Travel &amp; Photo Goddess

http://www.facebook.com/tvlgoddess
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/becky-mcguire.html

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Christmas Season

I hope you are all doing well during this busy season. I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Minnesota. We had our family Christmas on Sunday. I started having Christmas early once my children started to marry to avoid the stress of trying to get to all those family Christmas celebrations. The meal was wonderful and we opened presents. We had so much fun.

I had a nice lunch with my Photo Buddy Tina. I had a wonderful day with my parents, my aunt, my daughter and her family as well as my son and his family. So good to see them all. I was able to have a nice dinner with my YaYa sisters from High School Friday. Love you all!

When I left Minnesota on Monday the temperature was 20 degrees so I was very happy to get back to Lake Havasu and a temperature of 63 degrees. What I love about Arizona is all the sunny days. Minnesota has so many cloudy days that really get me down.
I like to hang real candy canes on my Christmas tree but after the holiday what do you do with them? I know the obvious is to eat them but here are some more creative ways to use them:
http://www.wisebread.com/16-fun-and-fabulous-ways-to-enjoy-candy-canes

I know a lot of people who are new to Digital Photography really struggle trying to learn all of the terminology and what it means. Here is a video that might help you understand some of the terms. Be patient, it takes time to absorb it all. I am learning new things all of the time. That is what keeps it interesting for me.
http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/photography-terminology-a-z/
Here is a cool article about using a back lit peg board for a portrait background. Why didn't I think of this myself?
http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/using-pegboard-to-create-a-starry-effect-background/
Here are five simple tips to help you take a more dynamic shot. I like this article because it keeps it all simple. Here is a link:
http://digital-photography-school.com/food-photography-%e2%80%93-5-simple-ways-to-get-stronger-shot?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DigitalPhotographySchool+%28Digital+Photography+School%29
Today's Thought For The Day:

“Life is not so short but that there is always time for courtesy.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson Courtesy of The Happiness Project.

Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

http://www.facebook.com/tvlgoddess

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/becky-mcguire.html

Monday, December 10, 2012

Minnesota Bound

I am busy getting ready for my trip back to Minnesota for an early Christmas celebration with my family. Minnesota had a big Snow Storm over the weekend and then a cold front came through so now they are in the deep freeze. I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends but I am not looking forward to leaving the nice weather here in Arizona.
We had a great time at the Over The Hill Gang Car Club Christmas Party & Installation of Officers. Lots of good food and fun with all our friends. It was held at Shugrue's which is on the channel next to the London Bridge. We had a table by the windows so the view was beautiful.

I have a new Photography editing and design program called Topaz Adjust. One of the fun features is being able to make people look like cartoon characters. Check out the group shot below from our Christmas Party.

One of our frustrations when we are traveling finding good places to dine. I recently came across a website called Chowhound.com that gives you reviews of restaurants, specific dishes and a lot of other insights as well. This one is not really a travel site but i think it will enhance your trip. Check it out:
http://www.chowhound.com
Here are some good tips for all of you Photography Newbies out there. I cannot stress enough how important a tripod is to getting sharp phots.
http://digital-photography-school.com/5-photography-tips-for-beginners?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DigitalPhotographySchool+%28Digital+Photography+School%29
Here is the Thought For The Day:
"Who is strong? He that can conquer his bad habits." by Benjamin Franklin from our friends at The Happiness Project
Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC

Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/becky-mcguire.html

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

December Dreaming

Sorry that it has been such a long time in between posts. My husband has had problems with his knee and back so I have been busy being a care taker. He is getting better but still not a 100% yet. Getting old is not for sissies as Betty Davis so famously said.
Saturday night I went to the annual Lake Havasu Christmas Boat Parade. The boats were decorated with lights. It was very cool and so much fun. The weather was unusually warm which was a bonus for me. I was lucky enough to be invited to watch the parade on a friend's Pontoon boat which gave me a whole new perspective. It was a challenge to try and take pictures because of the low light and the movement of the boats. I did mange to get a few good ones.

