About our blog

We created this blog to help catalog the happenings in our lives in a "concise" format so that we can look back on them and reminisce.  A scrapbook if you will.  We also use this blog to share our adventures with family, friends, and anyone else who may want to come along for the ride.  

If you would like to follow our blog, please click the subscribe button located at the top of the page and enter your e-mail address to receive alerts when we add new content.

-- John

PS. I have also posted older pictures over here.  There are photos from Australia, Florida, Canada, the Caribbean, and other great destinations!


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Our biggest adventure yet!

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Meet Lucy Rae O'Connell, born Wednesday, December 11th, 2019 at 5:04pm!  Nearly three years in the making, she is finally here and we couldn't be happier!   John: Last week, we confirmed that "Elrod" (our name for the fetus) was still breech, so scheduled appointments with a chiropractor and the OB for different attempts at turning the baby.  The OB appointment was set for Thursday, and we were told to come prepared for a sudden birth, just in case the procedure caused distress or labor.  They said it was 50-50 if they could turn the fetus; if it didn't work, we would schedule a Cesarean section soon thereafter.  We were a bit on edge that week, making preparations and a bit disappointed that we'd likely miss out on that feeling of surprise that comes with a natural birth. Wednesday morning, we got that surprise!  I had decided to forego duck hunting and go to work that day.  I was just nervous about Thursday and wasn't feeling motivated...
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Overlooked but not underwhelming: Crab Orchard spillway

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We have lived five minutes from the Crab Orchard Lake spillway for nearly six years.  We have never visited the spillway itself.  I have spent time in the woods right next to it and we have walked part of the levee with Lucy, but we never made it down to the spillway.  I wasn't even sure if you could get to a viewpoint because it looks fenced off from the road. Last week, we had a really nice afternoon and Laura was out fishing.  It was about time to feed Lucy, so I warmed up a bottle, clothed her in clashing layers, and drove us down to the waterway.  We took the little footpath around the fence to the levee and sat on the concrete wall during the sunset.  I hadn't brought my camera gear but knew that I wanted to go back soon. A few days later, Laura and Micah were looking for a spot for an easy walk with the stroller so I suggested walking the levee to the spillway.  Laura dropped me off at the creek so that I could have a head start sh...
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Western Shawnee driving tour with Mom

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We convinced my mom to come up from cozy Florida to Southern Illinois in February of all times to meet baby Lucy.  She was welcomed at STL by snow and temps in the teens.  Needless to say, we didn't venture out much for a few days.  But by Sunday, I was getting cabin fever and the forecast was calling for temps in the 50s, so I planned a driving tour for the four of us. We started out at Kinkaid Spillway.  Mom was very impressed by the volume and force of the water pouring out of the lake and over the falls.  We couldn't cross at the beach because it was under water, but she was daring enough to walk the muddy path in from the dam to get right up next to the falls. I had forced myself to leave my tripod and filters behind, knowing that I would spend too much time taking pictures if I had them, but I still managed to take a few shots without them.     Next, we drove to the top of Fountain Bluff to watch eagles...
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Old meets "young": Milky Way on the Cache River

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Age is but a number, and "old" can also be "young" depending on the frame of reference.  Micah and I, a pair of thirty-somethings, traveled to the Cache River to see some "young" trees cast against the "old" Milky Way galaxy and it was a mystical trip. We had managed to get out to Kinkaid Spillway and Little Cedar Spillway  in May during the new moon, when the Milky Way is most visible, but most nights during that week were cloudy.  We were hoping to get out once more, so I did some planning and found a few nights where the roughly half-moon would set early enough to give us a few hours of dark.  Early in our summer Milky Way planning back in April, Micah had the great idea to shoot from the Lower Cache Access on Perks Access Road, which faces southward, and therefore works well for seeing the Milky Way core.   I, of course, always make things more complicated.  I was thinking about trying to take a picture of the state champion bald cypress tre...
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Portrait sessions

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This post will be a break from the usual travel theme.  Most of these pictures are  from outdoor adventures, but the hikes are not the main subject.  We already described these hikes in previous posts about a trip to the western Shawnee and the Ozarks and a trip to some Shawnee waterfalls .   Instead, Laura is the main subject!  And the post isn't so much about solely celebrating nature's beauty, but rather Laura's beauty!  Having learned that she is pregnant, Laura asked me to take some nice portraits of her before and during she started to show.   These portrait series also compose my first serious foray into portrait photography. We both studied up beforehand: Laura learned posing tips, I focused on portrait photography.  Here we will share what we considered to be the "PG13" photos that resulted from the sessions. First, we hiked about an hour to a waterfall in the western Shawnee forest.  We had the place to ourselves...
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Weekend getaway in the Missouri Ozarks: Part II

