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Road Trip Part III

We Dutchies often have to chuckle about Americans trying to fit in seeing all of Europe in just one month.

And what did I do…? Cruising states like a madmanwoman ! In four weeks time we have seen California, Nevada, Utah AND Arizona. When you cross a freaking ocean to visit another world, you feel like you need to see everything, you don’t want to miss anything.
I understand now, people!

But next time… I would prefer a little more ease…

 

Pictures below: Los Angeles, Highway 1 and back to new found love San Francisco again (♥ Mission…).

(Part I: https://www.ellenvesters.com/road-trip-part-i/

Part II: https://www.ellenvesters.com/road-trip-part-ii/)

 

Road Trip Part I

This summer Mr Rockstar and I took a four week break (hallelujah!) to cruise South West America. I was never really attracted to the idea of an American Road Trip. New York has been my only beau, for I was one of those ignorant European people that thought the US would be nothing more than a bunch of skyscrapers, malls and people playing it cool in their New Balance sneakers.

 

Was I wrong!

 

I have been completely blown away by the vastity of American nature. So many nature reserves, the one even more beautiful than the other. So much open space!

 

In my following posts I will show you some of the pics I took of our travels.

(Unfortunately my pictures have turned out a bit dissapointing to me. I haven’t been able to capture the magic of it all. Will have to practice my photography skills again, this apparatus has been laying around doing nothing for too long. Also bummed I didn’t get shots of all the amazing people I met. Probably because I was too caught up in the moment, not such a bad thing, right? I will try to work out some sketches for you to enjoy my cultural observations too ;).)

 

First up in this photo series: San Francisco, Napa/ Sonoma Valley, Yosemite/ Sequoia, Death Valley, Las Vegas and Zion.

(Part II: https://www.ellenvesters.com/road-trip-part-ii/

Part III: https://www.ellenvesters.com/road-trip-part-iii/)

 

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Road Trip(ping)

This road trip is making me feel so inspired. I never thought I would love the US this much!

This calls for the video art of Hans Gremmen:

 

 

 THE MOTHER ROAD
2363 miles, from Chicago (IL) to Los Angeles (CA)

 

Captured from the screen using Google Street View. Duration of the complete movie: 5hrs 11min 49sec. This clip shows the road between miles 1894 and 1931, just outside Kingman (AZ).

Can you believe how amazing this idea is? Hans spent hours and hours making screen images of Google Street View, following cars around… More clips can be viewed here.

 

Artist statement (2010-2011):
Highway 66 is the main migrant road. 66–the long concrete path across the country, waving gently up and down on the map, from the Mississippi to Bakersfield–over the red lands and the gray lands, twisting up into the mountains, crossing the divide and down into the bright and terrible desert, and across the desert to mountains again, and into the rich California valleys.
66 is the path of people in flight, refugees from dust and shrinking land, from the thunder of tractors and shrinking ownership, from the desert’s slow northward invasion, from the twisting winds that howl up out of Texas, from the floods that bring no richness to the land and steal what little richness is there. From all of these the people are in flight, and they come into 66 from tributary side roads, from the wagon tracks and the rutted country roads. 66 is the mother road, the road of flight.