Here is a link to some low light Photography tips. The most important thing is to use a tripod on a
solid surface and a off camera trigger or your camera's timer.
http://photographylife.com/low-light-digital-photography-tips

Here is a hotel review website that is an alternative to Trip Advisor. It is getting over 250,000 visitors per month. It is called Oyster.com. They use their own professional reviewers who visit properties in over 200 destinations world wide. They name names and they document their reviews with Photographic evidence. It is a Travel Channel affiliate. Here is a link to their site.
http://www.oyster.com
Here is the Thought For The Day:
"Sometimes you will not be able to see where you are going in life clearly. But know your Soul's inner GPS will guide you home. You will find that you will be the right person, at he right place, at the right time rightly. Trust your intuition. You know what to do." Kute Blackson, courtesy of the Postively Positive website.
Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

http://www.facebook.com/tvlgoddess
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/becky-mcguire.html

Monday, November 19, 2012

Road Trip To Phoenix

Today I want to tell you about our latest RV adventure to Scottsdale Arizona for the Good Guys Car Show. We attended a pre journey cocktail party Wednesday night hosted by our friends, Dean and Melinda Willis, which was a great to kick off the event. Thursday we drove down in our motorhome with our friends pulling our car trailer with our 1935 Ford Cabriolet. We met up with some good friends from Canada and were fortunate to meet some new friends at the motorhome park at West World. We saw a lot of our old friends from Minnesota who flew in for the event so it was like "Old Home Week" for us. Friday night we had potluck at the motorhome park complete with a campfire. Saturday we spent most of the day at the show. Sunday we packed up the motorhome, said our Good Byes, and drove back to our home in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. It was a really fun show. Here is a link with some more shots of the car show:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4553980499531.167454.1591991790&type=1&l=8d8ac61d17

We are now coming into the Holiday gift buying season so I thought I would post some links to some of the great deals that are being offered. This first one is an offer from Amazon to trade in your used electronics, video games, movies, etc and get a gift card from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/b/ref=pe_306660_26706630_pe_row_7b2_t/?ie=UTF8&node=2242532011

This website lists many of the Black Friday offers all in one place to save you time and money.

http://www.theblackfriday.com/

This one is for all of you who, like me, do not to get up at the crack of dawn and fight the crowds on Black Friday. This website combines the Cyber Monday deals in one place so you can shop in your PJs and have it all delivered to your home.

http://www.cybermonday.com/
Here is the Thought For The Day:
"I wake each morning with thrill of expectation and the joy of being truly alive. And I am thankful for this day." Angela L. Wozniak
Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC

Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/becky-mcguire.html

Monday, November 5, 2012

Monday Muddle

Happy Monday everyone. I am doing everything I can to put off cleaning our garage today. It has to get done because we have friends coming to visit on Wednesday. If we did not have company we would not get anything accomplished around the house. I guess Monday is a good day to do unpleasant tasks.
Here is a website that a lot of travel professionals as well as consumers use to refine searches for hotels and look at customer reviews. It is called Room 777 and it gives you a lot more information than most of the other hotel search sights such as the distance the room is from the elevator. Here is a link to the website:
http://www.room77.com
This article lists the top ten mistakes beginning Photographers make. Number one is not reading their camera's instrution manual. This is probably the most important one in my opinion. You need to really know how to operate your camera and to be aware of all the things it can do.
http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/top-10-mistakes-of-beginning-photographers/
This next article is about buying your first SLR camera. The best tip in this article is about the lenses. The lens is much more important than the camera when you get into this category. The lenses are the part that gets to be expensive but it is worth the investment. If you go with Olympus you can get a lot better lens for the money than some of the other brands, in my opinion.
http://www.photographyblogger.net/the-best-and-most-often-piece-of-advice-i-can-give-to-you-for-buying-your-first-dslr/
I started posting some of my photographs on a website for artists called Fine Art America. They only allow you to post 25 images at a time but they do all the marketing and printing for you. The bonus is the only work involved is uploading. I will let you all know if it generates any sales or not. Click on the link below to take a look:
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/becky-mcguire.html
The Thought For The Day:
"You can make more friends in a month by being interested in them tha in ten years by trying to get them interested in you." by Charles Allen. Many Thanks to Michelle Lockwood of Michelle Lockwood Photography for posting this quot on Facebook.
Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

http://www.facebook.com/tvlgoddess
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/becky-mcguire.html

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

October Endings

Happy Tuesday everyone. I am so sad for all the people on the East coast who are suffering as a result of the Hurricane Sandy. The news reports are hard to watch. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. If you would like to help, here is link to the Salvation Army website.
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/
Here is a useful flight tracking website called Flight Aware. This website tells where the flight originates which can be very important to know when there is bad weather. You can better predict delays and cancellations with this information. Here is a link to their website:
http://www.flightaware.com
I belong to a couple of online Photography groups that have various themes and challenges for the photos you post. This has made me realize I need to come up with a better system for storing my photos. I end up searching through all kinds of disks that I have stored by date. There are programs you can buy to do this but it seems silly to pay for something that I should be able to do myself. I think I will create a system based on the subject instead of the date. I will keep you posted on how well this works. The photo below is one I uploaded to the Photographers Adventure Club.

