Covered Bridges of Madison and Parke Counties Photo Excursion, October, 2009

For the first time I'm offering a very special photo excursion this year, to photograph covered bridges.  Pretty much everyone has heard of the Bridges of Madison County, Iowa and those will be part of this trip, but we're not stopping there.  We will also make a stop in Pella, IA to enjoy some of the Dutch architecture, including a working windmill in the middle of town.  We will then continue on to Parke County, Indiana, the Covered Bridge Capitol of the World, with 30 covered bridges.  We will spend 3 days shooting the covered bridges (and other sights) there.  After that we'll make a 1-day stop in Branson, Missouri.

All of this is planned for the first full week in October in hopes of catching some turning leaves with these great sights.

Of course I realize that not everyone can jump on the bus for a 7-day long excursion covered 2000 miles, so you do have an option of registering for the Madison County leg of the trip only.  I will have a second vehicle and driver to take some of the participants back to Wichita on Sunday.  The others will continue on with me for the next 5 days of travel. 

Those of you who participate for all 7 days will have a good deal more opportunity to see some color, since we will travel through a lot of well-forrested area.  We will also spend a day touring the lovely Pella, Iowa including a visit to the Historic Village and the Vermeer Mill.  This Dutch windmill is used to grind wheat and there's even a bakery in town that makes bread from this product.  

For the Madison County Only portion of the trip, we will leave early on Saturday morning and have breakfast and lunch during our travel.  We expect to be in Madison county and shooting bridges by about 1 o'clock in the afternoon, so we'll have lots of time for photography before spending the night in the area.  We will again start out early on Sunday morning and shoot the bridges right after breakfast.  After that you will be heading back to Wichita and have lunch and dinner during that trip.

We will be doing a lot of traveling around in Parke County to reach as many of the bridges as possible.  We are going during this week to get there ahead of the Covered Bridge Festival.  This is when all the bridges are cleaned up to look their best, and it puts us there ahead of the big crowds that make it impossible to photograph the bridges during the festival.

When we get to Branson, you will be free to do as you please during the over-night stay and I will not have any events booked for that night (Oct 8th).  We will however be up and on the road before dawn so we can get to the sunrise below the dam at Table Rock Lake.  You can optionally sleep in and we'll come back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and have breakfast.  We will then head out and do some scenic roads to see what we can shoot on our way back to Wichita on Friday.  You should not expect to be back in town before 8 or 9 that night.  

• Transportation.
• All meals.
• Lodging (double-occupancy, single rooms upgrade available).
• Admission to the Pella Historical Village Musuem and Windmill Tour.
• Snacks and water are provided during our travels.
• Tutoring: I am available to help you with your photography throughout the trip.