Benjamin Smith

NYC

This weekend saw my first trip to New York City. The occasion? Galactic, in a jazz club in Manhattan. Overall a fun trip. New York certainly has its charm, but there is so much trash everywhere. Galactic was incredible and we had the best seats in the house to watch the drummer. He ended upContinue reading “NYC”

Colorado

October saw me visit Colorado for a wedding. Post wedding I spent two nights in Frisco and had absolutely peak color.

Washington State: Part Two

Part two of this adventure moves back over to the mainland to experience some stunning hikes in North Cascades National Park. First afternoon in the park led to typical entrance sign pictures and an absolute banger of a first image. Diablo Lake at sunset just stuns. Nothing describes the mountains, sun rays, and teal ofContinue reading “Washington State: Part Two”

Washington State: Part One

It’s been a long time since I wrote or posted anything, in fact, I have not written since I moved from Squarespace to WordPress. Ever since work sent me out to Seattle I’ve been quite enamored with Washington. The Pacific Northwest really is totally different from anything I have ever experienced. Anyways, this trip hadContinue reading “Washington State: Part One”

Making Bacon

I bought some Prague Power #1 a few months ago because I wanted to make sausage. Bacon ended up being the first use. Turns out it borders on the easy side of straightforward. I ended up buying a whole pork belly from Costco for about $30. One third of it became rellions from the recipeContinue reading “Making Bacon”

Filled King Cake

I finally tried out a cream cheese filling for my king cake recipe. Recipe is below. It makes enough for two king cakes. I rolled out my dough pretty thin, smeared the filling along an edge, and rolled it over to seal in the filling. Then I dusted the dough with cinnamon and finished rollingContinue reading “Filled King Cake”

Pinkham Notch

I have been taking my sweet time writing about all of my New Hampshire camping trip. I don’t think I’ll finish the detailed posts like I did for Acadia. The last few days of my trip were on the east side of Mount Washington, with two nights in Dolly Copp Campground. The first stop wasContinue reading “Pinkham Notch”

The Great Conjunction

In case you missed it, Jupiter and Saturn were especially close in the sky a few weeks ago. I had the lucky opportunity to be in a photogenic location and snagged a nice picture at the Mandeville Lakefront in Fontainebleau State Park. ISO 800 | f/4 | 1/8 | 70mm

Franconia Notch – Artists Bluff

The second full day of my trip saw a very sore Ben with a very unhappy toe. I’d decided the night before that there was no way I could do Franconia Ridge Trail. I spent a lazy morning sitting in the field by the campground having breakfast and taking pictures. I tried hiking along theContinue reading “Franconia Notch – Artists Bluff”

Franconia Notch – Cannon Mountain

I had a lovely drive up. It just kept getting prettier and prettier. New York was nice but the best part was Route 7 over the mountain into Vermont. The border is right at the top and it opens up into a giant sweeping valley. The valley was bright red and orange with low cloudsContinue reading “Franconia Notch – Cannon Mountain”