Fine Art Travel Photography

1600 mile road trip in the Southeastern US including Georgia and the Carolinas

November 7, 2017 by Prem Leave a Comment

Last week I had an opportunity to explore part of the country that I never explored before…the Southeast.
Here is a highlight video which includes some aerial clips from my drone:

10/28/17
I had a short flight from Detroit to Atlanta. The flight was only $160 roundtrip which was amazing! The Atlanta airport is huge. I needed to take a train to get my luggage and then another train to get my rental car.
It was pouring rain so instead of trying to rush up to Amicolola State Park, instead I did my grocery shopping and had dinner.
That night I camped in the van and it was ccccccold. When I went to bed, I layered up and was sweating but by 5:00 am I was frigid. It was 30 degrees and the wind was whipping and roaring and it was shaking the van so I definitely did not sleep well.

10/29/17
I got up an hour before sunrise and found the top of Amicolola Falls. It was very pretty with hints of fall color starting to show up. A very light snow was falling. There wasn’t a whole lot to see from the top. The best place to start is the west ridge falls access trial. There is a small parking lot and an easy path to the lower side of the falls which then has another 175 steps down to the lowest viewing platform.

I then drove half an hour to the Monteluce winery but it was too late in the season. Most of the vines were dead but it was a really cool building.

The next stop was the Woody gap overlook which is where the Appalachian trail connects. It was insanely windy up there. The wind was whipping everywhere to the point where it was really uncomfortable to be outside for more than a minute.

I then went to Anna ruby falls which was pretty and easy to access. There was a decent amount of fall color. Due to the easy access, there were a lot of people so using a tripod for the waterfall while standing on the boardwalk was tough because people walking on there would cause camera shake. It was a very pretty scene with the multi-tiered falls and the color in the leaves was really nice!

As I drove to Toccoa, I hit a traffic jam which was weird being out in the middle of nowhere. Turns out there is a random Bavarian style German town called Helen which is a big tourist destination apparently. It was really overcrowded so I didn’t stop.
I continued on to Toccoa Falls which was a pretty wedding site with a simple waterfall as a backdrop.

I proceeded to Tallulah gorge which was a canyon with a few waterfalls. It was LOTS of steps and an ok waterfall but I had too many layers on and was super hot and sweaty so I didn’t explore all the falls. I went down a few hundred stairs which led to a swinging bridge across the canyon. It was another few hundred more steps down to the next falls but I opted to not do that. I didn’t even end up getting my camera out so this is just a quick iphone shot of L’eau d’Or Falls

From there I went to Black Rock Mountain state park. The view from the visitor center at 3800 ft was the best viewpoint. It was too early in the day so once I scoped that out, I drove back down to Clayton, rented a room, had dinner and then headed back up for sunset. The sky was pretty but it was a cloudy horizon so the undersides of the clouds never lit up from the sunset.
I stayed the night at the Days Inn in Clayton.

10/30/17
This morning I was up at 5:00am with two hours of night mountain driving so that I could catch the sunrise on the Blue Ridge parkway. Totally worth it by the way!! The East Fork Overlook was a perfect location to watch the morning light change over the mountain ridges. Parts of the parkway had trees that were covered in ice which was gorgeous. It was extremely cold and windy up there. Unfortunately at one point the road was shut down for ice so I had to drive 1.5 hour around to get to Asheville.

Next was a tour of the Biltmore mansion. Those Vanderbilt’s sure knew how to live it up!! I spent some time checking out the exterior grounds and also walked around the inside.

I then drove over an hour to Chimney Rock State Park for some hiking but unfortunately the park was closed for some reason.
About 3 hours drive from there was Corangee National Park Swamp. I did the 2.4 mike boardwalk loop but was somewhat disappointed that all I saw was lots of squirrels and a deer. Not what I expected from a swamp. Most of it was dry except the lake in the far corner. I had some photo ideas over there but decided to stay away from the low angle water shots because I didn’t know if there were gators in there. Better to be safe!

Then, it was a drive through the cotton fields and onwards towards Charleston.

It ended up being almost 10 hours of driving today.

10/31/17
This morning I woke up at 6:00am and drove down to The Folly beach pier on folly island to watch the sunrise. A good sunrise typically needs clouds for the sunlight to reflect off of. There were no clouds in the sky but there was still a warm red glow in the horizon which was amazing.

