Sea of Blue

The simplest perspectives are oftentimes the best. ENJOY!

Barn, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum

Several years ago I paid a visit to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and on my visit I captured several images of this beautiful old Barn sitting in Boat Yard #1 on the museum grounds.

I remember the day well. It was a sweltering 90 degrees, but the humidity wasn't painfully bad. And aside from the heat, wished I could be right there at the Maritime Museum taking in the Chesapeake Bay on the beautiful Eastern Shore of Maryland in the small town of St. Michaels. Before I leave you today, I wanted to mention I finally got around to changing my hometown on my profile. I guess you could say the transition is official, I'm a Tennessean. But you and I both know, I am Kentucky woman at heart. ENJOY!

Linking to the Barn Collective

Sunset, Lake Michigan

As I sat on a bench next to the walkway at Holland State Park in mid July, the sun was moving low in the sky, and sadly before dropping to the horizon, a bit of cloud cover set in. I peered way out and saw this lone sailboat adrift on Lake Michigan. It is written in many, many articles that the western Lake Michigan shoreline with its quaint, and I might add, plentiful beach towns is America's best kept secret. And they would be right. Every beach town I visited from Saugatuck, and points south and north, there were very few tourists or visitors compared to the well known beach towns in Florida, or along the Texas or California coasts. This one aspect made for a pleasant journey in and around the small towns, not to mention the shoppes, the beaches and the restaurants.

One might ask, why would I want to travel from Kentucky to the shores of Lake Michigan in the Lower Peninsula. All you need do is visit there once to discover exactly what I did. Spending several nights in Holland, driving north and south to visit the beach towns, then driving slightly farther north to Traverse City, and again visiting more beach towns, made for the perfect itinerary. For the second time in my life, I was able to take in beautiful Sleeping Bear Dunes, and finally make the mile long hike to Empire Bluff. As I drove up and down the peninsula, I was treated to many a cherry farm with red ripe cherries, heavily laden hanging from the trees, row after row. I passed many a blueberry field resplendent with ripe blueberries as I drove north along the shore. On my initial trip to Michigan I drove to the Upper Peninsula and photographed the Pictured Rocks National Seashore. What a gorgeous area, rugged and virtually untamed. Love to get back there some day to photograph the Moose which are plentiful in that area. I hope you enjoyed my look back at my travels to Michigan. It's such a beautiful place to spend time outdoors. I hope a beautiful sunset graces your horizon today. ENJOY!

Linking to Sunlit Sundays

Lake Michigan

Did I mention it's been blue skies and sunshine for days on end here in the Bluegrass State . . .

Here's a couple of images I captured on my trip to Michigan.

Every day in Michigan we had beautiful blue skies along the lakeshore. Am I allowed to say I miss the lakeshore. It was so much fun near the water and walking on the beaches. Did you know aside from Florida, Michigan has some of the best beaches in America? I'm talking soft, fluffy sand. The kind of sand you can really sink your toes in too. ENJOY!

Colorful Chincoteague

I have shared various images from my trip to Chincoteague of all types of Egrets and many types of Herons, various sizes and shapes of Gulls, even a photo of a strange looking bird called an Oystercatcher. And, of yes, let's not forget the Ponies. Brown, black, checkerboard, tan. Well here's an image I like to call Colorful Chincoteague. Scrounging around in my archives I found these photographs I had taken on my trip to Virginia's Eastern Shore in mid July, in the throws of a heat wave no less, to visit Chincoteague Island and the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. On my first day out, after trekking to the wildlife refuge, I drove back across the short bridge to the main island and headed for the road that ran parallel to the bay on the north side of the island. One of the first things I noticed and stopped to photograph was an old fishing shack which had a nice array of crab traps stacked up outside right off the porch.

