Each day this week, Charlotte and I have endevoured to take in a different part of Perth. Yesterday we went and watched “Australia” in a Gold Class cinema… What’s that you ask - well let me just describe it like this, it’s to movie theatres what business class is to airplanes. As far as I know, it’s a uniquely Australian experience, and the first time I’ve experienced it.

If you do get a chance, check out “Australia” the film - although it has some pretty large overly broad stereotypes, it’s also packed with emotion and is beautifully filmed and the CG is done mostly tastefully.

Enough of the movie review! The reason I’m writing is to share with you the Indiana. For many years it’s been the “it” place to grab a drink and look down at beautiful Cottesloe beach. It stands above the local surf life savers and has a wonderful breeze blowing through all day long. It’s a beautiful spot to spend an hour or two drinking and eating great food.

I love this shot of Charlotte enjoying a cool beer with the gentle sea breeze blowing in. Just another priceless memory

Finally, this shot is one I grabbed as a waded into the shallows after the beach. Man, the water was actually pretty cold, but well needed seeing that it was about 35 degrees outside!

When Charlotte and I arrived for the shoot, they were joking around and all having a good laugh together. Let’s face it, a lot of people go into a family photo session a little worried that the photographer might ask them to say that horrible word… Ch**se (I can’t bear to even type it!). It wasn’t at all hard to see that Jasmine’s family weren’t going to be a shy bunch!

We ended up having a really nice casual shoot together, starting at a park only a kilometre or so from their home in Carine. This particular nature reserve is full of marshlands, where ducks, ibises, turtles and dozens of species of parrot flourish… as well as dozens of species of snakes… Charlotte was our full time snake spotter!!

The family sat among the malealuca’s and had a few laughs together before we took a meandering walk through some of the trails.

Next we cruised down to good old Watermans beach, one of the northern beaches of Perth. The whole family were eager to take their shoes off and walk in the sand. I love the drama in the ocean - even though strong onshore wind isn’t ideal for surfing, it certainly creates a dramatic background for shots like these.

Merry Christmas to you all - Thanks for reading our blog - we look forward to sharing all of our adventures with you in the coming year!

So when Jasmine contacted me in February asking if I would be interested in flying “home” to Perth to shoot her wedding I was honoured and of course, very excited to be asked. Since then, Charlotte and I have come to know Jasmine and Louis via Skype chats on several occasions. Louis and Jasmine have been living abroad like myself for some time - they have made the Cayman Islands their home.

We arrived at Jasmine’s home last night, and sat down for a chat and to go over the finer details of their impending wedding. They’re going to be married at one of Perth’s most beautiful locations - UWA (or The University of Western Australia for those foreigners reading this!). It’s a beautiful campus, rich in historic buildings and horticulturally rich gardens. They are to be married in the Sunken Gardens, which is an amphitheatre, surrounded by large peppermint trees, figs and limestone walls, and skirted by an art gallery and museum. I digress, but we’ll look forward to sharing the photos with you soon!

For the engagement session, Jasmine and Louis wanted to have a relaxed, artistic approach to their shoot, which suits Charlotte and I to a tee. We love the shots we go and wanted to share these favourites with you. For those Perth locals, we did the shoot just south of Sorrento Quay - not sure of the specific beaches name.

We hope you enjoy the images…

Lancelin is located about 100 KM north of Perth and in order to arrive in time for the optimal light conditions we had to wake up at the crack of 4 AM to make the 1 hour drive for sunrise. When we got there it was honestly one of the most dramatically beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. The way the sun rose slowly - crept along and illuminated the sand dunes was just magical.

It was hard to believe that a natural wonder like this was just a hop, skip and jump from the city of Perth and not in the Sahara Desert. We loved photographing all of the amazing textures and patterns in the sand and the contrast of the sun rise and shade really made it feel like we were taking photos on the Moon!

Dave has been coming to Lancelin since he was a kid he told me about how he and his brothers would jump off the dunes and how much fun they had. I had to dare him to do it just one more time, for old times sake!

After we wrapped at the dunes we thought we’d swing by the beach to check out the scenery and maybe go for a snorkel, to our surprise we saw about 8 dolphins right at the shoreline and had to take a closer look. It was sooo amazing to see dolphins swimming in the wild. They were looking for fish, swimming on their backs and playing around in the water, I could almost touch them…so incredible.

