We’ve been driving cross-country for weeks now. The lack of posts has been due to this grand adventure.

We spent several days driving from the flat plains of South Dakota and Wyoming, covered with antelope and prairie dogs, to the edge of Grand Tetons National Park. The Grand Tetons are just south of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and they are incredible.

I had remembered seeing a photograph by Ansel Adams years ago. The Tetons and the Snake River (1942) was taken at almost this exact same spot before I was born by the famous photographer I had always admired.

I realized that not only was I following in the footsteps of nature lovers and tourists of past generations, but also that I was following the same path of one of the most famous photographers of all times…Ansel Adams.

Days later, as we drive in to Glacier National Park on our way to Lake McDonald, I realized Adams had probably driven this same road over 50 years before.

We will be staying in one of the historic National Park properties on Lake McDonald to celebrate my birthday. There is no TV (usually a deal breaker for My Beloved Brit). But we hope to see what Adams saw.

Adams shot Lake McDonald many times.  Each time it was so different, and yet in many ways it never changes.

And for all Glacier National Park’s panoramic renown, Adams still understood the glory in the details. A fern seemed to have a comparable presence.

I can’t wait to explore his famous scenes for myself.