These posts have been a long time coming. Karen and I took this trip back in May and I’m just now getting around to posting this. It has been a crazy summer with me trying to get my portrait business off the ground and at the same time forcing myself to learn new photo management/editing software. After using Adobe LightRoom for years, I finally decided to make the jump to Capture One. After trying several other competitors I found it the best at giving me everything LightRoom had, plus a little more, but without the monthly license fee. I do not mind paying for software, but to have to pay every month… forever? But, that is a story for a different post. As a side note, all photos in these posts have been processed using Capture One Pro software.
The main purpose of this trip was to visit our long-time friend Janice. We have known her for many years. We attended the same churches and were in a small Bible study group together. She moved from the Dallas area to Coeur d’Alene ID shortly after we moved from the Dallas area to Overton. Karen and I had talked about going for a visit for several years and finally decided it was time to just do it.
We knew very little about the area up there before the trip, and truthfully, due to the timing of the trip, coming right on the heels of Karen’s very busy tax season, we didn’t do a lot of research beforehand. All we knew was that our friend was there and it was supposed to be a beautiful part of the country. That was enough for us.
So, we flew into Spokane WA and met up with Janice for lunch. Our first day was spent getting settled and fed. Janice had a few places picked out to show us over the next few days so we could hardly wait.
For our first day of adventure Janice guided us up Schweitzer Mountain, a nice resort area north of where she lives. The first thing we noticed was all the beautiful mountains in the area, and yes, there was snow! (We haven’t seen much of that in our neck of the woods the last few years so yeah, we were a little excited.)
Taking the drive up the mountain we had to pull off on several overlooks to “look over” the beautiful country. It seemed like every turn opened up a new vista for us to enjoy!
As we continued up the mountain we wondered if we would see any wildlife. After seeing signs warning of bears we were hopeful of seeing some of those beautiful creatures. Not much farther up the road we did see some wildlife–not bears, but deer. Not as exciting as bears, but just as beautiful and we certainly stopped to enjoy them.
Once we made it to the top of the drive (not the mountain) there was the resort area and lots of condominiums, and a family of bears, or at least as close as we would get to bears on this trip. Of course, Karen made me stop so she could take a few photos. I’m glad she did. 🙂
Once at the top we took the obligatory selfies and other photos and enjoyed the cooler air. It was pretty cold up there, and I did not bring “cold weather” clothing with me. I dressed more for 60 degree weather, it was closer to mid 30s and windy up there so we didn’t tarry very long. (Note, I’m still trying to figure out how to control 360 degree images in WordPress.)
After poking around up top we headed back down the mountain, only to stop at more overlooks. The scenery was truly breathtaking, from the snow-capped mountains, to the lake, to the dynamic clouds.
At one point we were able to see a couple of small towns at the bottom of the mountain, which I believe are Ponderay (on right) and Kootenai (on left), along with Kootenai Bay on Lake Pend Oreille–at least if my Google Earth skills are not failing me.
A little lower down and we can enjoy the true majesty of the mountains as they reach into the sky with the boiling clouds. Very much a sight to behold!
That concluded our first adventure day, but there are several more to come!
Stay tuned!
Michael
Sharing God’s Creation, One Click at a Time
All words and photos copyright 2019 MHampton Photography
Equipment used: Canon 5DS-R, Canon 1DX II, Canon T6S, and various Canon lenses and Insta360 One X