Category: Travel Page 50 of 56

Touring the Kentucky Bourbon Trail

On October 31, 2016

This past weekend, Chris and I decided to take a little last-minute trip down to Kentucky. Chris has been talking about going to a Bourbon distillery for quite some time, so I knew we would spend some time on the Bourbon Trail. First, we stopped at Chris’ favorite, Buffalo Trace. They offer a free tour that tells the story of Kentucky Bourbon at the longest continually operating distillery. I really enjoyed that this tour wasn’t all about Bourbon, it also gave a nice history of the area. Afterwards, we headed to Wild Turkey. For $10 per person, we rode a shuttle around the modern distillery and learned about the bourbon making process. I recommend both tours. Both of them included samples, although you do get more at Turkey Hill and the Turkey Hill Tour also included a rocks glass.

About the Photo:
This shot was actually taken with my iPhone 7 in HDR mode. I did basic edits and converted it to black and white in Lightroom Mobile. I uploaded it to Instagram and it blew up quickly. Before we even started the next tour, it had already received over 200 likes, making it my most popular picture on Instagram. It was taken in the hand bottling room at Buffalo Trace.

Camera Gear:
iPhone 7 in HDR mode. I meant to shoot in RAW but I forgot to open Lightroom ahead of time and with how fast this part of the tour was going, I was worried I’d miss my shot if I tried to open it. Apple, if you’re reading this, thank you for adding RAW photography to iOS 10. For the next step, please add RAW functionality to the native camera app. Thanks in advance!

Date Taken:
October 29, 2016

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. To plan your Kentucky Bourbon Tour, visit BourbonCountry.com.

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Kitch-iti-Kipi

By Ashleigh

On October 3, 2016

In Hiking, Michigan, Project: State Parks

Kitch-iti-Kipi, AKA “The Big Spring” is the largest freshwater spring in Michigan. When I heard about this place, I had to add it to our road trip. Yes, it added a few extra hours to our longest driving day, but the view was unlike anything else I’ve seen. The only way to see the spring is by large raft that is maneuvered onto the spring by a wheel that propels the raft along a rope across the spring. An interesting fact about the spring is that the water is always 45 degrees so even in the dead of winter, it does not freeze. In fact, when it is cold, the fish congregate in the spring because it is warmer than surrounding waters.

About the Photo:
The spring was very difficult to photograph. It was a dreary, rainy day when we visited so the sky in my pictures was unusable. The above photo the best one I got and I actually took it on my phone and did a little Instagram editing.

Camera Gear:
iPhone 6

Date Taken:
June 27, 2016

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. To plan your visit to the springs, visit the Michigan DNR.

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100 Years of National Parks

By Ashleigh

On September 19, 2016

In Michigan, National Parks & Places

August marked 100 years of the National Park Service and for two days, all US National Parks were free. We used this as an excuse to visit our nearest National Park, the Sleeping Bear Dunes. While this event meant more crowds, its always good to visit the dunes and realize just how small you are in the grand scheme of things.

Back in college, we made the trek down this behemoth of a dune at sunset. If you are adventurous and fit, I highly recommend you do it at least once! With the beautiful water on one side and on the other, a dune that seems to go all the way to the sky, it is an awe-inspiring experience. Although the walk back up is not easy! The sign at the top says its a 2-hour climb. I doubt it took us that long, but I did realize how out of shape I was. I’m not planning on repeating this trek, but I am very glad I did it!

About the Photo:
With this shot, I really wanted to capture just how large the dune is. I used my widest lens and tried to get an angle that also captured the far dune. If there weren’t the people climbing the dune in the photo, I would have loved to try out a longer shutter speed to show movement in the clouds.I like the shadows the clouds left in the water.

Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 18-55 mm kit lens, handheld

Date Taken:
August 28, 2016

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page.

