Kayaking the Ausable River

Last Summer I finally filled a big item on my Bucket List. Kayak Camping the Au Sable river in Michigan. 2020 was the perfect year to cross this item up during the pandemic. We started our trip in Grayling and ended it 80 miles down the river in Mio, Michigan. We brought our own kayaks but used Carlisle Canoe Livery to shuttle our car to Mio. That way we could just pack up when arriving at our endpoint vs. waiting for someone to pick us up. We also launched our kayaks from Carlisle Livery.

This was the first kayaking trip we took with everyone in their own kayaks. No more tandem kayaking with Finn. Which was also a bit nerve wrecking… could he actually kayak 80 miles on his own? He did and he did great!

Rosie hung out on a kayak, jumped into the water and swam to the next kayak. She did this all 3 days. She is a pretty strong swimmer and the water was pretty flat, so it wasn’t very dangerous for her.

We spotted some pretty cool wildlife, such as turtles, fish, and even these beautiful does sipping some water (picture below).

We stopped for the night at Whitepine Campground. Unfortunatley we weren’t the only ones and it was pretty loud in the evening. No real secluded wilderness experience there. The kids helped us set up camp, we had dinner and Finn & Rosie swam in the river for a bit. It was a great ending to a great day!

The next day we headed out as early as we could because we had another long day of paddling ahead of us! It was another great day. The one thing that I didn’t like about this trip was that there weren’t many places where you could just get out and stretch your legs. You either had to stop at a busy boat ramp, or campground. Most of the land was privately owned or just thick forest with no where to get out. So we spent lunch at a busy boat ramp. That evening we stopped at Parmalee Campground. Finn got to jump off a bridge with a lot of other kids and in general it was a very nice relaxing campsite. But again not secluded at all.

The further along we got down the river, the wider the river would get. Day one the Au Sable was very narrow and windy and by the 3rd day we paddled along lakes. Our last day of paddling was great as well. The weather was perfect, no bugs and we all enjoyed floating down the river.

We ended our trip at Camp 10 Bridge where our car and trailer were waiting for us! Here is a map of the river with the campgrounds. All over this was a great little getaway during the pandemic. We are already looking for other kayak camping trips for 2021! Let us know if you have any suggestions.

Traveling Interview with Finn

My youngest (11) has grown up traveling. Finn has been to 5 countries and 17 different US states. He doesn’t mind the 6 + hour car rides, the hiking, sleeping in a tent during a rainstorm and helping set up camp. I thought it would be fun to ask him a few travel related questions since he has become such a travel expert. I hope you enjoy his answers as much as I do!

What is your favorite travel memory?

Probably meeting other people and interacting with other people.

What is your least favorite memory?

getting scammed from a taxi driver in Vietnam or the hotel fire in Holbox, Mexico.

What do you do to entertain yourself on a long car ride or plane ride?

annoy people…. haha no looking out of the window, playing with a ball or being on my Nintendo Switch

What country do you want to visit next and Why?

That’s a hard one. I would probably say Paraguay and Brazil because I have lots of family there and you grew up there.

Have you ever met someone on your travels who has inspired you?

Captain Son from Vietnam because of what he experienced during the war as a child.

Of all the places you have been where would you like to go back?

Germany! Or Vietnam…. I would like to go back everywhere

Do you have any travel tips for young kids?

Don’t talk to strangers and don’t goof around at important places.

Do you feel like you learn while traveling?

Yes, the history and about the culture. The difference between my culture and theirs.

Do you prefer the beach or the mountains? Why?

Beach! Because I get altitude sickness in the mountains and the beach is more relaxing.

Which state in the US do you want to visit next?

Colorado, because I want to go skiing.

Three things you must have in your bag?

a ball, phone and water.

Last question…. who is your favorite person to travel with?

Mom!

Good answer!

Color or B/W?

Color or B/W? That’s not usually a question for me as I give my clients both versions of a picture BUT just for fun… let’s play color or b/w?

I love this family session! The leaves are this vibrant yellow and I am just in love with these colors. For me it was a no brainer… of course I like the color versions better. Who doesn’t love fall colors? Looking at the b/w pictures though makes me swoon too. The contrast is so beautiful and it just feels so timeless. It is almost as if the yellow was taking the attention of the subjects… like the yellows are the highlights of the pictures. But with the b/w versions, the little girl becomes the main subject again. Does that make sense? What do you think? Color or b/w? Or does it depend on the picture?

Which version would you hang in your living room? I can’t believe I am saying this but I would frame the black and white version!

What's in my Camera Bag?

I get asked what kind of camera I use, quiet a lot, so I thought it would be fun to do a “What’s in my bag?” post.

