Day 7, Norway, Reine to Svolvaer

3:15am wake up call hoping for Aurora. It was cloudy but we had high hopes that the clouds would clear enough for us to see Aurora, so we ventured out to Hamnoy to try and photograph the Toppoy mountain. Unfortunately for us, the clouds never cleared and a stormy, moody sky with mountain and water ended up being out shot. At this point, it was almost 6 am and we were freezing (luckily I have my north face long down coat that's the equivalent to wearing a sleeping bag, so only my toes and fingers were numb!) so we got into the car and drove back to Reine, about ten minutes, to see if things would light up a bit for sunrise. We stood on the bridge in Reine for a couple of hours and saw a tiny bit of pink on the horizon, but nothing on the clouds for us! We have not had any good sunrises or sunsets thus far!

We had to check out of our cabin today, so we all decided we needed a quick nap first, then packed and then got on our way. We took our time heading up north and explored various spots along the way and also scouted a few locations for Aurora which we knew would be strong tonight. It took us about 4.5 hours to get north and when we arrived, our hotel was situated on the water with gorgeous mountains surrounding it. None of us knew what to expect up north and it is more beautiful than we could have ever imagined. Ever turn we had to stop and our jaws just dropped. One more beautiful scene after the next. It's hard to fully describe but if you can picture huge fjords, massive lakes and waterways, bridges, trees, and happy people, then that would be my description of Norway.

Our cabin was super cute and large with a downstairs of a kitchen and living room and upstairs two bedrooms, with an extremely steep staircase! We went to dinner in the main lodge and our waiter was great. He was chatty and said that he had to moved to Norway for the fish and that he loved fish and fishing and had a boat that was in Sweden with his girlfriend and that he could eat fish seven days a week. We had fish. Lol. There is literally no other option! I am so over fish right now. The first meal I want when I get home is a salad!

Toward the end of our meal, while watching the sunset as we were eating (it was perfectly clear skies, so a beautiful sunset but not good for photos since there were no clouds), Aaron went to check if the Aurora had started. Sure enough, it had! Yippee! So we paid for our dinner, ran out the door, grabbed our gear and started shooting. We drove around and photographed many spots up to over an hour away until 2am. It started to die down by then, but we had some good shots and were happy so we made the trek back to the hotel to sleep for a few hours!

Norway, Day 6, duds!

Today was an exploring day. We were hopeful the aurora would peek out last night and even woke up at 4, got in the car and drove about 20 minutes away to find it was super dull and cloudy. So we stayed in the spot for sunrise and when it looked like that was also going to be socked in and a dud, we drove back to the cabin, had some breakfast and rested for a few minutes. I wanted to explore the Flakstad area today with some neat beaches and good reflections. Since it was very cloudy, these spots are usually good for day time shoots. We spent most of the day exploring around, stopping often to photograph and fly the drone. There are lots of photos and videos on my Instagram story today.

We had about an hour to spare before sunset today so we drove back south towards our cabin and decided to pick up some food to make dinner at home tonight instead of going out. We are all in the mood for a night in! Then we drove back north for sunset which looked as if it could be promising yet the clouds came back in and there was no color! Hopefully one of these days we'll get some light!

I am currently sitting in the drivers seat of our vehicle while the boys run up to do a night time shot of a town with a bridge. I'm watching the fisherman work late (it's 6:30 here and dark) as they hang fish on the drying racks and move fish barrels around. After last nights meal which was delicious, none of us want to eat fish or whale anymore. We are done. We almost can't even bare the smell of the fish anymore. It's pretty funny actually but gross. Our car even smells of fish when we turn it on. Eww!

Tonight's kp level is supposed to be very high, though the clouds aren't supposed to start to clear until around 4am. We have a 3:15 am wake up call! My Fitbit said I got 2 hours and 15 minutes last night of sleep. Let's hope I get a little more tonight! And I'll sleep when we get home on Sunday!

Im excited for the next part of our trip too. Tonight is our last night in Reine and then we head further north tomorrow for two days of backcountry skiing!

Prepping for 3 trips... and a 4th

Over the past couple of years I've perfected my packing abilities for trips and for learning how to take only the essentials. Usually the trips I take are spread out just enough that I have plenty of time to be at home, regroup, do laundry, relax and plan. The past couple of months, my trips have coincided and overlapped a bit, but they revolved around going to similar places so my gear was the same.

However, in just a couple of weeks, I will be embarking on three trips spanning a month, and heading to three very different locales around the globe. Hence, packing for three trips. I certainly do not have enough underwear for a month and Victoria's Secret or Hanky Panky has not lowered their prices enough for me to carry a month worth of them with me! Plus, that takes up space and underwear is very easy to clean in the shower! (One of my tips for traveling lighter)

The only clothing that will be the same for all three trips is my bathing suit. That's not super helpful! When I pack, I use these amazing different size bags to organize by Eagle Creek, so I can separate different types of clothing into each of them. When I arrive at a destination, I can just put the individual bags in drawers (if i'm at a location long enough to do so), and then open the zipper and can gain easy access to my clothes without having to dig around to find what i'm looking for. Gallon size zip lock bags also work to help organize.

Packing for the first trip... my initial pairings!

 I will have a 12 hour layover to do laundry and repack for the second two trips which will be Vegas and Utah... Flying into Vegas with three pairs of skis will be interesting!

The fourth trip I mentioned is actually my brother's and since he literally has no time, except maybe to shower, I am packing for him for a trip he's taking to another continent!
I will update with more as we get closer and of course, I will try my best to write daily updates when I travel.

Fall in Maine

After attending Photoplus Expo in NYC, which was a wonderful conference and networking experience, a friend who had never seen most of the north east suggested a road trip! I am always up for a road trip, so was happy to be the tour guide and driver for our adventure. I had to cut our trip a little bit short because another last minute trip appeared on the horizon and I wanted 24 hours at home before that trip. So my original plan was to head up to Rochester, then drive across Vermont and New Hampshire into Maine, but the first part of the trip was cut out because of the time. That trip will happen another day... and don't worry Cal, I will get up to visit you soon!!!  We ventured to Maine instead and stayed at my little place up there as a home base and explored the coast line and a few hours inland. We missed the peak fall colors, but as usual Maine didn't disappoint (it is one of my favorite places on earth for a reason). I've learned too that the blueberry bushes peak in color after the regular trees, so we found some amazing reds peaking for the bushes!
We ventured to the top of Camden Hills which overlooks the entire coast line, went to a few of my favorite lighthouses, Marshall Point, Owl's Head, and the Rockland Breakwater. Had some awesome beer at Allagash, and had fires every night! A fun photo trip!
(All photos here are just from my iphone!) The photos from the trip will eventually be on my website when I find some time to go through them!  :)

Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde, Maine

Blueberry Fields for miles!

Owl's Head Lighthouse

Nick doing a timelapse on his phone next to my camera!

Found a beautiful spot in the middle of no where!

For some reason the trees were huge and gorgeous by this cemetery. We had to stop!