2016

THE RoadTrip out West

A roadtrip covering 11,000 miles, including the majority of the Pacific Coast. 51,000 pictures taken

After a stopover in Iowa City, IA to see a friend, I continued onto Denver. During the first week I was there, I explored Rocky Mountain National Park on the East and West sides, on different days due to Trail Ridge Road being closed due to weather conditions. I also took Loveland Pass between I-70 and Breckenridge, CO while seeking to take a picture of Lake Dillon that I had envisioned earlier in the year, but ended up being impossible without the aid of a helicopter or drone (a future trip? lol).

During the second week in Colorado, I explored around Denver sampling some great beers and that happened to be on tap around Denver for the Great American Beer Festival. I was most impressed by two Russian River Brewery beers that were considered sours, but had been aged by the guys at Park Burger in the RiNo district of Denver for an extra year. The result was a smooth, textured taste compared with the sharpness that I usually experience while trying sours. Later that week, I went out with a friend and some friends of his on a driving day, twisting and turning through valley roads South of I-70 where it meets the mountains I don't know the exact routes that we took, but it was a great day. After a 3 or 4 hour drive, we ended up pretty close to Pikes Peak, and we my friend and I decided to make that drive as well.

Although I wish I could have stayed in the Denver area for much longer after two and a half weeks catching up with friends, it was getting to the point at which I had to move on in order to get back home before Snow started being a real threat in the Rocky Mountains for the winter. For the next few days, I had made the decision to drive back and forth from Grand Junction, where a cousin lived, to Denver. I was going to attempt to take a different mountain pass each day. 

Once I finally departed to Washington, I decided to do the trip in one day. The 

2016

The Southwest Trip

Two weeks in August

In August

2013

The West Coast Tour

Two weeks in late fall

A roadtrip From San Francisco to Los Angeles, and one week in Portland. ft. a stolen camera?! :(

After a cousin's wedding in Chicago, I flew to San Francisco, California to join a friend from my days at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After exploring Pier 39 the day and night that I arrived, we toured Alcatraz Island the following day. It was my first time on the island, although I had more than one episode of déjà vu, courtesy of my days playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 when I was much younger. The feeling