Unless you have been living under a rock somewhere, I’m sure you’re well aware that the Coronavirus and COVID-19 have drastically changed this world and our everyday lives. It’s also changed my photography business (for the time being). So I wanted to write a quick blog post addressing COVID-19 and Photography, and how I and my business are handling it.

First things first – I am a very, very lucky photographer. This is directly related to the fact that a couple years ago, I miraculously got offered a job at a web design company out of San Francisco and have been working remotely for them ever since. I still have that job today while simultaneously running my photo business. Because of that job, I’m not struggling nearly as much as some of my other photography colleagues are. However, that doesn’t mean that things haven’t changed for me and that my business hasn’t taken a hit financially. Because it has.

That said, due to the way I’ve run my business the past 14 or so years, I WILL weather this storm and I don’t plan on going anywhere. It’s an understatement to say just how eager I am to pick up my camera again to document your lives, loves, dreams and businesses just as soon as it’s safe to do so again!

True, my photo income is shaky at best right now. But I’m committed to doing what I can to slow the spread of the virus, ensure safety within our community, and absolutely support the decisions of my clients if they need to reschedule their shoots, or plan for a shoot farther into the future than they had originally anticipated. Health and safety first, always!

In the meantime, I’ve had a lot of people assuming that I’m not working. True, shoots aren’t taking place right now, but I’m still plugging away over here working on the behind-the-scenes stuff to serve my clients and to keep my business operational. Just a few things I’m doing are answering emails, editing photos, delivering photos, editing albums, printing albums, placing orders, honing my craft by learning new techniques, updating my website, researching stock photography, etc., etc., etc. And still working my other job on top of it, as per usual!

I’m also actively looking for ways I can diversify and continue to have some sort of an income stream from my business. (So if you’re interested in purchasing any of my wildlife or nature imagery, please let me know! That said, I know everyone’s budgets are a little stressed right now, so no worries if you can’t or aren’t interested in that.)

I also just wanted to share what I’m doing when I’m not working (because we can’t work ALL the time, even though I sometimes am guilty of working too much). I’m a person who loves to constantly be creating, moving, thinking, and helping. So, here are a few fun things I’ve been up to. Hopefully these will bring a little light and perhaps some inspiration to your day!

As some of you may know, I really love to sew. So I figured that using my sewing skills to help make masks for others would come in handy! I also created a mask sewing tutorial on my Instagram account that you can follow along if you’d like so you can make your very own masks as well! Please note – these homemade masks do not replace medical grade masks, and cannot fully protect you from the virus. What they can do, though, is help to keep you from touching your face when you’re out in public, and can also keep your own bugs to yourself. :) Please, still be mindful of the stay-at-home order, though, and don’t let the fact that you’re wearing a mask give you an excuse to be reckless in your social behavior. Remember, we are all in this together!

I’ve also decided to try a new app for at-home workouts! Fitbod is fast becoming a favorite of mine because not only are they offering free bodyweight workouts to anyone and everyone for the time being, if you DO want to pay for a subscription it’s affordable! Not to mention, it allows you to input any sort of gym equipment you own and then it builds workouts for you based off of that very equipment (along with bodyweight exercises). It’s become a great motivator for me, the workouts are enjoyable (and REALLY do work you hard!), it’s an excellent outlet for any lifestyle frustrations you’re feeling, and it makes me feel less guilty about the comfort-food cravings I’ve been having when life has me feeling low. Plus, toning up is never a bad thing, no matter what’s going on. (I want to be primed and ready to shoot again once we’re allowed to!)

Even with all this wackiness that’s going on in the world, nature still marches right along (thank goodness!), and I cannot TELL you how grateful I am that warmer weather is headed our way, along with new beginnings. Spring crocuses are always a great reminder of that. Plus, they’re just about the sweetest, most beautiful things ever, don’t you think?

I am a big fan of being able to laugh at the absurdity of things. And, while of course this virus is scary and it’s wise to take its dangers seriously, I’m pretty sure you still also have to find ways to laugh.

Enter: social “fishtancing.” Montana’s Fish, Wildlife & Parks put together a really clever graphic reminding people what 6 feet between them looks like – all with different fish. When I first saw this, I just loved it! Check it out:

As good as that was, Brandon figured he’d be a great example of a 6 foot (+ 4 inches) distance, so we had a good time putting our own spin on that social distancing graphic, with Brandon as a replacement. (Side note: he works for the forest service, and no, this is not “forest service official.” This is just our way to get a good chuckle in.)

That’s all I’ve got for the moment, but I do want to say one more thing:

Please stay strong, stay healthy, stay vigilant! Please support your small, local businesses! We all could use a helping hand and I KNOW for a fact we ALL appreciate it!

Last, but not least, I hope this post gave you a little smile. And in the meantime, I’m dreaming of the day we’ll all get to see each others’ smiling faces in person again!

Cheers,

-Kristine

Skiing into Garnet Ghost Town in Montana has long been on my list of “things I really want to do.” A friend of mine had done it a few years back, and, while I’ve visited the ghost town numerous times during the spring and summer, I had never experienced it during the winter. Cross country skiing into the little ghost town, nestled in its very own tiny valley, sounded like the perfect way to enjoy a little slice of Montana winter.

When initially researching how to make this happen, we came across various pieces of information, but none of them was super definitive, and most of what we were able to find out was pieced together from multiple sources. (Our sources included the Garnet Ghost Town website, calls to the Bureau of Land Management [otherwise known as the BLM], other blog posts, beta from friends who’d done it in the past, sleuthing around on Google Maps, etc., etc.). So, after all of that, we decided we’d document our mini winter adventure to the ghost town via a blog post that will (hopefully) help someone else out in the future!

