This photo might not be the most interesting or best technical etc, but I thought it would be neat to show people how the Venetian, in Las Vegas, has a canal that winds its way through it. You can even take a Gondola ride, which I am sure can be a romantic thing to do. Granted, the Venice canals would be more spectacular. It is amazing how much detail these hotels on the Vegas Strip tend to have. If you have never been to Vegas, you need to go at least once in your life time. If you have been to Vegas, where did you stay and what was your favourite part of your trip?

Along our trip from Japser, Alberta to Banff, Alberta, we stopped off at Peyto Lake. This large, turquoise coloured lake is fed from a nearby glacier (off camera left).  The colour of the water is from the silt that is deposited into the lake. When the sunlit hit the silt particles at a particular angle, the unrealistic colour is produced.

The above photo was stitched together from about 8 shots, hand-held and panned from left to right. I wonder what sort of HDR image I could create from this, though it would technically only be of 1 exposure as opposed to a minimum of 3 that I typically use. When I took the photo, I thought I had AE (exposure lock) enabled though when I looked later, it seems I didn’t have AE lock enabled. Luckily, the exposures between the photos were similar so lighting is somewhat even across the panoramic.

I haven’t done a stitch in a while, but I wanted to post something on the sunny side of things. The weather here in Vancouver is a bit wet (when isn’t it?) so I thought perhaps a sunny scene might help brighten up your day!

The above photo is approximately 10 photos shot from left to right and then stitched together in AutoStitch and then processed in Lightroom. It isn’t perfect (hand-held) and perhaps I should have stitched together portrait orientated shots as opposed to landscape shots, but I like how it turned out.

So behind me (the camera) is the Bellagio (the fountains in front). To the left is the Flamingo, then followed by Bally’s and Paris. Then to the right is Planet Hollywood.

One of the things that Robyn and I got up to was a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada. This being a wedding present, we actually had to reschedule it from its original date to my winter break. This was alright, with temperatures between 10 and 18 Celsius in Las Vegas, we weren’t really going to complain. We would be staying 4 nights at The Mirage, but this post is how we booked a tour to the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Originally, we were going to book the 3-in-1 tour of the Grand Canyon. What does the 3-in-1 involve? A airplane ride out to the Grand Canyon were we would meet up with a helicopter to take is down into the Canyon itself to the Colorado River, which we would then take a boat down the river to a spot for a picnic. This didn’t pan out due to me being a student and the 3-in-1 tour being quite expensive on a per-person basis. What did we do then?

A quick look at Google for tours at the Grand Canyon left us with many options. Mainly, a lot of them for those large tourist buses that cram 40 or so people into them. Since the drive from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon is about 4-5 hours, we thought that perhaps we would try and find a tour operator that dealt with smaller groups. A quick visit over to Trip Advisor proved to be most effective, as we went through the top 3 Grand Canyon tours listed and read over the comments that people posted about each company. We settled for Grand-Adventures.com, a tour company that deals with smaller groups for a more personal experience.

Robyn sent an email about availability and found out they were all booked up. Before we left for Las Vegas, Robyn was contacted by a friendly representative saying that 2 spots on a tour were opened up due to a cancellation, it was for the 27th of December (my Birthday) so we booked it right away. Our arriving flight into Las Vegas actually brought us in at about 8:30PM the night before our tour, we didn’t get to The Mirage until about 9PM and our tour was to start at 6:20AM. We pretty much went to bed when we got checked in.

December 27th: 6:20AM

It was a early morning after a long day. Luckily, The Mirage has a Starbucks inside, just off the casino floor and that helped start our day right. I also have to say that, that particular Starbucks never failed to make me a good Soy White Mocha while we were there, whereas some of the Canadian locations we visit tend to make them poorly. Anyway, that is another story.

We got to the pick up location outside of The Mirage’s front entrance. We were the last to be picked up and we were greeted by Dan, our driver and tour guide. Our particular tour consisted of 2 other families for a total of 9 people on our tour. Much better than being stuck on a bus with 40 or so people.

Dan informed us, that our first stop would be breakfast (at a McDonald’s) in the city of Boulder.  Dan was great for talking about the history of how Vegas was born and various other tidbits. As we got into Boulder City, we continued to talk about Boulder City and our itinerary for the day. Did you know that Boulder City has deemed alcohol and gambling illegal? It is a pretty small and quite town, with 2 casinos at its borders though.

