Hey Everyone!  I hope everyone is safe and healthy.  Last week I took a little day trip to Merchants Millpond State Park in North Carolina.  This is a trip that I had planned a couple of weeks ago, but the coronavirus put a stop to the trip as the parks closed in North Carolina.  The parks opened to trails only and no camping yet last week and should re-open to campers in a week or so.  This park is located in the northeastern part of North Carolina, not too far from the Virginia border.  The park offers hiking trails, biking trails, camping, kayaking, and canoeing.  Some of the campsites you can kayak to. The Millpond offers fishing and kayaking and is really beautiful with cypress trees in abundance.

Our trip started early in the morning with an over-two-hour drive to get there. The trip I had planned earlier was an overnight trip because of the distance.  As a side note, when the parks were closed a representative of the parks called me promptly to give me a refund of my money for the camping!  I find that the staff at most of the state parks are very helpful and courteous.  My wife and my travel companion Forrest were traveling with me.  They both needed a break away from being cooped up in the house.  After arriving, we went to the Millpond and started with the photography and hiking.  The pond is really beautiful and calming.  We saw some kayakers put their boats in the water and start gliding through the trees on the way to finding some fish.  There were not a lot of people at the park, and it could be because of the virus or because it was Sunday morning.  But either way it was nice not to have people everywhere.  We took a two-mile hike on one of the trails there and went to the bridge over the pond to take some photos. We also planned on going to visit Dismal Swamp State Park which was only a 30-minute drive away.  When I'm on these trips, the way I like to do my photography is by myself.  I can take my time looking at stuff and don't feel that I'm being rushed to do something.  Forrest is getting better at stopping when I stop and sitting by patiently while I'm shooting. My wife waits patiently too.  But she always wants a photo of her wherever we go, so I have to stop what I'm doing to take a photo of her.  But it's still nice to have her along.  Here is a link to a short video that I made of this trip. Merchants Millpond Video So after the photography we took a short drive to Dismal Swamp State Park.  This park is very close to the Virginia border on US 17.  It is mainly a kayaking and canoeing park as well, but they do have some hiking trails that are really dirt roads and are also for bike riding.  We really didn't stay here long because we wanted to visit Edenton, North Carolina, a small little town that I grew up in that we visit a few times a year.  When we arrived, the streets that are usually full of people downtown were mainly empty, I guess because of the virus, which gave its a eerie feeling.  We went to a local park to have lunch and look over Edenton Bay.  The view was great, and we had a good lunch.  After lunch, we rode around town as we always do to check out the old house that I grew up in and check out other things that have changed.  We then started on our way home.  It was overall a great trip, and we knocked two more state parks off of my list.  Maybe next weekend we'll go to another.  Until then, stay safe and healthy and get outside and shoot!

Hey Everyone!  I hope y'all are doing well and are healthy.  At the time of this writing, most if not all of the states have some kind of partial opening.  Now, I'm not going to get into the discussion for or against reopening and if it's too soon or not.  That's not what this is about.  But what this blog is about is what have you learned during this Stay at Home Order?  What new thing or activity had you forgotten and have relearned, or have you just learned something new? I have been very lucky that I have been able to work the whole time, and I have been able to do it remotely from home.  I know that a lot of you have had to stay home without pay, and I do know how you feel.  I was out of work for five months before, and I know what it's like not to have a paycheck coming in.  Today I'm going to go over a few things that I have learned while staying at home.

1. I have learned how to cut my own hair!  I don't mean my wife has learned how.  I mean I have learned how.  I would never let my wife cut my hair.  Not because I don't think she could do it, but if she messed up I would do or say something that I would regret.  And I must say, I've done a good job at it so much that I won't be getting regular hair cuts at the barber shop anymore.  Unless I really screw it up! LOL  So I've learned a new skill and a way to save some money.

2. I have learned that I really do miss going places and camping.  I'm pretty much a loner and don't go out much to socialize any except for my camera club.  So the Stay at Home Order hasn't really affected me much in that sense.  I do most of my shopping online, so going to a store wasn't my thing to start with.  But not being able to go camping or hiking in my favorite parks, now that's killing me.  I even had a campout in my backyard as you could tell by my last blog.  I plan on going somewhere this weekend to go for a day hike because the campgrounds haven't opened yet, but I can't wait.  I don't think I will meet my goal of visiting all of the state parks in NC in a single year this year.  Might have to try again next year.

