Troy and I have been going to Door County every winter for 5 years now.  If you know anything about Door County, you know it can be a kitschy-touristy locale in the summer.  But in the winter … it’s dead.  It’s perfect.  Nothing but a snowy landscape, a lodge with a fireplace, a couple restaurants with open doors, and maybe a good open coffeehouse too.  This year we went with some of our friends (it was so good to finally see them again!) — and although the weekend was different than usual, it was still full of the good things I love about vacation.

To me, the perfect vacation includes walking (lots and lots of walking) all day outdoors, eating at local restaurants, not being on a schedule, and stopping to read a few times at cute coffeehouses or next to a huge body of water (like a lake or an ocean :)).  Mix in a little bit of good shopping — and nothing is better to me!  My most favorite vacations have been to San Francisco, the Southwest (AZ and NM), and to several Latin American countries.  Places where the walking is great, the local food is greater, and the scenery is to die for.

I hate being on a schedule or following any sort of itinerary on vacation.  This is why I dislike tours of any sort or planned group trips put on by an agency or even National Geographic, haha. I simply want to immerse while on vacation … immerse in the local culture, cuisine and scene.  My friend, Natalie, is the greatest person to visit (in NYC) because she loves doing all the same things as me — walking around, eating, reading, drinking coffee — and there is absolutely no pressure to “do things” or to be somewhere at a certain time.  We just hang out, walk, eat, and live.  It’s awesome.

The highlight of our Door County weekend this year was definitely going out to eat and skiing (the winter substitute for walking, haha).  Our fave restaurant there is JJs La Puerta — a Mexican and all-sorts-of-other-kinds-of-food place with a great atmosphere.  Their margaritas are super good too :)

Here are a just a few pics from our weekend away:

Sometimes they just don’t care that you’re sticking a cool camera in their faces, hoping for cute expressions.

Troy and I don’t have kids.  But we spent some time with our friends’ kids in Door County over the weekend (that’s their kids in these photos).  I have to say that I give mad props to kid and family photographers  … it’s sooo not my thing, haha.  I’ve always known this about myself, and therefore I don’t take on family portrait commissions. I think it’s important to find what you truly love as a photographer, and really work at it and be your best at that one area (or in a couple areas; I love adult portrait work, too).  For me, it’s definitely weddings and engagements.  I love working with adults.  I love working with people in love and with people who love my style … and trust me as an artist.

Kids don’t do that.  Kids could care less.  And yet … I do love capturing fun candids of kids at weddings.  They do the sweetest and most hilarious things.  They run away from the camera one minute, and the next minute they are showing off for you. But you’ll never see me trying to get acceptable expressions out of multiple children at one time for a family portrait session.  I’ll be sticking to weddings.  It’s my love; it’s my thing. Will I change my mind after having kids of my own?  Probably not :)

On a photography note, I used my new 35mm 1.4L lens exclusively over the weekend.  I love the wide angle perspective and I love getting right up in people’s faces when I am shooting them … but I think my heart is still with the 50mm.  We’ll see what I think after taking the 35L for a spin (literally) during my ice skating engagement session later this week!

PS — That amazingly cute Oscar hat that you see on my friend’s daughter?  Well, she made it!  She makes tons of other great stuff, including custom designs.  You can check them out HERE, in her Etsy shop!