Geddy’s

My tiny little brain is so easily confused.

I was going to write something about how the last time I officially swapped blogging services was just before a long weekend get away my beautiful wife and I took to Bar Harbor, ME. I was going to connect it to today by saying that we need to go back to Bar Harbor for two reasons. First, I changed blogging services. Second, the t-shirt I bought at Geddy’s has a hole in the armpit and needs to be replaced. That would be a funny post, right? Ha. Funny.

Then I realized that it wasn’t the Bar Harbor trip that coincided with leaving Blogger, it was a long weekend getaway to the White Mountains in New Hampshire where we stayed in a cabin set off from the rest of the hotel and there was an outdoor hot tub and we used it even though it was December and about zero degrees out, and also drove all the way out to Dixville Notch for absolutely no reason at all.

So my coincidental t-shirt/blog service post is null and void.

I still want to go back to Geddy’s though.

The view from Cadillac Mountain in Bar Harbor, ME.

Waterfalls

I’m really hoping to get up to the White Mountains for some waterfall visits. With all the snow this winter, the rivers should be rocking like mad right now.

Leaf Peeping

We went leaf peeping today. I didn’t take many pictures, but I did grab some views of the top of Mt Washington.

Glen Ellis Falls

Here are the pics from the second waterfall we visited on our mountain get away. Why take my word for it when you can let the site itself give you the info…

It says it’s a 600 foot walk. It was. They didn’t tell us it was vertical. It was almost all stairs. It was so worth it though. The river alone was worth it.

This is not what we came to see.

I want to go back with my tripod and take long exposures all day long.

This is a bad shot, but you get the idea. This place is awesome.

Again, this is not the main attraction.

This is the waterfall itself as seen from the top. I totally need a wide angle lens for stuff like this. I also need to be able to hover so I can actually look down on the scene instead of just leaning over with the camera strap still around my neck.

We were at the base of the falls here but I need a wide angle lens. I couldn’t get the whole thing into the shot. Not even close.

This is a little more like it.

And there you have it. The highlights from our stop at the Glen Ellis Falls. I would go back there in a heartbeat. Preferably with a wide angle lens and my tripod. This place was fantastic.

Jackson Falls

This is so cool. I have an actual backlog of pics to post here! Time to get caught up a little bit.

These are from our trip to the mountains a couple of weeks ago and will focus on the coolness that is Jackson Falls.

This was where we stayed. We got there a little too early to check in so we decided to just drive around the block. Little did we know that the waterfall we were hoping to check out while in town was on the same street!

It wasn’t a sheer drop (we checked out one of those the next day) but more like a steep slope with lots of small drops. We parked in two places along the road.

I love the mountains where the rivers look gold… apart from the spots that are white because they are violently getting hurled off of a small cliff.

I thought about using the downed tree limb to make a raft to skirt the rapids, but then I remembered we had an SUV in the parking lot, so I could use that for my traveling needs instead.

We drove a little further upstream and the view improved greatly.

I had the polarizing filter on to cut out the reflections on the water.

That bridge needed a sidewalk so you could view the river from above.

The best views for us were upstream, but I have since read that if we’d gone further downstream they might have been even better.

I never messed with the shutter speed. I didn’t go for long exposures because I didn’t want to bother using the tripod (next time though) and I didn’t go for shorter exposures to try and get the falling water sharper. I just stuck with the auto setting because it was more fun being a tourist than a wannabe photographer.

I was leaning my elbows on one of the big rocks. Can you see it on the bottom of the image?

The polarizer cuts down on reflections, but it doesn’t help with shadows. Noted.

So there you have it. The first of two waterfall posts from our get away weekend. I’m not sure when the second post will happen, but it should be soon.

Polarizing Filter

I got a polarizing filter for Christmas this year. I hadn’t even screwed it onto the lens before this week. Why? I don’t know, don’t pick on me. Sheesh.

Anyway I did a few tests while in the mountains. I’d turn it until the sky looked washed out, take a pic, then turn it until the sky was as dark as it could get, take a pic. And so on. Here are a few results.

This one…

…compared to this one.

And another test, this one…

…compared to this one.

I also did a test of how it handles reflections on water. I turned it so that I could see as much sunlight reflecting off the water as possible, took a pic, turned it so there was as little reflection as possible, took a pic.

This one…

…compared to this one.

Did I do it right? As with all things photography, I haven’t a clue. I’m just pushing buttons and turning dials and seeing what happens. Should I do anything different when using the polarizing filter?

Let me know.

Landscape Mode

Did you know that the Spark Video app only works in landscape orientation? I didn’t.

I had to fix this video of Glen Ellis Falls in iMovie. That’s why it doesn’t fill the frame.

June 1st

This year is going by so fast it’s down right terrifying. How can it possibly be June 1st when New Years Day was just a couple of weeks ago?

We got home from our get away yesterday and before we were even in the house my beloved bride of five years and one day (two days, as of today) injured her leg. We were pretty sure it was nothing serious, but we went to the ER to get an x-ray to make sure. Thankfully our diagnosis was correct. She’s okay, but it hurts a lot. My poor sweetie.

Our trip included one night in Conway, NH and two nights in Jackson, NH. The hotel in Conway was called Adventure Suites. Each suite has a different theme. Ours was a jungle theme. It was really cheesy, but fun. In Jackson we stayed at the Wentworth which was pretty seriously classy. I would go back there in a heartbeat.

Mostly we just drove around in the mountains enjoying the views but enjoying the company even more. We stopped at a couple of waterfalls. Jackson Falls and Glen Ellis Falls. Jackson was right on the road next to our hotel. I could have just spent a day hanging out there. Glen Ellis required a short hike. The path was mostly stairs, and while it would have been easy for most people a super out of shaper like me had to take it slow. The view was absolutely worth it though. As with all of our White Mountains trips, it has made me want to plan a full vacation of just waterfall hopping. That would be awesome.

The best part of the trip happened on Friday when we celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. We went for a fancy dinner at the Wentworth’s excellent restaurant. More importantly we spent the day just being together. I love my wife very much. Just being near her is a thrill for me.

We are home now though. Back to reality. Patches the kitty was meowing like a maniac the minute we opened the door. I think she was glad to see us. She hadn’t been pet in a while so we showered her with attention. Today I’ll post some pictures here. All the keepers are already on Flickr. It’s also a new month, and the 20 songs from April and March are all done (though a few could use a new mix) so today starts a new album in a month. June Music. How exciting!

Then tomorrow? Back to work. Oh, way to ruin the happy post, you jerk.

Glen Ellis Falls

I took three videos with my D90 at the Glen Ellis Falls. They all kinda look like crap, but I cut them together in iMovie and uploaded them to Vimeo anyway.

Enjoy(ish)