Downtown Farmer's Market

This was our first trip to the Farmer's Market this year.  Usually we are there the first weekend it is open but bad weather and poor timing has kept us away until this last weekend.  It was a cool but beautiful morning and we could wait any longer.  Our usual plan at the market is just to do a little shopping and a lot more eating and that pattern held true again this time but this time we decided to stop at the booth of the Iowa Balloon Artist (iowaballonartist.com)  He is a very charismatic artist who truly does amazing things with balloons.  After watching him make a few puppy's Elena decided she wanted one too so that is what she got.

European Vacation

My wife and I decided last summer that we were going on vacation for spring break 2013 and we wanted to go to Paris and London.  She loves to travel and I had never been overseas so it was definitely a win-win for both of us.  We decided to fly into London, take the Chunnel to Paris and we would fly out from there.  Then last fall we were asked (at the last minute) to host a foreign exchange student.  We hesitantly accepted and were we ever lucky.  Her name was Astrid and she was wonderful.  She was from Liege, Belgium.

One night when we were all sitting in the living room we mentioned that we were headed to Europe for spring break and she quickly said "You should stop over in Belgium and see me."  At first we were thinking "You don't just 'stop over' into another country" but then we considered the fact that we hadn't really set any hard plans yet so "why not!"  So now our plans were to fly into London and spend 2 days and one night, then take the evening Chunnel to Brussels and spend one night there and the next day with Astrid in the Capital of Belgium.  We would then spend the night at her father's condo and take the Thalys to Paris for three days and three nights of touring.  As it turned out that was a great plan and everything turned out great. I had an amazing experience overseas and I can't wait to go back and take more pictures.  These are some of the highlights of the trip.

London

Tower Bridge

St. Paul's Cathedral & Millenium Bridge

St. Paul's Cathedral

Brussels

Random street

The Grand Place

The Queen's Gallery

Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula

Astrid

Paris

 Eiffel Tower

Arc de Triomphe

Notre Dame

Random street

Rue Cler (street market)

Been a while.....More Rural Decay

I know I haven't written in quite a while so here's my pathetic attempt to get caught up.  Last fall when I was leaving work I couldn't help but notice the amazing sunset.  In my mind I had the perfect subject to photograph and I knew it would be awesome.  So I hurried over to the barn I was thinking of and got set up.  The whole time I was driving I kept thinking to myself "I'm gonna miss this great sunset.  It's gonna be gone by the time I get there."  Much to my delight it was not only still there but just a vibrant as ever so I started shooting.  This is definitely the best picture of the group.

Then a few days later it started to snow.  This was the first snowfall of the year (and first of many) and it was a really pretty snow.  I decided to make my way back over to the barn and see what I could get.  This was also the best picture of the bunch.

Finally, I decided on night after work to look for another type of landscape photo.  Something interesting but not necessarily unique to the area.  What I found was this picture.