Choosing the Route to Garnet Ghost Town

After a lot of initial hemming and hawing over which way to approach the ghost town, we opted for the Highway 90 route, instead of the Highway 200 option. The Highway 200 option has folks ski for 10 miles on Garnet Range Road over a gradual ascent of about 2500 feet elevation. From what we were able to tell, that route is generally groomed.

Garnet Ghost Town via Garnet Range Road with access from Highway 200.

However, this didn’t exactly appeal to us for a couple reasons. 1) Neither of us wanted to spend the time skiing for 10 miles with heavy packs on our backs. 2) Based on beta we were able to glean from our multiple sources, it sounded like the Highway 90 option would afford us better views of the surrounding valley and would be shorter, albeit with a greater elevation gain in a shorter distance.

Per our searches, the Highway 90 option (which has a trail starting out from Beartown) has you follow Cave Gulch Road. (Don’t be confused by Google Map’s default route choice which points you onto Bear Gulch Road. It’s shorter, but is a private road and isn’t accessible.) Cave Gulch Road is roughly 5.7 miles (per my RunKeeper tracker) and sports an elevation gain of about 2000 feet. It’s an ungroomed, steady, gradual climb for most of the route with a slight downhill right before hitting town.

Garnet Ghost Town via Cave Gulch Road with access from Highway 90.

This seemed like the ideal way to go for us because, even though we kept hearing “it’s steep and most people don’t go that route,” we figured anything is doable at 5 miles, and we’d give ourselves time to take it slow and have fun on the way up. Plus, the better views were more appealing.

Cave Gulch Road Route to Garnet Ghost Town

While I don’t have any firsthand knowledge of the 10 mile route we didn’t take (other than driving it in the spring and summer), I’m super glad we opted for the Cave Gulch Road approach! We started skiing at about 1 pm, and even though we spent a lot of time goofing around and taking things fairly slowly, we still got into the ghost town in good time and arrived at about 5 pm.

The route was not groomed, though snowmobiles had made a pass or two on it likely several days prior to our outing. This resulted in a base that was a little packed, which made skiing the ungroomed snow easier than it would have been had there been no packed base.

This winter has been unseasonably warm, and so the south-facing road and snow definitely were a little sun-baked by the time we hit it. We slogged uphill at times as the snow stuck to the bottoms of our classic skis. In retrospect, the ideal time to start out would have been a touch earlier in the day to minimize softening of the snow. However, in spite of that, it was still a lovely ski, and as we climbed higher and started hitting shadier areas, the snow became more powdery and easier to glide on.

Brandon adjusts the bindings on his skis to give him more leverage on the ascent.

What would a trip be without a selfie or two? (The sun was baking us – felt like spring skiing! But we weren’t complaining!)

That lightweight jacket came off pretty quickly and we skied in base layers for the rest of the route.

In certain areas of the Cave Gulch route, we spied some beautiful, snowy flakes that caught the light oh-so-perfectly.

All that Vitamin D had us a little delirious! And, because we know how to compose a shot, we did our best to ensure we each had trees sticking out of our noggins. (Yes, that’s an exceptionally-bad photographer joke.)

There were little “cinnamon roll” snow rollers all over the place! I love these little things!

If you ever have the opportunity to find perfectly soft snow, stick your face in it. Seriously. I used to do this as a kid when we’d spring ski and we’d get a kick out of how perfectly our faces were captured as a relief in the snow. So. Funny!

See! They’re incredible!

A snow scream!

Documenting our shenanigans. (Side note: this was my first time using my new Sony camera, which I purchased specifically for trips where I don’t want to lug around my giant DSLRs, and it held up beautifully. Such a great little piece ‘o’ gear!)

We were pretty happy to reach the highest point of the route! Mostly downhill from this point forward!

Why, thank you, iphone panorama mode.

The sunny day afforded us some really lovely views of the neighboring mountains.

So, the iphone panorama mode is great and all, but it’s even more fun when you mess with it and create totally bizarre images! (Look at those random arms and poles! Haha!)

The snow rollers just caught the light so beautifully.

The critter tracks on the way to the ghost town were everywhere and really stood out in the evening light! Right: The McDonald cabin we stayed in. I swear, it’s not made of gingerbread even though it might look like it.

After we hit the highest point of the route (there’s a junction and signs pointing to the ghost down in one direction and another sign pointing to I-90 in the opposite direction), it was mostly downhill. As you get closer to the ghost town there are a few more signs, one of which points to the handicap parking area. We opted to take that route, which was pretty rutted up from snowmobile usage. That meant a challenging descent down a steep and winding road on skinny little cross country skis, which also resulted in a few tumbles. (Have I mentioned that skiing with a heavy pack on your back is not the easiest thing ever to do?)

But, we both made it in one piece and were stoked to be in town! The next order of business was to locate our cabin. There are two in the ghost town that you can rent. You need to make reservations ahead of time and the the BLM will send you an informational packet in the mail, complete with a combination to the lock on the door that you do not want to forget. (Keep in mind, there is no cell service in the ghost town!)

We had the McDonald cabin rented, which is the smaller of the two cabins in the ghost town and slightly up a hill and off to the “side” of things.

Initially we started going up a nearby hill to approach the cabin from above, but then realized easier access would be from below. Brandon turned a bit in the heavy snow on the hill to head back down, and BOOM, POW, SHATTER! I heard a horrible cracking sound, witnessed a giant piece of black plastic fly through the air, and it was clear Brandon’s ski binding had just committed a very unfortunate act of harikari.

