Day Trip

I'm slowly catching up posting on events that have taken place in recent weeks.  Back on June 12th my friend Jon and I went out for a day trip.  We used to do this a lot back in the day.  Seemed every other weekend we were heading out somewhere with our cameras, often with a stop at some small town tavern somewhere.  Jon gave up his darkroom some years ago for health reasons and we just seemed to drift apart a little after that.  I'm not sure why as Jon still enjoys photography and shoots digital.

This time we headed out to the Russian Monastery up to the northeast of Edmonton.  Although I have been here about 5 times in the last year, it has been a number of years since Jon was there.  As the buildings will likely not remain standing too much longer, we thought it was worthy of another visit.

The last few times I visited were in the fall and during the winter.  It looks very different with everything lush and green and wildflowers all over the place.  Years ago there used to be two turkey vultures nesting nearby and we always saw them circling the treetops during our visits.  True to form, they were back again this year.  We spent an enjoyable afternoon photographing here.  The piano that was left in the forest clearing is still here, but it obviously did not enjoy the past winter very much and is in very rough shape.

Later in the afternoon we stopped at the old barn near Wasel.  This one is losing it's battle with gravity as well.  The roof is caving in and the walls are bulging out and I'm expecting it to be on the ground sometime in the not too distant future.  For now it was still safe enough to venture inside, but I suspect not for much longer.