#thatslunaforya

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Thirty-one Days Floridian

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Welcome to Key West.

I made a promise when we got Luna that I was going to try to show her everything there was to see. I’m happy to have made good on a little measure more of that promise.

This is one of the coolest spots we’ve been to. We arrived early this morning under the light of a relatively full moon. It was so beautiful driving, even at night.

Today we got into a few things. It was hot and humid, so I struggled a little bit. But the vibes were right and the town is so much cooler than I had imagined.

Luna covered a lot of ground today and is currently napping off excursion number three of the day. I’m hoping she feels like exploring a little more tonight. But if not, we could both definitely use the rest.

Greetings from the place ‘where the sidewalk ends’ as I’ve been calling in homage to Shel Silverstein. I’m telling you, it’s amazing the places that exist in this world. And many of them are well-kept secrets. I hope you make time to get out and explore this world while you can.

Various Locations | Key West, Florida | 2024.01.27

#thatslunaforya #lunawashere #lunaunleashed #exploreyourworld #forlackofabetterworld #keywest #florida #keywestflorida #godlovesaterrier

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While exploring Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, we stopped in to Pan’e Dolci Italian Bakery (207 Commercial Blvd).

I started to have the gentleman in the store explain to me the difference between the varieties they offered (i.e. cappuccino, macchiato, etc.) when it dawned on me that I was a knuckledragger, that he could tell me everything there was to know about coffee and I would in no better shape to make a decision for it.

So I stopped him early and told him, “You know what? Let’s just do that cappuccino thing you were describing.”

For anyone curious, a cappuccino is… You know what? I still don’t know. Google it. For my mouth-breathing ass it was coffee with really fancy creamer. And since I still can’t taste much since the battle with Covid last year, I can report to you is that I felt the caffeine, which was what I wanted in the first place, and I was able to sense the Splenda I added.

They had an impressive case of goodies, all of which I was tempted by. I stuck to the cappuccino but the gentleman who made my coffee gave me some complimentary vanilla gelato “for the puppy,” a point he emphasized by not including a spoon. Well, jokes on you, fancy coffee guy, because I’m from these streets and I don’t need a spoon to eat ice cream out of a cup.

Luna was exceedingly grateful for her half though.

Pan’e Dolci | Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, Florida | 2024.01.16

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Traipsed around Lauderdale-By-The-Sea today.

I mostly vented to a friend on the phone about throwing a knuckle of cheese at an impatient driver who had passed me illegally while construction crews were halting traffic to allow them to cross the road with their equipment and how Luna had gone from the alert, jovial passenger who had been receiving nibs of the aforementioned cheese knuckles to alert, defecto therapy dog in my lap licking at my face so as to suggest that if Bruce Bana was gonna let The Incredible Hulk drive then maybe we should pull over and regain our perspective.

And so we pulled over, I reminded myself that it wasn’t my job to police the entire world, and we made an afternoon out of exploring this vibrant, charming (do we still say charming?) neighborhood.

I got some of that Scooby-Doo in my system as well as some more elite coffee. The weather, which had been in the 80°s earlier, cooled off. And my friend didn’t even charge me for the therapy session. That’s what I call a win-win-win.

Commercial Boulevard | Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, Florida | 2024.01.16

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Look, I’m not saying it couldn’t be a little better. I’m just saying it could be a whole lot worse. #thatslunaforya #lunawashere #sunsetrock #nooga #tennesseelife #appalachia #zen #dogswhohike (at Sunset Rock) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpBg1PzpC9e/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Downtown | Lauderdale-Ny-The-Sea, Florida | 2024.01.16

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Biscayne Bay | Miami Beach, Florida | 2024.01.01

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Liberty Park | Clarksville, Tennessee | 2023.11.15

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Liberty Park • Clarksville, Tennessee • 3023.11.15

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Smitty’s Garage - Saint Louis, Missouri - 2023.11.03

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Luna is letting the people next to us know that they parked a little too close.

Clarksville, Tennessee 2023.10.24

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Sunset over Green Bay

Sunset over Green Bay. That time we ran amok on Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula. Brown County Wisconsin Bay Shore ParkNew Franken, Wisconsin2024.07.28 #greenbay #greatlakes #wisconsin #doorpeninsula #wishyouwerehere #wearewanderers #forlackofabetterworld #thatslunaforya #lunawashere #lunaunleashed

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After a short trip to Vegas we headed to St. George, Utah to make a pit stop before we went to Zion.

We wound up spending three days in St. George (pop. 84,500) exploring not only a town we’d never even heard of but the surrounding landscape as well.

Pioneer Park is where we explored the most, featuring Dixie Rock (Sugarloaf) and acres of red sandstone cliffs and canyons.

The landscape was such a contrast to anything we’d seen recently and an enchanting way to spend a couple of days before making our way to Zion.

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If you missed Sunset from Pacific Beach (San Diego, CA) yesterday than you missed a doozy.

The hours of afternoon leading up to sunset were gloomy and depressive but something told me there would be a spectacle come sundown. So we made the drive out to the coast and broadcasted live on Instagram.

I had to actually stop the broadcast a couple of times to take properly framed images with my cameraphone lest I missed an opportunity I would later regret. It was really quite overwhelming and for the first time in a while, I actually wished you were here — whoever you are.

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Sun-kissed and feeling fine on the Deschutes River in Bend, Oregon.

Oregon chic. That’s Luna for ya!

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Somehow every place we get the chance to visit seems more beautiful than the one before.

What’s more, with rare exception, the places we’re exploring are places we were scarcely even aware of before we set out to see them.

We took a trip to Newberry Volcano, and active shield volcano, characterized by a low profile caused by thinner, more fluid lava flows.

We hiked around a good bit of Paulina Lake, one of two crater lakes on the site, the other being East Lake.

Paulina Lake feeds into Paulina Creek, which soon forms Paulina Creek Falls, two 80 ft. (24 m) cascades and plunge falls.

What does all that mean? Nothing if you’re content to just steep in the beauty of your surroundings.

But when you begin to audit all the components that make up this vast and vast and diverse landscape it becomes vividly clear how much time it takes for a place like this to form - eons - and how inconceivably small and yet inexplicably important a role you play in all of this, even if only as a conscious observer.

Explore your world, friends. See as much of it as you can, however you can, as often as you can.

No matter how near or far the road takes you, no matter how imposing or seemingly featureless the geography, it will absolutely change you.