To Brandon’s credit, he took it in stride (even after slicing up his hand on what was left of his binding and leaving a blood trail through the snow to the cabin). In spite of all that, he helped us get into the cabin and get the stove going. (Thankfully there was split kindling inside and we were able to warm things up pretty quickly.)

The inside of the McDonald cabin can sleep 4 on two double beds. There were mouse turds around, but during our two nights there we didn’t hear any mouse activity. We also melted snow for better-tasting water than what was available in the spigot down the hillside.

The McDonald cabin boasted plenty of icicle adornments along the roofline, was well-stocked with chopped wood, and has its own, private outhouse out back behind the cabin.

The McDonald cabin has an outdoor woodpile to access as well.

Perched on a the hill, the McDonald cabin is in a great little location that’s up and off the main road through the ghost town. This means a bit more peace and quiet away from snowmobilers who can also zip through the ghost town via the lower, main road.

The stove in the McDonald cabin heats up slowly, but gets very hot, and our damp clothes and shoes dried out quickly! Here, Brandon works to glue his binding back together in the hopes that he might be able to ski out of the ghost town the next day. Fingers crossed!

In addition to the stove for heat (BLM’s usage instructions need to be updated for this particular stove – there is no lever beneath the ash catch), the McDonald cabin also has a propane stove that we did our cooking on. In one cupboard they have various pots and pans, most of them fairly small. Many of them also looked pretty dusty so we cleaned all of them prior to using them (and after using them, of course). We brought our own soap and sponge to use. (Of note: when you’re done using the pots/pans flip them upside down if you can to keep them as clean as possible for the next people who might use them.)

There were also numerous clothespins, which were much appreciated when drying out damp belongings over the wood stove. And, for ambiance (or I suppose, for basic illumination purposes), the cabin also has two propane-powered lights. (One of them is missing a protective glass cover, though, so if you are tall be careful not to torch your hair or ski hat!!)

The cabin also comes with hand sanitizer (much appreciated) and one roll of toilet paper. (I might suggest bringing a roll of your own, though, as the one that was left for us wasn’t, ahem, the cleanest thing ever.) The water bottle pictured at right was also provided, but we (and by we, I mean Brandon) had to fill the water via the spigot down the hillside.

Though the water is potable, it tastes pretty much like straight-up iron. (See that yellow tinge?) We instead opted to melt snow over the wood stove in a large pot that comes with the cabin, and use that as our own drinking water. No issues there and it tasted wonderful! The whiskey was ours that we brought for good measure.

A couple funky little mirrors adorn the far wall of the McDonald cabin.

The McDonald cabin also has a fridge that can be powered by propane. We opted not to fire it up, though, and just used it as a storage space for the food that we brought. We cooled it off via tubs full of icicles!

We skied into the ghost town Friday evening and had Saturday to poke around (as well as fix Brandon’s shattered binding). At one point we wondered if we should ask some snowmobilers for a ride out if it looked like Brandon’s situation was going to be really awful. But we figured 5 miles was doable since we’d already packed a bit of the trail down on our initial ski into the ghost town.

However, we decided to say “hi” to the snowmobilers anyway, since they were poking around the town as we were walking around checking it out, too. As it turns out, two of the snowmobiler folks were actor, Kevin McKidd (of Grey’s Anatomy fame) and his wife who were staying at the nearby Paws Up resort to celebrate their anniversary. (You can see his Instagram post about their visit here – we were just off to the right in several of these shots. Haha!) It’s funny who you encounter in Montana sometimes.

This little stove cranked and thoroughly dried out my wet shoes!

I think my most favorite part about the ghost town (besides the fun of skiing there) was just how amazing the stars were in the evenings. We were lucky enough to see several shooting stars (including one really slow, fat, green one), and so I HAD to mess around with my new camera and test out how well it would do capturing starlight. Granted, this photo isn’t the sharpest, but my fingers were also fairly numb by this point in time. Kudos to Brandon for being a very patient model for me!

Several Canada Jays (also known as gray jays, camp robbers or whisky jacks) decided to visit us the morning of our departure. I know many people don’t like these little fellows, but I can’t get enough of them. I mean – look at that little face and those soft feathers! Beautiful, dapper little dudes! However, be mindful of the wildlife and don’t feed them or leave scraps about!

By the time Sunday morning rolled around, Brandon had completely glued, taped and reattached his shattered binding to his ski. And, if I do say so myself, I was super impressed by his handiwork! The game plan was that he would strap his skis to his pack for the uphill portions of our ski/hike back so as not to put too much tension on the repair, and I’d ski ahead to try to pack down his pathway a bit more so he wouldn’t be post-holing all the way back.

Turns out, hiking wasn’t that bad of an option for a lot of the route back. I’d (sillily) forgotten (maybe I blocked out the fact?!) that all that uphill portion we’d skied was a downhill on the way back. And when cooler temps create a crust on the snow and you’re trying to navigate turns on cross country skis you 1) FLY LIKE A SPEEDING BULLET 2) have very little room for error when turning 3) most especially when wearing a pack 4) and will likely endure some mega crashes.

You know. Speaking for a friend. Or something like that.

After a few of those aforementioned mega crashes (my knees have the bruises to prove it – wait a second – my friend’s knees), I gave up on trying to ski some of the steeper stuff and just took the sticks off my ski boots and hiked it along with Brandon. At one point, during one of the several times I detached my bats outta hell skis, one of the sneaky buggers decided to take itself for a little spin on that super fast crust, and was slated to go sailing off the trail and down a steep embankment, Loose Caboose style.

