07/06/2025 by photosbyhank

Happy 28th Anniversary

One of the downsides of having a nice cup of tea before bed is having you bladder wake you up early in the morning. Friday, May 16th, 2025 was no different in that respect. What I saw when I got up wasn’t usual though. I saw a whitetail doe nursing a small fawn in the field out in front of our cabin. I only had to go about 10 feet to grab my camera, but even with that, they were gone in the 10 seconds it took me to get the and get back to the window. So, no photos but at least I hadn’t woken Lynda up to show her. 4:00 am was a little too early to be up for the day so back to bed for at least a couple of hours before we go find something to do for our anniversary.

I managed to get some more sleep and got up to face the day at a more reasonable hour. After we cleaned up our breakfast dishes, we made ourselves lunch sandwiches for the road on the Booyah Bagels I had bought yesterday with this in mind. Booyah makes awesome bagels but they only do breakfast sandwiches and as great as those are, I like to have ham or pastrami on a bagel every once in a while.

We decided to drive west on Old Tete Jaune Road towards McBride. It looked like it would be a lot more scenic than taking the highway.

We had barely started when I spotted this old truck.

I liked the truck but couldn’t get an angle I really liked but thought maybe switching to black and white would help.

I liked it but it still wasn’t what I’d envisioned when I first saw the truck.

Onwards we go.

But not too far.

As we drove, Lynda said; “Bear”.

We turned around to have a look and when we pulled up to the spot, all we saw was the north end of a south bound grizzly bear booking it. So, no bear photos but it was cool to see. Not wanting to stress him/her further, we turned around to continue on our way.

It wasn’t long before we saw so white water so we stopped for a look.

It wasn’t a very spectacular location but the sound of the running water was soothing.

It was a short distance to the Shere Lake Recreation Site and we drove down that road to check it out. Luckily, there was no one around as it’s a 1 lane road through the bush to get down to the lake.

The water level was higher than the buoyancy level of the boardwalk so I never got down to the water’s edge.

We continued to Dunster.

There isn’t much in Dunster to see but one of the local gentleman asked me about my truck and I chatted with him while Lynda checked out the Dunster General Store.

The Dunster Station Museum is right across the road from the store so it was a very short walk to check it out. Unfortunately, it was closed so a couple of exterior photos is all I got.

We got back on the road and headed into McBride.

We cruised into McBride and took all of about 3 minutes to drive around town before we stopped at the Visitor Center in the old train station.

I came with the same warning sign back when Lynda and I started dating.

There is a bistro, art gallery and gift shop and a model railroad among other things in the visitor center. I never went into the bistro as we had brought our own lunch, but I did get a chance to check out the model railroad. It’s been a long time since I was around such stuff. I missed it for a minute or two.

We wandered back outside and found a place to sit and have some lunch before exploring the town.

We drove down main street and parked to walk around town.

The “Sarcasm. Now served daily” sign in the window at Welcome Home Cafe & Gifts hooked me right away and we wandered in to check it out. They had some interesting gifts and I got myself a few sarcasm related stickers. Lynda got a London Fog that she said was quite tasty and I got a really, really good blended raspberry lemonade. I’d go back just for another one of those.

I grabbed a photo of a couple of old cars in a yard before we headed down the highway back towards the cabin.

At one point, I had to slow down for a moose crossing the road. Not sure if my dash cam caught it or not but no photos of him either.

We had brought some flatbread pizzas to cook over the fire but decided neither of us wanted to cook over a fire today.

We headed into Valemount in search of food and decided that Caribou Grill looked pretty good. And we were not disappointed. The food was really good and the service was great. We really liked the look of the Caribou Coupé dessert but we were too full to have any and having ice cream in it, it wouldn’t travel very well, so we decided we had an excuse to come back.

We had a pretty good day to celebrate our anniversary and had and while there was no wildlife in the yard, it was a nice quiet evening to sit and relax and enjoy the peace and quiet.

09/04/2018 by photosbyhank

A Sunday trip to Studio Bell

Yesterday I caught a ride with fellow photographer Bill Warmington and we headed out in the snow to check out the National Music Centre/Studio Bell in Calgary. I had never been there but Bill was there 3 weeks ago with the oopoomoo Creative photo group. I saw a lot of stunning photos taken that day and decided that I had to go check it out. Bill informed me that on the previous trip he’d gotten caught up chatting with a couple of fellows in the attached coffee shop and subsequently ran around frantically trying to get some photos. (I don’t know how many he took but the 3 he posted to the groups facebook page were great.)

