Georgetown Fair Queen: 2014 Holiday Pictures with Queen Desiree Bainbridge

As the official photographers of the Georgetown Fair Queen we get to do lots of great pictures with Miss Georgetown Fair 2014 Desiree Bainbridge. This year we were excited to do a set of holiday pictures that Queen Desiree could use in Christmas cards for friends and sponsors of the Georgetown Fair Queen Pageant. We had a lot of ideas for these pictures so we hope you love them as much as we loved shooting them with Queen Desiree. And we were especially glad we went with a role of white seamless instead of a cloth background with Karen pulled out the fake snow! With the new year approaching fast, Happy Holidays from your friends at Josh and Joe Travels!

Georgetown Fair Queen: 2014 Queen Desiree Bainbridge at Festival of Trees in Danville

The Georgetown Fair Queen is one of the busiest fair queens in Illinois, and this year we were thrilled to be with 2014 Desiree Bainbridge the weekend she visited Festival of Trees at Palmer Arena in Danville, Illinois. We'd seen some pictures, but as the Georgetown Fair Queen's official photographers we had yet to experience the annual event for ourselves. So this year we cooked up a plan with directors Karen and Jill to start the day bright and early for a photoshoot at the fairgrounds, and then spend the day with Queen Desiree at the Festival of Trees and be with her that night in Danville to get a few shots of her in the night parade.  Queen Desiree worked the ticket table at the festival, but we were most excited about her appearance at the book tree for story hour.  It was pretty incredible how the entire floor of Palmer Arena was transformed into a winter wonderland, and it sure is the right place to get your fill of Christmas trees and gingerbread houses.  Festival of Trees is just one of many appearances Desiree Bainbridge will make during her year as Miss Georgetown Fair 2014 so keep checking back to follow her adventures with Josh and Joe Travels!

Kansas Road Trip 2014: Kansas City Sauer Castle

Sauer Castle in Kansas City is on the historic registry and some even say its haunted, so we couldn't pass up the chance to go look for ourselves. And looking is about all you can do since the property is closed to the public and there are no tours. The "castle" was built in the 19th century and still looks pretty cool today even though it has fallen into serious disrepair. We read online about some recent thefts and even a few efforts to restore the castle, but when we drove by it appeared completely vacant. There are a lot of ghost stories online but most of them seem to be more local legend than fact. As far as we can find online no credible ghost investigators have been allowed inside so there is mainly a lot of speculation. Joe found out about Sauer Castle doing online research about haunted places in Kansas City so don't be surprised if you see it pop up in your searches. Sauer Castle is located in a pretty isolated little area near Rosedale between interstate 35 and the Kansas River, and the hills and winding roads added a lot of anticipation to an adventure that ended with Sauer Castle behind a tall fence full of no trespassing signs, so we took a couple pictures from the street with astonishingly the same view as most of the other pictures you'll find online. We had a lot of fun exploring it though, which is something we like to do a lot at Josh and Joe Travels!

Kansas Road Trip 2014: Kansas City Riverfront Heritage Trail

We visited Kansas City this year in the fall in what must have been one of the prettiest weekends we've every been in Kansas, so the morning we went to the city market we couldn't help but walk around the neighborhood a little and explore. Since the city market is very near the river it probably won't surprise many locals that we ended up at the Riverfront Heritage Trail, and boy did we wish we had bikes. River towns like Kansas City have a lot of history and you can read about some of it on the signs along the trail, but even if you aren't into history you'll still love walking or biking the corridor. And crossing the pedestrian bridge is an adventure of its own. Even if you think you're not afraid of heights we double dog dare you to the elevator, which even though we've heard quieter freight trains move through Emporia, it did get us up and down in one piece. The fightin' conchs tend to stick out like a crimson thumb in KC, so be sure to wave if you are on the riverfront trail and happen to see Josh and Joe Travels!

