Let me start off by saying I never thought I’d be tickled pink to pay $2.93/gallon for gas, but after spending the better part of five days with our neighbor to the north, our gas prices look fabulous in comparison. In southern Alberta I paid roughly $3.60/gal (after all the necessary conversions) and $4.60 out in the boonies in Dawson City, Yukon (where I must admit I was just happy to be able get gas). Besides better gas prices, I was quite happy to cross back into the U.S. last night, I was getting tired of mentally converting kilometers to miles and trying to figure out how many liters of gas my truck should take when I stopped to fill up. The last couple days have been full of pretty much nothing but driving. I had to do my first (and hopefully only) set of vehicle repairs on Friday. Thursday night at the campground my truck didn’t seem to be starting quite right (turn the key, and Nothing, but the radio, etc would come on, and the engine would start after a couple tries) so when I was in Edmondton the next morning getting my oil changed I happened across the Toyota dealership and stopped in to ask them about it. Wound up having my starter contacts replaced, but much better to have it done then than wind up stranded somewhere along the way when my truck wouldn’t start. (Special thanks to the guys at Kingsway Toyota for fitting my repair in last minute on a Friday afternoon, and having a sense of humor, definitely one of my best dealership experiences!) Since leaving Edmonton Friday afternoon I’ve driven roughly 1,900 miles, most of which along the Alaska Highway. I wish I could say I have a lot of great pictures, but a lot of the view is just of forest, forest, and more forest. The weather was gloomy off and on, though it was lovely for a while yesterday and I stopped to do a short hike down to the Fiver Finger Rapids on the Yukon River. Saw a bear at one point too, though I was highly annoyed when an 18-wheeler came along and scared it into the bushes, so I only got one decent photo. Last night I drove the Top of the World Highway, which connects Dawson City with the Tetlin Junction in Alaska. Its an occasionally paved/mostly gravel road (and dirt/mud on the U.S. side), I was quite thankful I haven’t bothered having my wheels aligned at any point recently as I hit as many potholes as I successfully avoided. Highly isolated, I was also thankful I didn’t breakdown, seeing as I had no cell phone reception, and there wasn’t anyone else around for Miles. The weather started off good and I was thinking I’d be getting some nice sunset shots coming down the Alaska side, but nope, the storm clouds rolled in, along with the fog, and I found myself in a mad rush to safely make it to the border crossing before they closed at nine. It’s really a shame that the lighting was so awful, the view would have been spectacular. I now find myself stealing internet (the story of my life it seems) in a hotel parking lot in Fairbanks, heading down to Denali National Park for the next couple days before I hit the Alaska coast. And it’s looking like the sun has come out some and I might be able to get some good shots, yay! Look for my next update from Anchorage on Thursday….

I left Helena late Monday, dinner-time or so by the time I finally got gas and hit the road, I’m such an internet addict it was hard to tear myself away. I was supposed to shoot a couple grain elevators on the way up to Glacier, but I never did find the turn-off for them. Admittedly I didn’t actually look very hard….uhm, at all? I was starting to think I might not take a single picture that day when I came out of a little rain storm and there was my rainbow. A lovely double rainbow at that. Laarni’s rainbow, actually, seeing as she emailed me last week asking me to keep an eye out for one. Granted, she wanted one with lots of green, but that wasn’t really something I could request. The shadow (mine) totally reminds me of one of my all time favorite shots, Laarni and I’s shadows on Waianae Beach. I was short a short shadow this time though, sigh. (And for those that might not know, Laarni is my best friend from high school.) But anyways….I did eventually make it to Glacier, which was amazingly mosquito free, not quite the case here in Canada, but so goes life. I spent Tuesday hiking in Glacier National Park, went out to the Hidden Lake overlook from Logan pass, saw lots of wildflowers, mountain goats with kids (I swear they were posing for pictures), big horned sheep, etc. Went out to the Many Glacier side of the park and went for a leisurely hike around Swiftcurrent Lake where I took pictures of the canoes out on the water. I’d like to be able to share all of these shots with you, but while shooting waterfalls later that evening, I looked down at my camera and said “Hmmm, I shouldn’t have this much space left on this memory card, no no no.” Yes, I stupidly, accidentally, inadvertently, deleted all of the photos I took Tuesday morning and afternoon. Needless to say, I was Not pleased. Yesterday I crossed into the Canadian side of the park. The drive out to the border crossing goes through a free range zone, and even knowing I was in one, I must admit I was a bit surprised when I had to slam on the brakes when two cows Leapt into the road from the bushes. Yes, cows. The rest of the morning was uneventful, wandered around Cameron Lake and decided I’d had enough of the national park, so I headed out to the Alberta farm country to shoot more grain elevators. This was all well and good until last night, when I was looking for a place to stay. I passed by one provincial park (the equivalent of our state parks) and almost stopped there, but realized I didn’t have change for a twenty and didn’t want to have to put it all into the little self registration envelope at the campground so I figured I’d head to the next park and stop at a gas station along the way, thinking “Hey, it’s not That far!”….Uhm, yeah….Note to self, do not attempt to navigate back country roads in the dark. I don’t think I was ever really Lost, so much as just not really taking the most direct route to the campground. And after passing the field of polar bears (they Might have been cows, maybe), I knew I was starting to get tired. I did eventually find the park, one set of gravel switchbacks in pitch black, one one-lane bridge, and several dirt roads later. Upon arriving, I did a slow loop around the park looking for an empty site, only to discover….there was not a Single person in that campground. Now, anyone who knows me knows how much of a wuss I am. If you’ve ever watched a scary movie with me, or even just Heard about me watching a scary movie, you Know. I’m not proud of this, mind you, but I am capable of seeing the humor of my pathetic-ness. I am scared of basements, scared of dumpsters in the dark, and absolutely petrified of being completely alone in the dark. If there had been any other campers there, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but no, wuss that I am, I refused to get out of the car to register and pay my fee, figuring I’d just do it in the morning, parked my car, and then Crawled over the seat to get into the back where my bed is. And just to torture me even more, a nice windstorm came through right after that and I kept swearing I could hear things outside the car. I did eventually get some sleep, and woke up to a nice, Sunny day, paid my camping fee, brushed my teeth, and went on my merry way. And now I find myself roasting in the back of my truck, with an almost dead laptop battery, stealing internet from a hotel since it appears the sandwich shop where I intended to find my internet connection today no longer exists. It’s a little warm, and I’ve got grain elevators to shoot, and I need an oil change….So that’s it for now! I’m on my way to Alaska, and if all goes well I should be updating things again on Monday.

