Dorothy Photo Shoot with Amen Photography

How amazing is this photo?  What an adventure we had in the making of the Wizard of Oz Dorothy photo shoot part one.  Imagine two mini vans, seven children, no cell service and walky talkies that died after ten minutes.

I woke up at 6 am Monday morning of spring break to put my kids in the car for our photo shoot road trip.  I wanted to get to Auburn early enough to have a hike with a friend I hadn't seen in years, before beginning our caravan adventure with Ari from Amen.  Our departure time was delayed an hour and a half due to the full on blizzard outside my house.  Yes... I said blizzard.  Thankfully we were headed out of the storm towards our destination and after a Starbucks and a bag of donuts we were off.

A nice hike in the canyons of Auburn, California with long time friend Heather was a great way to start our day and get a little exercise before the extensive road trip that loomed ahead of us.  Technically our 'jaunt' should have taken us 1 hour and 36 minutes via highway 49 from Auburn, CA to Jackson, CA.  Moral of this story? Assume you will have no internet connection and print out directions before you leave.  The website we found that described the poppy field said it was along side the highway just south of Jackson.  We thought we should double check with someone in town for added assistance in locating our much sought after poppies.  Ari ran into an office building where the front desk person said to turn on old highway 49 and to go through the old down town.  This all resembles what we had previously read so about 40 minutes later we found ourselves at Daffadil Hill.

Which was closed for the season.

And....as you can probably guess from the name... is a hill of daffodils.  NOT poppies.

So when people pulled up behind us, they suggested that we follow the road they came in on because in fact it leads back to highway 49.

Oh great!, A "short cut".

So off we go down this curvy road for.... an hour... To find our selves indeed back on highway 49 and the town of Jackson.  We drive through the regular town of Jackson (not old town) and are south a few miles when we start to wonder if this poppy field exists...at all.

By now it is getting late.  Shadows are long and we are loosing our light.  We are desperate.  I pull over and we decide to give up and go back to someone's yard where we think we saw a few poppies.

And then we see it.  High on cliffs at the side of a highway.  Poppies.

Although most have closed for the evening, there are still a few in  patches of sun light.

So here we are...the mini van brigade.  Pulled to the side of a highway with 7 kids so we can get "the shot."

This is poor Ari cleaning the second explosion of vomit from her son.  The first car seat filling heaves were about 2 hours prior so just imagine how her meandering road trip through the hills of California was filled with the lovely stench of puke.  I offered to help...by tossing her a bag of wipes and standing up wind.

She got "the shot"

And many others...

Of course I forgot the Dorothy basket at home, and I totally blanked on the lipstick and touch of mascara that we meant to give her.... But I'm in love with these photos!  This is just part one as we will do something with a "yellow" brick road here in town and your little dog too...ah ha ha (that's the kackle of a witch btw).

Back on the road towards our seperate evening destinations, we discovered a "patch" of poppies planted in the front landscaping of a church in Jackson where Ari grabbed a couple more shots.

Only two more hours of driving for each of us after the shoot.  I turned around for Auburn to visit with my sister and Ari headed for the bay area where two lots down from the house she was staying she spotted a field of poppies.

 Also beautiful of course but nothing as special as our field in Jackson.

Please check out Ari's website Amen Photography and her Facebook fan page.  While you're there, check out the family photo shoot we did with her last month!  If you've been following me on Facebook, you may have heard about my big special trip to Europe where Ari will be my travel buddy!