photos

13
Jan
2017

Lake Wallenpaupack Photos

Lackawaxen RiverI just posted the last of my photos from 2016. Back in October, we spent a long weekend at Lake Wallenpaupack, a man-made lake in the Northern Poconos created as a reservoir for a hydroelectric plant. Because we left in the evening after work, we stopped and spent a night at Sands in Bethlehem before heading the rest of the way up to the Poconos. Our first stop was in Honesdale to board a train for a scenic ride along the path of the former Delaware and Hudson Canal to check out the beautiful Fall foliage. We then headed to Hawley to check in to our motel right across the street from the lake. We sent much of the weekend walking and driving around the lake and exploring downtown Hawley. Along the way we found time to stop at a few very cool diners. After heading out of town, on our way home, we went to a cider mill because nothing says Fall like a cider mill. Then we visited the home of the first chief of the US Forest Service, Grey Towers. It’s now a national historic landmark and museum. All in all, it was a slower paced, more relaxing vacation than we usually like to take, but it was still a lot of fun.

Check out the photos right here. Enjoy!

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates
29
Nov
2016

Looking back at Gatlinburg

Seeing the news today about the horrific wildfire affecting Gatlinburg, Tennessee and surrounding area is heartbreaking. I vacationed there 2 years ago. It’s a truly fun tourist destination. I’m at least happy to hear that Emergency Management officials initial report that Ober Gatlinburg ski resort had been destroyed turned out to be false.

This seems like a good time to take a look at my photos from Gatlinburg when it wasn’t the frightening disaster area it is right now.

Posted by Michael in Photography, Randomness
03
Jul
2016

Chicago Photos

Chicago TheatreI finally posted my MANY photos from my trip to Chicago.

Chicago is one of those places that I’ve been familiar with through the years mainly because of so many various TV shows set there. As a kid I watched Perfect Strangers (anyone remember TGIF?). In high school and college it was ER and Chicago Hope. Then more recently it’s been NBC’s Chicago Fire, Chicago PD and Chicago Med. On top of this, I feel like I know Chicago and the rest of Chicagoland because I’ve been a loyal listener of the Eric & Kathy morning show on WTMX in Chicago for well over a decade. However, I’d never actually been to the Windy City. This trip finally corrected that.

We spent 7 days in Chicago. We stayed right downtown in the Loop, a block south of the river. Over the course of the week, we walked approximately 50 miles, climbed 201 flights of stairs and road the L 22 times. Needless to say, we covered much of the city (at least the downtown area) while even finding time to spend a relaxing evening with a cousin who lives out there.

To say that Chicago is an incredible food city is an understatement. My normal diet was suspended for the week as we check out the best places to get real Chicago deep dish pizza, Chicago dogs and Italian beef along with stops at Harry Caray’s and Mike Ditka’s. Oh, and don’t forget the Portillo’s chocolate cake.

Check out all of the photos plus some videos and a list of our many great dining experiences right here.

Posted by Michael in Life, Photography, Site Updates
20
Jun
2016

Washington State Photos

Puget Sounds, Silverdale WAWhile in Washington State for business, I stayed at the Silverdale Beach Hotel. My room had a nice view of the Puget Sound. During my week there, I snapped a few photos from my balcony and from the shoreline of the Sound. There’s also one photo from Poulsbo where we went for dinner one night.

Take a look at these photos here.

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates
08
Apr
2016

COLD Jim Thorpe Winterfest Photos

Jim ThorpeI just posted an album of photos from The Jim Thorpe Winterfest back in February. 3 years ago, we went to the annual festival. It’s a fun event that encompasses the entire downtown area of this quaint little mountain town. We decided to go back this year since we had a free long weekend. The big difference from last time was that this time the temperature throughout the weekend was 5 degrees below zero with a wind chill of -24!!! I like the cold, but this was painful cold unless you had the right gear on. I’m quite happy that I bought a new LL Bean parka last Fall.

