Ron Erwin Photography Road Trip 2006

Yukon Wrap-up

2009-02-02T07:34:00.000-08:00

We DID make it to the Yukon!

Sheep Mountain and Kluane Lake, Yukon

We just stopped blogging during the trip as we rarely had electricity let alone Internet access (we both have blogs over at www.ronerwin.com/blogs.php now) . Actually it was liberating to not have to blog every few days. It left us free to just concentrate on the trip, the wonderful vistas, and the real purpose of the trip: the taking of the pictures. Or at least we were as free as having to make regular backups would let us be (see more on this topic in an earlier posting: http://ronerwin.blogspot.com/2006/06/from-leader-to-lethbridge-ab-june-4-5.html).

It stays light so late in the Yukon in the summer! Instead of shooting on July 29, we spent the evening sitting at the picnic table at our campsite at Kathleen Lake in Kluane National Park with Ron making backups (power provided by our van's battery) and me writing in my journal. Only at midnight did it get so dark that we needed a lantern to continue our tasks. I'm not sure we ever really discovered "first morning light" in the Yukon. We had to settle with just getting up as early as we could manage.

From the Yukon (click to view more Yukon images) we even had a side trip south into Atlin, BC, often referred to as the little "Switzerland of the North", and to Haines, Alaska - which is also south from Haines Junction, YT down the very beautiful Haines highway and through BC's Tatshenshini-Alsek Park. In a car both these towns are only accessible via the Yukon.

Other highlights of the trip that weren't already mentioned in previous blog posts:

camping in a tent beside Kluane Lake in the height of soapberry season in the Congdon Creek Campground in spite of the Yukon's warning signs that tents weren't safe due to bears.

surviving the drive down and back up the very scary and steeply pitched dirt mountain switch back road the locals call "The Hill" to Tweedsmuir Park, and Bella Coola BC. Parts of the road are wide enough for 2 vehicles - others not. Traffic going up have the right of way. Apparently the road was built by 2 guys with bulldozers - one starting at the top the other from the bottom. They eventually met somewhere in the middle and voila a road!

cooling off and camping at Pyper Lake one of BC's Forestry Service many recreation areas.Ron even got shots of his nemesis bird - a belted kingfisher. It was so hot if you weren't in the water or the shade you would feel like you could spontaneously combust! We ended up having to leave when smoke could be seen across the lake. Smoke from BC forest fires definitely was a problem for photographing landscapes during this trip. But that isn't surprising considering the heat and the ecological disaster caused by the mountain pine beetles. Huge areas of monoculture forest such as this one one in Tweedsmuir have been destroyed. Note every red tree is a dead tree!

having a black bear sneak up behind Ron as he sat at the edge of the beta pool at Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park. I warned him and he managed to scare it off just by standing up and clapping his hands. It was the middle of a rainy afternoon so we didn't even have a camera with us at the time! We were relieved the bear did go away though. Earlier we had seen the same bear being chased off by the Park Ranger with bear bangers (flares) and rubber bullets to its butt, but we didn't have a camera then either!

leaving our own sign with the thousands already posted at the SignPost Forest in Watson's Lake, YT. The info centre provided the hammer and nails.

driving the Alaska highway through northern British Columbia and the area called the "Serengeti of the North" with its abundant wildlife. Caribou, Bison, Stone Sheep, Red Fox, and Beaver were just some of the animals we would see and photograph. This fox got so close to Ron that he could use a wide angle lens to photograph it. Ron decided it was in fact too close when the fox started to tug on the frayed edges/fringe around a hole on the knee of his jeans!

pitching our tent right beside the very beautiful turquoise waters of Muncho Lake in Muncho Lake Provincial Park. We marveled over how the sun would light up various mountain ranges around the lake at different times a day - like this one to the west/behind the campground that was lit up with peach tones after 11:00 pm.

shooting in the always amazing Jasper National Park. We would finally shoot male Bighorn Sheep at Disaster Point were we used to only see lambs and ewes. We also would take the tramway up Whistlers mountain and find ptarmigans along with the wonderful views over the park. And of course there is always my favourite mountain - Mount Edith Cavell!

discovering moose in Grasslands National Park in Southern Saskatchewan and watching the funny habits of the black-tailed prairie dogs.

