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How Americans did the first July 4

If John Adams had it his way, we’d all be celebrating the Second of July.

In a letter to his wife Abigail, dated July 3, 1776, Adams predicted that the day the Continental Congress declared independence from Great Britain would go down in history as America’s greatest, and be celebrated accordingly. “It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations,” he writes, “from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

Adams was almost right. Americans opted to celebrate on the fourth, the day the Declaration of Independence was ratified, but they are still solemnizing nearly 250 years later. And the festivities are not far off from what Adams described.

Philadelphia hosted America’s first birthday party in 1777. It was a last-minute event but a spectacle nonetheless. A July issue of the Virginia Gazette references ships decorated “with the colours of the United States and streamers displayed” and a “grand exhibition of fireworks.” Later accounts establish picnics and parades as longtime themes of the Fourth of July, which was popularized after the War of 1812 and became a federal holiday in 1870. Other traditions, like the inaugural 13-cannon salute over the Schuylkill River, have been lost to history.

Cannon fire is unlikely to make a comeback, but with a few small tweaks, your annual barbecue could become a pretty good “first Fourth.” Just be warned: There was way more beer in 1776.

Setting the menu

Photo: Dolores M. Harvey/Shutterstock

The Fourth of July is all about meat. Americans plan their menus around hot dogs and hamburgers, and then they plan the their days around grilling them up.

Beef and pork were staples of the lower-class diet in 18th-century America, but those with means tended toward seafood on the Fourth of July. Crab, lobster, crawfish, and shellfish dishes like oyster gumbo were eaten around the mid-Atlantic. In New England, turtle soup, salmon in egg sauce, peas, and new potatoes became the standard, followed by apple pandowdy. An apocryphal origin story cites this as the meal John and Abigail Adams shared on July 4, 1776.

Photo: TanaCh/Shutterstock

The theory has been debunked, but Abigail Adams did bake a mean apple pandowdy, a spiced apple dessert. One 1851 recipe calls for six juicy apples to be tossed with brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, lemon zest, and boiled milk, then topped with a plain pie crust. A version commonly attributed to the first lady also uses molasses and nutmeg in the filling.

The Founding Fathers also had a taste for ice cream. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were particular fans, albeit of flavors we’re unaccustomed to today: tomato, asparagus, and cheese-flavored ice creams were served alongside vanilla. Shellfish appears here too: Dolly Madison, who turned the frozen treat into a White House staple, was partial to oyster ice cream.

It’s impossible to say what dishes graced the tables of the first Fourth of July observers. Some have theorized that roast turkey, rabbit, or pigeon might have made an appearance. The good news for those planning an authentic menu: French fries and mac and cheese are fair game, as Thomas Jefferson helped popularize both.

Boozing like our forefathers

Photo: Buddy Phillips/Shutterstock

A concerning amount of alcohol was likely consumed while the Declaration of Independence was drafted. The Founding Fathers were known to drink: Jefferson brewed beer at Monticello and collected French and Italian wine. Madison, it’s said, drank a pint of whiskey a day. Franklin was known for talking politics over punch, and Washington racked up legendary bar tabs.

In a letter to his daughter on July 5, 1777, John Adams describes a spontaneous Fourth of July dinner filled with countless toasts to the country and its countrymen. Adams and company likely raised glasses of beer, cider, or whiskey. Some may have sipped fortified wines from Spain or Portugal, which have a dessert-like quality.

Colonists also drank beer and cider to hydrate, even as children. Potable water was scarce in cities, and an overabundance of apples in the colonies meant bottomless cider for colonists. Beer became a status symbol for those who could afford to drink it in lieu of water.

It’s not recommended to go without water this or any other Fourth of July, but prepare to keep a drink in hand if you’re doing things 18th-century style. Stock up on Yuengling, America’s oldest beer, or come up with a signature whiskey cocktail. Punch was another staple beverage, typically served in big bowls filled with rum, brandy, citrus, sugar, and occasionally Champagne.

“Bells, bonfires, and illuminations”

Photo: Day Of Victory Studio/Shutterstock

Much of what John Adams prophesied for the Fourth of July came true. Pomp and parade? Check. Games and sports? You bet. Fireworks show? Every single year. It’s rare, on the other hand, to attend a barbecue scheduled around bonfires or bell-ringing.

Oratory was once essential to Independence Day. Four days after the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776, it was read aloud in Philadelphia’s Independence Square, which laid the ground for annual bell-ringing and speech-giving traditions. Crowds soon gathered in public squares to hear generals speak on the Fourth of July. Others huddled up at home for group storytelling sessions, a tradition worth bringing back today.

Photo: Eaden409/Shutterstock

Lawn and parlor games were equally popular. Nine pins, an early version of bowling, took off in the colonies, as did shooting marbles and throwing darts. Children ran relay and sack races, spun whirligig toys, and had hoop-rolling contests. Some adults dueled or held cockfights. A tamer game involving anonymous questions and answers played out like 18th-century Apples to Apples, or maybe Cards Against Humanity depending on your crowd. Thumb through Colonial Games, Pastimes, and Diversions for the Genteel and Commoner for more activity inspiration.

Then there are the light shows. Fireworks have always closed out the Fourth of July, but in early days, bonfires did too. Accounts of the first celebration describe bonfires burning all over the streets of Philadelphia. While not everyone has access to fire pits or bonfire-friendly beaches, social distancing around a small campfire may not be the worst way to spend this Fourth of July.

There’ll be no gathering en masse for carefree parades or fireworks shows this year. But even those of us who’ll be staying home, determined to celebrate anyway, can reclaim the holiday by channeling our Founding Fathers. Pop a couple of beers, cook up some crab, or build a backyard bonfire and toss a few horseshoes around. This Fourth of July is going to be historic.

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How tinned fish can help the oceans

Fifteen years ago, Bart van Olphen embarked on a journey that would change his entire outlook on food. The Netherlands native had been working in Michelin-starred restaurants like Lucas Carton in Paris, where preparing and working with fish quickly became his culinary obsession. But van Olphen felt conflicted about the way the fish he prepared were being sourced, and he began to feel that eating fish wouldn’t be sustainable in the long term.

When he learned that 80 percent of the planet’s fish stocks are overfished, he realized that means there’s another 20 percent of fish which are so well managed their stocks aren’t depleted. He wanted to find the people who worked on these well-managed fishing grounds, so he traveled around southern Europe, to places like Spain, Portugal, and France. On his trip, he began to appreciate the production process more, from ocean to fishing boat to factory. Soon, van Olphen realized that tinned fish could be the future of sustainable seafood consumption.

Though van Olphen knew of tinned fish, he had never thought of it as an ingredient that any serious cook, professional or otherwise, might consider an essential element in their arsenal. In fact, what first attracted him to the tinned fish of southern Europe were the beautiful labels. But one of van Olphen’s most important moments of clarity came while visiting a fishery in Portugal. The sardines came in off the boats, and two hours later they were already in the cans.

“If we only eat fish on the day of catch, or say 10 days later, this concentrated time frame causes overfishing,” he says. “But if we embrace preserved fish like frozen or canned fish, we could enjoy fish throughout the year. We would leave the fish stocks alone when they need to recover.”

Photo: Angel L/Shutterstock

Van Olphen has been studying sustainable seafood since 2005. Over the years, he’s published books on the subject, including his latest, The Tinned Fish Cookbook, and has co-founded a tinned fish company called Fish Tales. But he says that it’s only in the past decade that people have begun asking the same questions that first popped into his mind while watching those sardines get processed in Portugal. Consumers, he says, are becoming more aware of how their dietary choices might be harming the oceans.

“People are starting more and more to ask me questions,” he says. “Like, ‘I love to eat seafood, but I want to make sure that I contribute to better oceans. What choice do I need to make?’ Because once the oceans are depleted, it never comes back again.”

