Photography Contest

As most of you know we live in the antelope valley of CA. Every year out here there is an Antelope Valley Fair. Usually Dave and I go over on a wednesday night for the free concert. Last year was Train. Since its a weeknight we don't usually go to see the exhibits or ride the rides. It's mostly beer and the concert. This year however I am entering the photography contest. I have sent in an entry form to enter 7 of my photographs in different categories. Here are the ones I'm entering.

Pisa, Italy

Pacific Ocean near Monterey

View of Golden Gate Bridge

Engagement Shot on the Beach

Wedding Prepartaions

Flowers in the rain

Castle Ruins in Scotland

Fourth of July in Southern Cali

Yeah, the 4th of July should never fall on a wednesday! Ugh, you ever feels like going back to work after a day off in the middle of the week!

Dave and I decided to scrap our 4th of July plans (wine tasting in Paso) to hang out with some freinds. We went down to there apartment complex in Santa Clarita to hang out by the pool. We had a good time hanging out with our friends its alwasy good to see them.

When evening hit we were all pretty water logged and decided to head up to the apartment and hang out and play with the new kitty! Our friends picked up a kitten at the pound and he is adorable. They named him Whiskey and he is mostly white and gray with the most gorgeous blue eyes. He was so adorable I just couldn't help but take photos.

Later Dave and I left to go catch the local fireworks show. The fireworks weren't to good, but I practiced taking some time elapsed photos.

Big Pine Creek

It's been a while since I've posted anything, sorry. Things have been very hectic. We had a last minute 4 day trip to Florida due to some family matters that needed to be taken care of. On Friday we flew back to LA after some stressful days and decided to continue on with our plans to hike in Big Pine. We met a friend from LA on friday night, got a few hours of sleep, and drove up to Big Pine. We arrived about 10am and imeediatly got on the trail. We managed to hike 11 miles roundtrip to 3 of the most beautiful alpine lakes. There is a glacier in the mountains up there and the lake is fed by the glacier so it is the most beautiful torqouise color I have ever seen. I was truly like seeing the water of the carribean or some other tropical island but at an altitude of 10, 000 feet. Our total hike covered an elevation range of about 2600 feet. This was our first hike of the summer to train for Half Dome. Im so glad we did it, it was so amazing up there. And I think this was the highest I have hiked yet. The altitude was over 10,200 feet at the third lake.

The third lake on the North Fork Trail

The water was so crystal clear and we filled up our hydration packs at the top (along with iodine pills too of course!). We managed to get back down to the bottom by 6pm and we went to set up camp. Then it was off to sit by the river with a beer and soak our sore feet. We spent the rest of the night cooking dinner and relaxing by the fire until it was time to go to bed. The next morning I walked a little with Dave to take some photos around the campsite area, which turned out to be very pretty.

Pond at Campground

River at the campground

Then we headed down the road to view Alabama Hills and the Mt Whitney Portal.

Alabama Hills

View of Mt Whitney from the Portal Road

Mt Whitney was gorgeous and I'm still determiend to do that hike eventually. I just have to find someone willing to hike it with me (something like 21 miles roundtrip and about 6000 feet elevation change!).

More photos: http://schanker.smugmug.com/Califorrnia%20Travels/155841

A Lawrence Family Visit

It's been a while since we've had some Lawrence family out to visit Cali! My sister and nephew (Trina and Ashton) were out to the west coast for a visit. Last Thursday they drove up to the Antelope Valley to see our house. I cooked low Fat Carbonara for dinner and opened a bottle of White Wine from Epiphany. Then we played pool and watched the discovery channel. Ashton just loved playing pool with Dave. Friday morning we got up had breakfast and headed down to the Vasquez Rocks. Ashton wanted to see the "San Andreas" fault and this was the best example I could think of. He loved climbing around on all the rocks. Later that day we met Trina's friend and headed to the Tidepools. They were neat but nearly as many things to see as when I went to San Pedro. Then we headed to the beach and Ashton got to learn to surf. On Saturday we got up early to go to Wild Animal Park. I got lots of great photos there. Then we drove up the PCH and stopped for dinner in Huntington Beach. Dave showed up after his golf tournament later that night. On Sunday we slept in and then headed down to Temecula to do some wine tasting. While in Temecula we bought a bottle of wine some bread, cheese, meats, and crackers and sat outside enjoying the afternoon. It was a lot of fun and great atmosphere. When the wineries were coming to a close we went our separate ways.. Dave and I found one last place that was open late and we were hoping there was live music. It turned out there was no music, so we tasted a few more wines and enjoyed the scenery before heading back to the AV. It was great to see Trina and Ashton and spend some time with them.

