Nothing beats the slow pace of a summer road trip. Meandering highways, sweeping landscapes, vast skylines, and expansive roads that seem to lead to nowhere make for not only picturesque views but also breathtaking photos. When you’re able to take it all in from the passenger seat with either a soundtrack to match your surroundings or the beauty of silence, your camera can help translate your scenic backdrop into a visual language that is universal.
As we follow the road to the end of this season of warmth and welcoming, share with us the stirrings of simplicity that fill your summer lungs with wanderlust.

I love travel and I love every moment the summer road trip give me. I miss it so much.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/longo/557003710/in/set-72157600373291001/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/longo/556722680/in/set-72157600373291001/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/longo/535796413/in/set-72157600325595681/
Love the image you’ve posted. Really wonderful. Here’s one of mine:
http://bravo.unisonplatform.com/~marciesc/index.php?showimage=494
Does a 20 minute roadtrip count? Didn’t think so, but here’s one of the simplicity of summer.
http://www.dolcepics.com/dailypic/two-plus-one/
Thanks Tracey, for taking us away!
Though it isn’t summer here, we had a perfect sunny winter day trip to the Brindabellas, NSW.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeanamarie31/2780309057/
I love the colours in your photo – it almost looks unreal to me. I think my eyes have adjusted to the muted aussie greens in landscapes here.
We just finished a long roundtrip from Atlanta to Buffalo. On the way back home I had the pleasure of being a passenger, most of the time. It was awesome.
I got a lot of scenery, but this set is my fave:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/secretagentmama/2771100318/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/secretagentmama/2771100206/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/secretagentmama/2770253177/in/photostream/
I’m going to remember this summer so fondly. Mostly because I have not been on a vacation for years, but this summer, I got to go on two!
First, we spent a week on Edisto Island, SC:
http://www.mamaofletters.com/Mama_of_Letters/Camera_Happy/Pages/Nikon_D60.html#16
Second, I took my son to visit my brother, his wife, and new baby in Colorado Springs. The last night of our visit, we stopped by one of the most beautiful parks I’ve ever been to. And they were setting up for an outdoor concert while we were there. Ah, summer!
http://www.mamaofletters.com/Mama_of_Letters/Camera_Happy/Pages/Nikon_D60.html#17
I was able to travel to Europe to spend a week with my husband while he was over there for work. We traveled from Munich, Germany to Venice, Italy to Salzburg, Austria and then back to Munich. The sites I saw during our road trips were just as breath taking as the cities we stayed in.
These are my favorites that I took
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mondaysmemories/2698779319/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mondaysmemories/2698943925/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mondaysmemories/2698842373/
I live in St. Petersburg, Florida. This is my neighborhood:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/apartmentlife/2284853456
And from atop the tallest building in Cincinnati, Ohio (my home away from home):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/apartmentlife/2507899752
I took a wonderful trip to Neuss, Germany with a children’s choir and I blogged about it some here:
http://fifthlampdown.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-i-did-on-my-summer-vacation-pt-2.html
http://fifthlampdown.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-i-did-on-my-summer-vacation-pt-3.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jesspunky/2674374318/in/set-72157606481047560/
Bittersweet month for me. All five boys were in town for a week’s summer vacation at Lake of the Ozarks. Such fun!
http://www.wineonthekeyboard.com/2008/08/13/how-many-ways-to-jet-ski/
But my youngest heads out the door to college today. It really is an end of a "season" for me.
http://www.wineonthekeyboard.com/2008/08/18/the-face-in-the-mirror/
My husband and I have had a great time this past summer taking advantage of all it has to offer. We’ve made a point to savor nearby sunsets on MD’s eastern shore and we took the opportunity early this summer to visit Niagara Falls and the Finger Lakes for the first time:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenandgreg/2781342748/in/pool-shuttersisters/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenandgreg/2780506127/in/pool-shuttersisters/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenandgreg/2781365650/in/pool-shuttersisters/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/margela/
i love to think about my son and his small family, and the walk down the road of life.
My husband has started finding random little places to visit along our annual road trip from TX to SD. This is one of my favorites:
http://meadowlarkdays.blogspot.com/2008/08/view-beyond.html
I love road trips – quintessential America!
What a beautiful photo tracey, I love the clothes on the line, it’s so inviting, I just want to walk right into this picture.
