bobbyd04

yes Yellowstone, grand canyon, also Alaska, it was so beautiful.

alaska


yellowstone, lamar valley


grand canyon

Anne

Thanks to all who sent me great ides. I am printing out the info, sitting down with a map and beginning the plan. I like small towns also and off the beaten track kind of places. My companions are like me, just want to roam and not interested in a marathon freeway trip. We all lived in the northeast before retiring in NC so we have visited north of the Mason-Dixon line frequently and lived there. The dream trip sounds great. We have alreaady decided that if we run out of time we will reschedule what we missed for another trip. Being retired means very few committments to hinder our plans. Our only scheduling restriction is weather. None of us enjoy the winter season anymore.
Again thanks to everyone for all their input. I will keep in touch as the plans matarilize and hopefully will get some great shots as I travel.
Anne

renomike Loc: Reno, Nevada

Banjonut.... It's still as bad or even worse....;0) Wife and I were there last fall as it's only 100 miles south of Reno. I was doing between 5 and 20 miles an hour and had people flying past us on the way there and back. That 3 mile washboard seems like 20 by the time it's done, but is well worth the trip. Here's a few pictures for Anne.....;0) Mono Lake is just a few miles down the road from Bodie too. All can be enlarged.

Mike

Where The Pavement Ends & The Washboard Starts


No Shooting Allowed Near The Gas Pumps


Bodie B&W Shot


Bodie Treasures In B&W


Bodie Home


Pano... Part of Mono Lake - Left Side Over Hill

rdowning Loc: Ahsahka, Idaho

Skip all the big parks, look for something different, drive the back roads. Highway 12 from Missoula Montana to the Washington coast is probably the most stunning drive in the nation.

ALYN Loc: Lebanon, Indiana

Don't overlook Smoky Mountain National park ! (Pigeon Forge)
We've been going there for ten-years; always find some thing new to shoot.
Ignore the plains states; nothing there.( Except meteor Crater)
New Mexico is great, especially RED ROCK CANYON. See the Redwood forests. Yellowstone is amazing , but dangerous. Shoot everything in the Rocky mountains.
Don't Miss the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore. Alyn

DK Loc: SD

I forgot to mention the falls on the Big Sioux River from which Sioux Falls, SD gets it's name. The 1880 Train in Hill City, SD is also something historic to photograph.

banjonut Loc: Southern Michigan

RenoMike;

Besides the road, what really disappointed me about Bodie was the people living there under the disguise of caretakers. They have taken over many of the buildings, blocking the windows, putting up antennas etc. if you keep any eye peeled, you wil notice people going from building, unlocking the doors, and slithering inside. I thought that all seemed a little odd, and then a few weeks after we got back, Ken Rockwell paid a visit there, and he really blasted them for the same things I was thinking.

Notice the house with the blocked windows, metal chimney, electric wires etc.

Bill

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

Southern Colorado: http://www.durangotrain.com/

Pikes Peak: http://www.cograilway.com/

Northern Colorado: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_Ridge_Road

Take a small oxygen tank along because these places will take your breath away (besides the thin air at high elevations).

oregon don

on the way from the badlands to the little big horn you will go just past the devils tower turn off just a few miles

RustyEire

Here's a suggestion, Anne, that might wander just a tad off your query but that might inspire additional ideas for your photographic journey. Some 30 years or so ago, the author William Least Heat-Moon, a travel writer with a PhD in English Literature who is also a photojournalist, took off on a crazy-quilt cross-country 3-month trip of his own, using only back roads in his simple custom-equipped van. The book he produced as a result, Blue Highways, is a real marvel---no photos (it's not a photo book), but terrific prose about the towns, the sights, and especially the people he met. The title came from his looking at a Rand McNally atlas to find those off-highway roads (colored with blue lines in the atlas).

As I recall the book (and it's been a long time since I reread it), there's not much visual emphasis, even by textual description, but there's a great deal of inspiration for a potential "street photographer" who's decided to temporarily become a "back road" photographer---a people-oriented photographer.

Just a thought. And the book's a great read for the road traveller in the USA, even if you plan your trip around all those National Parks and scenic wonders and decide to stick to the highways anyway.

Whatever you decide to do, and wherever you end up visiting, I hope you have a spectacular time . . . and bring back scads of great photos!

gemlenz Loc: Gilbert Arizona

I live in Arizona and there are lot of places there, like Sedona. I think it would be cool to get cityscape shots of all the major cities you go through.

chapjohn Loc: Tigard, Oregon

Lake Shasta Caverns, Oregon Cave, Great Cats World Park, Wildlfe Safari (Winston, Oregon), waterfalls in the Columbia Gorge. Point Definace Zoo (Tacoma, WA), visit all the Cabela's store on the route.

azlynn Loc: Arizona

Moab, Utah for Arches National Park (amazing!)(and I hope you are hikers); Bryce Canyon NP (Utah), Zion NP (Utah); Grand Canyon (North & South Rims); Sedona, Az.; Glacier NP (if you are that far north); the list is endless... You may need more than 6 weeks!!

Willy Loc: Alaska

Look into getting the photo guide books by Laurent Martres. They are great references.
Vol. 1 = Southern Utah
Vol. 2 = Arizona
Vol. 3 = Colorado & N.M.

http://www.amazon.com/Photographing-Southwest-Volume-1--Southern-Utah/dp/0916189120/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1363018122&sr=8-2&keywords=laurent+martres

Be sure to visit Zion and Bryce amongst other places.

Zion N.P. Kolob Canyon


Zion N.P. The Subway


Zion N.P. The Zion Narrows


Zion N.P. Left Fork, North Creek

renomike Loc: Reno, Nevada

Bill... Everyone we saw there were California State Park Rangers and I do believe they live there during the months that the park is open. I know it's closed in the winter, because of the 8000 foot elevation and snow. Not a lot of places around there to stay or live. Bridgeport is about the largest town around. I'd hate to have to make that drive into the park every day....;0) I took almost the same picture as you did. I believe that is one of the houses they live in.

What ticked me off was the waste of some of the artifacts that still exist there, that are laying out in the weather being destroyed, like this jail cell door laying out in front of the jail. That's a piece of history that can't be replaced. All can be enlarged.

Mike

Bodie House


Bodie Jail


Jail Cell Door Being Destroyed