Well, I started out in the fog but I had to stop and add some air to one of my tires and the fog left me behind. I had managed to get a few photos I liked while enjoying the absolute silence I was engulfed in.

I had ended up at a familiar location, having photographed the grain bins on numerous occasions, but never in the fog.

As I looked at the hay bales, I was trying to decide if horizontal or vertical would work better for photos. I tried both but I feel horizontal works better.

Since I had to go put some air in one of my tires, I realized the fog was lifting from south to north and I would be hard pressed to get back into it.

I headed east while keeping an eye on the line of fog marching steadily northward.

The steam coming from the heat exchangers at the Joffre Plant caught my eye so I stopped to try a photo or two.

I really liked the grain bins with the background steam so I tried the same shots with my polarizer filter.

I really didn’t see much difference between using the polarizer and not. I’ll have to try again with the sun a little more off to the side of my subject.

I headed north to get a shot of the Joffre Plant with the fog back in the background.

A longer lens would have made for a cooler image but I liked the colour of the barley so I kept my 40mm on.

From here it was a short drive to the Ellis Nature Center so I headed over there to get a walk in. Most people wander around the farm area, visiting the pond and visitor center but I usually head over to Sandpiper Pond and then walk through the West Woods.

Since I didn’t have a long enough lens with me to try any bird photography, I concentrated on some close ups.

As I was taking the photo of the thistle, I couldn’t help but notice how many pollinators were feasting on them. So, I took a few photos and cropped the hell out of them.

Having annoyed some insects for a while, I decided it was time to start heading into the woods.

There isn’t much to see while walking in the woods unless there are some birds around, there weren’t any.

I sat down on the bench I came across and tried to see the beauty in where it was facing.

It is a bit of an underwhelming scene so I thought I’d try a different approach. I focused fairly close up and shot the same scene out of focus to concentrate on the colour. I’m not sure about it but I’ll try to apply the same technique somewhere else down the road.

I don’t find it any worse to look at.

I’d like to say that I decided to practice some intentional camera movement for my next couple of photos but the truth is the camera was bumping into my hip as I was walking and I found these 2 kind of interesting. (Out of about a dozen)

The trail I was on took me along the edge of the fields on my way back to the visitor center area. It wasn’t there the last time I visited the West Woods and it was nice to add a bit extra to my walk. Trail maintenance needs to be worked on a bit as it was a bit overgrown in the middle part and it felt like I was doing some bushwhacking along the way. While it’s not a hard walk, it was a bit uneven so for anyone with mobility issues, it would be a bit challenging.

Nothing jumped out at me to photograph on my walk until I got back to the gazebo by the pond. The pond is a bit scungy with the heat and lack of rain this summer but it was clear enough to get a nice reflection of the little cabin.

While it wasn’t an overly exciting road trip, it was a pleasant way to spend 3 and a half hours. I was hoping being gone would make it quiet enough for my wife to sleep but apparently, she had trouble getting to sleep and had barely gotten there by the time I arrived back home.

She’s off tomorrow so maybe we’ll try to go on an adventure together.