Michigan Photographer // Upstate New York Road Trip!

My husband and I just got home from a crazy fun road trip that only he and I took together.  Sometimes it is good for just mom and dad to get away and reconnect…leaving the kiddos home with grandma and grandpa.  We called this our “adventure trip” because we did just that…..adventured.  We slept in the back of our suburban on a blow up mattress for a few nights, scaled the side of a chasm via ferrata, fished some uncharted territory, drove endless miles and so much more.  Read on to take a little peak into our fun!!

We really wanted to see all five Great Lakes at some point in our lives, so we took two detours to see the easternmost two.  This stop at Port Dover on Lake Erie was our first stop of the trip.

Next up was Niagra Falls – The Canadian side.  Believe it or not, but neither Joe nor I had been here before so this was quite the stop for us!  We took the Hornblower near the falls and got soaked which was a highlight of the trip. I can’t wait to take our girls back someday!

Another fun stop was Niagra-on-the-Lake.  It is basically a super cute area with small shops and a bunch of pretty wineries.  I don’t care for wine but I do love stopping on the side of the road for random photos of grapes 🙂

One of my big goals in life is to see all 50 states.  This trip marked two off of the list.  Yay!

This is the beautiful shoreline of Lake Ontario.

Thirty Mile Lighthouse was so pretty.  We climbed to the top for some amazing views.

When we finally got into the Adirondacks, Joe and I couldn’t stop saying things like “look over there”, “wow”, “isn’t that view gorgeous”.  We were pretty smitten with God’s creation and the beautiful landscape that upstate New York had to offer.

I just kept on wishing that I had a bride and groom with me.  I love photographing portraits in new places!

I had Joe pull over so I could take a photo of this barn for my photographer friend, Shelley 🙂

Beautiful rivers everywhere…

If you follow my Instagram stories (@hetlerphoto), you know that I got homesick on my honeymoon….which is pretty funny looking back because now I LOVE to travel more than just about anything…!

The top of Whiteface Mountain.

It makes me laugh….people always ask Joe to take their photo when we are in settings like this…

Lake Placid below..

Tiny Joe below…

One day we just jumped in the car and decided to head over to Vermont (I totally forgot to take photos with my pro camera while there.  Oops…).  After that….we decided to go a little further north and check out Montreal.  What a fun-filled day!

Next stop, High Falls Gorge.

Watkins Glen State Park was one of the most gorgeous parks to explore and their campground was beautiful!

See Joe in the bottom-right image?  Photos like that are just a nice reminder to me of how small we actually are in the scheme of things…

One last stop….Letchworth State Park.  Simply stunning.

One other place that we visited (and was probably my favorite of the whole trip) was the AuSable Chasm.  I didn’t even bring my pro-camera to this location because Joe and I signed up for their adventure trail which was A-MA-ZING!!!  This is where we scaled the side of the chasm via ferrata (clicked in with fancy carabiners and cables) and crossed over the river on tiny bridges made of single cables or wooden slats.  I still can’t believe I did it.  I was SO scared, but it was even more rewarding!!

 

What a fun trip.  I can’t wait to plan another adventure…..where should we go next?!?!