Here’s what van Olphen says you should look for if you’re in the market for sustainable tinned fish.

Check out the labels

According to van Olphen, around 50 percent of the fish you find at the grocery store and restaurants is fish farmed using aquaculture. Though it takes some pressure off of wild stocks, aquaculture poses its own threats to the environment.

Tinned fish, on the other hand, is almost exclusively wild caught. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, because if you’re buying canned or tinned fish with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) label, you can rest assured it’s being fished using methods that aren’t depleting the oceans.

“The Marine Stewardship Council label is based on three principles,” van Olphen explains. “First one, the fish population should be healthy. The second principle is [based on] the fishing method — it shouldn’t harm nature, so there should be preferably no by-catch. And the third one is that the fishery is well managed, so the fish [population] is counted.”

He warns that these MSC principles don’t measure quality, but for the environmentally conscious consumer, it’s reassuring to know that the population of fish species inside the tin is healthy and the fisheries are well looked after.

Beware of tuna

Canned tuna might be one of the most familiar types of tinned fish on the market today, but tuna fishing poses among the most egregious risks to our oceans. One 2015 study found that StarKist, for instance, sourced its tuna from fisheries that rely on longlines, which results in destructive levels of bycatch. The study concluded that “80 percent of the tuna sold in the US comes from unsustainable, destructive sources.”

“There are many tuna stocks which are over exploited and the fish stocks are depleted,” adds van Olphen.

Van Olphen goes on to explain that corporate canned tuna companies often rely on industrial fishing boats that use longlines or the purse seine fishing method, which entails using a large net to envelop huge schools of tuna at once and can also result in bycatch. To support sustainable fishing, make sure you’re buying from companies that use only the pole and line fishing method. Not only does pole and line fishing result in zero bycatch because only one fish can be caught at a time, but it’s the preferred method of local fishermen in countries like Indonesia and the Maldives.

“Not only from a marine biology standpoint should you support pole and line, but especially to support local [fishing] communities, pole and line is the best choice to make,” van Olphen says.

The species of tuna that you buy, whether it’s canned or not, matters, too. In the US, one of the most in-demand species of tuna is albacore, and its popularity as a food source has driven the population to “near threatened” status. To take pressure off albacore, van Olphen says demand should shift to skipjack tuna, the most abundant species of tuna in the oceans right now. But it bears repeating that even if consumers do switch to skipjack tuna, they should only buy MSC-approved brands that use pole and line fishing methods so that skipjack aren’t eventually overfished as well.

Tinned fish protects more than the oceans

The benefits of tinned fish go beyond protecting overfished tuna and promoting sustainable fishing methods. Tinned fish doesn’t need to be stored in the fridge, it lasts for up to four years, and there’s very little waste involved in the consumption because everything inside the can is edible.

The production methods are efficient as well, van Olphen adds. Take tuna fishermen in Maldives, who van Olphen has spent many years observing. They start fishing around six in the morning. As soon as the fish are on board, they’re preserved with ice. By 11:00 AM, the fish arrive at the factory to be cleaned, and by 3:00 PM the fish are being canned.

This isn’t always the case with bigger brands, however, where the fish may go through a complex web of freezers and international flights before arriving at the factory to be canned.

Tinned fish is healthy, and tastes good

Photo: Mikhailov Studio/Shutterstock

One reason fish is in demand is that it’s packed with omega-3 fatty acids, which are highly nutritious vitamins that have been shown to benefit heart and eye health, lower blood pressure, and aid in the development of infants during pregnancy. But you won’t lose any of those benefits if you opt to eat tinned fish.

“All these oily fish — sardines, salmon, herring, anchovies, mackerel — they do really well in the tin,” van Olphen says. “Once the tin is closed, all the nutrition will be locked in that tin for the next four years. So it’s a really healthy way of consuming seafood.”