Happily Ever After

A very good friend of mine from High School got married this past weekend. I of course lugged the camera around so I could get my own take on the day. Here are a few shots I really like.


I have started uploading photos. Check the link for more. http://schanker.smugmug.com/Weddings/329700

The Rest of Our European Vacation

Dave and I returned to Cali last night after being gone for 18 days! It was nice to be back in our own bed again. I was unable to update the blog after Edinburgh so I’m including a recap on the rest of the trip.

Edinburgh, Scotland
We really loved it here. The city is so amazingly old with wonderful charm. Once we arrived I immediately noticed a sweet smell in the air. I couldn't quite place it but later found out it was the smell of beer being brewed. It was quite strong at times. If you’ve never been to Edinburgh I do suggest it. The city is quite neat and the locals are very friendly. Our first day was spent touring Edinburgh Castle and walking the Royal Mile. Holyrod Palace was closed to visitors so we could only see it from the outside. We also hiked up a hill to the ruins of an old church that overlooked the city. We wanted to go to the top of Arthur’s Seat but it was very windy and it looked like rain so we decided to not venture up to the top. Instead we headed down to seek out some local pubs.

Our Second day was spetd seeing Stirling Castle and Loch Lomond. We had beautiful weather for this journey and had a magnificent time seeing yet another castle. It was amazing to see all the lakes in Scotland. They were so plentiful. It seemed like there was a lake around every bend in the road. Plus I got to compare it to the Ireland Country side since I‘ve already been there before. The third day we made a last minute decision to go to St Andrews (the home of golf). This is a coastal town where golf was born. So we got to see the Old Golf Course and Dave just watched in awe. While in St Andrews we visited the ruins of a seaside castle and church. Dave shopped for golf souvenirs before we had to be on our way. We also visited a small town called Falkland and some coastal fishing villages. It was really neat to see this other side of Scotland. In the evening we headed by train to Glasgow.

Edinburgh overview: I loved it!!! I loved the pubs, I loved the castles, and I loved the bagpipes! We had an awesome time here. The city was great and so were the people. We had two great experiences immediately upon arrival. First some random Scottish man helped me carry my bag up the stairs at the train station and two another random guy stopped to ask us if we needed directions when he saw us looking at a map. Everyone was so nice! Our hotel was nice too. I came complete with a rubber ducky!!! (I'm serious about the rubber ducky).

Glasgow
If there was one part of the trip we would have done differently it would have been to skip Glasgow altogether. It turned out to be a more relaxing day but not very exciting. Glasgow doesn’t really have anything the pooped out as a must see. So we took a short train ride to a country park to see the Burrell Collection. On the way out I noticed a sign for Highland cattle. We had seen these hairy cows (coos) along the road but one of my galas was to see them in person and get photos. So off we went in search of the Hairy Coo. We found them! Actually a couple of them came right up to the fence to see us and we got to to pet their noses. They are so incredibly cute! The rest of the day was spent meandering around Glasgow as it proved to be a rainy and gray day. About 4 pm the sun finally came out. That night we at at DiMaggio's and had a fabulous dinner complete with a shortbread caramel sundae.

Glasgow Overview: Not overly exciting. They basically have a bunch of museums. It was worth it to see the Hairy Coos! But don't stay at the quality Hotel at the Train Station. This was the only hotel I had complaints about the entire trip.

Onward to Ireland
Since we only had one day in Glasgow we were quite content with that. The next day we headed by train and ferry to Ireland. The ferry was so neat! It was huge. The seats were so comfy and it didn’t seem like a ferry at all. They even had movies on the ship, restaurants, and cafes. When we arrived in Belfast we decided to not sightsee there and just to head straight to Dublin. This part of the trip was more for Dave. It was his birthday trip and he wanted to see horse racing and drink a Guinness in an Irish Pub. So we made the trek to Dublin. Since I had already been to Dublin I was pretty much Dave’s tour guide. It’s amazing that even after 5 years how much you remember of a city. I barley needed a map to navigate the streets. After we checked in to the hotel we headed over to Jameson for a tour and tasting. Then it was off for a pub dinner and some pub hopping for Guinness and Bulmer’s Cider.
The following day Dave an I did some shopping and also toured Newgrange. This was quite a site. No one truly knows why it's there, but basically it is a catacomb. The doorway allows light inside but only around the 21 of Dec every year. Otherwise it is completley dark inside. I did enjoy taking photos here. We also toured the ruins of an old monastery then it was back to the city center. After finding some dinner we were off to the Musical Pub Crawl. We met more people from Cali here. This time they were from Thousand Oaks. I really love Irish music so even though I had already been on the Pub Crawl before it was still lots of fun. Our last day in Europe was spent touring the rest of Dublin including Guinness. Then it was off to top the trip off with a horse race at Leopardstown. It was night racing sponsored by Miller!!! (why not Guinness, I have no idea). We both had a lot of fun at the races. Dave enjoyed trying to figure out how to bet in Europe while I took lots of photos of the horses. Ireland Overview: What more can I say. I mean its Ireland! Maybe it's the red head in me but I love this country. Even though I had already been to Dublin it was still fun to be there with Dave and showing him the town. Plus I got to do some things I couldn't before. The hotel here was great too. Terrific location at the end of Temple Bar, good size room, and a hot breakfast was included every morning.

