Top 10 Photos of 2018
We hope to highlight the beauty of the world around us, the animals the inhabit it and snapshots of moments which have been turned to memories over the past 365 days. While I was a little disappointed in the quality of this year’s photos, the year has still been filled with beauty, adventure and laughs and we are thankful to have these photos and about 2,068 others on this year’s photo roll. So in no particular order, let’s take a look back at the top 10 photos of 2018 . . .
This first photo is brought to you from Galveston Island, Texas. Being on the East Coast of Texas it was unusual for us to catch a photo like as early mornings aren’t usually our thing. However, this beautiful sky is not the result of a morning sunrise, but rather these beautiful colors and clouds were captured near the time of sunset during an after dinner, but before ice cream beach walk!
Being in Texas for all of 2018, it seems fitting that this photo of a Lone Star Landmark makes the list. While we snapped several photos of the Alamo during the day, this night time view creates more focus on the shape and construction of the Alamo which is much smaller than we imagined and located right in the heart of downtown San Antonio.
Early in the year we visited Scottsdale, Arizona and ventured up Camelback Mountain with a group of friends. Views like this kept us from reaching the summit as we found ourselves stopping to enjoy the views frequently. Let’s be honest, hearing the last third of the Cholla Trail climb was a challenging scramble over large boulders may have also kept us at about the elevation of this photo.
This prickly poppy was standing tall and proud during our visit to Aransas National Wildlife Preserve. While not shown in the photo, these flowers have their own body guards. The plant is lined with sharp prickles on its stem and leaves and if that fails to deter predators, its broken leaves and stems exude a poisonous sticky sap. This prickly poppy was much easier to photograph than its animal counterparts - javelina, alligators, frogs, turtles, birds and deer also viewed that day!
We were thrilled to see one of the most vividly colored birds in all of North America during our visit to South Padre Island, Texas. Purple Gallinules combine cherry red, sky blue, moss green, aquamarine, indigo, violet, and school-bus yellow, a color palette that blends surprisingly well with tropical and subtropical wetlands. Those long-toes at the end of those long-legs allow the Purple Gallinule to walk gingerly across lily pads - one of the few birds able to do so.
These fields of fluff could be seen for miles and we came to find out that Texas produces twenty-five percent of the United States cotton crop on roughly six million acres. The contrast of the cotton fields with the blue Texas skies made going for a “Sunday Drive” even more enjoyable.
It’s usually a good idea to stay above ground, but this photo required the camera and photographers to travel 1,000 feet underground into the Carlsbad Caverns. It’s often said that a picture doesn’t do something justice and this photo proves that to be vastly accurate. Huge. Incredible. Inspiring.
A sucker for a good reflection, this photo makes this year’s list. Our across-the-lake neighbors at Texas Lakeside RV Resort in Port Lavaca are seen in double along with a shelf of ominous clouds lurking above as well us back up at you in the reflection.
This black-bellied whistling duck practices his tight rope walking skills and keeps an eye on his next meal from above. We spotted this guy and many others while walking the grounds of the South Padre Island, Texas Convention Center and the surrounding boardwalks.
All things worked together in the creation of this photo - the grass was green, the sky was blue and the river still. The newly constructed timber truss wood covered bridge stands proudly above the Olentangy River replacing a historic steel truss bridge in Waldo, Ohio. This bridge built in 2016 is one of the end points of St. James Road, the road Betsy grew up on!
As we celebrate the last days of 2018, we are reminded of how lucky we are to see and experience things as we travel around as full-time RVers. These 10 photos provide just a small glimpse of what we got to see behind the lens this year. Our hope is that you are also able to scroll through your camera roll and enjoy as the memories come to life all over again. May your 2019 be filled with lots of reasons to say "Cheese"!
