From endless California sunshine to New England’s fleeting season of light.
When the email from Turo landed in my inbox, I almost ignored it. It looked like one of those contests launched by major brands where your entry enters a black hole, never to be heard from again. “Pitch your trip!” the email said, offering photographers and creatives a chance to propose a road trip and have the car rental covered.
On the road in New Hampshire. Photo by Peggy Ryan
The Email That Sparked a Road Trip
It was springtime when that email from Turo arrived, a season when warm-weather trip planning ramps up. I hadn’t yet planned a summer adventure, so I decided to give the application a shot. A free car these days is no small offer, as most of us know by now that rental car costs have increased dramatically since the pandemic. I decided to pitch my “dream summer trip.”
Hiking in Franconia Notch, New Hampshire. Photo by Peggy Ryan
Which, for a girl from Southern California, is a surprisingly complicated idea. When the region you call home is a world-famous warm-weather vacation destination year-round, and also infamous for its lifestyle dominated by cars and mega-highways, summer and road trips don’t feel like a special occasion — they are life’s backdrop.
On the beach in Acadia National Park. Photo by Peggy Ryan
Remembering the Power of Summer
But summer, despite how normalized it feels in Southern California, is, in fact, a powerful season, and worth celebrating through a trip worthy of its best qualities. So what are its best qualities? I first understood the influence of the summer when I visited a place that feels deeply what life can be without the sun – Vancouver. I couldn’t believe the energy in the air on the July afternoon I stepped out of my taxi from the cruise ship terminal. The whole city was alive, from the boats whizzing by on the waterways to the outdoor markets abuzz with people, and not an empty spot to be found on a restaurant patio. Life is very different in Southern California, which can feel almost apathetic about the weather at times. And in my hometown of El Centro, CA, which boasts of its slogan, “Where the sun spends the winter,” people carry umbrellas not for the rain but for the sun. In that low-desert region I called home for many years, we sometimes wished for the sun to go away so we could escape its relentless intensity that stretches from March through October every year.
A family enjoying an afternoon together in Bar Harbor, Maine.
As I organized my Turo proposal, I knew I wouldn’t pitch California, and that I wanted to go somewhere relatively new to me. So I brainstormed what the right pitch would be – starting with the archetypes of summer – hot, relaxed, happy, alive, connected, open. Those qualities are why it is my favorite season, now that I’ve escaped El Centro. My mind drifted from gorgeous beachscape views from the freeway and dark, heavily air-conditioned rooms of my summers past, and I asked myself: where in the United States is summer not just a background or a nuisance, but something to be celebrated, savored, and cherished?
A beautiful summer evening in Bar Harbor, Maine. Photo by Peggy Ryan
My mind wandered to images of sidewalk lunches spent people-watching in charming small towns, long warm evenings counting fireflies and sipping chilled wine, floating down a river on an innertube and singing along to music with friends, magical drives in the countryside and pulling over to take photos of a field of sunflowers, and getting caught in the rain on a hot day of kayaking and simply not minding.
A lazy afternoon in Raymond, Maine. Photo by Peggy Ryan
My answer to my mystery summer road trip destination was New England. A place where the winters are long and hard, and the season of warmth and light feels rare, fleeting, and something to be celebrated. That became my pitch. And somehow — unexpectedly — Turo said yes. The catch was, I had to realize my trip within the few months following being approved in late June.
A lucky sunflower field spotting in Massachusetts. Photo by Peggy Ryan
It took a bit of scheduling Tetris to fit the trip in, and it was worth it. I considered shifting the vibe of the trip and experiencing a New England autumn instead. But there’s something about a road trip that feels most at home scheduled during the summer. The flowing open-endedness about road trips that vibes so well with my Pisces sun sign is akin to the feeling of stepping outside on a perfect sunny day with no plans, as if the possibilities are endless.
Bonding in Raymond, Maine. Photo by Peggy Ryan
Freedom on the Road Again
Unbeknownst to Turo, they were offering me something that hit deeper than many people because I gave my car up in 2010. Just the idea of taking a road trip usually feels completely out of reach. In California, I borrow cars from family, but in my life in the East – where I am now based – I lead a mainly car-less existence, so the freedom of having a car was a true boon for my artistic freedom and wandering spirit. I planned my stops to hit the places in New England I’d tucked away on my to-go-someday list, but hadn’t had the chance to visit because they were difficult to reach by public transportation. Think isolated small towns emanating New England charm, cultural landmarks, and epic scenery in state and national parks.
Friendly passers-by in Lincoln, New Hampshire. Photo by Peggy Ryan
My Summer 2025 New England Trip:
New England Road Trip Itinerary: Berkshires, White Mountains, Maine Coast & Hudson Valley
- July 30: Car delivered to me in Newark, NJ
- July 30 – 31: Williamstown, MA – Theatre, Small-Town Charm, and the Berkshires
Maple Terrace Motel stay, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Barrington Stage - August 1 – 3: Lincoln, NH: Trails and Landscapes in Franconia Notch
White Mountain Hotel base, easy hikes, scenic drives - August 3: Camden, ME – Photographing a Classic Maine Harbor
Megunticook Campground, photographing town and harbor textures - August 4: Acadia National Park Highlights
HTR Acadia Campground, timing park visits for photography, evening enjoying the ambiance in Bar Harbor - August 5: Bethel, ME – A Scenic Stopover in Western Maine
West Bethel Motel, quiet small-town character on the road south - August 6: Beacon, NY – Art and Reflection in the Hudson Valley
A homey night in a great Airbnb and exploring the charming downtown. - August 7: New York City
Headed back to the city to return the car and start my new life in the city.
My summer trip this year wasn’t defined by crossing any major oceans or checking anything off of my bucket list, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t as personally powerful as some of my big trips have been. Whether or not we’re interested, New England will always remind us that summer is fleeting, and that its beauty is in its impermanence — a season cherished because it never overstays. A New England summer is simultaneously wildly present and meditatively poetic, with weather changing at the drop of a hat and the scale of landscape that you get lost in, along with the disbelief it could ever feel a different way. It was a gift to wind along its roads, wondering what magic awaited me in the next bend. From the art the clouds carved in the sky, to the stoic and weathered barns at dusk, and the curious animals that said hello, Turo’s support gave me the chance to meet summer on its own terms: long days, open roads, and a horizon that always promised one more moment worth stopping for.
A gorgeous dusk scene outside of Bethel, Maine. Photo by Peggy Ryan
