Go See Do Explore

Mainely Acadia Trip Report

On July 2, 2019

In Hiking, National Parks & Places, Road Trip, Travel

We have returned from our second trip to Maine and Acadia National Park. We were there for 7 full days, which is the longest I have stayed in one place on vacation in years. Luckily there is a lot to do on Mount Desert Island to keep a traveler busy. Here’s a run down of our itinerary.

Day 1: Drive from Manchester, New Hampshire to Southwest Harbor, Maine

Day 2: Acadia National Park – Park Loop Road and Wild Gardens of Acadia

Day 3: Hike South Bubble Mountain, Explore Bar Harbor, and Sunset Nature Cruise

Day 4: Explore Southwest Harbor and Asticou Azalea Gardens

Day 5: D rive to Schoodic Peninsula and rainy day shopping

Day 6: Bike the Carriage Roads

Day 7: Killing Time: Wendell Gilley Museum, Explore the Quietside, Return visit to Park Loop Road, Lunch and Tour at Atlantic Brewing Company

Day 8: Carriage Tour and Explore Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse on the way back to Manchester

As you can see, this was a busy trip without much down time. Chris did a lot of solo hikes on this trip that I didn’t mention. I will have to have him write up some of his experiences at some point during this trip report.

One of the things that made this trip different than any others was that we brought my mom and my grandmother along with us. They are definitely not used to our speed of travel which made things challenging, but we were able to go off on our own a few times and do things they would not have wanted to do.

Be sure to check back next week as I begin recounting our trip in detail! Until then, thanks for stopping by! To read about some of our previous trips, click here. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Etsy and Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For information about our new Guided Photography Tours, visit GuidedPhoto.com.

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Wordless Wednesday: Beaver Island Lighthouse

By Ashleigh

On June 26, 2019

In Michigan

6 Ways to Beat Post Vacation Blues

By Ashleigh

On June 24, 2019

In Travel, Travel Tips

Coming back from vacation is hard! On vacation you’re relaxing, seeing new places, and sleeping in. Now, you’re home, you’re back to your regular schedule, and it feels like you never left. Here are some tips to get over that post-vacation slump!

Edit your photos – Even if you don’t have professional editing software, it is a lot of fun to improve your vacation photos before sharing them online! A few minor tweaks can make a lot of difference in your pictures.

Create a photo book – I do this for every trip we take! It is so much fun to put your pictures into print and tell the story of your trip! I’m not loyal to any photo book company. I just try to get the best deal. You can often find good deals on Groupon!
Recreate a great meal from your trip – Food and memory are closely related so recreating your favorite meal will jog your memory and allow you to share your trip with friends and family at home in a way that’s less annoying than the stereotypical slideshow.
Take a day trip – Can’t take another vacation this year? Don’t fret! Find someplace new nearby to explore. Be a tourist in your own town! Sometimes we spend so much time thinking about getting away, we miss the experiences that are close to us.
Keep your eye on travel deals – You never know when the next airline sale will pop up with a deal that you just can’t beat! Airfarewatchdog is a great service that will let you know when a specific flight goes on sale.
Start planning your next trip – Think about where you want to go next? Do you want to return to a favorite destination or find someplace new? Check out Pinterest for inspiration for your next getaway and follow blogs like this one for travel ideas!

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Etsy and Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For information about our new Guided Photography Tours, visit GuidedPhoto.com.

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Wordless Wednesday: Into The Canyon

By Ashleigh

On June 19, 2019

In Travel, Wordless Wednesday

A Day on Beaver Island

By Ashleigh

On June 18, 2019

In Michigan

Evening on the Beaver Island Ferry

Beaver Island, the largest island on Lake Michigan, is known as America’s Emerald Isle. While bigger than Mackinac, Beaver Island is a much smaller community. With many inland lakes, nature is a big draw on Beaver Island.

For our day on Beaver Island, we decided to take one of the guided tours offered by the ferry company. We chose the 3 hour tour that took us around the whole island. I was glad we opted for the longer tour because it gave us a better feel for the island if we ever came back for a longer stay. Of course, we also learned a lot of the island’s history.

In the mid-1800’s, Mormon leader James Jesse Strang formed a colony on Beaver Island. Over 8 years, Mormon population on the island grew and Strang crowned himself king and was the only American king in history. In 1856 Strang was assassinated on the island and the remaining Mormons were forced to leave. “The Mormons cleared and cultivated the ground, built roads and houses, and changed the Island from a wilderness to a moderate outpost of civilization. But fate conspired to keep them from reaping the benefits of their toil” (beaverisland.net). Our tour guide explained to us that if you see apple trees and lilac trees while driving around the island, you know that spot was settled by the Mormons.

Historic Beaver Harbor Lighthouse

After the Mormon exile, people began emigrating to the island from Ireland to fish. By the 1880s, Beaver Island became the largest supplier of fresh water fish in the world. Unfortunately, due to overfishing, by the 1890s, the harvest was cut in half and Beaver Island lost their monopoly. In the 1900s, logging was the largest industry on the island and a railroad was built to transport the lumber to the bay where ships could pick it up and transport it to Chicago and Detroit.

If you have extra time in the Charlevoix area, I recommend taking the ferry over to Beaver Island. Its a very low key, relaxed community with a focus on nature. I think I would like to return some time when we have more time to enjoy it!

