I take out my phone and pull up Instagram, where I’ve only got one shot so far. A cool, low-angled picture of the front of the RV, with crazy clouds in the sky behind it. It took me a long time to convince Mom and Dad that I needed to start a travel photography account so I could keep pushing myself and my photography skills, so I could start growing my photography career, maybe even work my way toward getting some gigs, and that this trip was the perfect opportunity to start that up. Finally they agreed, with the caveat that I had to keep to the Instagram rules. Fine by me. I know I’m young to be a photographer, but Instagram means I can show people what this thirteen-year-old can really do with a camera in her hands. And I’m going to spend as much time practicing with this new camera as I can before we get to California and the pirate ships.

A feed of beautiful pictures, all helping me practice and get ready for one day being the best photographer National Geographic’s ever had.

There’s a motorcyclist with a ponytail and a leather jacket in the lane to our left. I feel like banging on the window and shouting at him, We’re going to a pirate ship! We’re going to a pirate ship!

I slip a magazine from the top of my stack and flip it open. Even though I usually read every word (even the ads), today I just look at the pictures of luminescent pink jellyfish and fuzzy fur seals. The seals’ eyes are reflective, and they’re staring at the camera like it might be something good to eat.

If I had three wishes, I think I’d use all of them to be the person behind that camera.

I look down from my loft and watch Ruth’s dark blue nails scroll through her iPod. Maybe I wouldn’t use all three wishes on fur seals. I’d use the first one for something else.

When you’re driving across the country playing Treasure Hunt, one word doesn’t quite do it. You need several words, maybe even a whole rhyme. A rhyme Ruth made up, and one I’ve remembered for three years.

Something New

Something Old

Something Magic

Something Gold

These are the words I have sharpied on the back of those four pictures tucked carefully in my closet at home. I can see those four pictures as vividly as if they were in front of me again.