I could see what was about to happen, and before I knew it I found myself doing the only thing I could – belly-flopping straight onto the ski to prevent its imminent escape. Doing this with a giant pack on, of course, meant this move was less-than-graceful (hold up – is a belly flop ever graceful??). I was laughing so hard at my turtle-like state that I literally couldn’t get up. Thankfully Brandon hoisted me up by the pack on my back (I suddenly felt like I was five-years-old again) and off we continued on our little hike/ski/ski/hike/hike/ski.

Eventually Brandon switched out his hiking boots to ski boots, clipped into his skis and away he went! I still find this utterly amazing considering the state of his binding! Of course, he was mindful about not bending his foot too much within that fragile binding, but whaddya know – he made it all the way back to the car with his binding still intact. SO impressed!

Suffice it to say, the ski trip to the Garnet Ghost Town was a super fun adventure, and we were both really glad to have done it! It’s definitely a uniquely Montana experience, and one of the many reasons I’m grateful to live in this state!

I hope this blog post helps others out who are looking to enjoy a little ghost town adventure of their own in the winter!

Cheers,

-Kristine

In case you weren’t aware, tonight people around the world were treated to both a super moon and an eclipse, which created a “blood moon” effect. I ventured out with some friends to grab a few shots and ended up making this mini time lapse. It’s nothing spectacular since I was just doing this for fun, but I thought I’d share anyway.

Can you see the little shooting star on the far right?

I hope you all got out to see it as well – our world (and out of this world) is pretty darn great, don’t you think?

Cheers!

-Kristine

I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog lately, I admit. But it’s because I’ve been steadfastly prepping for the upcoming photography season (which is going to be awesome!), and I’ve also been taking time to better my business from behind the scenes, as well as better myself personally and spend time with friends and family before life gets all crazy again. This also means I’ve finally gotten around to editing some of my own personal images. So, I thought I’d share a few here.

Last September I took some time to meet up with my brother and his girlfriend in Glacier National Park. They took the train from Portland into Whitefish, unpacked their bikes, and cycled into the park and over the Going to the Sun Road. I met up with them at Many Glacier campground where we enjoyed making a fire, soaking up the quiet night sounds (including the moving notes of “Taps” on 9/11), and the brilliant shining stars dotting the night sky.

The next day we hiked to Grinnell Glacier, so the majority of the photos you’ll see here are from that little jaunt up the mountainside. Keep an eye out for bighorn sheep and mountain goats. :)

The remaining photos are from the Going to the Sun Road. I had packed up their bike gear in my car so my brother and his girlfriend could bike the road unencumbered. I’d find myself ahead of them now and again, and I’d pull off and be at the ready to capture them as they made their way up the grade.

The drive back to Whitefish was slow and leisurely, and I stopped off at a lot of little pullouts just to explore and stare at all the gorgeous water.

We all met up that evening in Whitefish and treated ourselves to some tasty sushi. I left them with their gear and their bikes by the train station, and I zipped on back to Missoula, where I was treated to a lovely Flathead Lake sunset. (One of my most favorite places to see that giant burning orb sink into the horizon.)

So, quick trip, but oh-so-worth-it! And if you haven’t been to Glacier already, what are you waiting for? Go soak up some of nature’s finest eye candy. It comes highly recommended.

With no further ado, here are the pics!

On the docket: portraits and weddings! Stay tuned – it’s about to get all busy on here again!

Cheers,

-Kristine

I love spring. Every sweet ounce of it. There’s just something so amazing and exhilarating about how the world transforms from browns and grays to color, color, color! (Have I mentioned just how much I love color?)

Some of my favorite spring things (in no particular order):

Fuzzy baby green leaves ::: warm sun ::: the smell of mud ::: birdsong ::: smiling faces ::: dark earth ::: buds! ::: blue skies ::: bicycling ::: grilling ::: transformation of the landscape ::: gardening ::: pussy willows ::: sweet little baby animals ::: getting muddy ::: t-shirt weather ::: the promise of summer….

I could go on and on, but I’ll leave it at that for now.

So, happy spring, everybody!

On the docket: weddings and portraits!

Cheers,

-Kristine

Reason number 5 million and one why I think Lauren and Thad are the bee’s knees: they are avid rock climbers AND they wanted me to document, quite literally, a rock the dress session for them the day after their wedding.

When they first told me this, in my head I was all giddy and yelping and saying (in my head, mind you), “Can I get a heck YEAH!?!!!” (Though now that I think about it, maybe that wasn’t all in my head.)

Because 1. How completely, totally awesome.

And 2. I’m a rock climber as well. Albeit a bit rusty after not having had a partner for a couple years, but I GET rock climbing. I get it. I love it. I understand it. I know the thrill of it, and the mental hurdles you’ve got to tackle. And the pure exhilaration of being on top of the world. So, this made me pretty darn excited, if that wasn’t already apparent. Plus, they wanted to climb near Lake Koocanusa, which is one of my favorite spots to climb, and also a place where I did a little write-up and photo story for the Daily Inter Lake (when I was working there), about my own climbing adventures.

And 3. How completely, TOTALLY AWESOME. (Yes, I had to reiterate that.)

Anywho….the day came, it was early and a wee bit on the chilly side, but holy moly. SO worth it. We all giggled and shivered a bit as Lauren and Thad slipped their rings onto necklaces, got their harnesses situated, the rope flaked, knots tied and wedding dress and suit adjusted. But as soon as they hit the wall to climb “Road Kill” and “To TNT or Not to Be” (the names of their routes), it was game time. And oh….how unbelievably beautiful!

I love climbing. I also adore watching climbers do their thing. There is something so amazing and truly incredible about witnessing the human body defying gravity, and seeing muscles come to life, fluid and beautiful in the light.

Add wedding day finery to the mix and a touch of a breeze – holy HECK. I was practically beside myself with pure excitement. (There may have been some leaping around involved.)