I like to try different companies for photography printing to see offers the best quality for the price. The lastest one I tried is called My Publisher. I won a gift certificate in Photography competition so it was a no brainer. I uploaded pictures I took last summer while we were on our RV trip for a photo book as a gift for my husband. The website was easy to use and you could set up each page the way you wanted it or just upload the pictures and let them decide how to organize them. You have the option of adding text to each page. It took about ten days for the book to arrive and I was impressed with the quality of the printing. They also do greeting cards, calendars and canvas prints. Right now they are offering 40% off your order with the Promo Code 44V-Q3LJ. The offer ends November 12th.
http://www.mypublisher.com
Here is the Thought For The Day:
"Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing." William Butler Yeats courtesy of The Happiness Project.
Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Photography & Travel

I hope you all had a great weekend. We had a lot of fun at the Bars And Cars event on Saturday. It was sponsored by the Lake Havasu Drag Strip which being built on the North side of town. They had some of the Dragsters there and even started them up which made all the men happy. Many Thanks go out to our friend, Eddie and Georgean for treating us to cocktails.
On the travel front here is a Blog by a gentlemen who puts me to shame as far as traveling. He is a former executive from the Midwest who quite his job in 2007 and has been traveling ever since. He has been to 116 countries and has taken some award winning photos. You can travel the world vicariously through his Blog.
http://www.everything-everywhere.com
Here are some things to avoid when planning your next trip. My best piece of advise is to do your airfare first and then add in your hotels, car rentals, etc or better yet give me a call.
http://www.independenttraveler.com/travel-tips/troubleshooting/five-worst-trip-planning-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them
Here is a great article from our friends at Picture Correct. It explains the use of Depth Of Field which is how much of your shot is in focus. Understanding this concept will help you to create the feeling you want your photograph to convey.
http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/how-to-use-lens-aperture-to-demonstrate-importance-and-tell-stories/
If you are still not sure if you understand Depth Of Field here is another article that applies it to Portrait Photography. For even more on this subject check out the links at the bottom of the page too.
http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-achieve-blurred-backgrounds-in-portraits?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DigitalPhotographySchool+%28Digital+Photography+School%29
Check out this UTube video and enjoy the amazing music of these young men.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=CLThl6xEYBM
The Thought For Today comes from one of my favorite authors, Leo Buscaglia:
"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."
Many Thanks go out to the folks at Positively Positive for posting this one on Facebook.
Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

October Dreaming

Happy "Hump Day" everyone. This week is flying by as usual. I know it has been chilly in many parts of the country but here is the low desert of Arizona the weather is glorious. My favorite time of year here. I do miss the fall colors of my home state of Minnesota though.
We had a great weekend. We had lunch at our favorite hamburger joint, The Sand Bar, which is right on the beach. We ran into some friends and had a great time visiting. Sunday we went to the Havasu Flea Market and walked around and met some very creative artists and vendors.

Last night we attended an unveiling party for a car our friend restored for a customer of his. It is a 1966 Ford Mustang GT. There were a lot of people from our car club so it made it a lot of fun. Here is a link to some of the shots I took last night.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26332264@N03/sets/72157626861943694/
This article is about how to handle other people's comments about your photos. Most people are trying to be nice and really don't say anything that helps you to improve your shots. Photography is art and is very subjective. You need to trust your instincts and shoot the images you love.
http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-filter-feedback-about-your-photography
I am a big fan of do it yourseld projects and repurposing objects. I ran across this new product called Thomas' Liquid Stainless Steel Paint. You can use it to redo your appliances or make a cool backsplash. Here is a link to their website:
http://www.liquidstainlesssteel.com/
One of the hardest parts of planning vacations for people is choosing a resort or hotel. People's opinions about hotels are quite subjective. The biggest factor is the management of the hotel and that can changIe at any time. I try to go with properties I am familiar with but that is not always possible. I try to find out if a tour company uses the property because then I know someone has inspected the property within the last six monthes. I do look at at Trip Advisor sometimes but I like Hotel Chatter a lot better. It does over emphasis new properties and there are some people who do not like the chain hotels but it gives you more inside information. Give it a try and see what you think.
http://www.hotelchatter.com
Here is today's Thought For The Day:
"Man's life is a a progress, not a station." Ralph Waldo Emerson courtesy of the Happiness Project.
Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Autumn Blog

