Epic Button Adventure

In November 2016, my father, brother, sister and I flew into the Las Vegas airport.  One night to get our bearings and we were off to Death Valley.  A couple of days in nice dry warm weather then a day of driving to the Grand Canyon.  We had beautiful clear skies to view the Canyon but the temperatures were below freezing. Our next stop was Sedona, AZ.  Route 66 took us back to Vegas for a day.

A lot of driving.  A lot of memories.  All worth it.

 

New Orleans

Back in October, 2016, we had the chance to visit NOLA. Staying just one block off of Bourbon Street, we were in a great location to get a real look into life in the French Quarter by day...

 and by night...

Of course there's lots of museums for music, Mardi Gras, Katrina, WWII...

For me, I was so happy to be able to visit three different graveyards...

Or you can take a plantation or swamp tour...

One of the highlights of the city has to be the music.  And while it's playing all day everywhere, it's at night in the streets and in the clubs where you'll get sucked in and simply want more.  The first image below is of a guy who played a fantastic, haunting version of "The House of the Rising Sun".  The trombonist and trumpeter were members of a large street band that had literally hundreds of people stopping in the street.

For us, one of the unexpected surprises of an October visit was the Halloween Parade.  We shared our part of the sidewalk with this fierce little guy.

Fun shooting at Fall Foto Fest 2016

Way back in early October 2016, for my second time, I attended a weekend photography workshop.  So many images.  So little space on this blog.

First off, a couple of shots on my new old camera.  Yes, I re-purchased the actual camera body that I sold a couple of years ago.  What better way to get re-acquainted than to shoot an old lighthouse on a very overcast afternoon.

On the Saturday, most of my shots were more to record technique and were not creative. However, at night, we lit the beach and pier on fire with steel wool and flash lights.

Sunday was a big day.  My morning was spent with some fine feathered friends.  The afternoon was spent at Windmill Eco-Park watching a local wake boarder.