I drove an hour to Mt Pleasant and did a Tour of the Boone plantation. They have a long oak tree tunnel drive which was pretty but the morning light was too harsh from the side so I waited around a few hours for the sun to come up. The tour of the plantation house was interesting and it was neat to learn about the history of the slaves and the land. From a photographic perspective, the oak trees covered in spanish moss were just amazing!

Next, I drove over to Angel Oak Tree which is a gigantic 400 year old oak tree. It was really beautiful to see but I was yelled at by a guard for taking a picture with a tripod because she said that my tripod could hurt the tree. Ok.

Moving on, I drove to the Botany Bay Plantation on Edisto Island to hike out to the beach to photograph the old trees in the water. I was super disappointed to find out that it was closed. There is not much happening on that island at this time of year so most things were closed. It took a few hours with some help from Cheridy to find a place to stay for the night. Once the sun was lower in the sky, I went back to photograph the tree tunnel that leads to the plantation and then got some nice photos at sunset on the way back to where I was staying for the night.

11/1/17
This morning I was out the door around 6:00am and had to drive, park, and hike in the pitch dark which was super creepy. It was very still so you could hear every creature rustling in the woods in the dark which wasn’t fun being out here alone.

I got out to beach while the tide was still high. There were downed trees everywhere from the hurricane which made navigating difficult because there was no path. I had to wait for the water to recede and then run around a downed tree and then wait for more water to recede and run around the next downed tree. I have no idea where the tree was that I was going to photograph. And it was dark so it was very difficult to navigate. The recent hurricanes clearly did havoc as there was no clear path to walk on.
I got some beautiful photos with motion blur in the water. I eventually found the tree that I wanted to photograph but apparently it had also gotten knocked over by the hurricane. Bummer.

While doing really long exposures, I had two cameras with me so while one was on a tripod, the other was propped up in a tree which mostly worked out pretty good!

Next I drove to Statesboro to visit with my friend Lori Grice and her husband Dewayne. I got a tour of their studio, and then we went to lunch at Vandy‘s barbecue which is a very famous barbecue place in Statesboro.

After lunch, I drove to Savannah and went for a walk and enjoyed the beautiful 70° and sunshine. I just brought my phone with me and took some photos of some of the old houses and buildings.

I proceeded to the Wormsloe plantation just outside of Savannah to see the 1.5 mile long tunnel of oak trees. It was amazing!

I then drove through Savanna during rush hour to get back up to Hilton head Island to visit my friend David Gerwals. He is an amazing photographer among many other things that he does. We spent the evening talking about business. I stayed the night at his beautiful house right near the ocean.

11/2/17
This morning I photographed the sunrise on the beach at Hilton head, and then I started heading south.

I passed through a small fishing village called Damian and photographed a few of the shrimp boats on the river.

Next I headed to Jekyll Island. I explored some areas that I wanted to photograph later but right now it was clear skies and sunny which is not good weather for photography so I went and rented a hotel and relaxed for a few hours.

Later in the day I went back and spent a few hours exploring the driftwood on the beach and photographing the dead trees as the tide and light changed. It was mesmerizing and the time just flew by. By the time the sun was down, the mosquitos started to come out in full force so it was time to go!

11/3/17
Today, I woke up at 5:00am and headed back out to Jekyll beach long before sunrise to photograph the stars with the gnarly trees. It was incredibly peaceful. No wind. No bugs. No people. Just me and nature. Initially when I arrived, the nearly full moon was still out which lit the trees and the night sky. I was there long enough to watch the moon set and then watch the sunrise. It was a fantastic morning!
The tide changes dramatically in an hour time span. Driftwood that you can walk out to would be 40 ft out in the water in just a short time.

I then drove about 4.5 hours to Providence Canyon State Park which reminded me a lot of Bruce Canyon in Utah or maybe better yet, the smaller Red Canyon that is just outside of Bryce. Providence is a small canyon that is out of the way but it was still pretty.

Another 1.5 hour drive to the Callaway Gardens to kill some time. It is a big campus that has a lot of areas to check out. I only had an hour before they closed so I did a loop around everywhere and then stopped in at the butterfly garden and the discovery center. It looks like they also have a beach, zip lines, climbing walls, golf, and lots of other neat things to do.

Next it was back to the Atlanta airport to start packing gear before heading home.

1500 Mile Family Vacation Road Trip around California

June 6, 2017 by Prem Leave a Comment

In May of this year, our family headed out to California to hit some of the main natural attractions.