If van Olphen had to pick one, his favorite variety of tinned fish would have to be anchovies. Most people might balk at these tiny silver fish as the slimy topping for caesar salad, but van Olphen promises anchovies are versatile, and tasty too.

“It gives this umami taste, this full flavor, to any sauce, to any salad dressing,” van Olphen says. “Even if you eat a lot of meat, you can add anchovies to chimichurri, or a tomato sauce. In so many different sauces, it gives this extra kick of flavor. Or you can use anchovies on some toast with a glass of wine. And I love to open a can of sardines and just eat them as they are.”

Van Olphen praises the ease with which anyone can create a full meal from tinned fish. Some homecooks might be intimidated by the prospect of frying up an expensive cut of fish (which might not have been sustainably sourced), but tinned fish takes away the stress and uncertainty.

“The fish is cooked. It’s done for you already,” he says. “You add some color, some crunchiness, some spices, some herbs, and in a few minutes you can create all these different meals. It’s amazing. And affordable.”

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Columbus statue torn down in Ohio

The removal of statues around the United States has become commonplace, but now it’s extended beyond just Confederate generals. Columbus, OH, is removing a statue dedicated to the city’s namesake. Christopher Columbus has long been a controversial figure due to his brutal treatment of indigenous peoples during his explorations. To address Columbus’ problematic history, the city decided to remove a Christopher Columbus statue from outside City Hall.

At dawn on July 1, 2020, workers scaled the 20-foot statue and began the process of tearing it down. The statue had stood for 65 years, after being gifted to the city by Genoa, Italy, where the explorer was born.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther announced two weeks ago that the statue would be taken down and placed in storage. “For many people in our community, the statue represents patriarchy, oppression, and divisiveness. That does not represent our great city, and we will no longer live in the shadow of our ugly past.”

The fall of the statue signals a potential larger shift in the national attitude toward Columbus, and by extension, Columbus Day. Many have called for the holiday to no longer be recognized over recent years. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver famously did a segment called “Columbus Day: How Is This Still a Thing?” back in 2014. If this Ohio city can take down a statue of its own namesake, the rest of the country may be more inclined to put this controversial holiday behind it.

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Keep learning after lockdown

For some reason, humans at rest aren’t very good at staying at rest. When you tell us we can’t leave the house for three months until a deadly pandemic passes, the gears start turning, and we start wondering how we can make productive use of all this free time. For most, this took the form of enrolling in online classes, learning a new language, or impulse-buying a Peloton to make up for skipping the last 3,000 leg days. Whether you spontaneously got the urge — along with the rest of the country — to learn to bake sourdough, or finally committed to learning a language, there has been an unprecedented amount of pressure to improve ourselves during this lockdown.

My way of doing this has been attempting to learn French. And for someone who has taken a collective 12 years of language classes and still can’t converse at above a first-grade level, it’s going exactly how you’d expect.

When I embarked upon my ill-fated language learning mission, I was under the illusion that, in the absence of my usual distractions, it would be relatively easy. If I dedicated an hour a day to studying French, the language would magically fit in my brain after a few months. Soon enough, a harsh reality presented itself: Learning a new language is hard. My struggles with French are pretty accurately exemplified by this video, created by mexemluv on YouTube.

The guy in that video is basically me doing my Duolingo lessons every day. And yes, it feels pretty ridiculous. Without any real immersion to test my skills, and a fairly monotonous household routine, it’s easy to get discouraged. And because you won’t master the language by the end of lockdown, you might start feeling like you’re wasting your time.

There are a lot of reasons to be demoralized during a pandemic, but failing to immediately learn a new language, or master a new skill, isn’t one of them. Whether you’re juggling two jobs and a full schedule of classes, or locked down in your house with nothing to do, it takes months to become proficient at something new, and years to actually master it.

