Happy Holidays – I’m off to New Zealand
Well, it’s finally time for my long overdue honeymoon. Ian and I are heading to New Zealand to hang out with sheep and penguins and do lots of hiking and photo-taking. I’m well armed with lots of fantastic books to read and I’ll be doing a little travel writing as we go. While we’re gone, check out the pets on our webcam here.
I hope you have a fantastic holiday!
Best wishes,
Tanya
Filed under Events, Life, Photography, Travel | Comment (0)I’m jealous
My husband is going to Switzerland today. I’m taking an exam on the philosophy of metaphysics. Fair? Not so much.
Filed under Life, Travel | Comment (0)Motorbike
This is Tanya in Cozumel, which is an island. She was going through her motor-bike phase.
Filed under Life, Travel | Comment (1)Up and away
This weekend I’m off to San Francisco for a wedding shoot, and while I could use the weekend at home to catch up on sleep, I’m super excited. Not only is the couple we’re working with fun and cute and totally in love, but they treated us to a night at the hotel where the reception will be held. I’m looking forward to hard work and then some relaxing. And of course, the plane rides. Airplanes and airports are a constant source of confessions and characters, an emboldened world where you can say anything you want because you’ll never see that person again. Here’s to collecting more people for the file.
Filed under Life, Photography, Travel | Comment (0)My vacation in numbers
After 2 planes, 1 wedding, and 5 hours driving,
the timing belt snaps on my brother’s
1 week old
new used car.
We call Triple A
(who transfers me to myself)
and at long last a tow truck driver named Noah -
bald, yellow vest, tribal tattoo snaked around his bicep -
pulls us the last 70 miles to the Outerbanks.
He tells us his horror stories as we ride,
4 people in a 3 seat cab,
ducking at stop lights to avoid
suspicion of the Highway Patrol.
“My dispatch is bad with mile markers and
they hate when I have to tow people.”
“But that’s the service people pay for,” I say.
“They know that. But it’s a liability thing.
They don’t have to look at the stranded people and
tell them no.”
He turns off his walkie talkie and
turns on his GPS.
“And that, kids, is why we’re going to Nags Head.”
He smiles and I see myself reflected in his sunglasses.
I smile back.
Noah used to work at underground oil drilling,
and at least there he knew
what would kill him.
As a tow truck driver
it could be anything:
hurricanes, big rigs,
people who mistake him for the Repo man.
Noah tells us about the longest
2 hours and 14 minutes of his life,
towing an angry couple to the shore.
“It was so painful I can remember
the exact time it took,” he says.
He tells us he sped through that one, but
you’ll never, ever,
see a tow truck get pulled over.
“Cops look for things that are wrong,
but they don’t know what to look for,” he says.
“Plus you’re helping people,” my brother says.
“You’re doing the right thing.”
“Yeah,” Noah says. “Yeah.”
When we get closer, Noah points out
the best BBQ on the island, places to see.
And then he drops us off and he’s gone,
leaving us 7 days
6 ocean swims
5 bug bites
4 cans of sunscreen
3 planes
2 plane rides
and 1 thunderstorm to go.
Filed under Events, Life, Photography, Travel | Comments (4)Vacation time
I’m off on grand adventures, shooting a wedding in Philadelphia and then spending a week in the Outer Banks, North Carolina with my family. All this excitement (and questionable internet service) means I won’t be posting anything new for the next week. I hope you browse around the site and enjoy your week. Happy (early) Fourth of July!
Filed under Events, Life, Photography, Travel | Comment (0)Road Trip Adventures!
I’m home this weekend doing school work, while my husband is off having grand, albeit rainy, adventures. If you’re interested in seeing photos of the California coast, check out his blog. He’s updating photos with his cell phone camera, so you can get the full play-by-play of his trip. Once he’s back, photos with his professional camera will be posted, so be sure to keep checking in!
Filed under Life, Photography, Travel | Comment (0)Road trip to Monterey/Carmel/Pacific Grove
This weekend Ian and I made the trek up north to visit Monterey, Carmel, and Pacific Grove. This area, on the Monterey Peninsula, is one of our favorite places and holds a lot of special significance for us. Last August, Ian and I got married in Point Lobos State Reserve and had our wedding reception in Pacific Grove. The whole thing was beautiful, and this weekend we got to share it with one of our wedding clients as we shot their engagement session. After we finished with their photos, Ian and I took some sunset pictures around the park. The area cleared out as tourists finished sightseeing for the day, and the quiet dusk was so peaceful. Apparently, the calm was also good for bringing out the animals – we got up close views of lizards, blue jays, rabbits, deer, and even a mother seal cuddling with her baby. The last part was the sweetest thing on earth – just like any other mother, the momma seal nuzzled and hugged her baby. Melt.
