Found in Nomadland by Sammi

Found in Nomadland by Sammi šŸŒ± travel | nature | wildlife ā€¢ beacons.ai/foundinnomadland

08/11/2026

I am increasingly interested in festivals where the food is almost as important as whatever the festival is supposedly about. Outside Lands just wrapped up in San Francisco, and they had more than 100 food vendors inside the festival this year. Not just funnel cakes and pizza either. There was Hainan chicken rice, bao, lamb wraps, a $60 wagyu and uni burger that I would absolutely NOT be buying šŸ˜‚, and apparently even a carbonara espresso martini. I donā€™t think I need the $60 burger in my life, but I very much support the general concept of going to a music festival and accidentally turning it into a food tour.

Spider webs become especially visible on foggy or humid mornings when tiny water droplets collect along the silk. šŸ¤
08/10/2026

Spider webs become especially visible on foggy or humid mornings when tiny water droplets collect along the silk. šŸ¤

08/09/2026

Itā€™s been a while since Iā€™ve done one of these, and Found in Nomadland has grown quite a bit since then, so hereā€™s your periodic reminder that there are a bunch of ways to support what Iā€™m doing here. šŸ’š

šŸš— Planning a Route 66 trip? I put together a massive Route 66 planning spreadsheet with hundreds of attractions, roadside oddities, historic sites, restaurants, museums, photo stops and more across all eight states.

šŸŽØ Want some Found in Nomadland art for yourself? My Etsy shop, Nomadland Studios, features travel-inspired art and designs, original photography, and artwork created from some of my own photos, available as prints and other products.

šŸ“ø Need photos for a project? Iā€™ve also been steadily building my Shutterstock portfolio with travel, nature, architecture, landmarks and other images from all over the country.

ā˜• And if you just enjoy following along and want to directly support Found in Nomadland, you can always ā€œbuy me a coffeeā€.

Iā€™ll put links to all four below in the comments, because apparently Facebook has decided links are a luxury item now. šŸ˜‚

One of my biggest goals right now is finally upgrading my camera equipment. My current professional camera is from 2014, and while itā€™s served me well, Iā€™m VERY ready to move into this decade.

And, as always, simply following, commenting, sharing my posts, or sending Found in Nomadland to somebody who likes travel and weird roadside stuff helps too.

Iā€™ve taken a LOT of photos and driven a frankly unreasonable number of miles over the last few years, so Iā€™m slowly figuring out more ways to turn all of that into useful stuff for other travelers.

šŸ’š

08/09/2026

Throwing it back to the Rocky Top Mountain Coaster in Pigeon Forge. This ride features four separate uplifts and covers over nine minutes of track. Definitely a fun stop if you're in the area!

08/09/2026

A typical moody morning in Juneau. The mist over the mountains is basically a permanent fixture here. Drop a āš“ļø if you'd spend a morning out here.

Fall is coming soon! Hereā€™s a throwback to Billings Farm & Museum in Woodstock, Vermont. šŸ‚The farm dates back to 1871 an...
08/09/2026

Fall is coming soon! Hereā€™s a throwback to Billings Farm & Museum in Woodstock, Vermont. šŸ‚

The farm dates back to 1871 and is still a working dairy farm today, with the surrounding landscape preserved as part of the historic property.

And apparently they really love their mums!

08/09/2026

Spending the afternoon surrounded by hundreds of tropical butterflies at the Sioux Falls Butterfly House & Aquarium. Itā€™s a peaceful escape right in the middle of South Dakota.

Continuing east on Route 66, from Joseph City, Arizona to Santa Fe, New Mexico. šŸš—Starting in Joseph City at the Jack Rab...
08/08/2026

Continuing east on Route 66, from Joseph City, Arizona to Santa Fe, New Mexico. šŸš—

Starting in Joseph City at the Jack Rabbit Trading Post, I of course took a photo of the famous yellow ā€œHERE IT ISā€ billboard, which had been standing beside the highway for nearly 80 years when I took these photos in June. A monsoon storm damaged it just a few weeks later, splitting it in half. (Great care is already being taken to restore it!)

From there we headed into Holbrook, where Route 66 is still VERY much alive. The Wigwam Motel opened in 1950 as Wigwam Village #6, with 15 concrete teepee-shaped rooms and vintage cars scattered around the property. It was one of seven Wigwam Villages built around the country. Only three survive today (and Iā€™ve stayed at two of themā€¦so far!).

Next was a drive through Petrified Forest National Park. An old alignment of Route 66 once crossed what is now the park, and remnants of that era are still scattered through the desert alongside petrified wood that is hundreds of millions of years old.

Eventually Arizona turned into New Mexico, which meant Gallup, old trading posts, giant neon signs, murals, and increasingly excellent Route 66 architecture. Richardsonā€™s Trading Post has been part of downtown Gallup for generations, so, this being my THIRD Route 66 journey, I figured it was definitely time to make the stop.

Then came Grants and Albuquerque, where Central Avenue is basically a parade of surviving Route 66 signs if you know what youā€™re looking for. The old De Anza Motor Lodge dates to 1939 and once combined a motel with a trading post selling Zuni jewelry and art. It was even one of the Albuquerque accommodations listed in the Green Book for Black travelers during segregation.

And finally, we followed the old road north toward Santa Fe, ending this batch with dinner at the Pantry restaurant.

Enthusiasts will definitely find that a lot of things arenā€™t mentioned here. I passed by a number of things since it was, again, my third trip on the Mother Road. It seems every time I go there is always so much left for me to do, itā€™s always a completely different trip.

08/08/2026

Okay, this is one of those facts that immediately sent me down a rabbit hole.

Obsidian from Yellowstone has been found at archaeological sites as far away as Maine.

Thereā€™s a cliff in Yellowstone where people have been collecting extremely high-quality obsidian for at least 11,000 years, and archaeologists can actually trace artifacts found thousands of miles away back to that specific source. Which means materials from what is now Yellowstone were moving across an absolutely enormous portion of North America LONG before anybody was packing the family into a station wagon and heading there for summer vacation.

08/08/2026

Found this little piece of magic in my camera roll. Thereā€™s something so therapeutic about watching the falls. Drop a šŸŒŠ if you find waterfalls to be the ultimate vibe.

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