Cappadocia, Turkey Hot Air Balloons | Fairy Chimneys | Türkiye Travel

A rocky landscape of natural wonders and human aptitude, Cappadocia is Turkey's very own fairy-tale kingdom. Initially shaped by volcanic eruption and erosion, locals and religious refugees worked the already-breathtaking topography into an impressive network of underground chambers, tunnels, and cities thousands of years ago.

Now a World Heritage Site, Cappadocia's rich and diverse cultural and political history is enough to attract anyone to the region — but what brings some to Cappadocia these days is the chance to see it from a hot air balloon. I was one of those travellers and got to experience Cappadocia from the sky!

With fairy chimneys and pillars, river valleys, and cliffs, the region is certainly a magnificent sight to behold from the air.

I filmed the footage on my GoPro and iphone and edited it in Adobe Premier!

Autumn at Oz Roadtrip - Day 2 - Land of Oz Theme Park on Beech Mountain in North Carolina (NC)

My friend Katie and I travelled down to North Carolina to attend one of the world’s largest Wizard of Oz festivals! You can climb (or take the ski lift) up to Beech Mountain and take a stroll down the yellow brick road during the annual Autumn at Oz Festival.

Once a fully functioning theme park high in the mountains of North Carolina, the Land of Oz suffered a major fire in 1975. The park underwent reconstruction under new management, but eventually shut down permanently in 1980.

However, in 1988, the park's retired employees began an annual reunion which blossomed into what is now called the Autumn at Oz Festival. As a result, even more of the park has become preserved and restored through the years.

This unique event lets you meet all your favorite characters from the Land of Oz and visit the Emerald City. There are even live performances to enjoy along the way! I dressed as Dorothy for. the event...so I was able to sneak into a few 😛

I shot this video on my iphone 13 and GoPro Fusion. I then edited it in Adobe Premier. I also made artifacts in Adobe After Effects and Photoshop.

Fall 2021: Day 1 -Autumn at Oz Roadtrip - Dinosaur Land & Roanoke Star Road Side Attraction - White Post, Virginia

Heading to Beech mountain, North Carolina for the Autumn at Oz Fest in 2021. This is Day 1 of that trip, where we stopped in Virginia for a fun road side attraction -- Dinosaurland!! This combines two of my favorite things -- dinosaurs and sculptures. Just about all the dinosaurs (and don't forget King Kong and the GIANT shark!) look like poorly sculpted monsters from the 70s --but they are amazing. If you like fun you need to stop here and take as many fun pictures as we did.

We then continued on to the Roanoke Star -- a roadside attraction for the star city of the south. It hosts a 100 foot star -- the largest illuminated man-made star. WHOA.

I shot this video on my iphone 13 and GoPro Fusion. I then edited it in Adobe Premier.

June 4, 2022: Apostle Islands Sea Caves Kayaking - Lake Superior - Wisconsin

While travelling state #35 - Wisconsin, I had a blast kayaking the Apostle Islands Red Cliffs and Purple Sea Caves on Lake Superior. Superior’s Apostle Islands are off the coast of Bayfield Wisconsin, the northernmost part of the state. These islands are one of Wisconsin’s most spectacular natural features and are known to kayakers worldwide. It remains a hidden jewel of the Great Lakes for many others. It's a total of 22 islands that cover over 400 square miles!

I shot this video on my GoPro and edited it in Adobe Premier. Added skills-bonus: filmed a lot of the footage while holding my camera in my mouth while paddling. ☻

May 24-31, 2021: Ohio (state 33)

My Ohio trip started out like any other...just taking random pictures and video...but then a few days in when I was in Canal Winchester being let into THREE (3!) museums that were not open...I thought I should be filming this stuff! So, I started capturing everything I did, and playing a fun game to see what I could remember after doing something in a quick-ish summary. I had a lot of fun with myself on this solo adventure, and did not mind talking to myself everywhere I went. After all, I am my own best friend. Speaking of best friends - and twins - Kdubs joined me for some of the trip, so check out her special appearances.

On a technical note, I decided to create an animated map to show where I was travelling...so that map appears as a transition from town to town. It is also a LONG video, given that I filmed everything...but I added timestamps so that you can jump around - watch on YouTube to be able to click on the times in the video description or pinned comment. Lots of fun in Ohio!

Video footage and pictures shot on my iphone. Edited in Adobe Premier and Adobe After Effects.

June 5, 2021: Wawarsing, NY: Stony Kill Falls & Lake Minnewaska

Met up with my friend Beth - who I have not seen since March 2020 because she lives in NYC and is an ER nurse [ Thanks Beth :) ]. Had a fun day exploring Wawarsing in the Hudson Valley. We hiked in Stony Kill Park to see the Stony Kills Falls with her Pomeranian, Grayson. We then headed over to Lake Minnewaska, where everyone asked us if they could swim in the lake. I let everyone know that I was **ok** with them doing so...but they needed to watch out for...the snakes in the lake!!

