Day 96/365

     Today's photo's not that interesting compared to the past two weeks, I know. We were in the car all day today, stuck in traffic three-fourths of the time due to construction, and the rest of the drive was pretty boring. (The photo for today is a close-up of a strand of seashells our friend in Oregon gave us from the west coast that we wrapped around the car's rear-view mirror). We got home a few hours ago and I've been laying low ever since. It was an amazing trip; I still can't believe we got to see all of the things we did. I know we barely even scratched the surface, so I definitely plan to go back to quite a few of the places we explored, and plan to see other places that we didn't get a chance to check out as well. Tomorrow/Saturday I move to Michigan so that I can start my photojournalism internship this Monday. It's time for the next adventure! I have more photos from out west that I still have yet to edit, and I'm hoping to go through those once I get settled tomorrow, and after I finish editing my last Cleveland-based freelance assignment. I'll be sure to post a link on here when there are more photos up on my Flickr page, and when I've been able to add them to my website as well!

Day 95/365

     Day ninety-five's belated post is from the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. We walked around the main floor and the grounds outside, and just the simple fact of knowing that this was the place Stephen King imagined as the setting for The Shining cast everything we saw in a much more eerie light. It was almost like going back in time; the hotel is maintained to look like the early 1920's time period, and that just adds to its legendary significance as well. I thought converting it to gray scale would add even more to the effect!

Day 93/365

     I'm sorry I haven't been able to update as frequently; these past two days of camping at the Grand Canyon came with little-to-no internet access. Anyways, day ninety-three's photo was taken at sunset last night/Tuesday night at Powell Point on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was absolutely amazing camping there the last couple of days: fantastic views both during he day and at night. We had a minor almost-but-not-quite scare the one night where I was worried that we were in the general vicinity of a mountain lion while walking back to the car, but I could have been wrong. Either way, we made it out of the park unscathed, and are currently on our way to our last stop before heading home: Colorado! We should be getting to our motel sometime tonight, and will be visiting the Stanley Hotel, (the hotel that inspired Stephen King's The Shining, and which is apparently haunted if you listen to local legend). I'll update when I can!

Day 91/365

     I tried some night shooting for the first time on this trip. This is the nighttime sky as seen from our campsite at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. We're pretty exhausted; the temperature got up to 113° while we were exploring around in Death Valley National Park in Nevada this morning, so by the time we got to our site here we set up our tent and laid low the rest of the day. Tomorrow we'll go check out more of Bryce Canyon before heading out to the Grand Canyon where we'll be camping the next two nights! I'll update whenever I get the chance, but in the meantime I added a few photos to my Flickr page if any of you are interested.

Day 90/365

     To recap the second half of our day yesterday: after leaving the Redwood Forest National Park, we headed on our way down the coast to Yosemite. Along the way we stopped at an overlook that a park ranger had told us was infamous for whale sightings, and saw whales ourselves! They were further off in the distance so I didn’t have a decent-enough lens to get any discernible photos of them, but it was amazing to see all the same.

     Today’s post is from Bridalveil Falls in Yosemite National Park, California. It was a truly wonderful experience for me as a photographer to explore a park that Ansel Adams considered his own personal muse. The park was pretty spectacular, especially seeing all of the different landscapes within it, (rocky cliffs, Sequoia forests, snow-covered mountains, lakes and ponds with crystal-blue water). We even had our first bear sighting; when we were headed on our way out of the park we saw a black bear ambling along off in the distance in one of the more forested areas. We’re currently on our way to our campground in the Inyo National Forest/Sierra-Nevada mountain range. Tomorrow we’ll be visiting Death Valley National Park before heading over to Utah to Bryce Canyon to camp for the night. I’ll try to post more the next time I get the chance!

Day 89/365

     We’re officially half way through our road trip, and it’s been amazing so far. Day eighty-nine’s post is from the Jedidiah Smith Redwood Forest National Park in California. We stopped to do some light hiking and ended up reaching the Smith River, which has crystal clear blue water; it was absolutely beautiful. We’re currently on our way to Yosemite, (I got mixed up when writing yesterday’s post – we won’t be camping in the Sierra-Nevadas until tomorrow night). I’ll be sure to post more the next time we find some wireless access!

Day 88/365

     Day eighty-eight was taken just a few moments ago on the Coos Bay board walk that's just a short walk down the road from our motel. Today's post will be my last from Coos Bay, Oregon; tomorrow we're heading down to California to stop at one of the state parks within one of the redwood forests before camping in the Sierra-Nevadas for the night. I'm not sure when I'll next have access to wi-fi, so my next post might be a bit late. We'll see! I also added a few other photos from today to my Flickr page too, as a side note. 

Day 87/365

     Tonight we're staying in our first motel of the trip, so that means wireless internet access! We're currently in Coos Bay, Oregon visiting a friend, and we'll be here 'til Friday morning. Today's photo was taken at sunset at the Hollering Place, a local pier right on the bay where you can usually see people fishing and crabbing off of the docks. Tomorrow we're planning on exploring some of the beaches and other areas around, so I'll be sure to update soon!

     Read after the jump for a recap of the past few days of the trip...

Day 85/365

     Today's post comes to you from the Badlands! It was absolutely amazing; I've literally never seen anything like it. We saw quite a few different animal driving through the park also: coyotes, prairie dogs, mountain goats, and pronghorns. We're currently a few hours away from Yellowstone National Park; more to come the next time we get a chance to stop for wi-fi!

Day 84/365

     Day eighty-four's belated post comes to you from just outside of Jackson, Minnesota. It was taken last night, (Sunday), as the sun was setting. Our first day of driving went well overall; Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois were all flat and boring, Chicago had way too much traffic, but Wisconsin and Minnesota were beautiful. We saw tons of wind turbines, like the ones from today's post, in Minnesota, and got to drive through a pretty spectacular thunderstorm with some great lightning. We got into South Dakota late Sunday night and stopped to catch some sleep, and we left early this morning and are currently on our way to the Badlands! 

Blogger's Note

     Tomorrow, (Sunday), I'll be leaving on a road trip out west with a friend of mine. We'll be traveling for about two weeks, and we'll be visiting a few of the national parks and a few other spots along the way. Naturally, I'll be taking tons of pictures each day, (and maybe some audio and/or video here and there, depending). Since we'll be tent-camping for most of the trip, I can't say for sure if I'll be able to stop somewhere with wi-fi access each day. I'll do my best to update this blog as often as possible, if I can't manage to update it every day. I've been looking forward to this trip for months, and I can't wait to see what photographs come out of it. Make sure to check back!