Wow, what a vacation. Sandy and I travelled to Juneau, Alaska to visit with our friends, Blair and Jim. They have a condo directly across the channel from downtown Juneau, on Douglas Island, with a great view of the town and the mountains surrounding it. We were scheduled to stay for 8 days and ended up staying 10. Blair and Jim were excellent hosts and very knowledgeable about the town, the history of the area, the people and things to see and do. Made me realize how little I know about my own hometown.
Everyday we were busy. Blair had worked for a travel agency in the past so she signed us up with some tours which was a great benefit for us. Both Jim and Blair are very much into hiking and being outdoors so they pointed us to hiking trails and joined us when they weren’t working.
On the first day Sandy and I took a helicopter ride up on top of Mendenhall Glacier where we got to walk around with a guide for a half hour. On another day, we went on a boat ride down the Tracey Arm Fjord to see two other glaciers and on the way back from there we saw humpback whales jumping completely out of the water. We went on a zip-line through the rainforest that took us 160 feet above ground at its highest point and included 2 suspension bridges that were in some ways scarier than the zip-line itself. On one of our last days in Juneau we took a tram up a mountain and hiked up even further where we saw mountain goats and a lone white wolf, although not together. Some of the trails we hiked included Boy Scout beach, Glacier trail, Persistence trail and Rainforest trail and we saw waterfalls almost everywhere.
Almost every night, Blair and Jim would cook a really great meal at their condo. I ate more fish in that 10 days than I normally eat in 3 months, but it was great food. Oh, and we had fresh King Salmon and fresh King Crab. Wow, were they tasty. The King Crab was by far the best crab I’ve ever eaten. We also had rockfish, prawns and moose meat.
Eagles were abundant, as were ravens and crows. We loved hearing the screeching of the eagles as well as the wings of the ravens as they flew near. The ravens produce a loud whoosh, whoosh sound when they flap their wings.
Overall, it was one of the best trips we’ve ever been on and we’ll remember it for very long time. When I look at the pictures I sometimes wish I could be back there still.
Nathan proposed to Emily at Laumeier Sculpture park so they wanted to return there for their engagement session. We had great weather (although a little too warm) and created some really good images. These two are obviously very much in love and it really shows in their faces. If you know their password, you can view the rest of the images here.
Last week my wife and I watched our nephew for the evening. As he ran around and climbed whatever stairs he could find, I was able to capture a few images of him before he wore my wife out and I had to take over keeping up with him. Man, I just don’t remember having that much energy, but would love to have half as much now…
Mike and Laura met in college. After college Mike moved back to St. Louis and Laura took a job in Cincinnati. But, this is one long distance relationship that didn’t fade away. They are now married and happily reside in St. louis. They’re young, athletic, ambitious and have a wonderful future ahead of them. The wedding and reception were a lot of fun and even though it rained on the days before and after, their wedding day was beautiful and sunny. Sandy and I wish you both the best.
You can view their images here. The gallery is password protected so, you will need to know the couple’s last name.
Click here to view more images.
We had a lot of fun taking photos at the Norwood Hills Country Club‘s New Year’s Eve party. The theme for the party was the Titanic and the Country Club had borrowed several items from the Muny for decorating the ballroom. We had the great benefit of using a large photo of the Titanic’s Grand Staircase as our backdrop. We were a little unprepared for the amount of people we had waiting as soon as the evening started, but everything worked out well, and I think everyone had a good time. You can view more images here or by clicking on the photo.