Family Trip to Las Vegas and San Diego

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At the end of Christmas break this year we took a family trip out to Las Vegas and San Diego to explore a different part of the country.
Based on our flight times, we had 5 full days which was perfect for what we wanted to do.

12/30/18
We had a smooth flight to Vegas and arrived after dark so after getting our rental car we drove up the strip to enjoy the lights and colors.
After that we had dinner and then checked into our hotel for the night.
12/31/18
We started the morning with a drive out to Hoover Dam which is always an impressive site.  It was too early for any of the tours so we just got to enjoy the area together.



Next, we drove to the Mojave National Preserve through a fresh snow storm which was really pretty to see the lifting clouds over the mountains.

Next we drove to the Kelso Dunes where the kids could run around and have fun.
With the government shut down, the bathroom and garbage situation was pretty bad. There was a group of hikers in a pick up truck that came and emptied out all the trash which was really neat to see.
Kelso Dunes are 45 sq miles of sand and 600 ft tall which is pretty impressive!

Next, it was on to Joshua Tree National Park. Joshua Tree is a really beautiful dessert park.
The boys did rock scrambling near Skull Rock and LOVED it there.  We then went for a nice short hike around Hidden Valley.




1/1/19

First thing in the morning, we drove to the Salton Sea.  We were surprised just how dumpy the area was.  Lots of garbage and abandoned buildings with graffiti everywhere.

We then went up into the mountains to the old mining town of Julian. It was straight up winter there. There was ice everywhere which made walking around the town a bit treacherous. We really struggled to get the car out of our parking spot which was parallel parked on an icy hill…yikes!!

After that we drove down to sunny San Diego. I was shocked at how cheap the hotels are here. I was expecting everything to be super expensive but we are staying at the Hilton for $100 per night with a beautiful view of the Coronado bridge.
Our first adventure in San Diego was to explore the USS Midway.  It’s pretty amazing that this ship was still in service in the early 90s. One of the best parts about it is that they have lots of vets on board who give talks about different parts of the ship.

1/2/19
Today we had some perfect weather and decided to spend the day out at the San Diego zoo which is one of the best zoos in the world.
The animals were out and about and it was fantastic!







That evening, we went over to the coast to catch the sunset at the Sunset Cliffs.  A wonderful finish to a wonderful day.

1/3/19
Today we had to drive back to Vegas.  On our way back, we stopped off at the Calico ghost town which was pretty cool to see. It was restored back to its original condition and very neat to see all the old buildings and train and mining stuff.


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We arrived at the Palazzo Hotel mid-afternoon.  The Palazzo is attached and connected to the Venetian so it was fun to just walk around and see the beautiful architecture and design.



We spent a few hours out, then got a break and headed out again at night to see the buildings all lit up at night.  Ceasar’s Palace, The Bellagio Fountains, Paris…all amazing!

1/4/19
This morning we started the day exploring the Neon Museum.
It was pretty neat to see but it was much smaller than I expected. There were basically two small rows of signs and you could walk through it in just a couple minutes so paying $85 for the family to go through was a bit much.
After that we headed over to Fremont st and had a walk around and some lunch. Then we went to Circus Circus to catch the quick Ladderman show.

This afternoon we went to the Forum shops at Caesar’s Palace. Absolutely amazing design and architecture and some fantastic photography galleries.
We caught the Atlantis show at the end. That was super cheesy but fun for the kids.

Earlier this year, Cheridy and I had gone to the actual Trevi Fountain in Rome so it was neat to compare the two.

Our last night in Vegas, we saw La Reve at the Wynn hotel.
That was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
The physical abilities of the performers is mind blowing but what is equally amazing is the engineering that went into it. The moving platforms that made the pool go from 1” down to a pool deep enough to dive from 60’ up was crazy. I’m not even sure how many different pieces there were but it was a lot. The lights, the fountains, the acrobatics and aerobatics were mesmerizing.
The theater was also incredible. With only 13 rows of seats in a circle, everyone got an amazing view. We paid a premium for our seats to be in the back row which also included tv screens which gave us behind the scenes views for the prep work before the show along with many different camera angles that showed us what was happening from up in the rafters down under water. It was really neat to see how the scuba team was assisting the performers from underwater.
I had never heard of La Reve and some of the other cirque shows we looked at were sold out so we are very thankful to have been able to do that.

