outdoors

Our trip to Asheville took place over the Memorial Day weekend. We decided to hit the road as early as possible Friday afternoon knowing that it was going to take us over five hours to arrive at our destination. The goal was to hit the road between 1 and 1:30pm. Naturally we didn’t hit the road until closer to 2:30pm.

The weather for the drive was perfect and we weren’t anticipating any traffic for our 400 mile journey. Of course that didn’t work out either and we ended up in stop and go traffic for about an hour. We made a few pit stops for food and gas and so Oshie could do his business and stretch his legs. He loves being in the car but he gets a little restless on longer trips. I did the driving so I didn’t take many photos but I did manage to get a few at one of the rest areas we pulled into. There was a nice open field with some cows in it and the sun was beginning to set. It made for the perfect backdrop. Admittedly my sunset photos still need a little practice, or I just need to work on editing the bright/blown-out areas a little more. I think they came out nice though.

road trip-2 — Oshie was feeling patriotic all weekend.

The road trip ended with us reaching our destination just before 10:00pm. We stayed at the Asheville Green Cottage. It was an awesome little B&B that I found on Airbnb. We knew we had to stay there when we saw that the owners had two Golden Retrievers and one had just had a litter of puppies. Unfortunately the last leg of the trip was pretty dark so we missed some of the mountain views we would have seen during better light. As soon as we got in we crashed in order to get plenty of rest for the next day.

I am still trying to decide what the best method for posting all the pictures from the trip will be. I think I will stick with this format to prevent myself from posting too many at once and causing loading issues with the page. It will also give me an opportunity to write a little in each post about the photos. I hope you enjoy.

Photos were taken with my Canon 7d Mk2 and a rented Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC lens rented from LensRentals.com.

Day 27: Awesome Weekend!

Lots more photos from our trip to Asheville North Carolina to come!

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June 1, 2016 8

Day 24: Kinston

I still have a few photos left from our trip to the BBQ festival last weekend so I decided I should bore everyone with more photos from Kinston.

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A museum for the CSS Neuse, a Confederate ship from the civil war, was allowing people in for free. Of course we had to check it out. Apparently the Confederates scuttled it because they didn’t want the Union Army to get their hands on it after they lost the city. It never traveled more than a mile from where it was built. They set it on fire in the Neuse River and that is where it remained for almost a century. In the 60’s it was found and the recovery process began. Eventually 15,000 artifacts were recovered.

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I was surprised that the wood looked as good as it did after being underwater for almost 100 years.

Kinston-3 — This is what the top half would have looked like.

And the final image is just a candid shot of an artist at the festival working with a piece of wood.

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As always, thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

May 13, 2016 6

Weekend Romp

It is safe to say that Oshie has really enjoyed having a live in playmate. He gets along so well with Lucy and he hasn’t even tried to hump her (at least that we know about ha-ha). They really enjoy being outside together where they have pee duels. They literally follow each other around and pee on each others pee.

On Saturday the weather was perfect which meant Oshie and Lucy were actually able to run around the yard without getting filthy. Unfortunately most of the day they were stuck inside because Nancy and I decided to go to a BBQ festival about an hour away. It was fun but a bit of a let down. There was a lack of BBQ for a festival that supposedly revolves around it.

Once we were home we let the pups out to play for a while. Lucy likes to instigate by making lunging movements at Oshie. This usually results in a chase around the yard. Oshie is a slow turner and Lucy changes direction fast so he has to use smart angles order to catch her.

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When he does catch her they end up wrestling and we always know when Lucy has had enough because she will drop to the ground and roll over on her back and stop fighting. Oshie usually takes the hint and gives her a break. I am just glad that they get along so well.

The only issues we have run into is jealousy. They both hate it when the other is getting all the attention. Lucy will come over and push Oshie away if we are showing him some love and Oshie tries to wrestle with Lucy is she is hogging all of the attention. So no real issues, hell they even take turns chewing Oshie’s deer antler. I will end this post with a few more images from the weekend romp.

Thanks for stopping by.

#goldenretriever #canon #tamron #dogs

May 10, 2016 2

Your Dog Really Is Just A Furry Kid

Nancy and I were at the grocery store shopping for items for a party we planned to attend when she saw the display for bubbles. Yes I am talking about the kind of bubbles you give to little kids and laugh as they try to blow them and catch them. Of course Nancy immediately wanted to buy some because she wanted to blow them for Oshie. Right there folks, that is how you know you are a crazy dog parent.

I assume you already know what happened next. Nancy decided we needed to do a little photo shoot of Oshie chasing the bubbles. The wind didn’t cooperate and the lighting wasn’t the best but I did manage to get a few decent/funny shots of Oshie attempting to catch the bubbles. He looked like a toddler chasing them around the yard and staring longingly at them as they sailed over his head and out of reach. It made me realize just how much Oshie is like a little kid, distracted by everything and always wanting to play.

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I wish I had that much energy. I can do without the double coat of fur though.

Oshie_Bubbles-6 — Not a flattering look for you Oshie.

And yes, Oshie is wearing a bow-tie because he is a classy fellow!

I have a few more images that I will put up in a separate post. The blog gets a little slow when I add too many. Of course it doesn’t help that in the past I was using the full size files. Oops!