Bear Creek State Park Camping Trip

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We finally got a weekend of camping in.  We had made the decision not to camp this past Spring/Summer in order to spend our weekends working around the yard and house.  I don't think either of us realized just how much we would miss it though and we looked forward to spending a great weekend together, along with Riley and Sydney, who was on her first camping trip!We chose Bear Creek because it was close (an hour and half away) and we had not been there before. We are still on our quest to camp as many state parks as possible. The map was deceiving and we found the park to be much, much smaller than we expected.  Having just celebrated it's 40th birthday this is one of the oldest SP and it showed. The sites were small and very uneven making it very hard to find a spot to accommodate the camper.  We did find one but unfortunately it was not as private as we wish to have as it was near the very front of the park and lots of car traffic could be seen and heard.The plus side of this park is its trails and gorgeous lake.  If you are a tent camper make sure you reserve lake front.  There is not a bad lake front site.  Unfortunately there are no RV lakefront sites but the lake is just a short walk across the road. Still, not the same as waking up to it out you window.We did have a great time, we hiked each day and just relaxed.  The pups were exhausted from all the walking.  Sydney did great. We have our group camping trip in just a few weeks and they will be coming along so I am glad to see how she would react.  Lucky for us, we have another "outdoorsy" pup on our hands!
Video from our weekend.Thanks for coming along with us. Check back soon for more updates about our "Life on the Bluff".

Avery and Jameson Take Over Lewis Ginter Gardens

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Ventured out yesterday with Avery to meet my Sister in law, niece and great-nephew at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens for a few hours of adventure.From the butterfly garden to the sprinkler play area and the acres of grass, playgrounds and sidewalks to run and play on they just had so much fun.   

Testing out the New Olympus TG-5

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We just bought the new Olympus TG-5 camera so that we would have a nice P/S that was also capable of taking 4k video, was waterproof and could take it if we were to drop it.  As much as I love to use my Olympus EM-1, sometimes carrying it is not practical.  This p/s seemed to fit the requirements we had and since we already shoot Olympus the learning curve to the menu system is minimized.A few samples from the camera (all in jpeg, although the camera does shoot raw)Wild Daisies in the backyardWater drop on the rosesMy desk at work is moving, this is my new view :) (shot through 5" thick window glass)Pro Capture is a new tool from Olympus that allows you to anticipate the action and by a half press grab the shots as they start.  These were taking about a 1/2 mile away standing on that walking bridge you may be able to see in the middle of the above photo.  No edits except a heavy crop.
Lastly, first video from the camera. The only editing was to cut dead time at end of each clip and to merge them togetherCamera was on a tripod and operated via the Olympus app remote.I think once I learn all the ins and outs this is going to be the p/s we were looking for :)Have a great day!