It was the last day of 2012 and I had made plans to head out on a day trip with my friends Rob and Jon. The night before I had a bad headache and actually went to bed at around 8:00PM. I didn't sleep well and by 3:00AM I woke up, and still had the headache. I got up and took some ibuprofen and managed to fall back asleep for a little while. I woke up again this time around 4:30AM, with the headache gone, and feeling pretty rested. I just couldn't lie around in bed any longer so I got up. I made some coffee, and then got all my camera gear ready for the day. I still had lots of time before Jon and Rob were to meet me, so I got things ready for supper. I prepared a prime rib roast to go into the oven, and peeled and cut up some potatoes. Then I had a shower. Then I had breakfast. It was finally getting close to 7:30AM, so I started my truck and started loading my gear. Right on schedule Jon and Rob rolled up and we hit the road. After a quick stop for fuel and another coffee, we hit the road.
The sun was still not up as we made our way out towards Elk Island National Park. It was forecast to be a fairly warm day, but at this early hour it was still in the -12C range. We saw a lot of wildlife as we rolled into the park including two moose, several bison, a couple of bull elk still sporting their antlers, a coyote, and several ravens. We stopped at one of the lakes up in the north part of the park. There are several large stumps down in the water at the edge of the lake, and in the summer this spot is inaccessible. With everything frozen, we decided to walk out and have a look. The stumps are much more visually appealing from the raised roadway beside the lake. Once you get down at water level and the overview is taken away, they are just not all that interesting. The sun was now beginning to rise and the light was coming up so we explored some of the patterns in the reeds at the edge of the lake.
The light was still pretty flat while we were down here, but the sun briefly broke out and lit up the underside of the clouds. It didn't last long, but looked pretty cool for a brief time.
While we were exploring down here by the lake a coyote crossed the road behind us and made a mad dash across the lake. I think he saw us right away, but seemed determined to get somewhere in a hurry...
After an hour or so at the lake we packed up our gear and continued north out of the park. We drove around for a while and eventually came across an old abandoned far house. This one did not appear to be long for this world. All the trees and brush from around this old yard site had been pushed up into a big pile, ready to be burned. It appeared that the house was likely to suffer the same fate. We walked in and took a look around to see if there was anything to be photographed. As we were doing this, the farmer that owned the land drove up and confronted us. The land was not posted, there was no gate or fence, and we only walked in. Eventually when the landowner realized that we were only photographers he calmed down and talked to us for a while. He also told us of another old house on the other side of his property, about a mile to the east and suggested we check that out as well. He left and we spent an hour or so here at the first house, making some photographs.
When we finished up here, we headed east to see if we could find the other old house that the farmed had told us about. We soon found it and stopped to check it out. Rob and I had been to this place about a year prior. At that time it was very heavily overgrown with carraganas, and it was virtually impossible to even walk into the yard. Photographs at that time were impossible due to the heavy overgrowth. But this time it was completely different. Again. all of the trees and brush had been pushed up into a big pile, ready to be burned. The house was standing out in the open, completely exposed and easily accessible. We spent another hour or so photographing here. I found some old clothes hanging inside the house, and kind of a neat perspective on an old grain auger. Rob concentrated on some shots of an old combine out in the snow, and Jon wandered about shooting the interior and exterior of the house and outbuildings.
By this time it was getting to be about 3:00 in the afternoon and we all needed to get back into the city. The dinner that I had prepared earlier that morning was going to be a New Years Eve dinner for the girls and for Margarit's brother Shawn and his kids. So we hit the road and made our way back to the city. The light had been pretty flat and overcast all day long, but of course on the way home the skies cleared and the sun came out. It ended up getting quite warm, with the afternoon temperature peaking at about -2C. Quite a change from the last two weeks when it never got above -20C, and was much colder than that at night.
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