We have embarked on a month long road trip through the American West, visiting family and friends in various places with some camping along the way here and there. Starting from our home in Southern California, our route takes us north, more or less following I-5, with stops in the Bay Area, northern California, Oregon, and Seattle. We then cut East on I-90 and head for Eastern Washington, Idaho, and Montana, and then finally swing back down on I-15 through Utah, Nevada, and back into So Cal. Complicating matters, I will take a loop through Montana while the rest of the family pauses in Eastern Washington.
As of today, we are about a week into the trip and have so far made it to Seattle. We will head east in the morning.
As you might expect, I am taking lots of photos along the way for the family album. But I am also using this trip as an opportunity to practice that strain of photography where you have very little time in any given place, two kids whining about too much walking, little or no prep time, uncooperative weather, and so on, and yet you want to make an interesting photograph or two, and hopefully interesting enough so people won’t cringe when you show them the 21st century version of the vacation slide show, namely the blog.
With that in mind, let me begin to share a little of what I have captured so far. I did not pull the camera out until we got to Northern California, up around Shasta Lake (the Bay Area is really more like Middle California). In particular, we camped in a state park called Castle Crags State Park.
We stayed only a night, but it was the kids’ first real wilderness camping experience. We took a few easy hikes, including one along the Sacramento River (where we found someone fishing — is that allowed in the state park?), roasted marshmallows, and generally roughed it. Below are a few shots I felt worth sharing.
In my next couple of posts I will continue with an urban backdrop as we made our way north to Portland, OR, and then Seattle.
pretty sure fishing is allowed in most CA state parks – you just need a license, that you can pick up at bait shops and pretty much anywhere that sells fishing gear. They stock some lakes….
fun fact: you are supposed to have a fishing license in Yosemite but in many places the fish are there because long ago they airlifted them in… they are non-native and eat the native toads, so most rangers don’t check for a license or care if you adhere to the limit