Video footage and pictures shot on my iphone. Edited in Adobe Premier and Adobe After Effects.

2020: A Journey of the Mind

What a year. The year where my big trip was to Alabama and then from the confines of my apartment with no human contact, I managed to break my first bone (a toe) and get a hole in my retina that I needed to get an emergency laser repair for. I guess when you’re not traveling around the world, the body needs some excitement. At the beginning of the pandemic, I embraced zoom life - was even excited for it as suddenly I could attend ANY conference or club meeting (no matter how small) that was being held anywhere in the world - whereas before you could not unless you were in person. But after failed attempts of trying to date online and then having no human contact until my eye betrayed me...zoom quickly became fake news in my eye(s). I was going to call this video “2020: The year I only went to Alabama, or I zoomed through 2020 like I zoomed through Alabama, or 2020: Covidiots are everywhere. But I decided I was on the wrong path-Ogen. Hardy-har-har.

All joking aside, when I finished the video and watched it, I realized not only did I make a ridiculous amount of zoom backgrounds, but DESPITE everything I had a pretty decent year. My twin Kdubs joined me in making some rad videos, directed by our triplet Kathleen squared. I got to attend some amazing events, ran a personalized apple watch campaign using Artificial Intelligence, taught myself animation, got back into programming, messed around with game development in unity and electronics with an Arduino, and toyed around with stop motion. I redid my office and now I am a happy puppy with all the whiteboards, got to guest speak at a master’s data science class and several other company’s events about a passion of mine - privacy, and managed to do some local exploring. And as for my eye, I think it was just trying to help me out in fulfilling my lifelong dream to become a pirate...but I’m glad I stopped that because this year’s theme was that of space - astronaut life - not pirate life - for me. So, I guess 2020 was a time for me to turn lemons into lemonade. But, as they say in Alabama, this lemonade was no Chick-fil-A.

I created this video in Adobe Premier -- started out with some pictures in an iphone memory, but it cut off a lot of things I wanted to showcase and zoomed into too many images, so I edited it myself.

January 2020: Alabama

State 32: Alabama - fun long weekend traveling along the civil rights trail and ending at MLK historic site in Atlanta, GA. Highly recommend everyone take this trip through Montgomery, Selma, and Birmingham visiting the museums and hearing history from the people who were part of the civil rights movement in the 50s and 60s.

This video began on my iphone as a ”memory”, but then I did some edits in Adobe Premier.

Oct-Nov 2019: Spain, Romania, and Bulgaria

I spent a weekend in Madrid, Spain. I then hopped on over to Romania for a fun adventure and Halloween night at Dracula's castle! I also went down to Bulgaria for the day, where my tour guide almost left a couple at the border. He did drive away without them a few times during the trip...

This video I made in Adobe Premier. I wanted to see if creating the video myself was more satisfying than just using the iphone auto-generation for a video. It was -- I had complete control over being able to choose which parts of my picture I wanted cropped, if at all.

September 2019: West Virginia

State 30: A fun short trip down to West Virginia. We stopped in Dillsburg, PA before continuing on to West Virginia. Explored Harper's Ferry National Historic Park, Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, Beckley exhibition coal mine, New River Bridge, the Lost World Caverns, and The Antietam National battlefield in Maryland.

This video began on my iphone as a ”memory”, but then I did some minor edits in Adobe Photoshop and Premier. Not for the ghost picture of course...that one is real!

May-June 2019: Utah & Colorado

States 28-29: This was such a fun trip. I covered Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Arches National Park , Mesa Verde National Park, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Royal Gorge Bridge and America's highest zip-line at 1,200 feet above the Arkansas River, St Elmo ghost town, Colorado National Monument, Dinosaur National Monument, Bingham Copper Mine, and Salt Lake City. And of course, some random stops along the way. My favorite add-on might have been the Tunnel Drive Trail in Cannon City, UT.

This video is a hybrid between the iphone auto-video and my edits in Adobe Premier.

September 2018: North & South Dakota, Wyoming, & Montana

States 24-27: America the Beautiful! I must have driven over 24 hours in the week, but had a blast. In South Dakota, explored the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, and the Mammouth SIte. In Wyoming: Devil's Tower, Independence Rock, Grand Teton National Park, and Yellowstone. In Montana, Pompeys Pillar. In North Dakota, Theodore Roosevelt National Park. And of course...some random things along the way! If anyone goes to Grand Teton, I highly recommend the Teton Science Schools (TSS) Wildlife Expeditions Tour at sunrise. That is where I saw the moose!

This video is 100% iphone made. I'm including it because this was the first time I realized the iphone had that feature, and it is what inspired me to want to make video's of future trips. What a fun way to save memories! I had already been learning Adobe Premier as I wanted to edit things I was writing and directing, like Biohackers, and you can see where I took this idea by watching the other videos on this page.