Thursday morning it was time to head back to the states to attend Brenda’s wedding. We left Dublin at 11am and arrive in Pittsburgh at about 5pm EST.

Trip Overview: The whole trip was a lot of fun and I alway love Europe. I couldn't have thought of a better way to celebrate Dave's 30th Bithday with him! We both had a ton of fun and wish it wasn't over. But now its back to reality. My Favorite part was definalty Paris. Dave, he loved each city for its own reason. But I think his favorite was Edinburgh,

More From Europe

Okay, so here's a brief synopsis on the rest of our trip so far. Dave and I are currently in Edinburgh, Scotland. We arrived this morning via Sleeper Train. Although we had a slight issue with that, we did make it at 7:30am this morning. But first we spent 3 days in London. While in London we did the normal sightseeing such as Kennsington Palace, Hyde Park, Kennsington Gardens, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Tower, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace (changing of the Guards), and the Mews (horses) at Buckingham. We also toured Stonehenge and Bath. So we managed to see and do a lot in 3 days thanks to short lines! Stonehenge was awesome. We took a guided tour so we were actually able to go out and touch the stones and play around for an hour. Dave and I had a blast there. Bath was pretty neat too. I really loved that town it self and anyhing to do with Roman times is always amazing to us!



Now we are in Edinburgh. Today we saw Edinburgh Castle which was really neat. Then we walked the Royal Mile and also through Holyrod Park up to a point overlooking the city. Tomorrow we are off to do a day tour of Loch Lomond and Stirling Castle.

A Very Long Journey

Today is the first day we have had free Wifi service so this post will be long. Here is our blog so far from the trip.

Thursday/Friday- It seemed like we were never going to get to Europe this time. The journey to Paris from LAX was a long one. We did not have a direct flight this time. Instead we flew to Philly, had a 3.5 hour layover, and then a 7 hour flight to Paris! Wow what a day. We only got about 3 hours of sleep Thursday night. Since the 16th was Dave’s official 30th birthday we went out to happy hour at Outback then back to Arielle’s to play some Mario Party. We finally headed to bed at around 12am and we got up at 3:25am!!! We did manage to sleep a few hours on the flight to Philly. But we spent our hours in Philly charging our electronics (IPODS), eating lunch, and resting.

Dave trying to sleep in the Philly Airport

We boarded our fight to Paris at about 5:45pm and arrived at 7:45am! We were exhausted, but we made the most of our first day and enjoyed the sights of Paris. Our first stop was at the Arch de Triumph. Then we took a stroll down Champs Elyses and ate lunch outside at a sidewalk bistro. Next we went to Notre Dame and there was a bread festival going on. It smelled so good and we tasted some great bread. Of course we really couldn’t understand anyone but it was still lot of fun. Our final stop for the day was the Pantheon where we took a tour and got to see more views of Paris. It was a great day in Paris but by the end we were totally exhausted. At least we have a really comfy bed at our hotel.

Road from the top of the Arch De Triumph

Saturday – Today was again spent enjoying the sights of Paris. It was looking kind of gray in the morning so instead of sticking to the original plan we headed to the Louvre. This place was soooo big and amazing. I’ve never seen so much artwork in one place. Here we got to see 2 pretty famous items…the Venus DiMilo and the Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa was much smaller than I had expected, but still awesome to see. Next we decided to take a stroll through the park at the Lourve. Then it was off to catch the train to go to Monmarte and Sacra Couer (sp?). This area was really neat. Lots of personality and the cathedral that sat up on top of the hill offered amazing views of Paris. At the base of the cathedral was another little fair going on. This one had some local French wineries; of course we bought 2 bottles of wine to take home. We just couldn’t resist the French wines. For the rest of the afternoon we headed to Luxembourg Gardens and walked and had some sorbet. Saturday evening we decided to head over to the Eiffel Tower. We had dinner at a cute little French bistro then took night time photos of the Tower. We were going to go up but decided the line was pretty long and that we would wait for the next day. So instead we headed to Champs Elyses to have some wine.

