Canada Day Fireworks

In Aylmer, Canada Day festivities culminate in a fireworks display sponsored by the Aylmer Kinsmen Club.  People start to gather behind our local area complex about dinner time.  The sky isn't dark until 10 pm. In the meantime there are bands, face painting and lots of food available.

Calgary and Lake Louise

Friday afternoon in the Yellowknife airport is very crowded.  Friday afternoon in the YK to Calgary plane is very crowded.  No carry on suitcases allowed on board.  Even my little knapsack camera case which  met the stated maximum size only just fit in the overhead bin with a little squeezing.

Saturday, my niece needed to be dropped off at her summer job as a counsellor at a summer camp.  My brother, his other daughter and I then drove on the Lake Louise.  After dropping us and the canoe off at a close point to the lake, Keith then had to find a parking spot.  I don't think he'd ever seen the place as crammed as that day.  We launched right off the rocks to the amazement of many tourists.  Paddled across the the lake to what most people would understand as the far end. The three of us then hiked up 300 or 400 metres in elevation, in the bright sunshine and heat.  It took about 2 or 3 hours to reach the "tea room".  We stopped for lemonade and a rest.  Took some shots and then headed back down the trail.  It was so much nicer descending in the cool early evening light.  By the time we got the canoe loaded back on the car, it was almost 9 pm.  One restaurant was open and it really didn't need to be great, it just needed to be food and fast.  It was both.

Sunday, Keith and I drove out to Calgary's municipal water reservoir.  We paddled around it in the bright sunshine.  Found a great blue heron and a huge flock of seagulls.   Lunch at around 4 pm.  Then back to Keith and Tomoko's for a great BBQ pork dinner.

Leaving the Chateau.

Can you see the Chateau in the two above images?
Below are scenes from the tearoom and the walk back to the canoe.

Setting sun and we're back at the Chateau.

Sunday, in Calgary... 

Yellowknife, NWT

When I heard that I had a conference in Yellowknife and a chance to visit this city, I was elated.

What was the first thing I had to do the first evening there?  Go buy suntan lotion.  Temperatures were in the thirties (Celsius).  Back home Nancy reported the high was to be seventeen.  Go figure I'm in the far north and suffering from heat while Nancy's back home suffering from rain and cold.  After the shopping spree, on to sight seeing.  A walk into the old town and up to a lookout point over the bay.

I had to get that suntan lotion for my guided hike with Rosie Strong.  She picked me up at my B&B at 8:30 then dropped me off at my hotel after 2:00 pm.  If you go to YK and want to gain a greater understanding of the area, book a tour with her,  You won't be disappointed.

While checking in I met up with a couple of guys who were attending the same conference.  Adam said that he and Andrea had rented a car and were going for a hike.  Kindly they invited me.  In less than 15 minutes I was back out into the sun and driving northeast out of YK.  We returned about 7:30 for the conference's welcome reception.

The next evening was a visit to a place called Aurora Village.  Tourists (I'm told mostly Japanese) spend upwards of $500 for a 3 hour stint in heated outdoor seats, hoping for great views of the Aurora Borealis.  The place was great - large teepees that would hold up to 80 people each,  to warm up after being in the Arctic cold.  Our dinner of bison and whitefish was terrific.

That same evening, before going and after returning to the hotel, I went to a very nearby lake and shot some waterfowl and muskrat.  The reddish haze turned out to be forest fire smoke from far off fires.

After the conference wound up, I again walked out to the old part of YK. The sun was so strong that most of those shots were not very good.  However the heat of the day got me ready for the next leg of my trip...Calgary where temperatures were forecast to approach 40 degrees.

A Great Horned Owl chick.  We never saw mom or dad.

For Glenn's son's info;  This and the next shot are merges or 128 separate images each.