November 2nd, 2021 -
November 15th, 2021
Hi There,
Today I’ll be sharing two weeks worth of adventuring, all smashed up into one post. That’s right, that means twice the fun all in one.
You might be thinking: “Oh no, last week’s post was already so long, I couldn’t even finish it in one sitting. Now you’re telling me I have to read twice that?”
Thankfully, no.
Actually, I’ll be honest, I’ve gotten a little behind on writing. You see, I love throwing myself back in time to revisit all these cool places, but I’ve realized that’s really hard to do when I’m caught in an entirely different adventure. After the Smokies, we went to so many different places so quickly, it was hard to wrap my head around. Now I’m left with two weeks unaccounted for! I would be lying if I said writing about those two weeks wasn’t a daunting task. Just thinking about it makes me want to shut my computer off and run away screaming. Don’t get me wrong, I love sharing these stories with you, but it takes me 5 - 10 hours of full concentration to write each post. Sometimes I just don’t have that time (or energy) if I want to enjoy myself, too.
So, to ease the load a bit, I’ve decided to share these adventures in a different way: instead of my usual prose, I’ll tell our stories through my photography. I encourage you to fill in the spaces between photos with what you think we might be doing, what we might be talking about, how we might be feeling.
Hopefully, you can imagine yourself right there with us,
Oh, you bet I'm starting off this week's photo-journey with a weirdly artsy photo. I've also watermarked the photos I took with my camera (i.e. the best ones) because my dad insisted I started doing so.
The Outer banks, NC
After hours of driving, we knew we were getting close when we had to drive on this highway above the water.
We splurged on a campsite right in the middle of the Outer Banks. Am I the only one who sees the eagle about to take off with the bathroom?
The Atlantic was just a 5 minute walk away from camp.
We tried to take a nice selfie, but my hair got in the way.
The next day, I surprised Sam with an early birthday gift: a beach driving permit!
We spent all day on those beaches, riding next to the ocean and listening to good music.
Happy, happy, happy.
We had to hopscotch between beaches, but we were never too far away. The sand on the right side was piled up to keep the rising tides from reaching the road.
Windsurfers take advantage of the crazy winds from the day.
I love this photo, the details of the lighthouse (the same from above) are just so crisp.
Sam, always my willing model.
Yes, this is the same lighthouse. Isn't is funny how the same subject can give such a different photo?
Just a few more shots of the same lighthouse as we drove around the south end of the Outer Banks.
The wind picked up the sand and threw it against our ankles.
This little birdie played with the waves just like my little siblings do.
Most of the other people we saw driving on the beach were fisherman.
Arsty fartsy. I'm obsessed with the way the ripples in the sand play with the shadows.
BEHOLD! A SAND MUSHROOM!!
A faraway hurricane in the middle of the Atlantic meant we dealt with really rough wind as we tried cooking, hence the winter gear.
Ocracoke, NC
Ocracoke is an island separate from the rest of the Outer Banks, so we had to take a ferry to get there. It was even free!
With an hour to kill, we decided we never spend enough time in the car and enjoyed the ride. Only one step away from being in a self-driving car, right?
Another lighthouse, nestled next to its keeper's family house.
Nothing beats looking up at a spiral staircase.
After exploring the small shops and galleries in Ocracoke, we killed some time at a brewery on the island.
The clouds made their own paintings in the sky.
We sat at the stormy beach for an hour. Sam read as I took photos of the birds in the water.
I watched this seagull protect his food from all the tiny birds trying to take a nibble.
Then I got the luckiest shot. All this guy wanted was to eat his fish in peace.
In (early) celebration of Sam's birthday, we took the opportunity to eat some nice seafood. I never took him as a cosmo guy, but I don't mind it.
How could we pass oysters up?
We don't eat like this often, so when we do, we go all out. This was a really, really nice end to a really, really nice day.
Blue Ridge Parkway
& Shenandoah National Park
As we made our way back, close to where we left the Smokies, we saw some pretty spectacular fall views.
Blue Ridge Parkway, pictured along the ridge above, links Shenandoah National Park to The Great Smoky Mountains National Park through 429 miles of scenic roadway.
Views like this are seen from the 280 scenic overlook pullouts that dot the parkway.
Along the road, we stopped by an old mill.
An old whisky distiller.
I love the geometry of this photo.
I bet at first glance you didn't realize this was a reflection.
Our days were spent on this long and winding road.
All the campsites we could have gone to closed at the end of October, so we had to get a little creative. Here we are cooking dinner before off the side of the road.
This little creek was right next to where we cooked that night, along with an abandoned railroad.
We made dinner in some cool places.
The sunset really showed off some vibrant colors. This is why I love cooking out of the teardrop, because you have all this to look at as you do!
As for our home for the night, we discovered that Cracker Barrels let you stay in their parking lots overnight. I was nervous about it at first, but I don't even think they noticed us - we could easily slip in and out undetected, which was really nice.
We spent two days on the parkway and another through Shenandoah. Lots of hiking was spent off-setting our hours in the car.
Another shot of Blue Ridge Parkway. If you look closely, you can see the road weave between the peaks.
Another pointless shot. I really just enjoyed the pink in the berries.
The fall colors were still really vibrant, something I'm not used to in New Mexico or Colorado.
I love this shot because it shows how far out you can see when on these peaks.
Sam could tell I was stressing about writing, so he made sure we stopped at a brewery just off the road. How did I get so lucky?
Thanksgiving in Kentucky
Sam's parents were the first to get into town, but first we had to run some errands. We ran around for hours trying to get an oil change, and the only way we could get one was by paying way too much.