Have I mentioned how much I adore Lauren and Thad? :)

And now, I’ve gone on far too long with my words….I’m going to let the photos speak for themselves. Prepare to be awed by these two. They. Are. Amazing.

On the docket: portraits and weddings! Stay tuned!

Cheers,

-Kristine

I was messing around in my garden this morning, giving myself a bit of flower time on the Friday before wedding season starts up again in full swing, and I came across this tiny treasure. And by tiny, I’m talking TINY tiny. As in maybe a quarter of an inch. I’m so thankful I didn’t crush this little beauty, and immediately ran smiling to get my camera.

So here you go – happy Friday!

And here’s an image to give you an idea of just how teensy this little guy was. :)

On the docket: weddings and portraits! Stay tuned!

Cheers,

-Kristine

Spring is one of my absolute favorite times of the year (although I admit I think I say that about every season). There’s something just so exhilarating about watching new leaves form, seeing colors pop, enjoying softly falling rain and the intoxicating scents that emerge from the earth and fragrant flowers. I love it all.

The past couple months have been exceptionally busy for me, moreso than usual, mainly because I moved into a new house (my first time as a homeowner – so exciting!), I’ve been finishing up my semester teaching as an adjunct professor at the School of Journalism at the University of Montana, and somewhere in between I’m trying to get work done, unpack boxes, and set up house. So it’s been flying by.

Which is why when I took my camera out this morning to wander my backyard and photograph my flowers and such, I remembered just how nice it was to take a moment and breathe. Simply breathe. And be happy. And enjoy that intoxicating lilac scent that I now get to have in my very own backyard.

Simple pleasures, but wonderful ones.

So take a moment, open your eyes to the good things around you, and steal a great big breath and think about what makes you smile. Happy spring, everybody!

On the docket: weddings are coming soon!!!

Cheers,

-Kristine

I love my job and I adore running my own business, but that also means I work my tail off and rarely get days off or vacations. So, after long wanting to do this, I treated myself to a little vacation in Central America, specifically Costa Rica and Panama. And it. Was. Wonderful.

I highly recommend visiting, especially Panama, if you’d like to explore this part of the world. We had a great time and I sincerely wish we could’ve stayed a little longer. It felt like a whirlwind.

Anywho, take a peek at some snaps I made while I was down there. Fair warning, this is a super long post, but I’d like to think it’s worth it. :) Enjoy! (Captions describe the images above them.)

I had some super looooong layovers in a variety of airports, but it seems like Salt Lake City was bound and determined to make sure I stayed there the longest. I was bored and tired (it was late in the evening) so I situated myself behind some plants and 1) watched travelers run up this ramp, and 2) watched airport employees race wheelchairs down the ramp. Amusing stuff. On the right is an image of the Costa Rican mountains. Pretty pretty. (That’s a frowned-upon iphone snap by the way. I managed to sneak it past the flight attendants…)

When I arrived in San Jose it was fairly overcast and warm, but not roasting hot. After checking myself into the hostel (Hostel Urbano) I decided to venture around the neighborhood and see what it had to offer. (Left) a crocodile (alligator?) playing a baby grand, (Top Right) a pink university building, (Bottom Right) a plant whose name I am unsure of, but one whose leaves I love. In the US I’ve only seen these as tiny houseplants – here they were giant bushes!

I just kind of loved how the tree’s roots followed the pavers so well. This was in the University area near Hostel Urbano in Costa Rica.

They love their mosaics in Central America. This one was just incredible. While I was taking this photo, there was some kind of traditional dance class going on inside this building. Girls were dancing while balancing soft weights on their heads, which I’m assuming was to keep their posture perfect. (top right) Amusing little sculptures near one of the university buildings. There was even a sculpture of a couple in a passionate kiss.

Jamey and his friend Timothy finally arrived into Costa Rica. They had visited Cuba previously and wanted to smoke some of the cigars they’d gotten there. I’m not a smoker by any means, but these cigars actually smelled quite good. (bottom right) One of the university buildings and trees lit up at night.

Our hostel had some interesting touches to it. (at top) That’s a peace sign made out of army men stuck to the wall.

Costa Rican money (colones) is ridiculously pretty.

The next day we decided to check out downtown San Jose and went to wander around a local mercado (market) which was located in what the British refer to as an “arcade.” I’m not sure if they refer to it that way in Costa Rica, too. But it was indoors, and full of winding little passageways. There was no shortage of canaries in cages. (at right) Did you know that frosted flakes are called Zucapitas in Costa Rica?

Let’s all pretend that’s not me in this photo, ok? I’m mainly including this image because it summed up our energy level on our LOOONG, hot, no AC bus ride from San Jose to David (pronounced Da-VEED), which is in southwestern Panama (we didn’t have AC on the bus, but thankfully the windows opened, which for the most part did the trick before the temps started hitting the 90s). We were a bit tired, and let me tell you – getting into Panama was a trip in itself. Talk about long lines in hot humid weather. Hoooo boy. (at right) The Costa Rican landscape.

Those aren’t logs you’re looking at…..there was quite a traffic backup to see these guys sunning themselves. Anyone know if they are crocodiles or alligators? I’m a landlocked girl, so I haven’t a clue.

I am not quite sure whether this is Costa Rica or Panama. It was definitely getting warmer at this point as we were descending from the mountains of Costa Rica into the lowlands of Panama.

(at left) A terrible snapshot through the quickly moving bus window of a farm full of some kind of palm tree. There were TONS of farms that looked exactly like this.