I am writing this while I listen to the rain outside. It does not rain very often here in the low desert so it is kind of soothing except for the occasional clap of thunder. It reminds me of Minnesota where I grew up where it rains a lot.
This photo was taken from my backyard. We get such beautiful sunsets here is Arizona.

I like to get my Blog done early in the week but we did not have internet service. It took several phone calls and two technitions to finally get it working again. It is extremely frustrating to me.
This is for all of you out there that think your camera is not good enough. In this video they took away this professional photographer's expensive camera and gave him an old IPhone. He had to do a portrait session with it. You will see some techniques that you can use with any camera.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGsmVw4tCWY&feature=BFa&list=SP7ECB90D96DF59DE5
Once your photography gets to a higher level you may be asked by friends to shoot a wedding. Be aware that this can be big undertaking. For most brides it is one of the most important days of their lives so there is a lot pressure to perform. Remember there are no do overs so you have to make sure you get it right. I would recommend having a second photographer go with you as a back up. If at all possible take two or even three cameras in case one of them fails on you. Extra batteries and memory cards are a must as well. Bring with you hair spray, bobby pins, safety pins, a hand steamer, Tide Stick, comb and a sewing kit. Scout out the locations you will be shooting at the same time of day so you can address any lighting issues that you are going to have to deal with. Have the Bride & Groom make a list of the shots they want.
Here is a link to an article with more tips on shooting wedddings:
http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/wedding-photography-guidelines-for-amateur-photographers/
Here is a cool website I found that could save you some money. It is called Wegolo.com and it's focus is budget airlines serving European markets. They currently feature over 70 different budget carriers. Here is a link to their website.
http://www.wegolo.com
Here is today's Thought For The Day:
"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases from being shared." Buddha courtesy of A Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life.
Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

Monday, October 1, 2012

Kicks On Route 66

Happy Monday everyone. I hope you had a great weekend. We went to a Celebration Of Life on Saturday for a friend of ours who passed away. It was a great tribute to his life. We went out to dinner with friends at our favorite restaurant, Shabones in Lake Havasu City. I highly recommend you try it. Here is a link to Shabone's website
http://www.chabones.com/

As promised, I am going to tell you about our day trip to Seligman, Arizona via the old Route 66. We read an article about Lilo's Westside Cafe in Seligman in the Arizona Highways magazine so we thought we would check it out. We drove my husband's 1935 Ford Cabriolet so we could feature it in some of the photos. We headed North on AZ95 to I40 East to Kingman and got on the old Route 66 headed Northeast. We stopped at the historic and quirky Hackberry General Store. It was quite a unique place with all kinds of antiques and collectables. They sell tshirts, posters, souvenirs, antiques, you name it. We met some people from New Zealand and France who were touring the United State on motorcycles. It was interesting to here there observations about our country. They said the Grand Canyon was the highlight of their trip.

From Hackberry we continued on going through tiny towns and through the Hualapai Indian Reservation. Peach Springs had some cool old buildings. We got to Seligman around 2PM and had a great lunch at Lilo's Westside Cafe. The weather was so nice we decided to eat on their outdoor patio. I highly recommend their burgers and fries. We spent some time wondering around town and going through the shops before we headed back the same way we came. It was a really fun day!
Here is a link to some of the pictures I took on Route 66:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26332264@N03/
We stopped in Kingman to visit some friends and did not get home after dark. We got stopped by a policeman when we got onto 95 but he did not give us a ticket. He told my husband to slow down and take his "daughter " home. I got a chuckle out of that one. He was a really nice man.
Today's Thought For The Day:
"Everyone thinks of changing the world but no thinks of changing themselves." by Leo Tolstoy.
Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Photography Fun