5/20/17

We flew into Los Angeles, rented a minivan and hit the road. We arrived very late at night and by the time we got our rental car it was already close to 1:00am.
I was trying to find a hotel with breakfast included and all the places I called were booked. Finally I found a place and got us a room.
Unfortunately it was a total dump. The hotel was gross and the “free breakfast” was literally peanut butter and jelly served out of a cooler in the parking lot…yikes!

5/21/17
The next day we drove the 4-5 hours to Sequoia National Park and enjoyed the mountain vistas and the gigantic/beautiful trees. Some of these trees are mind blowing because they are so huge!!

I love this tree that has been lying on the ground for the last 100 years. At one point, a family even lived inside this tree.

This helps give a size perspective on how big these things are!

Next, we headed over to the neighboring park of King’s Canyon. The gorge off the side of the road is beautiful.

One of our stops was Grizzly Falls. The wind was blowing like crazy and with the gushing waterfall and all the spray coming of the falls, it felt like we were in a hurricane.

Some areas of King’s Canyon really remind me of driving through the alps.

Near the end of the King’s Canyon road, we found this pretty little waterfall. I had never been to King’s Canyon, so I was expecting that the end of the road was going to lead to a vista point but it didn’t. It just ended in a small loop that turns you around the other way.

As we were leaving the park, the sun was setting which created some really pretty views with the mountain backdrop.

Looking back east, I love seeing the winding mountain road leading into the park.

We ended up driving about halfway to Yosemite and spent the night.

5/22/17
The next morning we drove into Yosemite National Park. Yosemite has always been one of my favorite places but the infrastructure there is just not able to handle the crowds. It took 45 minutes to get into the park waiting in line at the entrance. Once in the park, there was an hour long traffic jam. It then took us half an hour to find a parking spot. By the time we found parking, it was time for lunch. We wanted to go do a short hike. We waited 15 minutes for the shuttle to come, then the shuttle which was taking us about 3 miles took 45 minutes due to all the traffic jams. We did a really nice 1.5 hour hike to Vernal Falls. On the way back, we waited one hour for a shuttle with enough room for the 5 of us, then the 3 mile ride too another 1.25 hours to get back to the Lodge. In other words, it took us almost 6 hours of driving/waiting to do a 1.5 hour hike.
It’s beautiful, but the traffic, crowds, and waiting were exhausting. I will only go back if it’s off-season.

This photo was taken on the trail to Bridal Veil Falls.

Tunnel View is one of my favorite viewpoints in the world. The waterfalls and unique landscape are mesmerizing.

Here is a quick photo from the mist trail at Vernal Falls

In the evening when the park started to empty out, we drove up to Glacier Point to watch the sunset and that was definitely one of the highlights of Yosemite.

Here is a pretty shot of the side of halfdome being lit up by the sun.

From this view you can see Nevada Falls and Vernal Falls way down in the valley.

On our drive back into the valley, we had some beautiful sunset views.

5/23/17

This morning, Kole and I woke up at 5:00am to go do photos around the valley at sunrise. We found a few really pretty spots along the river and then went back to Tunnel View.

We then met back up with everyone else and spent a little time exploring the valley before doing a short walk to lower Yosemite falls.

Next, we drove out to San Francisco. Driving through the central valley in California, it was 102 degrees. 45 minutes later, in San Francisco, it was 65 degrees.
We stopped for dinner at pier 39 which was a fun place to explore. The boys loved the Sea Lions.

Next, we stopped at the Palace of Fine Arts.

We hoped to see a sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge from the Marin headlands, but that whole area was shrouded in clouds and fog. We stayed at the Mirage hotel by the zoo.

5/24/17
The next morning, sunrise was cloudy. We planned to drive up to Twin Peaks for a view of the city, but that was also covered in fog. We drove out to Baker Beach. The boys played around on the beach and we enjoyed the nice view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

After that, we drove around city and stopped at the famoun Lombard street and then moved on to the Painted Ladies where we had a picnic lunch.

Our plan was to drive all the way down highway 1, but most of highway 1 was closed for mudslides. We were able to drive about 20 miles of the 100 miles before the road was closed and we had to turn around. It was very cloudy.

We stayed the nigh at the El Castell hotel in seaside. They had a cheap price, decent room, good enough breakfast and a heated pool so the kids had a blast.

