Did you ever take a shot and think, wow, that was worth it?
East Harbor State Park in Ohio. Click on the image to see it full size in another window and have the opportunity to purchase.
In order to tell this story, we have to go back to 2018. A seemingly bygone, care free time before COVID and all of our social and political crisis. In what will turn out to be one of our last big family vacations before kids start college, we decided to take a rented RV trip through the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.
Little did we know at the time how much we were going to enjoy ourselves. The convenience of having your kitchen and bathroom with you all the time was a huge benefit. Add in the perception of being safe from bears and having a comfortable place to hunker down during a storm made it pretty clear our tent camping days were numbered.
Fast forward to March of 2020. We had to cancel two major trips this year, a cruise to Alaska and a rented van camper trip to Utah. After a January trip to an RV show, we settled on a modest, new 18 foot travel trailer. At the time we were ready to buy in May, the closest unit we wanted was in Michigan. A full day’s drive from our home in Connecticut.
PSA - You can’t tow a camper with a doughnut spare tire.
On the night we picked up the camper, we stayed in East Harbor State Park in Ohio right on lake Erie. We had already had our share of drama that afternoon with my first on-the-road flat in 20 years. It was at that time that I realized that you can’t tow a trailer with a doughnut size spare.
We got to East Harbor just as the sun was setting. Exhausted and stressed out from towing the rig for the first time, my daughter and I started heating up dinner and tried to unwind a bit. I checked the sunrise time and set my alarm before falling asleep.
I didn’t need the alarm, I had been awake for hours just getting used to sleeping in a new bed and still trying to burn off the adrenaline from the day before. I quickly made a double Starbucks Via and set off to the lake.
East Harbor State Park with Cottonwood blossoms drifting about. Click on the image to see it full size in another window and have the opportunity to purchase.
I had no chance to scout the night before, so I literally had 15 minutes to scout and set up for a shot. After taking a quick look around and seeing only marginally interesting clouds in the eastern sky, I started composing my images. I quickly turned my attention to the West as most of the interest for me was in the bay/cove behind the lake. On the drive in, I had noticed an amazing number of wading birds. I knew I wanted to get an egret or heron shot in early light.
Snowy Egret
First morning - Getting ready to leave East Harbor State Park in Ohio
Was this set worth the price of the camper? Obviously not and a silly question, but let’s revisit this in 2022 or 2023. Hopefully the world will have recovered from COVID, people will be treated more fairly and we can all take the fists we are shaking at each other, open them up and shake hands instead. Hopefully this site will be full of great new images from all over North America taken while enjoying peace and quiet and meeting wonderful, friendly people. Time is a great equalizer, let's hope that this camper was a bargain for all the memories and smiles it will provide.