Self-portrait in motel. Newark, Delaware, United States
Last year I spent three months in Century Village, Deerfield Beach, Florida, with my parents. They are “snowbirds.” That is, each winter they fly the coop from frigid, snowy, and icy, Montreal to the warmth of Florida. I was there to help my mother with my father who suffers from vascular dementia and with errands and daily tasks around their condo. This year, they arrived a few days ago, and I preceded them by half a week. For many reasons they hope to sell their condominium. This shall be their last year in Florida after almost 20 years of the sun’s felt heat and wintertime comfort. But this is what life is about. Change.
On my drive down from Boston, I sampled some of the motel chains off U.S. highway I-95. I imagine that what I saw there goes for the rest of the U.S., and Canada, as well. What the chains look like and offer may differ a little, place to place; but from what I saw, the change from one to the other is barely noticeable. This homogeneity or standardization is not particularly appealing to me but staying at these motels made my trip a quicker one since I did not have to deviate from my route in any way. Each evening, as I signed in and spoke with the motel desk clerks, it was clear that the outward appearances of these places certainly do not reveal the cultural differences of the locality I landed in.
Still, camera in hand, I was given “variations on a theme” to photograph. Here are a few shots that I took of these different places that are all the same.
Motel room. Newark, Delaware, United States
Motel Room. Lumberton, North Carolina, United States
The view outside my motel room. Lumberton, North Carolina, United States
Motel room. St. Augustine, Florida, United States
The view outside my motel room. St. Augustine, Florida, United States
Best Breakfast on the Road and certainly NOT Dunkin’ Donuts:
Betty Carol’s Diner, Lumberton, North Carolina, United States
Betty Carol’s Diner, Lumberton, North Carolina, United States
Betty Carol’s Diner, Lumberton, North Carolina, United States
Tamar Granovsky | Wanderings Afar and Near 
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thank you!
Wish I was in that diner with you for breakfast, but don’t have the same wish for the motels, although they don’t look as seedy as I had imagined. Enjoyed seeing a glimpse of life on the road.
The pictures of the diner especially look like ‘the diner scene’ in so many countless American road movies.
i, too, wish you could have joined me for breakfast and the road trip!!! the motels were the typical chains – but when you get to the old ones that are not chains, then they are of a very different calibre. not to stay in for long periods of time but great to stay at.