Yesterday, Ken and I returned from a whirlwind trip to Connecticut to shoot a wedding. (I’ll be posting about it with lots of photos on the business blog later this week!) We couldn’t find what we considered reasonable airfare, but we’d committed to this job, so we decided the best thing to do was drive. Our one car is a bit on the decrepit side, so we rented a more dependable car for the trip.

Without any stops, the drive was eighteen hours each way. Ken and I both said we must really love — and like — each other a great deal to be willing to spend that much time together in a small vehicle! We left Thursday afternoon, drove ’til about midnight, and stayed in a hotel, got up Friday morning to continue our trip, and arrived around 7PM Friday night. Saturday we shot the wedding, & returned to our hotel after a rockin’ reception at about 1AM. Sunday morning — after driving through Starbucks — we began our journey home, and made pretty good progress. We stopped about 10PM to spend the night at a hotel, then finished our journey about 3:30PM yesterday. And believe it or not, Ken and I still like each other after all that!

Although my butt and back did not enjoy the trip, it was fun to see so much more of the country than I ever have before. My travels have not been extensive (except for last year’s trip to Africa!); before this road trip, I’d only visited nine states, including my home state of Georgia. Now I’ve added seven more states to that list: Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut! Whenever possible, we stopped for a photo with the state sign at the welcome center — but not every state had a welcome center, which made me sad. 🙁

The prettiest rest stop award goes to West Virginia… Pennsylvania has beautiful countryside and a vast quantity of cows.
While looking for somewhere to eat, we ventured into a tiny town in Pennsylvania where I swear I found the house from the movie “UP.”
(All of the following photos were taken while in a moving vehicle, by the way.)

I knew in theory that New York wasn’t all city, but I was surprised how much pretty scenery we saw there — and the prettiest prison I’ve ever seen (not that I’m a prison expert!). I think this is the Fishkill Correctional Facility:

I love old houses and towns, so one of the things I most looked forward to seeing were all the historical homes in Connecticut, and I was not disappointed. I took way too many photos of houses, but I have to share just a few I loved. Some of them even had a sign on the side identifying the year the home was built — like 1780! I only wish I could’ve spent a whole day sightseeing and maybe touring a few homes!

Oh, and I did not get even one single mosquito bite the whole time we were there, which is nearly enough reason to relocate to Connecticut!

On our way home, we ventured through the outskirts of New York City. We have plenty of skyscrapers and big buildings in Atlanta, so that was nothing new, but what surprised me about the city was just how many buildings there are. We also crossed the George Washington Bridge, which is HUGE!

I have photos of that bridge and more in a flickr set here, if you’re interested!

I am sooooo glad this trip is done, because I spent weeks dreading it. But it was, as Martha Stewart would say, a good thing: the wedding was great; we have beautiful photos for the couple (and our portfolio); we saw sights we’d never seen before; we had time to listen to a couple of great Francis Chan podcasts, as well as the hilarious Stuff Christians Like audio book; and my hubby and I spent a great quantity and quality of time together. I’d even be willing to road trip with him again — but not any time soon!

Jamie

Wife, mom, J-ma. Introvert who enjoys good books, sunshine, and authentic conversation. Often seen with a steaming mug of tea in hand – unless it’s lost yet again in the microwave. Read more »