Unlike me, Bill likes to talk, (couldn’t even type that with a straight face) and as we drove south on the Deerfoot he suddenly asks it that was that the Bow Bottom Trail sign he just saw? (It was.) Apparently he had planned to take 16th Avenue and had totally lost track of where we were. So we took the scenic route back to the east side of downtown and arrived at our destination just after 10 a.m.

It’s a neat looking building from the outside (sorry, no photos of that) but it doesn’t give away what the inside is like. Regular admission is $18 for adults but they are running a promotion during April where it’s only ten bucks on Sundays.

I had a really, really good apple pie muffin and tea before we started exploring the building. I put on the Sony 12-24 mm f/4 lens on my camera as my lens of choice for the day.

I loved the tea pot

It would be much busier when we were leaving

Just looking around the lobby area I decided I’d like my choice of a wide angle lens. I could see going back there with a more normal or even telephoto lens to shoot some detail shots at some point. As I’ve seen things wider than the average person for my entire life I find I lean towards wide angle lenses more often than not.

Looking to the left of the admission desk I took this shot of the stairway and thought I could probably find more than a thing to shoot in a very small area.

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And while that was true, I still started venturing up the stairs.

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Took this one looking across the street at the old King Eddie building. there is a skywalk joining the two buildings on the top floor but as of yet there is no public access to the other building that way.

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I took a few photos of the curves and angles as I climbed up towards the top floor.

Finally I got to the top and couldn’t help notice the snow on the roof.

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I had wandered through most of the interactive activity rooms but I didn’t take too many photos of them as the architecture was my primary focus. I did take a couple though. Both of these let you play instruments but I didn’t try any.

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I was soon back taking photos of the building.

Bottom

Middle

Top

I really wish they would of planned out where the garbage bins and lobby signs went a bit better. They are quite distracting but I’m not about to Photoshop them out.

I spent the most time on the top floor and on my first trip to the skywalk I took this photo out the window.

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I took a couple showing more of the cool window covers showing a bunch more squares but the window was pretty dirty. Between the dirt showing up and the reflection showing the window behind me they were a bit too distracting to post.

I wandered down another hallway and the sun spot on the floor and wall caught my eye.

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Was heading to the sitting area and noticed the view.

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Time for a selfie while I was at a seating area. I wore my self portrait on my shirt so I thought I should record it.

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Still on the top floor and looking out the window I couldn’t help but notice how the fresh snow made for some nice contrast with the buildings and road.

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My first encounter with the skywalk was pretty quiet but as I approached it a 2nd time I could hear a bit of a musical buzzing or drone as it were.

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My favorite spot – the Solar Drones with the cool window coverings

As the sun was coming out there was a definite sound that I hadn’t heard the first time.

When I went back with Bill to show it to him the sun was fairly strong and it was a very cool symphony of sound happening. I really wish I would of brought my microphone with me because a video would really help in this case.

One more from the top before I started heading back down the stairs.

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As I headed down I was hoping a train would go by but it wasn’t to be, kind of like more hockey happening at the Saddledome this season.

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By this time I met back up with Bill working his way up so back up to the top floor we went.

I caught Bill taking a shot or two. He really isn’t impressed if he notices a camera pointed at him.

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Took a bunch more photos from the stairs.

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I found it a bit surprising that no one was taking any people photos as the amount of natural light coming in from the huge windows is pretty impressive. (Since flash photography isn’t allowed it makes for some challenges just taking architectural photos.) Then I saw a fellow doing a fashion or model shoot. Turns out he’s also a member of the oopoomoo group but I didn’t get his name. He’s crouched down behind the wall shooting. I tried to not get too much facial detail in my documentary shot.

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I seem to really like this area as I think the biggest percentage of my shots are at/near this area by the seating area.

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As we started heading down the stairs I thought I’d try shooting down the railing. It is a lot more difficult then it looks and I never did get exactly what I wanted out of it.

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This would of been a good shot if that damn tourist wasn’t in my shot. Lol. (To be fair, I did find myself in another photographers way while I was taking this.)

