Photographer Ramak Fazel made an art project out of a cross-country road trip. Starting in his hometown, Fort Wayne Indiana, he drove a big white van to 49 of the nation's capitol cities. The journey lasted 78 days, and covered 17,345 miles. Along the way he photographed each state's capitol building, and the people he encountered, capturing a snapshot of American life. The project was inspired by his stamp collection as Fazel's mom had been nagging him about the numerous sheets collecting dust in her basement. Anyway, the images on the stamps got Fazel thinking about different US cities, so what he did was, he mailed himself a postcard from one capitol city, to the next capitol city's post office, using the stamps he had stockpiled since childhood. If you're in New York, you can check out the fruits of Fazel's expedition in an exhibition at the Storefront for Art and Architecture, which runs through March 8.

While Fazel spent his slumbering hours in the confines of his cozy van, if you or I went on a similar expedition, we know where we'd be catching our z's now don't we? I'd start in my home state of Rhode Island, and kick off my journey in style at The Westin Providence. From there I'd hightail it south to the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel, then head west, stopping in at the Sheraton Austin Hotel before making my way to the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel. From there I'd catch a flight to Honolulu where I'd finish up in style at the W Honolulu - Diamond Head, never forgetting to send postcards along the way.