As lockdowns slowly ease, we may feel pressured to have something to show for ourselves after these months of isolation. But don’t measure your progress against impossible standards. Don’t worry if you aren’t trilingual, or bilingual, or — who are we kidding? — have even fully mastered the English language. Lockdown learning doesn’t encapsulate an entire educational experience — it’s just the beginning. So even when life is back to normal, stay motivated. You’ll still probably sound like the French guy in the video when speaking your new language, but if you’re lucky, you won’t feel quite as silly.

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Arrests in Hong Kong

After China voted to pass its National Security Law on Tuesday, the first arrests have been made in Hong Kong for “unauthorized assemblies” and actions that “undermine national unification.”

On Wednesday, thousands gathered for the annual pro-democracy rally marking the end of British rule — the 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong’s independence from Britain. Demonstrators chanted slogans like “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.”

The gathering occurred in defiance of a ban of crowds exceeding 50 people due to COVID-19. In the wake of the rally, 360 were detained, reports the BBC.

The arrests are a reflection of heightened Chinese desire to squash Hong Kong’s sovereignty, which was promised by Chinese authorities to last 50 years after Britain handed the territory back to Beijing in 1997. Thanks to the new National Security Law, Beijing can exert greater control over the city and reduce the territory’s freedom of speech and rights to demonstrate against the government to nothing.

Despite the condemnation of China for passing the law by international leaders, the nation has made clear it would not accept outside interference in its domestic affairs.

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Tourist railway in England

A train ride is one of the most ideal ways to explore the English countryside, and if you can’t quite pin down the Hogwarts Express, this new train service is a good secondary option.

New tourist trains, courtesy of Rail Charter Services, are scheduled to begin scenic routes on the Settle to Carlisle line this summer. The service will complete three 112-mile round trips per day in North Yorkshire and Cumbria, running from/to Skipton or Settle from/to Appleby. There are three options — the full day experience, the short trip, and a full day trip.

Ribblehead viaduct. Photo: Photo: Lukasz Pajor/Shutterstock

The train will pass sights like the Ribblehead viaduct, Ais Gill summit, and Dent station, as well as the classic countryside towns of Appleby, Settle, and Skipton. Your journey will be narrated by an onboard guide, who will provide passengers with historical context and other educational information as you pass points of interest throughout the English countryside.

Streets of Settle. Photo: Pete Stuart/Shutterstock

Adrian Quine, director of the Rail Charter Services company, said, “This is the first time that a dedicated timetabled tourist train has operated in England and has the potential to be a game-changer in other popular areas of high seasonal demand.”

The trains will run from Monday to Saturday between July 20, 2020, and September 12, 2020. Round trip tickets are approximately $35, and all the seats are first class and located by a window. Trains have a capacity of 128 seats, room for 12 pre-booked bicycles, and are designed to accommodate the needs of families observing social distancing. At first, tickets will only be sold in pairs to people from the same household or social bubble. Seats will also be divided by perspex screens.

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France bans e-bike commercial

France has just banned a commercial for a Dutch bicycle over concerns that the commercial creates a “climate of fear” about cars. The ad, which has been aired on both Dutch and German television, is apparently worrying France’s advertising regulation authority, as they believe the ad unfairly discredits the automobile industry.

The ad, for the VanMoof e-bike, features a shiny black car reflecting images of chimneys, flashing emergency lights, and traffic jams. The car then melts and transforms into the VanMoof bike, with the caption, “Time to ride the future.” According to the French advertising code, exploitation of fear and suffering is prohibited in commercials, and this ad is considered to be in violation of that code.

In a letter to VanMoof, the Autorité de Régulation Professionnelle de la Publicité (ARPP) wrote, “Some images in the reflection of the car are, in our opinion, unbalanced and discredit the entire car sector. The images of factories/chimneys and an accident create a climate of fear. So they will have to be adapted.”

VanMoof replied by accusing the watchdog group of trying to protect the French car industry. Taco Carlier, the founder of VanMoof, vowed not to edit or make any changes to the commercial. “It is amazing,” he said, “that car companies are allowed to cover up their environmental problems while censoring those who question this issue.”