1/5/19
We flew home and had an uneventful flight back.  Desert, mountains, ocean, and cities, it was a packed 5 days!!

 

See how an iphone XS compares to a professional camera for landscape photography

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I get asked ALL THE TIME, “what camera should I buy for my upcoming trip” and I always tell people to just bring their Iphone.
Ultimately the best camera is the one that you have with you.
Most images never get used for anything beyond social media so the image size/quality does not need to be great.  For people that do print images, an 8×10 is usually the biggest they will go.
But…WHAT IF you actually wanted to print larger.
I decided I needed to test it to see just how well the iphone can hold up so I partnered with Black River Imaging (www.blackriverimaging.com) to do an experiment.
I had a few images that were taken with both my Iphone XS and also my FUJI XT-3.

Watch the video to see the results:


At the end of the video I said “iphone Xr”, but I meant “iphone Xs”

Iphone XS
Pros:
-Small and always with you.
-Does incredible as long as the image is well lit and well exposed properly.
-Very easy to take photos and edit photos via apps.
-Motion blur photos can be captured hand held with no tripod using the live view mode.

Cons:
-Quality drops off significantly in low light. (still looks good for social media but not for print)
-The minimal zoom makes it nearly useless for wildlife photography.

Professional Gear
Pros
-You can get the best quality images in every situation.

Cons:
-You have to carry a camera and multiple lenses and often even a tripod.
-Editing the photos usually requires downloading and processing which is time consuming.
-Motion blur photos require a tripod and cable release to do properly.
-Much more difficult to learn the settings and features.

Keep in mind, that regardless of what camera you have, you still need to learn how to use it it to get the best results.  People think that phone cameras are just point and shoot but to really utilize them properly you still need to learn basic camera functionality and find the apps that can give you the best options and results.
If you do decide to print your photos, Jason, the lab manager at Black River, recommends to not change the resolution of your images unless you are an advanced editor and know how to properly sharpen images based on the image resolution.

What it really comes down to is that there are images that I’ve shot on my iphone XS that I could enlarge and sell and nobody would know they were taken with a phone. THAT’S IMPRESSIVE!!
I’m looking forward to printing more images now that I don’t feel hindered by the quality.

This is the iphone XS image

This is the FUJI XT-3 image

Here are some of the other images used in the video.

It’s amazing to me that this first image which captured the motion blur of the water was taken hand held with the iphone

The dynamic range here to be able to capture the detail in the highlights on the clouds to the detail on the backlit tree is amazing.

The color captured by the phone is so vibrant!

Here are a few other iphone captures. Just like anything I post and share, all my images were retouched. Most of these were done with Adobe Lightroom Mobile.

1800 mile road trip for fall color in Maine

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Every year my friend Ben and I try to connect somewhere in the country to do a photography trip. This year we decided on Maine for fall color and it did not disappoint.
These photos are a combination of images shot with my Fuji Xt-3 and my iphone Xs.

Day 1
We had some night flights which got us into Portland Maine around 11:30pm.

Day 2
We started our day at 6:00am at the Portland Head lighthouse which is one of the most famous lighthouses in Maine. It was windy and rainy and cold but the location was really pretty. We knew we wanted to come back when the weather was better.

As the morning continued, the rain got worse so we stopped off at Walmart to buy umbrellas.

We then drove to the Sunday River covered bridge which was a beautiful old wooden bridge. By this point, it was raining really hard so we didn’t venture too far from the car and just explored the areas around the river banks.

We then started driving towards the Appalachian mountains. We found a nice spot to take photographs of the mountains in the mist.

The next stop was Screw Auger falls right off the road. It was very easy to get to and Ben and I took turns holding an umbrella for the other so we could setup our cameras and get some good long exposures of the waterfall.

Step Falls was our next spot that we hiked in to. Hard to get a good view of the falls. It was raining really hard and the rocks were slick like ice so we didn’t feel safe to get out on the rocks for a better view.

