Inspiration Log: Road Trip Edition

Inspiration log is my weekly collection of 5 things that have touched me creatively. 

Oh hello! I'm blogging for the first time since July, after embarking on a six week road trip across the country. I'm starting back up my inspiration logs now and thought I'd open it with a special road trip edition. (If you'd like to check out my visual diaries from the road, take a look here). 

1) In Cleveland: Old Rock & Roll Posters 

So, only the top left Nirvana poster and the second left photo (Yardbirds) is actually from the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but seeing it inspired me to look into other posters from the genre. The typography is pretty spectacular, no? Look at that intricate detail in the illustrations - this is what the essence of cool (once) looked like, but it's also timeless.

2) At Yellowstone: Vintage National Park Service Posters 

I found these beautiful postcards sold at the general stores in Yellowstone. Imagine being one of the artists tasked with bringing the majestic beauty of America's pristine parks to the public. Here's what the back of these cards read:

"Between 1935 and 1943 the WPA's Federal Art Project printed over two million posters in 35,000 different designs to stir the public's imagination for education, theater, health, safety, and travel. Due to their fragile nature only two thousand posters have survived."

3) At Yellowstone: The Old Faithful Inn  

When I saw the Old Faithful Inn, it reminded me of something out of Harry Potter - magical and rustic and mysterious. It has this gigantic, multi-story lobby all constructed from local logs and stone (built in 1903-1904) with little, asymmetrically placed windows and long staircases to the very top (a secret nook called the Crow's Nest), currently closed off to visitors. Apparently the architect Robert Reamer, who was then 29 years old, had designed it according to his childhood fantasies of having this secret hideout.

4) All along the road: horticulture & homegrown gardens, Make Your Place by Raleigh Briggs

All along our road trip we encountered so many people who grew their own vegetables and ate fresh food from their backyard, and it really inspired me to think about living a life closer to the land (in whatever ways possible), even while in the city. I saw this book at a bookstore in Spokane, Washington, and absolutely loved how it was entirely handwritten and illustrated.

5) The Pacific Northwest - scenes that moved me 

Our last stop was Seattle, Washington. These photos were taken in Mount St. Helens in Washington State, a day before we arrived. It was so foggy we couldn't see the mountain itself, but I felt like it was a lovely Pacific Northwest welcome. There's this rugged, grey beauty similar to that of the Scottish moors, I imagine, except with evergreen pine and volcanic remnants. Yellowstone was more majestic, but the Pacific Northwest is more beautiful.