9,600 scenic miles across the United States and back in a little Mazda 3. That’s far enough to drive across the country East to West, then East, then back West again. We hit 27 states and 7 national parks- And we did it with three adults and one two year-old so never think that having kids will keep you from adventuring!

Photography has added a whole new joy (and sometimes frustration) to travel. I love creating works of art from the awesome things I get to see. I feel so lucky to be there, to be able to bring those images to others who are not. On the other hand, I hate it when I can’t seem to capture something beautiful, when my focus is off, when I forget to charge my camera, or leave some important accessory home.

I don’t have super high-end gear- my DSLR is only worth around $500 and has a kit lens. But because it’s not crazy expensive, I don’t mind shoving it into a backpack for three months or bringing it through rough areas. Even so, I’m happy with the quality of my images, and I know that by the time I upgrade I will really appreciate the higher quality and know enough to understand it better. I hope through my images to inspire people to love this world, like the images of others did before I started taking them myself.

This trip was actually the first time I got to know my DSLR and using it every day of the trip not only gave me great images and helped me remember what I saw, but it also taught me so much. You can only get better at photographs once you start taking some!

What do you think? Do you like any of these? Do you want to know more about my workflow or process? Are you thinking about taking a long American road trip? Do you wonder how we managed traveling with a toddler? Let me know what interests you so I can write about it!