The next stop was an Overpass bridge near coos canyon followed by Coos canyon itself which had beautiful color. The trees had vibrant reds and the river was lined with yellow and green.

Our next stop was Rangeley Lake state park where we didn’t see much but still got some beautiful road pictures with yellow trees.

We then moved on to Smalls Falls which was another nice little waterfall that was easily accessible.

We had a couple more waterfall stops to make but decided to skip them and move on to Greenville Where we were going to stay the night and hopefully get sunrise in Moosehead Lake.

Day 2
Unfortunately that plan didn’t work. There was no sunrise because it was heavy clouds.
We took a few photos from the parking lot at Kelly’s Landing.

We then started a long drive up to Baxter state park. We took the shortest route which was the western side but we didn’t realize that 1/2 of our drive was on dirt roads and with all the rain, they were a mess and slow to navigate.
When we arrived we hiked to Katahdin stream falls which was a gorgeous waterfall. The weather was still pretty grey which is actually great for waterfalls.
The parking area also had some beautiful trees.

One thing that we were totally amazed by is the amount of color even on the ground.  The leaves had freshly fallen so everywhere we went, there was a carpet of yellow and red.  Ben had setup his tripod to get this shot of us.

From there we had a 3 hour drive to Schoodic point which is a peninsula that is part of Acadia National Park. We had a few quick coastal shots.

Here’s a quick behind the scenes photo from the scene above:

We then drove around to the main part of the park To otter point for sunset. When we arrived, the skies cleared up and we had perfect light for an evening sunset.

There were probably 50 other photographers there enjoying this scene.

The park itself was very crowded. Apparently there is the annual marathon happening in Acadia this weekend so it was very crowded everywhere.
We had dinner in the Route 66 restaurant in Bar Harbor which surely had a lot of fun stuff to look at!

Day 3
This morning we woke up at 5:30 to go catch the sunrise At Jordan pond with The Bubbles in the background. It was a beautiful and mostly still morning so we got a nice reflection in the lake. The cloud cover was still very thick which limited the light.

We drove up to Cadillac mountain for views of whole park which was neat to see. I liked seeing the cruise ship docked out in the Harbor.

Next was Otter cliffs where we did some rock scrambling to get some nice views of the Acadia coastline.

You can see a lot of climbers playing on the cliffs…what a great place to climb!

At this point the rain picked back up. We drove to Bass harbor light house. We arrived at the wrong time of day because the tide was really far out so we didn’t get any water in the foreground. It was also grey and rainy so I just took a quick iPhone shot and did a sky replacement on my phone.

We then went to Echo lake but it was raining really hard so it was just a quick stop.

We saw SOOOO many turkeys alongside the road, it was crazy!

Next was Bubble pond in the rain.

After that we drove around to Rockport where we stayed the night. It was raining hard so we checked into our hotel and watched some football. After 1.5 hours, the rain stopped and the sky lightened up. We grabbed our cameras and headed out to catch the Sunset on west Penobscot bay. We found a vacant lot on the water and the tide had gone out. There was deep squishy seaweed, garbage, and lot of mud but that’s where we had to go to get some amazing photos. It was awesome!

Day 4
We started the day at 5:00am. Sunrise wasn’t until 6:45. We drove to the Marshall point light house in hopes of catching some stars over the lighthouse and then we hung around and just enjoyed a peaceful morning.

Next, we drove up Mt Battie in Camden hills state park to get a beautiful view of the harbor and the town of Camden far down below.

We had plans to visit a couple more light houses today but this was our first day of clear skies and sunshine so we decided to drive across the state and head into the White Mountains of New Hampshire as we thought the fall color would look great against a blue sky. The coastal areas were not at peak color yet, but farther inland was definitely at peak! We drove the Kancamagus highway. It was a beautiful drive on a beautiful day. Apparently everyone else thought that too though. There was a two mile traffic backup just to get into one of the overlooks.

Next we were going to hike the Flume in Franconia notch state park. We ended up leaving. I’ve never seen a state park like that. Every parking space was full, every spot on the grass was full, and then there was a 1/2 mile long line of cars along the highway. On our way out of the park we saw a 4 mile traffic jam trying to get in. We ended up driving down highway 16 to the east of mount Washington. We found a few nice places to stop and then we began the drive back to Portland.

