Walking in My Dad's Footsteps

 

This week's theme, Favorite Photo, is hard for me because there are so many good ones in my collection! Sometimes I lean towards the older ones, but recently I've been looking at a lot of my dad's old photos and revisiting the places that he went. We usually traveled as a family, but it was always his eye behind the lens.

During the summer of 2020, I spent 2 1/2 weeks revisiting many places we went to during our 1971 vacation. It must have been a long trip, because my dad drove us from St. Louis, Missouri to British Columbia and back. We always drove home a different way, which is something I still do when I travel, even if I'm just going to visit my daughter in Florida.

I chose the photo below, not because it's a spectacular photo (which it is), but it represents how his photos have impacted my vacations.

My first thought was, "Where were we? Where was this amazingly-located church? I have to go there!" Fortunately for me, there's a sign. The Chapel of the Transfiguration. I had my answer in about 10 seconds, thanks to Google.

Grand Teton National Park.

There were other photos of this church, including one of me hanging and swinging from something under that first little roofed area. I suspect it was a church bell that my sisters couldn't reach. It pays to be the oldest sometimes!

Grand Teton National Park is the most beautiful place I've even been. Hands down. From the entrance sign in my title image to EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE PARK!

I mean, how many pictures of the same mountains can you take? I couldn't stop looking at them and taking pictures of them. If you haven't been, make the trip. My first stop was not the usual Jenny Lake or Colter Bay- both amazing places that I chose to revisit. My first stop was the Chapel of the Transfiguration.

This was my photo:

The chapel was closed because of Covid-19, but it was a beautiful place nonetheless. My dad's photo was a bit faded and hard to repair after 50 years, but this is what we, and what he saw.

Another of mine:

Had my dad not taken his photo of the Chapel, I probably wouldn't have gone to this spot in the park. Or to other places that I've been recently, like Dinosaur Park in Rapid City, SD. (I felt rather silly going there by myself, but I had to do it!) I am grateful every day for the childhood my parents gave me.

I think my favorite photos are ones that inspire me to travel.