First Stop: Hoover Dam

Now, I was going to keep up with posting the rough time-line of our tour, but I cannot really remember when we got to our little points of interest, I will tell you that we left at 6:20AM and returned back at The Mirage at 8:45PM. That does include a few stops on the way to the Grand Canyon and stopping for gas once on the way back. It’s a LONG drive both ways.

After breakfast we drove to our first destination, the Hoover Dam. Thanks to 9/11, there is a security check-point that you go through when you get closer to the Dam itself. While they checked the back of the van, we were entertained by a family of Big Horned Sheep.The nice thing is we did not have to get out of the van during the check.

Unfortunately I didn’t get a decent photo of them through the tinted windows of our van. They were just grazing along the side of the check-point keeping an eye out for dangers (us). Dan was saying there are usually 2 scouts looking out for a larger group, so if we were lucky we might see a herd of about 20 of them. We only saw about 7 near the check-point, but I kept my eye out for any more.

A quick drive from the security check-point to the parking lot and we were out of the van and on our way to see the Hoover Dam. Robyn was giddy with excitement and quoting Beavis and Butthead the whole time. You know, when they screw around with the controls inside the dam and it bursts?

Anyway, a 15 minute walk up and around one of the hills put us on a Memorial Bridge that was constructed over the Colorado River and gives you a good view of the Hoover Dam itself.

At this time, we have also entered the state of Arizona. Though, we will be going much further into Arizona on our way to the Grand Canyon. As for the Hoover Dam itself, I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t go over the dam itself, as I would have liked to walked along the top of it. I guess I can see why they don’t really allow for it anymore. If the dam were to break, not only would the amount of water devastate the area down river, but Lake Meade would empty rather quickly and I do believe it is a vital source of water for the neighbouring towns (perhaps even Las Vegas itself).  We have a bunch of photos of the dam, including a panoramic I need to switch together. It is pretty impressive, and that the cement used to create is is STILL curing! Dan was also telling us that he does kayak tours which put in at the base of the dam (to the right just before one of the spill ways). The dam itself is a magnificent piece of work, if you get the chance to see a documentary on how it was built, you should watch it. Dan also mentioned that one of the inventions created during the construction of the Hoover Dam was the Hardhat, neat eh?

On our way back to the van, the tour buses started to arrive. 3 buses of about 40 people each poured out too! We noticed each person had a sticker on them, and when they returned to the buses, they were all accounted for. Looked more like herding cattle actually. Glad we spent the extra money on a smaller tour!

Next Stop: Seligman, Arizona; Birth Place of Route 66

Now most people have probably heard of Route 66 right? Also known as Main Street of America too! Well, its birthplace was a small town called Seligman. This is the same town where the creative director of Pixar got the idea for their animated movie Cars. It was pretty neat to see and be on Route 66, though it’s pretty quite in the winter. Even with the interstate 40 being so close, the towns along Route 66 are slowly becoming neat little tourist places once again, thanks to a local barber in Seligman by the name of Angel [wiki]. Angel was working when we drove into town, but we didn’t have enough time to go in and say hi. Angel is responsible for getting funding for the small towns that dot Route 66 in order to keep them alive and a part of American history. I think it’s pretty cool to see the small town along what used to be such a busy and historic route. It would be cool to see they these little towns look like in the busier tourist seasons.

I wanted to get a photo of the Road Kill Cafe, but we were too far down the street for me to go back and get one. Oh well, perhaps another time right?

Next Stop: Grand Canyon

If I can remember correctly, we did arrive at the Grand Canyon in about 5 hours or so, which means it was a perfect time for lunch. When you book your tour with Grand-Adventures.com not only do you get breakfast, you also get lunch too! You get to pick a type of sandwich (we had turkey) and are also supplied with water, fruit, cheese and crackers. Also there are yummy cookies for desert too. The sandwiches were large and quite good! They definitely filled us up!

Throughout our trip to the Grand Canyon, Dan would talk about the various areas we drove through, giving us little history lessons and info about the surrounding areas. It was quite informative and I enjoyed everything. He talked about the Joshua Trees, the Copper and Turquoise Mines that dot the landscapes as well as things like how the road networks were built and why they were built to even how places got their names such as Flagstaff. I find it odd how I know more about the US and its history than I do of Canada’s.

Once we got to our little overlook place for lunch, we got to see how first full view of the Grand Canyon.

Photos can never do this place justice, it should be on your bucket list! Robyn and I sat on a ledge while eating our sandwiches overlooking the canyon as the rest of our tour stayed in the warmth of the van. Yes, there is snow and it was about 2-3 degrees Celsius. Which of course, us Canadians can brave

After lunch we headed to the main area of the canyon where the hotel is located as well as the tourist shops. Here Dan dropped of us and let us wander around for about 40 minutes as he drove the van about a mile or so further along.