A beautiful pond on the side of the road provided a perfect mirror reflection.

One of the things that we noticed about Maine was that many of the really nice coastal areas on both ocean and lakes are all private so it was often a real struggle to find spots where we could take pictures along the water. We were trying to find a good sunset spot on our way back to Portland but all the spots we found on google maps were private. This one was from an overpass overlooking the faraway mountains.

Day 5
Another day to wake up at sunrise. We headed back out to the Portland Head Lighthouse. When we were there early in the trip, the weather was terrible but this morning was just about perfect. There were photographers everywhere!! It was a beautiful sunrise.

Next we headed down the coast for a few other spots. This one was at the Old Orchard Beach pier.

We then found a great spot outside of Kennebunkport which was a little fishing area.

We continued down the coast but the weather turned sour really fast so we ended up heading back to our hotel to end our trip.

Day 6
I had a 5:30am flight back to Detroit.

Colorado 2018 – Family Trip

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This past June, our family flew to Denver and then did a road trip around Colorado. I wanted to share all the pictures and locations in case it helps anyone else plan a family trip to Colorado.
About 80% of these were taken with my iphone 7+ and then my favorite scenes were shot with a Fuji XT-2.

Day 1
We took an early flight into Denver, rented a minivan, picked up a cooler, some ice, and some food and then hit the road for Estes Park.
By the time we got there, found our hotel, etc. it was time for dinner and then we headed into Rocky Mountain National Park to enjoy the evening in the mountains.

We drove part way up the main mountain road for some nice views and then came back to Moraine Park where there were lots of deer and elk roaming around.
It was the most amazing weather this evening. 75 degrees and a soft breeze. It was perfect weather for elk watching. We must’ve seen at least 50.
3 of them ran across the road right in front of our car.

 

Day 2
Woke up at 5:00am, headed into Rocky Mountain National Park for a hike to Dream Lake and Emerald Lake. Passed a bunch of elk on the way. We were done with our hike at 10:00am and as we were leaving, the parking lot was filled with hundreds of cars. Perfect timing for us!!

In the afternoon, we crossed the the Rockies on trail ridge road. Check out the big bull elk we saw at the end of this photo set.

Next, we ended up on the west side of the park by Grand Lake and did the short walk to Adams falls.

In the evening, we drove up to the top of Mt Evans to catch the sunset at 14,000 feet. It didn’t disappoint. It was cold but gorgeous!!
We even got to see 6 mountain goats including a couple of babies.
We were right by the bathrooms at the top and they were right there. They were a bit too close for comfort but it was still really cool
If you are deciding between Mt. Evans and Pike’s Peak, I would strongly recommend Mt. Evans because you dont’ have to pay the $45 toll and you don’t have to worry about when it opens and closes.

Day 3
We drove up over Loveland pass then through Keystone and then on to Breckenridge.

In Breckenridge, the boys got to practice panning for gold, then they had their first gondola ride up to peak 8 where they have the Epic Discovery Adventure Park. The first adventure was the alpine sleds. We took the ski lift up even further which Reid was not a fan of. When we got on the ski lift it was 75 and sunny. By the time we got to the top 15 minutes later, it was raining and they closed the sled run. We had to wait for jeeps to drive everyone back down the mountain.

By the time we got down, the rain stopped so they did a giant maze, then some mini golf and by then the sun was out so we did the alpine sleds a couple times.  We all had a blast!

Next we drove to Aspen and spent the evening at Maroon Bells which is the most photographed spot in America!

Aspen was crazy expensive so we stayed in the neighboring town of snowmass that was 1/3 the price of Aspen.  Our hotel neighbor had a motorcycle which just had to be used for a photo.

Day 4
We drove out to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It was very rainy but still led to some incredible views.

We then drove out to Great Sand Dunes National Park. The drive with the storms was really cool and when it was time to play in the sand, the skies cleared up and the kids had a blast rolling down the sand hills and wrestling.
It was definitely the most photogenic spot on our trip due to the amazing evening light.

