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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Road Trip Advice
Jody Gomez, Photographer
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Murrieta | CA | USA | Posted: 3:23 PM on 07.24.10 |
->> Hey all, I am driving my son to college in Columbia, KY from S. California. I want to make it a special trip because it's our last hoorah, so to speak.
I would greatly appreciate suggestions on photo ops, sites to see, etc. We're traveling along route 40.
Thanks!
Jody |
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 3:59 PM on 07.24.10 |
->> If you have the time, try to drive along as much of the old Route 66 that you can.
--Mark |
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Michael Chacanaca, Photographer
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Vernon | TX | United States | Posted: 4:36 PM on 07.24.10 |
| ->> If you have not previously visited the Petrified Forest in Arizona, and/or the Oklahoma City National Memorial, I recommend both locations as sites to see. |
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Michael McNamara, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Phoenix | AZ | USA | Posted: 5:59 PM on 07.24.10 |
| ->> If you take the southern route (I-10, I-20 and I-30 to Little Rock instead of I-40), you should stop at White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Both are really cool, are polar opposites of what you can see on this planet, and they're not too far apart. |
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Chuck Steenburgh, Photographer
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Lexington | VA | USA | Posted: 6:11 PM on 07.24.10 |
| ->> Agree with Michael...go south, after Little Rock hit Memphis and Nashville before turning north on I-65. |
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Jim Colburn, Photo Editor, Photographer
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McAllen | TX | USA | Posted: 6:20 PM on 07.24.10 |
| ->> If you've got the time avoid the Interstates and take the "Blue Highways" that often parallel them. Roads like US Rt 70 between Little Rock and Nashville, a route I took a few years ago. |
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Israel Shirk, Photographer, Assistant
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Boise | ID | US | Posted: 6:54 PM on 07.24.10 |
| ->> Second Jim's advice - Blue Ridge Parkway is *amazing*... It runs through TN, NC, VA; there's maps of it at blueridgeparkway.org... One of my favorite hiking/running spots is just west of Brevard, NC - http://maps.google.com/maps?q=brevard,+nc+john+rock&oe=utf-8um=1hnear=John+Rock,+Brevard,+NC+28712 |
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Gary Gardiner, Photographer
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Westerville | OH | USA | Posted: 7:07 PM on 07.24.10 |
->> I agree with Jim C. My sage advise is always to take the back roads. I know it's difficult when you've got time restraints.
During the year I spent installing and training newspaper's staff about the LeafDesk for The AP I never took the interstates. Always the back roads.
And, get out of the car!
Stop the car. Get out. The photos will find you, even in the most unlikely places.
That will also be more of a personal journey for you and your son instead of becoming tourists stopping in all the usual places with all the other photographers.
If you want photos of the usual places, buy postcards. If you want photos from places and moments only you and your son have experienced, stay off the well traveled roads and get out of the car. |
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Jody Gomez, Photographer
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Murrieta | CA | USA | Posted: 7:26 PM on 07.24.10 |
->> Great advice all. Keep it coming please!
Zach made one request - he loves the Dallas Cowboys and wants to see if we can detour down through Dallas - one heck of a detour if you ask me, and I'm leaning away from that route. Have spent way too much time on the 10 between here and El Paso - just got back from that trip last week and think I'd scream if I had to do it again.
Saw the Oklahoma City bombing site about a week before the one year anniversary - the site itself was very moving - the site was just a fenced off lot and the damaged buildings across the way were still there. I don't think the memorial itself was finished - at that time there was only a gazebo a photo album. So that site is most definitely on my list - my son will be very moved by it, I think.
Cadillac Ranch is in the plans too.
I love the back roads and will look at the Blue Highways. I'm planning 4 to 5 days to make a 3 day drive because I really want Zach and I to enjoys ourselves and not feel too rushed.
Looking forward to hearing more ideas. Thanks! |
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Jody Gomez, Photographer
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Murrieta | CA | USA | Posted: 7:53 PM on 07.24.10 |
->> Okay - after checking the drive times and distances, I'm now seriously considering the I-10 - I-20 route.
Spend the night in El Paso with the in-laws, spend the night in Dallas and tour the stadium, go through Memphis and check out Graceland, the up through Nashville and into Columbia, KY.
