Welcome to GoingSideways.blog

For Travelers with Chronic Health Baggage

Because sometimes the only way to get past an obstacle is by going sideways to get around it. Our crab mascot, Chance, is an expert at going sideways. That’s what crabs do.

Latest Posts

  • New York and Leiden

    New York and Leiden

    We arrived at my father’s house just after midnight, to find my stepmother trying and failing to handle a plunger.

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  • Sweet Home Chicago

    Sweet Home Chicago

    From Iowa, we pulled into Chicago, where we took a taxi to Hyde Park. Hyde Park is a culturally flourishing neighborhood on the South Side, dominated by the University of Chicago. Since I both attended college at the University of Chicago and lived there for another three years after that, when I married someone who…

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  • In case you were wondering…

    In case you were wondering…

    Naomi and M did make it to Chicago, and then to New York. Where N’s father had just tested positive for COVID-19. Thanks to paxlovid he has improved enough that N felt that it was safe to leave him, after setting him up with DoorDash for getting deliveries from drugstores, which mostly don’t deliver in…

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Latest Trip (ongoing)

The Rest of the Posts

  • Colorado and the Midwest

    Colorado and the Midwest

    Wednesday, March 27. Our second day on the California Zephyr was alleged to be the most beautiful; indeed, the most beautiful on any passenger train in the United States. It lived up to its billing. First, though, we passed overnight through Utah and into the high desert. There’s a reason they call it that —…

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  • Oakland and the Zephyr

    Oakland and the Zephyr

    We pulled into Emeryville, CA — a subsection of Oakland, as far as I can tell — at 8:30 in the morning, and set about dragging our enormous suitcases behind us to the Sonesta Hotel. It’s a lovely hotel and I would use it again, but when they say it’s within walking distance of the…

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  • The Coast Starlight

    The Coast Starlight

    Saturday, March 23. We began our trip this morning, boarding the Coast Starlight out of Seattle at 9:50 this morning. This meant getting up much earlier than we normally do, as there were things to pack which had to be used overnight or first thing in the morning, and a lot of general scurrying around…

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  • Who knows where the time goes?

    Who knows where the time goes?

    … and what was that about the best-laid plans? A lot has happened in the year and a half since our last entry. Among other things, we missed a whole trip! Naomi, her husband G, and I went to the Netherlands, staying in Leiden and Amsterdam with a side trip to Utrecht. We might be…

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  • Ass Over Teakettle

    Ass Over Teakettle

    So, you may have noticed that this post is a day late. Yeah, I admit it. I admit also that the last several weeks have been thin on posts in general, and even more thin on posts that actually cover the trip to Italy in detail. I haven’t abandoned them — I’ve been writing all…

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  • A Few Random Notes from Chance

    A Few Random Notes from Chance

    We said last week that “If nothing else goes sideways, you’ll get a real post next Wednesday.“. Well, the best-laid plans of mice and other vertebrates, and all that. Fortunately one of us is a crab. Who is feeling somewhat crabby because Naomi forgot that today is Yom Kippur, and Steve was lazy and didn’t…

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  • Postcard from Florence, July 2022

    Postcard from Florence, July 2022

    We’re running a little late this week — sorry about that. Naomi’s been taking care of two sick kids, and Steve spent yesterday as a zombie thanks to a COVID booster. So in place of an actual post about Florence, you’re getting a postcard. If nothing else goes sideways, you’ll get a real post next…

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  • Talking of Michelangelo

    Talking of Michelangelo

    “In the room, the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo…” –T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock” After a three hour train trip from Naples, we arrived in Florence and settled into the 3110 ArtHotel, which was located on the second and third floors of an Art Deco building not far…

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  • Traveling With a Guitar

    Traveling With a Guitar

    There are several ways to travel with a guitar; using one that fits in the overhead bin on a plane is only one of them, but it’s the safest and least nerve-wracking.

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  • Desert Driving: Mesas and Mistakes

    Desert Driving: Mesas and Mistakes

    I’m back at home, finally! … I had better finish up the road trip I started writing about last week while it was happening. Because it got a lot weirder from there.

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  • Bonus Post – Monterey Bay Aquarium

    Bonus Post – Monterey Bay Aquarium

    As promised in the last post, here are the photos from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

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  • Ay-yi-yi-yi, The Open Road is Home

    Ay-yi-yi-yi, The Open Road is Home

    We take a break from the Italy trip report to tell you about the road trip, which is finally happening even as we speak. I’m writing this from a Best Western in Barstow, California.

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