A little over a year ago I was on a road trip with one of my best friends Mark Benton II. Our trip began in San Francisco, California and ended in Fairbanks, Alaska. Mark is part of the army and was to be stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska only to find out he would be deployed to the Middle East of Afghanistan a few months later. Although it has been difficult for Mark to be away from everyone and everything he knows I’ve been able to be encouraged by his testimony as he is out there. You can’t help but gain perspective when you speak to him because he’s facing something I will never understand. It is almost a year since I took this trip with him and I’m happy to say that Mark will be coming home in a few days. It was one of the best times of my life and the memories we shared will always stick to me. I took thousands of pictures but of course I can’t post all of them so here’s a few from our EPIC trip.
Our first stop was at a gas station close to Mt. Shasta, Oregon…
Mt. Shasta, Oregon
Leaving Portland….
The Space Needle, Seattle Washington
A dock in Seattle, Washington
Canon
Leaving Seattle a few homeless guys wave goodbye…
A visit with my family close in Washington…
A little boy dancing with pigeons in Granville, Vancouver British Columbia
A image far too common in the world…
I don’t what the heck this is but it’s in Vancouver…
Granville, Vancouver
A stop on the side of the road…Somewhere in Canada??
Somewhere in Alaska…
A little excited in Alaska…just a little bit.
Local wildlife in Alaska…
On the road driving through the snow blizzard Alaska…
Traffic…we gets cars and people. Alaska gets Elk.
Somewhere in Alaska…For about an hour maybe 2 cars passed by while we took some pictures on this bridge.
Epic View…
Silohuette.
A sight that’s a lot better in person.
Buffalo
A little too cold for me.
Point of View.
Faith, Love and Hope. Words my boy lives by.
University of Alaska. Looks like an igloo.
Bench at UOA
Failed attempt at night shots….A little too cold for us. Our cameras started to freeze up.
Breakfast @ Denny’s. Fairbanks, Alaska.
The smallest airport I have ever seen. Time to fly back home to the Bay Area.
Something that I will always take from this trip is that you can see the world, experience the greatest sights and sounds, but if you can’t share it with your loved ones, what’s the point? Those who know me, know I could care less about traveling and seeing the world unless I get to share it with the people I love. I’ll never forget the discussions, shared while traveling for hours at a time, hitting city to city each day, and the laughs shared along the way.
I’m just glad I had the opportunity to share this trip with a friend who is not only an uncle to my children, but a brother in life.
I know I don’t speak for myself when I say, “Welcome home Mark.”
“Welcome home.”
A Bay Area Photography Team. 