Photo albums - Vacation 1996

Photo Album - Vacation 1996

In the summer of 1996, three friends made a daring, epic cross-country trip in a mid-sized Saturn. They experienced many hardships, many joys, and through the power of their comraderie they pulled through it all. The story of that incredible journey is inspiring, touching, insightful and miraculous.

This is not that story.

At about the same time, Kevin, Joel, and myself drove in a huge circle through the great American Southwest, also in a mid-sized Saturn. Starting in Seattle, of course, we drove down the coast to San Francisco, then headed westward via Yosemite and Death Valley. Arriving in Tempe, Arizona, we realized that there's no decent earthly reason to be in Arizona, and we high-tailed it outta there towards the Grand Canyon. Taking in the incredible geology of Utah, we meandered towards the smog-laden paradise known simply as Denver, where I took a plane back to Seattle. Kevin and Joel kept wandering, however, managing to blur past Yellowstone and Craters of the Moon before finally returning to Seattle, 2 weeks after we all left.

The story of that journey is told somewhat haphazardly through the pictures below. And I know these are lousy pictures; taken beyond dirty scanners, across multiple accounts, and through countless (or at least, uncounted) image transformations, these photos have lost some of their original pizazz.

Road trip, Summer 1996

[Cave stairs test at Oregon Caves]
Oregon Caves, Oregon