June was a busy month with travels, as I noted in previous posts.  It took a few days to settle back in after three weeks on the road.  Part of that time was sorting through and processing photos I took along the way.  In total, I uploaded 1,393 files.  I know that sounds like a lot.  I have heard of other photographers taking tens of thousands of photos in the same amount of time!  Someday, I may be upwards of those numbers too.

Part of the reason why my numbers were smaller was that part of the trip was visiting relatives.  It was not strictly a photography trip.

Our first stop was in Des Moines, Iowa to stay with friends.  Then, we made our way to Naperville, Illinois [a suburb of Chicago].  After Chicago, we stopped in Canton, Ohio to see the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  I did not take many pictures [other than a few documentary ones] along this portion of the trip.

The first major photography stop I had was at Niagara Falls, where we spent two nights.  I shot three landscape galleries of photos there.  One of my objectives at Niagara Falls became to get a few photos of the Niagara Falls Night Lights [as I am calling them].  In order to do this, I had to wait until after 9:00 p.m. and then fight the crowd to get a place along the railing where I could place my tripod!  Yes, I think some people may have thought I was crazy to be sticking my tripod through the railing, but I had a death grip on it as well as another set of hands on one of the legs and the camera strap around my neck.  It was not that bad because there was a gap between the edge and the railing so the camera probably would not have gone far anyway.  But, it was an interesting experience none-the-less!

After Niagara Falls, we drove along the shores of Lake Erie and Ontario to the Thousand Islands area.  Then, we drove down Lake Champlain and across Vermont, New Hampshire into Maine.  This portion of the trip was mainly in the car putting miles behind us so I only had a brief opportunity to get a few pictures of some boats on Lake Champlain.  We did stop to pick up some Vermont Maple Syrup which we are using on pancakes!  If I have the opportunity to go back to any of these locations to spend some more time photographing, I will!

Maine was our primary destination.  We spent a total of 6 nights in Maine, primarily in the Bangor and Mount Desert Island region.  The first day was rainy, grey and dreary so we just spent that day navigating around and getting acquainted with the area.  My dad wanted to check out the Old Town Canoe store in Old Town.

The next day was similar to the first.  But, I did manage a few photos of the coast including pictures of the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse which is featured on the Acadia National Park quarter.  We also found some ferns and bunchberries.

The sun finally made an appearance the third day, which was also my mother’s birthday!  So, we made the trek to the top of Cadillac Mountain.  The mountain is the highest point on the Atlantic coast north of somewhere in Brazil [I think].  So, the sunrise begins before anywhere else in the US at the right time of year!  I don’t think it was when we were there.  We also made a loop around Acadia National Park for the second time and I was able to shoot more photos.

The fourth day was another somewhat dreary day.  However, we did another loop trip in Acadia National Park because we noticed that the Lupine flowers were everywhere!  A park ranger noted that Lupine are not native flower to the park and are actually taking over like a weed.  I thought they made for a good photo anyway.  I also got my feet wet at one of the only swimming beaches within the park!  The water is actually really cold!

The fifth day was spent touring Mount Desert Island on a bus tour.  We actually went for a cousin’s wedding and the tour was part of getting to know more of the extended family and friends of the couple.  I took some more pictures from on top of Cadillac Mountain.  After the tour dropped us off at the Asticou Inn, we had some spare time so I went into the Asticou Azalea Garden with my macro lens.  It was fun photographing the flowers and some bees that were busy collecting nectar.  I also took some photos from the lawn of the Asticou Inn looking out into Northeast Harbor.  I ran back down at night during the dance party to take some long exposures which I think are neat!

I have not processed all of the photos from the sixth day.  We went on a windjammer boat ride from Bar Harbor on the Margaret Todd Schooner.

The next day, we began our trip home back across Maine, New Hampshire and part of Vermont.  Then across New York to Pennsylvania.

We stopped in Erie Pennsylvania for the night and ran down to a bay where we watched the sunset.  I had an objective to get a sailboat at sunset back in Maine, but it never worked out.  Luckily, I found some sailboats at sunset on Lake Erie!

After Lake Erie, we finished up our trip home by crossing Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska.  This took several days and we stopped along the way to see more relatives and friends.

That sums up the 5,300 miles in the car!  I will be working on composting some high dynamic range photos as well as a few from the Margaret Todd Schooner ride to post fairly soon.   Enjoy the photos!

*we refers to my parents*