A Sample of Kennewick, WA

So, we left the cousins and grandparents in Utah, and head through Idaho and Oregon to the Southeast corner of Washington, the city I grew up in, Kennewick, Washington. We had pinned a map of the western states to the inside top of the van, so the kids could follow the trip that we'd marked out. A sample of Boise, a sample of Grand, Oregon (the rest stop with millions of mosquitos), and in Kennewick we got to stay a couple of days and play with our good friends, the Heidens, while Mom did 5 photo shoots in downtown Pasco at the mission (that story later). This also ranked as their favorite part of the trip!

The boys were salivating at every firework stand that we passed, and so we stopped (at many) and got stocked up! (AZ does not allow fireworks) I could not wait to play with my camera and here is my favorite fireworks shot...I opened my shutter speed to around one second and recorded the sparklers movement.... some shots we had them wiggling the sparklers, some we had them going up and down, but I love that you can kind of see the kids in the middle of their circles. Isn't that the coolest? Let me know if anyone out there tries this... if you don't know how, I cover it in my photography classes.

We got to sample the beautiful Snake River, and the freezing water! BFF's!

Here is Mr. Bryce, cutting it like the pro's!

Priceless!

One thing we planned on this trip was to do the "unplanned". So, when we saw a U-Pick blueberry sign on the side of the road after boating... well... have you ever seen blueberries on a bush? I hadn't and I was surprised at what the bushes looked like. The kids put buckets around their necks and went for it! They really were the biggest and best tasting blueberries I have ever tried!

Aren't they beautiful? This shot is using my fave - a shallow DOF (depth of field). Also, if you see those pretty circles of light in the background? That is called bokeh. Getting good bokeh in your shots is a pretty sweet thing in the photography world.

Why isn't Arizona old? (bear with me while I whine for a minute). Every single state we went to was filled with beautiful old buildings, barns, brickwork, fences, trucks, tractors, etc... Utah was like a haven of old, beautiful, photographic backgrounds. In Gilbert, we have the cookie cutter houses, and our downtown area is 70's cinderblock... anyone want cinderblock for your next photo shoot? It's nice and gray. I do have a couple of fantastic farms here that I use, but man, everywhere else in the world is teeming with them...or so it seemed. We pulled over for fresh cherries, and ran across the street to this old building.... love it. Especially love Zack flashing the peace signs - that's so Zack!

If your ever driving to Yakima and see a sign that says "Dude, your buying cherries" or "Your pulling over for cherries" - don't! This little box of farm fresh Rainier cherries was $5!!!!!! We laughed so hard - laughed until we drove a block or two further into town and found that the rest of the town was selling them for $0.99 per pound! ERGH! Yummy though and now a fun memory.

On our way to Seattle, we drove through the very scenic Mt. Rainier park, and stopped for a picnic. Notice the sweatshirt? This water had been ice 30 minutes prior to running down the mountain (at least it felt that way). A sample of Mt. Rainier, a rope swing, some fresh cherries, and some great friends...when can we go back?

Sample this... the majestic Mt. Rainier

Next post... Seattle (I really need a family blog for all this, I'm skipping too much)