3.  I am relearning how to play the guitar.  I have had my guitar put away in the closet for almost 10 years.  I used to play quite a few songs.  Easy ones.  I really wasn't that good when I played.  But now I'm taking an online guitar course that is 14 weeks long for beginners.  I had forgotten how much the tips of your fingers hurt at the beginning.  But I'm starting to relearn some of the old songs I knew, as well as some new ones.  I'm having fun with it, and I plan to practice every day if I can.  Don't worry, this isn't going to become a Guitar Blog.

4. I also learned that I'm set in my ways and I like what I like.  I like to watch the same TV series over and over again.  Shows like "The West Wing," "Grey's Anatomy," "Game of Thrones," "Downton Abbey," "Heartland," and I could name a few more.  I have watched all of these shows many times and still like watching them.  I like a salad at night with grilled chicken for supper, and I have that every day during the week.  You would think that I would be smaller than I am with all of that salad, but I also like my sweets and savories to eat.  I like wearing the same jeans for many days in a row, and they just seem to get more comfortable every day.  I like going to bed early and waking up early.  I tend to get most of my work done before noon.  So, yes, I'm set in my ways.

Hopefully you have learned something about yourself that you didn't know or had forgotten.  Maybe a new skill with editing your photos or a new skill with your camera.  I hope that you have made this time at home an adventure instead of a burden.  I know I said that I wasn't going to write about the coronavirus anymore. OOPS!  Anyway, I hope that your days get easier and that you get outside and shoot!

Hey everyone!  Today's topic is about camping in your backyard.  Yes, your backyard.  I know a lot of you haven't slept in the backyard since you were a kid.  But it can be fun and a good time to try out new equipment and work out all of the bugs that camping can bring.  This weekend had fantastic weather with highs in the 70's on Saturday and 80's on Sunday. The stay-at-home order is still in effect, and the state and national parks are closed for camping.  I've been itching to get out and do some camping and exploring, so I got in my truck and drove to the exotic place of my backyard.  Not too far so I saved on gas! LOL  I started to do some work on my teardrop camper (install a new battery), and I had to wire a separate light to my truck camper and go through the things that I really need in my camper and the things I don't. Then it was time to set up camp.  A hammock is my preferred way to sleep when I'm camping.  It's so comfortable, and I don't have to get on the ground to go to bed.  I'm getting older, and getting into a tent after a long day of hiking is harder to do than when I was younger.  So I got my car-camping hammock.  I have many hammocks. The one for backpacking that I made has a built-in, zippered bug net.  My other hammocks have bug nets that just drape over for protection from those pesky flying pests in the summer time.  For rain and sun protection, I placed a tarp over my hammock.  Again, I have many tarps:  two that can be used for summer use and two for winter with doors attached to keep out the wind and rain.  The one that I decided to use for my car camping is one of my winter tarps.  I can fold the doors out of the way to let the breeze blow through in the summer time, and if I need some privacy or to protection from the weather, I can use the doors.  I've got camp all set up!  Now the fun stuff starts.

My wife and I had planned to have a fire in our little fire pit, so I had to get some wood together and get our grill together for the first grill of the warm weather.  So now that all of the camp chores and setup are done, it's time for the fun stuff.  Well, there is nothing better than taking it easy in a hammock in the summertime under a shade tree with a slight breeze blowing.  You talk about good sleep!  It's awesome!  I had just dozed off when something startled me, a tap on my shoulder from underneath my hammock.  Forrest!  He wanted some attention and wanted to get in with me.  So I picked him up and got him in the hammock, and we both took a nap until some squirrels started chasing each other in the tree above us.  Of course Forrest freaked out and I let him out of the hammock.  Later, we grilled some burgers on the grill and they were great!  I don't know what it is about burgers on the grill that make them so good, but the grill does really make them taste great!  After cleanup, it was time to start the fire.  To tell you the truth, I'm not really good at doing fires, and when I go camping I rarely start a fire if I have to do it myself.  There is just a lot of work to do with fire wood collection, starting the fire, and feeding the fire through the night.  But this night it was my turn to tend to the fire. Starting the fire is the hard part.  I got some small twigs and stuff and tried to start the fire with some crunched-up paper, but no luck.  I remembered my Boy Scout training and got some cotton balls and some Vaseline and soaked the cotton balls in it.  I lit the balls and they burned for about 10 minutes, plenty of time to get the fire started.  Then it was just feeding the fire.  It turned out great and we had a good time sitting around the camp fire.  Finally it was bed time.  I haven't slept in the truck camper since I built it.  So tonight was the night.  Forrest and I went to bed in the back of the truck.  And it went okay.  I would have been more comfortable in my hammock, but I did get some sleep.  We woke up early like always and had breakfast.  

We had a good time camping out in the backyard.  The weather was great and a fun time was had by all.  So get out in nature and have some fun!  Keep shooting!