We made it to 5 years, cue the champagne! Or the steak...

The new year brought some big changes for the Camera Couple...

In today's episode of the CameraCouple, the duo scouts northwestern South Carolina to see if it's a place they'd like to live. Do they find their perfect spot? Will they freeze when the temperature dips? Will they drink "soda"? I can tell you, the answer is "yes" to at least one of those questions! 

A lot of people have been asking now that we finished all 50 states if we are still roaming around, and we absolutely are, but our recent trips have a bit more intention to them...

If you read the Banner Birthday blog from earlier in the year, you would have seen Cameron mentioned that he would return the favor in September for my 30th. And that he did! 

The Camera Couple is back out on the road for a little weekend warrior trip! We were headed to Hamilton Lake in South Carolina for a couple days to enjoy some good lake time. The only problem was, we picked one of the hottest weekends of the year...

The countdown has come to an end for my 50 before 30. I had started a bucket list back in 2012 when I went to college that contained the item "hit all 50 states before turning 30." I won't lie, back then I chuckled to myself thinking it would be neat if I could, but it wasn't until I met Cameron and he too shared a passion for travel and new places, that I started taking it seriously.

​If you don't know the origin of the Camera Couple, we started this blog back in May of 2016 to highlight the cross country road trip we were going to take. We had only known each other a year and truthfully didn't know what to expect. But as our time together grew, so did our love for finding new places, new states, photography, and each other. Pretty soon our whole life revolved around traveling and in 2022 Cameron accomplished 50 states and I had hit 49. That left only one, with exactly one year to do it. It was cold. It was gray. It was magnificent Alaska. 

For Christmas in 2022, Rose found an awesome deal on a couple inflatable paddleboards online. And by "awesome deal" I mean we barely paid for them! 

As many of you might know, Christmas time is a cold time of year. So we didn't get to try out our new adventure toys until the weather got a bit warmer. But finally, it was time! And we were determined to try out our new paddleboards. After a few attempts, at least...

I don't even know when my birthday is anymore (much less how old I actually am), but Rose does! And this year she decided to surprise me with a "Banner" birthday trip! That pun will make sense in a moment... 

I had no idea where we were going, and she kept the destination a surprise for months — which is a first for us. We hopped in the car, she put the address into the GPS while I looked away, and off we went into the unknown!

The final month of another year traveling the beautiful country. We couldn't just end at home, now could we? I was planning to take a maritime course in Gulfport for work, so what better way than to camp our way down south to the Gulf for the month? 

Well... it never takes long for the Camera Couple to be back out on the road. After an incredible summer stint, we came home to no AC at the house, while trying to get re-packed to go photograph a wedding on the Carolina coast, and our adventures don't even stop there. But hey, do you really wanna read a blog that's just a list of our misfortunes!? 

Fisherman's Corner is a small campground right on the edge of the Mississippi River, dividing Illinois and Iowa. We were set to stay here three days before heading off to another campground in the southern part of Illinois. While we had a blast, fate had other plans for us that cut our Big Trip a bit short. But we'll get to that! 

Heading straight east on Rt. 90 from the Badlands, we eventually made our way into the land of Vikings. We were camping on a little island in a lake in Albert Lea, Minnesota, and boy were we glad to finally see some trees and shade! It was a long time in the desert.

It was a long drive from North Dakota to Interior, South Dakota — and there definitely wasn't much to look at. At least until we got to our destination... We were on our way to the Badlands! Which was the third and final National Park visit of our Big Trip, as well as my personal favorite. And there were plenty of adventures in store for us here in South Dakota. 

What's there to do in North Dakota? Well, nothing really. But it did make up a big milestone for one of the members of the Camera Couple. Upon crossing the border, I (Cameron) have officially been to all 50 states in the U.S.! Cheers!

There's really only one road across Montana, and Rt. 90 was where we spent our time for the next three (really, two and a half) stops on the trip. It was interesting to watch the landscape change from the characteristic mountains Montana is known for back into flat rocky desert. And as you might have imagined, there were several more adventures in store for us in Big Sky Country.

I've seen pictures of Glacier National Park plastered all over social media for years, and every image looks too pretty to be real. I just had to see it for myself. And as it turns out, Glacier doesn't need filters or editing to drop jaws on social media (or in real life). It's absolutely gorgeous!

We were sad to leave Idaho, but I was very excited for the next few stops on our trip. I went on a road trip through Montana with my Dad years ago, and it instantly became one of my favorite places in the entire world. I couldn't wait to get back, and it certainly didn't disappoint! We had some of the best times of the entire trip.

It was exciting to leave the memories of Oregon and Washington behind and head back into our favorite state of the trip. But this time, there was no more desert or scorching weather. We were in Northern Idaho — and it was gorgeous!

Do you like following rules? What about listening to lengthy presentations about camping guidelines? Do you consider 1,000+ word warning signs quality decorations? If so, then the Pacific Northwest might be for you! 

After a brief stint in Wyoming, we were on to the next state of our ridiculous cross-country journey. On to Idaho! And what do you know; it's not just potatoes. In fact, far from it! Idaho turned out to be the surprise favorite state of the entire trip. And this was only part one...

We didn't spend long in the squarest of the square states, but we had a blast visiting Wyoming. It's definitely being added to the "must come back" list. 

As a lover of any vehicle with big knobby tires and four-wheel-drive, I've always wanted to visit Moab, Utah. It's the place to be for anyone interested in going off road! There are tons of trails weaving through the canyon rocks that any lifted vehicle would love to traverse. Well, this was the chance! We were on our way to Utah.

Out of the flat and finally into the mountains — or so we thought... Colorado was one of the main destinations of our out West trip. Neither of us had been there before, so it was a new state all around. Of course, that also meant we didn't know what to expect, either. We were set to visit six different campgrounds scattered all over the state, so we were going to get a taste of everything. It was just going to take a little while to get to the stereotypical view of Colorado...

As we made our way across Missouri and Iowa, the landscape really started to flatten out. Before we knew it, we were deep into the vast plains of the Midwest. But that doesn't mean the fun flattened out! Some of our favorite memories of the trip were in the "flyover" states of Nebraska and Kansas.​​