And .....we're off

It's that time of year again where we make our annual trek down to Myrtle Beach.  We met last night and packed up Lawrence's truck and made plans to leave early this morning.

It has been a busy couple of weeks for me with work requests, so I felt a little unprepared yesterday.    I have no ideas if I gave forgotten anything.  I guess I will find out when we get there.

We were up early and on the road by 5:00.  It's going to be a great week.

Night sky

We enjoyed the last couple of days away.  It truly was an adventure for us.  The sky's were nice and dark out in Owen Sound and Tobermory.  It was so amazing to see the stars shining so brightly.

These first two pictures are from Tobermory.  The sky was much darker here.  We had some issues with clouds coming in but were still able to get some good shots.

 

It's really cool to see the Milkyway behind Ralph.  We were set up on a road beside a farmers field near the Bruce Trail. 

 

 

On our way home we stopped at the Cobble Beach golf resort to try to take a picture near the Lighthouse.  It was just too windy.  As you can see, the cloud cover was moving in and the wind was blowing them across the sky quite quickly. The yellow lights in the background is Owen Sound.

 

 

On Friday night we went back to Cobble Beach and  took some pictures there.  You don't see the Milkyway as well because of all the light, but it was still beautiful.  It was much colder here as well because we were right beside the water. 

 

 

As the Wind blows

Yesterday was a windy day which dropped the temperature down quite significantly.  Breakfast was at a restaurant called Kettles Home cooking. The food was really good.

Testing a few features on my camera to see how it affects the colour

 

It was a relaxing day with golf starting at 3:00.  We played Cobble Beach   The wind was blowing quite strongly off Lake Huron.  It wreaked havoc with our golf balls contributing to a few extra strokes for us.

We played our round pretty quickly and finished by 6:30.  We planned to come back to the golf course later in the evening to take some star pictures.  After dinner the temperature really started to drop and with added wind was quite chilly.  We drove down to the Lighthouse around 10:40.  We were disappointed at how much light was there but chose to make the best of it.  The Milkyway was directly over Owen Sound. 

The temperature dipped to 7c last night.  It made for good sleeping.  With all the wind we were pretty tired and fell asleep quickly.

It's a nice sunny morning.  Perfect for the drive home.

Chasing the stars

We have been waiting all summer for this weekend. Our plan was to go out and photograph the Milkyway ever since we came home from Arizona. We wanted to find someplace out in Owen Sound where we could aset up our cameras and see what happens.  We were on the road early yesterday morning.  First stop was at Starbucks to get some coffee.  It tasted pretty good.

We had a nice breakfast at the Sunset grill in Barrie. The temperature is pretty cool Yesterday.  I'm glad we brought pants with us.

Since we are out this way we planned a round of golf at Lora Bay and  Cobble Beach.  The day turned out to be quite nice.  We had a little rain at the beginning but soon the sun was shining.   It was quite windy though and this made for a challenge. We golfed with a nice couple from Alliston (Chuck and Anne).

We enjoyed a nice dinner in Owen Sound at a local pub.  The food was really good.  I highly recommend the Lobster Ravioli.

After dinner we drove to Lion's Head which is almost in Tobermory.   We knew that this was an area that Joel has been too.  We found it too windy and too light at the marina so we drove around looking for a dark secluded spot.  We went down "Old Cemetery Road" which led up to the Bruce Trail.  It was the perfect location for us.  By this time it was getting pretty cool out but we didn't really notice as we were so mesmerized by the stars. The Milkyway was up early and it was huge travelling way up in the sky.  We couldn't capture it all with our camera.  This is an un-edited picture to give you an idea of what we saw.

It was well worth the wait this summer.  We stayed for about an hour and a half.  We then headed back towards Owen Sound where we stopped at Cobble Beach and attempted to take a few right by the water and lighthouse but there was too much light pollution.

We then drove to Walmart and slept in the parking lot ☺.  It wasn't too bad at all.  We stopped first at Tim Hortons and used their bathroom and then made up our bed in the back of the truck and after enjoying a little night cap went to sleep.

I was up early though as my bladder isn't used to sleeping all night long so we made another Tim Horton's run, enjoyed a coffee and then went back to Walmart for another nap.

Full moon

I have always had a fascination with the moon.  On Thursday after spending a lovely day with everyone up at Killbear Park, we were blessed with a full "orange" moon while driving home. I was thankful to have my good camera with me but didn't have a zoom lens for it.  The highway puts it in perspective though as it was beautiful when it was coming up.  It seemed so "huge" in the night sky.

Our talented song Writers and Singers

Today the girls shared with me a song that they wrote.  I love the natural talent they have and how much they love God.  It is an answer to prayer.

Planes

This past weekend we got to enjoy a nice visit from Brody.  He arrived early on Sunday morning and we enjoyed the day together.  He has such a fascination with planes that we decided after church to take him to see them by the airport.

We went to two locations where he had an opportunity to watch them land and take off.  He just loved it.