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As I was taking my last photo before I put my camera away, I realized I was ending my day pretty much the way I started it – on the floor taking a photo.

With that we headed to the coffee shop to say goodbye to Kathy, another oopoomoo photographer that Bill had met earlier and we headed out.

The trip home was quicker than the one down as the weather was much improved on the homeward leg. (It had nothing to do with the shorter driving distance, really.)

I don’t know when I’ll get back to Studio Bell, but I hope it’s in the near future.

10/10/2016 by photosbyhank

The Un-Beijing Road Trip

Last year’s birthday trip was to be my last for a while I vowed. I would be 50 when I got back so I really should start acting my age I reasoned. It was a big trip and I really should save up my money and holiday time for a trip with my wife I thought. But even as I repeated this over and over, I knew I was lying to myself. As fall approaches every year I find I get rather restless and just have to get out somewhere.

My trip to Beijing for my 50th birthday was an amazing adventure. I loved spending the time with my sister and brother in law and without them I would of never have been able to get there. I saw so much that I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever see. I ate a few things that I normally wouldn’t try (and lived to tell the tale). And I even had chocolate cake on my birthday (not very good chocolate cake, but still cake). I survived the hustle and bustle even though I don’t like crowds. Maybe it was telling myself that was just the way it is here and going with the flow was the ticket. I do know that no matter how crowded someplace is now, my new motto is, “It isn’t Beijing busy.”

I started looking at Google Maps back in June to see where I would get away to this year. I wanted to get away but not spend a couple days driving as I was only going to have 4 or 5 days off. I looked long and hard at going to Vancouver Island so I could check out the areas I’ve never been to but decided the ferry would cost me almost as much as my gas would. I looked at going north towards Yellowknife to see if I could find some northern lights but decided it was too much driving to be able to enjoy it and it’s cold up north.

The west block of Grasslands National Park was where I decided to go. Six years ago I took a quick tour through the east block of the park and passed right by the west block on my way home and decided it would be worth spending some time there. I thought of it as my anti-Beijing trip. Not anti in a bad was because I really did enjoy the city, but anti because I was betting there will be next to no one around when I’m there.

So, early in the morning of Thursday, September 29th, 2016 I hit the road heading south east.

The only exciting things I saw between home and Medicine Hat were a couple Pronghorn Antelope just west of the hat, but they were a bit far from the highway to get any photos of.

My quick stop for fuel and lunch turned into well over an hours visit to Medicine Hat as I also needed some food for my camping trip and the Sobeys there was so nice I wandered around in it longer than I should of.

Topped of my fuel again at Gull Lake, Saskatchewan as the only fuel anywhere near the park are card locks and I didn’t want to use credit if I didn’t have to.

Still nothing catching my eye till I was headed east towards Cadillac, SK and these trees in the field were it.

It didn’t take too long to figure out that hand holding the Sigma 150-600 mm Sport lens I borrowed from work for my trip was a bad idea. Those trees are not nearly as sharp as I’d like them to be.

A little further down the road I came across a hawk sitting on a fence post. I got a shot of him but couldn’t get any closer to get better photos.

Nothing else exciting to see along my route and I pulled into Val Marie around 4 pm. I paid $62.80 for 4 nights of camping and was soon on my way to the Frenchman Valley Campground.

I was about two thirds of the way to the campground when I saw this pretty little Sharp Tailed Grouse on the road. As I slowed down she bolted off into the grass. (A theme I’d see again and again over the next few days.)

I pulled into the campground and drove through it to find myself a spot. As there are no trees there I could see the whole thing from the entrance but I still drove around. There were a few spots already take and I settled on site number 1 as it was close to everything but seemed farthest away from other sites.

As I was cleaning up from supper a few Bison came over the hill and wandered past the campground in the early evening light.

They were quite a ways away but I still took a few photos.

With the light fading rapidly I got my bedroom in my truck ready for the night. By the time I was done it was good and dark and the stars looked wonderful. Seeing the Milky Way is pretty incredible when you are used to seeing just a few stars. I was feeling pretty tired from the drive and the clouds were moving in so I went to bed early and hoped to find some good stuff in the morning. My air mattress felt low already and I had just pumped it up. This is probably not a good thing.