photography blog

The Journey Home.

We began our long and arduous journey home at 10 am, Pacific time, after a weird and somewhat cryptic conversation with the store keeper. We preferred his wife, she was a nice woman. This dude was odd as heck. Anyway.

We woke up at 9 and packed up the tent and repacked the car, and then we were off! On the road back out to Ilwaco, we saw A MAMA BLACK BEAR IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. Oh boy did we get excited. And then, we looked to the right and there, in the tree, just chillin’, was a little black bear cub! We died, he was so cute. We sat there for about 3 minutes, and then he climbed away and we also climbed away, except we were in a car so it was more like we drove away.

20170602_100621_1_1 — The little bebe black bear! Be still, my heart.

We drove north on Highway 101 for a while, and then I think we took something that may have been a highway 18 or a highway 7. Either way, it took us to I-5, which led directly to I-90. After that it was a straight shot west; it could not have been any easier. We stopped on occasion to use the bathroom, to get some food, and to stretch our legs, which usually happened because the one of the first two were occurring. I drove from literally the coast of Washington all the way to Billings, Montana. A solid 17 hours of driving through two and a half states (I’m totally counting the 80 miles we drove in Idaho as a state) under my belt. After a brief stop in Billings, we continued on our merry way. Jennifer drove from Billings to Dickinson, ND, and then I continued dirving all the way back to Grand Forks. In retrospect, that was probably not a great idea, me driving for like, a bazillion hours with little-to-no sleep. But hey we didn’t die, so score one for us!

We made it back to Grand Forks around 5 pm on Saturday, and by 8 pm we were back on the road. Sara was driving this time; we packed her car and took off for the cities. I curled up in the back seat and slept for about an hour and a half or so, bringing my grand total of hours slept in the past 36 to about two. Woo!

The three of us made it to the cities around 1 am, and after Sara and I said our goodbyes to dear Jennifer, we made our way south to our MN home. We arrived around 3 am, and we didn’t even bother to unpack any of our things. We practically fell into our beds and passed out until 1 pm on Sunday.

The following week was one of rest and recuperation. Sara and I didn’t do much, other than go on long walks and watch American Horror Story: Hotel. If you haven’t seen it, you definitely should. Lady Gaga is queen.

And with that, the saga of our super epic road trip is done. It was a really freaking awesome week, full of mountains and forests and oceans, and while I did put 3700 miles on my Jeep I’m gonna go ahead and say it was totally worth it.

Thanks Jen and Sara, for proving to me that we are adult enough to handle a road trip on our own. Till the next one! 🙂

Oh yeah, here are some more photos of flowers. You’re welcome.

IMG_4303_1_1 — I believe this is Foxglove, it was near the coastal trail but since I only had a dead camera at the time I had to come back before we left Cape Disappointment and snap a few photos.

20170601_164530_1_1 — This is Coastal Rhododendron, which is the state flower of Washington. Oh my, were they ever in bloom this year! So flipping gorgeous, in colors ranging from red to purple to orange to pink.

20170601_135325_1_1 — I don’t know what this is, but I’m okay with that.

IMG_4250_1_1 — Oh, also here’s some moss. I’ll just leave this here for you.

Cape Disappointment did NOT live up to its name. Which is a good thing. I think.

On Thursday morning we awoke to a wet tent. It had rained during the night, and our pillows and most of Jennifer were decently damp. Mildly annoying.

We ate a spot of breakfast, and then we got dressed and ready for the day. Since this was our only full day at Cape Disappointment we decided we were going to do every trail. Which is exactly what we did.

We started out with the coastal loop trail that brought us next to the Columbia River outlet, and we could see the town of Ilwaco, Washington, from across the.. bay? River? Giant water puddle? Unsure, but the logistics are unimportant. What is important is the fact that my camera died during the middle of this hike. I was quite saddened by this, but I quickly moved on and started taking photos with my phone instead. Thank goodness for the fancy cameras that smart phones have these days!

20170601_124046_1_1 — A lovely shot of our trail. A bit too much mud, if you ask me. Not that you are. But if you *were* to ask, that’s what I would say.

IMG_4255_1_1 — Over yonder water is Ilwaco, WA; a town where the only gas station does not have a bathroom. Like, what?

IMG_4259_1_1 — Sara and Jen, taking in the sights.

IMG_4276_1_1_1 — So this photo isn’t great, but I can’t tell you how absolutely excited I got when I saw this heron. I love herons. They are my most favorite bird. Not 100% sure why, they just are.

After moving through this trail, we headed over to a parking lot, where we parked the car (who would have thought!) and hiked up to the old Cape Disappointment lighthouse. We passed by the Lewis and Clark interpretive center, and we might have stopped there if it hadn’t been for the two-bus-fulls of smallish children who made a bee-line straight for the center. So we avoided that place like the plague. Which was fine, we did a bit of interpretations regarding Lewis and Clark on our own. I don’t think I’ll get into that on here; some things are just better left un-typed.

We made our way to the lighthouse, and it was a lovely old lighthouse.

20170601_111107_1_1 — I just love the wonderful indigo color of the ocean.

So we hung out with the light house for a while before making the trek back to the car. We headed down to the beach to sit on driftwood while Jennifer ate her apple. At least I think it was an apple. Was it an apple, Jen?

20170601_120955_1_1 — That’s just so much driftwood.

20170601_115712 — A nice little panoramic shot of the beach.