To boost our mood, we couldn't help but eat at the cracker barrel we slept at. Our waitress gave us half a dozen free biscuits, so I'm happy to say our mission was a success.
The next day, we went on a hike since my parents wouldn't get into Kentucky until later that evening.
I may have taken . . . too many photos on this hike. It was just so pretty!
The sandstone all around made such cool patterns.
It was a wee bit windy at the top.
Can you spot the teardrop?
Two models pose atop a sandstone spire.
After our hike, we decompressed a bit and met up with my grandpa, who drove all the way from Duluth, GA to meet us. We ate pizza to celebrate Sam's birthday (again? what a lucky butt).
Later on, we met up with my parents at their AirBnB, which seemed to have everything you could ever want, including these slightly painful foot massagers.
Once both families got together, we all made our way to the Maker's Mark Distillery for a tour of their facilities.
The waiting room was not lacking in rocking chairs.
The tour featured a Chihuly installation, who's a prominent glass blower from Tacoma, WA. He's probably one of my favorite artists, so I was excited to see his work during the tour.
We tested five different types of bourbon at the end of our tour. I was fascinated by the paintings they had around their campus, all of which seemed to be from the same artist. What a dream job.
The campus had the funniest little details.
My dad and Sam's mom bought. So. Many. Bottles. We even got to dip them ourselves.
My grandpa was really excited about getting a bottle for himself.
Am I the only one who wants to dip my whole hand into the wax?
On the day we had our dinner, we took a hike on my parent's rental property. Say hi to my sister!
Can you see the resemblance between my baby brother and I?
What a weirdo.
The pink flower in the field? That's my mom. We may have spent . . . a small amount of time trying to find the rest of the trail. Everyone was scattered about, but we eventually found it.
We eventually stumbled upon an old cemetery with dates as far back as the early 1800s. It's really shocking to see how hard life was back then.
Another stop was a rock shelter. You can see in my brother's hand that he collected leaves. I got him, my sister, and even Sam's mom into finding the leaves that caught their fancy. My brother liked the shapes and my sister liked the colors.
I also made my siblings compete to see who could find the most unique mushrooms. I was the real winner because they spotted all the one's I never would have seen.
I begged my mom to cook her famous apple pie, but we also had people asking for cherry pie. With my mom and Grandpa's big brains, they figured out a good way to make both in the same dish.
What a wonderful dinner. I wish I got more photos of all of us together, but I got swallowed in the moment and just enjoyed being with everyone.
I do want to take a minute to say thank you to both of our families for loving us enough to visit and have a spaghetti filled Thanksgiving together. I know I missed a lot of moments that we had together, but I was too present to take many photos. I just love y'all a lot, and I'm really thankful to have a family like you. Even though we can't be together on the actual day this Thanksgiving, just know that we really appreciate everything you've done for us. Without you, we wouldn't even be able to take this wonderful Gap Year around the country.
So, thank you Mom and Dad, for teaching me to love and appreciate the natural world and road trips and science. Also for making me incredibly sassy.
Thank you Grandpa for teaching my about your life as a trucker, as well as for being a great hugger.
Thank you Lisa and Randy for helping us make this road trip in the Teardrop a reality.
Thank you to my wonderful partner in crime, Sam, for always being the first one to read these posts to make sure I didn't spell anything wrong.
And thank you to my wonderful siblings Keaton and Shea. You two are some of the most annoying, yet sweet and creative kids. I can't express how fun it is to learn more about who you are as people.
Mom, you should at least make them read that last part (;
Our last day was spent hanging out, watching the Packer game while playing Clue, and eating a whole bunch of delicious food.
Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving,
and I'm in a very thankful mood, I'd like to throw out a few more gratitudes.
I'm so, so thankful to live in such a beautiful country. I fall in love with this land more and more every day I wake up. Every state has so many hidden natural treasures, it makes me sad that I can't see every single one this next year. But I'm already making a list of forgotten places for future trips.
I'm also thankful to live with such diversity. Our culture and way of life in the States can be so different depending on where you live. Sometimes it's hard to remember our common ground because so many miles can separate us, turning we into them. But the one thing I've seen from the 11,000 miles we've driven so far is that every single one of us had the capacity to love and be loved.
Oh, and I almost forgot.
Thank you for taking the time to read this silly little blog of mine and for looking at my photos. As someone who's likes to think of herself as an artist, it really means a lot when my friends, family, and even strangers let me know what they enjoy from these posts. From the writing to the photography, I put a lot of work into them, so it's nice to hear that it isn't all for nothing.
I was told by a friend not so long ago that if I didn't do anything creative, I would probably die. It's so funny to think of how true that is.
Please have a safe holiday and enjoy your little moments with your families, friends, or even yourself. No matter how you like to celebrate, I hope you can take one minute to sit back and think about all the things in this life we have to be grateful for. As you comment which photo is your favorite, I would love to hear any thing, big or small, that you're thankful for.
As for me and Sam, we'll be spending Thanksgiving Day with his family in Georgia. I truly can't wait to experience my first Southern Thanksgiving meal!
House Keeping
Hi friend,
If you’re new to my page, welcome!
If not, then it’s really nice to see you again :)
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Without further ado, I hope you have a wonderful holiday.
Best,
Kes the Photobean
Is that Koda??? Or a look alike?
That bird playing on the beach is about to become my desktop wallpaper haha. Happy Thanksgiving guys
Like son, like mother! I was going to say the same photo. The staircase inside the lighthouse. But I'm also still a big fan of all the mushrooms!
Happy Thanksgiving to both of you and thanks for taking us along on your adventure
K
Favorite photo of the week is the one looking up the spiral staircase, super cool! Have a good Thanksgiving guys!!!