R is for Roads
Where we're going, we don't need roads (but maybe we do)
Hi, welcome back!
America is a car country, outside of a few select cities, it’s kind of assumed people have access to a car. A lot of our cities are structured and designed to make traveling around in cars easier, as opposed to by bike, train or even by foot. It’s kind of a bummer.
I’m not a car person. I don’t really like driving. I’ve got my drivers license, have been happy to rent cars as needed for most of my entire adulthood.
That said, I have had some enjoyable trips in cars, and this week I wanted to take a look at a few pictures taken on the road.
This shot is taken in Mark and Nick’s car as we drove around Lake Tahoe. Every summer is one of my favorite events, the Trans Tahoe Relay, where we swim across the lake. In 2018, we rented a car near the Nevada side of the lake, so as we drove counterclockwise around the lake back to the California side, and I snapped this picture of the fun treeline and winding road. The 2020 Tahoe Relay was cancelled and I am cautiously optimistic that it’ll happen in 2021, it’s hard to put in a single sentence how much fun it is taking part in that relay every year and enjoying a weekend in Tahoe.
Same shot, different spot. My friend Adam from DC visited California and he rented a car, so we drove down to Santa Cruz with our other friend Marcus. Here we’re driving along PCH, and I loved how the road banking makes for a funny horizon angle, as well as the stunning blue color of the water. It was a fun little trip, and a good reminder to me that Santa Cruz and the rest of the peninsula aren’t that far from San Francisco, and they’re worth daytripping to more often.
This photo was taken in a parked car, we hadn’t started driving yet. This is probably about 4am local time, Mandy and I were trying getting pumped up because she was about to drive me to get on the boat to swim the North Channel! I love the energy of the photo, it captures how we were forcing ourselves to get excited at a really early hour (early even for me). I have so many great memories associated with that trip, I get excited just looking at this picture again.
This is on the road to Utah last fall with Mac and Meghan. We rented a minivan so that we could easily slot our bikes in, without having to disassemble them. I was skeptical of the minivan, but it was a very smooth ride for the week. I love the candid, aloof feel of this picture of Mac, with the bikes and all our stuff visible in the background too. The focus is slightly off, I wish it was sharper on his face than his hand, but still the photo really captures the moment. It was fairly early in the morning as we left San Francisco, so this may have even been around the morning golden hour as well.
There is one more photo I was on the fence about including. It was a pretty mediocre photo with a fun story that I’d already blogged about on my trip to Spain, and I’ve decided to leave it there to keep this newsletter more aesthetic.
Thanks and see you next time!
XOXO,
Margs