Wordless Wednesday: Sleeping Bear Vista

By Ashleigh

On September 14, 2016

In Michigan, National Parks & Places, Wordless Wednesday

Pure Michigan Beach

By Ashleigh

On September 5, 2016

In Camping, Michigan, Project: State Parks

For one final summer hurrah, Chris and I took a camping trip to Van Buren State Park in South Haven. While deciding what park to visit, I knew I wanted to be on the water, but other than that I wasn’t too picky as to where we would go (we even considered going back to Straits but the lower campgrounds were already full) after checking a few times, an spot opened up at Van Buren so we jumped on it! I began looking into what to do in South Haven and discovered that our trip coincided with the Blueberry Festival. We always enjoy a good Pure Michigan festival! We explored downtown South Haven and walked out to the lighthouse (since it was a festival, it was impossible to get a shot of it without a million people in it), and got some blueberry jam at one of the festival tents.

This was my first visit to Van Buren State Park. Our site was very sandy, which made our tent very sandy due to the rain, but it seemed like other sites had more grass. The beach at Van Buren was just a short walk from the campground. Once again, the bathroom facilities did not live up to Straits, but at this point I wasn’t surprised. One of the strangest things about the park is that it wrapped around a working nuclear power plant. On the way to the beach you encounter a fence with “no trespassing, violators will be shot” signs posted every few feet. Other than that, it was a pretty quiet park and if I was looking to camp in the area again, I would definitely stay here again.

About the Photo:
After exploring the festival, we headed out to the beach to capture the sunset. I love capturing the sunset over Lake Michigan because you get an unobstructed view but oftentimes it is difficult to find a compelling subject. After taking a few kind of boring sunset shots I pointed the camera down and captured the colors in a reflection of the receding tide. To get the motion of the water, I used a long (1.6 second) shutter speed.

Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 18-55 kit lens, on a tripod

Date Taken:
August 13, 2016

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Chris Corner #13: Scott Falls

By Chris

On September 2, 2016

In Chris' Corner, Michigan, Travel

Scott Falls by Christopher Mowers on 500px.com

We nearly didn’t make it.

That morning, we set out for Munising, MI from Houghton, MI. It was one of our shorter days of travel. Because it was so short, we decided to try to see some waterfalls, and our short trip turned long and frustrating.

First up was our attempt to visit Laughing Whitefish Falls State Park. Apparently there is a right and wrong way to try to get to this park- and the two track that we tried to follow only was only an hour long exercise in proving that our Kia Soul, awesome as it is, is no match for Michigan’s more rugged terrain.

Scott Falls, pictured above, was our second waterfall stop of the day. Our information said it was simply off of M-28. Great! This one should be a piece of cake to find. So we pulled into the roadside scenic turn out, walked to the shore of Lake Superior, and couldn’t help but notice that despite being at Scott Falls scenic turnout, that there was no presence of any waterfall.

Frustrated, we continued east, but luckily in a few hundred feet (if that) we saw the waterfall on the other side of M-28. We had to pull over on the side of the road and walk back, but after all that frustration it was nice to get a decent photo of Scott Falls
About the photo:
It’s a long exposure on a tripod. Exactly what you’d expect for a waterfall shot.

Camera Gear: Nikon D3100 with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens.

Date Taken: June 29, 2016

Thank you for reading. You can see my best work on 500px and can also find pictures of the “trying my hardest to be good at this” type on Flickr or Pixoto.
Also, be sure to like the Go See Do Facebook Page, and follow Ashleigh on Instagram and Flickr! Check out our Gear page to see inside our camera bag!

Wordless Wednesday: Miner’s Castle

By Ashleigh

On August 31, 2016

In Michigan, National Parks & Places, Road Trip, Wordless Wednesday

Epic Michigan Road Trip: Recap

By Ashleigh

On August 29, 2016

In Camping, Michigan, Project: State Parks, Road Trip

Wow! I can’t believe this summer-long blog series is coming to an end. What am I going to write about now? Now that I’ve had some time to reflect on this epic trip, I wanted to give you a little recap and share some of my favorite things from the journey.

Favorite Campground: Straits State Park lower campground, St. Ignace. You just can’t beat that view! And that was the bathroom I now measure every campground bathroom to. I would love to make a trip to Straits an annual occasion!

Favorite Tourist Attraction: Soo Locks Boat Tour – Its one thing to watch the Locks from the viewing platform its another entirely to get to ride through them!