On the way back we cruised along some country roads and ended up seeing an Emu and it’s chicks. They’re funkiest looking birds, the cool thing about Emu’s is that they are a lot like Penguins in the way that after the mother lays the eggs, the father cares for the young. It was so cool seeing a father and his babies as we drove along.

Ok, now I thought I had my Aussie animal fix for the trip…but boy was I wrong. Dave took me to Yanchep National Park for our last stop. We made it just in time for the koala tour and I have to tell you we could not believe how freakin’ cute these little guys are. Not only are they freakin’ atomically cute, but they are such fascinating creatures! I was shocked when our tour guide told us that koalas only eat eucalyptus leaves and nothing else…they don’t even drink water. They are so chilled out only because of lack of the energy in the food they eat not because they’re sleepy or…otherwise…who knew?

I almost died from cuteness when we saw the mommy Koala and her baby joey.   All we could saw was “Nah-AAaaawwwwww!”

Finally… A shot Dave grabbed by pulling over onto the side of the road and snapping. The sky is so clear and vivid blue that it comes out almost black when you shoot in black and white… Australia’s like another world.

Some other changes that are especially nice are that my oldest brother and his wife have had a second little boy. He’s about 9 months old now and is adorable.

Long time readers of the blog may remember my new born niece from my last trip. She’s grown up a lot since then - constantly chatting in her own sweet little language, and nearly walking. It’s been so nice having a full week with Mick, Sharon and Zara, getting away to Margaret River with them and basically catching up on the last year of our lives. It’s been a busy year for us all, so it’s great to get quality time together.

During the course of that time we often had the camera out, and Charlotte was loving the many dozen opportunities to capture Zara getting up to all sorts of activities.

This first shot, while being rather messy is my favourite! How adorable is she!!!?

While out shooting the natural beauty surrounding Margaret River, Charlotte is always pointing out cool photo locations, shot ideas, angles and great areas of light. One of the things that keep on catching her eye are these certain plants that are a bit like wheat, but feel like soft fur on top. So when we saw a great patch of light flooding a field of these angelic grass heads, she set about doing a impromptu photo shoot with Zara.

Isn’t she the cutest????? I know right!

And yet another priceless photograph of Zara, with that cheeky look she loves to give you as if to say “I know exactly what you’re up to!”.

As we were driving back to Perth on Friday, mick spotted this great tin shed and pulled over. He’s got a spot on the living room wall full of amazing photos he’s taken (he’s shares my creative streak), with a large empty frame hanging in the centre… “We’d like to put a family portrait in that frame” he’d said when I first arrived. We’d decided that a rustic red toned background would be perfect, so had been looking for the right location during our trip, and here it was!

We spent only two or three minutes taking some photos and got some really cute sequences of them playing with Zara, lots of tickling and laughing was involved. These were my favourites from the set.

Charlotte and I have a couple of shoots coming up in the next week and will be posting those as they happen. Until then, we’ll sign off - we’re off to the beach for a swim.

We were so excited to get here and get settled for a month of fun including engagement and family shoots and not to mention Louis and Jasmine’s wedding just around the corner!

Since Dave is originally from Australia but has lived in Canada for the last 6 years, almost his whole family is here in Oz. We loved making our first stop and catching up with Mick, Shar and little baby Zara!  We were also stoked to be taking a road trip with them to Margaret River, Western Australia for a few days of relaxation together in one of the most beautiful nature and surf spots on Earth.

When we drove through the hills of Margaret River, it instantly reminded me of Malibu. Stunning cliff side beach homes overlooking the crashing waves below. Surfers floated by waiting to catch the perfect wave.  We unloaded the car and got settled in a beach home of our own, well at least for a few days anyway :).

It was a perfect nature retreat with a gorgeous wrap around balcony hosting panoramic views of nature and not to mention the Indian Ocean. We loved sitting out there taking in some fresh ocean air. Surrounded by Gum Trees and Jacaranda’s the Kookaburra’s, and Willy-Wag Tails filled the air with melodies.

The brilliant vibrancy of parrots swooping through the trees reminded me that we were in our own perfect little paradise. Dave and I decided to check out the town of Margaret River, then stopped in on local surfing hot spot.

