Happy Thanksgiving!

We invited some family to come visit us for Thanksgiving this year - Mom and Chuck accepted the challenge! Catherine made a crazy amount of food that we will be working our way through for quite some time.

While they were here, we visited the Woodlawn Manor House, an old farmhouse that was apparently a part of the Underground Railroad.

They were kind enough to pay the admission fee to tour the grounds and for the guided tour of the house itself. I most enjoyed the barn, but it was COLD!

Best wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend to everyone!

Marc

Happy Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day everyone.

As part of the festivities, I thought I'd get a photo of Leah, since it had been some time since she has sat in front of the camera with the lights on.

Nothing terribly new on our end - have a blessed day!

Marc

Pumpkin Chunkin

This weekend was Ian's first campout with his new Boy Scout Troop - which was their annual "Pumpkin Chunkin" campout. In the past, they've taken all the unused (not purchased) pumpkins from a farm after Halloween, and they launch them from a hillside on a local farm.

We camped at the bottom of the hill, on the other side of the little creek. We had some Cub Scouts and Webelos visit - which this had to be a great time for them. Several of the adults said that Ian was a great teacher, very patient with the younger kids, on the sling shot station.

They also had a trebuchet which launched some pumpkins probably a hundred feet or so into the air, and then because of the hill, another 20-30 feet, which made for some great exploded pumpkins.

We spent the night, which was cold - first frost of the season. Thankfully, the rain got itself out of its system the night before.

Have a great day!

Marc

Red River Gorge, part 3

The last morning in the Red River Gorge was pretty chilly...and I almost bailed to stay warm in the hammock, but eventually decided to head on out. So glad I did!

I again got there a bit before sunrise, and took some photos of the stars. This time, the fog was thicker and much closer to the overlook. When I stood at the edge and looked down, the tree tops were shrouded in fog, which was pretty eerie.

There were some clouds hanging around, that I hoped would catch the sunrise - and today did not disappoint!

These two photos are about 5 minutes apart.

The beautiful colors built over a 30-40 minute period - it was amazing to watch it unfold and a joy to photograph it.

Cheers,

Marc

Red River Gorge, part 2

Monday was a day of steady rain, and Tuesday was cloudy, but dry. We did a fair bit of hiking Tuesday, and settled on a campsite near the Chimney Top Rock overlook, in the hope for a good sunrise photo opportunity.

While sunrise fizzled, there were no clouds that caught the early morning light, we did take some photos of the stars and fog lifting. Later, we made our way to Rock Bridge Arch, which is the only "true" bridge in the area (with water flowing beneath it).

Just upstream from the Rock Bridge Arch is the beautiful Rock Bridge Falls. There were some stones to cross from the trail side of the river to the photo side of the falls and river. It was easy to find, and very worth it.

We decided to camp in the Chimney Top Rock area (again) so we could photograph the sunset - the overlook faces north-ish with great views to the north, west, and south, and good views to the east. We had a better light show, but still did not get the clouds to light up like we had hoped.

I won't complain, though. We had the place practically to ourselves, enjoyed cooking our dinner at the overlook, and then went back to our campsite and sat by a fire to chat while we stayed warm and whiled away the evening.

Cheers,

Marc

Red River Gorge

I got back yesterday from a camping trip with a good friend of mine - this year we hiked and camped in the Red River Gorge in southeastern Kentucky. Even though I lived just a couple hours away from there many years ago, I never made it there - which is too bad, because it is gorgeous.

Our first day there, it rained from sun up to sun down, but thankfully stopped shortly before it got completely dark, so we could get our hammocks set up. We did touristy-drive around the park-stuff that Monday, so while we definitely got wet, it would have been soaked had we backpacked that first day.

The next morning we got up, let the gear dry, and then hit the trail for some hiking.

We stumbled across a beautiful place to camp, so we hung our hammocks and enjoyed the no rain.

The next morning, we watched the sun rise over the gorge, which was spectacular. So much so, that we went back the following morning (we just day hiked for the day and camped in the same spot). We got up early enough to see the stars - we had clear skies, but that meant cold temps.

Jason took a bunch of time-lapse photos with his iPhone that inspired the above photo - mine is only 8 or 12 photos strung together. I love how dynamic the fog is.

I am sure more photos will follow. Have a great day,

Marc

Ian's turn

I had a bit of free time today, so I set up the "studio" and sat Ian in front of the camera.

So glad I did - because with Nancy's help, I got an elusive (authentic) smile from Ian. That is what he looks like when he is genuinely happy, not forcing a grin for the camera.

And of course, a more pensive look. Unfortunately, I missed the focus on this. We were playing around with the camera tethered to the computer, and either Ian moved, or I just got the wrong focus for this particular series of photos. Oh well.

Have a great day!

Marc