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Winter Storm hits the NC Mountains

I had made plans a few weeks back to spend a few days in the Blowing Rock area in the hope that it might snow, and that I would capture some white, winter landscapes. Well, boy did it snow! In fact it snowed to the point where it caused significant chaos on the roads, and people were stranded all over the place. Some couldn’t travel home from ski resorts, and the roads and ditches were littered with cars planted firmly in the ice and snow. Not such a big deal up north, but certainly it certainly presented a challenge for the Watauga County public officials, stretching their resources to the limit. Fortunately for me, I was there for fun, and my Jeep Cherokee 4×4 certainly earned its stripes as it carefully transported me through a winter wonderland. One of my more thrilling and adventurous excursions!

Falcon Heavy Fly-By

The SpaceX program and their apparently bold and limitless imagination as to what can be achieved is so admirable. To me, it represents the brightest and best of American ingenuity and I plan to visit Cape Canaveral soon to witness a launch in person. In the meantime, I went out to Folly Beach on the evening of December 28th to see if I could spot Falcon Heavy fly by. Launch time was 20:07 and the trajectory was showing that it was passing up the eastern seaboard. I took my camera along for fun, and captured this shot of the separation from the boosters as the rocket continued on its journey into orbit. What a thrill!

Sol Legare Island

The Sol Legare and Kings Flats area has an incredible history. “During the Civil War, the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was one of the first sanctioned African American regiments in the Union Army. The 54th fought on this narrow strip of land in 1863 during the Battle of Sol Legare. While fighting to free enslaved Americans during this battle, the 54th lost 14 men, with an additional 17 wounded and 12 missing. A mere two days later they went on to fight in the Battery Wagner battle (which you can see in the movie Glory starring Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman). In the late 1800s, newly freed enslaved Americans settled on Sol Legare to farm and fish. Many of its current residents are direct descendants of these original settlers.For more than 100 years, the Seashore Farmers’ Lodge on Sol Legare served as a community building for meetings, school, church and funerals.” (quoted from Rheosgear’s blog).

I have frequented this area over many years now. Back in the day, I would visit Thomas Backman at his seafood dock. He would usually be found working on his boat, Backman Enterprise, getting it ready to put back to sea. Sadly that never happened, since he passed away suddenly a few years back, and now the old shrimp trawler sits in mud most of the time, dreaming of better days. Here is a photo of him, taken back in 2011.

I went back down that way today, and took the following photo. Sadly his dock is now a jumbled mess of planks in the marsh, thanks to the battering of many storms and high tides. I guess some day this property will be sold and reimagined as a cluster of condos. Time marches on.

Family Portrait Season

The family portrait season is upon us. Funny how the end of the year signals the time to tie up loose ends, accomplish the goals that were set at the beginning of the year, etc. This includes recording the growth of the kids, including new family members and perhaps visiting grandparents, etc. I have enjoyed photographing this family for years, and yes there was a new little one, and the others have grown and changed. The commitment to document the family progress over the years is a worthy one. As a grandparent who photographed her kids often as they grew, I now watch my grandkids going through old albums of their parents at their age, asking all kinds of questions and hugely enjoying the experience. Here are a couple of my favorites from last weekend’s session.

More from Western North Carolina

Prepare to be surprised by sudden and ongoing changes in the weather when spending time in the upper elevations of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Our biggest surprise this time was to get caught in a flurry of snowflakes while admiring the brilliant fall foliage on the parkway. Here are a few more of my favorite images from this trip. Until next time ….

Fall in North Carolina

It’s the second week in October, and time to make my annual pilgrimage to the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina. We are coming to the end of three wonderful days spent in the rural community of Valle Crucis, near Blowing Rock, and tomorrow we will drive south down to the Lake Toxaway area and spend a week there. So far, we have covered over 500 miles and tomorrow will add another couple of hundred. Here are a couple of snapshots from our wanderings up and down the BRP.

The Edge of America

Summer is almost over and most vacationers have returned to their homes. I don’t enjoy Folly when it is crowded but love to spend time there out of season. Yesterday was a beautiful warm evening and it felt good to walk the beach again. I have so many images of this shoreline, as do many of us locals, but it never tires, and they are never the same.

White Sands National Park, NM

A friend and I traveled to New Mexico to visit family in Ruidoso, and while there, we took a road trip to visit the White Sands National Park. We didn’t spend long there, since it was quite a way to travel and also it is extremely hot at this time of year, so extended hikes through the dunes were out of the question. We did enjoy the late afternoon when some weather rolled in and it cooled down a little – enough to coax us out of the air-conditioned car and explore a little. Here are a few of the images I came away with.