Moving Pictures

I would like to think it was just a few years since I last visited Pigeon Forge but it's been a decade or more. To be perfectly fair, I have never really visited Pigeon Forge. Only Dollywood. And that was just a few day trips. My first visit was in the late 80's so I was was quite amazed at the changes. Since I'm a big believer in doing the most I can on my travels, I started off with booking a room in Margeritaville Island Hotel. Was it expensive? - Oh hell yeah. Was it worth it? Absolutely! I booked very late and literally got the last room available so no discount but even so - I made the most of the amenities. The location alone had so much to do I could have just stayed right where I was. But what fun would that be. Just down the road was the Titanic Exhibit . I've seen many a documentary and a famous movie about the Titanic but there was still so much to learn and see. I don't want to give much away but there is an Iceburg inside you can touch and a mo...

I remember my first visit to Gatlinburg TN like it was yesterday. It was actually 1988. I remember not having enough cash to stay in town but a little up the road. Still within walking distance. I also remember how much I enjoyed my visit. I've been back a few times over the years. Each trip with a new set of memories. This last visit I stayed at the Greystone Lodge right in the heart of town and right next to the Aquarium. I could not have picked a better place to stay. The recent devastating fires did not diminish the experience. Memories are a funny thing though. Some of the places I remember so well were in different locations than I recollected, very run down, or completely missing.  The roaring river through town was a mere trickle. On the other hand, there were so many new restaurants, attractions, and additions it was impossible to fit them all in as hard as I tried. The biggest surprise was the size of the Moonshine establishments. I'm not much of a dri...

Chimney Rock, North Carolina will always be a mystical, magical place in my life. When my parents decided to move to Florida from Pennsylvania in 1978, I was in no way enthusiastic about it. Even though I've lived near the beach all these many years, I still feel more at home in the mountains. After I graduated college in 1982,  I was well on my way to launching my career a few years later. I decided to take my parents on a little vacation. I was making some pretty good money, no college debt, and living at home so I was banking most of it. We traveled up Florida, Georgia, and went as far north as this park in North Carolina. While my parents took a break, I walked the entire two mile, two hour trail to the waterfall and back. That trip was etched in my mind for life. It was the most difficult hike I had done to that point and set a pattern for me that I still enjoy. I have come back every few years. Probably 10 times or so. This last time was a bit more difficult a...

Not only has it been decades since I visited this park, it's also been months since I've posted in this blog. Time to catch up. My intention on this trip was to ride every roller coaster in the park. None of which I took photos of. That's because they make it very difficult to carry pretty much anything on the rides so wallet, keys, phone, camera all went into storage lockers most of the day. The roller coasters are incredibly fast, hugely varied, and put a tremendous strain on this old body of mine. All for pure enjoyment and thrill. Around noon or so I needed a slight break from being upside down at 60 miles an hour and decided to take in a show. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed these shows as a kid. I had also forgotten how much I enjoyed the penguin exhibit. Especially on a 90 degree day in the Florida sun. That is real ice and there is no glass between the birds and the visitors. The temperature shock was exactly what I needed to cool down a bit and...

After my recent success capturing the Roosevelt Bridge at night after so many years, I thought I would try once more to capture a clear shot of the full moon. I left all the settings on the camera untouched and waited the almost two weeks to make the shot. The results were instantly disappointing. Nothing but a white blob. The thing I like about photography is the constant learning curve. The constant frustration can get old sometimes though.  I am still and will likely always be an amateur photographer with expensive but mostly all used equipment.  My $1,800.00 used lens, as good as it is, just can not seem to make this shot with my level of skill.  I had some luck previously with my $99.00 Vivitar Series 1 lens with the 2X converter giving me a full 1,000 MM. This is a fully manual lens. I set the camera to 400 ISO but the focus and aperture are manually set on the lens. The one thing I had always done in the past was set the aperture wide open. ...

Long before I moved to this area, I attempted to take an artful photo of this bridge. I seen many photos from other photographers and it didn't seem that difficult. Three cameras, three lenses, 2 tripods, multiple combinations of equipment, dozens of settings, hours upon hours, and several locations later, I have finally captured a few photos worth sharing with the world. The actual magical mix was, in the end, pretty basic. I was just missing one important element at a time to create awful photos, not worth the edit time. I could of course do better and I will keep trying but these three are pretty close to what I was aiming to achieve. What's more important is I kept trying for years. Photography is one of those fun hobbies that is as frustrating as it is rewarding and always with more to learn.

New town. New kayak. My inflatable Sea Eagle kayaks have served me well in my former home in South Florida but the waters in my new town seem a better fit for a hard sided kayak. A lot of the places I want to visit have either sharp oyster beds or sharp teeth just below the water. I bought my new kayak about 6 months ago when Sports Authority had a going out of business sale. As soon as I got it home, it seems, the algae blooms that got national attention began. It has been in the garage ever since. But finally I had a break in the weather, my schedule, and clear water. The first trick was to figure how to secure the kayak to the roof of the car. A few youtube tutorials helped with that. Next trick was to actually get it on the roof. I'm 6' 4" but so is my vehicle. Not only that, but I was about to take it on the highway just a few blocks from the house. Solid tie downs seemed appropriate for my first ever high speed cargo transport.  My launch point for my f...

I've always been a roller coaster fan since my first time on the big wooden roller coaster at Hunt's Pier in New Jersey. That would be in the early 1970's. My first looping roller coaster was the  SooperDooperLooper when it first opened at Hershey Park in 1977. I've ridden some pretty large coasters all over the country but not for many years. Of course I have always ridden the Disney rides and even Universal's in Orlando but I had to put a pause on the really ferocious rides for a while. A high stress life and a high G-Force roller coaster leads to seeing black spots, chest pains, fainting, and balance problems. Now that I have gotten away from the high stress life, blood pressure under control, no more ice pick in the chest mid day job stress, I just wanted to give it a try again. It was always my dream for retirement to ride the biggest rides in the country. That ended 5 years ago on the Hulk in Orlando, A ride I've been on many times prior, made me ...

Taking a quick count, I've been to seven other Florida festivals, most in the last few months, but this was my first ever visit to the Bay Area Renaissance Festival . Two reasons - It runs the same time as my home town fair and it's 300 miles from my home. My goal this year was to catch them all. Mission accomplished. I have heard wildly mixed reviews on this show from it's a must see to not worth the drive. I can say with certainty my review will not be mixed. I LOVED IT!!!! Easily takes the top spot of my favorite Florida Festival. The first thing I noticed were the trees. As the sun got higher in the sky, I appreciated them more and more. The next thing I noticed was this fair is huge. I managed to walk through much of it before the crowds but it took a while. Later in the day the crowds made walking quickly impossible. Unlike every other fair I have been to, including Scarborough Renaissance Festival in Texas, and The Georgia Renaissance Festival , I...