Going Home To My Ghosts: A Photoessay

Itinerary

7/22/2015

Dinner: Downtown Disney // Uva Bar // Anaheim, CA

Hotel: Knott’s Berry Farm Hotel // Buena Park, CA

7/23/2015 – Anaheim, CA

Breakfast: Downtown Disney // La Brea Bakery Cafe

  • Disneyland
  • Disneyland California Great Adventure

7/24/2015 – Las Vegas, NV

Hotel: The Rio // Las Vegas, NV

Dinner: Bacchanal Buffet // Ceasers Palace

7/25/2015

Breakfast: Carnival World Buffet // The Rio // Las Vegas, CA – It was awful. Never eat breakfast here!

  • Ghost town @ Frisco, Utah // Frisco, UT

Hotel: Motel 6 // Moab, UT

7/26/2015 – Moab, UT

Coffee: Moab Coffee Roasters

  • Kane Creek Blvd. Rock Art Site
  • Birthing Scene on Kane Creek Drive
  • Moonflower Canyon Rock Art
  • Jug Handle Arch Rock Art
  • Dinosaur Tracks

Lunch: Jailhouse Cafe

  • Island in the Sky District / Canyonlands National Park
  • Courthouse Wash Rock Art

Dinner: Peace Tree Juice Cafe

  • Arches National Park

7/27/2015

Breakfast: Eklecticafe // Moab, UT

  • Sego Canyon, UT

Lunch: CO Ranch House // Glenwood Springs, CO

  • Book Train // Glenwood Springs, CO
  • Dinosaur Ridge Trail // Morrison, CO

Hotel: Comfort Suites // Castle Rock, CO

7/28/2015

Breakfast: Cookies and Crema // Castle Rock, CO

  • Manitou Cliff Dwellings // Colorado Springs, CO
  • Poor Richard’s Bookstore // Colorado Springs, CO

Lunch: Rico’s Cafe & Wine Bar // Colorado Springs, CO

Hotel: Best Western Plus Mid-Nebraska Inn & Suites // Kearny, NE

7/29/2015

Breakfast: Perkins // Kearny, NE

Lunch: Kitchen Table // Omaha, NE

Hotel: Designer Inn & Suites // Toledo, IA

Dinner: Wal-Mart // Marshalltown, IA

7/30/2015 – Iowa City, IA

Lunch: Bluebird Diner // Iowa City, IA

  • Artifacts (Antiques / Thrift Store)
  • Decorum & Modela (Antiques)
  • Haunted Bookstore
  • Prairie Lights Books
  • Daydreams (Comic Books)
  • Coralville Park & Devonian Fossil Gorge

Dinner: Pullman Bar & Diner // Iowa City, IA

Hotel: Best Western Inn Canterbury Inn & Suites // Coralville, IA

7/31/2015

Breakfast: Bluebird Diner // Iowa City, IA

Dinner: Cracker Barrel // Benton Harbor, MI

Bibliography:

Binelli, Mark. Detroit City Is the Place To Be: The Afterlife of an American Metropolis. (New York: Picador Press, 2013.)

Carver, Raymond. Ultramarine. (New York, NY: Random House, 1986.)

Didion, Joan. Where I Was From. (New York, NY: Random House, 2003.)

Dunne, John Gregory. “The Humboldt Murders.” Vanity Fair Magazine, 1997.

Florin, Lambert. Ghost Towns of the West. (New York, NY: Promontory Press, 1970.)

Keep, Elmo. “Built for Eternity.” Vice/Motherboard, 2015.

Kerouac, Jack. On The Road: The Original Scrolls. (New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2007.)

Peavy, Linda and Smith, Urusla, Pioneer Women: The Lives of Women On The Frontier. (New York, NY: Smithmark, 1996.)

Solnit, Rebecca. Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics. (Berekely, CA: University of California Press, 2007.)

Various Authors. The Midwest: A Collection From Harper’s Magazine. (New York, NY: W.H. Smith Publishers. 1991.)

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Riese

Riese is the 43-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3303 articles for us.

44 Comments

  2. Amazing. Thank you for sharing this – wishing you all the best as you start to make incredible new memories.

  3. i want to read this every day over and over like it’s a book next to my bed. i’m glad you’re home now

  6. thank you so much for this riese. i feel like you just shared a bit of your soul with us and i couldn’t be more grateful. truly beautiful.

  7. That was gorgeous. It really felt like I could see the ghosts you were describing in the background of your photos. Thanks for writing this.

  8. This is so utterly beautiful.

    I live in NYC now, but I grew up in the southwest. It has always, always seemed weird to me to hear or read what other people have to say as they experience my wide open section of the country. And reading this, I think I finally understand why. My ghosts get in the way of listening to them tell their stories, listening to them verbalize their experiences. It feels foreign to my ghosts, and they push back as these new ideas and new descriptions and new feelings try to occupy the same space, their sacred space. Hearing other people describe my home is always when I feel my listening skills are at their worst, when my mind wanders the most, when mental images are at their sharpest. This was enlightening to read and hopefully I will remember this in the future.

    This is brilliant, Riese. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.

    • I’m someone who can’t stand to hear strangers talk about places I have lived (and yet always seeks out opportunities to do so?), so this strikes a real chord with me. Thank you for putting it into words–I have a lot to think about here.

      And yes, Riese, lovely and haunting. Welcome home.

    • Yes I’m also a person who feels weird hearing people talk about my places but keep seeking it out just the same, and I never really knew why. But yes what you said; that’s exactly it!

  9. I love this. I love how you and Abby beam in your photos together. I LOVE the ghostly collage of photos in front of Cinderella’s Castle. I love the integration of quotes and facts. The description of places being layered with ghosts really resonated with me too.

  11. this is so fucking perfect that i can’t even stand it. i want it to keep going, all across the country and until i fall asleep.

  17. According to this itinerary, you and Abby and I ate at the Cracker Barrel in Benton Harbor on the same day. Only I was moving out of Michigan, to Wisconsin, to live with my girlfriend for the first time.

  20. Riese, your feelings about Cracker Barrel have not been a secret for some time. ;)

    I’m honestly pretty jealous about that jungle hotel. Especially knowing that the faux-leaves weren’t even dusty.

    This was excellent.

    • I really should be getting commission from the Lima Ohio Cracker Barrel at this point.

      Also yeah the whole room was incredibly clean! Id expected it to be sort of shabby and gross but it wasn’t. Much like the actual rainforest, I’m sure.

  22. Ugh, this stupid essay with stupid love thoughts and stupid Midwestern feelings has given me these stupid tears. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Ghosts. Ugh. Feelings. Gross. Cracker Barrel. Ugh. Ugh.

    This was wonderful.

  27. Riese, absolutely brilliant. I adore this essay. And I find the love and adventure you and Abby have a constant inspiration.

  29. Reading pieces like this always make me feel like I’m curled up on the couch, chatting with an old friend. Absolutely beautiful writing and photographs. I’m so happy for you and Abby :) You look so vibrant and so full of joy in the photos.

  30. I’ve been waiting to read this till I had uninterrupted time and the desktop. It was worth the wait. Thank you.

  31. Beautifully written, so engaging. What a great start to a new phase in both of your lives.
    Thank you for sharing this.

  32. Absolutely beautiful! From the start of 2011 to the end of 2014, I lived in 5 different states including both coasts. This captured so many of the feelings I had during all the moves and road trips. I grew up in small town Ohio and landed in Chicago, so I have a lot of feelings about the midwest. This article brought them ALL to the surface. Also, I really want Steak and Shake now, so thanks for that.

  33. Loved reading this Riese. You captured a cross-country move in a really beautiful way. Also, hooray to more midwest Straddlers!

  34. I feel like I just finished a good book. I relate to your feelings about Cracker Barrel so hard. There’s a string of Cracker Barrels off I59 and I20 through Alabama that have all my road trip memories.

  35. I left Michigan for California 18 years ago and I have such bittersweet memories about suburban Detroit n my beloved Ann Arbor. Your writing brings all the good back! And I’m looking forward to reading about all the adventures ahead. It’s kinda my corrective experience to hear about happy queers in the mitten
    . Also, the links to the Detroit articles are great. Please keep the coming.

  36. My parents have watched Breaking Bad from beginning to end handfuls of times. My mom says it’s because when she isn’t watching she misses Jesse and has to keep going back for more. I know this is a weird analogy but I sorta feel that way about this piece. Even though you and Abby are people that exist in the real world, and even in MY real world, these characters you just wrote are the kind that now that I’m finished reading about, I’m going to miss. As always, looking forward to your next story.

  37. i loved this. as i build up the courage to finally leave where i am and move somewhere new, reading about these journeys inspires me.
    i know that when i am finally ready to leave, i’ll read this again.
    i loved your pictures, too.

  40. I was looking forward to read this and the Goodbye California article for a long time. Now for the special A+ week I upgraded from Cobalt to Bronze and was finally able to do so. I loved it! Always love your writing, it’s something very special. And gorgeous photos!

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