Spending the tail end of the holidays in Virginia meant that Danny and I (and George, of course) were in Virginia in each of the last five months of 2011. We were there September into October, when we shot Heather and Jesse’s fun-tastic love session. We were there again for Thanksgiving. And we wrapped up the year by heading up to the D.C. Metro area once more just after Christmas, to spend the New Year with Danny’s family, eating ddokguk, playing cards, and hopping across the Maryland border to visit my uncle’s family one evening.

Which leads me to the point of today’s blog. We’ve spent a lot of time in the car, making the trip back and forth. A lot. Flying would certainly be faster, what with Dulles a quick twenty minute jaunt from his parents’ house — but then Georgie wouldn’t be going with us. That dog loves visiting his family as much as we do, so much that he panics at the thought of being left behind. Whenever we begin stacking big bags by the front door — whether those bags are our actual luggage, or just our camera gear when we’re ready to go on a shoot — George starts whimpering and plants himself forcefully by the door. Once we put his harness on so we can buckle him into the car and he’s assured that he’s going with us, he relaxes. And twenty minutes into the trip, he lies down, utterly bored and looking as mournful as if we’d left him behind anyway. Yesterday was no exception.

I decided to document yesterday’s drive just for the fun of it. Time on the road is usually something I try to hurry along — buried in a book, or listing to NPR as Danny (always) drives. Yesterday I wanted to find some photo ops along our 800 mile, 12 hour journey, so I snapped on my trusty little 50 mm and planted my camera in my lap as we drove and talked about new ideas for the New Year. We didn’t turn on NPR once.

We woke up to this frosty sunrise out our bedroom window. It was nine degrees Fahrenheit. He’s a very good, very easily-bored dog. He spent a considerable amount of the trip slouched against the box that held our giant computer tower. He also spent a considerable amount of the trip lying on the seat, looking as pathetic as he could. But then again, dogs aren’t the only ones who get tired of driving after a while, as evidenced by Danny’s crazy driving face. (Note: I took this picture of Danny before we pulled out of his parents’ neighborhood.)
We made a stop at the South Carolina welcome center, where George was more interested in sniffing around and meeting other dogs than posing for a photo. But I really wanted this picture of him. And my boots.
As we came up to Lake Marion, I rolled down my window, enjoyed a (very icy) blast of fresh air, and caught a few birds taking flight. Then I took some really mediocre pictures of the lake and rolled my window up in disgust.
 One benefit to long road trips: Uninhibited sunsets. We enjoyed last night’s for at least half an hour.
Something wonderful about living in this day and age is that, thanks to smart phones, you can take your work with you in the car. I spent a good part of the day emailing and talking on the phone with clients and prospective clients — which meant no one had to wait for me to get back to my computer to answer their questions, and I didn’t have correspondence piled up waiting for me when I got home. Win-win! Another wonderful thing about living in this day and age is that we get to eat at Chipotle. Again, win-win.
This is the somewhat-fuzzy (it was nearly pitch black, and George is a squirmy-worm) picture Danny snapped during our stop at Chipotle, when I got out of the car to throw away some trash. George spun around to look out the rear window and started whining for me to come back. He’s the cutest, most needy little dog ever.
. . . And that’s the last picture because when we got home, I was so excited to get out of the car, be back at my own house, and get unpacked that I put my camera away and forgot that I was “documenting” our trip. A picture of our house at night wouldn’t be too exciting anyway, so I’m going to tell you that you’re really not missing anything.

Today I’m savoring being home . . . although we leave for New Orleans in just one week. There’s some great news about that trip, though: We’re flying!

~ Laura