Best Natural Wonder: The Big Spring (AKA Kitch-iti-kipi) – This was a really tough decision, but I have never seen anything like this before. The water was so calm and such a unique color! It was breathtaking!

Best Sunset Spot: McLain State Park Campground – unobstructed views over Lake Superior and benches to watch it from. Not mention you can also catch a sunrise here.

Best UP Pasties: Lehto’s, St. Ignace – This is a no-frills restaurant that serves one thing, pasties. You can get them hot or chilled or frozen to take home. They also sell canned soda and they have picnic tables outside if you decide to eat them there. They stay warm awhile so we enjoyed ours in Manistique. If you’ve never had them, you can even order them online and they’ll ship them to you!

About the Photo:
Our second night at McLain we were able to catch this fabulous sunset. This is a big deal at this park and people flock towards the water to watch it. After the sun went down, most of the people went back to their sites, but the sky was not done with its show! Lately, I have noticed that the best colors seem to come out after sunset! Don’t rush off after the sun goes down, you never know what Mother Nature has in store for you!

Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 18-55 kit len, on a tripod

Date Taken:
June 28, 2016

Thanks for stopping by and for following along on my trip! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page.

Epic Michigan Road Trip: Rifle River

By Ashleigh

On August 22, 2016

In Camping, Hiking, Michigan, Road Trip

Wow! We are at the end of my road trip! I am so sad to be done retelling it, but don’t worry, I have plenty more photos coming! Back to the trip!

After making our way down the Lake Huron coast, we headed inland to the Rifle River Recreation Area. We chose this as our last stop on the trip because it was literally the last campsite available in the northeastern part of the state for the Saturday before the Fourth of July. It was a rustic site, meaning no electricity and outhouses instead of bathrooms. The park was definitely the largest we visited on the trip. We drove for a while before we got to our campsite. And for the outdoor adventurer, there is a lot to do between hiking and canoeing, kayaking, and tubing. If you’re looking to camp and spend time on the water, this would be a great place for you!

About the Photo:
This shot was taken in the morning of the day we were heading home. Before we left the park I wanted to stop at the observation platform and get a photo for the blog. This shot was an 8 RAW exposure panorama stitched together with basic edits in lightroom.

Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 18-55 mm kit lens, handheld

Date Taken:
July 3, 2016

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. To learn more about Rifle River Recreation Area, visit the Michigan DNR.

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Epic Michigan Road Trip: Lighthouse Hunting

By Ashleigh

On August 15, 2016

In Camping, Michigan, Project: State Parks, Road Trip

In Sault Ste. Marie I picked up a Michigan Lighthouse Map which shows every lighthouse in Michigan and whether or not its open to the public. So, when we were making the drive down the Lake Huron coast, we made a point to stop at all the lighthouses we could. We managed to stop at 7 lighthouses on our way down south including three in Presque Isle, two of which we climbed. The above photo is of the Tawas Point Lighthouse.

For our night on Lake Huron we stayed at Hoeft State Park in Rogers City (south of Cheboygan). This park surprised me. We were there the Friday before the Fourth of July and I was expecting it to be kind of rowdy but it wasn’t at all. It seemed to be mostly families, a lot of which had bikes and were making use of Huron Sunrise Trail. The sites were big and wooded, but the bathrooms didn’t live up to Hartwick Pines (this was the theme of the trip). If I was looking to stay near Lake Huron, I come back here in a heartbeat!

About the Photo:
I got incredibly lucky with this picture! There were no Photoshop tricks or external flash used here. We happened to get to the lighthouse when it was sprinkling a little, but a bigger rain was definitely on its way. To the west, the sun was not covered by clouds with made for this awesome cloudy background with evening light on the lighthouse. This was a single RAW exposure with basic edits done in Lightroom.

Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 18-55 kit lens and polarizer, handheld

Date Taken:
July 2, 2016

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. To plan your Lighthouse Exploration Trip, visit MichiganLighthouseGuide.com. To book your stay at Hoeft State Park visit the Michigan DNR.

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