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To be honest, I never had New Hampshire on my bucket list of places to travel. I’m not much of a winter sports girl and I honestly didn’t know what more the state had to offer. So when my wanderlust started kicking into high gear in the middle of August, I started researching places to go for the Autumn time. I know New England has some of the best foliage to offer in the country, so that is where I began my research.

The more I looked into it, the more it seemed like New Hampshire was the best place to go. About a 10-hour car ride (one way) can easily be divided into two relaxing days of travel. Plus, I know there would be some fun stops along the way. In general, we were looking to relax on this trip. We wanted to have some great views that were easily accessible from the road but also have fit in a hike or two throughout the day. Nothing too strenuous, but something that was good enough to build an appetite for  after the hike. After getting some great advice from fellow photographer, Patrick Koetzle, I was ready to hit the road.

Our entire trip revolved around spending 3 whole days in the White Mountains National Forest area the first week of October. At that time it seemed like we were right in the middle or towards the end of peak autumn color which was exactly what I was looking for. For the most part, the weather was beautiful. In the mid-50s with no humidity. But in the middle of our trip, it rained really hard and it got really cold and windy bringing the temps down to the 30s.

Lodging

Based on all my research about the White Mountain area, an overwhelming amount of people suggest staying in a town called, Lincoln. I did my best to find a suitable place to stay but even booking our trip 2 months in advance, our options were limited. We ended up finding a cottage in Twin Mountains. We brought our dog, Frankie so it was great to have our own little cottage with a fenced-in backyard. The location was right in between Franconia Notch and Crawford Notch, two of the places where we wanted to spend most of the time so the cottage was perfect for us.

So if you’re looking to stay somewhere centrally located with your own private kitchen and hot tub, I’d highly recommend staying with Sherry and Ron. They were amazingly welcoming and thoughtful hosts.

We did visit Lincoln one day around lunchtime. Since we were visiting during the Covid pandemic, a lot of the restaurants and stores seemed like they were closed. That just reinforced the idea that our decision to stay in Twin Mountains was the best option for us.

Franconia Notch

Driving around this area is so exciting. I remember telling Andrew on more than one occasion that he had to drive just so I could stare out the window. But I think my favorite was the Franconia Notch side. Maybe because it seemed like there was more color on that side but more than anything, I just really enjoyed the views.

Our first official hike was Artist’s Bluff for sunrise. Although it is only 1.5 miles long, the hike was strenuous being that it was just straight up the mountain then down the mountain. There were a few flat areas but not much. If I think about it, a majority of the hikes around the White Mountains area was like this. A great glute workout for sure! But it was absolutely worth the sweat.

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So my favorite view from the Washington Monument was definitely facing west with views of the World War II Memorial, Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial. It may have been because we were there around sunset and obviously you want to be facing west, but it was the Reflecting Pool that kept on catching my eye. I couldn’t believe how still and peaceful the water looked. It literally looked like glass from above.

But out of the corner of my eye, I noticed an airplane flying by in the sky and you could see it in the reflecting pool. It was the coolest thing ever. Luckily, at that time of the night, there’s pretty much an airplane that flys by ever ten minutes. So I just waited a bit for another one to come and tried my best to capture it in the reflection.

I also love seeing all the traffic around the memorial and into Arlington, Virginia. GAH I love these elevated views. Can’t wait to go up in the Washington Monument again to capture some more!

If you have any questions about getting tickets or what it’s like up there, please feel free to let me know. I’m currently writing a guide that will explain the process.

My camera settings for this image are F4.5 at 1/30th sec and ISO 1000 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

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Flashback Friday to one of the most memorable hikes I’ve been on in my life. I loved this hike in Åndalsnes and it was definietly a test in endurance. Pretty much 6.5 straight uphill and downhill but totally worth it for a view like this. If you’re ever in the area, I’d highly recommend this hike – Rampestreken. I also recommend getting your hiking partner to carry your backpack of photo equipment during the hike. It makes life so much easier. LOL.

I was going back through some of my older images for fun. But I distinctly remember going through these images and not be totally satisfied with them when I first returned from our trip. There was something about it that I couldn’t get right. After playing around for a bit, I love the way this one turned out in particular. The difference between this image and others was that I used a gradient filter to bring out the clouds so much more. I feel like that completed the whole image and framed it very nicely.

