Winter Road Trip!
I've recently returned from a 5 week road trip extravaganza to explore and photograph across a wide swath of the U.S. Like most trips, I had plenty of ideas on what I wanted to explore and photograph. But as I've learned over 30+ years of doing such trips, you can't always get what you want. But, if you try sometimes, well, you find you get what you need. And that's exactly how this trip went. The Rolling Stones new of what they sang about.
On Feb 2, I departed Anacortes and drove to Las Vegas, NV in two days. I then parked my truck near the airport, and flew to Chicago to meet my good buddy Al DaValle. We then spent the next two weeks or so driving back to my truck. We had a loose itinerary that included returns to previously visited places, some new places and photographs that we wanted to make. First up were winter landscapes in Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota. We had high hopes for snow covered rural landscapes and small towns. But, as the Rolling Stones predicted, we didn't get what we wanted. There was very little snow on the ground or sun in the sky resulting in flat, dreary light on flat, dreary scenes. Not what we wanted.
So, we had to do what any experienced, adventurous photographers should do. We redefined what we wanted. We let go of our list of wanted photos and places, and improvised as we meandered toward Las Vegas. By letting go of what we wanted, we let the landscape reveal its diverse array of photo opportunities. We shifted from hunting for our wants to receiving whatever the landscape presented. Once we opened our minds and hearts, there was no shortage of photo opportunities. So, as the Stones predicted, we got what we needed.
Thus reconfigured, we bee-lined to Badlands National Park, then into Wyoming to the Wind River Canyon, down eastern Utah, to places like Flaming Gorge and Fantasy Canyon, then across southern Utah through Monument Valley to Nevada and finally to Las Vegas. The weather was intermittently frightful and, following back roads, we were often unsure of our exact location. If we had mapped our route, I'm sure it would resemble the path of a pinball falling through a pinball machine. Once in Las Vegas, we regrouped and waited for the weather to clear. Then bounced down rough roads first to the Little Finland area of Gold Butte National Monument and then to the Ibex Dunes in the southeast corner of Death Valley National Park, our last stop before going to Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley for the start of the photo workshop that we co-instructed with Bruce Barnbaum.
Driving from the Ibex Dunes we were treated to the start of a glorious superbloom in Death Valley. We then spent the first half of the next week in Death Valley, and the second half in Lone Pine, CA with Bruce and a delightful group of avid photographers. Being anchored in familiar places with our workshop was a bit of a reprieve from the constant movement of the previous three weeks. Again the Rolling Stones were correct, but for different reasons. Too much bright sun, not enough unsettled weather and too many footprints in the dunes meant that we didn't quite get what we wanted. But we did get what we needed by, again, letting go of the wants and receiving what was there. These are target rich places, so it wasn't too difficult.
At the end of a fabulous week, Al and I went in separate directions. Al headed home to Chicago. I had thoroughly enjoyed our time together, so this left me a bit sad. I drove to Las Vegas to pick up my wife and long-time adventure buddy, Dona, for the last leg of my trip. With her in the truck, I perked right up. We then retraced steps from previous trips going through Zion and over the always scenic Hwy 12 through the Escalante. The weather was relatively warm and just unsettled enough, but most places were still closed for the winter. In one 24 hour period, we had to eat lunch, dinner and breakfast at Subway. We finally settled in Hanksville, UT for a while to explore the rich and diverse badlands in the surrounding area including Capital Reef National Park, Factory Butte, the Moonscape Overlook, Little Wild Horse Canyon, Cow Dung Road and the Mars Research Station, Little Egypt, Goblin Valley, Buckhorn Draw and finally Utah's Little Grand Canyon.
We ended our trip visiting old friends in Boise, ID before finally getting back home. What an adventure! After traveling 7500 miles with my two best friends and making 3500 photos (which I'm still working on), I got some of what I wanted and all of what I needed. Thank you Mick Jagger! And thank you Al and Dona! Please enjoy the portfolio below that includes some of my favorite images from my trip. Click on the thumbnail to view the image full screen and brows through the images. Hover over the photo to see the caption.
