Poe Valley Adventures

On Saturday my friend Barbara and I went to Poe Valley State Park with our cameras. It was a beautiful day and such a nice place. I took lots of pictures and still have to go through some, but I wanted to share some from that day to give you an idea of how nice it is there -- a great place to camp, fish, swim and just explore....

The first group of photos is from our hike along the creek to the railway bridge and tunnel

A view of the creek when we first got there -- love the reflections...

The light was amazing and all around us. I really loved these glowing leaves 

Again such a beautiful place. This is a view of the woods as we hiked to the railway tunnel. I love the colors of the pines

A Ghost Pipe. Barbara tells me they are rare so I had to get a cool shot of it 

More ghost pipes. The light made these appear ghostly to me 

Tiger Lilies along the creek -- you know I had to take this shot :D 

The bridge we crossed 

Some of the white water in the creek 

We had to climb this narrow stairway to get to the bridge 

A view of the creek from the bridge - love how the water sparkles 

And one more view from the bridge 

and this is the bridge we crossed ...

the entrance to the tunnel.. love how its carved out of the rocks ...

there was water in the tunnel and the light coming in was so pretty and created awesome reflections 

looking down the tunnel from inside ... it is all sheet metal inside 

and the other end of the tunnel -- love the keystones 

had to get a few pictures of Barbara -- looking up at the water coming down from the ceiling 

Barbara pointing at the key stone

Barbara crossing the bridge to go back ...

Next we went to the lake in Poe Valley -- there are waterfalls and a swimming area there

A long view of the lake with a person canoeing and a long view of the beach -- the sky was beautiful too 

Another long view across the lake. Loved how the water was sparkling and of course the clouds in the sky 

one of the first of the little falls that are there 

the stream and woods on the other side of the falls 

some of the white water from one of the falls 

while I was taking pictures of the falls this butterfly landed on the rocks near me 

a long view of the falls 

foam in the pool at the bottom of the falls 

it was so green and pretty around the falls and the pools 

a picnic table by the side of the lake -- I could have stayed there all day -- and love how the water was rippling and sparkling 

and a last long view of the lake -- there were a lot of people on the beach

Such a great way to spend a Saturday. If you live in Central Pennsylvania and want a little get away I would highly recommend it. And we only explored a small part. Thanks again to Barbara for a lovely day of photography and exploring. And thanks to all of you for sharing my photos ...  

Family Portraits on the fly

This weekend was my nephew's highschool graduation. Such a proud moment for us. Of course I had my camera and was planning to take pictures but the gym was pretty crowded and we all just wanted to get out of there. So these photos were taken without much planning or posing. We also did some short and fun sessions at Stacy's house on Sunday ... 

     

This was the nice one for Mom -- love that smile :D 

with the proud parents 

with his girlfriend Jasmine 

with G-ma

with Aunt Stacy 

with Uncle Robert

You'll notice that a lot of the poses/ composition is the same, but as I said it was a crowded place and we had to do them quickly-- and with him being so much taller that everyone it was challenging but I'm pretty pleased with how they came out. 

I always love to play and practice with my camera. My sister got a new kitten and he's cute as a button. His name is Pretzel. I also used him as a practice subject and the twins wanted pictures so..

sitting in the window -- so cute and you can see how tiny he is -- 8 weeks old 

Pretzel loves sitting in this chair - it has Dora printed on it -- you can't really tell that -- I loved how well he stands out against the bright green and pinks

and this one is the most cute -- he was curled up sleeping on one of the kitche chairs and I could not resist taking the picture -- just makes you want to say AWWW 

And since I had the camera of course the kids wanted some pictures -- but they are at such a fun age how could I resist ...

The three amigos -- Alyssa, Alexandria and Curtis :D

Curtis looks so relaxed in the sun 

I loved how Curtis was just watching the girls be them silly selves 

and of course I had to get the girls alone :D I really love all the greens behind the swing set 

And Alyssa showing what a beautiful girl she is

We had to get some silly poses of course -- love that Lexi 

Alyssa wanted to be up on the side looking down -- "it will be funny and creepy Aunt Aim " 

And Lexi had had to show off her acrobatic skills .. 

And last but not least some more formal portraits -- taken in the evening as the light was fading and definitely on the fly -- saw the bench on Stacy's back deck and just used it.. 

Jasmine and the twins 

Jasmine and Lexi 

Jasmine and Alyssa 

Jasmine all by herself 

Jasmine and Ryan 

Jasmine and Ryan 

and Ryan all by himself. 

It was such a fun weekend and I love practicing with my camera. the quick sessions can be so much fun and just reaffirms for me how much I have learned over the past few years. 

Thanks as always for sharing my photos.