Miss Adventure Podcast

Chandler O’Leary loves to travel. She has a travel blog, a travel podcast (you’re listening to it), and now a travel book! Her book, “The Best Coast,” is an illustrated atlas of the west coast that follows historic highways and roadside attractions. And it is flat out amazing. (Chandler would never say that, but this is Mary writing so I can tell it to you straight!) In this episode, Chandler shares the story of how the book came to be and all the travel that has inspired it. 

The book is out April 9, and you can pre-order it from your favorite retailer now!

Chandler O’Leary

Mary Holste

Part 2 of Chandler’s epic road trip continues with a completely different route home from New Orleans. She talks about her visit to Graceland, Antelope Canyon, and driving the Loneliest Road in America.  

Antelope Canyon

White Sands, New Mexico

Chandler O’Leary

Mary Holste

Chandler completed an epic road trip from Washington State to New Orleans and stopped at many fascinating places along the way. 24 days and 18 states later, she shares tales from her driving adventure.

We’ve divided the trip into two episodes. Part 1 focuses on the route to New Orleans and Part 2 features the drive back.

Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park

Cerro Pedernal, New Mexico

Chandler O’Leary
Mary Holste

After a bit of a hiatus, we’re back! We were thrilled to get to sit down with Marsha Samuel, author of Wanderlust for One, a travel blog focused on solo travel. Having visited 30 states and 6 countries, Marsha considers herself the Patron Saint of Small Towns and Second Cities. She shares her love of California, how she approaches travel as a woman of color, and how she challenges herself to be creative with her travel documentation. As a bonus, Chandler shares her secret for getting a private viewing of the Sistine Chapel!

Chandler O’Leary

(l to r) Mary, Chandler, and Penny

For years, Mary has been trying to piece together the 1987 trip she took as an 8-year-old to Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand. Penny Holste (aka Mary’s mom) joins us on the episode to try to fill in the gaps and give context to some of Mary’s blurry memories. Penny also tells us about her own travels and how she was influenced by her great aunt Florence Parlin, a painter and world-traveler.

Images and additional info:

Waitomo Glowworm Caves in New Zealand

Tribal practice of ritual finger amputation in PNG  (Mary didn’t make it up, after all!)

One of the bridges Mary’s grandfather built

Handwoven bilum bags

Teaching “Duck, Duck, Goose” to the village kids

Our 18-month-old ambassador

Chandler O’Leary

Fans of Chandler O’Leary’s work will definitely want to tune in to this episode! We delve into Chandler’s sketchbook series, chronicled on her travel blog Drawn the Road Again. We learn how the blog got its start and how it has impacted the rest of her work. Chandler describes her travel sketching process, materials she uses, the pitfalls of sketching in public, and much, much more.

Referenced in this episode:

An early work

The White City

Paris Metro Warning

Chicago Theatre

Waiting

Papaya King

Matera – Santa Maria de Idris

Matera – San Julian

The Mother Road

These arches are 4-year-old approved!

In this episode, hosts Chandler O’Leary and Mary Holste discuss their many island adventures. Locations mentioned include: the San Juan Islands, Vashon Island, Madeline Island on Lake Superior, Mont Saint-Michel, South Bay Island, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton Island and Meat Cove, Scottish Islands (Erraid and Skye), the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, Catalina and the Channel Islands, Sky Islands, and Venice.

We also discover that our respective engagement stories are surprisingly similar and that Mary’s aunt wrote a book about island living, called On Island Time.

