “It was a rainy night” again, but this time much more palpable than mere myth.

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on May 26, 2019 at 10:29am PDT

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… then on down to Louisville Kentucky, westward through Indiana, and finally into Illinois for the night. Halfway back across America "at the dividing line between the East of my youth and the West of my future" (or perhaps the reverse).

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on May 24, 2019 at 8:04pm PDT

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Returning once more to a routine of marathon driving, I stopped only at the Cincinnati Art Museum to catch the Burning Man exhibit (chased it all the way from DC)…

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on May 24, 2019 at 7:44pm PDT

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What a rush! That sure was one action-packed g-force-full day riding the country's most epic rollercoasters at Cedar Point. The highlights: the world's 2nd tallest Top Thrill Dragster 😲 (1 of only 2 in the world with a 400+ ft drop), the revolutionary "winged" Gatekeeper 😇, the classic Magnum XL-200 🧐 (the coaster that first started the global Coaster Wars back in '89), the iconic Millennium Force 🤩, the legendary Maverick 🤠, the extreme-dropping Valravn 😬, the rickety wooden Gemini 🥴, the equally whiplash-inducing Rougarou and Raptor 😵 (hit my limit so no photo of this one), and 2018's "best new ride" Steel Vengeance 🥰 (srsly earned that title, hands down my favorite… kept grinning and giggling like an idiot afterwards 🤪). All in all, definitely worth the visit, even if I had to do it all by myself.

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on May 23, 2019 at 9:35pm PDT

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Well it's finally time to hit the road again. Although I’m sad to be leaving NYC (and this puppy, just look at him!), I suppose there is some truth to its being “at the end of America…no more land…and nowhere was nowhere to go but back.” So back across I go now. Next stop, Cedar Point, OH!

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on May 22, 2019 at 8:37pm PDT

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The magic of the wilderness continues with a drive through the George Washington & Jefferson National Forest and the Shenandoah National Park. Not as funny of scenic overlook names, but every bit as beautiful and awe-inspiring. "The closer you get to real matter, rock air fire and wood, boy, the more spiritual the world is.” A much-needed relaxing two days in DC doing very little followed. And now I’m back in my old hood in New York City (technically Brooklyn) where I get to stay put for the next week!

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on May 13, 2019 at 7:45pm PDT

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Woke up in the Chattahoochee (you try saying that without smirking) National Forest and went exploring nextdoor in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (and it sure was a smoky one), then drove the gorgeous Blue Ridge Parkway (pausing to snap photos at scenic outlooks with funny names like Big Witch Gap, Devils Courthouse, French Broad, & Grassy Knob) to Asheville for a far too short visit. Such an amazing day full of wilderness and wonderfulness (and silly words). "Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain."

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on May 11, 2019 at 7:29am PDT

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Drove into Georgia (then back into Tennessee & back into Georgia again) and squeezed in a few fun Atlanta spots (🌈 Crosswalks, 54 Columns, Junkman's Daughter, Krog Street Tunnel & Market) in a few hours before hitting the road again. Ambitious and exhausting, but worth it. And excited to come back for round 2 someday.

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on May 9, 2019 at 10:12pm PDT

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Two exciting days in Nashville seeing the origins and icons of country music, some fantastic live music (rockin' my new boots at the Opry!), and good friends both new and old (including dear high school friend @godsgrl182003 I hadn't seen in 17 years!). Left even more exhausted than before I got there. But keep going I must.

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on May 8, 2019 at 8:46am PDT

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Drove the whole gorgeous Natchez Trace Parkway to Nashville today, flanked the whole way on all sides by an endless sea of thick sky-high emerald wilderness. Just like Kerouac's Dean in Mexico, it felt as if I weren't driving this road, but rather it was driving me.

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on May 5, 2019 at 7:23pm PDT

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Fantastic final day in Nola at the Jazz Festival. What an ideal send off. Aaron Neville, Dave Matthews Band, new favorite Judith Owen and her hilarious original hit "Secondhand Sexbot," and an absolute perfect ending watching the indelible, timeless Diana Ross belt out classics like "Upside Down," "I Will Survive," "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and (to my utter joy), "Ease On Down The Road." I don't care what Kerouac says, jazz does not sound as "lonely as America."

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on May 5, 2019 at 9:51am PDT

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Powered through a full day of Nola sights including a French Quarter stroll & breakfast, cemeteries and epic donut sandwiches in the Garden District, dinner at Coop's, and then drinks, live music & fun (so much I forgot to take photos) with new friends along Marigny's historic Frenchmen St… a bit later than planned. As Kerouac put it, "‘I just won’t sleep,’ I decided. There were so many other interesting things to do."

