With the year’s first really big snow all done for now, I packed a camera bag and headed out to brave the roads in my 4×4 to go see a local favorite. Traction was a bit hard to come by, but my truck did great and soon I was hiking through 20″ deep snow and setting my tripod up. Hopefully tomorrow I can get out again.
Even though most of the leaves are down around here and the weather is getting colder, there is still plenty to do outside. Some friends rented a house at Deep Creek for the weekend and invited me to visit. So I spent Friday night and in the morning we rode the train from Cumberland to Frostburg and then biked the 16 miles back. We stopped at one point on the trail to wait for the steam engine to come through a tunnel. After we completed the ride, we drove over to Swallow Falls State Park for the afternoon. Being there a few weeks earlier would have been spectacular.
Our town throws a festival every year with lots of food, crafts, vendors, music and even a demo from Bigfoot the monster truck. The poor helpless cars were no match.
One of our favorite places to vacation is a very specific neighborhood in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It’s a small community sandwiched between the State Park and a large campground. No high rise hotels within a mile and the only people on the beach in front of the house is people in the neighborhood. It’s very quiet and the beach is great. Walking a half mile to the north is the Myrtle Beach State Park pier. This provided me something to include with the sunrise shots. A tripod and variable ND let me slow the shutter down enough to flatten the water.
We also visited the aquarium down here and just had a wonderful week relaxing on the beach.