Today's Blog is devoted to Photography which has become one of my passions. I hope these articles will inspire you to get out and shoot and try some new things. Practice is one of the things that has helped me to improve my shots and become more comfortable with my camera.
Yesterday my husband and I took a roadtrip in our Streetrod to Seligman, Arizona. We headed West on I40 to Kingman and took the old Route 66 the rest of the way. We stopped at the quirky Hackberry Store along the way. We had lunch at Lilo's Cafe which was featured in the latest Arizona Highways magazine. I took a lot of pictures so I have a lot of editing to do. I will post some shots on Facebook and my next Blog so stay tuned.
Here is a great article about changing your prospective when you are out shooting photos. I read a
book about the famous landscape Photographer, Ansel Adams, and the one tip that I have used is to get down low and have something in the fore ground.
http://digital-photography-school.com/get-down-low-for-a-unique-perspective?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DigitalPhotographySchool+%28Digital+Photography+School%29
This article is about a really fun photography technique. A tripod is critical to get this effect.
http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/light-trail-photography-tutorial/

Here is a fun way to show off your work from our friends at Woodsnap. You can up load a photo or artwork and they will print it on wood for you. They prices start at $39.95 which is not a bad price. Check out some examples on their website:
https://www.woodsnap.com
Here is an article about the Photo sharing Ap called Instagram. I have not used this but I am seeing a lot of people who are embracing it. It was so popular that Facebook bought the company. I am going to download the Ap to my IPhone and give it a try. If you are using it, let me know what you think of it.
http://www.dpmag.com/how-to/tip-of-the-week/photo-tips-for-mastering-instagram-09-03-12.html?utm_source=newslettertotw&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPTOTWeNews_090412
The Thought For The Day:
"...the true secret of happiness lies in the taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life." by William Morris courtesy of the Happiness Project. Remember this when you are shooting your next photo.
Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4180189034978.159986.1591991790&type=3&l=bcd03463d5

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Last Part Of Our Trip

Today's Blog is about the last few days of our 48 day Motorhome journey. It was sad to see it end but so nice to get back home to Lake Havasu City.
After leaving beautiful Winchester Bay, Oregon we drove down the coast stopping now and then to enjoy the ocean views. It was foggy day which made for an interesting drive through the Redwood Forest. We stopped to see the Drive Through Redwood Tree. We found some unique items in the gift shop.
http://www.drivethrutree.com/
We spent the night at the Marin RV Park in San Rafel, California. It is a very an OK place for one night. Most of the spots are back ins on gravel. The best feature is you can walk to the ferry that takes you over to San Francisco. It does have a pool, WiFi, laundry & showers.
After getting settled at our RV Park we took a short walk to the ferry and spent the rest of the day in San Francisco. We really enjoyed the twenty minute ride across the bay. We did a lot of walking around the piers in San Francisco watching the street performers. We had a fabulous dinner at Scomma's Seafood Restaurant. After the big dinner none of us wanted to do any more walking so we hired a couple of Rickshaws to get us back to the ferry. It was so much fun. I highly recommend it. Here is a link to some of the photos I took that day:

The next day we packed up and drove across the Richmond Bridge past San Quentin Prison on our way out of the city. We drove through Berkley to get on the 580 South to I5. We enjoyed seeing the Wind Farms, orchards and wineries. There many large farms growing vegtables and flowers as well.

We spent the night in Bakersfield, California which is known for it's oil wells. We stayed at the River Run RV Park. It is located in an industrial area which is strange. It is a very nice RV park with large lots with cement patios. It is on the Kern River. It is beautifully landscaped with tar roads. It has a convience store, good Wifi, pool and cable TV.

We had dinner at the Wool Growers restaurant. It specializes in Basque style food served family style. It is a mix of French, Spanish & Italian food. The food was wonderful and most of the dishes were new to me.

The next day we headed for home. Driving by the wineries and orchards of Tehachapi, California. We continued on across the dessert passing large Wind Farms, Joshua Trees and even an Airplane Grave Yard.

The Thought For The Day:

"The secret of success is constancy of purpose." by Disraeli courtesy of The Happiness Project.

Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC

Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4160062011815.159409.1591991790&type=3&l=ad8506b216

Monday, September 10, 2012

Oregon

Greetings everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. My husband has been cleaning out his garage and finding all kinds of car parts leftover from past projects. I spent Sunday afternoon listing things on Ebay.

More from our Motorhome Adventure: We left Washington State and drove to Oregon. We spent one night at White Salmon, OR. We stayed at the Bridge RV Park which is on the Columbia River but there was no access down to the river. It was beautifully landscaped and immaculate park. Internet access was good, there were full hook ups, pull throughs and laundry on site. There is a train track that is very close and the first train goes by at 4:00AM!
We delayed leaving in the next morning so we could visit a couple of waterfalls that were nearby. The first stop we made was at Horse Tail Falls and then we continued on to Multnomah Falls which is the second highest falls in the United States. Below is a link to some of my shots that I posted on my Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4208600385244.160551.1591991790&type=1&l=bada529a23
Next we drove West and South to Winchester Bay which is on the coast. We met up with up our friends at the Winchester Bay RV Park which is on a bay. This is a large RV park and it is very well maintained. There are full hook ups, pull through sites and laundry on site. The internet connection quality depended on what site you were in but we lucked and had a good signal.
It was quite cool (in the 60's) and foggy while we were there. I got some cool pictures of the boats in the marina one foggy morning. Here is a link to some of my shots:

We drove up to Coos Bay to do some shopping and had lunch at the Shark Bite restaurant. There is a an Indian Casino called the Coquille Casino there. There are the typical tourist shops.

The next day we drove North up the coast to Newport, OR. There are lots of fun shops and great restaurants. We bought at candles at he Newport Candle Company and had a fabulous seafood lunch at Local Seafood. We then drove a little farther North to Depoe Bay for more shopping and sight seeing. We had a great day! Here is a link to some of my shots from that day:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4208691427520.160553.1591991790&type=1&l=37d58ab418

Here is an article about using a tripod. A lot of beginners wonder if they really need one or not. Once you make the investment it opens up a whole new world of Photography techniques.

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/photography-for-beginners-using-a-tripod/

Today's Thought For The Day:

"Worry is the misuse of imagination." by Dan Zadra. My friend, Joan Steffen, posted this on Facebook. June Rosier Paul made this comment: "Worry is the opposite of praying." So true!

Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC

Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stbmzv3afzM

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Omak Washington State

Happy Tuesday everyone. It is hard to believe it is September already. The summers always go by so fast. I am looking forward to cooler weather her in Arizona. Fall is one of my favorite times of the year here. The weather is beautiful and the sunsets are gorgeous.

After we left Coeur d' Alene we drove to Omak Washington. We stopped to see Coullee Dam along the way. Omak is home to what is called the Omak Stampede which is in it's 79th year. There are a lot of activities including a rodeo, christian live music, art show, indian dancing and a carnival. The unusual thing is they do a horse race down a very steep hill and then across a river. The race ends in the arena which is part of the rodeo. I did not get any pictures because when we watched it was after dark and there was not enough light to get a good shot. Here is a Utube video of the race:

Here are a couple of links to the shots I took at the event:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4142502612841.158951.1591991790&type=3&l=4d3027cd52

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4142495812671.158949.1591991790&type=3&l=5b7391ea8c

After we left Omak we drove to White Salmon Oregon. We saw Mt. Hood and drove by Lake Chelan. We passed many wineries, apple orchards as well as peach and cherry orchards along the way. We drove along the Okanagan and Columbia rivers as we went through the Wenatchee Mountains.

When I first started to learn Photography I often had to stop reading an article and look up a word or acronym that I did not know. It can be daunting when you first start out to figure out what all the jargon means. This article will define some of these for you:

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/photography-acronyms/

Here is today's Thought For The Day:

"To know anything about oneself one must know all about others." by Oscar Wilde courtesy of The Happiness Project.

Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4146563954372.159067.1591991790&type=3&l=6cc3746294

Friday, August 31, 2012

Road Trip Recollections

Hi everyone. I hope you have something fun planned for this Labor Day Weekend. We are planning to drive to Las Vegas on Saturday to see our friend who is in the hospital there. We will do lunch at our favorite restaurant, Ventana's in Henderson. On the way home we plan to stop in Laughlin for some shopping. Make it a fun & safe weekend.