Those are just a few of the highlights. To see what we've been up to lately check out our new blogs on our web page at: www.ronerwin.com/blogs.php
Ron Erwin's blog: www.ronerwin.com/exposure
Lori Erwin's blog: www.ronerwin.com/loris-log

Please DO eat the daisies (and leave the orchids alone) - more Wells Gray

2006-06-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

Wells Gray Provincial Park is known for its many waterfalls with 39 inside the park and therefore deserves its nickname "Canada's Waterfalls Park". It is also known for its many black bears but up until today we haven’t seen any. That would soon change when we would spot 8 black bears (1/2 were cubs) in just a 2 hour time period while we drove the road from the campground to Helmcken Falls and back. One cub in the two sets of twins that we glimpsed was brown or cinnamon like its Mother. The park is quite forested so the bears like to forage along the roadside clearings where the wildflowers are abundant. They were all so busy grazing that it was a hard to get a non-blurry photograph that included a head and not just a big furry butt. The one above finally stopped long enough to get a shot - perhaps it stopped to smell the flowers?
We’ve noticed that the bears seem to enjoy eating mostly non-native plants like dandelions and red clover. But much to our enjoyment these roadsides also had many beautiful patches of native lupines, rein orchids, and tiger lilies just waiting to be photographed. Sometimes Ron was even lucky enough to get both the lupines (purple) and the tall white rein-orchid (white) in the same shot (left). These orchids smell wonderful and so are also sometimes called Fragrant White Orchid or Scent-candle.

The tiger or Columbia lily (right) is easily distinguished from the larger wood lily with its single erect bloom as the tiger lily’s flowers hang or droop in showy clusters with petals curling back towards the flower base.

At 141 meters, Helmcken Falls (left) is the 4th highest in Canada of the straight plunging type waterfalls. It is just a short hike from the parking lot to the viewing platform, but remember to take your insect repellent as the mosquitoes are hungry!

Paddle Harder! - Wells Gray Provincial Park, BC June 25-26

2006-06-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

After spending the night trying to cool off in a motel pool in Cache Creek we headed further into BC's hot interior to Wells Gray Provincial Park. Unfortunately the Clearwater Lake campground doesn't have any good swimming spots but we managed to find a spot near the picnic grounds were we could dunk or wade at the edge of the cold water being careful not to go out to far lest we get caught in the extremely fast current that could sweep us over Osprey Falls. There were signs warning about no boating yet there was a boat reeking of gas parked right beside us. Needless to say we survived the current but were rather pestered by some big and disgusting bugs that were everywhere and would suddenly drop out of trees onto our heads, get stuck in my hair, crawl into our clothes or backpacks to surprise us later, or just make a disgusting crunch sound underfoot. Apparently the fish like them though. We decided the only way to actually see this lake is by canoe (not to mention to find a good bug free swimming spot) so we rented one that evening and at 6:30 am June 27 we headed up the long and narrow Clearwater Lake on the mirror flat water toward the snow-capped Cariboo Mountains as this photo shows. We stopped at several campsites and eventually settle on Belleview Beach about 8km up where we will swim, have lunch and I'll get stung by a bee on the inside of my knee. The nerve! But better me than Ron since he is allergic and swells up miserably. On me the quarter-sized swollen red-spot disappears in a couple of hours. It doesn't mean it hurts any less though. At about 10:00am a light & cool breeze picked up off the Cariboo Mountains to the North that was just enough to keep us from getting too hot in the shade of our umbrella. A little after noon a sudden hot gust of wind off the Kootney Mountains to the south turned our umbrella inside-out and thus changed the state of the lake for the rest of the day from nearly flat to one with bow-topping waves. We decide perhaps mistakenly to head back south in the wave-whipping head-wind and across the lake to Divers Bluff to cut our 8km's back to the dock into smaller chunks. However once we set out again for the dock we decided that the best protection (not that there really was any) from the horrendous wind was on the other side of the lake. There were a few "tense" moments during our two hour paddle back to the dock and quite a few times we felt like we were paddling hard and going nowhere. However we eventually arrived safe & sound, even if we and the canoe were not exactly dry. We delivered the canoe back to its owner right at the promised time—12 hours after we had set off. Ron remarked that the strong wind didn't even help to keep us cool in the equally intense sun. What good is a wind that doesn't cool you off? However we thought that it wasn't a bad workout for our first time out in a canoe this season.