Woo hoo! They let us off the bus to get food and use the baños. Thank goodness. I’m still amazed they only stop once during this 8 hour long trip, excluding the stop at customs, which also doesn’t allow for food consumption or baño use. (at left) That’s some friggin’ good fresh pineapple. (at right) We’ve arrived into David and that’s me as we wander the streets in search of our hostel. Did I mention the streets are unnamed? And that two early-twenties Panamanian guys giggled and called Jamey a “Boy Escout!” as we walked to our hostel. Pretty funny.

Hostel time. (top) This is what our room at the hostel looked out onto (which is sort of a mini courtyard surrounded by rooms). I should rephrase though – our room WOULD have looked out onto this if the windows opened. That’s something I noticed right away – almost everyone in hot, humid climates keeps their blinds shut to keep the hot sun from heating up their abodes even more than normal. (bottom left) Our room with a lovely fluorescent ambiance. I kid, but this place was actually very nice. (bottom right) An electric shower. Yes, you read that right. Electric. Shower. Say what? Water and electricity don’t mix? But apparently in Central America they do…just don’t touch the showerhead or you’ll get zapped….

Iphone snaps of David as we wander through it.

My favorite little buddy, Rainbow the Toucan! And his pals the green parrots who speak Spanish and say “Hola!” in the cutest little bird voices you’ve ever heard. Have I mentioned how much I love birds? I couldn’t get enough of these dudes…and they were just chilling at our hostel in David.

More pretty sidewalk mosaics not far from our hostel in David. (at right) A banana salesman. We discovered that the best fruit came out of the back of farmers’ trucks. And was ridiculously cheap. At one point we were on the search for oranges (which are green, go figure), and we asked the gentleman how many we could get for a dollar. We thought we’d get five, but apparently misheard him, as he started loading us up with TWENTY-FIVE oranges for a dollar. We stopped him and said, oh wait, we only want 50 cents worth. So he gave us 15, I gave him a dollar and told him to keep the change, and he looked at me like I was a complete lunatic. By the way, Panama uses U.S. dollars as currency, in addition to their Balboa.

The fruit, especially the pineapple, was just out of this world. Jamey had rum from Cuba, so we attempted some tasty adult beverages in the hostel’s open-air kitchen with fresh, fresh, fresh ingredients. By the way, that’s an orange slice on the side of the glass…notice the not-orange skin?

We liked visiting lots of little street vendors. Jamey got a papaya here that seriously about bowled him over it was so good. The little boy in the bottom photo was sucking down coconut water like there was no tomorrow. He ran up to his dad asking for another, so his dad whipped out a machete, whacked it into the top, lifted open a “lid” and threw in a straw. The little boy was content.

Views of our hostel in David. Lots and lots of bright colors here. Speaking of which: in my opinion, the US really needs to embrace more color. It’s so beautiful!

Cocoa the parrot and Rainbow the Toucan. Such cool birds.

One of Jamey’s dinners he made out of fresh veggies and some really bizarre cheese.

Having fun with reflections…and I liked this wall, so I asked for a portrait of me to record that I actually attended this trip, too. I got the dress in David, from a very helpful store clerk who was doing her best to understand my broken Spanish. And let me tell you – you think it’s hot outside? It’s even hotter in a dressing room. Holy moly. I’m so glad I got the dress though. Cool and breezy – check.

After spending a day in David, we took a minibus up to Guadalupe (pronounced Guad-ah-LEW-pay), which is in the northern part of Panama. There are lots of farms up there, and they aren’t kidding about their farming. Even though the region is very hilly, they farm as high as they can up the steep slopes. Our trip to Guadalupe was pretty interesting….our driver and fare-taker certainly weren’t interested in arriving anywhere in a timely fashion since we ended up going with them on some of their various errands – picking up drycleaning, lunch, hardware items (a giant metal pole which they threaded into the bus through the windows) and one of their friend’s houses. It’s a good thing we also didn’t particularly care about the time either.

Bright colors, how I love thee! (at left) Old tires used for flower pots along the street in Guadalupe. (right) A bus stop.

Inside the Los Quetzales lodge we stayed at in Guadalupe. I love their “jeep” available for rent. And the manzanas (apples) in the blue bowl just appeased my taste for color again.

There were hummingbirds everywhere at this place! This little guy and I became friends. I was *so* close to touching him…he’d fly so close to my face and I could feel the whir of his wings. So cool. This was right outside our room.

Inside our room at the lodge. There was a pond with a fountain outside and there was a skylight in the room. I slept SO well that night. Plus, it wasn’t roasting hot or humid. Our bathroom was interesting. In so many places that had the electric showers, you’d get a trickle of water, albeit warm water (most of the time, though I seem to have bad luck on the heated water front.) This shower in this room was insane, though. The water pressure about blasted our skin off. A huge change from the weak electric showers. But I wasn’t complaining.

The other side of that bus stop in Guadalupe. That’s a painted quetzal on the side.

We wandered around Guadalupe, which is a tiny town. Their big thing is selling “fresas con crema” (strawberries with cream). So we tried some. And it was delicious, though different. Because the cream they were referring to is somewhat like marshmallow cream. However, it all still tasted good to us.

Spiderweb in good light.

A random little shop off the road. Again, bright colors, be still my heart. I love it.

Many houses had “wrapped” their front doors as presents for Christmas. A lot of them still had their decorations up, even though it was the middle of January.

I like walls with signs.

“Yes, there are strawberries with cream”

It was so pastoral here.

Fresh fruits and veggies (plantains and lettuce).

There was a beautiful little flower garden (er, wait…not so little) that was selling all sorts of plants and flowers and would just let anyone walk through it. The lilies were beautiful.

He humored me for this photo, which just cracks me up to no end.

For my Wisconsin friends….if you’re ever in need of a flower pot, just use a beer can.