20170601_121020_1_1 — I haven’t included any flower photos in this post yet, so here you go. I have no idea what these flowers are but I just LOVE the purple-pink-ombre thing they have going on. Also that lovely little water droplet. Really just sets the mood, wouldn’t you say

So after our brief hiatus on the driftwood of the beach, we decided to move on and do the last trail. This trail would be the longer of the three that we were doing, and it definitely proved to be the most difficult as well. This trail would lead us to the North Head Lighthouse, and the path was fraught with salamanders and mud. The trail was in the process of being updated, and by that I mean there were piles of lumber hanging out in the woods. So in the mean time, we had to forage our way through this trail which had more tree roots sticking out than was necessary.But! We survived! It was only about a 2.5 mile hike, but it took much longer than it needed to because of the less-than-ideal trail conditions. The rain the night before also did not help to make the trail more ideal. Oh, well.

As we approached the ocean, we heard a curious barking noise, and then we all got so super excited because we were hearing SEALS! The fellas must have been hanging out on the beach, and were just chattering away! We ran about 10 feet in our excitement before realizing that running was a dumb idea, as it would likely result in us not getting there any more quickly and just ending up with a twisted/sprained/shattered ankle and/or knee. So we continued walking at a pace that was appropriate for this somewhat awful and slightly dangerous trail. After some more time passed, we did make it to the lighthouse. Which was also under construction. How typical.

There was a couple sitting on a bench near this area, and they had a pair of binoculars and were “ooo-ing” and “ahh-ing” at something. They turned to us and told us that there were a couple of whales out in the distance, and proceeded to borrow us their binoculars so that we too, could “ooo” and “ahh” at the whales. They were quite lovely; having never seen a whale in the flesh before, I thought they were quite extraordinary, as well. The couple (hailing from California) also pointed out the seals to us, frolicking down in the waves. Oh they were just so cute! Gosh.

20170601_132052_1_1 — The Cape, from the vantage point of North Head Lighthouse.

After we had our fill of whale- and seal-watching, we decided to head back. We made a solid attempt at going down the cliff-side to get to the beach, which would have ended up being a shorter route back to the campsite, but the path got real sketchy real fast, so we just went back the way we came. That’s right, all 2.5 miles of death-trail.

That may be a bit melodramatic. In reality, heading back did not take nearly as long as it did heading to the lighthouse. That’s usually how it ends up being, though.

IMG_4282_1_1 — Hopefully you enjoy the photo of this funky-looking plant as much as I do.

We made it back to the car, and with muddy shoes and wet socks we headed back to the campsite. Two-thirds of us took showers, and then we hopped back in the car and drove on down to the great state of Oregon. Astoria, to be specific.

20170601_180840_1_1 — Proof that I’ve been to Oregon! Yay!

I had made the connection between Astoria and the fun-loving, adventuring-having 80s movie The Goonies, when we were eating Mexican food on drive from Sol Duc. Oh man, did we get excited. Because the movie was shot in Astoria, the house that Mikey and Brand lived in is actually still there, and is currently occupied by some crotchety people who don’t allow visitors.Once we crossed the excessively long bridge that linked Washington with Oregon, we made our way down the somewhat confusing streets of Astoria to the Goonies House. Where we immediately became intimidated by the signs that said “DO NOT APPROACH WE WILL CALL THE POLICE” and so we parked about three blocks away and got as close as we dared. Which wasn’t very close.

20170601_164431_1_1 — The Goonies House is the white one in the background. Like, the way background. In the middle. Because we didn’t dare to get any closer.

After our excursion to the Goonies House, we needed to find food. We ate at a place called the Wet Dog Cafe; not a super appetizing name, but that didn’t really matter because the food was absolutely amazing. I had a salmon burger. Super double yum.

To top off the night, we decided to get some ice cream, so we found this little place that puts potato chips on top of their ice cream sundaes. An odd yet delicious combination.

After the ice cream, we decided to get gas, because it was cheaper in Astoria than any place we had seen in Washington. So, I pull up to the pump, get out, and proceed to put the card in the thing. Then all of a sudden, this guy jogs out to my Jeep and was like, “I’ll get that for you.” Which leads me to stare at him blankly, because I am perfectly capable of filling up my own gas thank you very much. Had this happened like, 5 years ago I would have been like, heck yeah you can definitely fill up my gas and I’ll just take you with me so that you can always fill up my gas. But it wasn’t 5 years ago, it was right now, and I was confused. The man, his name was Stephen (but may have been pronounced like Steven), said to me, “Did you forget you were in Oregon?” Like I was some sort of person who forgets where they are. No, I did not forget I was in Oregon, I was apparently just very ignorant of the state-wide law which banned civilians from pumping their own gas. They have special people who do that for them, to prevent explosions I think.

Needless to say, I was mildly embarrassed and thoroughly confused when I got back in the car, which caused Sara and Jennifer to also become thoroughly confused. Jen used her handy-dandy phone to look up why in the heck I was unable to pump my own gas, and that’s when we discovered that we were in one of two states that ban people from this activity. Weird. The other state is New Jersey. Who knew!

After the gas-pumping fiasco, we made our way back to the campsite and promptly went to sleep, on our more-damp-than-dry pillows.

Ah well, there could be worse things!

June 1, 2017August 30, 2017 by Anna Linnea Categories: Blog, PhotographyTags: adventure, astoria, astoria oregon, blog post, canon, coast, coastal town, eating out, explore, flowers, forest, friends, fun, hike, hiking, lovely, my blog, nature, oregon, out west, outdoors, Pacific, Photography, photography blog, post, road trip, state park, the goonies, the ocean, trail, united states, washington, west, woods Leave a comment

Why hello, Washington.

Washington, another state I had never been to before this trip, has officially stolen my heart. Sorry, Minnesota, you may have a bit of competition! The mountains, the forests, the lakes, the fog, the rain, the everything. My photos did not do this state justice.

