Grand Marais and North Shore Minnesota • The GM harbor brings in the most brilliant weather patterns and a trillion little rocks for skipping.
Grand Marais and North Shore Minnesota • Artist’s Point and North Harbor.
Grand Marais and North Shore Minnesota • Different day, same beautiful scene and beach-combing for hours.
North Shore of Lake Superior • Down stream of “Devil’s Kettle”.
Grand Portage, MN • Far side of waterfall – Ontario, Canada.
Abraham Lincoln Memorial • Anything but black and white, capturing the essence of this amazing memorial is a constant and humbling reminder. If you haven’t been, it’s well worth the trip to stand in awe in the same room as A.L.
Abraham Lincoln Memorial, Springfield, IL •
Chaumette Vineyards • Chaumette is it’s premiere winery inspired by French countryside villages.
Chaumette Vineyards • It’s home to award-winning wines, day spa, 5-star restaurant, a dozen French inspired villas and a proprietor, Hank Johnson, you’re soon to call ‘friend’. https://chaumette.com/
Kids • I got a bad case of tennis elbow building the playhouse and swings by hand, but the joy of watching my children playing made it well worth it. Some of my best memories.
Kids • Unbridled exuberance at its pinnacle.
Kids • During my parent’s 50-year wedding anniversary blowout, it took me all weekend to get the twins to slow down for a quick minute. I think the joy of being in their happy place with all their cousins shows on their faces.
Kids • It must have been very windy that day.
Miscellaneous Oddities • World record muskie was caught on Lake Hayward. • Hayward, WI
Miscellaneous Oddities • West Hollywood, LA – “The Ladies” snickering atop the telephone pole is the start of a great script.
Grand Portage National Monument • Volunteer Voyageur in the museum, Ralph, was his name and being grandfatherly nice was his game. After exchanging introductions and learning stories about the fur trade, I let him know my ancestors were Voyageurs in Quebec, I shared my last name and he got this smile on his face remembering his career as a merchant marine on the S. S. Henry LaLiberte (my great grand father, Duluth, MN) in the 50’s and 60’s. Small, small world.
Fishing • Venice Beach Pier, LA
Fishing •
Fishing • First fish caught, Devil’s Track Lake, Gunflint Trail, Grand Marais, MN
Architecture • The Arch isn’t the only interesting architectural phenomena in downtown St. Louis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wainwright_Building
Architecture • 30 Rock.
Golf • Like fishing, I love golf, but I’m a horrible golfer. Like fishing, this is the real reason I love golf. I spend a lot of time in here.
Golf • 17th island green, The Legends, Giants Ridge, Biwabik, MN. We made our shots, some in the water, but the geese would not leave the sunny confines of the green even when we approached to make our putts.
Golf • Superior National Golf on the North Shore. One of the most fun holes of golf I’ve ever played. The fairway is about 75 yards wide or less. You either need to lay up and hope you stay in the fairway, or see your ball succumb to the raging river that cuts across the fairway. It’s 265 yards to carry and the green is tucked behind the cliff on the left.
Golf • If you’re a golfer, you get it. I’m certain if you’re not a golfer you get it, too. That’s Lake Superior in the background. What’s brilliant about his hole is it visually makes you want to aim for the left side and fade the ball from left to right. But with the prevailing winds from the mountain and lake, you end up in the woods on the left. Tricky, aim for the bunkers on right and hope the wind is just right.
Abraham Lincoln Memorial, Springfield, IL •
Chaumette Vineyards • Middle Missouri is home to the nation’s first wine country.
Chaumette Vineyards • Even after our 3-day shoot for the Missouri State Tourism campaign, we didn’t want to leave this gorgeous setting.
Chaumette Vineyards • Our villa for a weekend getaway that started after I literally kidnapped my spouse at 6am one Friday morning, didn’t tell her where we were going or what we were doing until we got there. She was duly surprised and at the end of the weekend said “Best weekend of my life.” The 5-star restaurant, incredible wines, day at the spa, hours of ‘day sleeping’ and pure solitude added to it. Admittedly this was after our twins were born and we hadn’t been anywhere for a few years.
Kids • The dueling expressions says it all.
Kids • Taken around 2016 on a walking bridge that towers 30 feet over a ball pit at City Museum in St. Louis, MO. Looking at this scene post-pandemic, it seems like a very bad idea all-around.
Kids • During my parent’s 50-year wedding anniversary blowout, it took me all weekend to get the twins to slow down for a quick minute. I think the joy of being in their happy place with all their cousins shows on their faces.
Miscellaneous Oddities • Blaine, MN
Miscellaneous Oddities • That’s most of an old DC10 jet on the left. • The City Museum, Downtown, St. Louis, MO
Bayfront Music Festival, Duluth, MN •
Miscellaneous Oddities • While fishing, Devil’s Track Lake, Gunflint Trail, Grand Marais, MN
Fishing • Admittedly, a horrible fisherman, scenes like this make me love the sport anyway.
Fishing •
Architecture • When in LA on production and you can’t sleep, you walk the streets endlessly.
Architecture • Grain silos on Michigan dairy farm. There’s a PA up top this 150-foot structure retrieving a Go-Pro camera we set up for the day to get time-lapse of the dairy operation. Tossing the Go-Pro to the ground from up there revealed nothing of significance but it was still fun hoping. Go-Pro survived the fall. Not sure the PA will ever recover.
Architecture • Obey the Giant on the side of a LA hotel.
Architecture • Hayward, WI
Golf • And a lot of time admiring and documenting some of my favorite holes.
Golf • Very next hole, I almost got my 2nd hole in one on this par 3. 170 yards from the tee, I hit it dead-on about 2 feet beyond the pin.
Golf • The babbling rapids only add to the calm and quiet, if you can focus long enough.