According to Stephane Martin, chairman of the ARPP, it’s simply an issue of fairness. “We cannot afford to put entire sectors in a bad light. That is an important precondition for fair competition. In some areas, that commercial goes too far, with images that are unnecessary, such as the smoke from factory chimneys, which have nothing to do with the car industry.”

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Praxe freshman hazing in Portugal

Every September, students wearing button-ups and long black capes parade through Portugal’s university cities while plainclothes freshmen perform embarrassing stunts like they’re pledging Hogwarts Greek life.

This analogy is not entirely off. Praxe is an academic tradition designed to initiate university freshmen. First-years are publicly hazed, much like fraternity and sorority hopefuls at American schools. Older students oversee the antics dressed in capa e batina, a “cape and cassock” combo modeled on 500-year-old clergy robes that completes the traditional academic uniform. Many believe this uniform also inspired J.K. Rowling’s vision for the Hogwarts dress code.

Photo: De Visu/Shutterstock

Universidade NOVA de Lisboa graduate Filipe Freitas describes praxe as “silly but fun.” It was not a rite of passage he spent his childhood eagerly anticipating, or paid much attention to as a younger onlooker, but to a new university student, praxe was a welcome bonding opportunity.

Student committees organize praxe at the start of the school year. Hazing typically lasts a week or two in September, after which select parties and events are hosted throughout the year. When the time comes for freshmen to shed their first-year status, those who participate in praxe are given a “burial,” earning the right to wear the capa e batina after their capes have been “baptized” in a whole lot of alcohol.

Specific traditions vary between schools. In Guimarães and Coimbra, home to Portugal’s oldest university, freshmen march in latada parades with cans tied to their ankles or bodies. Students may be blindfolded, have their faces painted with lipstick, or be given various dares. In rural areas, some freshmen are made to crawl through barns while older students toss hay on their backs and heads.

Photo: De Visu/Shutterstock

Freitas was told to serenade strangers and measure an area of pavement using only a coin. “It’s a lot of childish stuff combined with traditional stuff,” he says, noting that folk chants often feature. In one example, he and his mechanical engineering peers were gathered in a circle to sing “Ò Malhão” and clap along with shaving-cream-covered palms.

While most praxe pranks are harmless, if humiliating, others can be dangerous. “People have died from this,” says Freitas, recalling a 2014 incident in which six students drowned at a beach south of Lisbon during praxe, sparking serious debate over its safety. Concerns have also been raised over alcohol consumption, which is often excessive during praxe.

Photo: cristovao/Shutterstock

Some students today take an anti-praxe stance. Though it’s elective, student organizations have cited not only injury and death but also degradation as a reason to dismantle the tradition.

Hierarchy is inherent to praxe: Caloiro, or freshmen, are subordinate to older students who may demand that they not be looked at or spoken to. Upperclassmen may dole out punishments like physical activity if freshmen fail to complete a hazing ritual. And every praxe committee has a ringleader who wields a toddler-sized wooden spoon in a cartoonish display of authority.

Though Freitas ignored his instructions to avoid eye contact without issue, and was never made to feel uncomfortable during praxe, he does recognize a subculture of cruelty that some students experience at the hands of others. These students, he posits, then perpetuate the harshest praxe traditions, treating their capa e batina like a license for “payback.”

Other upperclassmen take on mentor roles. Each freshman chooses a male and female “godparent” during praxe to help ease their orientation. Godparents are expected to organize a one-on-one bonding activity and ceremonially drape the capa e batina during the freshman’s burial. They may also answer questions, share advice, or pass down academic materials throughout the year. These mentorships can be close or casual, but they testify to the intention behind praxe: a playful, yet somewhat profound, introduction to university life.

