Route Down

Route Down Route Down is our full time travel family. (Cliff, Mandy, V, & Polly) 🌎

Well, Polly, me, and V had a lovely time at the overlooking the River Thames and Big Ben in London. You will notice we ...
09/19/2026

Well, Polly, me, and V had a lovely time at the overlooking the River Thames and Big Ben in London. You will notice we are missing Mandy in this one. She was down for the count! When your body says stop, it doesn’t matter what country you are in. You stop. 🛑

We look forward to returning to London again soon. Have a proper visit. 😉 Pish Posh

We went to the Beyond the Streets exhibit in Paris and look who we ran into! Laura Dern!! No big deal 🤯😉
09/15/2026

We went to the Beyond the Streets exhibit in Paris and look who we ran into! Laura Dern!! No big deal 🤯😉

Standing in the Salle des États at the Louvre, four meters from Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous work, painted between 15...
09/12/2026

Standing in the Salle des États at the Louvre, four meters from Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous work, painted between 1503 and 1519, believed to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini. She’s smaller than you’d expect, tucked behind bulletproof glass, and somehow still commands the entire room.

This room is the busiest space in the Louvre by a wide margin, think concert style crowd, moving through a more sophisticated demographic mosh pit. Roughly 80% of the museum’s 9 million annual visitors come specifically for her. Worth every minute of the shuffle to get close. If you’re planning your own trip: mornings right at opening or weekdays are your best shot at a calmer room, while weekend midday turns into a real crowd.  

One of those “we actually did this” family moments.

09/09/2026

Standing in front of the equestrian statue of Charles III in the plaza “Puerta Del Sol”. Spain’s most beloved king, and for good reason.

He ruled from 1759 to 1788, and he’s the political figure most associated with the Spanish Enlightenment, the Ilustración. He didn’t originate the ideas himself, but he put royal power behind reform-minded ministers and let them act. Overhauling education, founding scientific academies, modernizing Madrid with street lighting, sewers, and paving, plus landmarks like the Puerta de Alcalá and the Prado (originally built as a natural history museum). He also curbed the Church’s influence, expelling the Jesuits in 1767, and opened up free trade across the empire. Still called “the best mayor of Madrid” today.

During our time in LeĂłn, Spain, we made it a point to find a location for the eclipse that offered a great vantage point...
09/06/2026

During our time in León, Spain, we made it a point to find a location for the eclipse that offered a great vantage point without too much competition for space. The hill we chose filled up more than we ever imagined, but with that came neighbors from all over the world. They became our “eclipse family,” sharing in the moment with us. We experienced something beautiful together, having never known each other until that day. By the end, we’d made friends from France, Venezuela, Spain, and England.

We watched the sunset together and celebrated the day. We shared meals. We congratulated our new friends on their soon-to-arrive baby. We captured the moment, then moved on.

It was remarkable to share something this meaningful with perfect strangers, yet feel so connected all at once. It’s a reassuring feeling, one that says everything will be okay in the end. The universe brings the right people together at the right moment, if you let it. Be willing to let these moments happen. It’s a beautiful feeling.

We visited the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid. 🇪🇸We’ve been traveling full-time for over 5 years and we lean heavily on mu...
09/05/2026

We visited the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid. 🇪🇸

We’ve been traveling full-time for over 5 years and we lean heavily on museums to develop a sense of the world as people see it and have seen it. The Museo Reina Sofía became Spain’s national museum for 20th century and contemporary art in 1992 and has a truly remarkable collection.

It holds over 25,000 pieces of art focused on Spanish art from DalĂ­, Picasso, and MirĂł but also houses global artists like Warhol, Feni, and Basquiat.

If you find yourself in Madrid, make sure to visit. You may leave with a perspective you didn’t arrive with, or one you’d forgotten.

Every road in Spain starts right here. Km.0, Madrid. 🇪🇸
09/03/2026

Every road in Spain starts right here. Km.0, Madrid. 🇪🇸

Palacio Real de Madrid 🏰Standing in front of the largest palace in Western Europe . 135,000 square meters, 3,418 rooms, ...
09/03/2026

Palacio Real de Madrid 🏰

Standing in front of the largest palace in Western Europe . 135,000 square meters, 3,418 rooms, twice the size of Buckingham Palace. This site has been home to Spanish power since the 9th century, starting as a Moorish fortress before it became the AlcĂĄzar of the Kings of Castile. A fire on Christmas Eve 1734 destroyed that original structure, and the palace we see today was built in its place between 1738 and 1755, designed to rival Versailles.

The current royal family doesn’t actually live here anymore, they use the Palace of Zarzuela outside the city, but this is still the official residence and where state ceremonies happen.

Inside, the ceilings alone are worth the trip. Frescoes stacked on gold chandeliers stacked on more frescoes.

Madrid is a beauty.

08/30/2026

We originally were not sure this would make our time in Barcelona. We are so glad we visited. Montserrat isn’t just a mountain, it’s a thousand years of history carved into rock. The Black Madonna, an impressive museum, stairs that lead nowhere, and a ride down that beats any view. 🇪🇸⛰️

This statue in Barcelona honors General Joan Prim, statesman, war hero, the man who gave this park, Parc de la Ciutadell...
08/29/2026

This statue in Barcelona honors General Joan Prim, statesman, war hero, the man who gave this park, Parc de la Ciutadella, to the city.

What the plaque leaves out: in 1848, as Captain General of Puerto Rico, Prim signed a “Black Code” that put the death penalty on any person of African descent, free or enslaved, who resisted a white person. It covered roughly half the island’s population.

Barcelona has a whole cluster of statues to men who built fortunes or careers on slavery, one came down in 2018. Prim is still up, still contested.

I’ve spent a while pointing a camera at this exact fight across the American South: Montgomery, Selma, Jackson. Every time, someone in the comments says I’m “erasing history” or only picking on the South.

Standing here, it’s clear that’s not true. White supremacy backed by law and force wasn’t an American invention the South failed to get over. It was standard practice across European empires, from Puerto Rico to the Congo. The bronze horse is just the format different countries chose to launder it into pride.

The whole world built these monuments the same way. The whole world is now deciding, unevenly, what to do about them.

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