Holiday 2009

After a comfortable but long flight from the U.K., Nida and I arrived

in Calgary, Alberta on Tuesday 25th August to spend three weeks

visiting our relatives there.

As anyone knows who has visited this area, the scenery is

spectacular, particularly, the Canadian Rockies.

We travelled out into the countryside quite a bit and the picture above

shows Nida cooling her feet on the edge of the Bow River, just west of

Calgary.

You have to be aware that you are sharing this great country with

a variety of interesting wildlife. On this occasion, my interest in trains

had taken us to a spot along the highway a few miles east of the

town of Jasper. Here was a perfect place to photograph a train.

Unfortunately, we did'nt see a train. Luckily, I had the camera on a

tripod and looking around, saw something moving in the field on the

other side of the highway. He was about 100 yards away so I zoomed

in on him and for a moment, he looked up at me. We saw three

Coyotes that day.

Later that day we did see some trains. The above picture shows two

freight trains passing through the town of Jasper. The one in the

background is a "Double Stack" loaded with containers, heading East

in the direction of Edmonton. The one coming towards me is heading

West and probably carrying grain. There are more Railway Pictures

from Canada in the Hobbies Section.

While we were in Canada the weather was warm and sunny. It was

perfect weather for going to the mountains. Nida took the above

picture as we climbed on Whistlers Mountain. I think at this point we

were about 8,000 ft above sea level. What a marvelous view, including

the town of Jasper. For most of the time that we spent in Jasper, our

accomodation was a log cabin at the side of Patricia Lake, which I

believe is the lake on the extreme left of the pictiure.

Incidentally, although the temperature in the town was close to 30

degrees C, on top of the mountain it was -1C, so I bought a scarf !!!

I took the above picture from the mountain looking down on the town

of Jasper. In this view can be seen the Railway Station with a freight

train just arrived. Top right of the picture is the Athabasca River. Top

left is Highway 16.

In the picture, Nida is seen relaxing in her chair at Patricia Lake

This was the cabin at Patricia Lake. It was really cosy and we

enjoyed our stay there.

During our stay we took a ride to Maligne Lake. This is the longest

lake in Jasper National Park (22 Km) and very beautiful.

In the picture, Nida is seen admiring the view.

Here is another view of Maligne Lake. The two mountain peaks in

top right hand corner of the picture are, on the left, Mt. Charlton.

3219m and on the right, Mt. Unwin, 3270m.

There was always something interesting to see. On this occasion,

it was a young deer, watching us from a safe distance as we

walked near the lake.

This time it is our turn to watch from a safe distance as we

encounter a Moose.

Something was moving and it turned out to be a young Grizzly Bear.

I took a quick picture as he moved through the undergrowth.

We decided not to hang around in case "Momma Bear" was nearby.

The weather was warm and sunny and on a beautiful afternoon I took

the above picture showing Bow Lake and the Crowfoot Glacier.

The road in the foreground is Highway 93, ( the Icefields Parkway ).