We were definitely stoked we brought our cameras along to take a few snap shots. This place was incredible. We watched the waves crash to shore and the surfers riding high on the tides, it really made me want to take up surfing some day. Mick and Shar (and baby Zsa Zsa as we sometimes call her) a big thanks to you guys for planning a great little get away for us and it was fab hanging out with you guys for a little while in Margaret River!!

While returning inquiries, I came across Yanyan  & Clement, a cool couple living in Hong Kong, but getting married at The Doctors’ House in Kleinburg. After a few emails back and forth they’d booked us but wanted to do the engagement shoot before their wedding this February. So we all decided it was best to do the shoot in fabulous Hong Kong!! Dave and I had so many ideas and concepts for the shoot and were super stoked to be photographing them in Hong Kong.

We met Yanyan and Clement for the first time at the big clock tower overlooking the Hong Kong harbour. They were the gorgeous, well dressed couple with the big smiles and warm welcome We told them we’d be the ones with the giant cameras. I think it worked because the spotted us right away!

We took a look around the harbour and found some sweet spots to shoot. Dave and I have a real system going when we shoot together. We each take turns in posing and shooting, while the other will hold reflectors and off camera lights. We think it works pretty well for us, and we have a blast playing around with our clients.

Being at the harbour was perfect, massive fishing boats that looked like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean were floating by and created a really cool backdrop.

As the sun started to set and we lost light for a bit, Yanyan and Clement took us to Ye Shanghai before the night shoot began. The food was fabulous and we highly recommend it to anyone visiting Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is very famous for it’s spectacular laser show at 8:15. All of the buildings in the city take part in the show that is set to music for on lookers to enjoy. We thought it would be a great opportunity for us to get some killer shots of Yanyan and Clement with Hong Kong cityscape lit up across the water. It was a spectacular! Definitely something Dave and I will always remember.

Thanks so much to Yanyan and Clement for having us as your photographers in fabulous Hong Kong. We enjoyed every minute of it and cannot wait to shoot your beautiful winter wedding in February.

Stayed tuned to the blog for Jasmine & Louis’ wedding later this month in Perth, Australia.

Wow… 16 hours on a plane, I honestly did not think I was going to make it. Dave is way more experienced at these lengthy overseas flights then I am and assured me this would be  a piece of cake. As I sat back in my seat, adjusted my koala ears (head rest) and enjoyed another hilarious episode of The Office, I realized 16 hours isn’t that long after all

We landed in Hong Kong just in time to watch the coral colored sun rise over the silhouetted hillside. It was simply magical. It reminded us how important it is to appreciate the beauty in the world that’s all around us and we sometimes take for granted.

In between meals, movies and magazines, we tried to get as much sleep as we could possibly could in flight. We didn’t want to be too jet lagged on arrival so we could enjoy Hong Kong to the fullest. We checked into our hotel and decided to explore a little, before any shops had opened. The streets were quiet, but you could hear the new day slowly awakening as we made our way towards the subway.

We hopped on the subway with our Octopus Cards, a little re-fillable card that can be used to purchase products, parking and transportation through out the city (Toronto seriously needs to get on this system, its soo convenient!) We didn’t really have any particular stop in mind, but found a gorgeous little park outside of the city. It was like paradise, immaculately landscaped with winding trails, palm trees and water fountains, sooo tranquil and peaceful. Many people use the park for Tai Chi and stretching and mini boat racing in the ponds

We were told that Hong Kong’s street markets were a must see so Dave and I made our way over to check them out. We met a few funny characters in the markets. This kind lady was very nice and helped us find the perfect jade trinkets. She was soo cute and giggled when Dave took our picture!

We’re excited to be in Hong Kong for Yanyan & Clement’s Engagement shoot in a couple of days! We’ve scouted out so many awesome locations here in Hong Kong for the shoot. Stay tuned to the blog for more awesome adventures coming soon!!

Sunday was a pretty amazing day for Dave and I. We stayed up late the night before making sure every last detail was ready to go and we were prepped for one of our coolest shoots ever… our wedding photography workshop at the Royal York Hotel! Feeling some serious butterflies, we packed up the car and made our way to the Marriott on Bay St where our conference room awaited us. I was so stoked about the hours of fun ahead, the dresses, the models, the make-up, the location… opulence as far as the eye could see.  I really do LOVE putting together and styling these workshops, anything I envision - even a fairytale - can come to life.

