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[Note: This was written on the evening of Thursday, June 14, 2007, while I was still in Raymondville. However, I'm going to have to wait to post this a few days, since I've not got access to an internet connection here.]

I have a confession to make. This won’t really come as a surprise to [some] of those who know me well, but I absolutely love visiting Rachel’s grandparents in the Rio Grande Valley. They live just outside of Raymondville, and I start to get excited inside a few months before we actually make the trek out here. Yes, I know … the Valley lacks one of the geological features that are generally a requirement for the “places Jeremy likes” label … namely mountains (specifically of the Appalachian variety), but heck … if I were going somewhere not in the mountains, this would be at the top of my list.

We’ve been here since Monday evening, and the closest I’ve come to rushing around is trying to get to a few locations to snap photos when the light was right. The following two photos are my two favorites from this particular trip.

The first is of some prickly pear cactii by the fence separating the little town of Port Mansfield from the King Ranch. I sort of stumbled on this shot … I was poking around looking for something to photograph while my father-in-law and brother-in-law were fishing, and more or less aimed the camera blindly at this large cactus, and took a long exposure shot, and ended up with this …

At least for us amateurs, getting a great shot like that while shooting blindly is rewarding. After all, most of the time (at least for me) I just get lucky while shooting things and come up with a really great shot. This next shot is the kind that (so far) has only happened to me a few times …

This one is a photo of the gin at Lyford, TX. I’d been by it a few times in the last few days, and thought to myself that it would make a really awesome shot at night with the sun having just set behind it … especially with the motion blur of a grain truck passing by.

Well, I got exactly what I was looking for, and boy am I happy with it.

Side note … I was out across the road about 35 minutes waiting for the light conditions to be just right for this shot. My poking around bothered the guys at the gin enough that they sent a fellow out in a truck to see what I was up to. I’ve sent them an 8×10 print of this photo … hopefully they’ll like it.