Ideas for places to visit in the Midwest
This is one of the many duck clubs along the Mississippi river. Missouri offers one of the best sites in the nation for duck hunting and St. Charles County is no exception. During the fall huge flocks of ducks fill the skies and fill the wetlands during feeding time. Walking the levies during these times is a strange experience with the massive amount of birds squawking, quacking and cackling making a very surreal sound.
A New Years Eve stay at Chaumette Winery brought snow, ice and fog on the first day of 2021.
A foggy morning at Chaumette Winery. Happy New Year! My wife and I stayed at one of Chaumette’s Villas for New Year’s Eve and an ice storm that night brought heavy fog in the morning. This is their little chapel they use for weddings on the property.
That New Years Day morning was great for photography. I did not have a place to put my many wonderful photos of this place on my website so I created a new section called: Rural Missouri, find it here to see some nice photos from that morning: https://greatrivers.smugmug.com/Galleries/Rural-Missouri/.
These villas are in a secluded, scenic and serene destination on the grounds of Chaumette Winery in the heart of beautiful Ste. Genevieve wine country. Wineries with lodging for weekend getaways in Missouri are hard to find, which is why Chaumette offers villa studio suites with a king size bed and small kitchenette. Their villas that are elegantly designed with nine-foot ceilings, fireplaces and fully-equipped kitchens looking out to shaded porches and panoramic views. They have dog-friendly villas for guests who would like to bring their dog during their weekend getaway in Missouri wine country. This is a great place to spend a few nights.
Laura takes her Three Creek Basset pack out for a walk.
Henry Shaw’s home is ready for Christmas. This is the home of Henry Shaw on the grounds of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Henry Shaw was a businessman and amateur botanist in St. Louis when it was a gateway city to the West. His businesses supplied residents, pioneers and others. Having made his fortune, he was able to retire at age 40, pursue his interest in botany, and used much of his fortune in philanthropy. He is best known as the founder of the Missouri Botanical Garden, but he also donated the land to the city for Tower Grove Park and oversaw its development. He donated funds to several other city institutions as well.
The Botanical Garden sponsors an annual Christmas tour where the grounds are spectacularly decorated. Click here for more images: https://greatrivers.smugmug.com/Galleries/Botanical-Garden/. Click on the image for more information on it or to purchase a copy.
Missouri Botanical Garden’s Flora Borealis event projected sights and sounds throughout their grounds. This is a laser show projected on the Henry Shaw home.
Click on the photo for more information.
This is one of my favorite photos of Wisconsin’s Northwoods. Also, it may be one of my all-time favorite photos. This is early morning on Lake Minocqua as the snows were starting to set in. I got up early one morning to photograph a sunrise in this spot but was met with this surreal site: a lake like glass and a low hanging fog that was not quite to the ground.
The Northwoods of Wisconsin is one of our national treasures. To see more photos of the area, go to my site: https://greatrivers.smugmug.com/Galleries/Northwoods/.
The last couple of posts have been about barns, so I thought I would post one of my favorite barn photos. This is on Interstate 39 just north of Bloomington, Illinois. As I was driving on 39, I kept seeing these interesting barns and finally pulled over to photograph one. The sky and clouds were amazing that day adding to the photograph. I actually exited the highway and found the road that led to that location. I never had to leave the car, just supported the camera on the car windowsill and got the photo. This is a three shot HDR photo.
Click on the photo for a larger size, exact location and photo data. You can purchase a copy there too!
Simplistic structures like this make great subjects. A simple barn on the side of the road.
I have to admit that that I use special software to make it look like a painting. I think I used a Van Gogh effect giving it that swirly brush look.
Great Rivers Imaging 