This summer was the summer of travel for me and my son, a summer of change, a summer of many early morning airplane sunrises:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/camerashymomma/2574187205/
This scene by far is my happiest place, it’s burned into my mind, a place I come back to in my heart time and time again:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/camerashymomma/2574212549/
Top down summer!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sammymom/2780555239/
This was a photograph I took in Glencoe, Scotland on the road going to the Isle of Skye. Big Sky!
http://www.giftsofthejourney.com/Elizabeth_Harper-Gifts_of_the_Journey/Blog/Entries/2008/7/18_Breathing_Room.html
most unusual perspective!
Sigh. Wish it weren’t almost over. It’s already fall-like here… I’ve got the windows open and the air is just a little . . . different….
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11439752@N04/2724250677/
I’m not much of a beach person (photophobic I am), but I have been enjoying sunsets at our local beach:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sierraromeo/2746082450/in/set-72157604744240241/
visiting home in illinois
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59735955@N00/2655274509/in/set-72157606086948436/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59735955@N00/2655413383/in/set-72157606086948436/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59735955@N00/2656267866/in/set-72157606086948436/
Gorgeous Tracey!!! Is that an hdr? Loving it! I can hear the soft music and feel the vibrations of the road as I look at this.
My friend and I took a road trip to Yellowstone National Park in Montana & Wyoming this summer. I think it is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. These two were taken in the park:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bodhigirl/2781729272/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bodhigirl/2781691624/
And, this one was taken on the side of the road near Portland:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bodhigirl/2780830423/
why didn’t we go there more often
http://flickr.com/photos/laurohunt/2779448927/
I’ll think of this to warm my winter
http://flickr.com/photos/laurohunt/2620335398/in/set-72157604821920327/
We drove cross-country this summer – from coast to coast – moving from DC to San Francisco. Here are some of my favorite images (all but one shot from the moving car).
http://heyitssierra.com/blog/2008/07/17/the-arch/
http://heyitssierra.com/blog/2008/07/13/kansas/
http://heyitssierra.com/blog/2008/07/15/antelope-island/
http://heyitssierra.com/blog/2008/07/21/drama/
http://heyitssierra.com/blog/2008/07/25/salt-flats/
Road trips are the best!
Berries signify summer to me……..
http://wayfaring-wanderer.blogspot.com/2008/08/inside-out.html
I just got back from a roadtrip. Just me and my 3 daughters, loved the time together. A few from that trip:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonyadoughty/2757440780/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonyadoughty/2760378557/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonyadoughty/2755061363/
I am in the midst of the winter here. No summer at all. But still… I can share what means simplicity, welcoming and somewhat warmth too around here for me:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/2781136507/
(sorry about that one, without scanner, I can only share it like that on digital…)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/2781129015/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/2781149711/
http://whatiseeclicks.blogspot.com/2008/08/uparoadslowly.html
just down the road from my office… even tho i live in the city, i work in the county and this is one of the perks …
Close to home, but a glowing moment nonetheless:
http://inasoftlight.blogspot.com/2008/08/flare-out.html
I love this view, so often the sky is left out of pictures like this, and with this one it draws my eyes to the beautiful clouds, the warm summer day, I imagine flying up to the clouds and playing hide and seek within them.
Tracy here is one from me that I played with in PSP. I sort of liked the eary way it came out. This was on a recent road trip near our home..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13732519@N07/2781863847/
Love that shot! Makes me want to get out on the road! Curious… what kind of lens did you use? Or did you crop to get that?
Just took this yesterday. It’s not a road, but a path.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thethiers/2782007225/
And is there anything as quaint as a country road in the winter?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thethiers/2202522476/
I’ve had no option for road trips this summer, with 3 kids and a husband working 6 days a week 70+ hrs… But summer to me is symbolized by our visit to my Great Aunt’s farm. A couple of my favorite shots from that day:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/naturemama/2633312088/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/naturemama/2633312100/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/naturemama/2632462235/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/naturemama/2632462225/in/photostream/
Sunrise from Ruckle Park on Salt Spring Island, where we camped for five days. Yay summer!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daisysharrock/2736487575/
Tracey, that’s breathtaking!
Some scenery found in my inlaws’ yard
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68403052@N00/2777796041/
Oh how beauiful, I love it!
This is so beautiful!
Reminds me of my blog header (which is the sky portion of an amazing photo I took with my dad a few years back, before his passed away). And the clothes line blowing in the breeze… made me smile because I recently just gave up on my dryer and went back to "air drying". It’s healthier, makes me happy, and I like the smell of ‘outdoors fresh’. HA!
Thank you so much. You’re quite talented.
-Ali