Road Trip!!!!
The story of a couple newlyweds out on the open road... with a few pretty pictures
This summer, I was sent to Los Angeles, to shoot the Jr Olympics of hockey and the Inline World Championships. After 2 weeks of shooting I flew my new wife out to California and we had ourselves a little road trip home. We spent some time in Cali, driving up the coastal highway 1 for a couple days. Unfortunately it was completely fogged in, so what should have been the drive of our lives was just pretty grey and unfortunate looking. I did however stop to get this nice shot of a friendly bird on a pier.
During my time shooting the hockey tournaments, I met a guy named Larry. Larry was a software developer from Santa Cruz, and we discussed photography as I shot his son who played on one of the teams. Larry lived right off the coastal highway and offered to let Madeline and I stay in his guest house in the mountains overlooking the ocean. How could we say no to that? We arrived late one night, and upon pulling in, the first thing I see is a full size hockey rink in his front yard.
We awoke the next morning and had breakfast with Larry and his family. We geeked out on photography, and talked about how he made his living developing software. Really interesting family that I hope to see again some day. After breakfast we headed off to the great wild land of Yosemite National park.
We spent the day wandering through the middle of the beautiful Yosimite Park seeing all we could as we drove. Stopping to hike to waterfalls and to take pictures of half dome and many other gorgeous sites. It was hard to leave but I know we will be back one day to see all the beautiful park has to offer.
We ended the day at the strange and beautiful Mono Lake. This was a place unlike any I had ever seen. The lake was filled with these odd rock formations that looked like they were from another planet. I got a few shots that evening and we ate at a local BBQ joint which had the best sauce I have ever tasted. Then we found a little hotel to rest for the long road ahead.
The next day we left, drove through Nevada, and I kept pointing out different mountains to Madeline and telling her how easy it would be to drive to the top. Of course she said no every time, but I persisted over and over until she finally let me kick it in 4wd and venture a few miles offroad to the top of a mountain. She was a little scared but it was a blast and I got a few pics in and some amateur bouldering (until I could feel her freaking out) and then we were on our way again.
Now there was much more to the story, but unfortunately I lost a weeks worth of photos from Nevada all the way home :(
We made it to Las vegas that night, (she had never been before) and since I could tell it was something she would like to explore, we stopped and stayed at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. It was up there with one of the nicest places I have ever stayed. We stayed in that night like the high rolling big shots that we are and waited until the next morning to get out and walk the strip. It was abnormally hot for a morning, but I guess not abnormal for a morning in the middle of the desert. So once we walked up and down the strip we head on through many storms to visit relatives in Texas and Oklahoma.
We had a great time but unfortunately Madeline got sick and we had to high tail it home. We had to cancel plans to visit most of the people we were going to see but she promised me that we could take another trip to my home land sometime this year :)