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After dinner, we grabbed the gear and headed down to the creek.   The Milky Way wasn't quite yet over the creek and the lodge patios were lit, so we tried to incorporate the lodge itself.  This picture took a lot of time to edit.  It is a composite of two photos: one about 20 seconds long to capture the Milky Way and one about 4 seconds long (and at lowest sensitivity) to capture the lodge without it just appearing like a supernova.  Then I essentially painted the two pictures together in photoshop.   By the time we sorted the lodge shot out, the Milky Way had risen over the creek.  There are several wing-dams in the creek that channelize the river, creating some nice ripples. We had thought we'd have to wait for the moon to light the rocks and trees, but the lodge did a nice job of casting soft light on the scene.  This photo is actually a stack of several (5-10) photographs, each 20 seconds long.  Stacking allows the compute...
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Bulge Hole Ecological Area: waterfalls, rainbows, and beautiful creeks

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It had been raining and raining that week, so we decided to go to Bulge Hole EA.  It has been referred to as the "valley of many waterfalls" in the Shawnee, so we figured we'd find a few with the recent rains.  It has been 24-36 hours since the last rain, so the flow was a bit less than anticipated, but most of the falls were still running. We didn't even make it far off the old forest road trail before we found little cascades and an awesome formation where water was running across the bedrock, carving braided channels throughout.  It was the first time that we had ever really seen water running like this over bedrock since the bedrock in this region is often only exposed atop bluffs, where water doesn't collect much.  The combination of mosses, lichens, rock, and water made for an especially textured landscape. We crossed the "creek" and started to parallel the valley north on the west side, stopping for some spring beauty fl...
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Ten-year anniversary camping trip - Part I: From IL to the campsite

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Thirteen years ago, we had been dating for a few months and I took Laura on a camping trip to Rabbit Key on the Gulf Coast in Everglades National Park.  We camped on the beach and had the island to ourselves. Just look at that picture!  So much puppy love!   We wanted to recreate that experience, and were headed down to Florida to meet our friends, the MacDonalds at Disney.  So, started doing some research and discovered that the Big Bend Paddling Trail has campsites for kayakers who are transiting the long-distance passage.  Technically, the campsites are not available for canoeists or powerboaters, but when I looked at the booking site, it looked like they hadn't been booked for months.  We booked it, spent so many hours researching the camping, the navigation, and the fishing.  Quite a few folks on the Florida Sportsman were a big help.  Then we loaded the truck with the camping gear and whatever we'd need for Disney and headed ...
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The Montana "Man Trip", part VIII: Webb Mountain Lookout

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I had asked everyone to bring one nice outfit for portraits.  We finally had some downtime and good weather, so I took pictures of Laura and Johnny. I have enjoyed combining long-exposures with portraits.  I'm not sure if the models love holding still so long.  There are multiple takes of this shot where Laura's hair is all over the place in the wind. It was already mid-afternoon and I wasn't sure that we'd have time to drive to and hike to Mt. Henry Lakes.  The forest service roads took a lot longer to drive than I had anticipated when looking at maps back home, so we elected to go to Boulder Lakes Trail which was closer than other afternoon sights.  Also, the trail was supposed to be a good bit shorter than other options, which would be good for Uncle John.   We arrived to find a gate blocking vehicle traffic farther out from Boulder Lakes trailhead than we had thought, making the hike just as long as Mt. Henry.  I'm ...
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3 Waterfalls, 2 bridges, 1 snake, and lots of flowers: Tunnel Hill Trail near Tunnel Hill

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I was falling behind Laura in the Rec Your Quarantine challenge and needed to put on some miles so that I don't lose the bet.  It has been a bit warm for hiking with Lucy in the Ergo pouch, and she's not quite ready for the backpack, so we headed back to Tunnel Hill trail where I could push her in the stroller.  We had made it to the Breeden Trestle bridge last time, but I was hoping to go further this time and also came prepared with the cameras this time. Soon after leaving the parking lot, we passed through the namesake tunnel. I was impressed by how much more vibrant green the vegetation along the rock walls was after all of our recent spring rains. We didn't make it far from the tunnel before Lucy got hungry and demanded that we stop to sit on a rock for a bit.  While she was laying across my lap, I was delighted to notice the reflection of the tree canopy in her eyes as she stared at the leaves. I could hear water rushing just beyond ...
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