We drove the last six hours to Sol Duc, the campground where we would be spending the night. Sol Duc is located in the Olympic National Forest, in Washington’s beautiful Pacific Northwest region. Or, as Sara liked to call it, the GNP (Greater North Pacific), which should not to be confused with the GOP (Grand Old Party). We pitched our tent, a feat which all should be thoroughly impressed with. It took a bit of effort, but we did manage to make it stand up (by itself!) in the end.

We then decided to hit up all of the trails that we could. Sol Duc is home to a gorgeous waterfall, appropriately named Sol Duc Falls. We wanted to make our way to the falls, and then on the trail to Deer Lake. To reach the falls, we went on a path called Lover’s Lane. Not sure why it was named this, as the path was terribly maintained and would likely cause lovers to unlove each other due to it’s ability to cause tension and arguments regarding which way to go. Luckily for us, we didn’t like each other very much to begin with, so Lover’s Lane did not have the disastrous effects as it would on people who do actually like each other.

IMG_3808_1_1 — This is a photo of Sara and Jennifer attempting to find the path that was completely obscured by fallen trees. We were eventually successful in reclaiming our rightful spot on the path.

IMG_3804_1_1 — An example of the aforementioned fallen trees obscuring the path.

Just kidding.

After what seemed like an year and a half, we made it through Lover’s Lane and out onto the super-fancy, super-nice path that led to the falls. We followed this path for about a mile, all the while hearing the falls roaring in the distance.

IMG_3873_1_1 — The amount of green in this place was incredible. Seriously. Absolutely the greenest.

IMG_3852_1_1 — This is merely a little creek-like waterfall, the real ones were further down the path, and alas I did not get any good photos of the real ones; misty water in the air does not help to make a very good photo.

IMG_3856_1_1 — Here’s an adorable photo of an older couple crossing the bridge of the little creek-like waterfalls. Don’t you just love the contrast of their coats with the green?

It was a bit chilly and rainy on our walk, and the spray from the waterfall only assisted with making us more damp. It was a lovely waterfall, however. Even though it got my camera all wet. Sad day.

Just past the falls was the path for Deer Lake. We had read about Deer Lake in little pamphlet that the park ranger had given us upon check-in. It was about a 4-mile hike, which sounded like a good way for us to get out and stretch our legs after driving for the last 9 hours. We started the hike, and it was really uphill and rocky. The path was essentially a dry creek bed that they had somewhat improved by strategically placing rocks and/or building some steps and bridges. And I use the words “dry creek bed” lightly, as the majority of the creek bed had some water running through it, i.e. wet socks, wet shoes. Everything was so squishy damp. So squishy damp.

IMG_3982_1_1 — Hey look, it’s the dry creek bed we hiked up. Isn’t that nice?

So we hiked uphill on this dry creek bed for a long time, and eventually we were like, “Wait, is this another mountain?” And sure enough, we doubled checked the pamphlet from the ranger and it said that Deer Lake was indeed a mountain lake. Meaning that it is a lake hidden in the mountains. The snow was a bit of a give-away, as well.

IMG_3915_1_1 — Jen + a patch of baby snow!

Okay, so the elevation was only about 1700 feet vs. the 4200 feet of Mount Brown (refer to my post “The Story of Mount Brown” for the full story of Mount Brown), but seriously who accidentally climbs a mountain, not once but twice in one week? Apparently, we do.

We really need to start reading the fine print when people give us information.

So we made it to the top of this mountain, and we found Deer Lake. Sara, our line leader for this expedition, shrieked with excitement when she saw the lake, which spurred Jennifer and myself on. We were thrilled to be off this weird trail.

The lake was absolutely gorgeous. We sat on the wooden bridge for some time. Jennifer ate an apple and a granola bar. We all took a few hearty swigs of water. After a few moments, there was some fog that began to form. It was lovely fog, all heavy and wispy at the same time, and it came down from the mountains and covered the trees across the lake. I had never seen fog descend on a place like that, so that was pretty neat. I got a few neat photos too.

IMG_4069_1_1 — Oh hey there, fog. Thanks for descending so neatly.

Sara and Jennifer had continued on the path; we were going to attempt the trail to Mink Lake, which would then lead us back to out campground. I think. I wasn’t 100% sure on the logistics of this hike. I was more focused on taking photos of the trees and the moss and the water. Which I did. I just followed Sara and Jennifer, and trusted that they knew the way. Or at the very least that they could interpret the map.

So I was busy taking pictures of the fog while Sara and Jennifer forged ahead on the path, and about six minutes later I hear Sara yelling at me, asking me what the hell I was doing. So I was like, yeah yeah I’m on my way when in reality I was still snapping a photo or two. Oops. 🙂

IMG_4067_1_1 — Nature, you’re pretty O.K.

I did make my way to them, however, and the path had effectively disappeared under the snow. So much snow. We made our way across a slough covered in snow on the south side of Deer Lake, and then there was just an open field of snow with no tracks from previous hikers. We were effectively screwed. Sara and Jennifer really gave it their best effort, in their attempt to find the trail.

We wandered around for about half a mile before resigning ourselves to the fact that we will just have to go back down the dry creek bed trail. I groaned inwardly and sighed outwardly, but since going downhill is easier than going uphill I was mildly okay with it. I tried being the line leader for about two minutes, and I ended up falling down and getting my shoe severely stuck in the snow. Jennifer had to retrieve it for me, which was harder than it sounds because my shoe was really stuck in there. I was a little embarrassed so I just went back to my usual spot in line, bringing up the rear. We ended up running down the mountain path again, but this one was much more rocky and dangerous so we stopped after about half a mile.

