Last month my sister came in for a visit from Bangladesh, so my family met up for a little vacation near Charleston. Here are a few shots from our paddle boat ride in the black water swamp of Cypress Gardens (saw a little baby alligator as soon as we got in the boat) and a quick visit to the Angel Oak on Johns Island.

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Iceland was the last stop of our trip.  While figuring out where we wanted to go during the early planning stages of the trip, I came across cheap flights to Iceland from London, and then saw that it was cheaper to fly back to the states from Iceland than any other country I researched.  So, we thought, why not? Quite unexpectedly, we arrived to find blue skies and warmer weather than we had experienced in many of the other countries we had visited. However, by the next morning there was nothing but dense clouds, lots of wind, and lots of rain.  It rains sideways in Iceland. And it stings when it hits your face.  It was like we were living in a constant hurricane during our entire visit.  However, despite the weather, we loved our visit and are already wanting to go back.

The landscape is so wild and foreign that it felt like we were on Mars…no joke.  We stayed in a little cabin in the middle of nowhere outside Reykjavik, surrounded by mountains, a lake, and playful horses. We drove around the golden circle and saw Þingvellir National Park, Gullfoss waterfall, and the geothermal valley of Haukadalur. We also went whale watching. Despite the fact that the two previous tours that day had seen, not only the typical Minke whales, but the rarer humpback whales, and the fact that 95% of their tours spot at least one whale, we managed to be part of the unfortunate 5% who saw nothing. Well…we saw a few dolphins, but hey, I’m from South Carolina.  I’ve kayaked and gone swimming with dolphins. 😉  We also spent some time hanging out in Reykjavik, which really is an awesome city.  Not too big and overwhelming,  full of brightly colored buildings, and, my favorite, a ton of great design shops.  Of all the cities we visited, this may have been my favorite.  We then summed up our trip at the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa…which was amazing.

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Some shots are film, some are digital, and most are available for print ordering!  You can contact me through this blog (see link above) or my website for more info.  Also, you can check out photos from the rest of our trip here…PragueSwitzerlandIreland, Scotland and England.

Below is the view from our cabin. 🙂

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From Ireland we flew to Edinburgh, Scotland, where we spent a couple of days before driving up to the Scottish Highlands for some camping and hiking, and then back down through the Trossachs into the Lake District of England, and then finished up our time in the UK with a few days in London.  Like Ireland, the people of Scotland were some of the nicest, more personable people we’ve ever met.  We loved our chats with the locals…and their accents. 🙂

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Some shots are film, some are digital, and most are available for print ordering!  You can check out photos from the rest of our trip here…Prague, SwitzerlandIreland, and Iceland.

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I have been dying to go to Ireland for so many years.  So much green.  And I am so glad we were able to add it to our itinerary.   I was nervous that we would not get many photo opportunities because of all the rain, but God answered our many prayers and we had awesome weather almost the entire time we were there, which is beyond rare.  We flew into Dublin, where we stayed a couple of days, and then rented a car to head to the western coast.  Our first day along the coast was nothing but constant strong wind and heavy rain. We couldn’t even see the ocean.  So we decided to make our way to the Cliffs of Moher a day early. Just as we arrived at the cliffs, the clouds opened up and everything was glowing.  It was amazing, and one of my very favorite memories from the entire trip.  Absolutely breathtaking.  We then spent the night in a quaint little cottage in the little seaside town of Doolin (which I fell in love with), before heading to the Dingle Peninsula where we spent our 2 year anniversary and stayed on a sheep farm for a few days.  When we arrived at the farm, little lambs were frolicking in the field, and came up to great us at the fence, along with a couple of ducks.  🙂 There were also still a few pregnant sheep, one of which gave birth while we were there. Rob and I had arrived back at the farm after a drive around the scenic Slea Head Drive 5 minutes after the little lamb was born and we were able to watch the mother clean her new little baby and then watch it take it’s first steps. Such a great experience.

The people we met in Ireland were some of the nicest we have ever met…so cheery and willing to help.  Because of this, and the many things we were blessed to experience during our time there, I would say Ireland may have been my favorite place…if I had to choose.

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Some shots are film, some are digital, and most are available for print ordering!  You can check out photos from the rest of our trip here….Prague, SwitzerlandScotland/England, and Iceland.

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  • Lynette Carnahan Gray - March 31, 2016 - 2:50 pm

    Strikingly absorbing photos! In spite of the coastal winds & salty water spewing on their paint, the row of houses you photographed look like a baskets of Easter eggs. Repeatedly, you captured the personality of the sky in that moment. Although the sky you display performs like a canopy, you also captured it as a facial expression looking down upon the landscape. Sometimes that sky broods, blackens, & has a dark complexion, but other hours it has a happy, hopeful expression.
    Lynette Carnahan Gray; author & artistReplyCancel

I had the opportunity to travel to Switzerland while studying abroad during college, and fell in love with it.  Some friends and I spent Thanksgiving there, in a tiny little chalet in the middle of nowhere and cooked a huge traditional Thanksgiving meal (somehow we managed to find a giant turkey and ingredients for pumpkin pie) and shared all of it with our new Australian friends who were guests at the chalet as well.  We even introduced them to sweet tea…which they didn’t like, of course.  It has always been one of my favorite memories from my time in Europe during college, so I’ve wanted to go back ever since.  Rob’s family is originally from Bern, Switzerland, so he has always had an interest in visiting his “homeland” as well.  So we made our way from Prague via an overnight bus (not recommended) to Bern, and then on to Lauterbrunnen, Lucerne, and Basel.  Lauterbrunnen is where we spent most of our time, camping in a tent by Staubbach Falls, one of the tallest waterfalls in Europe.  We froze the first night and woke up to ice on the outside of our tent the next morning, but all went well after that.  The Lauterbrunnen valley actually has over 70 waterfalls, and is such an incredible place.  From the valley you can ride gondolas up to little mountain villages, which we did, and paraglided back down. I think Rob has finally concluded that our time in Switzerland was his favorite.

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As mentioned before, most images that I will be posting from our trip are available for print ordering.  If interested, contact me and I can send you my print pricing guide.  Prints can be made up to 30×40 (depending on the photo) and are available printed on regular photo paper, fine art paper, or as a canvas gallery wrap. Check out the photos from the rest of our trip here…Prague, Ireland, Scotland/England, and Iceland.

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