Got a Peek of a Pika - June 22-25

2006-06-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

After staying in a series of BC provincial Parks we finally discovered the BC Forestry Service Recreation areas. They have the same services (pit toilets and picnic tables) without the gates and maybe even the fees! We camped right in Cayoosh Creek Recreation Site on June 24 right beside the creek (a raging river to us). On the opposite creek bank was a talus slope where we discovered this pika (above). In Euroasia that is pronounced peeka but in NA it is pie-ka. The campgrounds was also near Duffey Lake Provincial Park (below) where we had visited in 1998. It hasn't changed much execpt the dead trees are leaning a little more.

Steller! The raging river & thundering river tour June 19-21

2006-06-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

After taking the ferry from Nanimo back to the main land we headed up the sea to sky highway towards Whistler. This highway is called the "sea to sky" highway but for us it was more like the raging river and thundering waterfalls highway. We stopped at Shannon Falls near Squamish on June 19, camped at Brandywine Falls on June 20 and Narin Falls on June 21 (right above the raging river). At Brandywine Falls Ron spent most of his time photographing Steller Jays (above). Oh, and we did do the 5 minute hike to the falls to get a few shots of it too (below)!

Starfish Orgy & Surfer Dudes - June 14-18

2006-06-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

We camped in the rainforest at Pacific Rim National Park on Vancouver Island where it of course rained for all but 1 & 1/2 days. Actually in the rainforest it continued to drip I'm sure long after we were gone. It was impossible to dry out our tent there. At low-tide we hiked into Schooner Cove were you would see landscapes like this Island (below) but on closer inspection of the Island's edges you would find all kinds of sea creatures clinging to the rocks - like these orchre sea stars (often called starfish but they aren't really fish) and giant green anemones.
The waves were pretty much always crashing in somewhere in the park along Long Beach which is a big draw for all surfer dudes and dudettes. Ron took these photos below at the most popular surfing spot, Incinerator Rock. There the surfers not only have to be careful about the rocks but crashing into each other. We saw several near misses. Between the rain/non-light and the fact that all hiking spots and beach access points gates are locked between 11 pm and 8am it made it pretty much impossible to get a landscape photograph at first light.

More Grebes - Salmon Arm, BC June 10-11

2006-06-14T09:33:00.000-07:00

Eventually the road was re-opened to Golden so we drove on down through Glacier Provincial Park and Mount Revelstoke National Park and spent a night in the town of Revelstoke. The next day we moved on to Salmon Arm on Shuswap Lake (the houseboat capital of Canada). There is a major nesting grounds for Western Grebes there in the wetlands along the dock. These birds do a beautiful mating dance. But we were much to late for that but did see an adult feeding its young.

Yoho ho tra la la lah! June 8-9

2006-06-09T22:58:00.000-07:00

After spending the night in a noisy Lake Louise campground in Banff National Park in Alberta, we continue North and west back into BC to Yoho National Park. On the highway they are stopping all cars and saying that the road is only open as far as Emerald Lake due to an avalanche that has blocked the highway to Golden. It is raining anyway so we spend the day just looking around and scouting possible photo locations and being optomistic that it will either clear up later for an evening shoot or tomorrow. We decide to camp at the Kicking Horse Campground - not that we had a choice since it is the only one open. In fact not much is open for the season yet in the park. The famous Lake O'Hara shuttle hasn't started to run and we aren't equipped for interior backpacking/camping. It didn't clear in the evening so we spend our time playing cards in a cooking shelter where it was dry and relatively bug-free. The sun really did come out in the morning though giving Ron some photography time with Cathedral Mountain (above) and a mist covered Emerald Lake (below).

Little Things in the Rockies - Kootenay, BC June 7-8

2006-06-07T20:20:00.000-07:00

Kootenay National Park, BC was the first Park we would visit in the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site. There we were surrounded by awe inspiring mountains and a river rushing past our tent door, but the overcast light wasn't suitable for photographing landscapes. So we spent a little time looking along the riverbank and discovered these beautiful orchids. The Sparrow's-Egg Lady's-Slipper or Franklin's Lady's-Slipper (above) is a rare subarctic species found only in the Canadian provinces and Alaska. The more common Small Round-leaved Orchis (below) has delicate blooms that looks to me like tiny dolls wearing polkadot dresses and pink bonnets.

