A Couple of Road Trips

A few weeks ago Casey and I decided to road trip our way back to Colorado Springs, Colorado from Packwood, Washington. If you do that drive straight it’s about a two day affair; we had five, so we strung it out a bit and did some sightseeing.

First up: Mount Rainier National Park. In my experience this park always delivers!

Leica M10-R, Summilux 50mm f1.4

Leica M10-R, Voigtlander 28mm f2

After Rainier we scooted on up to Tacoma. We spent the evening and much of the next day hitting our favorite spots - Doyle’s Public House, Red Star Taco Bar, Peaks and Pints. Doyle’s is easily my favorite bar; Smithwick’s on tap, open super late (2am) almost every day of the year, bartenders are all fantastic. I spent a lot of late nights there in my early 30s.

Leica M10-R, Voigtlander 28mm f2

Ricoh GRIIIx

On Monday we boogied down the coast to Lincoln City to one of our favorite seafood places, then the next day we stopped in at the Evergreen Aviation Museium in McMinville. They have the Spruce Goose! The actual plane. It’s absolutely enormous. They basically built a museum around it and all their planes/rockets are super cool.

Ricoh GRIIIx

Leica M10-R, Voigtlander 28mm f2

(Side note: I kind of want to drop the 28mm and get a 21mm. Maybe the SEM 3.5? I never thought I’d say this but 28mm is a bit tight for interiors.)

After leaving there we stayed the night in Packwood, Oregon then headed through the (rainy, dark) mountains to Ketchum, Idaho. I didn’t get any photos, it was more or less just sightseeing as we drove through. Sun Valley - and the entire Sawtooth range - is fantastic.

Leica M10-R, Voigtlander 28mm f2

On Thursday we stopped in at Craters of the Moon National Monument. It is a wild and weird place.

Leica M10-R, Voigtlander 28mm f2

It was cold and rainy enough that we didn’t do much hiking. Which was fine! We’ll have to come back. The next day - Friday - we were knackered and just took the interstate from Rock Springs, Wyoming (where it was snowing) into Colorado Springs. We’re out of traveling shape!

After three or four days back in town from the road trip I had the opportunity to join my father and uncle on a quick motorcycle tour down to Palo Duro canyon near Amarillo, Texas. I took the Ricoh, set it to B&W in JPEG mode, and enjoyed the ride.

Ricoh GRIIIx

(The photo above is one of those photos that looks so much better when printed!)

Ricoh GRIIIx

I hadn’t used the Leica in months (almost a year?) so going back was a nice change. The Ricoh continues to deliver. Most of my photography these days is documentary: I’ve sold off much of my “big” gear and am thinking about just focusing on small format B&W work for a while. The Ricoh and Leica MP, probably.

Anyway, a couple of road trips in the books.