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Etsy and Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For information about our new Guided Photography Tours, visit GuidedPhoto.com.

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Wordless Wednesday: Birch Texture

By Ashleigh

On June 12, 2019

In Michigan, Project: State Parks, Wordless Wednesday

100 Years of Michigan State Parks

By Ashleigh

On June 11, 2019

In Michigan, Project: State Parks

Sauguatuck Dunes State Park

Last month, the Michigan State Park System celebrated its 100th anniversary. With 103 parks, there are a lot of places in the state to enjoy natural Michigan. From Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in the Western Upper Peninsula to Belle Isle in the Detroit River, Michigan State Parks encompass miles of freshwater shoreline, hills, waterfalls, and forests. There is a state park for whatever type of recreation you are looking for.

Tawas State Park

Mackinac Island was actually the first Michigan State Park as a gift from the Federal Government after a brief stint as the second National Park in the country and became the nation’s first state park (wiki). In 1917, the state of Michigan purchased land to make Interlochen State Park the second state park. By 1919, the Michigan State Park commission was created to “oversee, acquire, and maintain” state parks for the enjoyment of the people. Up until that point, many of the beauties of the state were privately owned and there weren’t places for the average person to go visit in their new automobile (govdelivery.com).

Seven Lakes State Park

I love how forward thinking the state of Michigan was back in the early 20th century. What else was happening around the country at that time? In 1919, the Grand Canyon became a National Park. Isle Royal, the only National Park in the state, didn’t become a National Park until 1940. Other state park systems didn’t exist until the 1930s.

McLain State Park

Back in 2012, I set a goal to visit every Michigan State Park. By my estimation, I have visited 49 so far and I have many more parks to explore! Through my explorations, I have seen some pretty amazing places! Of course, I have shared on here my absolute love of Ludington State Park. I probably visit Ludington more often then some parks which are closer to home. I’ve seen the unique beauty of the big spring at Palms Book State Park. I have witnessed the history of Fort Wilkins and Fort Michilimackinac. Just this past weekend, I camped along the shores of Lake Michigan at Fisherman’s Island State Park. I greatly appreciate the experiences I have had at these wonderful parks and I look forward to many more!

Silver Lake State Park

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Etsy and Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For information about our new Guided Photography Tours, visit GuidedPhoto.com.

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Wordless Wednesday: Morning in Mexico

By Ashleigh

On June 5, 2019

In Cruise, Travel, Wordless Wednesday

AKASO EK7000 Action Camera Review

By Ashleigh

On June 3, 2019

In Cruise, Photo Tips, Travel

While our recent cruise wasn’t a photography-centric trip, I can’t travel without taking pictures. If I don’t have pictures, I don’t have content to share with you! Since we were planning on snorkeling and river tubing, I knew I wanted a camera that I could get wet. I considered getting one of those underwater cases for my iPhone, but those don’t protect against dropping it underwater and I really didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars replacing my phone, I began searching for inexpensive waterproof cameras.

After hours of searching Amazon and technology review sites, I found the AKASO EK7000. It is a small, GoPro sized, action camera that came with more accessories than I know what to do with! I think one of them is supposed to be a helmet clip but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to put it together. It has wifi so it can connect to your phone to share your pictures/videos on social media and supposedly it shoots 4K video. This camera is ridiculously highly rated on Amazon so for less than $50 I decided to pull the trigger.

Once the camera arrived, I understood all of the 5 star reviews, and its not because of quality. In the box with the camera was a sheet with several accessory packages you can get for free if you show proof of a 5 star rating on Amazon. Right there, that made me incredibly skeptical of this tiny camera’s performance. I played with it in the house for a little bit before we left, but I wish I would’ve messed around with it a little more (this is a lesson for purchasing any new camera gear, really). While snorkeling, I couldn’t figure out how to put it in photo mode as opposed to video mode. Afterwards, I realized it had date stamped all of my photos with the factory date of June 2000, which really messed up Lightroom when I imported the photos when I got home. After getting back to the room, I was able to figure all of that out, but it would’ve been nice to focus on taking pictures while snorkeling as opposed to just working the camera.

Once I stopped panicking about getting out of video mode, I realized that I could pull still images out of the videos so I was able to get some usable shots. This camera did perform pretty well underwater (top), but when it came to taking daylight shots (above), it didn’t do so hot. And lets not even mention the photos that I took inside the cave. My iPhone 7 takes MUCH better pictures than this. The videos did seem to come out better, though. AKASO claims that with the waterproof housing, it doesn’t record sound, but if you watch these, you’ll see that that’s not exactly true. Is that sound 100% clear and articulate? No, but it is nice to capture some of ambient sound. Watch the videos below to see how this camera handles video. And just a reminder, I’m a photographer, not a videographer!

Overall, I think this camera is worth its $50 price tag. Does it perform like the GoPros that are priced 6x+ higher? Of course not! But for capturing vacation memories and not having to worry about accidentally damaging your phone, I think its worth it! Click here for more information about this camera.

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! You can purchase prints on Etsy and Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For information about our new Guided Photography Tours, visit GuidedPhoto.com.

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Wordless Wednesday: Chacchoben Forest

By Ashleigh

On May 30, 2019

In Cruise, Travel, Wordless Wednesday