Photos From My Cross-Country Road Trip

Our move from New Jersey to San Diego is nearly complete — my wife and I are here anyways. We left Jersey on Monday afternoon and arrived in San Diego on Saturday afternoon, making lots of little stops along the way. It was an enjoyable drive, and it's a great experience to see the changing landscapes as you go from east coast to west coast. I probably could've taken a lot more photos than I did, but I had to put the camera down every once in a while to spend some time with my wife. I did manage to get about 500 photos along the way, but most of them are concentrated at a few key stops. The photos in this post are straight out of the camera, but I'll definitely be hitting Photoshop as soon as my desktop computer arrives at our new home.

St. Louis Gateway Arch Old Rusty Truck Largest Cross in the Western Hemisphere

The first major stop was at the St. Louis Gateway Arch — a really amazing structure. We didn't go up inside of it due to time constraints, but I got some pretty neat shots from the ground with my wide angle lens. After the arch, we headed off to Independence, Missouri to visit my grandfather. We stayed the night and had a good time catching up and talking about photography and blogging. The next morning, his brother came over in one of his “project” cars — let's just say that they're one-of-a-kind. After that, we made a stop in Texas at the western hemisphere's largest cross.

Desert Plant Painted Desert Stone Pillars Petrified Tree Bridge Petrified Tree

Once we got to Arizona, we went through the painted desert and the petrified forest. The landscape in this area is absolutely stunning — you must stop in if you're ever in the area. We probably spent 3 or 4 hours going through the park and snapping pictures of everything. I even got my wife to take a few shots with my camera (it was her first time using it for things other than snapshots). She ended up getting a few good ones, and we even took an almost identical shot of the same scene. Now I know what to get her for Christmas.

Small Desert Lizard Grand Canyon Walls Grand Canyon Sunset Grand Canyon After Sunset

The last major stop we made was at the Grand Canyon. I wanted to get there a little earlier in the day, but we ended up arriving just before sunset. It may have worked out for the better though — we got in for free and I got some pretty nice sunset shots. As soon as the sun went down, it was dark. So we didn't really get to see much of the canyon because we only stopped at one of the lookouts. Next time I suppose…

So now we're here in Southern California and life should return to normal over the next couple of weeks. Things have been so hectic with moving out and getting packed — we desperately needed this road trip to unwind a little.