U.S. Road Trip Re-Cap: Week Seven (Wyoming to Alberta)

North to South U.S. road trip recap week seven

North to South U.S. road trip recap week seven

Week seven was by far one of the most memorable weeks on our road trip. I can’t believe how much we saw in one week! Oodles of wildlife, gorgeous sunrises, and even the Northern Lights — all the way down in Yellowstone National Park (they’re not usually visible so far south).

Somehow we managed to visit FOUR national parks all in one week. And despite late night Milky Way photo sessions, we managed to wake up before dawn TWICE to witness the gorgeous sunrises Yellowstone has to offer. If you’ve never seen Yellowstone yourself, add it to your bucket list NOW. And in the meantime, you can drool a bit over these photos!

Note: I’m still catching up on our weekly road trip re-caps! This one covers June 20-27.

Continue reading “U.S. Road Trip Re-Cap: Week Seven (Wyoming to Alberta)”

U.S. Road Trip Re-Cap: Weeks Four, Five & Six (Illinois to South Dakota)

North to South U.S. road trip recap weeks four, five and six

North to South U.S. road trip recap weeks four, five and six

After completing our third week on the road in the U.S. this summer, we decided it was time for a little breather. We departed St. Louis at the beginning of week four and then pressed the pause button when we reached Chicago. And there we stayed, visiting my twin brother, for the first two and a half weeks of June.

Despite growing up in St. Louis, I’d never visited the nearby Windy City ’til now. And what an awesome place it turned out to be! So much so that we decided we’d return to Chicago for an even longer break after our upcoming national park loop. We finished off this three-week period in Badlands National Park, where we found unique erosion-formed landscapes, plentiful prairie dogs, and the craziest (and unexpected) storm we’ve ever experienced! (You don’t want to miss that video.)

Note: Since we paused for so long in Chicago, this recap covers weeks four through six of our U.S. road trip. And I’m still catching up on our weekly road trip re-caps! This one covers May 30 – June 19.

Continue reading “U.S. Road Trip Re-Cap: Weeks Four, Five & Six (Illinois to South Dakota)”

Shot of the Week: North to South Sees the Northern Lights (Yellowstone, Wyoming, USA)

Shot of the Week: The Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA

Shot of the Week: The Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA

I was half asleep. Only half because of the awkward angle at which my head was tilted when I’d closed my eyes. Sleeping in the car has never been my forte. I quickly snapped out of my sleepy state, however, when my brain finally registered the three words that had just exited Ian’s mouth: “the Northern Lights.”

It was an unexpected sight, in Yellowstone National Park, but having severely sub-par cell service the past two days couldn’t even stop us from seeing them. There was no visible green glow or anything, but the eery gray streaks sweeping across the northern sky were visible to the naked eye. I quickly pulled my RX100 out of the glove compartment and clambered over the middle console of our Yaris and into the driver’s seat. Ian was already out of the car with the a7 mounted to his tripod. I opted for the meager warmth our Yaris could offer with its front window rolled down all the way.

My first shots were crap, from a photographer’s perspective, but the colors were absolutely amazing. To start, I’d quickly flipped my dial to ‘M’ and prepped for a 6-second exposure. No tripod. Just handheld. Propped atop the open window frame of the driver’s side door. With some expected star streaking from my unsteady hand in my first few exposures, I made some minor adjustments — adding a 2-second timer, using the tilt screen to more steadily prop my camera up on the window ledge — and was rewarded with better results. My final improvement to my set-up was turning the car’s engine off and setting the e-brake (Ian never does) to keep car movements to an absolute minimum. And I was quite impressed with my results!

This photo was taken on June 22nd with the Sony RX-100 III. Continue to view full photo.  Continue reading “Shot of the Week: North to South Sees the Northern Lights (Yellowstone, Wyoming, USA)”

[VIDEO] Shot of the Week: Night Storm Symphony (Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA)

Badlands National Park lightning storm -- Shot of the Week

It was cool and sunny in South Dakota when we woke up in our tent this morning. No indication of the craziness that ensued last night, other than the minor bowing to our east-facing tent poles that left our tent slightly askew. And we were among the lucky. Our tent had survived.

Around 8pm the lightning started. It was beautiful. The sun was setting behind a thick wall of clouds, and whenever the distant lightning struck, pink light puffs would appear and pulse throughout the sky.

The campground full, there didn’t seem to be need for alarm. Everyone was continuing on, getting ready for bed as they would if there were no threat nor signs of a storm. It wasn’t until I overheard a neighboring camper collecting his son, telling him “Let’s go. I don’t want to be here when it hits,” that I started to worry. We quickly checked the radar on Ian’s phone, and the image confirmed: it was coming. And it would hit hard. Continue reading “[VIDEO] Shot of the Week: Night Storm Symphony (Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA)”

North to South’s Ultimate Road Trip Planner: Packing List — With Free Download!

North to South's Ultimate Road Trip Packing List

North to South's Ultimate Road Trip Packing List with free printable PDF download

The open road. The fresh air. The opportunity to freely blast and belt out your favorite tunes as you explore lands previously unknown… The road trip is an experience everyone should have at least once in their life. And the effort you put into planning yours will greatly impact the memories you make.