 

Day 5

This morning we did a high ropes course just outside of Salida. Mayz and Reid were both a bit scared at first but by the end, they wanted to do more!

Who would have thunk that our cheapest hotel of the trip would be a 4* Marriott with an indoor/outdoor pool. Not bad for $95. Thanks Hotwire!
We had a nice evening stroll in Garden of the Gods.

After dinner we went for a short walk around Garden of the Gods.  What an amazing place to have in the middle of a city like C-Springs!

Day 6

Today we started the day going way above the clouds up to the top of Pikes Peak at 14k+ feet.  Personally I found it to be super expensive and overly touristy. I guess I shouldn’t complain since we were also tourists, but Mt. Evans was much nicer.
However, it was a rainy day in Colorado Springs so with the low rain clouds, we were able to get WAY above the clouds up on Pike’s Peak.

Next we headed back down and did a tour of the Cave of the Winds. It was really cool learning about how the caves were formed.

Next we had a great lunch with Aunt Dawn and Uncle Jay who live in Colorado Springs.

From there it was on to Denver where we went to the Capitol building and then a quick visit to Mile high stadium but there were no tours left in the day so we didn’t get to go in to the stadium.

Day 7

Last night from our hotel, we had a beautiful sunset and this morning, these boys were champs with a 3:45am wakeup.
They held up pretty good today!!
Now it’s Home Sweet Home!!

Reynosa, Mexico Mission Trip

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This past Christmas, our family had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Reynosa, Mexico to build a small home for a family in need.
Here is a quick highlight video that summarizes our trip:

Our family met up with a group of 16 other people from a church in Kansas and headed down to Texas where we crossed the border into Reynosa, Mexico.
There, we met up with a much larger group of another 160 people made up of various teams from around the country.  This was all organized by an amazing orginazation called Strategic Alliance (www.StrategicAlliance.org).  The founders, Roland and Carolyn, have been going to Reynosa for 25 years.  They’ve built up relationships in the community and go there to help build houses in this extremely poor part of the world.  The community we got to serve has a large infrastructure built up around the nearby garbage dump where people scavange most of what they own.  Most shelters are build from old pieces of plywood, bricks, tires, tarps, anything they could find.
The houses that are getting built would be considered sheds in America but to them, they are huge upgrades.  They are 12’x20′ wood walls built onto a concrete slab.  They have windows, a door, a loft, and a metal roof.
When we arrived on site, the foundation had already been poured and there was a pile of lumber, metal, and screws for us to work with.
The materials had to be counted to make sure we had what we needed and then separated for what parts would be used for trim, walls, studs, roof purlins, etc.
It was then moved to an area where a team could start painting.  Unfortunately it was misty rain and cold all day so the paint was not drying properly and with the muddy ground, the freshly painted pieces got dirty very quickly.
By the end of the first day, we were able to get one of the walls put up.

  

The hotel that we were staying at was much nicer than we were expecting.  Other than not having hot water, it was actually a very comfortable room.  Their cafeteria provided our meals and drinks and we were well taken care of to make sure nobody would get sick from eating or drinking the wrong thing.
The hotel was a 20 minute drive from the worksite so on some of the days that were really long, some of the people could bring some of the younger kids back to the hotel to rest/relax.  The kids all helped out with painting and stuff and they also were able to play with some of the local kids down there.  The only problem was that every day we were there, it was cold and rainy so many of the kids didn’t come out in that unusual weather.  After we left, it was back up in the 70s and 80s.

By the end of day 2, we had all the walls up.

By day three we got most of the roof and loft done and then the 4th day we had to finish the house, decorate it, and hand over the keys.

After lunch, all the teams walked through the area leading to the dump and the dump itself where lots of people live and we handed out rice, beans, and tangerines to all the locals.  It was an amazing experience.  This little house that we built will be a home for grandma Marisella and her husband Saul along with potentially 13 other people (kids and grand kids).  I hope that it helped all the kids to realize just how blessed we are to live where we live and have the opportunities that we do.

If you are interested in going on a trip here, we will probably be going back over Thanksgiving with a group from the Detroit area so please reach out if you are interested.  To learn more, you can check out StrategicAlliance.org

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