With so many amazing people on board we knew we were in for one fabulous photography workshop. Some of our brides to be may recognize Tai (above left) our model, she’s featured in the current edition of Wedding Bells! She and Sylvia (above right) were so talented, they really made the day such a breeze for all of our photographers. Catherine Langlois, one of Toronto’s premiere wedding gown designers fitted Tai with her stunning designer gown and veil, both looked absolutely ethereal.

Georgia Spyra, co-founder of Wink Make-Up Academy here in Toronto was along to make our models look incredible, she has a fantastic ability to create a flawless glow and maximize beauty. Georgia was named one of the top 20 makeup artists in Canada by Lancome International, as well as one of the top five Bridal makeup artists in the country, you can see why we loved having her along!!

We chatted about light, locations, composition and the photography business until lunch and then made our way to one of Toronto’s most famous landmarks, The Royal York Hotel. We reserved the gorgeous Imperial Room for the workshop. Between the ballroom and the spectacular front lobby we were in heaven and had so many beautiful places to shoot! I took a look at a few of the attendees shots and I have to say I was completely blown away with the stuff these guys were getting.

When I laid my eyes upon this opulent bridal gown, a little voice in my head said “I WANT that.” Made of silk, Swarovski crystals and lace, it looked like it was something Cinderella might wear. Dave played with the fairytale theme and set up this storybook shot. I love it :)!!

The attendees took part in our 8 minute challenge - applying what they learned from the in class portion of the day and shoot the models on their own. We wanted them to have fun with it and get creative, so we made it interesting by offering a prize to the best two images. We’ll post the winners shortly but since all of them are pro photographers I have a feeling it’s gonna be a really close competition.

These shots were taken in the front lobby of the hotel. I just love the way the light plays on the taffeta of Catherine Langlois’ creation, such perfection.

Dave took some of the attendees back into the Imperial Room to play with some available light.

Matt and Tai struck a pose or two while the photog’s snapped away!

When 4:30 hit, we took it outside for the final session of the photography workshop…a real Engagement Shoot with our own fabulous, fantastic, fun-loving clients Sandrina & Jay!!!! Dave was thinking of a celebrity/ paparazzi theme for the shoot. It was totally awesome, these guys pulled up in style with a driver and a shiny new Escalade.

Wowza! How hot do these guys look?? Oh! Oh! Can I have your autograph…Pulllease

SA-Mokin’  These rockstars were a perfect ending to our day full of fun and adventure. Thanks to everyone for taking part, we had a blast!

Before we sign off, we wanted to give a huge shout out to our awesome friend and associate photographer Kristin for the photographic coverage of the workshop.

It is a huge honour for our work to be considered as some of the best photography in the world.  WPPI is Wedding & Portrait Photographers International and thousands of the best photographers enter WPPI’s competitions every year for a crack at the prize. Thank you so much to all of our wonderful clients for trusting our creative vision. You helped us make this all possible. A BIG thank you to WPPI for presenting us with these awards!!

Take a look at our winners!

Dave shot this one last year in Barrie at the MacLaren Art Gallery. The 3D glasses were the couple’s idea (Hi Emily & Andrew!).

Photograph: Dave Biesse

This was part of a baby shoot I did with adorable little Lauren. Isn’t she precious!?

Photograph: Charlotte Leonard

Natasha & Kester’s destination wedding happened recently and I’m sure a lot of readers will remember these shots. We were stoked to win 4 awards from their shoot alone.

Photograph: Charlotte Leonard

Photograph: Dave Biesse

Photograph: Dave Biesse

Photograph: Charlotte Leonard

Photograph: Dave Biesse

Both Dave and I love doing quirkier shots. This was taken in the up stairs bathroom of Miller Lash House - a great all in one location if you’re interested

Photograph: Dave Biesse

Can you tell we love our Macs! We got a good laugh out of this video and hope you did too.

If you’re using a PC and it doesn’t load, try ctrl + alt + del

I visited Fallingwater last year and called Charlotte and told her I HAD to bring her down here… I took me a year to get her here, but it was worth the wait. These shots are all done using our iPhone, so it’s a little dicey on quality, but hey, you get the idea

The design was - and still is - revolutionary. Designed with cantilevers throughout - meaning the long overhangs are created using counter weighting rather than vertical supports underneath. Frank Lloyd Wright was passionate about using horizontal forms to make your eye flow out of the house rather than leaving you feeling trapped inside.

