Day 210- Photoshoot Interrupted and a Bonus Baby

We took a drive this morning to a trailhead where we are thinking of doing a family portrait in September. There were lots of boulders for the boys to climb, which was fun for both of them. The lighting was harsh in late morning, so, if we are going to try for a family portrait session, it should be in late afternoon.

 

 

We were just getting in the swing of things, when Caitlin spied a herd of bison coming up the hill toward us.  We hustled out of there!

And here is the bonus baby photo taken in his crib this morning!

 

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Day 208- Yellowstone Lake

Caitlin, the kids and I had a wonderful day at Yellowstone Lake, a drive of at least an hour and a half (depending on how many cars stop to view the bison in Hayden Valley).  Today we were delayed about a half hour as the line of cars came to a complete stop, with tourists abandoning their cars to take photos.  After a ranger moved cars and bison along, we met Caitlin’s friend, Susan and her two boys at the lake- and had a delightfully relaxing day watching the boys play on the beach. I took several hundred photos- but am too worn out to post more than two.

Here are Miles and Henry playing along the water; the mountains in the background are where their daddy is backpacking for the next four days.

It wouldn’t be a trip to Yellowstone without at least one bison photo.  This guy was walking through a field of wildflowers toward our car; you can see him kicking up dust as he ambled along.

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Day 205- First Day at Yellowstone

My day began at 2:30 am when I could sleep no longer. We left the house around 3:45 for the drive to the Oakland Airport for my 6am flight to Bozeman, Montana.  Allegiant Airlines is my new airline of choice, because of its (relatively) cheap and DIRECT flights to Bozeman. I was there by 9am, Mountain Time- amazing!

Surprise! Miles, Henry, and, oh yes, Caitlin met me; I’d expected Justin and Miles, but he had to go into work.  We went out for coffee, did the grocery shopping, went out to lunch at Miles’s favorite Mexican restaurant in Livingston, and then drove on Yellowstone. Shortly before we arrived at Mammoth, Miles and Henry were both asleep.  Miles continued to sleep for 20 minutes in the car while we unloaded the groceries. I snapped this photo with my iPhone- I love the light and shadows on his face.

It was now naptime for Henry and quiet time for the rest of us.  Here is a photo of Miles showing me his “construction” he did during his time in his room- a replica of where they live, complete with the Roosevelt Arch.  I only took a few photos today- and very few are in focus. These boys are moving targets!

After an early dinner, I babysat the boys while Caitlin headed off to a preschool board meeting, and now Justin is home playing his guitar while I, bleary-eyed, am uploading my photos. A wonderful (but long) day!

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Day 160- Leaving Boulder

After breakfast, we took a drive over to the Chautauqua Historic Landmark, a big park with hiking trails into the Flatirons, for a short walk.

View of Boulder from the trail

 

A BIG dandelion (for you, Carol!)- I wanted to crop it vertically but couldn’t figure out how to in Lightroom!

 

 

Here’s my favorite shot- a pro photographer came in with a young couple for a session under the trees. She brought lighting! WOnder if she’s a Clickin Mom. ..

All photos were taken with my 18-200 zoom and edited somewhat clumsily and hurriedly in Lightroom.  I’m currently learning the adjustment brush (just discovered there are presets in a drop down menu!) and the gradient thingie.

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Day 159- Pearl Street

While my husband was at his meeting today, I spent time walking around Pearl Street again.  It quickly started to rain, so I only got a couple shots before heading into Starbucks to sit and read.  It was not good weather for walking around with a camera. Afterward, I browsed in a few shops before heading back to the hotel.

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Day 158- Out of town!

We are in Boulder for a few days- business for Lonnie, shopping, reading, and photography for me! We’ve never been here and are really impressed with the city.  Both of us grew up in college towns and love the eclectic, interesting feel that having a college gives a community. And then when you set the city at the base of a mountain range- wow!  The town reminds us of Bozeman, Montana- but a bit more upscale. We are staying in a beautiful hotel off Pearl Street, which is the center of all the restaurants, shopping, and action.