While we were in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho we took a drive over to the old town of Wallace, Idaho. It was a mining town that is listed on the National Historic Register. There are lots of cool old buildings, a bordelo museum, a train museum and lots of cool shops and restaurants. We took a 40 minute trolley tour of the town and the surrounding area. We got to see some mines that are still in use as well as some of the abandoned mines. It is a great place to visit if you are into Photography. Here is a link to some of the photos I posted on Facebook:

The next day we left for our next destination of Omak, Washington. We drove through Spokane, Washington which looks like every other large city in America. We drove through a lot of wheat fields. We stopped at Coullee Dam and took some pictures. We then drove North throught the Collville Indian Reservation. Here is a link to some of the shots I took that day:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4146494432634.159066.1591991790&type=3&l=b9bac11679

This is a list of unusual hotels compiled by Trip Advisor.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/InfoCenter-a_ctr.quirkyhotelsWorld

Here is an article explaining Depth Of Field in Photography. This really means how much of the shot you want in focus or blurred out. I love to make the background blur out when I am shooting flowers and portraits. There is no right or wrong with this. It just depends on how you want your shot to look.

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/photography-depth-of-field/

Here is today's Thought For The Day:
"Rejection doesn't mean you aren't good enough; it means the other person failed to notice what you have to offer." by Mark Amend on the Live Life Happy Website.

Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC

Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4142486052427.158948.1591991790&type=3&l=5900fc20e5

Monday, August 27, 2012

Coeur d' Alene Idaho

We drove one hour South from Lake Pend Oreille to Coeur d' Alene Idaho. We stayed a few days there and took in the sights.

Coeur d' Alene is much more touristy and busy than Lake Pend Oreille and Sandpoint but still lots of fun. We took a 90 minute boat cruse of Lake Coeur d' Alene instead of driving around the lake which was very relaxing. The guide gave us a lot of history about the area and explained all the sights we were seeing. There is a unique golf course on the lake that has a floating green that they move every day. They have restored Chris Craft wooden boats that shuttle you over to the golf course from the Coeur d' Alene Resort and Marina. There is a nice park and beach area in Coeur d' Alene next to the resort. Here is a link to some of the pictures I took that day.

We stopped at a local park to see Post Falls. The waterfalls are wide but not real high and there is dam which was not too pretty. The park area is quite nice though. The park is off I90 at exit 5. Here is a link to some shots of the park.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4146146383933.159055.1591991790&type=3&l=497cce37c8

We took a day and drove to Wallace Idaho which is an old mining town. We took a trolly tour of the town and surrounding area. We had lunch at BBQ restaurant which is in one of the old buildings. It was a fun place to take pictures. If you like history and or photography you will like this little town. Here is a link to some of my shots from our day in Wallace.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4146563954372.159067.1591991790&type=1&l=6cc3746294

Here is an article listing why Photography Matters. I think expressing yourself and leaving a legacy are the two most important things to me.

http://digital-photography-school.com/6-reasons-why-photography-matters
Today's Thought For The Day:
"Life offers it's wisdom generously, everything teaches. Not everyone learns." by Rachel Naomi Remen. Thank you to Karen B for posting this one on Facebook.
Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4121029236020.158265.1591991790&type=3&l=a348a35d23

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Hope Idaho & Lake Pend Oreille

Sorry I have not had a chance to write my Blog for such a long time. We were so busy traveling that there was little time for writing but I did take notes and pictures along the way so I could share it with you all. Reliable internet service was hard to find as well.
After the Red Ants Pants Music Festival we drove back to Canyon Ferry Lake, MT. We spent the night at the Court Sheriff Campground which is on Canyon Ferry Lake. It was so pretty being next to the lake. The only drawback was we had to dry camp meaning no water or sewer hook up which is no big deal for one night.

We spent one night back in Helena with our friends. The next day we headed West to Lake Pend Oreille Idaho to meet some of our friends who are from Edmonton Alberta Cananda. Lake Oreille is pronounced Penderay. It is 43 miles long and 1,158 feet deep. Because of it's depth there is a small US Naval base on the lake that does accoustical testing. Our friends took us on boat ride around the lake. It was a fun day.

We stayed at the Island View RV Resort which right on Lake Pend Oreille. The park is a little cramped and you have to walk across the street to get to the lake. The owners were very nice and tried very hard to make everyone happy. Here is a link to some of my photos that I posted on Facebook.