He designed with with human scale in mind - large windows, low furniture, large living areas and ample outdoor spaces. In this photo below, you’ll also see the pool that’s feed by fresh spring water… no chemicals needed. Is Nice!

Isn’t this view from the balcony just amazing! And the sound of the fall floods through the whole house. Just amazing.

Above: Guest house, The Fall from one of the balconies, the main living room.

Below: Charlotte did this stunning shot in a rock pool by the stream… beautiful eh?

After we’d finished up a meandering walk through the property, we decided to check out another house Frank Lloyd Wright designed called Kentuck Knob. Very cool property, with a lot of sculptures & installations. We stumbled on three old English phone booths and couldn’t resist doing a cute shot of Charlotte.

Well this ends our long road trip! We arrived back in Toronto on Thursday and are loving being home. We hope you’re enjoyed hearing about our trip - we’ve certainly loved sharing it with you.

I leave you with this cute shot of my beautiful girlfriend and our two precious babies

Many films have been made in Savannah… and not without reason - it’s stunning. Beautiful old architecture, Spanish moss drooping from every tree and dozens of Squares scattered through the city, creating a wonderful sense of common public space.

In this photo, Charlotte’s standing (coffee in hand!) by the location of Forrest Gump’s very famous bus seat. Sadly it was a prop bench, and was removed and re-planted after filming wrapped. In Something to Talk About, the Sixpence Pub also features, which is where I’m standing in this shot.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was another classic flick filmed here. We were indulged by our tour bus driver who knew everything about everyone from all the films and was able to fill us in with lots of trivia. This fountain is in Forsyth Park - a very famous garden - and very beautiful - check out the size of the trees we’re standing under!

Adjacent to the park was the old Candler Hospital with a stunning facade, but sadly beginning to fall into disrepair. We heard about a developer who planned to buy it and turn it into condos, but found out he wouldn’t be allowed to remove the 270 year old oak from the parking lot… You wouldn’t believe the size of this tree - it was a monster. We’re both really glad the locals are so protective of their trees though - they really are stunning.

We did several evening walks through the city during our stay. The city goes to sleep really early at night though, so we often found ourselves wandering the streets without seeing another car or person for a few minutes. Kinda cool… and kinda creepy!

I love this shot Charlotte took of me, using the lamplight in front of an old church. Very cool.

It’s a carefully planned community well known for it’s “eco-friendly” development style, with strict building codes in place to ensure minimal impact on the environment, with the style of buildings and how they are situated amongst existing trees being strictly enforced. This includes everything down to the colour you can paint the building, the height and even the size and placement of corporate brands. As a great example, there’s a McDonalds that doesn’t even have have their golden arches on the building! Just a small discreet sign among the bushes at the edge of the road. Incredible!

We spent three days on the island, going for long walks and rides along the beach and exploring the many, many miles of bike paths stretching across the island. It was a totally relaxed few days with lots of time to unwind. Perfect

During one of our rides we did spot this gator… scary… I immediately decided not to let the dogs off the leash!! Yikes.

We didn’t have our camera gear on most of the bike rides, so the iPhone was put to good use on several occasions… sorry about the image quality guys!

Greta and Fritzi both loved exploring the beach and digging in the sand… and BOTH managed to find something nice and smelly to roll in!!! They were both treated to a bath when we got back to the hotel… do they look a little guilty to you?

After Rodanthe, we headed south, necessitating two ferry rides. It’s was a trippy experience to pull our RV onto the ferry, park and proceed to have a relaxed time sitting on the couch, looking out the window at the ocean pass by!! Not something you get to experience everyday.

This shot was done using our tilt and shift lens - enabling it to shift the focal plane so only to bird closest to the back of the ferry is in focus. Pretty sweet lens.

Arriving at Ocracoke, a cozy little port town on a sand barrier island, we decided to settle in for the day and enjoy the beach. The winds picked up and we were forced to stay a couple of days (the ferries don’t run when the wind is too strong).

Here’s a shot of Greta, doing her favourite things, wrestling Fritzi to the ground! Fritty’s such a good sport about it though - he lets her get away with it even though she’s half his size. She gets away with a lot because of those adorable eyes!

These little guys (Sanderlings) are the cutest things. As the waves washed in and out, they would run away from them, then chase them back out and proceed to dig up as many shells as they could.

