Tag Archives: train trip 2010

Going Green in Car Country

Posted on September 8, 2010 by An Xiao

Southern California, as we all know, is car country. But it’s also very concerned with sustainability and clean energy. How to reconcile? Priuses have been quite popular, as have Honda’s hybrid lines. But another solution is emerging: use the big car to get from city to city, and then provide transportation options within each city. [...]

The National Museum of the American Indian

Posted on September 6, 2010 by An Xiao

Worth a visit.

Please Recycle

Posted on September 6, 2010 by An Xiao

I took hundreds of photos on my train trip, and I’ve been sifting through them slowly. Something interesting to observe is the patterns that emerge, the little themes I didn’t realize I was collecting. Here’s one: how do we regionalize sustainability? Two examples of recycling bins: the above is from Eagle Nest, NM, on the [...]

Albuquerque Street Murals

Posted on September 2, 2010 by An Xiao

The Southwest Chief stops in Albuquerque for nearly an hour, so of course I had to run around the city and take pictures. In just an hour, I was struck by the number of murals in the area. They had the familiar color scheme and overall style of Southwest art but with more of an [...]

Mobile Payment

Posted on September 1, 2010 by An Xiao

Bottom-right corner: a pay to park sign. You could pay at the meter or be really cool and pay by phone.

Mardi Gras Beads

Posted on September 1, 2010 by An Xiao

Outside New Orleans, Mardi Gras beads are known to have one purpose and one purpose only. But in the city itself, I found a surprising number of uses. Bike decor, fencing, even a cemetery. The beads came to symbolize the broader city itself, the same way one might hang a sports flag or wear a [...]

Windmills

Posted on September 1, 2010 by An Xiao

One of the neat things about my train trip was seeing broad uses of clean energy. We certainly passed our share of traditional power plants, but I saw windmills popping up in a number of places. Above is a shot of wind turbines from wine country in Windsor, Ontario; below is one of a single [...]

New article: Crossing the Country by Rail

Posted on August 31, 2010 by An Xiao

New article out on Hyperallergic. To get to Los Angeles, I took a two-week train trip west from New York. I highly recommend the journey. Learn more here: My journey took me from midtown Manhattan to the steel mills surrounding Pittsburgh, then the museums in our nation’s capital, down the Appalachian mountains to the bayous [...]