Storys From the Road

I recently got back from a trip (yesterday as a matter of fact). It wasn't a long trip, or even a really exciting trip, it was just good, good and nice. The key aspect of the trip was driving. Driving that included one 10 hour drive to Reno, stop and go driving to various ghost towns, and a drive home spanning 600 miles.
The first day's drive, began very early in the morning, 6:00, after waking up at 5:00, and making a quick stop for ice. Seeing how many people are up at that time, driving, walking, and at Safeway made me think, what kind of people are these early morning wanderer? I came to a conclusion, that they were one of the following: 1. shady mysterious people, up to no good, or 2. very respectable, hard-working people. Or maybe they just couldn't sleep. That day at the very least, made me realize, truly, how beautiful Oregon is. We have a nice beach, a cold but nice beach, perfect for two young girls during summer, beautiful Rowling Green mountains, sometimes they can be sharp, jagged treacherous looking mountains, but are still equally beautiful, and above all, we have trees. I started to miss trees when we got into Nevada, and even some parts of California. Those areas are filled with nothing but dirt, dead looking shrubs, and a gnarled tree here and there. This case was very true with Reno, the only difference from the city, and the road leading to it, was the mess of buildings, highways, and neon lights, haphazardly scattered in close proximity to each other. Something about the city just gave me the creeps. But I did get some good pictures. The night in Reno included winning $9.50 at a slot machine, having a stomachache, then having it go away after I had a salad, wandering around the hotel, wandering around the city, running in to someone from Corvallis, taking pictures, paying $3 to use the Internet, and sleeping on a rolling bed that had a death grip on me. After coffee the next morning, we went out to Virginia City, saw the cemetery, went in a few buildings, and got some good pictures. Oh, and let me tell you, a tiny city like that is even better the second time! Then we drove more. when I say that, it sounds like it was just next door, but really these places were hours apart.

So when we finally got to Bodie, and as I got my first (technically second) glance of Bodie, and its dilapidated, abandoned, crumbling buildings, the eerie whistling solo on the Magnetic Fields song Blue You came blaring through my iPod. Bodie is actually an amazing place, so I didn't mind seeing it a second time, and will in fact, probably see it many more times, especially because my dad is obsessed with it, and goes quite often to do research on the buildings he makes scale models of. So back to Bodie… the bit of the town that is left has gone through so much that you can hardly believe that it is still standing. Most of the town was burned down in one of the three fires, and the weak little wood buildings that are still there, have to withstand the brutal winters, and the inevitable decay of wood. There are also a lot of interesting little stories, like the Bodie curse, mining stories, and not to mention all the murders. In 1881 the Bodie Daily Free Press printed "Bodie is becoming a quiet summer resort - no one killed here last week".
After more hours of driving, and the road to our hotel being closed, we decided to venture into Yosemite national park. I was actually quite surprised to see how beautiful it was, just an hour or so out of the dirt and dead shrubbery. In the park we saw the usual park stuff… trees, water, El Capitan, and then we went to the hotel in Bridgeport and crashed, and I sleept on a small uncomfortable couch, with half a blanket.
The trip ended a day early because we thought we could make it home and we did. So the last day was all driving, then getting home and seeing Broken Flowers with my mother and brother. It was good, good and nice. The whole trip I was thinking of what I some day want to do. That is, travel the world, taking pictures, and then putting them in a book, and calling it ,"Pictures of the World", or maybe something more creative, who knows. I could even ad what music I was listening to when I took the picture. Where would I get the money, and time you ask? I don't know, its just a pipe dream that is pretty childish. It does seem like a foolish dream doesn't it? I don't know, maybe I won't do anything like that. But I do want to travel a lot, if at all possible.