Fall is here

We started off the day with some pretty strong rain, which carried through to lunch. Sometime after, though, the blue skies and warm weather (mid/upper 70's) broke through. Meanwhile, yesterday while mowing the lawn, I noticed that we had somehow hit peak color around here, and that things were very pretty.

So I grabbed the kids and my big diffuser ring, and snapped a couple of photos - maybe 5 minute's work (including a re-shoot of Leah since I had bad focus on an earlier series of photos).

Otherwise, things are well here. Cheers,

Marc

Mountain Man Getaway

For four out of the last five years, Catherine has blessed me to be able to spend some guilt-free time in the woods with an old friend from high school. She knows I love me some mountains, and it is good for my soul to disconnect for some time and just soak in the sights and sounds of wilderness.

For this trip, Jason and I made our way to Cataloochee in the far east of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where we got to see and hear bugling elk in the evening. We camped somewhat close to this river - not close enough to hear it at night, but close enough to want to explore it in the morning.

From there, we made our way to the Shining Rock Wilderness Area in the Pisgah National Forest, where we spent a couple of days just exploring. This particular series of mini-falls was a ways up from our campsite.

This falls, below, is Skinny Dip Falls. It was a short walk from the Blue Ridge Parkway - maybe a mile or so. We shared it with some other hikers, most of whom came in and left while we just explored the area.

The leaf situation was a bit weird. On the north side of the Blue Ridge Parkway, like Graveyard Fields (below), the colors were popping. But other places, green prevailed.

We hiked in to the Great Smokies on the south central side - about 5-6 miles in. We shared the site with a couple of other hikers, but they arrived late, so we pretty much had this river to enjoy until just before dinner.

Cheers,

Marc

Early October portraits

Once more, nothing terribly new here. I just figured I'd post some photos of Catherine and the kids.

Ian and I did a 10 mile hike yesterday with his Boy Scout Troop - I'm surprised I am a bit sore, but not bad.

And of course, Catherine was a birthday girl earlier this week.

Cheers,

Marc

Oh the fun we'll have!

Hard to believe October is only a week away!

I had some continuing education in Baltimore this week, and that meant I got to come home a bit early most days, which was a nice treat. Catherine invited some friends over - the people who picked up Ian and Leah for swimming this summer. It was nice to get to know them a bit more.

Otherwise, nothing terribly new here. Kids continue to do well with school.

I think the kids are a bit "done" with my weekly photos. I hope to continue to string this along for a bit longer, but you can see that the fun meter is quite pegged on Ian's face.

Cheers,

Marc

First week of school

Both kids started school this week, and both are off to a great start! Ian has come home and spontaneously sat at the dining room table to complete his school work. Leah is living on easy street - so far the only homework she has had was to get a photo of her printed for her teacher.

Otherwise, Ian and I did an 8-mile hike yesterday with his Boy Scout troop, getting ready for next summer's Philmont adventure.

Catherine and the kids have been canning peaches yesterday and today - I think they are all tired of canning (but they'll sure enjoy the fruits of their labor this winter).

Cheers,

Marc

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day everyone!

We stayed home and had a friend and his family from my previous job over today. It was good to get caught up, as it had been several months since I've seen him.

Once they left, I quickly set up my little studio so I could snap some photos of the kids.

Cheers,

Marc

Niagara Falls

Okay - final post from the Skinner 2019 summer vacation super trip.

We made it to Niagara with time to grab a dinner and then go find the falls which were only about 15 minutes or so from where we were staying. We had driven through some pretty strong storms along the way, and it was still drizzling when we got there, but Ian and I made the short walk from the parking lot we found (American Rapids) to the falls to see them lit up.

We then turned in to prepare for super tourism day.

For Niagara, we went full Tourist (with a capital "T") and got the super happy discovery pass, which got us into Cave of the Winds (which Leah wanted) as well as the Maid of the Mist (which Catherine and I wanted...Ian was indifferent).

We started at Cave of the Winds with an elevator ride to the bottom of the Bridal Veil falls, and got these amazing yellow ponchos.

I took another photo of the Cave of the Winds folks from the deck of the Mist of the Maid boat, below.

Leah had a good time on the Hurricane Deck (I think we all did, she was the only one foolish enough to go back in once I could pull my phone back out to snap some photos!).

We then beat the other tourists to an early lunch, and avoided the stupid long lines. While they ate, we then avoided more lines at the Maid of the Mist. They run things often enough that I think the lines are relatively quick, at least at anything other than peak peak season. Maid of the Mist is blue poncho. Ian and Catherine decided to admire the Canadian Horseshoe falls from the 1st story deck.

We then saw the movie at the visitor center, and then made our way to the aquarium. Niagara tourist quadrifecto!

Cheers,

Marc