About

When I first met Carly, she told me she was leaving the country. I went quiet for a month. Then I texted her: I’m in.

Jackie signing the terms and conditions.

That’s the origin story, more or less.

Now, we’re the dynamic duo known as Jack and Carl to our family and friends. And we share a specific superpower: we notice things. Usually different things. I can’t finish a good book without wanting to know where the author grew up, what they’ve read that inspired them to write, and if any of it connects to a place I’ve been to before. I’m the type of person who will spend an afternoon in a new town, and I’ll come back having found the one strange little museum nobody else looked up. Carly explores with a different lens. She sees a place through the people living and cooking in it. She wants to know what’s on the stove, who’s making it, and why?

We decide where to go based on our curiosity and circumstances. It depends on where we already are, what we can afford, and what place we can’t get off our minds that month. And once we land somewhere, we stay awhile if the place asks for it. We try to stay long enough to have a favorite table somewhere and an opinion about the transportation system.

Some of our favorite moments have happened in places where we never expected to visit. We try to write about a place the way it is, not just the way it looks in pictures.

This site is where it all shows up in writing: Stories, Field Guides, Carly’s Kitchen, and Love Letters. But Carly’s video series on YouTube, At Her Table and Getting Local, is where it all started. We are so proud and grateful to share our stories with you. Thank you for coming along.