When we did hit dry land in North Carolina, we were amazed at the vast number of military bases as we drove south. We continued to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. At one spot in particular, there was an airfield with fighter jets landing and taking off every 2 or 3 minutes! It was very cool to get out and stand underneath them as they flew over top. You can see how close were were to them in this shot.

More posts VERY soon

The next day we cruised south… passing through some pretty amazing towns along the Outer Banks… for example, Kitty Hawk was the location for the Wright brother’s first flight. We also passed Nags Head - a town I’ve heard about many times over the years - known to be a great location to kite surf, drive dune buggies, do some beach combing or check out a ship wreck. We drove a little further south and crossed a massive bridge, to arrive at Rodanthe. FYI, here’s a map of our road trip so far.

We took an early morning walk up the beach to see if we could find the house used in the Richard Gere film, Nights in Rodanthe. Along the way though we came across something pretty crazy….

This house seemed to have fallen off it’s stilts during a storm! I can only imagine the sound it would have made as it went! After asking a few of the locals what happened, we discovered that two weeks ago during a storm, the waves crashed against the house and brought it down. All the locals were going on about the fact that they built it on 8 foot stilts instead of 18 foot. Makes sense but apparently it costs a lot of money to bring in really long stilts… would have been money well spent in hind sight I guess! Thank goodness insurance covers the damage and nobody was hurt.

How often do you get a chance to lift a house???

The Rodanthe Pier also featured in the film a few times I hear.. for a seafood feast as well as being the convenience store they used. We chatted to the owner of the pier as we took a walk out on it and asked him whether it was always this wobbly. He tells us that it’s designed with a lot of give to withstand the storms. It totally makes sense but doesn’t reassure us much as we stand at the end, shifting left and right about a foot with each wave passing underneath. You wouldn’t find me out there during a storm though!

It gave me opportunity to grab some pretty cool angles on the waves below. This one above reminds me of the feeling as you’re paddling out for a surf and you crest the wave and look back over your shoulder.

Needless to say, my reptile hunt continues… I finally found a snake - I think - it may be a species of legless lizard, but Charlotte wasn’t too keen on me trying to identify it. If anyone out there knows what species it is, can you let us know? Thanks

We spent three days in Rodanthe, with our RV parked about 10 metres behind the first dune - we were all in heaven. It turns out the dogs love the beach.

When it finally came time to leave, we headed south again (searching for that elusive warmer weather). Cape Hatteras is another famous historic location along the outer banks. The lighthouse there has an awesome barber’s pole swirl painted around it.

As we drove out of the lighthouse parking area there was a big swamp area next to the road and I caught a glimpse of what I thought was one or two turtles… We pulled over and after rustling through some bushes we found that there were literally dozens of turtles hanging out, sunbathing and generally just being turtly. How cute is the little guy in the front row!?

Upcoming posts… Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head Island & Savannah.

We got our maps out and plotted a course for Virginia Beach. Seeing that it would take as right through Charlottesville, I immediately knew we had to spend a day there checking out Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.

You see I’d heard about Monticello during my road trip down in these parts last year, but hadn’t been in the right area to check it out.

We spent the night in a gorgeous little spot nestled by a lake. There were birds, squirrels and we came across a big buck during our evening stroll. We both woke rested and ready to take on the world! On the way to Monticello, we were told we should stop in at Michie Tavern and grab an old-style southern lunch. This tavern is over two hundred years old! (in fact it was built a few years before Australia was even discovered!) The food was actually pretty good… deep fried chicken, bbq pork and the veggies were all cooked like my grandma makes ‘em - that’s to say, rather squishy.

Next on our list was Monticello. To set the scene, it’s a mansion designed by Thomas Jefferson. It sits atop a cute little rounded hill, rising out of open forests not unlike those we see around Toronto’s rivers. For some readers of this blog not from America (perhaps most?!), you may only know of Thomas Jefferson as being the man who wrote America’s Declaration of Independence. Well let me tell you, he was many more things… The third President of the United States, an architect, gardener, scientist & botanist, inventor, plantation owner, and founder of the University of Virginia.

As we arrived on “the little mountain” (Monticello translation is little mountain) we were struck by the grandeur, serenity and natural beauty of the location. It was one of those sun-drenched but crisp days.. you know, where the sun is on your face but your butt’s a little chilly!

