quinn's place

baby kai! first baby boy of my friends, carly & cam. this kid is destined to be so cool.

he is such an adorable little dot and they just love him soooooo much. i'm so glad i was able to take photos of him while he was still so tiny and insanely cute.

i usually don't take many portraits or photos of people. i've done it, but its not my all-time favorite thing. i'll take couples or engagement photos for friends as long as they're aware that the process is pretty awkward if they're not used to being in front of the camera. "what do i do with my hands?????" photographers who are skilled at directing & capturing humans are amazing to me. some people are just SO brilliant at it while i mostly feel like a dur-dur head in the process.

HOWEVER, i had an epiphany while taking these photos of kai. and that is that i ENJOY taking photos of babies! babies are just downright cute and the photos will inevitably be cute. you don't have to tell them to do anything or put their hands anywhere or look a certain way. i thought i would stray away from portrait photography for the most part, but baby kai changed my feels on that subject which is surprising to me and exciting.

also carly & cam are just the coolest, chillest people and so easy to be around. so their casual backyard baby photo shoot was relaxing & enjoyable for all of us :)

^^^ i mean, look at these 3 precious peaches.

sweeeeeeeeeeet baby boyyyyy. thanks carly & cam for having me over!

this is lake tahoe.

ain't she a beaut!!?!?!?

^^^ one night during our road trip we stayed at this cute airbnb on the north end of lake tahoe! it was like a treehouse/lakehouse wonderland. not really a treehouse, but felt like one. it had SO much character and the big porch and view were just amaHzing.

our trip started out cruising through oregon where we stopped at caldera brewing in ashland.

^^^this photo is the lay of the land around the brewery. loved it.

and their food & beer is delicious!! i definitely recommend stopping there if you're passing through southern oregon.

^ waitress gal said my salad might fly away because it gets really windy out there. lol.

helloooooo mt. shasta!

driving by shasta is so cool...its just RIGHT there.

^ random photos from a place we had breakfast burritos & beermosas, and then sierra nevada brewing company for our second visit. we also stopped here headed home during our road trip down highway 101 a couple years ago.

camping at oroville lake, california. those are "floating campsites" for rent, aka little house boats.

cheddar bus was having a great time on her first big trip of the year.

we thought this was lake tahoe at first.. we were both like hmmmm it must just look reeally far away from up here.....

^ it was actually donner lake. it was pretty!

then we found tahoe for suuuuuure. iss huuuuge!

we got suuuper lucky with a first-come first-served campsite at fallen leaf lake right near tahoe. super lucky. we thought for sure we'd just be sleeping on the side of the road.

i'd tried to book campsites at tahoe like 3 months prior to this trip, and they were ALLLL booked. i reckon people are booking these spots a year in advance.

but fallen leaf lake was gorgeous and the campground was great and we were happy.

see? happy camper pete totally in his element.

tahoe! so blue you are!

seriously gorgeous everywhere you look. it all feels mediterranean.

but the water did not feel mediterranean. it was collllllllld cold cold.

our airbnb at crystal bay! hellooooooooo i could have sat out on that porch for the rest of my life.

lake life perfection.

we went on a really fun kayaking journey that ended up in a not so fun full submersion into the ice cold lake (twice) with all our belongings and cell phones. i won't name the name of the two-time kayak flipper, but lets just say i was veryverymad.

^ is it totally weirdo to take pics of a stranger's shower? i liked her southwest vibes + plant motif.

and suddenly, snow! on the way out of tahoe.

^ weirdass middle of nowhere spooky shoe tree.

^ most of northern california & southern oregon looks something like this. this is the part of the drive where you go straight looney toon and lose yer mind.

so then you stop to let the bus cool down, drink a brewski, and take a whiz on the side of a highway.

^^ this photo is so forrest gump to me and i love it. because pete & forrest are my faves.

the last night we stumbled upon odell lake in oregon, which was a stellar random find and perfect timing as the sun was setting! this was princess creek campground.

as usual, these trips are so so fun but go by so so fast. the cheddar bus did great with no issues this time. busdriver pete did great, too! love ya bof!

previous memorial day weekend volkswagen road trips:

here, to utah!

and here, down the west coast to san francisco!

all photos taken on my iphone 6.