The Road Most Traveled

A couple years ago, my family and I were on vacation out West. We started in Flagstaff, AZ and then spent a little time around the Grand Canyon before finishing with a few nights in Breckenridge, CO. During our time in Flagstaff, we made two trips to Grand Canyon National Park, the final one to start off a rim-to-rim trek. During our journeys to and from the park, few of us spent much time looking around at the landscape which, truth be told, was not overly impressive. It was simply what we had to drive through to get to our destination. And then it struck me how many other people most likely have done the same thing.

I am guilty of this. (i.e. - missing the journey for the destination) During college, my friends and I made several road trips that totaled all 49 driveable states. And there were many occasions where we simply drove non-stop over hundreds of miles because we were trying to get to another destination. (Sorry Kansas and Nebraska!) But looking back some of these stretches of road were the most memorable. If we had not opened our eyes to what laid around us we would have missed out on the small, snow-covered towns of northern Massachusetts or beautiful expanses of the plains.

So in my more aware moments, I am able to stop, look around and take in what has been laid out before me. Sometimes I catch the little eccentricities of towns, landscapes and other people. But, sadly, much of the time I am too self-involved or busy to catch the life that is passing me by.

On a more technical note, this shot was taken on one of those drives to the Grand Canyon in the summer of 2006. I was riding in the back seat of our 15-passenger van and decided to experiment with longer exposures of the highway. I thought there were great colors and lines with the blue horizon, the black pavement and the yellow lane markers. I think I took just over a dozen shots and this is the one where everything kind of came together.

18mm, 1/6 sec, f/16, AZ-64, Northbound