There was an ice carver and a wood carver creating sculptures on the street. There’s a “mug walk” where you purchase a mug and them show it at a bunch of stores throughout the town and they give you some small item in return. It’s a fun way to get people into every little shop. Of course, our favorite shop is the Country Cottage where the “pickle lady” resides. She makes the best pickles you’ll ever try. This year, the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railroad was also running. We took an excursion on that which made for a fun break from the bitter cold.

Check out the photos here. You may need to put a coat on to look at them.

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates
06
Apr
2016

Scranton Photo Album

McDade ParkWhile in the Poconos for the Jim Thorpe Winterfest, we headed up to Scranton for the day to visit the Pennsylvania Anthracite Heritage Museum. I highly recommend stopping in if you ever get the chance. The history and heritage of the miners and their families is a fascinating tale. Living as close as we do to the PA coal mining region, I’m sorry I haven’t explored it more. I hope to head back up there one day and take the coal mine tour since it was closed for the winter. We also visited the Historic Scranton Iron Furnaces. It was here that we realized that we did not wear enough layers for the subzero temperatures and after exploring the furnaces we headed directly to the nearest Wal-Mart for additional hand warmers and thermal underwear!

On the way back down to the hotel in Lehighton, we made a stop at Mohegan Sun Pocono (formerly Pocono Downs) in Wilkes-Barre for dinner and a little gambling.

You can see the photos from our day in Scranton here.

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates
21
Feb
2016

Bethlehem Steel Photos

Bethlehem Steel PhotosI usually go to Bethlehem a few times each year to visit the Sands casino for dinner and a little gambling. I also go to there every year for their Chriskindlmarkt. The striking thing about the city is the long idle Bethlehem Steel plant. The casino is built on part of its former site and the Chriskindlmarkt is now held on another part of the site. However, much of the plant still remains as a monument to what was once the most important business in the city, if not the entire region. This year while at the Chriskindlmarkt, we discovered the new Hoover-Mason trestle walkway. It allows an up close look at the trestle that was formerly used to bring coke, limestone & iron ore to the blast furnaces and serves as a small museum depicting the history of Bethlehem Steel.

You can take a look at the photos I took while walking along the trestle in this album.

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates
20
Feb
2016

Delaware Covered Bridges and Fall Foliage Photos

Delaware Covered Bridges and FoliageEveryone knows I love covered bridges and that Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. So, what better way to spend a Fall day than visiting every covered bridge in the state of Delaware (SPOILER: there are only 3!) and then driving around looking for Fall colored foliage on the back roads of northern Delaware and southeastern Pennsylvania.

Now you can finally take look at some of what we found in this album.

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates
17
Feb
2016

Watertown, New York Photos

Watertown PhotosThe last of my photos from our trip to the 1000 Islands are finally online. We took advantage of the cool Fall weather that had already arrived in northern New York and visited the Burrville Cider Mill in Watertown where we watched cider being pressed before stocking up on so many varieties of delicious apples to take home. We stopped in Watertown again on the way home from Alex Bay and visited the New York State Zoo at Thompson Park. The zoo is populated with animals that are native to New York.

You can check out this album right here. While you’re at it, check out the other photos from this trip from the 1000 Islands and Upper Canada Village.

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates
15
Feb
2016

Upper Canada Village/Pumpkinferno Photos

Upper Canada Village photosI just posted another album from this past October. This one contains photos from side trip to Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg, Ontario that we took while we were visiting Alexandria Bay and the 1000 Islands region. During the day, we took a guided tour of the British Canadian colonial village. After having been to many American colonial museums/villages over the years, it was quite interesting to see the colonial era from the point of view of the British loyalists. After dinner at the McIntosh Inn, we went back to Upper Canada Village which was transformed into Pumpkinferno. A seasonal display of over 6,000 hand carved pumpkins. It was quite a sight.

You can check out the album right here. Take a look at my 1000 Islands photos here and watch for my Watertown NY photos coming soon too!

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates