The view from the upper Riverdale trail on Saturday. You can see Riverdale in the foreground and Whitehorse further back. Photo by Christa Galloway.
Castle Mountain, Banff, AB. Photo by Christa Galloway.
We are making good use of our time in Alberta by exploring the area. Within a few hours of Red Deer are Calgary, Edmonton, Drunmheller and, of course, Banff. Here are a few of my photos from our latest road trip.
The Klondike highway in British Columbia. Photo by Christa Galloway.
Yesterday we took a two-hour road trip, crossing a time zone, a provincial border and an international border. We stopped often on the the way, the scenery on the Klondike highway was fantastic. Here are some photos from the journey.
For the next post, the shocking secret of Skagway in the winter. Okay, shocking might be an exaggeration. Mildly surprising would be more accurate. For now, I'm off to the Mile 9 dump (yes, I'm a regular now) and another road trip down Annie Lake road.
I woke up yesterday morning and the world was frosted white. White snow, white trees, white clouds. Later in the day the clouds broke up into regimented sections and marched across the sky, leaving behind a brilliant blue. When I left my house for my afternoon walk with Oscar, I left my camera behind, because really, how many times can you photograph the same thing? Of course, once we were out there I realized my iPhone was not going to cut the mustard so I bribed my snowsuit-clad three-year-old to return to the house with promises of hot chocolate and marshmallows so I could fetch my camera. And I'm glad I did.
We drove in and out of clouds on the Klondike highway, on our way to Carcross. This was shot through the car window, by the time I got outside, the clouds and light had changed and the shot was gone. Photo by Christa Galloway.
We left for Skagway this morning, passports at the ready, keen to see one of our most frequently visited ports from cruise ship days and in good spirits. The light was beautiful as we drove in and out of the frozen fog. We stopped every few minutes to take photos.
The sun shining through trees on the Klondike Highway. Photo by Christa Galloway.
The mountains near Carcross, Yukon. Photo by Christa Galloway.
During one of our frequent stops we noticed a burning smell coming from the car. Rich did an excellent impression of someone who knows about cars and declared a coolant line had split. We were both tempted to take our chances and carry on to Skagway, but the thought of being stranded in an American port during the off-season did not appeal. We decided the sensible thing to do was to turn around, but since we were only a few miles from Carcross, we decided to go that far, at least.
If I'd half hoped we'd run into a random mechanic in Carcross who would merrily fix our car and we'd be on our way, I was destined to be disappointed. I'm not sure if it was because it was a Sunday, or because it was off-season, but Carcross seemed like a ghost town. The photographer in me was delighted by the spooky village and I rushed around taking photos, my footsteps, the only sounds.
Carcross at the White Pass and Yukon Railway bridge. Photo by Christa Galloway.
Carcross Visitor Information with a closed sign in the window and a spooky boat in the background.
This is the caribou statue at the entrance to the turn-off into Carcross. We passed by the turn-off on the first drive-by but decided to check it out on the way back. I've since noticed that the statue normally has a sign with a huge arrow underneath it, pointing to Carcross. I guess in the winter you need to either know where you are going, or be adventurous to find it. Photo by Christa Galloway.
After our self-guided tour of Carcross, we headed back home and I contented myself with taking pictures in our own backyard.
Next week-end, to Skagway!
Moonrise, Jan 11, 2014, Fuji X-Pro 1, photo by Christa Galloway
This photo was taken shortly after we moved in. On clear days I see the moon on north side at dusk and on the south side in the morning. The moon has become full since this picture was taken and is now waning again. It's taken so long to get this up because I left the card reader for this camera in Ontario along with our potato masher and the beaters for my hand mixer. Gosh darn it.
Often when we look out the window it is sunrise or sunset. That or it's dark. It's one of the benefits of very short days. Lately, every sunrise and sunset is spectacular and I am getting my camera out more often than not. This was the sunset yesterday. Photo by Christa Galloway.
I threw on my coat to take Maggie for a walk this morning and this is what I saw...
An impressive sunrise colours our backyard. Photo by Christa Galloway.
Needless to say, I encouraged Maggie to do her business quickly and popped inside to grab my camera. My camera was loaded up with a memory card and battery, perched on a tripod. That's just where I keep it now. I've given up putting it away because an hour later I'm getting it out again.
People complain about the lack of daylight during the winter here, but for a photographer it's not all bad. We love low light. At this time of year the "golden hour" last all day. Even at noon the sun is so low you can get some impressive images. Mid-summer might be a different story.