After what seemed like a forever amount of time spent walking (you know, it’s really hard to keep going when your butt and thighs and calves are sore and you haven’t slept more than an hour and a half in the 28 hours), we finally made it back to the waterfall, but then it was still quite a jaunt back to the entrance of Lover’s Lane. Apparently we were feeling quite spry when we began our hiking adventure earlier, and practically sprinted through the path because it seemed much shorter the first time. We reached the entrance of Lover’s Lane but we had already decided that we were not going through that shit-show of a trail again, even though it was quite lovely and very Jurassic Park/Star Wars-esk. It was fun to traipse through the woods and rediscover the lost path, but we just did not have the energy for that. Hiking up and down a mountain in squishy damp shoes with sore butts, thighs, and calves can really put a damper on one’s attitude for adventure. We were also hungry. So, we walked out to the parking lot and decided to walk along road back to our campground. Which was fine, it just took an extra mile or so to get back, bringing our total for the day up to approximately 12 miles. Woo!

We found the campground, and we cut through the small bit of woods between the road and the campground to get back more quickly. I saw a giant log on the ground, and of course I decided to sit there and count the rings on the stump to see how old it was.

262 years old, in case you were curious.

So after this brief tree-ring-counting-detour, which took about 10 minutes, I made my way back to the campsite, where Sara and Jennifer were preparing their food for supper. I tucked right in, and after a hearty meal of sandwiches and s’mores and Cheerios and chickpeas, we went to bed. I was pooped. Which makes sense, because by that point I had slept for approximately an hour and a half in the last 36. Not a great track record.

We fell asleep listening to the sound of the breeze rustling through the moss on the prehistoric-looking pine trees.

And subsequently awoke to the same prehistoric-looking pine trees.

May 31, 2017August 30, 2017 by Anna Linnea Categories: Blog, PhotographyTags: adventure, blog post, canon, deer lake, explore, flowers, fog, forest, friends, hike, hiking, lakes, lovely, mountain lake, mountains, my blog, nature, out west, outdoors, Photography, photography blog, post, rainy, road trip, snow, sol duc, trail, washington, waterfalls, west, woods Leave a comment

Day three of the “Let’s Go West!” trip ft. Avalanche Lake.

Day Three. Monday. Memorial Day.

We woke up later this morning, due to the fact that we had just climbed 10 miles up a mountain the previous day. We packed the car in record time before heading out to the Glacier National Park visitor center. We caught the free shuttle to the Avalanche Lake trail head to do some more hiking before moving on with our journey west. We spent a fair amount of time hiking to Avalanche Lake, as we were doing our best to waste as much time as possible. I was allowed (Thanks, guys!) to take photos with my camera, and so I took full advantage of that. 🙂

IMG_3447_1_1 — Just Jen doing Parkour things.

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IMG_3491_1_1 — This is my, “Oh hey nature, you’re pretty neat” face.

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IMG_3481_1_1

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IMG_3571_1_1 — “I like that boulder. That’s a nice boulder.”

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We finally made the 2.5 mile walk (5.5 miles round-trip) to Avalanche Lake, and boy was that a sight to behold. Crystal clear water surrounded by trees, mountains, and more trees. I could have stood there all day.

IMG_3650_1_1 — Ahh, Avalanche Lake, you are gorgeous. Keep on keeping on.

IMG_3620_1_1 — I think Jennifer was excited to see Avalanche Lake. It’s hard to tell, she’s such a closed book. 😉

IMG_3632_1_1 — Avalanche Lake is beautiful, almost as beautiful as their friendship.

IMG_3623_1_1 — Please enjoy my awkward mountain selfie 🙂

IMG_3635_1_1 — Just sitting in the majesty of the mountains.

IMG_3645_1_1 — Channeling my inner Nixon.

Alas, we eventually had to move on, and get back on the road. We stopped in Whitefish to have a picnic in a park and eat some delicious ice cream. My flavor was Montana Huckleberry. It seemed fitting.

20170529_181856_1_1 — This ice cream was #yum. I realized after I ate about half of the it that I wanted to take a photo of my ice cream with downtown Whitefish and the distant mountains in the background. So I did it anyway, with a half-eaten ice cream cone.

I was the driver for the four hour trip to Spokane, Washington. We drove along Highway 93, and that was seriously the curviest road I have ever driven on, I felt like a NASCAR driver. With a Jeep. In the mountains. Montana really is something, landscape-wise. We merged onto Highway 200, which turned out to be a neat little drive through the Montana countryside. It brought us right into Idaho (the panhandle, to be specific), a state I had never been to until this trip. It seemed oddly like western Montana to me. How curious.

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IMG_3698_1_1 — Don’t worry, I was keeping an eye out for approaching vehicles.

The sunset we were chasing was absolutely gorgeous. I had been begging to stop at almost every scenic turnout, but I was turned down by my passengers, and was told to “take a mental picture.” Even though I was driving. You’ll just have to believe me when I say that the sunset, silhouetted by the mountains and reflecting off the water, was lovely. Everything about this trip has been lovely so far. I was (grudgingly) allowed to take a photo of the sunset, and so here it is, in all of its sunset-y glory.

IMG_3718_1_1 The three of us made it to Spokane (a rather surprising feat, for there were some foreboding signs on Highway 200 in Montana about big horned sheep and 433 killed and 55 mph. We’re still not entirely sure what they mean; 433 big horned sheep killed? Or have the big horned sheep caused the death of 433 humans? Also, this was over the course of a 19-mile stretch, and so that seems like a very specific area to have had so many deaths. The deaths per square foot must be incredible. Additionally, what is the time frame that we’re looking at; for the last year? 10 years? 50 years? So many questions, so many theories and speculations, so little knowledge about big horned sheep and their death rates.) around 10:45 p.m. Pacific time and stopped at Walmart for a couple of camping necessities. We also stopped for gas and coffee, found I-90, and headed west into the night.