Let’s start with my camera bag. I am in love with my bag. For years I used a cheap one I found on Ebay and once my business became more successful, I decided I earned myself a pretty (but functional) bag. I have the Scout Bag from Kelly Moore. I love the leather and that it’s the perfect size for what I need. It fits my camera, a lens and a speed light. It’s not to big or to small. I have a feeling I will have this bag for many, many years which makes the investment justifiable.

Next up my camera. I used to shoot with a Pentax camera and I loved it but Pentax didn’t really bring out a newer model, so I decided to switch to Canon. I have the Canon 5d Mark iii. This camera is workhorse. The shutter count (kind of like mileage on a car) is HIGH but it still performs perfect. I’ll be honest here… I am not easy on my equipment. I mostly forget to put a lens cap on, I use it on the beach with all the sand or even in the rain. To me my camera is just a tool. A tool to capture memories. If that is on a beach or in a creek. I bought it to use it.

My favorite go to lens is the Canon 50mm 1.4 and this lens is on my camera pretty much 90% of the time. This lens is also called the “nifty fifty” because it is so versatile and can be used in most situations. This is a prime lens, which means no zoom but the beautiful bokeh (when the background is blurry) it creates makes up for that flaw.

My zoom lens is my Canon 24-70mm 2.8. I use this lens when it’s not easy to move around, such as births and weddings. This lens is tack sharp and just good to have. I like using this camera lens for some of my trips with the family.

I also use the YN560 IV speed light (flash). It is cheap and easy to use. I used to leave it mostly at home but now carry it with me anywhere I go. It has come in handy many times during in home newborn sessions when the natural light wasn’t ideal.

Of course my bag has a few memory cards and batteries as well. I once showed up to a shoot with a empty battery and I can tell you, I won’t make that mistake twice. I will always have backups with me.

I carry a few pens, some change, a lens cleaning cloth and some business card in my bag as well.

I also get asked what camera I use for my personal use. I have the Canon G7x for more adventurous trips. This camera has been with us to Vietnam, kayaking across a lake and climbing a mountain. It’s small but mighty. I love that the screen can flip around, which makes making YouTube videos super easy. I can also use it manually which is something I really was looking for in a point and shoot camera.

So there you have it. Are you a photographer? Amateur or Professional? What’s in YOUR bag?

Hacked!

What happened? December 19th I woke up, grabbed my cell phone and checked my FB. I couldn’t log in, which isn’t unusual because sometimes I am logged in with my husbands account and it takes me a few tries to get my passwords right. Who can remember a billion passwords to a billion different websites? Anyways, after two tries I put my phone down and decided it was just to early and I am not thinking right. Later that morning, I checked again and I couldn’t log in again. I searched through my emails to see if FB sent me a notice. Maybe I violated some of their rules, but what would could that be… a thousand questions are running through my head. I finally find an email in my spam folder. “Someone tried to log in to your account at 2:28am”. The emails gave me a link to change my password. I clicked that link and I got a notice that the link has expired. This can’t be true. I tried again! Same thing, this link has expired! I look closer and I notice that the hacker changed my email address to his (let’s just pretend its a he, ok?) address. I can only see the first letter and the last for “security reasons”. I try a few more times and eventually I get a message to take a photo of my ID and send a new email address that I haven’t used before. I do that. 4 weeks go by! 4 long weeks! I wake up one morning and get an email saying that someone hacked my account and here is a link to fix everything. I click the link. And guess what? IT EXPIRED! I try again. Same message. I go to my FB app and don’t see my account anymore. I log in to my husbands and try to find my account and it is gone. Just gone. 13 + years of memories gone. I start panicking, crying and yes swearing but there is nothing I can do. I tried to contact FB again and just get the same responds as before, upload your ID and wait. After some research on the WWW I come to the realization that once a hacker deletes your account there is nothing you can do! It is gone.

I forgot to mention but while I waited for FB to review my account, the hackers charged FB ads to my PayPal. I did get refunded for those.

So what does this mean? My pictures and memories are gone. I loved looking back every day what we did that day in previous years. My friends are “gone”. And my biz page Sonja B Photography is gone as well. Over 2300 followers gone. All my photography gone. Well, if you click on the link, it is still there but since my personal account vanished in thin air I no longer have access to this page. Again I tried contacting FB but there is nothing they can do, nor do they care.

How can you help? Please hop over to my new page The real Sonja B and like my page. Invite your friends to like my page. Even share this post and beg people to like my page…. I was just kidding about the begging but you could. Just sayin’. And if you are a friend on FB, look me up and sent me a friend request. I am now Sonja McGill instead of Sonja Bennett McGill. If you are a client and want to be FB send me a friend request!

What have I learned? I learned about two way authentication. Which I have set up for my new FB Page. Sometimes we must learn the hard way.