After we finished photos we headed to Fandango (no, not the movie ticket company), the restaurant where we had our wedding dinner. We had an absolutely amazing meal and then went back to the super cute hotel Ian found for us. The rooms overlooked a little river and frogs sang their songs all night. All in all, a wonderful weekend. The area is definitely on our list of places we’d like to move, so maybe one day we can work it out. The good news is, there’s a SCBWI chapter in the area. Gorgeous location and writers to boot – what more could a girl ask for?
Filed under Life, Photography, Travel | Comment (1)I Survived Utah – Day 3 – Journey to Salt Lake
On Sunday Ian and I woke before sunrise to make the return journey to Salt Lake City. We decided to avoid the mountain pass we had taken on the way to Moab and return a different route. It had snowed a little overnight (not the twelve inches that the car rental lady threatened) and though it wasn’t enough to make us worry, a one lane highway through the hills didn’t sound too great. We cut across the state and the going was clear for about two hours, until we hit The Reef.
The Reef is a huge rock formation that rises out of the ground like spikes along a dragon’s back. Once we crossed it, the road filled with snow. Only one lane of the highway was paved, which wasn’t too much of an issue since it was only us and about six trucks on the road. Total. For the balance of the four hours.
This was cool until we realized if we got stranded there was no one coming to get us. This was cool until our car ran out of windshield wiper fluid and snow spray froze onto our windshield. This was cool until the washing liquid at every gas station was frozen solid. Then it was not so cool to be so alone.
Needless to say, we made it. I got a very sexy sunburn/windburn/sandburn combo right across my cheeks, just below the hat line and above the scarf line. My badge of pride. I was happy to get back to a warm Los Angeles.
Overall park rating: Arches: A+, Canyonlands: B
Filed under Life, Photography, Travel | Comment (0)I Survived Utah – Day 2 – Canyonlands National Park
On Saturday Ian and I made our way to Canyonlands National Park. While Arches is defined by rock protrusions, Canyonlands has deep valleys carved through rock. The road to Canyonlands is so remote that there are no fences around the bordering cow fields. This leads to a good question: Why did the cows cross the road? Answer: To get to the other side (and give us a heart attack.) The cows didn’t seem to understand why we kept beeping at them. At a standstill, we mooed and took their pictures.
Once in Canyonlands we made a short hike to Mesa Arch, overlooking a vast valley of red rock. We didn’t get there at sunrise as we planned, but the light was beautiful rose gold all the same. One of the nice things about both parks we visited is that instead of using signs to mark the trails, the parks use stacked rocks. It’s a much more natural way to mark things that lets the beauty of the landscape shine through.
After exploring Canyonlands, where I managed to lose one (but not both) of my gloves, we ate lunch at Denny’s a la Road Trip Tradition and ventured back to Arches. The same park ranger recognized us from the day before, probably thinking, “Suckers.” We only had about two hours until sunset so we had to decide between the hike to Landscape Arch, which spans the length of a football field, and Delicate Arch, which decorates every license plate in Utah. We chose the latter and began our hike.
The guide map boasted that the trip would only be a three mile loop, but it’s not an exaggeration to say we walked uphill both ways, fighting a fierce wind that was somehow always in our faces and never at our backs. The hike was pretty exhausting and finally finally we turned the corner on a sharp ledge and saw the arch balancing in the distance. We crossed a lip of rock into a small valley to take some sunset pictures. We faced issues, however, crossing back.
Delicate Arch is surrounded by walls of rock, and our small crossover happened to be the one place where all of the wind funneled to. The wind is a massive and strong erosive force, flinging sand and carving rock. When I tried to cross back over the lip, with steep cliffs on either side of the three foot path, the wind lifted my backpack off my back. I had visions of floating away to my doom, parachuted by my travel pack.
Luckily the wind subsided just enough to let us pass. We walked back with the sky bursting into a rainbow colored sunset. Definitely worth it. After dark we decided on dinner at a restaurant that had looked busy. When traveling to strange places, busy is a good sign. Sadly, we had our hopes dashed when we realized the only reason the restaurant was busy was because it was closed for a private holiday party. Of course.
We settled on Eddie McStiff’s, which Ian objected to on the basis of name alone, but which turned out to serve a delicious meal. We left the restaurant to a light snowfall. This time we made it to nine pm before crashing. Traveling is not for the weak of heart.
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