It was just Sara, me and the semis awake on the road. We drove for two hours before needing a brief nap. We stopped at a rest area, saw that there was a homeless lady sleeping on the cement outside of the women’s restroom in a sleeping bag and decided to drive 40 miles to the next rest area, where there was no homeless lady sleeping on the cement outside of the women’s restroom. We managed to sleep in the car for a solid hour and a half. After shutting my eyes for what seemed like a second, it was 4:30 a.m. and I figured we should probably keep going. So, we kept going.

Westward, ho!

May 29, 2017August 30, 2017 by Anna Linnea Categories: Blog, PhotographyTags: adventure, anna linnea photography, avalanche lake, blog post, canon, driving, explore, forest, friends, fun, glacier national park, good times, hike, hiking, lake mcdonald, lakes, let's go west, lovely, montana, mountains, my blog, national park, nature, night driving, out west, outdoors, Photography, photography blog, post, road trip, sunset, trail, united states, west, woods Leave a comment

The Story of Mount Brown

ACT 1 SCENE 2

SCENE: Mount Brown, Glacier National Park. Sunday, May 28, 2017. 10:30 a.m.

CHARACTERS:

Sara – our fearless line leader and choir conductor.
Jen – our amusing conversationalist and in-house animal expert/eye candy.
Anna – the laggard bringing up the rear and company photographer.
Those two guys who made us feel bad about ourselves because they were sprinting up the mountain – they also showed us mountain goats.
Pink Shirt Guy – at first, he was amused by our quirky antics but soon got really annoyed and quickly passed us by.
The Elderly Snientist – an optimistic gentleman who showered us with words of encouragement, which we ignorantly believed, and also made us laugh with his tales of lost chainsaws. We also think he may have been a snow scientist, but this fact was neither confirmed nor denied.
The Pesky Mountain Goats – so cute! But so annoying, as we are humans in their territory and are advised not to approach. Hard to do when they are standing on the trail and won’t leave.
Special Guest Star: The Snow that Wouldn’t Quit – first made it its appearance as a small patch along the trail and we were like, aw look at that snow and then it became 6 feet deep and were like what in the actual heck, snow. Why.

Narrator: (Dramatic voice) On this day, three girls accidentally climbed a mountain. You may be wondering, just how dumb do you need to “accidentally” climb a mountain. Well, all you need is a bit of blind ambition and a lot of blissful ignorance. Mount Brown is home to a rather formidable trail, one of the most difficult in Glacier National Park. It ascends over 4200 feet in 5 miles, so you can imagine that the trail is steep. What you may not imagine is the fact that there is also snow on top of a mountain. Or maybe you can imagine that. If that is the case, then you would have been better prepared than these three girls. Good for you.

It’s not as if these girls did not have the means to be prepared to climb the mountain. In fact, they had a magazine (which they evidently did not read very closely before attempting to climb said mountain) that stated Mount Brown was indeed a difficult hike; in fact, it was labeled as “strenuous” in the magazine. Now, these are relatively smart girls, two with college degrees and the other beginning her junior year in college this fall, but apparently they decided to interpret the word “strenuous” as “oh, this will be a super nice hike with awesome views of the mountains and stuff” rather than “yeah you’re about to hike up a mountain.” It’s all about the context, I guess.

IMG_3289_1_1 — Ah, the lovely pine trees. Thanks for being so photogenic.

This is their story, the story of Mount Brown and how they potentially possibly could have maybe died but didn’t.

Oh sorry, spoiler alert.

We started our day with a hearty continental breakfast from the hotel. We made our way to the Glacier National Park visitor center, located on the Going-To-The-Sun Road, where they told us that parking at Avalanche Lake would be extremely limited. We were feeling optimistic, however, and decided to try parking there. Apparently everyone else wanted to park there too, so we were forced to come back and park at Lake McDonald. This worked out just fine, and we decided to hike up Mount Brown. You would think, with a name like Mount Brown (emphasis on the “Mount”) we would have realized that it would not be a simple hike up a hill. We were literally in the mountains of Montana, for God’s sake!

Anyway.

IMG_3230_1_1 We began our hike at the Sperry trail head, which started right across the road from Lake McDonald, and went up a fairly gradual incline for a solid mile and a half. We found the Mount Brown trail head and thus we began our ascent. Within 10 minutes we had to stop again, our butts and thighs were dying. But this was just the beginning. We hiked for a long time, back and forth up the switchbacks (thanks, expert hiking [aka mountain-sprinter] guys who helped us figure out the mountain lingo) and stopped periodically for water and air. We made it to a lovely little overlook, and we figured we should be fairly close to the top. Boy, were we wrong. We hadn’t even encountered the snow, yet!

20170528_120549_1_1 — This is a lovely photo of me taking a photo of the mountains at the overlook which we foolishly mistook as being close to the top. Ha.

The snow started out as a small patch in the woods by the trail, and we thought it was just the cutest little patch of snow we’d ever seen. And then said snow patch multiplied in number and size, and soon everything was covered in a six-foot snowdrift. We learned later that this snow does not disappear until mid-July. Lucky us. It was during this snowy trail era that we ran across (whom we believe to be) the snow scientist. He was sitting in the snow using a little saw to cut into the snow drifts. So, he was either a snow scientist or an elderly guy who liked to sit on the side of a mountain and investigate the snow. Rather curious. He told us we were doing a great job, climbing the mountain. He also gave us directions to get around a particularly giant snow drift which was coming up in our path. This snow drift was probably close to 10 feet tall. We had to skirt around it, so thank goodness there had been people going on the trail before us so we had footprints to follow in.

