safari animals

This past weekend, my family and I went to African Wildlife Safari in Port Clinton Ohio. There will be great pics of the kids and husband in my family blog tomorrow, but these are the more interesting photography ones.

hocking hills, oh: part 3

This is the final in the pictures of our vacation pictures.

While on vacation, my husband and I had an afternoon to ourselves where we decided to go into Nelsonville and venture around. We took some pictures at the old Nelsonville Brick Park first. This is where the Nelsonville Bricks were fired. Many of them were used in the city buildings and churches as well as the streets in the area.





These final pictures are of a hummingbird moth that Matt and I happened to just approach and be curious about while we were out exploring the fire tower area in Nelsonville. I apologize for the quality of these pictures, but I had to take them fast as this little bug moves faster than most hummingbirds I've seen. He's about 3-4 inches long and is cute in a weird bug way. His wings move so quickly I wasn't even sure I was going to capture them. He came and left in a period of about 3 minutes. These are the best of what I got.

hocking hills, oh: part 2

These pictures taken on our family vacation were taken at the Rock Bridge, ironically located in, Rockbridge, OH.

This walk was so peaceful and seemed so far removed from the world. We were in a ravine and there was little evidence of a busy world going on around us. We only saw a few other people on the trail and pretty much had the place to ourselves. A long, difficult trek, with my 2.5 year old on my back, but it was so worth it to see the beauty that surrounds us that we forget about most days.

hocking hills, oh: part 1

These pictures were taken in Hocking Hills, OH while on our family vacation. This series was taken at Ash Cave, Cedar Falls and the areas around there.

The Falls

These pictures are from the waterfalls of the Rocky River near my parents' home. It's another place I've always been fond of in my hometown. I also found it to be so relaxing and serene; even when you can hear the trains, the planes and the automobiles. I've always been drawn to water and find so much peace in being at a place where I can hear and see the water.

Back to Berea

I went to my childhood hometown this past weekend for my mom's retirement party. I had a bit of free time and I was able to get some great pictures at Coe Lake in Berea, Ohio. A long time ago it was used as a quarry for gathering limestones used to create the Grindstone that Berea is famous for. As a teenager, I just spent time there jumping from cliffs, riding my brother's dirt bike off the cliffs into the water below, swimming in the lake, avoiding water snakes and just causing general mischief. Since those times, the city has changed the area a lot. No real paths existed when I was young and there were no bridges. It's still a beautiful area, none the less.

These are my favorites.