5/25/17
The next morning, I started to feel really sick so we had a slow morning. Cheridy and the boys went and had some pool time while I stayed in bed in the room.
Since Highway 1 was closed, we had to drive back inland to make our way south. We stopped at the famous Hearst Castle and did a tour.

5/26/17
Todaywe made our way out back out to the coast and stopped off in Malibu, Santa Monica to explore the Pier, and then Venice Beach.

After that we got to meet up with cousin Caleb who lives in the West Hollywood area and he took us up to the Griffith Observatory and then we had a fun dinner at a Korean barbeque place near his apartment.

5/27/17
Today was just a long flight home with some rest on the plane!

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Idaho Landscape Photography – 2017 Trip – 2200 Miles

April 25, 2017 by Kati 2 Comments

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to travel with my buddy Ben for an Idaho landscape photography trip. We had a quick stop in Wyoming too! Here is a video that shows some of the photo highlights along with a few aerial clips from my drone. If you want to know the specific location details for some of the images, continue reading.

Day 1 – 4/15/17
I flew to Boise and met Ben there. We rented a car and drove to Bruneau Canyon Overlook and saw some beautiful evening views. This canyon is amazing! I’ve never been to Idaho before, and the views really took my breath away. It was getting late, so we called it a night after that.

Day 2 – 4/16/17
We woke up nice and early, packed our gear, and drove to the Bruneau Dunes State Park for photos of the sunrise.

After that, we drove over to the Shoshone Falls, which is near Twin Falls, ID. Shoshone Falls is a beautiful, thundering waterfall. We started on the south side of the falls, which gave us soft light due to all the clouds. This view is from the south side of the river which is the main park. After that, headed to the north rim which is much higher up. We scrambled down a rock wall and walked out to the edge, and we were met with a beautiful view, but the backlit spray of the water blocked the view of the falls so the best photos were from the south side.

We then packed up again and drove to Totonia and took photos of the Tetons mountains from the west side. This mountain range looked stunning reflecting in the water!

We then drove around to the east side of the Tetons to Grand Teton National Park and took photos at a place called Mormon Row.

We then took one more stop for the Tetons at the Snake River Overlook.

Our last stop of the day for the Tetons was at Jenny Lake, where we saw a coyote on the way! He just stood there, posing for the camera.
After our time at Jenny Lake, we headed back the way we came, hoping to catch a great sunset. Unfortunately, it was pretty cloudy so we didn’t get the view we were hoping for, but we were both very satisfied with the stunning pictures we had gotten today.

On our way back to the park entrance, we saw a heard of Elk on the side of the road.

We stopped at the Snake River Overlook again and even though it was overcast, it was still very pretty.

4/17/17 – Day 3
We woke up nice and early and headed back to Mormon Row for the sunrise, but again it was very cloudy which made for some beautiful, eerie photos.

We then went back to the Jenny Lake dam but then it started raining. Classic moody spring weather! It sure makes for some dramatic photos though.

We left Grand Tetons National Park and headed to Falls Creek Falls, which was an incredible waterfall! Of course, when we got there it started raining, but we patiently waited in our car for an hour and a half for the rain to stop so we could get out there and capture some stunning photos! From the viewpoint we were at, only about half of the waterfall is visible, but luckily I had my drone, so I was able to capture the entire thing.

We drove back up through Tetonia to see the Mesa Falls. We got within 4 miles of the falls when the road was closed due to snow! That was a bummer, but luckily we had gotten our waterfall fix earlier that day. We passed through the desolate landscape of Craters of the Moon National Monument and continued driving until we had a dinner spot in Ketchum.

After Dinner, we continued on to Stanley, ID where we stopped for the night.

4/18/17 – Day 4
Like any dedicated photographers would do, we woke up early to capture some sunrise photos. But when we looked outside and saw it was cloudy and rainy, it seemed best to just go back to sleep and catch up on sleep after so many long days. We were able to capture a few winter scenes but were mostly rained out in the morning.

Later on in the morning, we headed out to take some photos of the Sawtooth Mountains, but it was mostly hidden by clouds with a few faint glimpses of the mountains.

In the afternoon, the clouds started to break and we could see the mountains so we got out there and got some pictures! This reflection was off of a small pond.

The evening light hitting the mountains was spectacular and the breaking storm clouds made the scenes really interesting.

4/19/17 – Day 5
This morning was supposed to be clear and beautiful but we didn’t account for the 100% humidity which led to low hanging clouds that obscured the mountains. when we drove a few miles outside of town, we got away from the pockets of low clouds and everything opened up!