We trekked through the snow, slipping and sliding as we went along. Luckily we had started our journey early enough in the morning so the snow was still pretty solid during our ascent. No one had any major spills down the mountainside, but Sara and I did fall much more often than Jennifer (and I fell more often than Sara). Jennifer does parkour (hard-core parkour!) as a hobby and thus has fairly decent balance and footwork, which I am sure contributed to her lack of falling. She’s so fancy.

IMG_3278_1_1 — That’s Jen, with her water bottle and her backpack. Thanks for being our designated H2O supplier, Jennifer! You da best.

We were so full of optimism and blind ambition. We really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when we started our journey up Mount Brown. However, I think it was this total unpreparedness that allowed us to get as far as we did. If we had 100% knew we would be climbing up a mountain, we honestly probably would have given up. It was the lack of us knowing just how steep and arduous this hike would be that allowed us to almost reach the top. I say “almost” because we did not actually make it to the top. We were probably about half a mile from the top, where it apparently became pretty flat and there was a nice building in which to sit. However, to get to said “top,” we would have had to ~~hike~~ crawl up the mountain side, by holding onto the snowy footholds made by previous (and more courageous) hikers. We stopped because we honestly feared for our lives. In fact, Sara was sitting in the snow for some time, contemplating her life and was about 83% sure she might die. However, the odds were in her favor and she survived. We all survived, in fact, and we are stronger for it. I also got a few super sweet photos, so that was a bonus!

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IMG_3259_1_1 Sara and Jennifer refused to go any further, but I decided to try, and climbed about 200 feet up the mountain before calling down to my companions that yes, they were right, it was absolutely terrifying and if they could be so kind as to not rub it in my face that would be great. So I channeled my inner mountain goat and crawled back down. It was a bit of a struggle, to be completely honest, but I made it without dying! Now it was just the rest of the mountain we had to descend.

Snapchat-547741768_1_1 — This was what our trail looked like; there wasn’t a whole lot of anything to the right of us to catch us if we were to slide down the mountain!

Going down the mountain was much easier that going up. It helped that we were fueled by adrenaline and had just been staring our almost-death in the face. We traipsed our way through the snow drifts, and finally (finally!) got back to the no-snow-trail. At this point we started full-out running down the mountain path, which was actually a lot of fun and probably pretty dangerous, but none of us died or twisted an ankle or anything so that was good.

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We also made some friends on the way down the mountain; the two guys who sprinted up the mountain also sprinted down (how, we still don’t know) who introduced us to the pesky mountain goats who just would not get off the path, and the guy in the pink shirt, who we later developed an undeserved (yet extremely personal) vendetta against. Unsure why this vendetta became so strong, but it provided a solid source of entertainment for the rest of the week.

20170528_144636_1_1 — The trail, ft. the pesky mountain goats + the snow.

IMG_3359_1_1 — I have no idea what this flower is, but the Sperry trail was quite populated with them. I took my time heading back down the mountain, taking in the sights and discovering things I had not seen on our ridiculous hike up Mount Brown.

We finally made it down the mountain, feeling more than a little sore, tired, and hungry. We reconvened at the Jeep, determined that we had hiked (or bear-crawled) approximately 10 miles in 5 hours, and grabbed some water and food to replenish our bodies and souls. We meandered down to Lake McDonald to rest our feet in the cool mountain water.

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Along the way, we paused to appreciate Mount Brown from a distance. It was really high. We were like, wait we just hiked up that?

Snapchat-1723519300_1_1_1 — I apologize for the terrible quality of this photo, as I took it with Snapchat. But that is indeed Mount Brown in the center of the photo; you know, the giant-mountain-looking-hill that we somehow managed to climb up and down without anyone dying or breaking something.

We fell, we laughed, we wanted to sit down and cry, we almost made it to the top of the mountain and we have no regrets. Having never climbed a mountain before, I think we did a bang-up job of doing it.

IMG_3439_1_1 — My companions let me stop along the Going-To-The-Sun Road on our way back to civilization and take a few photos of the fabulous mountains, with Lake McDonald in the foreground.

May 28, 2017August 30, 2017 by Anna Linnea Categories: Blog, PhotographyTags: adventure, anna linnea photography, canon, explore, forest, friends, fun, glacier national park, good times, hike, hiking, lake mcdonald, lakes, let's go west, lovely, montana, mount brown, mountain goats, mountains, my blog, national park, nature, out west, Photography, photography blog, post, road trip, snow, trail, underprepared, united states, west, woods 1 Comment

Let’s Go West! Part One.

Girls [3]. US Highway [2]. Outlandish plan to head out west [1].

My younger sister Sara and I, along with out lovely friend Jen, made a plan to drive out west on US Highway 2, over Memorial Day Weekend. Well, it’s Memorial Day Weekend and we have actually followed through with said plan. Technically it is still being followed through with, as we are currently in Montana. We have a lot more “west” to cover before completion of the trip. The fact that we are even on the first leg of this trip is in and of itself an amazing feat, as we are fairly notorious for making elaborate and exciting plans and only following through with a fraction of them. It’s a real issue.

