Summer Vacation

I actually managed to book two days off from work last week.  These are the first days that I have had off in the summer in several years.  I was able to take four days off back in February when we went to Disneyland, but this is the first time off in the summer.  And, I've only had to work at my job for thirty years to be able to enjoy such a benefit...!!  The joys of owning your own business.  Not quite a vacation, but at least a little bit of a break for a change.

We left the city right after work on Wednesday evening and traveled as far as Nordegg.  We arrived after dark and camped at the Harlech campsite along Shunda Creek.  On Thursday morning we continued into Banff National Park.  After entering the park we turned south at Saskatchewan Crossing and traveled a short distance to the campsite at Waterfowl Lakes.  This is a beautiful campsite but I am annoyed by the Parks Canada bureaucrats that only keep it open from July 1st to Labor Day.  It would sure be nice to spend some time here in the early summer, or later in the fall, at times when the park is not so busy.  But alas the bureaucrats, in their infinite wisdom have decided that they can't be bothered to supply firewood and empty garbage containers despite the daily camping fee of over $30.

We settled down at the campsite and spent four days there.  Hailey and I headed out to both Upper and Lower Waterfowl Lakes on a couple of mornings and took photographs with the 4x5.  We also hiked up along the Cephren Lake Trail one afternoon.  Despite the fact that we didn't make it all the way to the lake, we really enjoyed the walk through the woods.

I think I took nearly 500 digital snapshots over the weekend, as well as around 40 serious shots with my view camera.  Once I have time to download and edit all the digital stuff, I will post some of the best images to my blog.  The process is somewhat complicated now as the hard drive of my computer is full and every time that I want to download new images, I need to delete some old files.

On our way back home on Sunday we stopped along the North Saskatchewan River in the Kootenay Plains.  It was very sunny and hot, with the temperature topping out at around 27C.  The girls enjoyed some time splashing along the river before we climbed back into the truck for the long drive back to the city.  It was a great weekend but despite the extra days off, it just wasn't long enough to really unwind and relax.  Maybe next year...!!!

When we returned home I did process some of the Polaroid film that I exposed with my view camera.  Attached are scans of three of the best shots...