Adventures in the Mitten (& Above).

Over the past couple years, my girlfriend (Ashley) and I have taken a few trips.  They usually end up getting planned months in advance then going through so many itinerary changes, we just give up an pick somewhere at random 2 days before we leave.

True story – that’s how it was when we went to Chicago.  We were planning a 6 day trip.  36 hours before departure we still had no idea what city we were going to.  We’re very forward-thinking individuals.

Anywho… this time around we were actually pretty meticulous.  It was mostly because we were camping the whole time and it would be super inconvenient to have to drive 40 miles to the convenience store to buy socks or something.

Every time we plan to go traveling, we usually just default to a trip somewhere in Michigan (we live in Michigan).  It might not seem terribly adventurous, but after 30 years I’m still finding awesome stuff in the state I never knew about.  There’s also the topography.  We have forests, swamps, plains, mountains, dunes, cliffs, over-developed cities, and true wilderness.  Not to mention that the entire state is pretty much surrounded by freshwater oceans.  Oh – and we have, arguably, the best cider mills on the planet.

But back to the trip!  Departing from Metro-Detroit, we hit up Mackinaw City, Mackinac Island, Tahquamenon Falls, Grand Marais, Munising, Pictured Rocks Lakeshore, St Ignace, Cross Village, The Tunnel of Trees, Harbor Springs, Petoskey, Traverse City, Glen Haven, Glen Arbor, and Sleeping Bear Dunes.

We were pretty busy.

It was also Ashley’s first time camping, so that was neat too.

Here are some of my favorite shots, as well as a brief Go-Pro video of our adventure.  If anyone is interested in any prints, please be sure to let me know.  I’ll be get these images posted to my fine-art site along with some other recent work and I’ll be sure to let you know when they’re up.

Thanks!

– Jon

Colorful Effervescence

Did you know there’s a substantial difference among tonic water, club soda, and sparkling water?  It pretty much boils down to a lack or abundance of sodium bicarbonate and/or high fructose corn syrup.

However, one thing that all 3 of the aforementioned beverages have in common is a LOT of bubbles.

My girlfriend showed me a tutorial video, presented and narrated by this guy –> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqBVWlrHqG8  (You wish you had hair like that.)  You can also check out the people he works with here–>  ppsop.com/instructors.aspx

I got pretty stoked about the prospect and went to the local scrap-booking store to pick up a wide array of gaudy colorful backdrops (the gaudiness is subdued due to the shallow depth of field).  So, while I’m fairly pleased with the results, there are certainly some tweaks left to be made.

A re-do to follow!

– Jon

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