Hey everyone! Hope you are doing well today. This week I want to talk about a trip I took with a photography explorer friend of mine Robert to New Jersey.  Yep New Jersey.  I was basically just a wingman on this trip he did all of the planning and I can't take any credit for it.  And I was like you New Jersey? But he had some family and friends that we would stay with while on our trip.  This trip ended up being almost 1000 miles round trip which would be a good condensed version of a trip we have planned for later this spring. Our trip took on a Nautical theme by accident or maybe not by accident my exploring partner Robert was a former Navy man.  So here's a day by day account of our trip.

Day 1- We left from home on Friday afternoon and headed to our first stop in Norfolk VA. We were in a hotel only a few miles from the Naval Station and we went onto the base and looked at the ships docked at the pier.  My formal Navy partner thought it would be a good idea to photograph Naval War Ships at night I wasn't too sure.  I snapped a couple of shots before the Shore Patrol informed us that it wasn't Okay.  We left and went downtown Norfolk to get our bearings and maybe some nighttime shots. After a little while we went back to the hotel.

Day 2- The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel and went downtown to do some street photography. We decided to go to the Naval Museum which has the USS Wisconsin a WWII class Battleship that was used until 1991. We took some shots downtown until the Museum opened and when we went in we had the whole place to ourselves. We got lots of photo's of the battle ship.  We then headed to Delaware to stay with some Friends of Robert. We had a great meal at there house and took some Family portraits.  They were great hosts.

Day 3- This day was a cold morning start with temps in the 20's. We had an early start because we had to catch a ferry that would take us from Delaware to New Jersey .  The Ferry ride was fun and it was very windy and the water was a little choppy but we make it fine.  Then it was up the Jersey turnpike until we arrived at Roberts uncle's house in Ocean Grove NJ.  We went on a walking tour of Asbury Park which was the stomping grounds of the likes of Bon Jovi and Bruce  Springsteen.  It was very nice but cold! We had a delightful dinner.

Day 4- This was our day to travel home.  We headed out early so we wouldn't get back too late. This was going to be a almost 8 hour drive. We decided to break the drive in two and stopped in Washington DC at the Iwo Jima memorial or the (USMC Memorial) and stayed for a while taking photo's.  It was a nice break and I haven't been to this monument before.  We kept on driving out of DC until we arrived at home.

All in all it was a lot better trip than I thought it would be and of course we had lots of laughs and fun.  I think everyone should have a photo nut to go on outings with.  It can be fun and you learn a lot of photography on the side. So until Next week Have fun and get outside!