Once we got back to Stanley, it was sunny and beautiful outside!

Not sure why this had to happen but…it did.

We then had a long drive over to the next valley to Mccall, ID. Payette Lake, ID had lots of melting ice. It was neat to listen to the crackling noise as the ice was shifting and melting across the lake.

We went up to the northwest side of the lake to capture that perfect mirror reflection. We wanted to explore the area more, but all the roads were still closed for snow.

After dinner we headed over to Ponderosa Pines State Park. Most of the roads were closed from snow but there was beach access by the visitor center. There were still a small amount of bobbing ice chunks that made for a nice foreground.

4/20/17 – Day 6

It was – of course – grey and rainy when we woke up today which seemed to be the theme of the trip. We started the long 5.5 hour drive up to Coeur D’Alene. The drive gave us some picturesque views, with green canyons and rolling hills. It was too rainy to stop and photograph at that moment, but I was looking forward to coming back down the same way and capturing it on our way back tomorrow.

When we arrived at Coeur D’Alene, it was very cloudy, and it stayed that way most of the day with a few breaks. We scoped out some spots for sunrise and sunset pictures, and just enjoyed whatever nature gave us. That’s the thing about travel photography – you just have to accept whatever the day gives you!

We found some nice spots on the west side of the Lake.

4/21/17 – Day 6
We woke up at 5:30 am again and walked out to one of the spots we scoped out yesterday (Tubbs Hill) to catch the sunrise, but unfortunately it was gray and overcast, so we didn’t get much…other than cold!

With the help of a bit of photoshop to enhance the colors, I was able to get this slow exposure of the water moving in and out on the beach.

We had an 8.5 hour drive back down to Boise this morning…plus another 4 hours of detours and stops so we hit the road very early. We took the long way back down along highway 97 alongside Harrison Slough. There were some really beautiful views along the way.

We ended up stopping at a spot called Pullman to photograph the green rolling hills. The way the light was hitting the hills was beautiful!

We saw some great sights that day, though some of them were at very bad times of day for photography. When the sun is harsh and directly overhead, the photos just do not turn out great. On our way back, we saw some horses on the side of the highway, which we had to stop to capture.

We just continued our drive all the way down to Boise.

4/22/17 – Day 7

5:30am flight home to start the day. I had never been to Idaho before, and this trip was a great introduction to the beautiful landscapes that Idaho offers. While it was typical spring weather and many days were gray and rainy, we really enjoyed capturing some fun images. Travel photography has always been a passion of mine, and this trip was no different.

To see more Travel Photography that I’ve taken over the years, click here.

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Our favorite photos and photo sessions from 2016

January 17, 2017 by Prem Leave a Comment

2016 was a very busy year for Arising Images and Acre 6. We photographed landscapes, high school seniors, weddings, families, volleyball, home interiors, commercial businesses, head shots, and lots more. Trying to come up with a list of top favorite photos is extremely difficult. From the 148 jobs that we photographed, there were HUNDREDS of favorite photographs and memories from the year but we narrowed it down to our top 75. These are our favorites for various reasons; some of them because they were amazing photos, some were awesome people, or some sparked incredible memories for us. It was really difficult to leave people out but we had to cut back as even 75 is probably too many.
Here they are in no particular order.

Castles, Mountains and Lakes in Switzerland and Germany

May 14, 2016 by Prem Leave a Comment

If you’re interested in seeing pictures of castles, mountains and lakes, keep reading!!

This trip started because my friend Ben and I just turned 40 this year. We’ve been doing landscape photography trips together for nearly 20 years and decided to go somewhere good! Cheridy and I went to some of these regions on our honeymoon but that was before I knew how to take good pictures so I was really excited to go back.

Here is a highlight slideshow that also contains video clips that I did not include in the blog post below.

5/3/16 Day 1
Today was strictly a travel day. Here’s a helpful tip for Michigan folks; Check pricing on Air Canada from Windsor or Toronto. I was able to get my flight for $650 instead of $1300 by flying from Toronto instead of Detroit. It was worth the 4 hour drive to save that much money!

5/4/16 Day 2
We both were coming from two different parts of the United States but we were able to get flights that landed within 30 minutes of each other and we met up in the baggage claim area of the Munich airport.
The first stop on our trip was Schloss Linderhoff which was a roughly 2 hour drive from the airport. It was a quaint little castle with beautifully manicured grounds in southern Germany.