Robyn and I bumped into another Canadian couple (from Ontario I believe) who told us they were on one of the big tour buses and had 40 people. They mentioned that when they got to the Grand Canyon, their driver told them to get off and he would be back in 3-hours to pick them up. We both also noticed the onslaught of people at this little touristy area. We were glad we were on a much smaller tour.

When Dan got back it was time to start our little walking tour of the South Rim. We started at the tourist area and headed towards the Geology Museum. This was about 1.3 Miles and took a decent amount of time to do. As we walked, Dan pointed out the various layers of the rock that make up the Grand Canyon as well as how it was formed. For Robyn and I, this all seemed to be more of a review of early highschool geology, but it was enjoyable anyway.

There were lots of photo-ops along the way. We were glad we had a clear sky even if it was a little chilly as the sun slowly set.

The path lead along the edge of the canyon, though not close enough to be dangerous, but close enough to make things more spectacular. The flora among the path was pretty interesting to see, a variety of pines and low shrub. There were juniper trees (don’t eat the berries!!), sentry plants and even wild Thyme.

With the recent snow fall, there were some slippery spots (we did see people fall painfully) but that’s what you get when you wear sandals or even high-heeled shoes.

With the winter season, our tour was there to see the sunset. It is beautiful to see the sun set and the colours and shadows change constantly on the canyon walls.

Next Stop: Las Vegas

After the sunset we all got back into the van and Dan took us back to Las Vegas. The trip back was much quicker due to the fact we only stopped once and it was for gas and a bit of a stretch as well as some snacks. It was a quite ride home as the rest of our tour seemed to be exhausted. I just watched the night scenery go by and awaited for when the lights of the Strip showed up. As we were approaching Paradise Valley (aka Las Vegas), Dan mentioned how from the crest of the hill we could see how vast and how far the valley of lights spanned. The area of Paradise Valley is pretty massive, and reinforces how the area is running our of water, but it seems little is being done to conserve it on the Strip itself, though that is another story.

It was a fun, but long day. Definitely worth if if you ever find yourself in Las Vegas and want something different to do!

• Tour Company: Grand-Adventures.com
• Tour Size: 8-9 people max/van
• Our Tour Guide: Dan
• Food/Snacks: Breakfast and Lunch included
• Time: ~All Day (6:20AM-9:00PM)
• Cost per Person: $150 US
• Points of Interest: Hoover Dam, Seligman (Route 66), Grand Canyon
• Was it worth it? Yes! Definitely worth is! Highly recommended!

From Lac La Hache we drove though 100 Mile, where we picked up a new axe and had a stop over at Tim Hortons. We took highway 24 south of 100 Mile towards Clearwater. It seems that I have misplaced my little piece of paper with the variety of distances I wrote down, but I think it was about a 2-3 hour drive from 100 Mile to Clearwater and of course we made a stop or two along the way.

If you have seen a map of the area we were driving through, you would notice that there are A LOT of lakes dotted on either side. There were a variety of fishing resorts all the way along the road at the various lakes too. Our first little stop was at Bridge Lake Provincial Park.

The lake is pretty large, the largest in the area. The park though, is a provincially run little campground with a boat launch. Well, not much of a launch but there were a bunch of campsites near the lake with a few outhouse facilities too.

We continued on our trip east and you eventually make it to Little Fort, this is also where you meet up with the Thompson River and start heading north towards Clearwater.

Once we got to Clearwater, we found their little grocery store. We stocked up on some meat products and headed towards our 2-night stay at Star Lake Fishing Resort.

Star Lake Fishing Resort

Now, when I think of resorts, or even fishing resorts I tend to think towards expensive, high-end luxury resorts where you spend $300+ a night per person. I wasn’t sure what to expect when Robyn first told me we were staying at a resort, but at their campgrounds. From the main area of Clearwater, Star Lake Fishing Resort is approximately 12km up a (in use) logging road. For a logging road, it is actually in good shape and we blazed up it at about 60km/h. It also seemed like a long drive from Clearwater, but at 12km it really isn’t. The resort has posted yellow stars periodically along the road so that you know you haven’t gone too far.

When we saw the turn for the resort, we pulled off down a wooded trail. When we pulled up to the front office we were met by Jerry (one of the hosts) and his dog Riley. Jerry told us about the property and showed us to the campsites. Since we were the only campers, we got to pick which site to set up at. There are a total of 10 campsites, 4 which are on the lake.