Like I said, we are currently in Montana. Columbia Falls, a tiny town just outside of Glacier National Park, to be exact. We started out from Grand Forks, North Dakota on Friday evening at approximately 11:45 p.m. after a necessary food stop at Walmart. Sara had driven to The Cities that day to pick up aforementioned lovely friend Jen, as Jen was a necessary component to this trip and did not have a vehicle with which to transport herself the five-hour drive from Minneapolis to Grand Forks. It really is a shame that aparation is not a real thing. That would make life so much more convenient. However, I digress. It is not the time to delve into the Wizarding World, no matter how fun that may be. This is the time to discuss the first leg of our “Let’s Go West!” camping trip. Like I said, we left Grand Forks around 11:45 on Friday night. I was the lucky one who got to drive through the whole great state of North Dakota. It really wasn’t bad, as I had taken a solid two hour nap on Friday around 7 p.m. in preparation for the all-night driving session, but I will admit it got a little rough around 4:30 a.m. My passengers had fallen asleep, so I just had Third Eye Blind to keep me awake. However, we managed to make it to Montana in time for the sunrise.

We stopped for breakfast, and kept right on going. I was provided a two-hour reprieve, during which time I had a nice little nap. I decided I wanted to drive again, because it was my vehicle we were taking (a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee, white) and I just like to drive. And drive we did. Montana is a huge state, nearly twice the length of North Dakota. It took 5 hours through ND, which meant that we had about 9 hours to go through MT. However, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day for a drive. The three of us grew up in southern Minnesota, and so we were not used to such terrain. The hills of Montana were exciting, but when we saw the mountains we (meaning I) became ecstatic. There were squeals of excitement all around. Mainly from me. Of course, we had to stop once we were close enough to take some photos of the impending mountains.

IMG_3168_1_1 — Look at those mountains! Also the cattle. And the fence. Lovely.

So we kept on driving and eventually made it to the mountains, and man was that a sight to behold. I’ve never really been in the mountains, much less driven in them, so that was an adventure. After our lovely drive through the mountains, we made it to the west side of Glacier National Park, and we found our hotel in Columbia Falls around 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon. The beds were very inviting, and I ended up taking an hour-long nap, which increased the number of hours I had slept in the last 18 to a whopping total of three. Later that evening, Sara and I decided to do a bit of exploring. We found a nice little lake to sit by whilst watching the sunset. It was a gorgeous evening, albeit a bit buggy, but that is to be expected. It was around 65 degrees, no wind, and it smelled like forest. Wonderful.After our nice little sit by the lake, we returned to the hotel for a much-needed repose.

May 27, 2017August 30, 2017 by Anna Linnea Categories: Blog, PhotographyTags: anna linnea photography, blog post, canon, driving, glacier national park, highway 2, hiking, lakes, let's go west, lovely, montana, mountains, my blog, national park, nature, north dakota, out west, outdoors, photo shoot, Photography, photography blog, post, road trip, united states, west Leave a comment

Minnesota Nice

I love Minnesota. It is (in my humble opinion), one of the best states in the united collection of states that is America. But maybe I am biased. I am most likely biased. Nevertheless, I love Minnesota. To express my deep devotion to this state, I decided to make a list of my favorite things about Minnesota.

My home. I may have been born in Sweden, but I was raised in Minnesota. I have made this state my home, and I love it. I love the terrible accent that other states think we have, I love the deeply European roots that can be found in the small communities across the state, I love the changing seasons (even though winter can be a bit excessive at times), I love the emphasis we have on nature and being outdoors, I love the shape of this state, I love that we are home to the headwaters of the second-longest river in the United States, and I love the fact that we all say “Minnesoda” rather than “Minnesota.” Plaid is acceptable year-round, as are shorts. We have several claims to fame, i.e. Bob Dylan, Prince, and Charles Lindberg, to name a few, and we are home to the largest shopping mall in North America. I am proud to be from Minnesota, and I love every bit of this magnificent state.

Ice on the 10,000+ lakes of Minnesota is a great source of entertainment during the bitter winter months. Ice fishing, ice skating, ice sculpting, ice festivals; the list could go on, but I’m sure you get the picture. Ice is nice.

Nature. Need I say more? If you are in search of nature, Minnesota is the place to find it. From the open grassland plains of southern Minnesota, to the expansive forests of northern Minnesota, to the shores of Lake Superior, to the bluffs of the Mississippi River in southeastern Minnesota. State parks, lakes, county parks, lakes, city parks, lakes, and lakes. Did I mention all of the lakes? Pretty sure I mentioned the lakes. We have [really big] hills for hiking, we have trees for climbing, we have grass for laying in, we have water to swim in. Minnesota is the ultimate nature destination.

Nice people. I’m sure you’ve heard the term “Minnesota Nice,” which is a real thing. Minnesotans are genuinely nice people, quick with a smile or a friendly wave. I love driving down the road and getting a wave from the majority of people I meet. It’s great fun, and not at all creepy. For the most part. 🙂

Energy. Specifically, wind energy. In the last few years, an excessive number (yet, still not enough) of wind turbines have emerged on the horizon of southern Minnesota. The energy produced by these giant, white windmills is sent to Minneapolis and St. Paul. The farmers whose land is being utilized for these windmills are compensated, and hundreds of jobs have been created for the engineering, building, and maintenance of these turbines. It is quite amazing, and it is a step in the right direction to protecting our beautiful world by producing energy from a renewable source – the wind!

Springtime is absolutely gorgeous in Minnesota. A wave of green takes over the countryside; the flowers are blooming; farmers are planting their crops (hello again, corn and soybeans); birds are migrating north from their southerly vacations; people are finally emerging from months of hibernation; the wind is not out to freeze your nose off (only to make it slightly chilly); and bare feet are once again acceptable as footwear for the next six to seven months, depending on how tough you are. 🙂

Outdoor activities a-plenty. In a state with such an emphasis on outdoor-ism, it should be pretty obvious that there are no end to the different activities that you could potentially participate in. We have trails for biking, hiking, jogging, walking, cross country skiing, and snowmobiling; and lakes for swimming, skinny dipping, boating, fishing, ice fishing, tubing, canoeing, kayaking, water skiing, and ice skating. We have game trails for hunting anything from deer to pheasants to geese; and we have state and county parks for camping, whether you bring an RV or decide to rough it by sleeping in a tent. There is no end to the amount of adventure you can have in Minnesota. All you have to do is go outside!

