Travel & Places
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Texas Roadtrip: Caprock Canyon State Park
Our first stop on our road trip was out to Caprock Canyon State Park. We took U.S. 287 from Fort Worth out past Mineral Wells Wichita Falls, a town I’d never been too and I was surprised that it was a decent sized city, and on into the rugged, western setting of Texas. We thought we’d prepared and brought everything but once on the road we realized we’d forgotten our dinners. We’d decided to buy those heat and serve frozen meals, like Berrtolli or Stouffers, since they are easy to cook and pretty tasty so we pulled over into a dinky little town with a tiny grocery store to buy…
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Roadtrip Roundup
What I thought was a milkweed bug, but I’m not sure so someone id it for me, on a yellow flower in Palo Duro Canyon State Park. Check out the pollen it’s kicking up at the top right! Our whirlwind road trip across Texas is now over. Somewhere in the middle to late part of the trip I got a little exhausted thinking in photos. Thinking about what to shoot, angles, techniques and trying to go above and beyond. It was just a bit too much, I think. When we got to the beach on Mustang Island I just wanted to sit and be, to relax and love the water…
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Waiting for the Stars….
For some reason the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department decided that putting Wi-Fi at their state parks would be a good idea. I’d say that mostly this is a good idea, except that it probably isn’t because then people like me end up online. But that’s ok, I’m watching a line of brown pelicans casually fly across Copano Bay while the moon is pushing half full, the first star is out (or is it a planet…?) and the yellow orange glow of sunset is still lingering. I’m really just waiting for the stars to fully come out so I can practice some night photography. Maybe I will come out with…
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Wildlife in Dinosaur Valley SP
Our biggest wildlife score was seeing a fox run across the main park road one evening as we did an evening ‘animal run’. Dusk and dawn are the best chances to see wildlife, usually deer, but this fox crossed the road. It startled me at first and I went through coyote, wolf, and bobcat before I registered that it was a fox. Chris even had to say the name before I could get it out. Mr. (Ms?) Grey Fox was nice enough to linger in the grass long enough for Chris to grab his camera. Then it took off running! Of course there were plenty of deer! I’m trying to…
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Shhh! Be Vewy, Vewy Quiet! We’re Hunting Deer!
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Around Downtown Granbury
On our way home from Dinosaur Valley State Park we stopped in Granbury to walk around. There was a biker festival going on and the square was ‘happening’. I love small Texas towns but I also love visiting the county seats of these towns because of the very cool, old fashioned courthouses. I didn’t take many photos but here is what I got. I’m trying not to go to Starbucks. I actually love Starbucks but I am trying to make an effort to drink coffee at home but also to buy from local shops instead of big chains. This was a very cute shop with so many flavors to add…
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Texas Road Trip: Planning
When we were on the trail we had tossed around the idea of going back to Florida to photograph ghost orchids and see friends or do a big Texas trip. We initially tried to get our friend Eliana to come with us on a road trip from Florida to Texas if we went to Florida, but due to some personal commitments it just wasn’t going to work out. Plus, we decided that a road trip to Texas would be a great portfolio building opportunity. We have plenty of Florida nature photos but we need some Texas stuff. Texas is a gigantic state and we really hadn’t explored all that much…
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On the Coast—Maine
Now that we’ve moved from the mountains to the coast I’ve started getting my fill of sea life again. Oh, how I missed it. While I loved the smell of Christmas and I really miss hearing all of the birds in the forest, I was craving some rotting seaweed and salt. During the last week of the hike I realized that we could go on a whale tour and it didn’t take much to convince my mom to go on a whale tour. The only whales I’ve ever seen were pilot whales off the South American coast in the Pacific, but I’ve always been stuck with the golden retrievers of…
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Trout Lilies at Tandy Hills
When we came back to town I asked my brother and dad where some good places to hike were and one place they mentioned was Tandy Hills. This park is very close to where my parents grew up in E. Ft. Worth and where my grandad still lives and I had no idea this park even existed. It is tucked away in the Meadowbrook subdivision, which is a nicer, historic part of the area (go a few blocks and it might not be so great of an area) and once you get in to the park you don’t realize you are surrounded by the city. Well, except from some trash…
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Snow Day
It feels like forever since I’ve written here. I better get used to it—you too—because after looking at our proposed stops it appears I might only be on once a week or even a bit longer than that. After leaving the Dallas side of the family on Tuesday morning we drove to East Texas, near Tyler, to see one of my bff’s Michelle at her house. We left early in order to beat the snow that was moving from the west across the DFW metroplex. We made it to Terrell, just east of Dallas on I-30, when the snow started. It snowed the entire day and melted as it hit…