Kansas Road Trip 2014: Kansas City Farmers Market

The historic City Market in downtown Kansas City is home to one of the biggest and best weekend farmers markets in the midwest, and we were thrilled to be in town on a weekend in season to check it out.  We've been visiting Kansas City for a long time but this was our first visit to the city market. We loved the long rows of vendors with fresh produce and vegetables, and it was great to see so many small local restaurants at the market, so this is the place to go on a weekend morning if you need a great snack. This place also has a bit of a flea market atmosphere, and we loved the antique cars, so there really is something for everyone at the City Market in Kansas City. Keep checking back to see what else we love to do in Kansas City when Josh and Joe Travels!

Cruisin the Heartland Car Show in Elizabethtown, Kentucky

The Cruisin the Heartland car show in Elizabethtown, Kentucky is one of the biggest car shows we've ever been to, and with hundreds of classic cars lining streets it's a summer event not to be missed. Instead of being held in a park, or more often a parking lot, this show literally lines up cars on the streets of downtown Elizabethtown. And they don't stop there: every time we turned a corner there was an alley or parking lot filled with more cars. The best part is that the entire show is free to the public, so if you and your family love looking at classic cars this is the place for you. We loved all the classic Mustangs, especially the ones with the front bench seat which are somewhat hard to find these days. Even the guys from AutoGeek showed up for Crusin the Heartland, and they put on one of the biggest car shows in Florida at their home in Stuart.  And if you know anything about Josh and Joe, it's that we are a little car crazy ourselves, so if you happen to see the cleanest crown vic in the 305, be sure to wave when you see Josh and Joe Travels!

Georgetown Fair Queen: 2014 Queen Desiree Bainbridge on Labor Day

As the official photographers of 2014 Miss Georgetown Fair Desiree Bainbridge, we don't just spend the week with her at the fair and take the rest of the year off.  We are part of Queen Desiree's entourage, and on Labor Day that meant we were with her in Westville for the Labor Day Parade.  And it was a bit more of an adventure than we had expected.  The Westville parade is one of the biggest Labor Day parades we've been to in recent years, and we weren't really expecting the way the crowd spills out into the streets.  So if you ever see us carrying far more gear than it looks like we could possibly need, it means we've gone with the Joe approach of taking everything because we never fully know what to expect at an event.  And if you only see us with a single camera, it probably means Josh didn't take Joe's advice.

Sure enough, we had just about every piece of gear we own in the car that day because after the parades we went back to the Georgetown fairgrounds for a portrait session with Queen Desiree.  We shot her official state pictures and a few other things for ads and promotions.  We've spent a lot of time photographing fair queens, and Miss Georgetown is the busiest fair queen we've ever met.  Queen Desiree sat for pictures for a few hours with us which wrapped up a very busy weekend of appearances and community events.  We can't wait to show you what Queen Desiree does next right here at Josh and Joe Travels!

Georgetown Fair Queen: Fair Week with 2014 Miss Georgetown Fair Desiree Bainbridge

We had a blast this year at the 2014 Georgetown Fair and we couldn't be more proud to be the official photographer of Miss Georgetown Fair 2014 Desiree Bainbridge.  One of the best parts of being the Georgetown Fair Queen is getting to drive a convertible during fair week from Danville Toyota, and this year they surprised Queen Desiree with a Porsche Boxster.  With a top speed of around 160mph, Queen Desiree could have gotten from zero to 60 in about five seconds if she put her stiletto to the floor, so we sure are glad she didn't leave Josh and Joe Travels in the dust!

Miss Georgetown Fair Queen 2014 Desiree Bainbridge had a busy week at the Georgetown Fair, and believe it or not, she is really just getting started.  Queen Desiree has a full appearance schedule this fall, so keep checking back to see some pictures of her in parades and other community events.  And the Miss Illinois County Fair Queen Pageant will be here before we know it, so we'll be doing Queen Desiree's official state pictures this fall, too.

We'll be spending a lot of time with Queen Desiree, but we've got some pretty fun fall travel plans of our own, so keep checking back to see how Josh and Joe Travels!