Photo: De Visu/Shutterstock

Hazing has only become ubiquitous over the last few decades, when newer universities adopted old traditions to emulate better-established schools. But praxe dates back to the early days of the University of Coimbra, founded in 1290, as do some versions of initiation rituals.

Shared embarrassment, it would seem, breeds connection. For many students, Freitas included, the peers they meet during praxe wind up becoming their closest friends.

To the uninitiated, praxe is a curious sight. Tourists in Lisbon or Porto have often become unwitting audiences left to wonder what, exactly, they’re witnessing as a praxe procession marches down a main street. Yet the students, busy bonding over a bit of childish entertainment, hardly acknowledge the crowds.

“You know,” said Freitas when asked if increased tourism has made praxe students more self-conscious in recent years, “we’re already humiliating ourselves, doing stupid stuff on the street. So it’s like, whoever wants to watch, watch.”

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Rez Roads, #vanlife, Navajo Nation

The Navajo Nation is about the size of West Virginia. Nearly surrounding the four corners of the American Southwest, the country’s largest Native reservation encompasses 27,000 square miles across three states: New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona. To Chantal Wadsworth and her partner, Vernan Kee, who both grew up in the Navajo Nation, this land was mostly all they knew. Growing up here meant becoming accustomed to seeing — and often experiencing — poverty. Opportunities to travel were few and far between, even on tribal lands.

“We’re a Navajo couple from the Navajo Nation, trying to learn more about Navajo culture, the history, the land, and stories,” Wadsworth says. “Growing up on the Navajo Nation, you’re always outdoors. So our love for the outdoors was there as a kid.”

Photo: Rez Roads

Getting older, the lack of opportunity on the reservation became a stark reality. Most youth, including their peers, leave the reservation at some point, whether for education or employment. The pair was no different, moving to San Diego to study and work. There they fell in love with the ocean and the mountainous terrain of inland southern California, firmly rooting themselves as “outdoorists.”

The couple stayed for nearly eight years. The #vanlife movement, long a staple of surf and climbing culture in California, was just picking up steam throughout the country. This seemed an approachable way to travel for Wadsworth and Kee as it would enable them to spend their lives outside while working remotely.

It was this passion for exploring and understanding the natural world around them that brought them home to the Navajo Nation. They gave up everything — their apartment, their possessions, and any semblance of what a “life of opportunity” off the reservation was supposed to look like. Instead, they headed back to their roots.

“We were drawn to that life of always being on the road, always being outdoors,” Wadsworth says. “We didn’t want to just explore any place. We definitely wanted to come back to our homelands, where we grew up, and explore more of where we came from.”

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A post shared by RezRoads (@rezroads_sw) on Dec 23, 2018 at 7:09pm PST

So the pair bought a 2018 Ford Transit van and prepped it for the road, installing a solar panel and a Yeti 400 power battery. They made the inside straightforward — a bed, a drawer, and a basic seating arrangement.

“We definitely did have to build everything from the inside out,” Wadsworth says of their ride. “And we’ve rebuilt it a couple of times. As you live in a van full time, what you think you want changes.”

Growing up, she rarely explored beyond her community. “I never really got to see other places, other parts of the Navajo Nation where a lot of important monuments and sacred sites are.” Rez Roads, as Wadsworth and Kee’s #vanlife project would come to be known, would change that.

The goal of returning to the Navajo Nation was, initially, to learn about the couple’s homeland. It quickly became bigger than that, showing others that the Diné people, as Navajo call themselves, have an important place in the future. “We wanted to learn more about ourselves as Navajo people,” Wadsworth says.

No one else on the Navajo Nation had done this before — at least not like this. No #vanlifers, no RV-dwellers. “We haven’t come across another Navajo person, or even another Native person doing this,” notes Wadsworth.

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A post shared by RezRoads (@rezroads_sw) on Oct 30, 2019 at 6:10pm PDT

The reaction, for the most part, has been shock and awe. A young couple traveling in a van, documenting their experience to educate themselves and others about their culture, tends to require a bit of an explanation.

