The second quarter challenge is all about finding inspiration wherever you might be. We recently took a road trip across the US, spent a week in New York City and then drove home again. I hope you will indulge me and take a look at a few of the inspirations I saw on my trip.

Here’s a map of the trip which covers approximately 2,500 miles. The red bit at the end is the trip on Amtrak from my sister’s house in Richmond, VA to NYC.

This was a photo I took coming across the US. I think it might be in South Dakota but I have forgotten where exactly.

Edgar went with us and although he is supposed to stay in the back seat, he loves to look out the windshield to make sure we are going in the right direction.

It was amazing to see how many plants and trees were blooming as we got closer to the east coast. I think this photo was taken in Indiana or Illinois. The redbud trees were blooming all along the highway.

Once we got to Richmond, we took the Amtrak up to New York City. Penn Station was a real mess when we arrived, they are doing a massive construction project. We had a bit of an issue figuring out the correct subway, the one we thought we should take was blocked off due to construction. We had a great adventure walking in the rain, hauling our suitcases and bags for 20+ blocks.

One of our first adventures in NYC was to visit the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. In the past, we have been to the NYC Botanical Gardens but this one in Brooklyn is beautiful and well worth the visit. I spared you all the photos I took there and just shared the highlights.

After lunch, we decided to visit the Brooklyn Zoo since it is in the same area as the botanical gardens. It was a beautiful day to stroll outside.

If you haven’t been to NYC before, you might not know about all the wonderful mosaics in the subway stations. This is one I hadn’t seen before.

Another fun side trip was taking the ferry to Governors Island. It’s only a short 7 minute ride but it takes you right out of the city. You can even go “glamping” there!

If you were wondering about Edgar, he didn’t go to NYC with us. He stayed with my sister’s neighbor. Here’s a photo she sent of him watching out the window at her house.

Here’s Times Square where they had an installation about design. The metal structure on the lower right was an interesting addition this month. And of course, you can always entertain yourself with people watching.

Walking through Central Park is another fun source of inspiration. We always end up doing a lot of walking when we’re in the city. We also visited a couple of museums but I didn’t get any photos. I did do some research about ancient felt making patterns at the Met’s Museum Watson library. If you ever get a chance to visit the library, I highly recommend it.

We returned on the train to Richmond and then took off on the way back to Montana (another 2500 miles).

Edgar is watching me on the morning we were leaving my sister’s house to make sure that I didn’t leave without him.

The last couple of trips we took across country, we took our camper but this time we stayed in motels. I have decided taking the camper is the best way to go.

If you have been in a South Dakota rest stop, you will have seen one of these structures. There is even one of the rest stops with a statue entitled Dignity that you might want to see. I didn’t get a photo this time as there was construction around the statue. But you can click on the link above to see it.

The next step with these inspiration photos is to come up with some ideas for a sample for the second quarter challenge. Which photo inspires you?