If you’re like me and heading out Kerouac-style isn’t the approach you’d prefer — planless, penniless, thieving, and hitchhiking (yikes!) — then you should absolutely start with a list. Continue reading “North to South’s Ultimate Road Trip Planner: Packing List — With Free Download!”

Shot of the Week: Nature’s Water Park (Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park, Missouri, USA)

North to South Shot of the Week: Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park

North to South Shot of the Week: Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park

Johnson’s Shut-Ins is a magical place from my childhood…  A two-hour drive from home in St. Louis, we only visited a handful of times when I was young. But boy did I remember it. I’ve always loved outings that involved swimming, and of all the places I’ve swam in the world, Johnson’s Shut-Ins takes the cake.

Crystal-clear water flows through, around, and over the rocks at “Nature’s Water Park,” creating tiny pools where tadpoles grow up into frogs… And you can climb right in to experience it firsthand! It’s amazing. It’s also one of few places you can find where it’s fashionably acceptable to wear tennis shoes with a swimsuit. And you need them to climb around the slippery, rocky pools. The Shut-Ins aren’t particularly large, so it was always busy when we’d arrive early morning in my childhood. But mid-afternoon just after Memorial Day weekend, we were pleasantly surprised to have the place almost entirely to ourselves. If you’re looking for a summer day trip from St. Louis or Branson or the Ozarks, go here. You won’t want to miss it.

This photo was taken on May 26th with the Sony RX-100 III. Continue to view full photo and a video from this cool place!  Continue reading “Shot of the Week: Nature’s Water Park (Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park, Missouri, USA)”

U.S. Road Trip Re-Cap: Week Three (Louisiana to Missouri)

U.S. Road Trip Week Three

U.S. Road Trip Week Three

After crossing the big wide state of Texas in week two, this week started with an epic day of gluttony in the New Orleans French Quarter. We filled our bellies with pralines, boudin and beignets and then turned north so Ian could experience the best baseball in the country and what I think is one of the most unique state parks in the entire U.S.

For the third week in a row, here is a photographic recap of our spring and summer road trip across the U.S. This week we’ve got a balance of city and nature, with lots of delicious food and wonderfully varied weather in between.  Continue reading “U.S. Road Trip Re-Cap: Week Three (Louisiana to Missouri)”

Cheat Day, N’awlins Style… or Every Delicious Thing Two People Can Possibly Consume in the French Quarter in One Day (Louisiana, USA)

All You Can Eat in the New Orleans French Quarter in one day

All You Can Eat in the New Orleans French Quarter in one day

There’s a reason Fat Tuesday is so gluttonously celebrated in New Orleans, and it’s this: There is just way too much delicious in this town to truly experience it on a “normal” diet. From Café Du Monde’s mouth-watering beignets to NOLA’s scrumptiously savory crawfish étouffée, N’awlins is the embodiment of indulgence. So I can’t tell you how happy we were that it just so happened to be Saturday when we visited…  Continue reading “Cheat Day, N’awlins Style… or Every Delicious Thing Two People Can Possibly Consume in the French Quarter in One Day (Louisiana, USA)”

U.S. Road Trip Re-Cap: Week Two (Arizona, New Mexico and Texas)

U.S. Road Trip Week Two: The American Southwest -- Arizona, New Mexico and Texas

U.S. Road Trip Week Two: The American Southwest -- Arizona, New Mexico and Texas

Two more National Parks and three new National Monuments, including the most beautiful (and surreal) place I’ve ever seen! Week two of our summer road trip took us all the way from Arizona to Texas, with a scenic desert drive through New Mexico on the way.

Below is a photographic re-cap of our second week of road-tripping across the U.S. in our little red Yaris. Read on for beautiful white sand dunes, cacti that actually look like the ones you drew when you were a kid, and a couple of neat ruins speckled about the American Southwest!  Continue reading “U.S. Road Trip Re-Cap: Week Two (Arizona, New Mexico and Texas)”

Shot of the Week: Wanderlust and White Sands (White Sands National Monument, New Mexico, USA)

Shot of the Week: White Sands National Monument sunset hike

Shot of the Week: White Sands National Monument sunset hike

Roaring wind. Rippling sand. Rolling dunes. All were present on the night we backpacked out to our backcountry campsite at White Sands National Monument. As luck would have it, we’d gotten the last available site. And we were grateful. Otherwise we’d’ve had to backtrack 30 miles toward Las Cruces and the nearest campground.

Up and over and in between the dunes we hiked, each carrying our backpacks, cameras at-the-ready. It took us 45 minutes to get to our campsite, racing the setting sun. We set up camp, took off our boots, and set out barefoot for the top of a neighboring dune, getting in just a few more photos before darkness and the evening wind settled in. We’ve now completed week two of our cross-country U.S. road trip, and White Sands stands out as one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever seen. It was magical. Enchanting, even. If you’ve never hiked over sand dunes before, add it to your bucket list. It’s surreal.

This photo was taken on May 18th with the Sony a7 II and Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 Heliar III lens. Continue to view full photo.  Continue reading “Shot of the Week: Wanderlust and White Sands (White Sands National Monument, New Mexico, USA)”