If you’ve been reading the recent posts here on the blog, you know that the past few weeks have had us bouncing all over the country, via air instead of highway. We left the bus two weeks ago in Eugene, Oregon and first headed to Orlando for the Photoshop World Conference & Expo. From Orlando, we flew to Denver where I presented my Photographic Artistry Kelby training seminar. I always like visiting the Denver area and we actually stayed for three nights. What’s funny is that we flew in on April 20th, which I later learned is some kind of “marijuana holiday” and wow… the Denver crowd REALLY likes to celebrate! There were huge crowds of VERY happy people all over town that day. Lots of tie-dye, to say the least!

While we were in Denver, we also got to hang out with my friend Peter, from OnOne Software. OnOne makes really great photography software to go along with Photoshop, Lightroom and Aperture (and standalone software too). In fact, this past week, OnOne launched their first photography app, Perfect Black & White. They have a booth at all of my seminar tour locations and Denver happens to be where Peter lives. The last time we hung out in Denver, Peter picked out a great restaurant called Root Down, and Karen and I loved it so much that we returned there this time!

When we arrived in Denver, the weather was sunny and in the 50s… very nice! The sun was even shining as we walked over to the convention center the morning of my seminar. Then, in a matter of hours, the temperature dropped and the snow started falling. It didn’t stop until we flew out the next morning! This may have been the only time we actually saw snow this year, despite the fact that we wintered up north. Karen was thinking she was in the clear (she hates snow, or anything cold) since it was the third week in April. Luckily, we had no problem taking off.

After Denver, we flew to Philly. Karen’s family lives in southern New Jersey, so we spent several days with them. The highlight was definitely Saturday. Since Karen and I had a very tiny wedding in Hawaii, we wanted to have a larger gathering where extended friends, family and those who couldn’t fly to Hawaii could come and celebrate with us. Well, let me tell you, Karen’s parents sure know how to throw a party. They reserved a private yacht that cruised up and down the river in Philadelphia. We also had the PERFECT day. It was about 73 degrees and sunny… the best day that area has seen so far this year!  The yacht had two levels, both with indoor and outdoor areas. The bottom level had a good sized dining room, where lunch and cake was served. The upper level had an indoor bar room that opened up to a beautiful outdoor deck with high-top cocktail tables and an area for dancing. The staff was just great, making sure everyone had their share of appetizers and drinks. Everyone boarded around 11:30 and we began cruising at noon. We loved that it was such an unconventional wedding reception. It was so much more relaxed and fun, whereas so many receptions are so formal and bound to all of the traditional wedding customs. Everyone that came had a great time, and people were telling us that is was like being on a mini vacation. We really couldn’t have asked for anything better. It was the perfect day.

Above is the Freedom Elite Yacht, on which we had our wedding reception. Those are Karen’s parents, who threw us this amazing party.

This is our incredible wedding cake, made by Karen’s cousin, Catherine. I shoot Canon and Karen shoots Nikon (competing brands) so we thought this would make for a great cake concept.

Karen’s mom and brother, David, on the dance floor.

Me and Karen at the party. This is pretty classic for us. She loves the sun, and I need the shade!

From NJ, Karen and I fly to Palm Springs for the Palm Springs Photo Fest. I teach two classes and I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the instructors there. More to come!