Eifel Tower at Night

Sunday – well we woke up today and Paris was pretty much socked I with clouds and rain. How unfortunate since we did the Louvre yesterday. We decided to start the day our with a Nutella and Banana crepe along with “American “coffee” (meaning big coffee). Then we headed to another small area of Paris to see the Picasso Museum Oh, I really loved this area of town. It almost reminded me of Italy with all the small streets and cute buildings. After the museum we stopped at a cute Patstry/choclatier shop and bought a Chocolate Mousse torte…oh it was so good! After wards we walled around and then headed back into the main part of the city to catch a tour on the Seine River. Next we headed to the Eiffel Tower. The weather still was not great so we only went up the second level. I liked it here thought because you were still outside and had great views. Sunday night ww ate dinner somewhere near the Latin Quarter (at least we think so). Dinner was so amazingly great and we shared a bottle of white wine and sat outside overlooking the crowded streets of Paris. To end our visit in Paris we walked around by the Seine and then headed back to champs Elsyses for desert

Me along the Siene River

My wrap-up of Paris: I loved it!!! I was as comfortable in Paris as I was in Italy. I found everyone to be super nice and willing to try and understand us. The culture is wonderful and I especially loved sitting at the cute outdoor cafes. IIate horrible, but I’m on vacation. Everything I had was suberb..Salmon, beef, Crème Caramel, Crepes. But the Crème Brulee was to die for. My comparison was like drinking Guinness in Ireland…it was so much better in Paris. So anyway, I would go back to Paris in a heartbeat. It was amazing and an experience I will never forget! I only learned the basic French words but we were fine getting around.

Au Revoir for now!

Marathon Vacation

Dave has termed our latest Europe Vacation as a "marathon vacation" and has even compared it to hiking to Half Dome! Yes it's a crazy trip, and overall it probably satisifies my personality more than Dave's even though its his birthday trip. In my defense I did ask him where he wanted to go and it all meant doing a lot in 2 weeks. As he wanted horse racing, a few days in Paris (for me), beer in Dublin, and some castles.

So we start off the trip with Dave's birthday Happy Hour in Burbank. Then its off for a few hours of sleep before driving to LAX at an ungodly hour for a 6:30 am flight to Philly.

When we finally arrive we will have 3 days in Paris to visit the Eiffel tower (again), the louvre, Picasso Musesum, Arch De Triumph, a boat tour down the Seine, and other sights. We will also make sure to sit at an outdoor cafe with a bottle of French Wine!

Then its off to london via Chunnel. In london we are staying by Hyde Park and will see a lot of the sights including Kensington Palance, Changing of the Guard, the Royal Mews (horses), Londonw Tower, London Bridge, Big Ben, and do a sunset tour of Stonehenge. Here we plan to drink newcastle in some british pubs.

Next we are off to Edinburgh to see the city including Edinburgh Castle. One day we will even tour Loch Lomond and one of the National Parks.

Our next stop is Glasgow and/or St andrews (famous for scottish golf).

Finally On the 28th we make our way to Ireland. First we head to Northern Ireland by ferry and spend an afternoon in Belfast before heading down to Dublin. Our last two days will be spent touring Dublin including Newgrange, drinking Guiness, and going to the horse races. Can you believe that the horse race we are going to is sponsored by Miller Beer!!!! Give me a Guiness or Smithwicks instead please!

The very end of our trip will be spent in Pennsylvannia for my friends wedding. I can't wait to take pictures there and see how I do! So it's all pretty exciting but a little stressful at the same time since we're less than a week away. I promise to try and post on the blog and maybe photos too. We do have internet access in London. So check back for more!

Photo of the Day:

My Dilema

So this past weekend I went to go help the local wedding photographer with a wedding. After I came back I really started thinking about this assisting thing. I mean I love photography and I would love to learn more and get better. But I don’t know if it’s worth it. I don’t get to see Dave that much during the week and the weekends are what I consider “our time” together. So If I continue with the assisting thing it means I won’t be able to see Dave as much, besides we’d really have to cut down on our weekend travels. Then there is the fact that I feel like a glorified gopher. I’m not doing any photography and I’m basically just running around getting and hauling equipment. Which I really don’t think I want to spend my Saturdays doing that. Dave tells me to hang in there a bit longer and see what happens, but I just don’t know. I’m starting to think I’m just not ready to commit to something like this at this point in my life. My weekends are important me, spending time with Dave is important and learning the art of photography is imporant. So how do I fit all that in. If you have any advice, let me know. Maybe I should just stick to taking some more advanced photography classes and skip out on this assisting thing. What do you think?

On another note...Dave and I leave for our extended vacation in less than 2 weeks! OMG! There is so much to do. And we have Dave's work party this saturday down in Universal. Plus I have a ton of stuff to get down at work. Talk about stressed. I can't wait to be on that plane and know I don't have anything to worry about for over 2 weeks!