Our next stop was Lake Plansee in Austria. It was roughly 20 minutes away but the direct road through the mountains was closed for construction so we had to drive 1.5 hours around. It was a pretty gloomy and gray day so the beautiful lake did not shine like it could have. We move on to our evening stop in Hohenschwangau Germany which was one of the top highlights for our trip; Neuschwanstein Castle.

There is a long and fairly steep walk to get up to the castle but it’s definitely worth it. There is also a bridge over a nearby waterfall that gives an unobstructed view of the castle with the valley behind it but unfortunately that was closed for construction.

That evening we also photographed the neighboring Castle Hohenschwangau which is also a very unique castle that is only a few hundred yards from Neuschwanstein Castle.

There is a small lake right next to the castle that is a beautiful place to enjoy nature.

That night I planned to get a few more aerial shots of the castles but I accidentally crashed my drone into a tree during a bad takeoff and it broke the camera off so that was unfortunate on our first day out photographing.
That evening we stayed at Pension Albrecht which had a balcony view of the castle (Room #5). Neuschwanstein Castle is 620m from the balcony according to our host. That evening we had a fantastic dinner at Alpenstupen Restaurant and did a few night shots of the castle once it was lit up.

5/5/16 Day 3
In the morning we woke up and did a few more castle photos before heading out on a long drive.

We drove from southern Germany into southern Switzerland as we headed towards Zermatt. On our way, one of the mountain passes (Furka) was closed and we had to put our car onto a train and have the train take us to the other side of the mountain. That was unexpected and interesting to say the least!
Zermatt is known for three things. It has amazing skiing and outdoor activities. It is a car free town so you have to park in the next town over (Tasch) and take a train in. It is at the base of the world famous Matterhorn mountain.

We stayed in the Superior room of Hotel Alpenblick which gave us a nice view from the balcony of the famous mountain. This gave us the chance to photograph it with the stars at night.

5/6/16 Day 4
We woke up first thing in the morning with the sunrise light (6:10am) to photograph the mountain once again.

After breakfast, we took the train back to our car in Tasch and then drove on to Sion. Sion is a beautiful city that mixes modern with medieval. There are two hills that rise up right in the middle of the city. One has a fortress, and the other has an old cathedral and chapel.
As we drove in, we found a spot on the expressway with a gorgeous view.

We then spent some time hiking up both hills and taking photos from different perspectives.

Our next stop was Chateau D’Aigle which is a beautiful castle surrounded by vineyards with a background of the Alps.
We found a good view from a road in the vineyards away from it.

Then we drove into the nearby Parc Naturael Regional Greuyere Pays-d’Enhaut. It was very pretty with towns speckled along the hillside. We drove out of the park towards the town of Gruyers. There was a pretty hilltop castle. It was REALLY crowded at the castle so we drove out by the air strip for pictures but we need to come back earlier in the day when the light is better.

We then drove to Lausanne which is an incredible city on the north shores of Lake Geneva. We spent a long time trying to find the cathedral which is one of the famous sites in Lausanne. It was easy to spot but difficult to drive to as we found the roads to be quite confusing even with GPS. We eventually made our way there and it was worth it!

Lausanne was the farthest west we would go on this trip. We then had a nice drive along the waterfront towards Montreux which is on the eastern end of Lake Geneva. Montreux is known for the famous Chateau de Chillon which is an incredible medieval castle with a jaw dropping mountain backdrop perched right on the shores of Lake Geneva.
Parking in the areas where the best views are was a bit challenging so we spent some time driving around to make sure we knew where to go at the right time of the evening for the best photos.

This evening, we stayed at Hotel du Port which we were not impressed by and we had dinner at their restaurant across the street; Restaurant Oasis. We did not love the food but the location right on the lake was very impressive.

5/7/16 Day 5
We got up nice and early to start a long day and also to photograph the beautiful morning light on the lake.

We headed back to Gruyers for some morning castle shots with the mountain backdrop. It was definitely worth going back to!

One of the things that kept catching my eye were the stunning golden fields. I googled it and found that they are fields of Canola flowers. The colorful fields and blossoming trees were gorgeous.

We then drove to Lake Thun where there were three beautiful little castles. The first was on the west side of the lake; Castle Shadeau with beautiful flowers and perfectly manicured grounds.

