JauntStock - Your Location. Our Journey.

Our trip to Seattle was a treat. We flew Southwest Airlines and took advantage of a promotion they were running in late August. Round trip flights for two for less than $300.00. That was pretty much where all the economy ended for our trip as we combined a few 11-year anniversary luxuries with our excursions to capture images. We spent the first two nights at the Mediterranean Inn. This hotel is in the Queen Anne district with less than a 10-minute walk to the space needle and short jaunt up the hill to Kenny Park, where we traveled on our third night for some nighttime photos of the city skyline. Our days were spent walking and riding public trans to get around downtown. We took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island and toured the little island shops before catching the late afternoon ferry back to Seattle where we managed to catch some dramatic skyline reflections in the water as the ship approached the port.

The second leg of our trip was north to Camden Island for three days at the very comfortable and peaceful Camden Island Inn. This B&B is a great place to unwind and a total contrast to being in the heart of downtown Seattle. The rooms all back with patios open to the water. The first morning we woke to people digging for clams as the tied had moved out overnight. The next two mornings we watched a happy otter couple play and fish the shoreline before heading out to take photos of the Northern Washington area. On Sunday we had intended to take a whale viewing tour but they had sold out for the day so we booked our reservation for Monday. Instead we took our rental car on board the ferry to Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands. The San Juan's are a gorgeous network of islands and the ferry ride is approximately an hour so we had time to sprawl out and take in the natural beauty. Upon exiting the ferry we made a grave mistake of not getting a map from a store and we were quickly notified that our iPhone's had switched over to international phone service. Assuming that the island must share towers with Canada we decided to turn off our phones to avoid the charges. We journeyed over to the town of East Sound stopped for lunch before moving on to Moran State Park. We really spent more time driving around than we had hoped and were disappointed in just how few public access points there were to the shoreline. But we made the most of the day before heading back for the night. The next morning we rose to get to our whale tour on time. The ship held about 40 people and left from Anacortes around 12:00 p.m. It was foggy when we departed the water was relatively calm and the captain was cheerful as he divulged his packaged information about the waters we were sailing through. The first 2 hours of the trip were uneventful and cold. The occasional seal would be seen but most were to far from the boat to be photographed. Around 2:00 the fog broke and gave way to good visibility in all directions, by this time we were on the south side of Lopez Island and this is where our first encounters with whales took place. The first group was 3 or 4 Orca Whale about 300 yards from the ship we stopped and watched them for about 20 minutes before the captain was radioed that a group of three humpback whale were a little farther to west. We continued on for while until you could see the mist from water being sprayed from the blowholes of the three humpack whales. We followed staying about 200 meters from the group for about an hour before turning back to find the Orca again. The second encounter with the Orca was much closer as the pod had grown to 10-15, they didn't seem shy to interact with the boats that were following them. At one point we had a female Orca swim within 30 feet of our boat dive deep and appear on the other side. We stayed at this location for around an hour. I rifled through a 8gb card in this short amount of time taking well over 500 images. For the total journey we saw Humpback, Orca, Doll Porpoise, Sea Lion and one Elephant Seal. It was worth the price and a great way to top off our trip. The next morning was our last, and we packed up and headed back to Seattle to catch our flight to Denver. While we saw and accomplished a lot, it really was just a taste of all the things we want to go back and experience and photograph next time we get a chance.

The Sandhills of Nebraska are a quiet place. The towns spread out as the local economies turn from farm to ranch land and you get a greater sense of what the United States must have been like 100 years ago. You also gain a greater respect for what the pioneers endured and why the Midwestern people have such a strong faith - they need the company.

A request came in for old wooden windmills around the Mullen area, which is located on Scenic Highway 2. We ended up camping to the east about 60 miles at a campground called Victoria Springs. The camping was primitive but the grounds were well managed with shower facilities located on the premises. The photo journey involved a lot of driving and circling back as we passed many windmills along the way, most of them metal with only a few with wooden bases. During one of the stops I almost stepping on a female wild turkey who flew up and about gave me a heart attack. She left a clutch of eggs behind which we carefully took a couple photos of and left the area so she could return hopefully. Over all the trip was productive, I think it's one we will do again closer to harvest season when the sky's begin to fill with dust and give that iconic Nebraska sunset you see so much of. Also if anyone has any old wooden windmills on their property and would be willing to allow us access, we'd love to photograph them.

Till next time, cheers and we hope that you all enjoy the site, it's fully functional now with only a couple more additions to be made to our check out process to make it easier to use.

We just got back from an extended 4th of July weekend in Northeastern Wyoming, and the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was a wet one with lots of storms which made for dramatic sky's, but foiled our attempts at a Harney Peak summit to catch the fireworks above Mount Rushmore which was totally socked in with dense fog... next year. We did however get some nice images at Devils Tower National Monument, and discovered some new territory for photo exploration in the future.

The things you don't get when you save $15 a night at the cheap hotel in Moab. You don't get a square bathroom, instead, you get a diamond-shaped bathroom with a triangle tub and triangle sink. It looks big, until you actually take a shower, It's then that you pause and wonder what happened to your spatial perception. You don't get a box of Kleenex. You don't get an alarm clock. You don't get shampoo. You only get two pillows – and it won't do you any good to ask for more, they don't have any more.

But the heat works well, the bed is at least soft, and after a full day of taking photos in 11°, it definitely does the job. All in all, we saved $45, and that could be a nice meal or a 4 GB flash card. And they have free Wi-Fi, so we should not complain!

The hike to Delicate Arch - We got there about a half hour before the crack of dawn. We were anticipating highs in the mid 40s and lows in the 20s. We got 11° and crisp clear skies. Not too many people want to hike in that temperature, so we didn't have to fight any crowds. Only 5 other brave souls made it out to the parking lot at that time of the morning. We loved watching the sun start to peak over the hills as we made the 1.5 mile treck up the hill. It's a striking view when you round the corner of the cliff to face the arch. We were able to chat with our fellow hikers briefly while getting some early morning photos of the arch. We were very happy to get back to the car, crank up the heater, and refuel with sandwiches.

After defrosting our legs and fingers, we visited the Windows and took some road shots. We had some requests for road shots in which an RV could be placed. We were lucky, because it looked like they painted the lines on the roads somewhat recently. We came away with a variety of backgrounds and lighting situations. I wish we could stay for a whole week just to focus on the roads – we were really getting into the swing of things when we had to call it a day.