Camping the Bluffs Above the Mississippi

Freja looks out over the Mississippi.

After weeks of rain almost every day we were eager to get outside and explore. Teri took some vacation time, and I reserved us a campsite at Nelson Dewey State Park. We'd never gone before, and all we knew was that it was on some bluffs overlooking the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. That and being only about and hour & half from home made it very appealing for a short trip.

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While the actual "camping" wasn't the remote wilderness experience, it was relatively private. And I have to admit, driving into a prepared site makes camping with a 5yo a helluva lot easier! We even set up a dining fly, which made it bearable as the gnats were in HUGE swarms! All the recent heat, humidity, and rain made for a perfect insect breeding season. Also, camping from Monday till Wednesday on a holiday week, July 4th falling on Thursday, meant the place was pretty deserted!

Freja & Teri enjoy a bug free breakfast & coffee. So glad we packed the dining fly!

So we drove up on a Monday, spent a night listening to a pack of coyotes, and had a full day with no real plans on Tuesday. Instead of driving around, looking for something to do, we chose to simply stay in the park. I loaded all our food, kitchen crate, camera gear, toys, and my favorite chair onto the jeep. We then staked out a picnic shelter over looking the Mississippi River, doing nothing but playing, eating, and watching the birds fly around. I believe we spent about seven hours total just relaxing.

Freja gets herself a snack.

The view was amazing. I can't even begin to describe how much I enjoyed looking down onto a "wild" river, it's banks flooded from all the recent rain. As the day passed the light changed, making the character of the view alter as well. The only sounds were the ambient ones from the surroundings as there were very few people about.

Overlooking the Mississippi.

A bald eagle soars over head.

We all enjoyed the relaxing setting, and having it basically all to ourselves was wonderful. The kid was able to run around playing. We had a chance to really spend time together, as my kid would say, "as a family!" I know I had one of the best days ever. I think we'll do some similar excursions, where we simply go somewhere and just relax. No worries, no hustling, no having to be anywhere.

In the late afternoon we headed back to camp. There we all took showers, another good thing about campgrounds, and waited for that "golden hour" before sunset. We decided to go on a hike through the Dewey Heights Prairie. You can read that link to learn more about this unique landscape. All I can tell you is that it was incredibly beautiful! There were so many flowers, and the views were spectacular. Also, as a photographer, it was like Candyland with the way the setting sun lit up the landscape!

Freja & Teri head down the trail, flowers all aglow from the setting sun.

The girls check out the view of the Mississippi.

Looking down river towards Cassville, Stonefield Historic Site in the Foreground.

Teri fretted the whole time that my camera bag was going to cause me to fall over, and tumble off the cliff!

Wednesday we packed up after breakfast and headed home. Instead of going directly there we wandered our way along the Mississippi. Along the way we stopped a few times, once to find fossils along a washed out stream bed, another to dip our toes in the Mississippi, and finally to snack in Wyalusing State Park.

All in all it was a perfect trip, and we didn't even have to go very far. We can't wait to explore more of the state!

Combing the Archives

I've been finally working on getting my older work back online. After initially setting up this site in 2011, and then retraining myself, and also building a new workstation, we then moved 800 miles. Needless to say, this put a damper on combing through my archives in search of "gems."

Thankfully when I am done processing images from a shoot, I eventually archive all the shots taken onto DVD. While I delete the unused used images from my hard-drives, I always have a collection of the original shoot. Starting with the 2003 collections, I have been going through those old disks. What I am finding is that there are some decent shots I'd ignored.

Using much better techniques for processing images for presentation, and having stricter color management, is resulting in much better image quality. Of course, it's a very tedious project, and I am just now starting to rework 2006 shots. In the end, I believe it will result in a much broader body of work. I'll then have more time to write posts on this blog.

Also, I am still shooting the daily photos. I just haven't had time to process them, or write stories. Hopefully, with effort, I can be done with the archives soon. I really only have to get to 2011, when I began using this new site.

My Smoked Chicken Recipe

Ingredients:

1 - 4# or so, whole chicken

2 - whole cloves garlic, cut in half

1 - 1 lemon, cut in half

1 - bunch of fresh herbs, any combo of Parsley, Basil, Sage, Rosemary, or Thyme that you want...

1 or 2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter

Kosher Salt

Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

Directions:

Take your bird, and after rinsing it out and patting it dry, place it on a 1/2 sheet pan. Take half the lemon and squeeze it as you rub it all over the chicken, and then cram it up inside the bird, the skin side towards the neck opening. Hold the chicken open end up. Sprinkle in some salt and pepper. Take your garlic cloves, cut them in half, and throw one clove in. Cram in the fresh herb combo of your choice. Drop in the last of the garlic, and then place the other half of the lemon into the bird. It should form a sort of closure to the opening. Lay it down. Pour a little olive oil over the bird, and rub it all over the skin. Tie the legs together using butcher's twine, closing the opening over the end of the lemon. Tuck the wing tips behind the back of the bird. Sprinkle on some more salt & pepper. Let this sit out for up to 45 minutes while the grill gets hot.

