For this week’s Photo Challenge, the task is to “stimulate your creative process and imagine which of your images you would like to see gracing the cover of a book, an album, or a magazine.” With memories of our cross-country trip still fresh in my mind, I decided to make a mix tape of road songs using a photograph I took of the long stretch of road ahead.
TRAVEL
REFRACTION
Flying into Long Beach California
SIGNS
I travelled to the northwest this August, and walking around Portland and Seattle, I was really attracted to all of the wonderful signs. Neon, vintage, worn and funky signs – it turned into my mission to photograph as many as I could. Being a fan of typography, it’s usually the style of lettering that first catches my eye. Here’s one favorite from Portland that combines a few different forms of type.
#signs #weeklyphotochallenge
GOING WEST III
Day Four brought us through Wyoming’s Big Horn National Forest, after our stop at Mount Rushmore. Winding road up and up the hills, stopping by a stream along the road and finally reaching Yellowstone at 7:30 pm. From the entrance to the park we still had a forty-three mile drive to our cabin! I think the favorite part of this trip was being held up by two huge bison who decided to take a twilight stroll down the road. There was still some daylight and we were able to see bull elk, hot sulphur springs, the lakes, forests. So beautiful. I have to say we were very lucky to get a cabin on such short notice. It was getting cold and rainy by the time we turned in, but the cabin was oh so cozy.
Our fifth day was still rainy, but after breakfast in the nearby cafeteria, we spent the entire day driving and walking through Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons. Elevation over 8000 feet. Just indescribable views of geysers, petrified forests, streams, lakes, mountains, waterfalls. I’m so glad that we planned our trip to see this spectacular part of the country. One day was hardly enough to see it all-we just got a taste.
Going through the Tetons, on Route 22, was a bit perilous-such steep mountain roads! It was my turn to drive and I thought maybe I should downshift, which my daughter questioned as soon as I did it – after all it was her car. Right away I thought I had made a big mistake. The car was straining to do 25 mph, and then the “check engine” light went on. Oh boy; I was a nervous wreck. And we had just started the climb! Right before we hit the mountains we passed a car with the engine in flames and that’s all I could think of as we puttered along with cars and trucks passing us. My daughter wasn’t saying a word; I’m sure she was convinced I had totally ruined her car. Well, once we finally leveled out and started on the down slope the warning light went off and the car began to run smoothly again. What a nerve-wracking time!
We got to Idaho and stopped for supper near Pocatello. Back on the road,we noticed dark skies on the horizon and it was pouring rain. We were listening to music on the radio, when a tornado warning came on telling everyone to seek shelter immediately! The rain quickly became a hail storm, making visibility almost impossible. And then it was all over and the sun was shining. We were just happy to get to Twin Falls for the night.
Finally, our destination was getting closer. It was a great thrill when we saw the sign welcoming us to Oregon. We had made a reservation with AirBnB to stay in SE Portland and got there Friday evening, 15 August. Yay! We did it!
TRIP WEST Installment Two
I realized that I kind of skipped over the first part of our cross-country trip in my previous post. It’s not that there weren’t sights to see, but that we were eager to get out west and we wanted to reach Portland in six days. We started out from New York on Route 80, quickly through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, a rainy stretch in Ohio, past Chicago, then we switched to Route 90 in Wisconsin. We made a short stop in La Crosse, Wisconsin to get a look at the Mississippi River – this paddle boat cruises down to Memphis and back. All along our route were acres of farmland, fields of corn and lots of gigantic windmills which looked so cool!
FADED PAISLEY Studio 