I fell in love with street photography Friday night. The only problem? Apparently standing in the middle of the street and sidewalk taking photos can be dangerous. I almost got hit by a bicycle and let’s just say it’s hard to keep looking in both directions while standing in the street taking photos. I survived and I love the images that almost came at my expense. I wish there was a city that isn’t as active and busy at night nearby, but I haven’t discovered that just yet.

Saturday meant hiking adventures. We went to Murphysboro Lake first. It was a nice lake, but not what I was expecting. We saw a sign for Pyramid State Park on the way home and I am glad we decided to stop. It was more like I was driving and saw the sign and made an immediate detour. We ran into Crystal Lake (Jason must have been busy since we didn’t see him and we made it out alive) and a beautiful trail near Boulder Lake.

This morning was a bit scary. My boyfriend woke me up saying that something was wrong with Sophie, my German Shepherd. She had an upset tummy and was throwing up. I immediately panicked and thought the worst. She was acting perfectly normal and was wagging her tail and running around right after she threw up. It still scared me. It’s several hours later and she’s drinking and she ate a little bit of food, so I think she is in the clear. I’m keeping an extra close eye on her and I panic at every little movement that I think may not be normal.

I am looking forward to our trip at the end of this week. Getting away for a few days will be nice. I’m not sure about the weather since the reports keep changing. I hope we can have a little time each day to get out and see some beautiful places and take some photos.

I am going to try and take two trips a year. Not seven-day vacations. Just two trips to a new place where I can get away for two or three days. Being able to photograph new locations and landscapes will help me grow as a photographer. It gets old when you keep looking at and photographing the same scenes. You need to change it up once in a while.

This should be my last post unit our vacation. I will still be active on Instagram, so follow me there if you want more photos and updates. I’ll post a blog when we get back. Thank you for reading and supporting me on this journey! Stay safe and be kind.