King of the Road

My family and I have covered a lot of miles traveling by car. We love to see what lies ahead of us on the road. My mom and I drove from Seattle to home in Colorado and along the way we encountered a blizzard in Montana and my mom filled the car's gas tank at the loneliest gas station we've ever come across. My mother, sister and I toured colleges around the mid-west and east coast and in between campus tours, we pulled on blue plastic ponchos and boarded the Maid of Mist tour boat to hear the thunderous roar of Niagra Falls. While driving to the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Arches National Park, I still remember my father making up names for every rock formation that slipped past the car's windows.

Every member of my family has a story about being on the road. And now the youngest amongst us, my sister's children, are starting to get their stories, too.

Her oldest, Connor, has a pretty impressive collection of road trip stories. He took part in a cross-country drive this summer but most recently, he went with my mother and I to Jemez Springs. This wasn't a joy ride; it was a photo expedition. My mother had her classic Hasselblad camera and my nephew used an old fashion film camera. I was the copout with the digital camera. We made stops along the road at the Jemez Historic Site. My nephew whispered a sound of glee when he saw the towering stone ruins of the mission was free of visitors and raced through its center to get a shot of its empty interior.

We made another stop at Soda Dam and Connor scrambled up the dam's side like a mountain goat to take pictures of the river, the swirling, spiraling rock that makes up the dam and the water tumbling out of it.

I'll remember this road trip; not just for all the beautiful sites we took in but for the Connor's absolute glee and his total embrace to explore what lay ahead on the road.

Mom and Connor 

Connor and I

Getting the shot at the Jemez Historic Site 

Exploring downtown Jemez Springs 

A restaurant mural

Soda Dam

Connor changing film