Travel

I am thankful to have Caroline, Shawdee and now Alexa in my life.  I've been staying with the three of them while my home is being rented.  They have been wonderful friends to me for several years.  They've always supported me in my decisions in life and more recently, supported my art.  One day while Shawdee was pregnant, I thought it would be fun to photograph them in bed in a John and Yoko style and they both agreed to do it!  Since then, I documented Alexa's birthday at the hospital and yesterday, a family trip to the beach. Being on the road for so many months of the year, it can be difficult to hold on to close relationships since you can't be there physically to visit but when I saw them, it was like a day didn't go by except that Alexa is so much bigger! They are both such loving parents and great friends.  I am lucky to have them in my life.

As you know, I came home only to leave once again.  I needed to get back out of the house on Tuesday so Max and I have been staying with two close friends and their baby, Alexa. For once in a long time, I have been relaxing and doing nothing, really.  I've taken Max to the dog park every day so he can run around and get a workout and that always makes me smile. Last year I spent Thanksgiving and Christmas alone so it was a treat to be able to spend it with a friend this year.  Since we are both "non cooks," we found a place that sold turkey take out meals so we bought two to go and sat on the couch and stuffed ourselves. So, today is the biggest shopping day of the year.  Shopping is the last thing I would like to do.  I couldn't even imagine getting up early like so many do to get a deal on something they really didn't need to begin with.  After living out of my car for the past three years for six months at a time, I don't really get attached to things li...

My weekend was filled with viewing and appreciating art. More specifically, art including our canine best friend. Friday and Saturday was "Art goes to the dogs" hosted by Paige Bauer at the 2nd city council art gallery in Long Beach, CA.  There was an array of beautiful photographs, paintings, sculpture and instillations everywhere you looked in the space.  I was fortunate to display my photograph of a corgie and an Airstream titled,"Dixie." Being camera shy, I took this photograph of another person being interviewed in front of "Dixie." On Saturday evening, I went to the closing reception of "Dogs Dogs Dogs" at the 1650 Gallery in Echo Park.  I brought Max along to this reception since they had Santa there to take photographs with and I knew he was ready to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas.  I saw him whispering in his ear but he wanted to keep it a secret from me.  I wonder what Max wished for... Here are some snapshots I took with my po...

As I was wandering around the streets of El Paso, it hit me.  It was time to go home.  I felt a little like the Forrest Gump in the scene where he stops running and says, "I'm pretty tired.  I think I'll go home now." So that was it.  I decided that home is where I wanted to be at that moment.  I drove from El Paso back to Southern California in one shot.  I knew I was getting close when the Waffle House disappeared and Starbucks appeared more and more.  Also, people drove faster and everyone seemed to have blinker light problems since I didn't see any on merges right in front of me.  Ahhh...close to home. As you might know, this is my third year traveling the country in a car with my dog.  I put together a little map with arrows to the places I've been in those three years.  Arrows in Red are from this year, purple is 2009 and Blue represents 2008. It's been quite the journey.  As much as I would say that I am staying put, that is ...

On my way out of Austin, I stopped at a hole in the wall restaurant for breakfast.  I told the server that I didn't want meat with my meal.  Before he left, he confirmed, "no meat?" I nodded.  When my meal came, I looked at it then looked at the waiter and said, "there's meat on my plate."  He looked at my plate and back to me and said, "That's not meat, that's bacon."  At that moment I was reminded that yes, I was in Texas. There wasn't much I knew about El Paso except for the Pace salsa commercials from long ago.  For some reason, I was drawn to the area.  I didn't stay long but long enough to tour around the city for a while, which was empty for the most part.  There were a few locals browsing around at shops, feeding the birds in the park and waiting for the bus.  It seems to be a sleepy town. I walked around the downtown streets and after a while, I drove around to nearby areas to see if I could find some locals sitting outside...

I love this city.  I came here last year on my trip and fell in love with the place.  There is art everywhere you look, the people are weird and there are plenty of places to eat out of a food truck.  What is not to love about that? During this short stay, I wandered around to several galleries on the East Austin Studio Tour .  The tour is pretty spread out so you won't be able to cover everything in a day.  I just stumbled upon several of the galleries, ate at some food trucks and met some amazing artists.  I loved finding The Wonder Craft .  It's an Airstream filled with handmade goodies that everyone loved.  You could see it in their eyes as they walked in. I know my face must have looked the same as I stepped inside.  It was the, "ooooo look at all of the hand made goodies!" face. Along the tour route, I was able to chat with many of the artists and a few photographers I particularly enjoyed meeting were Sarah Wilson and George Brainard...

I spent the day walking around the historic downtown area in New Orleans to take photographs of everything I came across.  I could spend hours and days just observing the people of the area and activities going on.  The photographs might tell you a bit about my day. It's a wonderful place and it's almost like you've stepped back in time or stepped into a movie set. Either way, it's people watching paradise. For more photographs of humans in their habitat, visit my photo website at www.AlisonTurnerPhoto.com

Max and I left Savannah to head south towards the gulf.  We took a few South Georgia backroads to see the sights to end up in our final destination for the day of Tallahassee. The back roads can be an experience.  I always hope to find people who match the surroundings but sometimes, the people aren't out and about as much as their "treasures" are.  I found a row of old cars on the side of the road so I had to stop to take some photographs.  As I was doing so, I started feeling pain in my feet and ankles.  As it turned out, I was standing on an ant pile and they decided to feast on my feet while I was admiring the rusty cars.  I did the slap your ankles and feet dance and continued to take pictures. From there, Max and I headed in a direct route to the water and coasted along that trail until we reached Destin.  We met up with Rich , Eleanor and their daughter, Emma at Henderson State Park in Destin for some camping. This photograph is of them at the A...