There were a lot of deer in the area. There were many large signs telling you not to feed the deer which was largely ignored. The deer were very tame as a result. You had to be very careful driving. Someone hit a deer the week we were there.

If you love being in or near the water like me than this book will appeal to you. It lists all kinds of cool places to photograph bodies of water. I cannot wait to read it!

https://www.facebook.com/NatGeoBooks/app_224409871006465

Today's Thought For The Day is from the Positively Positive website:

"I wonder how many things we miss because we feel we have seen it before or simply because we are looking at the wrong things to wake us up?" Jennifer Pastiloff

Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC

Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4054441211361.156356.1591991790&type=3&l=1dcaf9dfba

Monday, August 6, 2012

Red Ants Pants Music Festival

We had a great time at the Red Ants Pants Music Festival in White Sulphur Springs, Montana. It ran for three days and had a lot of great bands. Red Ants Pants is a brand of heavy duty work wear for women. The owner of the company uses the proceeds of the concert to provide grants to women business owners and women's organizations which is really cool. There were a lot of people who put up tents to get out of the sun which was supposed to be against the rules but they did not enforce it. On their defense, it was very hot, they need to have more shaded areas. The stage was not high enough so only the people in the front could see the bands. It would have been better if they had some large screens so the people in the back could see. They had quite a few craft & food vendors. Our favorite was Montana Barbeque which had yummy food. I enjoyed tasting some of Montana's wines at the event. Here is a link to some of the shots I took at the festival.

We really enjoyed White Sulphur Springs. It was a quaint, old west type of town. There were tons of great things to shoot in town and the surrounding country side. Here is a link to some of shots of the

White Sulphur Springs area that I posted on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4054486012481.156359.1591991790&type=3&l=9eefd87e71

We stayed at the Conestoga Campground which is right in White Sulphur Springs. It had great views of the mountains. Like everything else in town the theme was western. There was no pool but they did have a small playground for the kids. The owners were very nice and there was a large, clean laundry. It worked fine for us but it might not be the best for families.

Here is a discussion about the qualities of light on Joe Baraban,s Blog. Understanding the different types of light will help you improve your photos. This is one of the most important things to understand to improve your photography.

http://joebaraban.com/blog/feed/
Here is The Thought For The Day:
"It is difficult to bring people to goodness with lessons, but it is easy to do so by example." Senac, The Happiness Project.
Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4021967319534.155414.1591991790&type=3&l=34d0878bb3

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Edmonton With Friends

We had a great time visiting our friends Mike & Monica in Edmonton Alberta Canada. We spent 3 days there and they showed us a great time. We went to the Farmer's Market in Seba Beach which was really fun.
We stayed at Pine Ridge Golf & RV Resort. Mike & Monica own a space there where they keep their motorhome. The part they are in is quite new so the roads are not paved yet. The golf course is beautiful and the food is very good at their club house. They are adding one more phase after this one. The plan is to add a swimming pool. They have full hook ups for motorhomes with 50 amp electic.
We spent on day on their boat on Wabamun Lake with is about 45 minutes East of Edmonton. Here is a link to some of the pictures I took that day.

There was one rainy day so we took a drive around Edmonton to see the sights. We stopped in at their business, Alberta Motorsports which was very cool. They showed us where they lived and the new house they are building which looks like it will be beautiful.

We went to the West Edmonton Mall which seems larger than the Mall Of America but it was hard to tell because it was so spread out. It has a huge Pirate ship in one part, there is a water park with a wave pool, a casino, ice skating rink, movie theatres, a seal show and of course lots of stores. They have an entertainment section called Bourbon Street which has lots of bars, restaurants and a comedy club. Here is a link so some of the pictures I took there.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4021980559865.155417.1591991790&type=3&l=be3947b4f5

After Edmonton we drove to Shelby Montana and stayed one night on our way to White Sulphur Springs Montana. We drove through Alberta's Black Hills on our way South. It looks like a smaller version of the Black Hills in South Dakota. We say several wind farms and oil wells along the way. There were m
any beautiful yellow Canola fields. Here is a link to some of the shots I took along the way.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4021996280258.155418.1591991790&type=3&l=c9f37f71d2

Here is the Thought For The Day:

"We are so busy watchig out for what's ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are."

Calvin & Hobbs

Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359