Opinions?? |
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Dave Prelosky, Photographer
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Lower Burrell | Pa | US | Posted: 8:05 PM on 07.24.10 |
| ->> Jody - if you get to Memphis, Graceland is fine, but find 706 Union Av - Sun Studio, the Rhythm & Blues Museum in the Gibson guitar factory, and the Civil Rights Museum in the former Loraine Motel. |
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Jody Gomez, Photographer
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Murrieta | CA | USA | Posted: 8:08 PM on 07.24.10 |
| ->> Oh Dave - great idea. I think I would rather do that than see Graceland. Thanks! |
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Ron Kovach, Photographer
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Kennedale | TX | USA | Posted: 8:58 PM on 07.24.10 |
| ->> Jody While in town looking at Jerry World, Nasher museum with outdoor sculptures, Dealy Plaza, Ft Worth Stockyards. |
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Jonathon Bird, Photographer
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Port Clinton | OH | United States | Posted: 11:20 PM on 07.24.10 |
| ->> I recently spent a day at Mammoth Cave near Bowling Green KY. I don't know if thats anywhere near where your headed. For me a day wasn't enough. They have a photo tour that allows you to take a tripod into the cave. |
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Scott Serio, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Colora | MD | USA | Posted: 1:16 AM on 07.25.10 |
->> Hmm. North or South. Petrified Forest, not all that. I-70 from its terminus in Utah sort of wandering through Moab is cool. Once you get past Denver, tie down the steering wheel and take a nap, it is that straight.
If you go south you have Route 66 (touristy, but fun), Flagstaff, Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest and the in New Mexico you can bump north and hit Four Corners.
How much of a last hurrah do you want?
So.Cal.-Death Valley-Vegas-Zion-Moab-south to Monument Valley (GREAT NEW HOTEL)-Page (and Horseshot Bend)-Grand Canyon-the east on I-40-Petrified Forest-Route 66-Amarillo and the Big Texans Steakhouse-OK City and the Memorial-Memphis-Nashville-KENTUCKY....
That is a helluva trip. I have done all of it here and there. A great ride. |
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 3:28 PM on 07.25.10 |
->> Meteor Crater near Kingman, AZ.
--Mark |
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 3:29 PM on 07.25.10 |
->> As long as you're seeing craters: Pisgah Crater (an ancient volcanoe) in the Mojave.
--Mark |
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Will Powers, Photographer
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Denver | CO | USA | Posted: 4:10 PM on 07.25.10 |
->> Mark-
Meteor Crater is near Holbrook,AZ not Kingman.
If time is not critical, the old Rt 66 goes from near needles to Kingman, through and Oatman, old mining town with a lot of mountain switchbacks. In Oatman, mules usually can be found wandering the streets.
i liked the Petrified Forest near Winslow, though someone panned it earlier. It takes some time to see it and enjoy it. I'm not knocked out by the Painted Desert.
The Cadillac Raqnch is just west of Amarillo. When I was last there it was unmarked so you have to be looking for it about 20 miles out of Amarillo on the south side of the interstate. |
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Jim Colburn, Photo Editor, Photographer
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McAllen | TX | USA | Posted: 4:23 PM on 07.25.10 |
->> If you've GOT to go via Dallas then head due east to Jackson, Mississippi and head up the Natchez Trace Parkway (beautiful...http://www.nps.gov/natr/index.htm) to Tupelo, MS before heading up to Graceland and Memphis.
Or continue up the Trace to Nashville and see Graceland another time. |
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Greg Foster, Photographer
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Atlanta | GA | | Posted: 9:55 PM on 07.25.10 |
| ->> Go a little south of Memphis, down Highway 61 into The Delta to Clarksdale, Mississippi, and visit the Delta Blues Museum, and maybe catch some music in some of the juke joints there - try Sarah's Kitchen and Ground Zero. If you stay in Memphis, The Peabody is a great hotel; try and watch the march of the ducks in the lobby, a tradition that's been going on there for about 70 years. There's some pretty good barbecue around there too... |
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Rafael Agustin Delgado, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Pasadena | Ca | USA | Posted: 12:35 AM on 07.26.10 |
| ->> White Sands National Park : nothing like this amazing place |
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