If I forgot to mention it, Star Lake Fishing Resort is situated on Star Lake in Clearwater, BC. In fact, it is the only property on the entire lake which is peaceful and relaxing. Star Lake Fishing Resort offers the following to its visitors:

• 5 cabins (with full amenities) – 3 which are lake side
• 10 campsites – 4 are lake side with wood decks
• Washroom/Shower facility for campers – It’s quite nice!
• Canoe and Kayak Rentals ($5/hr per person)
• Firewood – $5 for a wagon load! (about 2 nights worth!)
• Fresh water fishing – Rainbow Trout

There is more to do at the resort too, just check out their website: www.starlakefishingresort.com

Here are some of the photos I took while we were there for our first night.

 We stayed at Star Lake Fishing Resort for a total of 2 nights. We would have even stayed longer, but we both really wanted to visit the BC and Albertan Rocky Mountains. Each day though we took the kayaks out for a paddle around the whole lake, I even spotted 2 Osprey nests and an actually Osprey. One evening, as we were kayaking, the clouds rolled in. Moments later large flashes of bolt lightning lit up the sky and with that the thunderous booms. We made it back to shore just in time for the clouds to release their contents on us. It was torrential! Glad we put up our portable gazebo though as we of had to stay in the tent and wait the rain out.

After the rain stopped (lasted a couple of hours) Jerry and his wife Joan came by to check on us to make sure we were alright. We weren’t expecting it to rain, but we managed to survive it. It was nice of them to come check on us. Jerry mentioned he didn’t want us to have to stay in our tent if the rains continued.

Thanks to Jerry and Joan of Star Lake Fishing Resort for being great hosts,  having such a wonderful property and sharing it with other people! We would definitely come back up there if we find ourselves up that way. If you ever find yourself near Clearwater, BC. we would both highly recommend staying in a cabin (or their campsite if you’re camping!) at Star Lake Fishing Resort.

Next Destination for Day 3: Wells Grey Provincial Park

Moraine Lake in Banff National Park just outside of Lake Louise Alberta. As iconic as Lake Louise is to people, I prefer Moraine Lake. Mainly because it was not as “touristy” as Lake Louise was.

If you get up early enough (like Robyn and I did) you can catch the sun cresting over the mountains and lighting the mountains you see in the photo. The morning sun brings out the colours of the glacier fed lake. You also get better reflections when you view the lake from the higher view point too.

Due to the cloudiness of the morning, I opted to go with a 5-bracketed exposure of lake and mountains. I think it turned out pretty good, I had to wait a while to take my photos though. If you look closely at the dock, you will see a tripod next canoes. There was a younger girl taking photos for a good 30 minutes on the dock when I set up my camera on the tripod. I patiently waited as she wandered around the dock taking photos of things from different angles. I guess that is part of being a photographer right? Being patient? She eventually ducked down behind the canoes and that is when I did my 5-exposures. I actually took a bunch while she was doing whatever it was she was doing, but the above photos is comprised of a series of 5 photographs.

If you have never been to the Rockies of Jasper and Banff National parks, I would HIGHLY recommend going, The Icefields Parkway through the two parks is unbelievable. The majestic Rockies never failed to impress us during out whole trip. In fact, we could easily spend 2 full weeks in the two parks exploring every nook and cranny. We would even want to stay at the Moraine Lake Lodge next time too!

Starting Off In Horseshoe Bay, Destination: Lac La Hache

After an awesome family BBQ the night before, where my little sister told us the wonderful news of being engaged (Congrats again Katie and Kris!), our starting point of our road trip would start in Horseshoe Bay.

Since I have never been on the Duffey Lake Road (the road that goes out of Pemberton to Lillooet and beyond) we decided we would take that route. It is a bit longer than taking the Trans-Canada up towards Merritt, but I wanted to see what the Duffey Lake Road was all about.

We headed out of Horseshoe Bay and stopped off in Whistler so we could grab some breakfast at our favourite little cafe, Ingrid’s. After eating our delicious breakfast, I got the Breakfast Wrap and Robyn got the Breakfast Sandwich, we got back into the car and continued on our way towards Pemberton.

The scenery around and through Pemberton is quite pretty. The road isn’t the greatest, but at least it was paved. You go through farmland and slowly ascend towards the mountains.

One place I would like to stop off at next time would be the Joffery Lake area. There are some great little hikes there and spectacular views to be seen around there.

