Monahans Sandhills

we moved to austin in september of 2011, only knowing one friend that we had met during our initial visit a few months prior. we were quickly introduced to an excellent group of friends who showed us some great times. we spent the next several months meeting more fun folks and exploring all this great city has to offer, but eventually our itchy feet returned and it was time to see more of this beautiful state. our first trip was to monahans state park out in west texas. this was our first real experience with the vastness of texas. we were so accustomed to driving in the northeast where seven hours on the road would put you through six different states. now the six hour drive from austin to monahans only gets you through a tiny portion of one state.

this was the beginning of our texas adventures, and was the initial spark that led to this america y'all project and the words and photos that go along with it. it has been a year and some change since our first visit and we felt it was time to head back.

a lot more pictures by clickin' here

Palo Duro State Park

cruisin' down the open road sun shining bright in the big texas sky, two pups enjoying the breeze in the back seat, a beautiful wife as my co-pilot, and our good friend shakey graves playing loud on the stereo, can life get any better than this? we're heading up to palo duro near amarillo for a weekend of hiking and camping and i can't wipe this giant grin off my face, things are just too perfect. two thousand thirteen has thus far been an endless stream of camping, adventures, friends and fun. but in the not too distant past things were not as wonderful.

the tail end of two thousand and twelve had me feeling awful. a persistent pain in my stomach had me down for the count and even though we still spent our days enjoying the outdoors i could barely make it through a mild hike without needing to take a break. after dropping a substantial amount of weight without trying, it was time see a doctor. crohns disease. i won't go into detail here, but if you do a quick search you'll see how unpleasant it is, especially for someone who enjoys spending their time outside.

i was quickly started on a regimen of various pills and steroids to try to get it in check. still extremely sick through our end of the year voyage to the grand canyon i was starting to worry about what might be in store for me. and then all of the sudden i started to feel better, whether it was the medicine(which i still take) or not i'm not quite sure. day by day i was starting to feel like my old self.

 after so many months of being sick now that i'm finally feeling healthy again i cannot contain my energy and excitement for life. we have slowly been revisiting the state parks that we explored while i was sick now that i feel like i can fully enjoy them, so if you see some duplicate posts on here don't hold it against me.

i have always been what you would call a glass half full kind of person, now that glass is always full and i couldn't ask for anything else. life is good, life is fun, life is easy.

in the words of the late warren zevon, "enjoy every sandwich."

click here for more photos.

 

Developed - Caprock Canyons

in

shot on: kodak portra 800

i spent all day at caprock canyons shooting a roll of fuji, when i got to shot 36 the spool kept spinning. i opened the back of the camera to find a jumbled mess of film, it most not have caught when i first loaded it. i quickly loaded another roll of film and tried to rattle off some shots before the sun went down, here are a few of the photos that i managed to get.

Field Trip - Bastrop State Park

in

rollin' down the highway headed to our new home in austin smoke filled the evening sky, offering an oddly beautiful sunset tinged with sadness and destruction. helicopters in the sky, firetrucks lining the backroads, make shift churches set up offering some respite for those battling the blazes, these were our first images of texas. it was labor day weekend of 2011 and while we were ready to start our new life in austin the worst wildfire in the states history was raging a few towns over. the hardest hit was bastrop and for the first time since moving to texas we went to the state park there this past weekend. a year and a half later the damage caused by the fires is still very real and very evident.

 

 

Field Trip - Return to Mustang Island

in

mustang island has sort of become a vacation from our vacations. when we want to get away for the weekend but don't feel like a long drive or long hike we head to the coast. and much like i spoke of last week, camping on the beach still feels like a dream to us. growing up on the east coast we only saw this sort of thing in movies, and now it's become an integral part of our summer months here in texas. swim, relax, fire, food, camp; these are the only things that we need to concern ourselves with while here. i didn't take my camera out much this weekend, but here are a few photos.