Forget the Bears - Look out for the Trees! June 7-8

2006-06-07T20:15:00.000-07:00

The increasing winds and threatening rain ended our time for photographing wildflowers so we decided to take the rest of the evening off and play some cards. The wind would end the games early too. In fact it affected the rest of our evening. Great smokey-yellow gusts rising from the forest on the opposite side of the river caused a neighbouring camper to seek our opinion on the possibility of it being smoke and a forest fire. Since you couldn't smell smoke or see flames and the "smoke" seemed to change areas with each gust of wind we came to the conclusion that it wasn't smoke but tree pollen. The tall and thin lodgepole pines seemed to be highly affected by the wind. In fact we heard and or saw some fall while we were discussing the possible smoke. Later a couple of guys from Calgary would come by asking if we had a saw. A tree had fallen across the campground road after they had set-up their tent and driven back out to the gate to register their campsite. This left their tent and vehicle on opposite sides of the fallen tree. It also meant the few people camping in the unattended campground (including us) were trapped inside the campground with no phone service until help arrived. Since we had planned on moving on in the morning we thought we would see if we could help move the tree. So we grabbed our mighty little hatchet and 7-inch long folding saw and walked out with them to see if the 4 of us could make the tree small enough to drag off the road. After spending quite a bit of time and energy taking turns hacking away at the tree we managed to cut off the tree's top that was extending into the woods. But the remaining portion crossing the road was still too heavy for the 4 of us to budge. At this point we decided to not hack away the entire night and the Calgarians went off down the highway seeking the nearest phone. Banff Park staff were eventually contacted (note we are still in Kootenay) and a chain-saw meant that around 2:30 there was once again access in/out of the campground. I'm glad none of the trees surrounding our tent decided to fall!
In the morning on route to the Lake Louise campground in Banff National Park, we hiked through a regenerating burn area (more wildflowers); and, into the paint pots (above) - a historical source of red ochre. The ochre beds are considered a sacred site by First Nations.

From Leader to Lethbridge, AB June 4-5

2006-06-05T08:59:00.000-07:00

On route to Lethbridge, Alberta just south of Leader, Saskatchewan we found two different sets of antelope (pronghorn) Mothers with their young just standing in the fields. As soon as we would stop the car the new born would either lie down or take off on wobbly legs in an opposite direction to the Mother. This pair was a little different though. The little one laid down and Mom took a few steps away but then looked back. With that the little one jumped up and followed after the Mother. Not the safest thing for them to do perhaps but better for us! In the area around the Great Sand Hills we saw at least 6 new borns. Quite a thrill for us that we finally saw a pair and managed to get a few photos.
We had some non-shoooting time in Lethbridge while we got caught up on some business, bought a replacement 4GB memory card for the flakey one purchased just before we left, and got caught up on backups. There are definitie pros and cons to going all digital in photography. It is great to see your results immediately and be able to create blogs etc. But now we find that days are way too long yet it is hard to get everything done we need to do. We are always downloading and backing up images which means we can be up very late considering the long days this time of year. We generally need to be up by 4:00am for the morning shoot too (good morning light is usually from 5:00-8:00am). The evening shoot can't usually start before 5pm and may go until dusk which is getting later as we head west and towards June 21. In the time there is in-between we try to scout for photographing locations or drive on to the next destination, do backups, update our journals, heck, even catch a nap and do our laundry once in awhile. Not that I am complaining! We just sometimes need to decide we won't work all day long.

The Great Sand Hills, Saskatchewan June 2-3/06

2006-06-03T22:08:00.000-07:00

The Great Sand Hills are huge sand dunes near Sceptre and Leader. Some of the dunes are bare sand; others are covered in native grasses, sage brush and other drought resistant plants. But they seem to stretch for miles. Ron spent hours photographing the patterns the wind makes in the sand.
These cowboy boots are nailed on a board at the beginning of the path through the hills. I guess old boots need to go somewhere.
This Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel was perhaps looking for hand-outs. The lines on its back are like an elaborate tattoo.