Help Puerto Rico:

United for Puerto Rico

UNICEF

Catholic Relief Services

GoFundMe

Chandler’s sketchbook images referenced in the episode:

Cypress Island, San Juans

East Sound, Orcas Island

San Juans Wildlife

Orcas Island

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Catalina Island Casino

In this episode, hosts Chandler O’Leary and Mary Holste discuss the City of Light. Topics including the Eiffel Tower, Sainte-Chapelle, the Museum of the Middle Ages, the Lady and the Unicorn, the Archeological Crypt, catacombs and ossuary, Museum of the Decorative Arts in Paris (and elsewhere), cooking store in Paris, Sacré-Cœur, Paris in the movies, Rouen, the clock at the Musee Orsay, Père Lachaise Cemetery, speaking French, travel soundtracks, Diana’s tunnel, Parisian Markets, the Rue Cler, arrondissements, and whether Madison, Wisconsin, is the Paris of the Midwest.

Chandler’s sketchbook images referenced in the episode:

Ile de la Cite

Saint Chapelle

Hotel de Sens

Eiffel Tower

Unicorn Tapestries, Rouen

A collage of Saint Chapelle, Versailles, Musee de Cluny, and Minneapolis

A melange of Chartre, Le Havre, and Stillwater

Chandler O’Leary is an illustrator, letterer(erer) and entrepreneur living and working in Tacoma, Washington. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and has run an in-house imprint, Anagram Press, since 2004. She posts sketchbook drawings and road-trip-themed artwork on my illustrated travel blog, Drawn the Road Again. She is a co-author of Dead Feminists, published in 2016 by Sasquatch Books.

Mary Holste is a graphic designer, artist, and entrepreneur living and working in Tacoma, Washington. She graduated with with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Pacific Lutheran University. Since 2007, she has been running her own graphic design business, Side x Side Creative. The art mediums she is currently exploring are photography, aquatints, and cyanotype.

In this episode, hosts Chandler O’Leary and Mary Holste discuss the differences between solo travel and traveling with a companion or a group of companions. Topics and locations discussed include Chandler’s dislike of group tours, Victoria’s Butchart Gardens, tours in Israel, the Neon Boneyard in Las Vegas, Egyptian obelisks in Rome, the Queen Mary in Long Beach, dining alone, traveling alone as women, Vancouver Fashion Week, the Apocalypse tapestries, getting FOMO in Verona, Vieques Puerto Rico, San Juan Island, and traveling with husbands.

Chandler O’Leary is an illustrator, letterer(erer) and entrepreneur living and working in Tacoma, Washington. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and has run an in-house imprint, Anagram Press, since 2004. She posts sketchbook drawings and road-trip-themed artwork on my illustrated travel blog, Drawn the Road Again. She is a co-author of Dead Feminists, published in 2016 by Sasquatch Books.

Mary Holste is a graphic designer, artist, and entrepreneur living and working in Tacoma, Washington. She graduated with with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Pacific Lutheran University. Since 2007, she has been running her own graphic design business, Side x Side Creative. The art mediums she is exploring right now are photography, drypoint etching, and cyanotype.

These two sketches are of Butchart Gardens in Victoria B.C.

In this introductory episode to the Miss Adventure podcast, hosts Chandler O’Leary and Mary Holste discuss why they travel. Topics and locations discussed include Chandler’s travel sketchbooks, her work on her West Coast Atlas (due in 2019), day trips to Seattle, Orcas Island, active recovery, artist dates, family trips, Route 66, secret trips, the Oregon Trail, and Chandler’s 6500-mile road trip.

Dog Jaunt – Mary-Alice Pomputius

Chandler O’Leary is an illustrator, letterer(erer) and entrepreneur living and working in Tacoma, Washington. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and has run an in-house imprint, Anagram Press, since 2004. She posts sketchbook drawings and road-trip-themed artwork on my illustrated travel blog, Drawn the Road Again. She is a co-author of Dead Feminists, published in 2016 by Sasquatch Books.

Mary Holste is a graphic designer, artist, and entrepreneur living and working in Tacoma, Washington. She graduated with with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Pacific Lutheran University. Since 2007, she has been running her own graphic design business, Side x Side Creative. The art mediums she is currently exploring are photography, aquatints, and cyanotype.

Lindstrom, Minnesota

A hotel on Route 66