It’s been a busy couple days. Thursday I spent hanging out at a couple of cemeteries in Denver, where I played around with my new Lensbaby 2.0 (see above). I spent too long at lunch though and wound up very short on time at Riverside (not to mention it was raining at that point). Ahh well, I’m an internet addict, what can I say? Also got to meet up with my friend Rusty, that was good fun. He was the other half of the Outbound Ops team with me at Stonepath for a year and a half, where we fine-tuned our procrastination skills together. Friday I headed up to the Rocky Mountain National Park. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful area (and having lived in some of the places I have, I do tend to be a bit spoiled) but I was bored and uninspired so I drove up to Grand Teton National Park/Jackson Hole a day early. Much more my style. Plus, I got to shower!!!! (I should probably mention that it’s not like I’d gone a week without bathing, just hadn’t actually gotten to shower….I washed my hair in the tupperware cake carrier thingie my mom lent me to wash my dishes in…in the rain….at 10,000+ feet, with water that came from a hand pump at the campground. Talk about instant Brain Freeze!) So Saturday morning I got to shower – I have a new found appreciation for running water. Of course I promptly slathered on the sun screen, doused myself in bug spray and went on a six mile hike in 90+ degree weather, so I didn’t exactly stay clean for long. Hiked up to Inspiration Point, lovely view of Jenny Lake from there. Despite having repeatedly applied sun screen, I managed to fry part of my back and my right shoulder. After the hike I sat on the edge of the lake with my feet in the water and ate a late lunch. Quite relaxing before I hopped in the car and spent the evening driving to Bannack State Park. If you find yourself near Dillon, MT, be sure to stop at Bannack! I was utterly fascinated. It’s a ghost town that’s been preserved, though not restored, with about 50 different buildings, most of which can be wandered through. Mostly just empty rooms with holes in the wall and peeling paint and mildew and whatnot, very cool!!! I spent several hours shooting there before heading to Nevada City and then up to Helena last evening. My best friend’s mom and her husband were kind enough to give me a place to stay for the night (and use of their shower and washer/dryer, thanks Peggy & Greg!). I hadn’t actually met them before, so oddly enough there was the same sort of nervousness that I imagine goes along with meeting one’s future inlaws, but they were wonderful and I very much enjoyed meeting them. And now I find myself sitting at the Staggering Ox in Helena, I think my butt may have become permanently attached to the chair, I’ve been sitting here for a good four hours. Probably about time to get going…I’ve got campground reservations in Glacier National Park tonight. If all goes well, (I think) my next update will come from somewhere in Alberta Thursday evening? Itinerary’s in the car I’m just guessing……

Technically this should be Day 5, but I got off to a bit of a late start. No matter, things are going well and I’m having a blast. Monday I spent a couple hours in Mesa Verde National Park, where I got my best shots so far, and they had absolutely nothing to do with cliff dwellers (see above). It rained that night and was nice and cool, thankfully, I’m going to roast in the back of my 4Runner in some places. Tuesday I checked out the Alta Ghost Town, Box Canyon Falls in Ouray, and Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. I think my best shots that day were of a barn I stumbled across on the way to the campground. More rain, wind, it was fabulous . Yesterday I drove out to Crystal Mill. THAT was an adventure, let me tell you…there’s a reason the road is 4wd only! Six miles (each way), Very NARROW, winding, steep, I think every curve was blind, rocky, rocky, did I mention it was rocky? My vehicle and I survived though, without even any close encounters to report, though I must admit it was a bit of a nervewracking experience. Headed towards Fairplay after that to check out the South Park City Museum, its a recreation of an 1880′s mining town. And it rained (starting to see a pattern here?). I wound up heading to the campground early and reading my book. Today I’m in Denver, I’ll be posting the cemetery pix from this morning the next time I update my site. Need to get going, one more cemetery to shoot today and a former coworker to visit…..If all goes well, the next update should come from Helena on Monday (I think?).

A year in the works and my photography road trip is Finally about to start….in a couple hours, I need a little sleep before I hit the road. I’ve got lighthouses, national parks, barns/old mills/grain elevators/covered bridges, waterfalls, insane asylums galore to shoot, I can’t wait! My truck is packed, camera gear is cleaned, and I’m ready to go! If (and that is a Big If) all goes well, I’ll be updating this site from Denver on Thursday….wish me luck!