“A lot of people mistake us for some kind of emergency service, like a medical van or an ambulance,” Wadsworth explains with a laugh. “That was the first thing that people thought of when they saw our van. It’s just so unfamiliar.”

Just telling people where they’ve been is also inspiring others to follow, at least in spirit. Their Instagram page is approaching 2,000 followers, and the couple, graphic designers by trade, have launched a merch store to support their efforts and to help spread the word. They’ve also added a trailer to accommodate some of their belongings and make room for the six dogs that travel with them.

“People say, ‘Oh, my grandma used to go there!’ and ‘I’ve never been there but I’ve always wanted to go!’” Wadsworth says. “It sparks their interest, like, ‘Hey, I’ve gotta go visit these places and explore where we came from.’”

Many places Wadsworth and Kee visit are on private Navajo Nation land and aren’t accessible to the general public.

“We don’t highlight those spots on Instagram,” asserts Wadsworth.

Of the spots anyone can visit, the Bisti Badlands south of Farmington, New Mexico, just off the border of the reservation, is among their favorites.

“It’s kind of hidden and not so popular,” Wadsworth explains. “But it’s a very vast area — it’s kind of like you’re on another planet. The rock formations are very unique.”

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A post shared by RezRoads (@rezroads_sw) on Oct 4, 2018 at 12:30pm PDT

Other favorites include Spider Rock, in Arizona’s Canyon de Chelly, and Monument Valley — the couple highlights spots like these on their Instagram page. The non-publicly accessible areas, however, remain a mystery. Wadsworth encourages visitors from off-reservation to visit the Navajo Nation website for guidance on where to visit, and to remember to register for an overnight camping permit.

To further their impact, Wadsworth and Kee work closely with Natives Outdoors, an organization working to educate and empower Indigenous communities through “products and storytelling for a sustainable world.”

“They do a lot of great work to bring information to the general public about Navajo Nation outdoor recreation.” She notes that their mission aligns closely with that of Rez Roads — their biggest hope is to preserve Navajo culture and the language of their ancestors. “In the 21st century, with modern culture and modern ways, the Navajo culture and the language is fading,” laments Wadsworth. “I don’t want anything like that to happen. I don’t want, 20 years from now, no one to know what Navajo people are or know what the Navajo language is. That would be heartbreaking.”

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If Rez Roads can help visitors to the Navajo Nation make the connection between the people and the land and value ancestral traditions and customs, Wadsworth says they will have accomplished their goal.

“I just hope that people, when they come to our Instagram page, I hope they learn a little bit more about Navajo people themselves,” Wadsworth concludes. “And more about the connection that we have with the land, and with everything that we find sacred about it. I think that’s the whole push that we’re trying to do.”

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Lufthansa offers COVID-19 tests

Starting on July 29, 2020, Lufthansa will offer rapid COVID-19 tests to inbound and outbound travelers on its flights at the Frankfurt and Munich airports.

In Frankfurt, the test takes place at a special facility in the airport and results are available via an app from six to eight hours for a regular test and three hours for an express test. Travelers will have to pay for the tests, and costs are 59 euros ($66.50) for a regular test and 139 euros ($156.50) for an express one. The PCR tests are done with a throat swab and conducted by Centogene. No appointment is needed, but travelers must register in advance on Centogene’s website.

In Munich, the PCR throat swab test is free and conducted by Medicare at the airport’s medical center. Travelers must register by calling +49 89 975-63399 to take a test. Results are available within four hours.

The tests are meant for travelers who come from high-risk countries into Germany to avoid a 14-day quarantine should they test negative, but any traveler can undergo a test. Outbound travelers must take the test the day before departure, while inbound travelers can take it upon arrival. Outbound travelers or those on a layover will have their test results linked to their plane tickets for authorities at their destinations to be able to see.

Currently, only residents of EU member countries as well as those from 18 approved non-EU countries are allowed entry into Germany.

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