We decided to wander on the southern side of the mountain where the sun was a little warmer. This was where Thomas spent each evening, sitting in a small (20”X20”) window filled brick building amidst his garden, no doubt pondering his many ideas (we’re standing in it for the photo above - and yes, I need to shave). Charlotte and I sat there for some time soaking up the atmosphere. The gardens are still used and the produce gathered is shared among the staff to this day.

Below his garden the vineyard begins and falls down the slope deep into the valley. We wandered among the vines and then found ourselves amongst peach trees. When we returned to the top of the mountain we were ready for our guided tour of the house.

The tour took us through each room of the main floor, with all wall dressings, paintings, artifacts and maps being pointed out and explained to us by the guide. The main floor was packed with fascinating relics from America’s early years. We both found the tour fascinating and a very powerful way to be able to step back into the days of when the home was lived in.

As a bonus we thought we’d include some photos we took at a winery the following day… More about our road trip soon… coming up is “Nights in Rodanthe”.

Washington is BIG. I know it looks like a few buildings surrounding a lawn on a map, but as we soon discovered, maps are deceptively not to scale! haha.

Our first stop was Capitol Hill. We then checked out The Botanical Gardens, The National Museum of the American Indian History, The Smithsonian Air & Space Museum (A Must See), then crossed the “lawn” and headed up to The National Portrait Gallery. I tell ya, if you only do one thing in DC, I suggest you check out the Portrait Gallery… it was full of photographs, paintings, sculpture and designs depicting, well, portraits. Duh.

By the time we’d done all this, we were getting a little peckish, so decided to hit Chinatown for dinner. I have to say I was a little underwhelmed… about 5 restaurants and not much else. Either we didn’t actually find it or I’m just used to the bustling markets of Toronto’s Chinatown.

On the way back to our car, we passed Madam Tussauds Wax Museum… Well worth the money to check out… we got to hang out with JLO, Bradgelina and have a laugh with Obama! It’s actually pretty cool to “look into the eyes” so to speak - of some of the great men and women of history… Malcolm X, JFK, Mohamed Ali and so on. It’s unbelievable how real they all look - kind of eerie.

With a very long day behind us we got home to our very waggy dogs… Fritzi and Greta make arriving home a real joy each day. More bog posts to follow soon… We’re catching up!

When we decided to attend (and model in… photos to come!) Jerry Ghionis’ awesome photography workshop in Washington last week, it made perfect sense to turn this dream into a reality. We started planning and after a week in our Washington hotel suite, we moseyed on down to pick up our fabulous new accommodation…. an RV!!

On our first day we drove straight to Shenandoah, an unbelievably breath-taking park constantly dazzled us with expanding vistas and dramatic rocky peaks. When we cleared the gates of the park I honestly did not think that we were going to make much distance on this road trip, we wanted to stop at every look out to take in the jaw-dropping landscapes. Virginia hosts the longest chunk of the Appalachian Trail so we’ll be able to see a lot more of it in the time we’ll be here.

We reached our camp site in about two hours (should have taken us 1/2 an hour! lol) and as soon as we pulled in five deer greeted us at the entrance. I was totally shocked, they were everywhere! I know I live in the city but I’d never seen anything like this. They were soooo peaceful, we didn’t get too close but when we took a few photos they didn’t even seem phased… awww Bambi.

The hiking so far has been fab, fresh air and sunshine!! The only thing that’s freaking me out a little is Dave’s fascination with snakes. He flips over every flat rock he can find in hopes of discovering a sleeping reptile. For his sake I hope he doesn’t find one because I know I’ll either pass out or forget first aid for snake bites. The leaves are all gorgeous, red, yellow and orange tones and rustle lightly in the wind reminding us why on earth we decided to hike so far down the rocky slope when we know were gonna have to crawl back up, oh well it beats the climbmaster at the gym right :).

The dogs are in having the time of their lives out here in nature. Fritzi is great to have on walks, he’s like a little tank and gives you that extra pull you sometimes need. Greta however, works on her beauty sleep and makes sure no one in a 15 mile radius approaches our motor home. She only likes walking on her own terms so we have learned to let her have her way.

We’ll be checking out the Monticello (Jefferson’s homestead) tomorrow and then, who knows…. Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head, Miami, Key West and beyond!!!!

Kristin, our booking consultant, emailed us with the weather report today… SNOW in Toronto, already??!!