The trip between Horseshoe Bay and Lillooet was a long one. I forgot to make note of how long, but it took us a good couple hours to get to Lillooet.

Just outside of Lillooet we stopped off at Seton Lake, which is a BC Hydro run day area. Robyn dipped her toes in and concluded it was a bit too cold to swim at even though the air temperature was in the high 20′s if not the low 30′s.

After our little short stop at Seton Lake, we stopped off in the downtown area of Lillooet to grab some lunch. Lillooet itself isn’t very big (roughly 2,300 people) but the area is interesting; desert-like and built up on the side of the Fraser River. It seems my buddy Raul has a recent post about Lilloot which shows some nice photos of what Lillooet looks like.

We continued north (which is on the east side of the Fraser River) on the Duffey Lake Road towards the place it terminates, which is just over 100 kms in length. It eventually joins up with the Caribou Highway about 20 minutes north of Cache Creek.

Heading north along the Caribou Highway (#97) we refuelled in Clinton. We then continued north through 100 Mile area and arrived at our first overnight destination of Lac La Hache (122 mile area).

Lac La Hache

Lac La Hache is a place that Robyn’s grandparents lived, so she has many fond memories of the area. We even stayed next to the area her grandparents lived on the lake itself. Overall, our trip from Horseshoe Bay to Lac La Hache took the majority of the day. We left at about 8am and arrived in Lac La Hache at about 5pm.

We stayed a night at the Kokanne Bay Motel and Trailer Court; the owners remember when Robyn and her brother were little. They have rustic cabins, RV hookups, lake front camp sites, a couple of docks, great swimming and sell firewood for $5 an arm-full (I can carry a lot!). Did I mention there is Kokanne in the lake? Not the beer, the fish of course! There are also clean toilet and shower facilities available to the campers too. We were glad that (at the time of our trip) there was no campfire ban as it did get a bit cooler in the evening. Luckily when we broke camp the next day the rain held off until we were on our way.

Next destination for Day 2: Clearwater, BC and camping at Star Lake Resort.

We left on August 28th and got back September 4th. This included driving more than 2,500 kms in about 7 days and we got to see and experience quite a bit along the way.

Along our way, Robyn had planned out our various stops, these stops included

• Lac La Hache, BC – 1 night camping
• Star Lake Resort, Clearwater, BC – 2 nights camping
• Wapiti Campground, Jasper, BC – 1 night camping
• Lake Louise, AB – 2 nights camping
• Penticton, BC – 1 night motel

Over the course of our road trip, I managed to take 884 photos. We stopped off at various viewpoints, provincial and national parks along our way, taking in the beauty and majestic scenery of our province and the province next door.

The following is a small selection of photos along the way. I plan on writing more about our individual stops/stays with more photos from each location, so please check back soon! (You can also subscribe to my Blog’s RSS feed to stay up-to-date).

Seton Lake, Lillooet (BC Hydro Lake)

Lac La Hache, BC (about 122 Mile area)

Star Lake Resort in Clearwater, BC

Helmcken Falls in Wells Gray Provincial Park

Mt.Robson, highest peak in the Rockies

Jasper’s Tramway or Gondola

Angel Glacier at Mt.Edith Cavell, Alberta

Moraine Lake, just outside of Lake Louise

Iconic Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

Emerald Lake in Yoho Provincial Park, BC

There was a lot to see and experience on our road trip. We both believe we did not have enough time to do everything we wanted to do or see. We could have easily spent 2 weeks in the Jasper and Banff parks, but do to our limited time we picked highlights of both locations.

On the way to work today, I walked past the BC Ferries Vacations front-end store. It’s located in the Fairmont Pacific Rim across from Canada Place and the new Vancouver Convention Centre. It had me day dreaming of travling around Vancouver Island area and some of their deals aren’t half bad. Like the 2-nights at Black Rock Resort in Ucluelet for ~$250, which also includes the ferry thre ban back. There are some other trips in there that would be great too.

I’ll just continue to day dream!

See, I told you I would eventually get around to uploading some non-iPhone photos.  This one is of the Devil’s Punch Bowl on the coast of Oregon just off of Route 101 south of Depoe Bay.

When the tide is high, the ocean water shoots out of the large crater-type hole you see on the right side. Though, as you can see from the photo, the tide was not high enough to do this, but it’s a beautiful scene nonetheless.

We were lucky with with the weather on our trip as it was mostly sunny although a wee bit chilly. I did manage to get a sun burn on our trip too, so I still have some colour.