Drawn the Road Again

Author: Chandler O’Leary

  • Croquet quarry

    Croquet quarry

    The Tailor and I just got back from a week on Vancouver Island. It was my second trip there, and I couldn’t wait to show him the Butchart Gardens on a sunny day. Most stunning of all is the spectacular Sunken Garden, which feels like an English garden crossed with something out of Lewis Carroll’s…

  • Smoke signals

    Smoke signals

    Tomorrow is my fifth anniversary of living in Washington state—so in honor of the occasion, the next few posts will highlight the Pacific Northwest. It’s been fascinating to see all the faces and incarnations of Mt. Rainier in my time here (so fascinating, in fact, that I did a whole book about it). But I…

  • False fronts

    False fronts

    A perfect sunny afternoon in Napa Valley. The still-bare trees were the only reminder that spring hadn’t quite sprung yet. Coming from chilly, rainy Washington, it felt like summer by comparison.

  • Head table

    Head table

    Well, I wouldn’t recommend this place to a vegan, but if you like Wild West kitsch (or you use antlers in all of your decorating), this is the place for you. The Buckhorn Exchange is the oldest restaurant in Denver: it holds liquor license number one! It has served dinner to both Teddy and Franklin…

  • Flour power

    Flour power

    I lived in the Twin Cities for a few years, and I used to pass under the Gold Medal Flour sign every day on my way to and from work. To me, the mill complex is as important a part of the Minneapolis skyline as the Foshay Tower or any of the modern skyscrapers. That’s…

  • Deerest love

    Deerest love

    The White Stag sign is the jewel in the Northwest’s neon crown. By day it frames patches of the Portland skyline; by night it’s a diamond-bright beacon of riotous flashing color. And in the holiday season, the stag masquerades as a certain reindeer we all know. I think this just might be my favorite thing…

  • Miracle Mile

    Miracle Mile

    More vintage goodness along Highway 99: sunny Redding, California is filled to the brim with old neon signs. On this day I was road tripping with a fellow travel blogger, my friend Mary-Alice (and her pup Chloe). The girls were remarkably patient with me while I insisted on stopping every thirty seconds to sketch more…

  • Fresh as a daisy

    Fresh as a daisy

    This is one of my favorite signs on Highway 99—the old backbone of the West Coast. Everyone has heard of Route 66, of course, but the Old Pacific Highway is also full of aging neon and other vintage gems, from Canada to Mexico. The Daffodil Motel sign has a special place in my heart because…

  • Speechless

    Speechless

    There really are no words for this one—except that ever since I saw this sign, I’ve found ways to work in the term “ho-made” to as many things as possible. Comedic gold. As an aside, I didn’t sketch it, but just a few blocks away is a bait shop that sells wine and spirits. Read…

  • Towering guilt

    Towering guilt

    You know, if you think about it, a place that lets you pay money to drive your car through a hole cut into a centuries-old living redwood tree is kind of the perfect illustration of the bad side of American culture. The first time I was (literally) in this neck of the woods, the guilt…