Twin Cities, i.e. Minneapolis and St. Paul. The latter is technically the capital of Minnesota, but everyone knows that they are practically a single entity; you can’t have one without the other. The Twin Cities is home to a vibrant culture and several sports teams that all true Minnesotans love despite their terrible track records (the Vikings, the Twins, the Timberwolves.. someone has to lose, that’s just the nature of sports; do we care that Minnesota’s sports teams are always the ones to lose? Maybe a little, but it will take more than just a lack of winning for our love to waver). The Twin Cities was also named the Absolute Best City to Live In (in 2015) by a website called Patch of Earth, which compiled a list of the best cities in America, using data from previous “best of” lists. Minneapolis and St. Paul ranked 7th for the Greenest Cities in America; 5th for the Best Cities to Live in for Foodies; 4th for the Best Cities for Job Seekers; 9th for the Best Cities to Get a Job in 2015 (based on unemployment rates for that year); and 5th for the Best Cities for Walkability and Public Transportation. Pretty cool, huh? I guess the Twin Cities is the place to live in Minnesota!

Apples seem to be Minnesota’s forte. The apple breeding program at the University of Minnesota is pretty neat, and they have released 30 varieties of apples since the program began in 1888. I am sure you have all heard of the Honeycrisp apple; this particularly delicious bit of fruit was named the Minnesota State Fruit in 2006, and they are grown and sold around the world. If you haven’t yet indulged your taste buds to the delightfulness that is the Honeycrisp apple, I suggest you run to the grocery store immediately to purchase one or three or ten. You won’t regret it!

These are a few of my favorite photos from my week-long sabbatical at home in Minnesota. Flowers blooming, suns setting, lakes gleaming.. what more could I ask for?

IMG_2582_1 — A Rainy April Day in Minnesota

IMG_2598_1 — A Southern Minnesota Sunset

April 20, 2017February 8, 2018 by Anna Linnea Categories: BlogTags: anna linnea photography, blog post, minnesota, minnesota nice, my blog, photography blog Leave a comment

Savannah, Justin & Eloise

So. Last Sunday I had my first ever “official” photo shoot of people who weren’t my sister. Exciting, I know. 🙂 It was so much fun! The weather was beautiful; the sun was shining, the temperature was in the upper 40’s, and there was no wind (which is highly unusual for North Dakota).

Maybe I should back up, and explain how this whole photo shoot business came about. I met Savannah a few weeks ago, when we were both doing internships at the same facility; she for pharmacy and I for dietetics. We immediately realized that we have a lot of things in common, so much so that we decided we are basically long lost sisters. Savannah introduced me to her boyfriend Justin, and one night I was showing them some photos that I have taken with my fancy lil’ camera in the last couple of months. Savannah declared that I needed to take photos of her immediately, but then we decided that 10 pm on a Thursday night would probably not be the best time for a photo shoot. So we decided on Sunday, three days later, in Fargo ND.

I was nervous as hell. Savannah was so excited and I was like, umm I’ve never really taken photos like this before and she was just so confident in me, I did not want to disappoint her. But, my fears were not to be realized, because she loved all of the photos. Once I got started, I really found my element, and I think I took upwards of 800 photos. Unsure if taking 800+ photos is an unusual thing to do during a photo shoot, as I have never done one until now. So I am going to say no, it is not an unusual thing, and that I probably should have taken more. It’s a learning experience, that’s for sure!

In any case, Savannah and Justin were adorable and Justin’s daughter was such a cutie. She wore two different LuLaRoe dresses and leggings that Savannah had bought for her, and seriously, bring on the “oh for cutes” because OH FOR CUTE. Seven really is quite the age. Ahh, nostalgia.

Moving on.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Savannah, Justin, and Eloise from last weekend. There are more hidden somewhere in my blog, I think under the gallery there should be two tabs with photos in them. Not 100% sure on how to run this thing yet. Also a learning experience. 🙂

April 2, 2017January 19, 2018 by Anna Linnea Categories: PhotographyTags: anna linnea photography, blog post, canon, couple photo shoot, fargo nd, first photo shoot, photo shoot, Photography, photography blog, portrait photography Leave a comment

Anna Linnea Photography

Hello there, friend!

Welcome to my photography blog, where I will be taking pictures of things (mostly flowers, sometimes people) and showcasing them to the world. Whether or not the world is ready remains to be seen.

My name is Anna, and I am currently en route to becoming a registered dietitian. I will graduate in May of 2017 from the University of North Dakota, and from there, who knows! I am like a leaf in the wind, just waiting to see where the breeze will take me. (Philosophical, I know.. maybe I am in the wrong major? Ha.)

I had things that I wanted to say, but my mind is drawing a blank at the moment. Creating a website is hard work. I’ll have to come back and write another post. Obviously. Because that is what people do when they have a blog; periodically updating it seems like a wise choice. Feel free to check out my photos, like I said I have a passion for macro photography and finding the beauty in our world. I also enjoy taking photos of my family and friends, and my pets, of course. I am a cat person, 100%. Dogs are nice and all, but cats are where its at. Anyway, I digress. Please do not hesitate to poke around my somewhat lacking-in-all-sorts-of-things blog; it is still under construction, so keep that in mind. Thank you in advance, and enjoy!

April 1, 2017May 31, 2018 by Anna Linnea Categories: BlogTags: about me, anna linnea photography, blog post, first post, my blog, Photography, photography blog, welcome Leave a comment