So here are a couple shots from Pearl Street, where we walked this afternoon. There are street performers everywhere.

Boulder is a very green city:

And here are some shots from our wonderful hotel:

Lonnie getting to the room and immediately getting on the phone (this IS a business trip after all. . .)

The cute kitty that sleeps at the foot of our bed

The wine and cheese, which is served every day from 4 to 6!

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Day 125- Morning Playtime

It’s our last morning to wake up to the sounds of “Go, go, go!” from Henry and Miles’s stories of Bun-Bun (his favorite “lovey”- or what he calls- nominee).

Here is Henry watching an elk out the window- and both boys playing boat.

 

 

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Day 124- Drive to the Lamar Valley

The Lamar Valley is my favorite drive in Yellowstone National Park.  This visit to the park, however, has been solely devoted to playtime with the grandbabies and helping out with childcare, as our son-in-law has been working out of town for most of our visit- and we haven’t had time to do much else.  Today is our last day in Wyoming, so Lonnie, Miles, and I took a quick drive over to the Lamar Valley.

This was a great day for wildlife!  Earlier in the day, I had seen my first fox, a fluffy little guy walking across the lawn by the house (alas, no photo). On our drive this afternoon, we saw hundreds of buffalo, including some new babies!

 

But the highlight of the day happened on our drive back. From the car, I spotted a grizzly bear walking along toward a pull-out, where a ranger and a few others were watching him.  This was my first grizzly sighting at Yellowstone (we had seen one at Glacier National Park years ago).  We pulled over, and I took MANY shots of him zoomed in at 200 mm.  I’ve decided that the next time I take this drive I will bring a tripod and a longer lens for better focus. Wildlife and landscape photography are not my forte.

This is my favorite image (I like the open mouth!)- it is cropped and was overexposed in aperture priority (although I thought it looked OK in camera).

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Day 123- It’s all about eyelashes . . .

A buffalo was in the yard yesterday, so Henry spent some time at the window this morning trying to see if he came back today.  It made a great opportunity for wonderful window light.

 

 

Later Henry and I were home alone, while his Caitlin and Lonnie went to pick Miles up from preschool.  We had some special time playing with the iPhone.

The above photos were all taken with Caitlin’s Nikon D5000.  This morning I tried to take photos with my camera and discovered that the extra battery I had charged at home was dead. Fortunately I had brought the charger; unfortunately, I had forgotten the cord! So. . . I used Caitlin’s camera- and these are all JPEGs.  Later, my friend and fellow photoblogger, Carol, suggested that I use Caitlin’s cord with my charger- and it worked- WHEW!

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Day 113- Table Mountain

We celebrated Earth Day with a hike to see the wildflowers on Table Mountain (near Chico). I don’t think it was as hot as yesterday, but it seemed much hotter as we hiked in the hot sun over rocky ground and down to the waterfall 300 feet below.  I don’t like cliff edges, especially where the trail and footing is uncertain.  There were children frolicking in flip flops around me, so it couldn’t have been too bad- but I was definitely relying on my HeartMath tools to get down those slopes!

But the flowers were beautiful! I relied on aperture priority again- and all my photos are slightly over-exposed.  Yes, I do know about exposure compensation, but it was too bright to check my LCD display. Oh well- I adjusted exposure in batches afterward.

Here are some of the highlights of the day. Don’t let the first photo fool you- the path went up, the water went down- and then we walked down to meet it (no photos of THAT!).

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Day 32- Handle With Care

Handle With Care is today’s theme.

We flew home tonight. It wasn’t too many years ago that my carry-on contained clothes, magazines, and make-up.  Now it has my laptop, kindle, camera, lenses, and all the technology items needed to support these products. I definitely need to find a better solution than the system I am currently using.

This is my rolling laptop bag, in which I have put inserts from my regular camera bag to carry an extra lens, the speedlight, and the camera wrapped in a fleece jacket (!)- in addition to the laptop, cords etc.  Yikes! After arriving at my destination, I add my camera and 35mm lens to my Lowepro bag, which I use as a purse.  Eventually, I think I will have to get a rolling camera bag that will also fit my laptop.

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