Girl Who Travels

Road Trip Dates: March 19 to April 2, 2026

My First Roadtrip

This was my first true road trip, and I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect experience. We traveled from Williamsburg, VA, to the Grand Canyon and back, looping through New Orleans. It took two weeks and countless tanks of gas, but there is something irreplaceable about a trip driven rather than flown. You gain so much from the passenger seat—especially in a really cool car—that you would simply miss from an airplane window.

We saw it all: dinosaur statues, historic bridges, desert critters, and roadside Americana. We watched the landscape shift from the oh-so-flat plains to rolling hills and snow-capped peaks. We also encountered sobering sights—the border wall, checkpoints, and refinery fires. These are the textures of a country you can’t feel from 30,000 feet. The Grand Canyon was awe-inspiring, but the true value of the trip was everything in between. I finally understand the cliché: it really is about the journey.

The Goal and the Lesson

I initially set out on this trip to work on my photography skills. I’m an amateur at best, but I learned a lesson this week that had nothing to do with camera settings or Lightroom sliders. It was a lesson about the nature of art itself.

My favorite photos aren’t the staged ones. They are the candid moments snapped on my phone—sometimes while waiting for a Lyft, sometimes through a moving car window. That just goes to show me that art is where you find it, not always where you create it. While there is beauty in a composed shot, the heart of photography, for me, is in the discovery. This trip taught me how to truly open my eyes to the beauty already surrounding me.

My Highlights from the Road

If you’re interested in reading about each stop on the trip, here are links to all of the posts:

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4
• Day 5
• Day 6
• Day 7
• Day 8
• Day 9
• Day 10
• Day 11
• Day 12
• Day 13
• Days 14-15

Thank you, dear reader, for following along on this journey. I have had the time of my life, and I cannot express how grateful I am to have had the privilege to go on this journey. I had an amazing ride and even better company with me. I made the featured image for this post my traveling companion’s favorite shot of the trip, simply as a way to say thank you to him for taking me on this fantastic ride. ❤️ Here’s to many more to come.