Flores, flores, y mas flores!

Pretty darn gorgeous.

We visited a local grocery store. This cat was hanging out by the cat food. I was amused. Apparently very easily. On our way out, we saw two dogs greeting one another in the street.

Pastoral perfection.

See – I told you they were serious about their hillside farming. The white dots on the hillside are farmhands because I highly doubt machinery would survive the steep slopes.

Those are cabbages on the hillside…they looked like they were about ready to tumble off.

The evening of the day we arrived in Guadalupe, off we ventured into the nearby jungle in search of a waterfall. We never did find it, but we found lots of other pretty things.

Obligatory jungle sign shot.

Jungle jungle jungle! Cloud forest! Happiness!

These are some tall trees.

So much lush green.

Yes, I do exist!

Ferns. HUGE ferns.

I saw this sweet light teasing me and I went running to catch it. I’m SO glad I did because it disappeared minutes after I made the following images.

This is a panorama of what we were seeing. Gorgeous juxtaposition.

The little boys in the left part of this frame couldn’t get enough of me walking around with my camera. So we played a little game of “I’d casually swing the camera around at them” and “they’d run screaming and laughing uproariously.” What a fun game. Such cuties.

Such sweet light. If you look closely, you can see all the water droplets in the air.

A farmer and his dog.

Flowers and light.

I have a thing for lone trees.

Jamey walking into the sunset.

Rainbow! I must’ve looked like a fool running around like a mad person getting these shots.

Our dinner that evening: porkchop at left; steak at right – so. freaking. delicious. Even if it was kind of expensive.

The next day we prepped ourselves to hike the “Sendero de los Quetzales” (trail of the Quetzals) from just outside of Guadalupe to Boquete (pronounced Boh-KET-ay) with all of our belongings on our backs. The trail goes through the jungle. It was a STEEP, STEEP hike up to the start of the trail, and this kind farmer offered to drive us as far as his 4WD would allow. So we hopped in the back of his jeep and went for a bumpy ride up the hillside until the road was blocked off by a mudslide. It was so nice of him to do this for us.

Our view from where we started our hike.

The ranger station (la cabaña) at the start of the hike. So pretty up there.

The map….little did we know what we’d be in for later on…

The flora and fauna here was just stunning.

It was magical.

My eyes couldn’t get enough of everything.

Seriously?! Seriously.

We tried our darndest to see a quetzal, but alas, it was not to be.

I’d love to know where this ladder was going…

So many vines on everything.

Check out the size of all these plants!

Colors, colors, colors!

As we climbed lower, the palms started showing up more. The majority of our hike was VERY, VERY steep downhill. And the uphill parts were VERY, VERY steep, too. I was incredibly grateful we chose to go downhill rather than uphill, even though our legs were exhausted afterwards. If we had gone uphill, there is a good chance I would not be here writing this.

More vines. I couldn’t help but think of Tarzan and how much fun that would be….

Hey, I exist again!

The clouds and mist like to roll in during the afternoon.

(at left) A vertical panorama of one of the jungle trees.

So much to look at. (at right) This sign totally lied to us. The trail’s end was a heckuva lot farther than that.

Frog! And he was tiny – I almost stepped on him.

Really neat flowers that remind me of squash blossoms. And a whole load of mushrooms.

Gorgeous bamboo.

Aren’t those mushrooms cool?

More vines. It’s starting to get kind of dusky now.

You just can’t stop looking here.

It’s starting to rain now…

Giant leaves. I start thinking to myself that I’d fit under one of these….

A sweet old bench.

And then there’s a total lack of photos because I am having a complete and utter breakdown for several hours after we learn that we have been given bad info and are nowhere even CLOSE to the final ranger station. It is dark and raining at this point. Jamey insists he knows how to get us to a safe place, but I am FREAKING. OUT. This is my first time in a jungle. I was not planning on spending the night in it. My legs are beyond exhausted at this point. I can barely stand up because we’ve been treading so heavily downhill and exhausting our quads all day long. I can’t move any longer. Jamey rushes off into the black night to see how far away the ranger station is. I am sitting in the dark of the jungle, hiding under branches to try to stay dry, without a light since my headlamp has died, and listening to the frogs peep their chorus amongst the trees. I see glowing eyes light up at me. And I am trying hard to tell myself I will be safe. Jamey comes back, he tells me he’s run into a farmer who tells him the ranger station isn’t that far away. We continue on. I can barely move. It is more uphill and I. Am. Spent. But we make it to the station, which has closed at this point. I huddle up against the wall outside, wait for Jamey again as he runs off into the night to find cell service. And then I see a little black thing moving at me in the night. So I take this terrible photo, thinking it may be the last one of me alive. (Have I mentioned I have a runaway imagination?) Jamey comes back. The little black thing comes at us again, and……it’s a housecat. Oh, silly imagination. We laugh a bit and relax when we know that we won’t have to walk into town another 15 miles or so. A taxi is coming to rescue us. Whew. And on the way to Boquete he tells us about the big jungle cats that occasionally like to roam where we just were….go thing we’re in a cab at this point!

After we got to our hostel in Boquete, we collapsed and this was our view, one which we were very glad to be seeing that night.

The next day we wandered around Boquete. There were pretty churches with beautiful tolling bells and horses right next door.

I love walls and colors.

I call this, “Attack of the Cacti.”

Jamey’s a coffee aficionado, so we walked over to the coffee farm and got ourselves some drinks. And apparently sampled some of the best coffee in the world.

In case you’re wondering what the best coffee in the world looks like, it’s in the cup on the right.

(at left) Pink bananas!

