These awesome old school road tripsters are my grandparents, John and Evelyn.

These are photographs from their honeymoon, but every Sunday until my grandfather passed away, they would load up in the car and drive somewhere. My grandpa was a big fan of treats, so the St. Petersburg Sweet Palace was one of their favorite destinations.

I get a lot of quirky eating habits from my grandfather – those horrible orange candy circus peanuts (love!), half and half in my cereal, Planter’s salted peanuts (no other brand will do), and cold butter on pretty much anything. One of his favorites was freshly grown green onions from his garden smeared through cold butter, coupled with crunchy store-bought breadsticks. The memory, the taste, the texture–I see the backdrop of the bright yellow kitchen (always hotter than hell in the summertime), the dark table, his ubiquitous cup of coffee drenched with evaporated milk.

He ate a Twinkie every morning until the day he died and their house always smelled like bacon.

We’ve always been a family that has spent an enormous amount of time in the car. One of my favorite places in the world is buckled down in the backseat–staring out the window, consuming the scenery, reflecting, opening up to the stillness as it glides across the horizon. There’s no responsibility in the backseat…just the ride.

Some of my favorite playlists and albums out there:

backatown

this is roots reggae

chill

pretty songs for little birds

rise of the phoenix

kaya project