Saskatchewan Landing, Lake Diefenbaker May 31-June 1

2006-06-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

You may think that Southern Saskatchewan is flat. It can be. But suddenly the flat land can drop into a deep coulee. That is the case at Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park at Lake Diefenbaker. Greenish-gold hills line the lake and beckon you to go hiking. We did and found a pair of mountain bluebirds nesting at a birdbox. Here the male poses nicely on a barbed-wire fence.
While Ron was photographing the bluebirds I spotted this Common Nighthawk (below) sleeping away the day on a tree branch. It kindly posed too as it was too sleepy to go anywhere. Ron also photographed spotted towhees and a prairie falcon. But no matter how much we looked along the beaches we didn't find any piping plovers. Guess we'll just have to settle for pictures of plovers in Manitoba and Quebec only. Here are some we've taken on other trips in Manitoba: http://www.agpix.com/results.php?agid=ronerwin&keyword=piping

Gone ducky! May 28-31am, Morse, Saskatchewan

2006-05-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

The weather while we were at Morse, Saskatchewan really was just meant for the ducks. It rained even on days when the sun shone (and while the sun shone). That reeked havoc with the Saskatchewan back roads which was were we wanted to be. Could our van get any muddier? Would we get stuck in gumbo? When we arrived on the 28th it was raining and there were thousands of shorebirds lining Chaplin Lake (a saline lake) in a feeding frenzy. They looked like they were starving! Of course there was no light for photography. Besides the shorebirds at Chaplin and Reed Lakes there were lots of ducks at the lakes and the nearby sloughs (ponds to Easterners). Like this Northern Shoveller, above which seemed to be happy rain or shine.
We love the sloughs south of Morse/Reed Lake. They seem to be so active with all kinds of birds, like coots, willets, phalaropes, and a flock of eared grebes (above) that all seemed to want the same nest spot at the slough’s edge in the reeds. They are quite striking when the sun hits their golden ear patches. The yellow-headed blackbirds are always captivating with their shrieking song and contrasting colours (below). We were pleased to see that the old barns and abandoned houses continue to support a family of great-horned owls. This year Ron photographed a fluffy young owl in a tree behind one of the barns. Last year it was an adult that he photographed in the barn window: http://www.agpix.com/view_caption.php?image_id=90984&photog=1We also saw a muskrat swim by, a few deer and antelopes (pronghorn) in the nearby fields and this cute family of Richardson's ground squirrels (gophers to the locals) with their black marble eyes.
One of the interesting things of staying at Morse, Saskatchewan is the campgrounds. It's washrooms with showers are always clean but it is located beside the 9th hole of the town golf course. Beyond the ninth hole are the train tracks (and trains run every few hours), very busy grain elevators and then Highway 1. If you want to sleep for long you need to get used to the trains. Here's the view from our tent. If you look hard you can see the flag marking the hole and the greens (which weren't exactly green right now).

In Search of Burrowing Owls, Moose Jaw May 26-27

2006-05-27T08:14:00.000-07:00

Last year with some help from the Burrowing Owl Centre we found a burrowing owl pair (endangered species) nesting in a new subdivision in Moose Jaw. Since we are here earlier in the season we were hoping to get some pictures of the birds near their nest hole while the weeds still weren't too high to see it (and if the hole was near enough to the protective fence). However so far no owls have been seen at that location. This should make the Developers happier as it will probably mean that construction can continue after 2 years of stoppage on a 200 meter wide area. The Developers and City get credit for fencing the area off and trying to protect these very endangered birds while they were nesting. Too bad the male didn't come back again this year with his newly selected mate! Since it has now been 2 days and counting of rain we have hunkered down in a very reasonable and decent suite at the Dreamland Motel. We have nothing but Saskatchewan gumbo on our boots to show for the last 2 days. So here is a link to some burrowing owl pictures we took at that subdivision last year:
http://www.agpix.com/results.php?agid=ronerwin&keyword=burrowing+owls