On the North side of the Lake was Schloss Oberhofen. It’s a really cool castle that sticks out into the water. We weren’t there at the best time of day for photography but I was still able to get a good shot.

I really liked the tunnel of vines on the opposite side of the castle.

On the South side of Lake Thun was Schloss Spietz. My favorite view of this castle was from the flower gardens in the front.

Behind the castle is a beautiful old chapel.

We then drove up the Lauterbrunnen valley with the towering peaks from the Alps on both sides. We stopped at Staubbach Falls which is a nearly 1000 ft. waterfall plummeting off the cliff. There were actually multiple falls in this area but this one was the most impressive.

The next stop was Grindelwald which is a quaint mountain town deep in the Alps. One of the main touristy things to do in Grindelwald is to take the Jungfrau railway to the top of Jungfraujoch. We planned to do that but although it was a clear day outside, there were deep clouds at the very top masking all the views so we stopped at Kleine Scheidegg and got some good mountain and snow pics. The train up the mountain is an impressive cog railway system. The big bank of clouds in the background are where the train goes to if you take it all the way to the top. Jungfraujoch is the highest train station in the world.

This picture blows me away. I didn’t notice when I was taking the picture but when editing it, I had it blown up large on my monitor and noticed right near the middle of the picture is a hut. What a crazy place to build!!

Around Grindelwald, they have some hotels that are really high up in the mountains that you can only get to by cable car. Unfortunately all of those were booked already (or possibly not open for the season yet). We found a hotel that was ok, not worth blogging about, and after checking in, we ended up driving back down the mountain towards Interlachen and then on towards Lake Brienze which is another huge lake on the opposite side of Lake Thun from Interlachen. We stopped at Schloss Isetwald for a few quick photos.

It was late in the day and we were hungry so we headed back to downtown Grindelwald for dinner and then stayed around to do some evening photos of the town.

Wow, that was a lot of stuff for one day!

5/8/16 Day 6
In the mountains, there is often not much of a sunrise because the mountains block a lot of the light so we slept in a bit this morning before we got up to get on the road. As we were driving towards Engelberg we stopped at an overlook with the little town of Lungern below.

On our way there, I had to laugh when I looked up at the GPS and saw THIS:

It was a circular corkscrew like tunnel in the mountain with a set of switchbacks on top of it!!

Anyway, we then drove up the Engelberg valley and took the Mt. Titlus cable car up to the top of the mountains. There were LOTS of people!!! It was also extremely windy up there!! It was beautiful but really cold at the top.

The last section of cable car is actually a rotating cable car. It rotates 360 degrees by the time you get to the top. Although that seemed awesome at first, when you cram it full of 30 people and you’re all smushed together…it’s not as enjoyable as you might think.

At the top of the mountain, they also have a suspension bridge called the Cliff Walk that you can walk out on. It is at an elevation of about 10,000 ft. However, we were up in a cloud and couldn’t see much of anything…although it was still pretty cool!

If you watched the video at the top of this post, I put in a quick time lapse clip from the cable car on the ride down to Engelberg.

Next we drove to what ended up being one of my favorite spots on the trip. We found an unexpected surprise with Schloss Meggenhorn on Lake Lucerne. It’s a small Chateau built on a hill with an incredible view of the entire lake. The grounds are amazing and behind the castle is a hill that you can go up with even more magnificent views. We were blown away by how beautiful it was there on this perfect 75 degree day with blue skies and white puffy clouds.

Just up the road was Neuhabsburg Castle but that is private property so we could only get a quick photo from a few blocks away.

From there we headed down to Vitznau on the coast of Lake Lucerne where we would connect with another cog railway that would take us up Mt. Rigi. The train ride up has spectacular views as you get higher and higher above Lake Lucerne.

Mt. Rigi has a hotel right at the very top but it wasn’t open for the season yet so we stayed at Hotel Alpina at the train stop called Rigi Kaltbad-First. It’s a nice little hotel and restaurant with some pretty views of the Alps. Just know that despite the creative photos they advertise with, there are obstructed views due to the train station and an apartment complex. It was still a nice place to sit and enjoy the evening.

We took the train the rest of the way up to the top of Mt Rigi. Everything was closed so we just took some pics and enjoyed the fresh mountain air.

That evening we had dinner at the hotel and just watched the light color change in the mountains.

It’s pretty awesome to be able to get a photo like this from your hotel balcony!