Another reason why I am sharing this is because we’re planning on going hiking this weekend. Not in Norway (I wish) but in the Shenandoah mountains and I’m really looking forward to escaping to the outdoors for a couple hours. What are your memorial day plans?

Hope everyone has a happy and safe Memorial day weekend!

My camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 1/640th sec and ISO 250 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

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One really cool thing that Norway does is that they build these skywalks at really cool places. For example they had one in Flåm at Sognefjord, Dalsnibba in Geiranger, and a few other spots that we got to visit. It’s cool because sometimes they’re built so that there is just glass underneath you and when you look down it looks like you’re floating above a valley. If I had a fear of heights, this would  not work for me. Luckily I don’t so I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

This image was taken along the walkway to the Trollstigen skywalk. I was so excited to see the views from the skywalk but I got stopped in my tracks when I saw these orange/yellow wearing people. They’re jackets are so bright and colorful, I loved the way they stood out from the mountain behind them. Also the perspective here is kind of crazy.

PS this is the view.

After I took this picture I showed Andrew what it looked like on my camera. He thought it was really cool, especially since the jackets were so bright. I immediately told him that’s why I wanted him to wear bright colors so that when I photographed him, he would stand out more in the landscape. But to be honest, neither one of us are bright color wearing people. You can mostly find either one of us in a dark black tee shirt and be totally comfortable. I tend to take it a step further and wear all black… all the time. Blah, I dunno. I’m posting this in hopes that it will change my mind about colors. Or at least influence others to wear color so that if I see on you the street wearing something that stands out, I’ll want to take your pic 🙂

My settings for this image is F10 at 1/80 sec ISO 200 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

 

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If you haven’t already, check out the travel guide I created for Norway. It basically lays out everything that we did on the trip including all our stops, hotels, and things I would have done differently. I loved our trip so much that I really felt the need to share all this information with future travelers. So if you know anyone who is planning a trip or wants to go, please share it with them. I know there are things I probably forgot to mention so if you have any questions about anything, please let me know. Otherwise, I envision myself updating the guide as I edit more images or if I can remember some details that I think are important.

This image was taken on Day 5 during “sunset”. I say “sunset” because we really didn’t see much sun while in Norway. It just so happened to be around the sunset time but it was raining. Andrew and I were a bit lost in finding a hiking trail so we decided just to just take some pictures around the Romsdalsfjorden. We pulled over near what looked like some office buildings but found this beautiful dock instead. I immediately hopped out of the car when Andrew said that he would sit this one out. I told him “10 minutes, tops” as I ran over to this scene. I took captured several images but was not happy with them. I felt like there needed to be some kind of foreground element. I ran back to the car and asked Andrew to come up. Being the amazing photo husband he is, he parked the car and came out to stand in the rain. I think adding the human element really made this image stand out. Thanks to him for standing there- but don’t feel bad. He knew what he was getting into when he married me 🙂 HAHA

My camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 1/250 ISO 640 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom.

 

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While exploring the top of Mt Fløyen, Andrew and I ran into some furry friends! If you know me, I get really excited when I see animals especially if I was not expecting to see them at all. I definietly didn’t expect to see goats on the top of a mountain so I was double-ly excited when there were at least 10 of them.

They mostly kept to themselves eating the grass all around the ground so I kneeled down to switch lenses to try to capture them in their own environment. I looked up and I saw this perspective. Granted taking picture of a goat butt isn’t the most glamourous situation but I thought that the framing was really cool. I love how it’s almost like they’re touching but in reality they’re a couple of feet away from each other.

At one point, one of the goats must have thought Andrew was their keeper because he kept on following him around. It was actually kinda funny and a little scary because of those horns. But then when their actual keeper showed up and they all “ran” (as fast as I’ve seen a goat run) to their shelter to eat.

It must have put them in a good mood because after that they were all over the mountain. Some were even knocking horns with each other. I couldn’t really tell if they were playing or actually fighting. Either way, I’m glad me or Andrew weren’t anywhere near them while they were doing that. LOL. So thank you goats for providing even more entertainment while on top of Mt. Fløyen. Not only the views were spectacular but it made the trip even more memorable.

My camera settings for this image is F7.1 at 1/320 ISO 1250 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.