Weekend Adventure: Missouri River Nature Trail

View of the Missouri River.

It is unseasonably warm for March in ND, everything is still very brown (best part is no bugs)

Mandan, ND hill sign.

First geocache of the day.

Rip rap to protect the bank from further erosion.

Skipping rocks in the mighty Missouri River.

Finding treasures hiding in the rocks.

Weekend Adventure: Pioneer Park

My kids spend too much time plugged in to video games and the television.  I spend too much time in front of a computer all week.  In a effort to get out and explore the city, region and state we live in I am challenging myself to get out each week and find an adventure.

This week we found ourselves in Pioneer Park, a family favorite.  

This was also the first time turning off the auto shoot and testing the manual settings on my new camera.  Ended up with a mixed bag of shots. 

 We could not locate the geocache that we were looking for,  but frozen creek was fun.

It was an absolutely beautiful day to be out with some unseasonably warm weather.

New Camera

After many months of thinking about buying a new camera and a few weeks of searching the internet and asking my photo snapping friends what camera I should buy.  I took the plunge and bought a Canon Rebel T5 along with a 18-55mm lens and a 70-300mm lens.

First shot out of the box, then the battery died. 

I have not worked with a SLR camera since I took black and white photography class in college back in the dark room ages around 1992.  Since then I have had a variety of digital point and shoots and the past few years have resorted to my phone camera.

Trying out a few shots at home before we headed out to a school concert

We have a few long road trips planned for this year and I really want to get my kids out of the house and do some hiking/geocaching again this summer.   

One can only sit still so long waiting for mom before one must goof around. 

 I am ready for this adventure. 

1883 Courthouse

I recently had the pleasure of  touring the historic Stutsman County Courthouse located in Jamestown, ND. Constructed in 1883,  it is the oldest surviving courthouse in North Dakota.

It is a magnificent brick structure with a gorgeous interior of stamped metal.

The morning light was beautiful as it lit up the rooms.  Never mind,  the building has not heat or electricity and the the air temp was around -4.

The second floor court room... 

 Back of the courtroom...

Pin Hole Photography

I mostly create and work with fiber today, but I did notice that I have a few gems hanging around my house of other work I have done through the years. While in college, I took as many studio art classes as possible. One that I enjoyed was black & white photography. One summer I built my own camera from a Quaker oat container and took pictures around the house. I was amazed when the first photo I exposed, turned out. I have had two of my favorites framed and hanging in my home for years.

The first photo is of the brick patio at my parents home in South Dakota. In the morning with the sun just right, the trellis creates shadows. Because the camera is a Quaker oat can, the negative paper is curved when inserted so you get a great fish eye effect.





The second photo is of the house, the camera was sitting on a wood bench. I like how the trees turned out in the photos. And please excuse the flash, it bounced off of the glass when I took the digital photo.