Over our family’s annual trip to Pawley’s Island for Thanksgiving this year, my Aunt Sue asked me to take some action portraits for her yoga practice.
Seattle + Olympic NP
This past July, we went on our 5th annual camping trip with friends. This year we explored Olympic National Park, in Washington State, and also spend a few days exploring Seattle. Below are some photos I took during the trip, a mix of digital and film. Thanks again to Jojo and Sean for the hospitality and for showing us around your neck of the woods!
For a professional photographer's perspective of the trip, please check out Eva's work.
Blacksburg + Smokeys + Asheville
In late September, Kelly and I took a road trip down through the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Our first stop was in Blacksburg, VA, to visit my alma mater, Virginia Tech, and attend Kelly's first home football game.
We left DC on Friday afternoon, arriving in Blacksburg a little after 11pm. The AirBnB we chose was a few miles north of town, as it was much cheaper and a bit more our speed. Arriving so late, the owner, who lived in the house, left a key outside and instructions for how to find our bedroom in the basement. Unfortunately a snake must have also read the instructions, because as we walked down the stairs, we watched it slither into our bedroom and hide in the book shelf. Kelly tells the story better than I do, but eventually, at about 2am, we were able to coerce the snake out of the room and finally get some sleep.
House in the woods:
The next morning, a bit groggy, we were able to pull ourselves together and carry on without vacation (which includes camping.)
Before the game, we of course had to eat at my work alma mater, Cabo Fish Taco, for a hearty lunch.
Then we went to the game, and spent the rest of the time in Blacksburg wandering around town, checking out the old haunts.
The next morning, we packed up our things and headed south to camp a few nights on the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountain National Park (stopping to fill our growler in Abingdon, VA along the way).
We spent our first two nights car-camping in the Cosby campground, and spent Monday on a few day hikes, ending our day with an evening picnic at Clingman's Dome to watch the sun set.
On Tuesday morning, we packed up all of our stuff and prepared for our first backpacking trip together.
While GSMNP is the highest trafficked park in the US National Park system, we realized that 95% of that traffic is contained on the main road that cuts through the middle of the park. To get to the parking lot for our hike, we took a back road in the eastern side of the park and did not see a single other car. One the hike also, we only passed two people going the opposite direction. Finally, at the peak, we only shared the area with one older couple (who were delightful) and a single who arrived well after dark.
The hike we chose for our first back country trip was a 2.7 mile uphill hike to a campsite at the top of Mt. Sterling. The main reason we chose the campsite was for a retired fire tower at the peak.
While the hike was relatively short, it ended up being tougher than anticipated, mostly due to over-packing (5 liters of water, 4 beers, 2 books, and 2 chairs between us). Once we arrived at the top though, we had a snack, setup camp and settled in for a relaxing evening.
The fire tower ended up being a bit sketchy. It was probably 6' x 6', with numerous plywood patches in the floor, and swayed in the wind. It ended up being a fantastic place to watch to sun set, see some stars at night, and then watch the sun rise over the Smoky Mountains the next morning.
Earlier I mentioned that we met an older couple at the peak. Bill and Ellen were two days into a 5 day backpacking trek. We shared pleasantries Tuesday evening, but ended up setting up camp on separate ends of the peak.
The next morning, as we were enjoying the sunrise, Bill came to see it as well, and casually asked us whether we happened to be driving back towards Cosby, where we had originally camped and where they started their trek. We said no, that we were driving on towards Asheville, which was the opposite direction.
As we were walking back to our camp to make breakfast, we ran into Ellen. She was much more inquisitive than Bill. She explained that she wasn't feeling up to continuing their trip for three more days, and asked if we would give them a ride back to civilization, regardless of whether it was near their car or not. We of course agreed, and they hiked down with us to our car for a ride to the other end of the park, where they were planning to hitchhike back to their car.
On the hike down, we learned that they were from the middle of Wisconsin, Bill was an outdoor guide and photographer, and Ellen was an acupuncturist. We also learned this was not their first time hitchhiking, and that Ellen had spent months in the 70's hitchhiking up and down the California coast. They shared some great tips on backpacking meals (note: need to get a food dehydrator) and had some great stories from their life adventures.
The hike down ended up much more pleasant than the hike up. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of them, but Bill was nice enough to take a photo of us at the end of the hike.