Family RV Road Trip - The Grand Plan

Late last year, right around the time my wife and I learned we were going to be having a baby join the family, we all had the idea of taking a new family vacation to somewhere unique.

The first post on my Instagram when we let family and friends know we were expecting.

The first post on my Instagram when we let family and friends know we were expecting.

The rest of the family getting in on the baby announcement fun.

My brother-in-law and I are particular fans of camping trips, but my wife and her mother, not so much. So we had the thought of maybe taking a camper on an RV Road Trip to Mount Rushmore, which has been on everyone's bucket list for a while. Taking a camper would allow for a little more comfort, and also eliminate the need for staying in hotels and having to find transportation constantly. I was all for this because I love Road Trips. Being able to see the country in a much more purposeful way as opposed to just flying has always been so much more of genuinely moving experience for me. I’m a firm believer in the notion that “Travel Broadens the Mind”. Also, it would give me a chance to get in some photos of some of the best countryside this country has to offer.

Map of the route to Mount Rushmore and back down through Four Corners and Monument Valley.

Map of the route to Mount Rushmore and back down through Four Corners and Monument Valley.

The trip was amazing. I would highly recommend it. And if you do here are a couple pointers:

  1. Don’t try to do the whole route. Do a couple days in each spot, one trip at a time. The worst thing about the trip was getting back on the road for an average of 6-8 hours each day just to sleep in the campsite and start all over again the next day. Very exhausting.

  2. Maybe make sure if your second-trimester wife REALLY actually wants to go. My poor wife stuck it out like a trooper, but the camper isn’t as comfortable of a ride as one would think. In fact, its probably the bounciest ride you’ll ever take.

  3. Stay at KOA camper campgrounds! These were by far the best places to stay with hot clean showers, and full hookups for the RV’s. Plus most of them offer some kind of breakfast thats usually very affordable.

  4. Look at all the camper rentals, not just Cruise America. It was a good camper for sure 👍, but it felt a little like we were driving in the cheapest one money could buy. I get it, companies need to be able to make a profit while still offering as many services as they can. Just wish it had a few more features for the price 🤷🏻‍♂️.

The next series of posts will be the images I captured along that trip, and the places we were able to see. Definitely a family vacation I won’t soon forget! :)

Space-X SAOCOM 1A Mission Launch - Quick Take

If you’re anyone that follows Space-X or NASA type news, I’m sure you saw that amazing sight that was the west coast launch of the Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket. The reason why this one was of particular interest is because it was a twilight launch. Now when that happens, at least on the west coast, when the rocket reaches a certain altitude, we get ana amazing show of light through the smoke plume generated by the first and second stages of the rocket.

This actually happened last Christmas, but I was in Phoenix at the time on a family vacation and missed it. They actually said that you could see it from Phoenix, but by the time I made it outside, I couldn’t see anything. Twitter and Instagram was light up by everyone capturing the event, even some people wondering if it was an alien invasion! It’s safe to say that I was feeling a particular case of FOMO from that launch.

So when I received a launch update mentioning that this was a twilight launch again, I was super pumped to try and see if I could get an image of it. And I was not disappointed. I did however, over do it a little bit with my ISO on the camera. I wanted to get the sharpest image possible so I pushed it all the way to 20,000! 😱 Yeah to say I had to add some noise reduction is an understatement. But I’m still very happy with what I was able to capture. Next time I think I’ll try to setup a proper time-lapse with a tripod, and some faster/sharper glass to help compensate.

Here is a replay of the Youtube Live Stream of the Launch, followed by a few of the stills I was able to get from my front lawn.

Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage will return to land at SpaceX’s Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) at Vandenberg Air Force Base. This is SpaceX’s first attempt at a land landing on the West Coast. LZ-4 is built on the former site of Space Launch Complex 4W, from which Titan rockets were previously launched.

A7iii, Sigma MC-11 Adapter, Canon 24-105 f4, ISO 20,000

Once the rocket reached a certain altitude, the setting sun started to catch the plume.

Then it became absolutely amazing once the second stage operation occurred.

It was fascinating to see the first plume does this swirl motion as it was repositioning itself for the descent.

In this shot, you can see the first stage making its way back down to the landing pad. Unfortunately it was below the horizon where I was at, so I wasn't able to see the full descent.

We then watched as long as we could as the second stage continued on into orbit.

Food Photography - Quick Take

Had a fun afternoon experimenting around with some simple food photography for my wife’s, cousin's business (say that five times fast! 😉). 

For this setup we actually were able to take advantage of a near daylight balanced overhead light right over the wood prep table.  

 

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Little bit of set dressing and we were able to make a pretty good scene for some of the sandwiches they wanted to showcase. 

 

If you’re ever in the Hollywood area, stop by for a bite at Pizzaman. They’ve really made it a unique experience with some great food. 👍