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It’s almost that time of year again when multitudes of bird species will begin flying in and out of the forest behind my house, so I don’t even need to leave the comfort of my backyard patio to go bird watching. 🙂
Here’s a shot from the spring of 2013 taken with my old megazoom point-and-shoot.
You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.
When hiking to the top of Franey Mountain in the Cape Breton Highlands, you will encounter this picturesque lookout about 1/3 of the way up (or 2/3 of the way down, depending on which of the two trails you chose to go up). It’s a beautiful hike, especially as you get closer to the top, where you are rewarded with spectacular views of the mountains and coast. The 1,100-foot ascent is not too challenging (especially if an out-of-shape schlub like me can make it to the top)–I think it took us between 2 1/2 and 3 hours to get to the top, though it can be done more quickly if you’re in better shape and not stopping for photos. Going down was much faster as we took the second trail down, which was much less interesting from a scenery perspective, and also less challenging.
I made one alteration to this photo–I used the content-aware touchup tool in Camera Raw to remove my hiking pole that was leaning against the rock–it turned out really well, not even noticeable. Bonus points if you can tell me where the pole was. 🙂
You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.
This was taken on a Cape Forchu, Nova Scotia beach that we had entirely to ourselves, except for the sandpipers. I captured this little guy digging for food away from the rest of the flock. It’s not the highest quality shot, but I like the way his entire reflection is visible in the wet sand.
You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.
This was taken along the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton, Canada, not too far from the cabin where we stayed this past September. In the distance to the left of the shack, if you squint you can make out the Atlantic Ocean.
Even though it wasn’t technically a lookout and there was no convenient place to park, we knew we had to stop when we drove past this picturesque scene. You can see why Cape Breton draws so many comparisons to Scotland–the landscape is simply breathtaking. I’m ready to move there.
You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.
I recently came across this photo from my 2014 hike through Yosemite Valley and thought it was worth sharing.
You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.
This photo is from an early evening hike in Fundy National Park along a small waterfall trail. The hike was beautiful, like a stroll through Middle Earth, and peaceful–we had the entire trail to ourselves.
You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.
One of the most interesting features of Prince Edward Island is its contrasting geography. You’d never know from viewing this green, windmill-dotted landscape that right behind me were red cliffs, rocky beaches, and a vast ocean (technically, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but you get my meaning).
You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted regularly, but now that I’ve finally finished culling and processing all of the photos from my Canadian Maritimes road trip (four months later!) I should be ready to resume more frequent posting. This photo is from the aforementioned Canada trip, snapped during my hike along the cliffs of Prince Edward Island. This is one of my favorite photos from the entire trip: a secluded beach, accessible only from the trail, that my wife and I had entirely to ourselves. Although we only spent two of our 12 days in Canada on Prince Edward Island, our visit there was among the most memorable of the entire trip.
For this hike I experimented with a polarizing filter for richer skies and colors. I had never used a filter on my Nikon in years past because I was concerned about putting cheaper glass in front of my good lens, but the photos taken with it turned out pretty well.
You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.
During my July visit to Edinburgh two years ago I decided to take a sunset hike up to Calton Hill (which is around 10:30 p.m. that time of year). Once you get to the top you are rewarded with breathtaking views of Edinburgh, such as the twilight scene captured in this photo.
You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.
It has been five months since the last installment of my Eurotrip journal (and two years since the trip actually happened), but we are finally hitting the home stretch with this penultimate chapter covering my one full day in Amsterdam.
July 12, 2014: My first morning in Amsterdam began with breakfast at the hotel, where I enjoyed American-style bacon for the first time on this two-week trip (bacon in the U.K. is more like ham). I chose to skip my tour group’s morning excursion to Zaanse Schans since we had not had the opportunity on the previous day to see much of Amsterdam. From what I’ve read, Zaanse Schans sounds a bit like a tourist trap anyway, so although it would have been neat to see the old windmills, I don’t feel as if I missed much overall.
Instead, I preferred to spend my only full day in Amsterdam exploring the city, so I began the long walk toward the city center from my hotel, which was located far outside the main part of the city. When I later spoke to other members of my group, they were stunned that I had walked all the way to the city center and back again–one guy said a taxi had cost him 26 Euros each way. But, as I’ve learned from my travel-savvy uncle as well as through my own experience, a long walk is the best way to truly experience a city.
Along the way, I meandered through areas with hardly any tourists and stumbled onto a large outdoor market where I was able to buy an authentic stroopwaffle. I also diverted my route to swing by an old windmill in town, so I didn’t leave Amsterdam without seeing at least one classic windmill. Between these diversions and numerous photo stops, it took me about two hours to reach the city center.
Here are some photos from my walk:
The walk back to the hotel took much longer than expected. For some reason, although I normally have a very good sense of direction, I kept getting turned around and walking in circles. Eventually, I found my way out of the circular city center and on the road back home. I kept looking for somewhere to eat dinner but nothing was striking my fancy, and before I knew it, I was back at the hotel.
I had been walking basically nonstop for five straight hours over hard surfaces on a hot summer day, so I was pretty beat and not feeling up to heading back out to look for somewhere to eat, especially since the hotel wasn’t really located near anything. So I settled for eating in the hotel, which turned out to be one of the worst meals I’ve ever had: a chorizo sandwich with such a thin slice of meat that it was basically like eating bread, and a bland appetizer platter which came out with raw ground sausage. I took a little bite just to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me, but it was indeed raw. Perhaps it is a delicacy there, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat it.
I then headed back to my room to pack, thus ending my time in Amsterdam. When I had first seen the city via cruise on the previous day, I hadn’t been overwhelmed, but it grew more charming during my long walk off the beaten path and into the old city center, then less charming when I reached the red light district. In the end, I was glad to have visited once, as it is a very unique city with its various canals, waterfront buildings, and heavy bike traffic (as well as some other amenities you don’t find in other cities), but I was already looking forward to the next day’s visit to Bruges, which, for me, had been the main attraction of this entire tour. Unfortunately, my time in Bruges would be mostly ill-fated, but that’s a story for the next installment.
View more of my photos from Amsterdam and Bruges.
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Michael Rappa 