As I made my way back to the road that lead to the wildlife refuge and my hotel, I noticed this sailboat. The guy at the helm was readying to bring down the sails so I grabbed a quick pic before he did. Not far from the sailboat hanging off the side of the dock was this life preserver shrouded in rope. Who could resist such an image. A few days later, I found myself on the east side of the island right the bay cuts through and, more notably, where the Ponies make their way across the water for the Pony Penning every year. As I drove the road traversing the bay, I looked over to see this large group of kayaks sitting idle. What a colorful array. It's been a mainly 'single digit' temperature day here in the Bluegrass State. If you go outside, your breath travels through the air leaving you to wonder if it just might freeze mid air. My God is this what the Upper Midwest has been dealing with all these years? Not to mention the Canadians. I feel for all of you. ENJOY!

Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, St. Michael's, Maryland

Driving east towards the coast on a sunny Sunday a few weeks ago, I made my way to the Eastern Shore of Maryland stopping over in Kent Narrows at a hotel to spend the night. I awoke the next morning eager to head out to my first destination of the day, to visit the beautiful, quaint seaside town of St. Michael's, Maryland. Not only did I want to walk about exploring this adorable little town I'd seen so many photos of in tourist pubs, but I also wanted to pay a visit to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.

It was a gorgeous sunny day with beautiful blue skies, although rather hot and humid. Walking around the museum grounds, I encountered displays of all sorts of maritime artifacts and equipment housed in various buildings. I also snapped a few images of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum's octagonal lighthouse which I'll share in another post. Off to one side of the museum grounds was a large building filled with artifacts. As I neared this particular building, I discovered an artist painting a landscape. I soon learned that St. Michaels was hosting an arts festival for Plein Air artists from around the United States and perhaps abroad later in the week. Luckily I was able to snap a few images of the artist intently painting her landscape with the beautiful harbor and grounds surrounding her. This is one of my favorite images from my trip. I so love the composition with it's surreal look and feel as the artist stands painting the blue skies, the fluffy white clouds and the boat moored in the harbor. I took several angles of this same image, but found I loved this one most because it shows the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum placard on the building.

After talking to the artist for a few minutes, while at the same time encountering a tourist who just happened to be from Louisville, I continued touring the museum and snapping more images. If I were to tell you how many times I have daydreamed about visiting St. Michaels, you surely wouldn't believe me. It is true though, as I have longed to visit this seaside town for many, many years. I promise to show you images of the town in another post very soon. Before I left the museum, I snapped this image of a lone sailboat moored in the bay near Waterman's Wharf. What is it about lone sailboats sitting idly out in the harbor that tugs at my heart. Perhaps its a deep longing to set sail and venture out into the bay, albeit very, very early of a morning when the fog is hanging close to the water's edge, or perhaps to view a beautiful sunset as I make my way back to the dock. A lone sailboat can conjure up such glorious thoughts.

Speaking of Waterman's Wharf, I fell in love with this beautiful old wharf with its clapboard boathouse and rusting metal roof. As I stood looking over at it and snapping photos, I wondered just what stories it could tell. I'll bet it has many stories of cold, blustery winter days, and of course, there are those stormy nights with the wind howling into the wee hours. Surely, there's a story or two of many a day spent watching the fisherman hauling in their catch, many a boat dropping anchor at day's end, and no doubt, many, many sailboats setting sail for the harbor to spend the day enjoying the cool bay breezes. As I walked towards the little town of St. Michael's, I knew much history was staying behind at the museum. Perhaps I'll visit again one day, but for now Assateague Island was calling me. So off I went for a quick trip into St. Michael's and then on to my next destination for the day. I truly loved everything about the Eastern Shore. It was a beautiful place to spend some time this summer. Have a fantastic weekend whether you are on the coast or on a mountain top or at the lake or in the big city. ENJOY!

Burnt Cove, Maine

A bit of a stylized view of Burnt Cove Up Close. As taken during my Maine vacation summer 2008. Enjoy!

Stonington, Deer Isle, Maine #4

That's right. We're still in Stonington, Maine, taking in all the sights. Almost done though. Couldn't leave Stonington without sharing some of the local flavor in the way of boating. I love the blue skies and the blue water. It was such a gorgeous day and I felt so blessed to have happened upon it. For those of you who live near water, I envy you. The closet thing to water here in Kentucky is the Ohio and I'm sorry but it just doesn't compare to the harbors of Maine. And by the way it had taken me thirty years to get back to Maine from when I first visited which is why I chose this destination. I loved it then . . . I love it now.