Prepare you charcoal grill. I use a Weber kettle. I also use a chimney starter to get my natural hardwood coals as hot as possible. Soak either apple wood or hickory chips in water until needed. I create a "snake" out of aluminum foil, and wrap it around the base of a shallow aluminum tray. (It's reusable. Mine is 6 years old! See how Alton Brown makes a similar one in Grillus Domesticus) Once your coals are hot, place the tray inside the foil rectangle. Distribute the hot coals all around the outside of the tray. Place the grill rack over top.

The bird goes breast side down over the tray below. Cover the chicken with a deeper aluminum pan placed upside down. It'll form a sort of oven in your grill. Open the grill's grates on either side of the bird and sprinkle on half of your soaked wood chips. Close the grates, put on the lid with the vents all open.

After 30 minutes flip the bird, add more chips, and cover with both the foil tray, and the lid. After another 30 minutes test the temperature using a probe thermometer in the deepest part of the thigh. If it's at, or near 170°F take it off the grill. Cover it with loose foil, and let it rest for 6 minutes before carving.

Cabin Fever February

February 8th - 28th, 2013

While I've been taking daily photos, I've not been writing much the past few weeks. February is typically when I get a major case of "cabin fever." I know I am not alone. I also got caught up in reading the last book in a story I've been following for 23 years. "The Wheel of Time" series is a collection of 14 books that I began reading in 1990. As each new book came out I'd reread the series. When this, the final book, came out, I decided to only reread the last three. To that end, I basically let things slide. While I am glad to finally completing the story, it still amazes me that there has been this constant winter time thread for literally half of my life.

Anyway, that is basically why I haven't kept up with writing in this blog. I'm still playing catch up on everything, from photo processing, to house repairs. I have completed processing the photos from the 8th - 28th. Instead of an individual post for each one, I'll just post a bunch, and write about highlights.

An experimental night shot of the backyard.

We spent a lot of time indoors. It snowed a LOT in February. In fact, it's been years since I've seen snow on the ground for so long. All winter long our yard has been mostly covered. I can think of only a few days where it melted enough to actually see the winter thatch below. Of course, my reading so much meant a lot of my daily photos where of the kid, often around my easy chair...

Of course, our new pet Merida helped relieve a lot of the boredom. Not to mention filling in for my absent interaction. I have to admit, I really set aside too much time in order to read those books. The plus side is how closely Freja and this cat have bonded. Another funny thing is how Merida has also bonded with Kitty, Freja's doll cat. She likes to suckle it, and sleeps with it.

While we spent a lot of time at home we, did manage to get out occasionally. We went bowling with the family down the street, and we went to see another neighbor perform at a barn dance. Also a friend's son performed in a local play.

Occasionally friends would come over to play.

A big difference between winters here, and back in PA, aside from the amount of snow, is how much more sunshine Wisconsin gets. Personally, I don't mind the snow as much if it's sunny out. While we didn't venture out as much a we'd have liked, we did get to spend time playing, and exploring.

Another HUGE difference is that our house is full of little invaders. Boxelder bugs are a constant companion, all day, everyday. They migrated into the house to hibernate last fall. As time passes a few will "wake up." While they don't bite, if you smash them they can leave a red stain. Teri and I have taken to simply ignoring them, vacuuming up the dead bodies when we do chores. Freja, on the other hand, has decided they're not a collection of different bugs, but ONE bug in particular. She's named it "Howard." Howard is her friend, and we're not allowed to kill him.

Meet Howard.

Now, to catch up on processing March's photos...

The First Week of February

February 7, 2013

Easy pickings shooting the kid and her kitty! Somedays it's easy doing this photo a day stuff. Not super interesting, but easy. Sometimes I'll take easy, especially on a Thursday...

February 6, 2013

After Teri came home from work I had a chance to go for a quick drive. I wanted to explore around the Blue Mounds area. I found my way down a winding ravine where I spotted an old barn. Stopping to quickly shoot it, I didn't think I'd gotten anything. It wasn't until I came home and looked at the image that I saw I had something I sort of liked.

February 5, 2013

Tuesdays we have dance class at Forte Studios. The kids are in a closed dance studio, and the parents watch through a oneway, smoked mirror. I thought I'd try to shoot Freja through the glass. I ended up chatting with a couple of the parents more than trying to shoot. Perhaps next week I'll figure out how to get a decent shot...

February 4, 2013

Freja and I took little Merida to the Mount Horeb Animal Hospital for a check up. I let Freja handle the kitten, and let her feel as if she was in charge of taking care of it. She even got to listen to its heart!

February 3, 2013

Sundays don't get much better than this one. It was a sunny, crisp day. While the girls when to yoga class I had an hour to go for a quick drive. I didn't go far, just around the roads to the north of our home. There's a particular ridge there that caught my eye.

We had a great day! All three of us had fun, and I prepared a nice dinner, and had a friend over to watch the Superbowl! What an exciting game too! The kid even got to make cake, and lick the beaters. Hands down, one of the best Sundays we've had.

February 2, 2013

A friend we'd not seen for a few months came over for lunch today. While she and my wife chatted, I prepared a simple soup. Afterwards the kids had a turn at making something together.

February 1, 2013

It was a quiet day at home for all of us. Teri had a few conference calls, I made food, built a fire, and the kid played with painting. We all simply enjoyed being home.