Senior Portrait Road Trip, Day Three: Niagara Falls to Washington D.C.

We had several miles to cover today, so we began early. We returned to Niagara Falls for a daylight visit, then headed south towards Washington D.C. I was surprised at the vast amount of timberland in New York as we drove through the country side. There was no good, direct interstate route to follow today, but it was a pleasant drive through rural New York and Pennsylvania (no taking photos of "Welcome to our State" signs today!).

 Driving down a street in the town of Niagara Falls. You can see the mist rising from the falls at the top of photo.

Senior Portrait Road Trip, Day Two: Chicago to Niagara Falls, Day 2 of ???

We covered a lot of ground on day two. We were in five states today. Delisa stopped for 4 things today: gas, food, and bathrooms (usually at the same time) and state lines to do a photo. We crossed Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and into New York. Didn't really do many portraits today, mostly traveled.

The morning began with breakfast at the DoubleTree Hotel.

Delisa has amazing packing skills. We had luggage for 5 people, plus my camera gear. It was like putting together a puzzle, and she knew exactly where to put each piece!

Senior Portrait Road Trip, Day 1: Iowa to Chicago, Page 1 of ??????

It's not too often that we get the opportunity to do a week-long photo session, but that's exactly what we did the first week of August, 2010.
It all began about December 2009 when one of our good clients, Delisa Cooper, asked me, "Would you go anywhere to do senior photos?" Her daughter, Kimberlie, was going to be a high school senior the coming year, and they wanted to do something really special. I asked, "What do you mean by anywhere?".
Her reply was, "Oh, I don't know....Chicago....New York City".
So I told her, "Just pay our expenses, and we'll go anywhere you want!"
I sort of left it at that, wasn't really sure how serious she was. About a month later, the route for the 2010 bicycle ride across Iowa was announced. So I sent Delisa an email, something like, "Hey, we are going to do the bicycle ride across Iowa the last week of July. If you are serious about doing a photo session in Chicago, I'll be 3 hours away, as this year's ride ends in Dubuque.
Almost immediately, she replied, "I have and idea. Call me".
Come to find out, Delisa had family in Iowa. She would drive up and visit them, and pick us up after the bike ride. It ended up being an incredible week! We did photos in Iowa, Chicago, Niagara Falls, Washington DC, and New York City (and several places along the way!).
I wasn't sure how good I'd feel the first day of the trip. The previous day, July 31, I'd completed a 7 day, 525 mile bicycle ride across Iowa, with about another 16,000 cyclists. Our daughter Karla, and her husband Jason had ridden with me also (Lajunta drove the vehicle and met us at night). The last day is generally a little shorter route, so they were able to drop us off at a motel at mid afternoon. Delisa and the gang picked us up on Sunday morning and we headed to Chicago. So I had plenty of time to rest.
Here's our journey...