Fathers Day - The Home Stretch

We got up early once again, had breakfast, and checked out of our hotel in Medicine Hat.  A quick stop for fuel and we were on the road.  By shortly after 9:00AM we were in Dinosaur Provincial Park.  The campsite was completely full as we drove through it out to the driving loop.  The morning had started out with fairly clear skies but by this time the clouds were rolling in and the breeze was beginning to pick up.  We stopped and wandered around in the hills for a while.  We eventually found a composition with some greasewood plants and some rills and set up our cameras to take a couple of photographs.  As we packed up and headed back to the truck, we came across a little fawn hidden in the sage.  It must have only been a couple of days old.

I understand that newborn fawns have no scent, and their mothers routinely hid them in some cover and keep their distance.  Any predators are drawn to the scent of the mother, but will not necessarily find the fawn.  We kept our eyes peeled for mama, but couldn't spot her.  No doubt she was watching us from somewhere nearby...

We left the little guy alone and continued further down the road.  We stopped at the east end of the driving loop and wandered around again for a while.  We came across some rills and some erosional patterns that we wanted to photograph.  By this time it was beginning to rain.  The wet conditions were bringing out the subtle tonal differences in the badland exposure, but it was making photography difficult and uncomfortable.  We decided to make the best of it and spent over an hour trying to capture some of the feel of the place.  It was getting close to noon by the time we packed up and hit the road again.  As we passed through the campsite again on our way out of the park it had really emptied out and only about a third of the campers remained.

We drove onward all afternoon in the direction of home.  We had hoped to be able to stop a couple more times and take some photographs along the way but it rained pretty much all the way home.  We got back into the city by about 4:30PM and then went our seperate ways.

It was Fathers Day after all and I went home to spend some time with my three girls.  They were pretty excited and waiting for me when I arrived at the house and were waiting with gifts.  We immediately sat down so that I could open them all.  Then I unpacked all my camera gear and spread it out down in my darkroom to dry.  Then the whole family went out for dinner.

I was a little saddened by the fact that I didn't have time to go and see my Dad.  But I made a point of going to visit him the next day after work.  He's doing OK, but it is difficult to see the way that he has deteriorated.  I need to make a point of getting out to see him more often....