I really hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed taking them. Believe it or not so far everything you've seen was photographed right off the pier. Amazing. Stay tuned. There's more coming. Enjoy!!

Stonington, Deer Isle, Maine #3

So glad you decided to take this trip with me. The last few days I showed you a foggy Stonington harbor. Today, well what a difference a day makes. We have lots of beautiful sunshine.

We pull into Stonington which basically is a two lane road running along the waterfront. On one side of the main street are shops, galleries, restaurants and a quaint motel where many of the professional photographers stay while they're in town to photograph this beautiful village. On the other side of the main street, sitting next to the waterfront, are houses, shops and restaurants, and behind that is the beautiful harbor with its many sizes and shapes of boats. We pass the main section of Stonington and come to the pier on our left. Let's drive out onto the pier and park the car. Wow, looking back onto the little village of Stonington from the waterfront, it is so beautiful here.

The first image is my favorite photograph taken of the village of Stonington looking back from the pier. In this image you see houses, shops and restaurants lining the waterfront. The second image I took because I loved this house sitting right up next to the pier and how the rocks frame the shoreline.

Stonington. Truly a unique yet beautiful place to visit. Just think, the local fishermen come sailing in after a long hard day of checking their lobster traps and what do they see as they pull into the harbor, but this beautiful little village welcoming them home. I knew you would love this trip. I'm so glad you're along for the ride. We're not done yet. So stay tuned! Enjoy!!

Foggy Harbor, Stonington, Deer Isle, Maine #2

Come take a trip with me . . . in 2007, I began researching my trip to Maine. I knew I wanted to visit Camden, Blue Hill, Stonington, Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. I chose Blue Hill as my main base as it is smack dab in the middle between Stonington and Bar Harbor and Acadia. I did stay several nights in Camden as it was the southernmost point of the trip and my first stop before heading Downeast. I promise I'll post some images of Camden Harbor soon. Should you decide to plan a trip to Maine, stop by this website, www.acadiamagic.com. So many beautiful images.

Little did I know I would have the perfect opportunity to photograph a few beautiful images of my own as I traveled to Stonington. As I arrived in Blue Hill and checked into the Inn, I decided to trek to Stonington as it was still early in the day. I found the village of Stonington covered in a shroud of mist and fog. I almost didn't make the drive to Stonington that day as the weather wasn't the best. Then I remembered something every photographer should remember, isn't that the perfect time to go see what there is to photograph, when the weather is not at its best. Yep. It was perfect! Stonington is located on Deer Isle which is a gem in and of itself. I can't explain it. You have to experience it for yourself. Along the drive you will pass harbors, coves and a few inlets, but first to get to Deer Isle you must cross over on the causeway bridge. Deer Isle is probably one of the single most unique experiences I've ever encountered in my many travels in the United States. It is just that unique.

I'm not certain that this is the same vessel as my post from yesterday although it very likely could be. Enjoy!

Postscript: Is it me or are those gulls standing at attention as the windjammer strolls by.

Foggy Harbor, Stonington, Deer Isle, Maine #1

Stonington, such a small but quaint fishing village, is situated along the coastline of Downeast Maine, midway between Blue Hill and Bar Harbor. If ever you find yourself in this beautiful state, please make the drive to Stonington. You won't be disappointed. I have images of not only a foggy day at Stonington, but also a bright sunny day. I'll share those with you in the next week. But this is my favorite image from that particular trip. At almost any given time while driving along the backroads in this area, which hug the coastline very closely, you may turn a curve only to find an inlet and perhaps a chance encounter with a sailboat or a "windjammer" making its day trip whilst playing host to visitors from all over the world. Such a beautiful sight. So happy I caught this scene and so happy I can share it with you. Image taken Summer 2008 with my Pentax. Enjoy!