5/9/16 Day 7
The next morning we took the first train down the mountain and then drove to Naturpark Thal which had an old medieval castle on a hill above the town.

From there, it was on to Aarburg which is a medieval city built on a hill. We didn’t go into the city but just found a couple of unique vantage points.

We drove on to Schaffhausen with the Kleinfall waterfall. It was like a mini Niagara Falls with boat tours that would take people out to experience the mist and power of the water.

The next stop is Sigmaringen Castle looming above the river. We had light and color to capture this amazing scene and even had a white swan floating in the river.

Next we went to Hohenzollern castle. It’s a huge castle on top of a hill with a view of the town below. To view the castle we went to the next mountain over which was called Zellerhorn. It was a 20 minute walk from the parking lot to a beautiful overlook with the majestic castle in the distance. This is one of my favorite views from the trip.

I misplanned the last day of the trip and didn’t leave us enough to do. Instead of having a relaxing day to unwind before our flight home, we decided to drive all the way over to Austria so that we could have one more day exploring the Alps. It was too late in the day to drive all the way so we had a long drive back towards Munich and stayed at a nice hotel called hotel Mutz where they had a terrific breakfast spread.

5/10/16 Day 8
We got up early and drove in Munich rush hour to head towards the mountains in Austria. Unfortunately the weather was pretty miserable and it was grey and raining all day. Our first plan was to drive up the Grossglockner high alpine road for a true mountain driving experience. We had a few stops that led to some fun pictures. We saw this waterfall on a mountainside across the valley.

When we got to the top of the mountain pass, we were definitely up in the clouds! It was neat to look down and see the switch-backed road below.

The occasional breaks in the clouds were beautiful!

As we drove back down the mountain, we had a quick stop in a town called Hieligenblut which has a high steepled church that commands attention.

Next we drove a few more hours to Hallstatt. Hallstaat is one of the most photogenic towns in the world. It sits right on a beautiful lake. BUT…it was pouring rain and the only good viewpoint of the town we had to walk to so we skipped it because the photos wouldn’t have been good anyway.
Here is a picture that I had taken from there about 10 years ago.

Today we spent almost 12 hours in the car and due to the rough weather, we really didn’t see much but…all the other days on our trip were fantastic so we shouldn’t be complaining!

We started driving back to Munich and I had to stop for one more photo of the yellow Canola fields.

5/11/16 Day 9
Today was a travel day to fly home. The only thing I want to add to this blog post is just a couple of travel tips for if you are traveling in Germany, Austria or Switzerland.

1) The booking.com iPhone app is fantastic for booking hotels quickly while in Europe!

2) Make sure to read your rental car agreement carefully. Ben found a deal for $150 for a car for the week. When we got to Germany we were told that we had to pay an additional $600 due to other local fees and insurance. Even though Ben’s credit card provided insurance, since we didn’t have anything in writing, they required us to buy their insurance which was almost $450 of that extra fee. The paperwork that he received in the Stats said that we didn’t need the insurance as long as we were covered but they never mentioned bringing written documentation. They would not give us the car unless we signed up for the extra fees and if we didn’t, we would have lost the $150 that we had already paid. I advise that you don’t rent from Dollar, Thrifty, or Hertz if you go to the Munich airport. They are partners out there.

3) Some countries require you buy a vignette which is a driving pass which allows you to drive on the highways of that country. You can only buy them at gas stations near the borders and they are typically inexpensive. The vignette for Austria lasts for 10 days and I think it was around $10. The one for Switzerland is good for a year and that one was around $40.

4) If you need to take any trains or cable cars or anything, The google maps app typically has current schedules for everything.

5) If you want to use your Verizon phone while traveling? They have a travel pass which is $10 per day which allows you to use your standard minutes and data with no additional roaming or long distance charges as long as you are calling home or calling within the country that the pass is for. It worked really good for me. However, it didn’t always do a good job picking up the right carrier and sometimes I had to switch the carrier from auto selection to manually select one and I would then get a much better connection. When I landed in Munich I had no service which I couldn’t understand. Meanwhile Ben was picking up a full LTE signal from a different carrier. Once I switched, I was fine.

6) Many hotels will have a free breakfast included which typically has bread, meats, cheeses, hard boiled eggs, croissants, jelly, cereal, milk, orange juice, tea/coffee. Definitely try to stay at a place with a free breakfast as it will save quite a bit of time and money.

I hope these travel tips were helpful!

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