Manitoba's Tall Grass Prairie Preserve

2006-05-25T07:28:00.000-07:00

From Kenora we headed to Southern Manitoba to the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve near Tolstoi and Gardenton. Stopped in Steinbach to pick up food at Sobies in the mall on Highway 12 (voted mall with best washroom ambiance on the trip so far). At the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve we ran into John Morgan, Jo-Anne Joyce, and Doug Collicutt, who were instrumental in getting this land preserved. Thanks for that! They were looking at some Small White Lady's Slipper Orchids that had been touched by frost. The rare orchids and other wildflowers are what draws us here. But it is also a good spot for wetland and grassland birds, like snipes and upland sandpipers. They seemed happy to see us there and John even took our picture next to our Ontario plates - evidence I guess that tourists really would come all this way to see the preserve. We probably made a good picture with my hair blowing in the high winds and us both in rubber boots - Ron's are hip waders. This is a wet prairie although this year it was dryer than the last time we were here. Because of the high winds, emminent rain, and brown petals due to frost we decided we wouldn't stay to shoot now but would try to come back on August 12 when Christie and the always bare-foot Laura, the Preserve's protectors/interpretors for more than 12 years, hold a Prairie Days event. So instead of posting any pictures today I'll put this link to pictures we took on the preserve the last time we were here:
http://www.agpix.com/results.php?agid=ronerwin&keyword=tall+grass+prairie+preserve
Note that there is more than one type of rare and endangered orchid at the preserve!

Don't Worry Mom!

2006-05-24T06:57:00.000-07:00

Somewhere east of Dryden along Highway 17 we came across a couple of cow moose doing what moose do - eating twigs in the boreal forest. Later we found this black bear foraging along the road-side. If you look real close you can see he is surrounded by blackflies. What else would you expect in Northwestern Ontario in May? Don't worry Mom the picture was taken from the safety of the car. He found an old bone and wondered off into the woods with it before we had time to pose with him and our government prescribed hatchet (not that we have one yet Charlie). Today's destination is Kenora. We have to check-in somewhere with a TV so I can get my season finale fix of "Lost".

Rocks and Trees - Why it's Northern Ontario!

2006-05-23T21:30:00.000-07:00

After freezing at Lake Superior Provincial Park (even the toothpaste felt frozen) we headed off to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park near Thunder Bay. Got there late afternoon set-up camp, ate dinner and headed out to find wildlife. Mostly we just found blackflies. However this raven was willing to pose. We did a couple of hikes including a small one along the Plantain Trail in to this lovely little waterfall (below). If we wanted to see wildlife we could have just stayed at our campsite though. 3 scruffy looking deer were eating their way around our tent when we returned. People didn't seem to bother them at all.

Hiking Boots would be Handy

2006-05-22T19:32:00.000-07:00

I got the day off to a good start by forgetting to grab my hiking boots on the way out the door at Mom's. I got up at 4:30am and we hit the road by 5:08 as we were to meet the Smith's and Leeney's in Massey, ON for breakfast at 7:00am. However somewhere around Ice Lake I suddenly realized that I couldn't remember putting my boots in the car so I asked Ron if he had. Nope! So it was fly back to Barrie Island grab the boots and hit the road again. We were at the restaurant by 7:10. No officer we weren't speeding! After a pleasant breakfast we headed off again with today's planned destination being Pukaskwa National Park near Marathon. From here on in our time is our own so we are no longer in a rush. We stopped for a snack at a picnic grounds in Bruce Mines mid-morning (we've voted the pit toiets there the cleanest we've EVER seen), and lunch in Sault Ste. Marie. By mid-afternoon I could no longer stay awake so we decided to stop driving and pitch our tents at the very cold lake side at Lake Superior Provincial Park. Overnight it was around freezing. However in the evening Ron got some nice pics of pebbles on the beach.

Manitoulin Gold

2006-05-21T18:48:00.000-07:00

The photographic highlight on Manitoulin Island came while wandering the pavement alvar at Misery Bay Provincial Nature Reserve on Saturday. The Lakeside Daisy there was at its peak. No wonder they call it Manitoulin Gold! It was everywhere. This is a threatened plant that is only found in Ontario and Ohio. For more info and photos on Misery Bay and alvars see our AGPix site at: http://www.agpix.com/results.php?agid=ronerwin&keyword=misery Sunday night Ron gave an "Images of Canada" slideshow to a select audience.

May 19-21 Destination Manitoulin Island, ON

2006-05-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the beginning of our trip. Okay so anyone that saw us just before we left know that the glasses are wrong and therefore this isn't taken at the begginning of our trip. So sue me. It's the most recent picture we have of the two of us. Maybe we'll try to post something more recent somewhere along the line. Chances are we won't get much access to the internet - certainly won't be daily. So instead we'll try to post weekly with the highlights.