We were walking around the village and I heard what I swore was the sound of a peacock cry. So I started following the sound and found this beautiful guy strutting his stuff around the backyard of this house. (at right) They had at least 4 or 5 peacocks just hanging out near their garage.

Downtown Boquete. The women in this photo are natives and are dressed in native dresses, which are brightly colored and are large and shapeless for the most part. As we were traveling around Panama, we saw many native women dressed in this garb digging out of garbage bins or bags, scrounging for food. It appears that the natives are very poor, which is such a shame.

I. Love. Color.

Another little indoor mercado in Boquete. (bottom left) We picked up some tomates de arboles (tree tomatoes) from this vendor as well as some passion fruits and avocado. The tree tomatoes are truly unique. They feel almost like a plum and have a dark juice that stains your hands red like blood.

Boquete had just finished their major flower festival a few days before we got there, but there were still some remnants that we got to see.

This house made me happy. At the far left there’s a little girl doing laundry outside. She is smiling at me.

Belated flower festival.

They are also very proud of their fresas here. And I just thought it was so funny how all of their strawberries were made to dance in their advertisements.

More dancing fresas!

ColorColorColor.

Various things on the festival grounds. (bottom left) I took this photo because the sink was going to nowhere.

Talk about gorgeous.

¡Fresa bailando!

Mas flores bonitas. And a happy statue.

Wall gecko (I think?) back at our hostel in David! These geckos were very territorial and would yell and scream at each other…as loud as tiny geckos yell and scream.

Probably one of my favorite and most amusing parts of our trip. We were on this minibus headed to Boca Chica (which is on the southern coast of Panama), and we kept stopping to cram more and more people into the bus. The ticket-taker guy was definitely imbibing on some spirits he had hidden away in his pocket, so that was amusing in and of itself, but then we encountered a guy who had 100 pollitos (baby chickens) that he wanted to take onto the bus. So, we traveled a while with 100 pollitos peeping. Hilarious. At one point, one woman said in spanish, “You should take them out and hand one out to everybody to hold onto for the trip!” So funny.

This was on our way to Boca Chica – we stopped off to get a view of this spectacular scenery. (at left) A cashew tree. I was warned that I’d better be careful for snakes while walking in the grass. I’m glad to say I did not encounter any.

We arrived to Boca Chica, which was just hot hot hot and humid humid humid. We’d been hoping to grab some almuerzo (lunch), but no place opened until much later in the afternoon. So we rested in the shade at this place and sipped on terrible drinks to quench our thirst and discomfort. The drink’s name: Big Roja (red). It tasted like liquid bubblegum. Ewwww.

After traveling by boat, we arrived to the Pacific Bay Resort, which was gorrrrrgeous! This was our view every day at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Not bad, eh?

Where we ate all our meals. It was nice because we could catch a breeze up here, which was oftentimes not that easy to come by.

(at left) One of the pathways leading to our cabin. We’d often see howler monkeys working their way through the treetops, one time with a wee little baby in tow! (top right) Our cabin. We had lots of little ant friends. PBR (Pacific Bay Resort) is off the grid. All their power comes from solar and wind energy, so we didn’t have much in the way of electricity or hot water while we were here. But we were still treated very nicely considering. (bottom right) Our porch. If we had enough bugspray on we could hang out in this hammock comfortably.

Oh, paradise found!

This beach (they called it south beach here) was absolutely incredible. The water was warm and beautiful and the waves were so much fun to play in. We went exploring and swam over around to the next beach over and had a great time watching crabs run across the rocks and throw themselves into the water as we came close to them. The next day we also went kayaking and explored some of the nearby islands. And Jamey went snorkeling and saw lobsters, sea turtles and a variety of colorful fish. (bottom right) Hermit crab trails crisscrossed the beach everywhere. They were most active in the evenings and it was pretty awesome to watch them running around everywhere, homes in tow.

After getting burnt to a crisp, I gave myself a break out of the sun and took to the hammock for a good read – wind softly kissing the palm leaves, listening to the waves lap the shore. It was perfect.

When we had gone kayaking we’d stopped off at another beach that was full of colorful finds. How pretty are these?

We eventually had to leave Boca Chica, and headed back to David again. There, in a search for another mercado, we found this amusing salon. And on our way back to Costa Rica from Panama the day after, we found these Chis Wis thingamijiggers being sold.

We stayed in Almuhueana (spelling is way off there) in Costa Rica the night before we flew back to the states. Our hostel was nice and the owner was friendly. (top right) The view from the window. Someone was hanging their laundry out there on the roof.

We decided to treat ourselves to some ice cream the night before we left. I couldn’t get over how gigantic and frou frou this was. It was really good, too. Its name: Copa Cupido.

Jamey couldn’t have evidence of his Cuban rum, so I photographed it before he had to ditch the bottle.

Goodbye Costa Rica!

Birds get a pretty darn good view, dontcha think?

I believe this is somewhere over Nicaragua. The end!

Congratulations! If you made it to the end of this ridiculously long post, you get a gold star!

On the docket: portraits!

Cheers,

-Kristine

Is there anything more serene or magical than watching snow fall at night? We had a little storm a couple of days ago in Missoula that blanketed our town with about 7 inches of beautiful, fluffy snow. I couldn’t help but document it in a simple video and as a still photo, too. Check out the small slices of the evening below – the first is the final photo; the second is the behind-the-scenes video. (To watch it in HD, which makes a huge difference in viewing quality, hover over the video, click the HD button at the bottom right and click the corresponding link that pops up.) Enjoy!

A Simple Snowstorm from Kristine Paulsen Photography on Vimeo.

Missoula, Montana gets its first December 2012 snowstorm.

On the docket: portraits and the last 2012 wedding!

Cheers,

-Kristine