Gold Rush 2008

For a change of pace, Jen and I met up with Geoff and Vanessa today and travelled to Dahlonega, GA for Gold Rush.  Gold Rush is the annual arts and crafts fair that the city of Dahlonega puts on somewhat in conjunction with North Georgia College.  I'm not an arts and crafts kind of guy, but the weather was gorgeous and it afforded us a taste of life to come.  

We met up with our other friends, Pat and Mel once we got up to Gold Rush.  Essentially, the entire town shuts down and the downtown area is transformed into tent after tent of crafts and food vendors.  It looks a lot like this:

We also had Ellie (Geoff and Vanessa's daughter) and Shay (Pat and Mel's son) along with us for entertainment.  Shay almost got airborn here and seems to love it:

Ellie, on the other hand, crashed out while Geoff enjoyed some ice cream:

Pat enjoyed a corn-dog, unfortunately, with ketchup, don't know what that's about.  I eat my corn-dogs with mustard, but I'm in the minority, evidently.

Shortly after that, Shay decided to pass out as well...  I can't say I blame him, it was an absolutely perfect day to take a nap outside.

After Gold Rush, we made our way to the park in Cumming for church.  Jen and Shay were chillin' (quite literally, it cooled of pretty quickly).

And finally, an action shot.  Dan and Jake having fun after the service:

Some processed Africa Pictures

The biggest disadvantage to shooting RAW with a digital camera is the inevitable post-processing that you have to do once you get back.  However, the results are stunning, far better than just having the camera do all the work for you.  Here are the first 11 pictures that I've done.  A big advantage to RAW is when I go to blow this thing up to 30"+, it'll be super sharp.  Click on any picture to view the full size on Picasa.

From Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa

From Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa

From Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa

From Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa

From Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa

From Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa

From Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa

From Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa

Yes, they do get that close to you!

From Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa

From Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa

Jen actually took this one, notice the giraffe in the top middle of the picture. Enjoy!!!

A break from the norm

I promise I haven't given up on my blog, things have been extremely hectic since returning from South Africa. I also pledge to have more photos from that trip for you guys very soon (hopefully this week). For a change of scenery, I offer some pictures from todays Gardner-Webb - Georgia Tech game. My step-dad had 2 sideline passes and couldn't make the game (my mom was singing the National Anthem at the Presbyterian College game), so Jen and I headed down.

First off, it's a bittersweet gig. Since we're "working press," we can't wear team colors/shirts or cheer for the team (or boo them as is sometimes required), but the payoff is being on the field and the chance to take some great pictures. You can check the AJC for a game review, but simply put, Tech played pretty poorly. GW deserved to win this one, fortunately, Tech eked out a win. We were very lucky to actually be standing in the end-zone with Dwyer (21) broke a 79 yard TD run. That was pretty fun, he ran right at us!

In no particular order, here are some pictures: