Snapshots from the road

While traveling on the eternal stretch of highway 5 that runs through the central valley of California I pulled out my camera with an idea to capture my highway journey like so many of us have captured in our lifetimes. You know, the kind of photos that are stuck in the decades-old, sticky-paged photo albums, the ones that show faded snapshots of highway scenery, roadside signs, and your brother asleep in the back seat with drool running out of the corner of his mouth? They're the travel photos documented through the shutters of old plastic view finder cameras, the kinds we loaded with cheap film and stocked with flash cubes. Though the photos are compositionally flat and uninteresting, they are somehow nostalgic as they captured moments in time that we can never have back: the times we set out on family trips, stuffed in an old station wagon with our travel blankets, travel songs, and travel games, excited to be on our way to somewhere. (For me, it was a trip to Disneyland or camping.)

So, here are my travel snapshots from the road...

Below: My fantasy purchase. In other words...what I will buy with my future lottery winnings.

A little rain on our windshield, along with some bug splats. 

Every highway journey has some of those.

Some roadside politics. 

(Google it. It only politically frustrated me even more than I already am.)

Fuel for the journey. 

Though not my fuel, it's my hubby's. 

I am (with much pride, I must say) not a coffee drinker. 

I am (with much humility, I must say) working on accepting this traveling need of his to frequently stop for this type of fuel. It greatly agitates my need to get from point A to point B without detours. 

While in eternally long drive-thru wait line for above mentioned fuel pit stop 

I was attracted to the line of trucks traveling in my review mirror. 

Mile after mile...after mile...after mile...

Drooling on her pillow.

I am always amazed at her ability to nap in the car. 

I think she inherited it from her dad, who can sleep anywhere.

Behold our nation's beef source... 

If you have never seen the documentary Food, Inc. , I highly recommend it. I promise that it will not make you a vegetarian, it will simply educate you on the way our nation mass produces our food. Quite eye opening. Anyway, as we drove by my son announced, "Those are not good cows to eat mom. They're standing in poop and eating corn. They need to be roaming the hills and eating grass." 

(Well said, son.)

Don't you wish God would just give you a little neon sign like this on your own life's highway?

It would be so helpful. Or not. 

Not sure what is worse: to know that the upcoming rest stop ramp is closed, or that I have 76 more miles to go. Perhaps this is why he rarely gives out neon signs?  We would give up way too early.

Destination skyline: Disneyland.

It truly is one of my happy places. Not the LA smog, just the magic of Disneyland. 

My childhood is warmly trapped there and I love to go and visit it every few years.

I will share more of our trip later. I actually did not use my real camera much as it was impossibly heavy to carry around Disneyland and take on rides. Instead, I carried my mom's little point and shoot camera, for which I was thankful to have, but perpetually frustrated at its limitations. 

We will see, I have yet to download them. 

For now I am just happy to look upon my highway snapshots and remember the good time we had as a family...stuffed in our car with our travel blankets, travel dvd player, and iPods. Though the tools of travel change, the joy of traveling together as a family does not.