With the day turning out to be so beautiful, I decided to continue my outdoor birthday adventures at Rock Cut State Park in Rockford, Illinois. The fall colors were ablaze, the weather was perfect, and I had a wonderful time hiking around the park enjoying Nature’s beauty.

At the center of Rock Cut is Pierce Lake… and when there’s a Lake, why not hike around it?!
Twice!!!

Love the patterns. Love the symmetry. Love the natural details all around.

Oh, hello… found a little visitor laying on the path sunning himself.

And a large wasp nest hanging out in the maple tree.

This large moss-covered tree had great textures & colors…
and for some reason, it was also over-populated with lightning bugs?!!!

This may have been one of the best sunrise bike rides ever?!!!
I apologize in advance for all of the photos… but I just couldn’t edit out any more. I’ve already deleted about a hundred photos. It was one of those mornings where I just couldn’t help myself as the sunrise continued to evolve, change and get even more beautiful as the morning minutes passed. Oh right, I’ve got to remember to pedal too…

When you have this many gray clouds in the sky, you can only capture their oppressiveness with a bigger, wider photo. Thankfully that really cool sunburst is there to compensate for all of those gray clouds, huh?!

Okay, since I’ve been on Instagram, I’ve been taking more photos with my iPhone 4S.
Just easier to post to Instagram “instantly” as intended. And I’ve noticed that the photos I get on my phone are frequently different than those on my camera. The exposure, the color, and these crazy-cool sunburst effects I keep getting?! Maybe I just need to clean the camera lens on my iPhone?… and lose these cool sunrays?… maybe not…

Who says panoramic photos need to be horizontal?!
Not me.