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on May 4, 2019 at 9:02am PDT

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Crossed into Louisiana for the first time in my life, excited to finally see New Orleans but oh so weary from all the driving. People don’t talk much about that side of life on the road do they? I’m starting to understand what Gloria Steinem meant (in My Life On The Road) by “The road is messy in the way that real life is messy.” It sure is. And just as exhausting.

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on May 2, 2019 at 7:24pm PDT

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Such a fun full day in Austin exploring all things weird, uncommon, BBQ'd, booted, and batty, all while waiting for a forecasted thunderstorm that mysteriously never came. “It was a rainy night. It was the myth of a rainy night.”

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on May 1, 2019 at 8:48pm PDT

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Spent two days racing the length of Texas from tip top to Austin and, like Sal, felt like “something, someone, some spirit was pursuing [me] across the desert of life and was bound to catch [me] before [I] reached heaven.” Maybe it was the ghost of one of these crazy Cadillacs.

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Apr 30, 2019 at 6:32pm PDT

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Driving through Denver and Boulder, and I’m starting to see what Kerouac meant calling the landscape here an "endless poem”. Such a strong sense of space to breathe and think. Will definitely need to come back and explore it more someday. Hopefully soon.

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Apr 29, 2019 at 8:14pm PDT

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My last Santa Fe sights on the enchanting Grasshopper Canyon hike, ending in a gorgeous sunset like "purple dusk over tangerine groves and long melon field; the sun the color of pressed grapes, slashed with burgundy red."

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Apr 29, 2019 at 12:16pm PDT

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Exhausting but oh so satisfying day wood chopping on the Santa Fe ranch today (chopped all that myself). Like “all the struggles of life,” it was "incessant, laborious, painful,” and “yet, in the way of things, somehow noble, complete, and shining in the end."

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Apr 27, 2019 at 2:07pm PDT

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A lovely day walking downtown Santa Fe, including the oldest house in the US (circa 1646 AD) and an unexpected street market in the city plaza. My gorgeous new handmade earrings were designed after the Native American petroglyph for “migration” or life’s journey. Quite fitting on my own current journey. As Kerouac says, “the road is life."

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Apr 26, 2019 at 9:00pm PDT

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Explored the famed Santa Fe immersive art experience Meow Wolf today. So many beautiful hours unraveling its intricate, mysterious narrative that echoed of a "complete step across chronological time into timeless shadows, and wonderment in the bleakness of the mortal realm, and the sensation of death kicking at my heels to move on, with a phantom dogging its own heels, and myself hurrying to a plank where all the angels dove off and flew into the holy void of uncreated emptiness, the potent and inconceivable radiancies shining in bright Mind Essence, innumerable lotuslands falling open in the magic mothswarm of heaven." That, or aliens.

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Apr 25, 2019 at 10:13pm PDT

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Reunited with my beloved Ruckus (at her humans’ Santa Fe ranch). Definitely one of the mad ones. And I’m mad about her.

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Apr 25, 2019 at 9:53pm PDT

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Moving on down historic Route 66, across the New Mexico border, with "huge gold sunburning clouds above the desert that seemed to point a finger at me and say, 'Pass here and go on, you're on the road to heaven.'"

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Apr 25, 2019 at 1:55am PDT

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Followed by the strangest beauty of haunted (hundreds of millions of years) old wood in the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. Much more enjoyable than Sal’s strange fifteen seconds in that Des Moines hotel room I'd imagine.

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Apr 25, 2019 at 1:28am PDT

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"Woke up as the sun was reddening" to this view out Camille's front windshield. What a way to start the day!

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Apr 24, 2019 at 11:14am PDT

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Sunset over Sedona. Off to find a nice wild camping spot for the night "with nothing in my hands but a handful of crazy stars."

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Apr 24, 2019 at 11:06am PDT

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Paused and pondered with these strange creatures of Saguaro National Park, then left Tuscon like Ed Dunkel left Galatea.

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Apr 24, 2019 at 10:36am PDT

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Dark clouds (and one brave rainbow) gather overhead like the "confusion and nonsense" I leave behind as I move forward on this my "noble function." Always moving.

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Apr 23, 2019 at 6:54pm PDT

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This "too crazy world vaulting us" straight into Arizona. Nothing to be done but accept it and lean toward the next destination. Tuscon here I come!

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Apr 23, 2019 at 6:34pm PDT

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Farewell Los Angeles, you "ragged promised land." See you in 2 months. On the road I go!

A post shared by Rebecca Ahn The Road (@ahntheroad) on Apr 23, 2019 at 6:28pm PDT